Fugg no. Just happened to get two up tempo teams with incredibly high level guard play. Usually there's at least one team that just wants to muck everything up, slow the pace, pound the ball.
It used to be like Nate McMillan ball, as anticlimactic as a typical Superbowl. I'll watch if it's exciting. Superbowls have gotten better, too.
I think he's gonna be better. I only watched just the first half of the game but based on that, I'm adding him to my guys.
Anyone notice how Nik Stauskas just disappeared in the tournament. He had that one great game against Florida, but we're talking about someone who is nearly a 50% 3pt shooter, that actually takes a lot of threes, who went 3-18 (14%) from downtown in the tournament when you take away the UF game. I wonder if playing in domes effected him, or if it was just the pressure. I mean, the guy's only a freshman, who was lightly recruited out of Canada. I'm sure it could have been intimidating. Whatever it was though, they really could have used him in this one, and I haven't really heard anyone talk about his disappearance. Hell, he only logged 19 minutes, when he averages 31 on the season. I barely even noticed he was in the game. Honestly, Oregon and Wichita St. are a large part of the reason they were even there in the first place.
Anyone notice how CBS had an impact on the game? I thought I was the only one, but some of my friends and family have said the same thing. Michigan would have serious momentum going, about to break the game wide open, and then CBS would take one of their tv-timeouts that lasted seemingly forever. And then there was this (amongst lots of other calls) - [video=youtube;4CqURNU8tjo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CqURNU8tjo[/video] I honestly don't think the best team won, but hey that's March, the best team rarely does and I've come to accept that. Hell, there were a lot of teams knocked out in the Round of 32 or the Sweet 16 that shouldn't have lost their games. It would be cool if the NCAA thought about making the Final Four into three game elimination series though (three games per match-up). I mean, it'd only make them more money and be more entertaining for the fans.
I was really down on this team, and I still am, because their backcourt is like a coin-flip, and it just so happens that the coin flipped to heads for six straight games (two of which were against decent opponents). I keep hearing about how good Louisville will be next season as well. I think Siva, in a way, is almost addition by subtraction, but just as he could have been the reason for them losing, he was one of the main reasons they won, and his departure will change the team dynamic for sure. Their frontcourt wound up being their best strength, along with Russ Smith somehow coasting through the tournament playing "hero-ball," but the latest reports have both Smith and Dieng going pro. They'll be decent because of how good their frontcourt is, but I see that ESPN has them #2 in their initial preseason rankings, and that's just farfetched. Dieng anchored the team, and Siva/Smith captained the tournament run with their blitzing, "hero-ball" style of play that just happened to hit on all cylinders for them at the right time. Chris Jones is transferring in. I know him from the local circuit, and he's a great player, and he actually plays similar to Russ Smith, but lightning's not going to strike twice with this team. The one advantage I see them having is playing in the AAC next year where their only competition is UConn, Memphis, SMU, Cincinnati, and Temple.
Louisville does not have much NBA talent in my opinion. I think Dieng might stick, but that's about it. No way Smith or Siva stick in the league for more than a cup of coffee. Behannon's pretty good, but he's too short for the kind of game he plays.
