Rough night for the Terps offensively. 35% from the field and 12.5% from three.

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 (3/19/2023 11:22 pm)

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 (3/20/2023 7:38 am)

As the seconds ticked off at the end of the FAU-FDU game last night, FDU stopped fouling when down by 7, a sportsmanlike move not always done.
    But an FAU player decided to take advantage of not being guarded and try a last-second windmill-style dunk--even though the game was decided and no one was trying to stop him. His reward for this crass and unsportsmanlike gesture was karma: his most inappopriate move clanged off the back of the rim and rebounded pretty far back into the court, a further deserved humiliation.
   We went over this type of thing with a former player last year, though not in this situation. 
Basketball, aside, the former player, who at times, could score a lot, seemed from videos to be quite an asset to the GW community with multiple talents.
    And while one of his missed showy dunk attempts was when we were up by 20 and JC somehow approved and defended them, don't think he would do it in this situation.
    But if you were watching the game or saw the ill-conceived and fated attempt, didn't it seem a bit familiar.
It indeed seemed reminiscent of both the perils of trying to gain style points and failing--and of our struggles in recent years.
   

Nevertheless, quite a year for Shaka Smart.  Big East regular season champions for the first time in Marquette's history. The team had been predicted for a 9th place finish in the preseason.  Big East Tournament champions.  Unanimous selection for Big East Coach of the Year.  Beat big bad UCONN two out of three times, including in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

You really have to be a tremendous idiot, asshole, or both, to be taking shots at Shaka after the season he and his team just had.

With the retirments of so many legendary Coaches, real changing of the guard of active winningest Coaches in the NCAA Tourney

Self is #1,  Izzo, Pitino, Calipari,  Mark Few is now 5th with an incredible 40 NCAA Tourney wins already.

Not sure any of those guys is going to catch Coach K's total, but they're all at least in theory young enough if they stick around forever.

 

Last edited by The Dude (3/22/2023 7:28 pm)

Gonzaga back To  The Elite 8

What a game


That's two Gonzaga wins over UCLA in recent NCAA Tourney thrillers

Free Quebec wrote:

The Dude wrote:

Gonzaga back To  The Elite 8

What a game


That's two Gonzaga wins over UCLA in recent NCAA Tourney thrillers

And both on extremely deep 3 points in the final seconds.  What a shot from the logo by strawther.

Absolutely incredible stuff what drama

I know that Strawther made a nice long shot, but in the age of Steph Curry many, many players can make that shot if not contested or lightly contested as UCLA did last night. Mark Few commented after the game that Gonzaga practices that shot frequently in practice and Strawther usually makes it.  The question is why an experienced coach like Mick Cronin would take off the pressure defense that got him the lead from eight down in under a minute and give Gonzaga no resistance in inbounding the ball or setting up the final play.  When the play started there was 12.2 seconds left.   When Stawther's shot went through the hoop there were 7.2 seconds left.  Allowing two seconds for the shot from time of release to the time it went through the hoop, that means that it took Gonzaga just three seconds from inbounding the ball to release the shot to complete the play that ended up as the winning shot,

In almost the identical situation in the second round of the NIT Vanderbilt came from nine down to take a one-point lead over Michigan with 12.2 seconds left.  Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse had his team continue to pressure full court that allowed Vandy to get the lead to make Michigan uncomfortable and kill time.  Like Gonzaga, Michigan has a dominant big man in Hunter Dickenson and Stackhouse's strategy to pressure Michigan forced Michigan to take a shot by Dickenson under pressure that missed along with a missed rushed follow-up and Michigan lost  the game running out of time.with the ball in their hands.  Finally, if Gonzaga has a weakness it is not great point guard play and they are susceptible to pressure defense.  Always make the offense uncomfortable and don't allow them to make a play they practice all the time.

LA Colonial wrote:

I know that Strawther made a nice long shot, but in the age of Steph Curry many, many players can make that shot if not contested or lightly contested as UCLA did last night. Mark Few commented after the game that Gonzaga practices that shot frequently in practice and Strawther usually makes it.  The question is why an experienced coach like Mick Cronin would take off the pressure defense that got him the lead from eight down in under a minute and give Gonzaga no resistance in inbounding the ball or setting up the final play.  When the play started there was 12.2 seconds left.   When Stawther's shot went through the hoop there were 7.2 seconds left.  Allowing two seconds for the shot from time of release to the time it went through the hoop, that means that it took Gonzaga just three seconds from inbounding the ball to release the shot to complete the play that ended up as the winning shot,

In almost the identical situation in the second round of the NIT Vanderbilt came from nine down to take a one-point lead over Michigan with 12.2 seconds left.  Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse had his team continue to pressure full court that allowed Vandy to get the lead to make Michigan uncomfortable and kill time.  Like Gonzaga, Michigan has a dominant big man in Hunter Dickenson and Stackhouse's strategy to pressure Michigan forced Michigan to take a shot by Dickenson under pressure that missed along with a missed rushed follow-up and Michigan lost  the game running out of time.with the ball in their hands.  Finally, if Gonzaga has a weakness it is not great point guard play and they are susceptible to pressure defense.  Always make the offense uncomfortable and don't allow them to make a play they practice all the time.

Spot on all around, 💯.  Great analysis