GW Hoops » NCAA Tourney Thread

The Dude · 3/15/2023 6:26 pm

Let The Madness begin.

Go VCU.

Watch out for Furman for the biggest upset this year.

Alabama looks like the team to beat this year.

The Dude · 3/16/2023 12:50 am

Bobby Hurley and Arizona St with one of the all time biggest evenly matched blowouts in Tourney history.

Was a little surprised he jumped so quickly from Buffalo to a tough to win at Pac-12 option. Arizona St has been to the 2nd round twice since 1995, and never beyond since 95. (instead of waiting for some East Coast better option like his brother landed)

Not a great look for The Mountain West which has not won any NCAA Tourney games since 2018.

I think TCU is going down next to the Sun Devils. They're a lot better than their seed (weak resume though, very lucky to get in) they have talent that matches up with almost anyone.

Last edited by The Dude (3/16/2023 1:00 am)

The Dude · 3/16/2023 1:51 pm

Furman takes down UVA! what a game

The Madness Hath Begun!

BC · 3/16/2023 2:02 pm

Wouldn't it be nice if Howard could take down Kansas.

The Dude · 3/16/2023 2:32 pm

BC wrote:
Wouldn't it be nice if Howard could take down Kansas.

It certainly would. Might be asking too much but they hung with them most of the half

Furman: Exhibit 713 the very best smaller programs are nearly/as good as the 30-70 KenPom Power 5 teams

Big win for Kevin Willard and Maryland. Did a great job at Seton Hall, year 1 a big success in College Park too

The Dude · 3/16/2023 5:35 pm

15s (Princeton) winning and 13s (Furman) getting more and more common, is a pretty good argument for a field of 96

Not only can the 13-15s be very competitive vs the very best teams, but so can the 28 left out by the current field size.

The Dude · 3/17/2023 2:42 pm

Ace Baldwin appears to have a possible serous injury, not ideal for VCU. Although may be returning to the court here

Sean Miller instantly restorted Xavier to the top....but then as he often did at Arizona almost lost a huge upset. Bailed out by some very bad calls.

Meanwhile his Arizona recruits.... huge upset to Princeton! as big as it gets.

DC Native · 3/17/2023 3:46 pm

Not a good showing by the A10/VCU. Probably would have been closer if Baldwin hadn’t tweaked his ankle.

The Dude · 3/17/2023 6:37 pm

Saint Mary's the #11 NET team, big ask with or without Ace. The 12 seed vs the best computer 5 seed, VCU maybe beats Miami or other 5ish seeds.

Hurley 1 Pitino 0. Blowout win for UConn, Pitino's last game at Iona surely.

Adama Sanogo with an incredible game.

Tennessee Colonial · 3/17/2023 8:31 pm

#16 FDU beats #1 Purdue. And to think FDU didn't even win their conference tourney.

GW0509 · 3/17/2023 9:02 pm

Saw this on Twitter:

From 6:41 to :55, Purdue didn’t attempt a single two point FG shot. While in the double bonus.
With 7’4” Zach Edey, the presumptive player of the year.
Against the smallest team in the country. .

Edey should be a cheat code. Horrific coaching job by Painter.

Thomas · 3/17/2023 9:05 pm

Tennessee Colonial wrote:
#16 FDU beats #1 Purdue. And to think FDU didn't even win their conference tourney.

yeah, I just saw that Merrimac won the conference tournament but is ineligible for the NCAA tournament because they just recently moved up to Division 1. Purdue/Matt Painter is now developing a rep for being a choker in the NCAA tournament, this is the third straight year they've been eliminated by a double-digit seed. What was hilarious to me, is how the massively undersized Fairleigh Dickinson team kept getting rebounds over 7-4 (he appears to be even taller than that) Zach Edey in the final minutes. I understand NBA teams being able to use quickness and "small ball" to phase out and/or neutralize traditional back-to-the-basket post players (similar to Edey) but an undermanned, lesser talented team like FDU shouldn't be able to do that to Purdue!

Also, the twitterverse and the Georgetown board seem to believe that Providence coach Ed Cooley agreed to take the Georgetown job a few days ago, now that Kentucky just ended Providence season, we'll see how quickly he gets named the coach at Georgetown.

Alum '04 · 3/17/2023 9:06 pm

GW0509 wrote:
Saw this on Twitter:

From 6:41 to :55, Purdue didn’t attempt a single two point FG shot. While in the double bonus.
With 7’4” Zach Edey, the presumptive player of the year.
Against the smallest team in the country. .

Edey should be a cheat code. Horrific coaching job by Painter.

Painter is the most overrated, overpaid coach in D-1

The Dude · 3/17/2023 11:02 pm

FAU vs FDU round of 32....The Madness!

Nothing better in sports

BC · 3/18/2023 9:30 am

UVA is happy now that it is no longer alone in the 1 vs 16 upset category.

The Dude · 3/18/2023 12:41 pm

People used to say Tony Bennett and Bill Self and Jay Wright were the most overrated most overpaid Coaches too, because being very successful means you get lots of very high seeds and will get upset. Then they all won National Titles and the storyline about them faded away.

Matt Painter has 17 NCAA Tourney wins at Purdue, but he does have now several huge upset losses.
That said he's 209-120 in The Big 10 and they win big almost every year under Painter.

Since he got the top job at Purdue (as a 34 year old) in-state rivals Indiana have fired:

Mike Davis. Kelvin Sampson. Tom Crean. Archie Miller.

Last edited by The Dude (3/18/2023 1:29 pm)

The Dude · Yesterday 2:23 pm

Sean Miller back to the Sweet 16

3rd straight year with a 15 in The Sweet 16

Horrendous year for The Blue Bloods!

DC Native · Yesterday 11:21 pm

The Dude wrote:
Sean Miller back to the Sweet 16

3rd straight year with a 15 in The Sweet 16

Horrendous year for The Blue Bloods!

True to some extent, although UCLA and Michigan State are still alive.

What’s interesting to me is that the Sweet 16 includes representatives from 11 conferences. The only conferences with multiple teams left are the Big East and SEC with 3 teams each and the Big 12 with 2. The Big 10 was once again overrated by the pundits, the computer rankings, and the selection committee…

With teams still left from 5 non-power conferences, it seems the A10 continues to fall behind the mid-majors it once led.

Last edited by DC Native (Yesterday 11:22 pm)

The Dude · Today 12:43 am

Well, yeah very good Tourney for the now power 5s.

8 Straight Sweet 16s
For Gonzaga
3rd school in History (Duke, UNC)

Seeing how well the non power 5s did would be nice to see more bids in the future

Schools like Florida Atlantic showed how legit they are. Computer numbers are no fluke

Free Quebec · Today 7:37 am

There’s been an interesting pattern throughout the NCAA tourney - teams going away from their best player and losing ground because of it.

Purdue started chucking threes instead of going to Edey and lost. Yesterday Mike Miles didn’t touch the ball during the decisive stretch late in the second half for TCU. For Kansas Jalen Wilson didn’t take a shot from 11 minutes left until the final minute, during which they lost their lead. Even Texas stopped going to Dylan Disu, who was dominating, down the stretch to lose their lead, but they figured it out the last 3 minutes or so and that got them control of the game back.

It actually reminds me of the mistake GW made in the 1994 second round against UCONN where midway through the second half we stopped going inside to Yinka. Yinka had been dominating that game and we were right in it, but we stopped going to our best player and fell behind. Teams really need to make their best players are getting shots down the stretch.

Last edited by Free Quebec (Today 7:38 am)