ri777 wrote:

I've been a Providences fan for many years but also follow GW, as my daughter is a graduate. Just wanted to shed some light on Castro, since I've seen him many times. He will be, by virtue of his height, a presence up front, Nice shot blocker and can help with rebounds. His lack of progress in his years at PC was frustrating. Every off season we'd hear about how good he looked in practice and how he looked stronger. The kid is very thin and couldn't defend any talented Big East forwards.. I just wouldn't count on him for much offensive game., especially away from the hoop. He honestly has the worst hands of any major player I've ever seen. Many times, he had easy feeds, but couldn't finish. Perhaps he will help more against A10 competition. I do help he succeeds at that level, as he works very hard and was, by all accounts, a good teammate.

That is good info to have...thanks for sharing.  Looking at his stats, the part that concerned me (just from looking at numbers) is his FT%.  41.9% last season, and 47.5% for his career.  I imagine that he won't be able to stay on the court at the end of games when we're ahead if he can't be more consistent at the line.

Hansen was a 60% FT shooter last year, somewhat better but still weak.  I want to be optimistic with these two signings, but I have my concerns for sure.
 

I think everyone who thinks that we’re going to drop to a lower conference is missing the point.

If the NIL environment continues as it is currently, we won’t need to move down conferences. Our conference will simply continue to move down, so it is more similar to the lower mid major conferences. The gap between conferences will be an ever expanded haves versus have nots situation.

We won’t need to move down. The conference will do it for us.

Found this in a reddit link.   Article is in Japanese but synopsis is in English. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/memphisgrizzlies/comments/1bu4xu5/yuta_watanabe_says_he_couldnt_handle_the_pressure/

Thanks to Thomas for posting these in the main forum, and for the recommendations to post these in the Recruiting forum as well.  I'll pin this to the top so we can easily reference them.

https://verbalcommits.com/transfershttps://twitter.com/VerbalCommits

Alum1 wrote:

Any of you guys think Dayton could be left out?  I’m beginning to wonder. Their performance down the stretch has give the Committee an excuse. You compare their last five or  six games to St John’s and there’s no question who the better team is right now. I see Jerry Palm has dropped them to the always dicey “Last Four In” status. Losing early in the A-10 Tourney may make them vulnerable.

My gut tells me they’re safe.  Also, if they are on the bubble and make the tournament at a 10 seed, I wonder about the impact about having them host as the home team. Interesting for sure.

The Dude wrote:

Getting rid of the Auto Bids to all the smaller conferences seems inevitable.   13-19 ACC teams in the Field looks like the future of the Tourney.   

 

Dude, respectfully, I 100% disagree about the loss of automatic bids being inevitable. While I never say, never, this is all a prelude to the field expanding to what I believe will inevitably be 80 teams.

I don’t think it’s just about money for the schools. Or for the big conferences. I think that it’s also about job security for coaches, who have very little control over the transferring of players and the craziness of  the NIL atmosphere.

The more big time programs that get into the tournament, the more likely that middling power conference teams coaches get to keep their jobs.

For what it’s worth, I would love to see 80 teams.

I Standby my previous posting earlier this year about going with an 80 team field with the top 16 getting a double bye into the round of 32.  It’s a win for the smaller conferences. They get to keep their automatic bids. It’s a win for the better teams in the mid majors who have a shot at getting in more than they do now. It’s a huge victory for the top schools and the top conferences to have the opportunity to not have their best teams upset early in the tournament.

Would it take away from the magic of a 15 seed playing against a two seed? Sure. But I would much rather see those 15 seeds, who would now be 19 seeds, have a better shot at making it past the first round with a win against a 19-win 5-seed from the BIG 10.

DMV, thanks, as always, for your incredible previews!

I’m actually unable to attend the game tomorrow, the first home game I’ll miss this year. I have two free tickets if anyone would like to use them. If so, please message me directly.

Thanks!

Tennessee Colonial wrote:

No ESPN+. Will not come up.

You should count your blessings.

There has been a lot of talk on this board both this year and in the past focused on how it’s incredibly difficult for A10 teams to post high NET rankings and turn the A-10 into a serious multi-bid contender year in and year out. 

The Athletic has released their latest projections for the NCAA tournament, with an astounding six Mountain West teams in the current field.  While they acknowledge that that number is likely to go down as the season progresses, they do a great job in the article in discussing how MWC schools have made this happen for their conference.

Definitely worth a read!

https://theathletic.com/5227456/2024/01/26/ncaa-tournament-bracket-watch-mountain-west/?source=user_shared_article

PKGW wrote:

Patrick Steven’s with an article covering the game in the Post.

I saw that as well and shared in a separate thread.   Great to see this.