NCAA Basketball 2023-2024

He won't if they still win

Did not see the "John Mulaney steps to the line for Houston" plot twist coming

Do you guys honestly watch cbb for good decisions?

No. But anyone with half a brain understands how to run the defense there. Coaches getting paid millions who can't even figure it out is baffling.

who do you like in the Sweet 16?

Stanford / Iowa State women are on ESPN in overtime

this game is ****ing out of control

I don't think either team has missed in OT, back and forth

three different people texted me variations of this

incredible moment for that guy

this game has been entertaining

unlike yale / sdsu to end the evening

Until the conference gets blown up. So a couple more months.

All of KenPom's top 14 is in except Auburn. The remaining 3 are ranked 17, 23, and 52. NC State is the big cinderella left.

exactly. that's one reason i'm keeping track of all this. after this season it will be a futile excercise as half of the D1 teams will be ensconced within two mega conferences. this is the last go around, so to speak

major conferences post-season records thru 3/24
(including NIT games)

ACC: 11-4, 0.733

P12: 8-3, 0.727

BIG: 10-6, 0.625

BE: 7-5, 0.583

MWC: 6-5, 0.545

B12: 9-8, 0.529

SEC: 7-7, 0.500

and only the NCAAT

The Zach Edey of the women's game:

Drake men got assigned to Omaha, which is accessible to me, so went to the first round. Met my friend who was student manager with me a million years ago. Good to see Mark again and catch up. Unfortunately, my friend that lives in Omaha got a work call and couldn't meet for dinner.

Very disappointing. Sure, they lost, but played badly.

OTOH, the Cyclones and Illinois looked really good. Should be a great match-up this week.

For something different on the way back, decided to go I70 across Kansas. Considered stopping in Manhattan to watch the Drake women, but didn't think I could take seeing both sides lose to PAC12 teams for the last time.

Last night, Mark texted me that DeVries hired at West Virginia. As I responded to him, well, back to mediocrity.

Pups lose, Pups lose.

Zach Eaty
She misunderstood what was meant by her teammates feeding her the ball.

Little madness so far.

i'm so glad HOU faced adversity and almost lost yday. Kelvin Sampson is going to make this week's practice hell on his players. he's going to have his squad razor sharp this Fri and ready to dismantle dook

That is a lot of faith in Kelvin Sampson

I truly don't get what the expectations of any coach are if Rick Barnes and Kelvin Sampson are the coaches we don't have faith in.

Sampson took 3 years to revive Houston from being a doormat. He's had 7 straight years in the KP top 20, just won the Best conference in CBB in their first year up, has made 6 straight tournaments, made the S16 in 5 straight, and it would have been 6 straight if not for Jordan Poole hitting a 40 footer.

I get the impression of a very strong absolute zero.

Sampson is certainly greater than Barnes. With that said, those 2 have something like 65-70 seasons coached between them with 3 total FF appearances and no natty appearances. Clearly they are above average good to pretty good coaches, but fair or not due to the high variance nature, coaches are graded based on what they do in March; especially publicly.

Some coaches maintain the job simply for making the tournament. Some maintain the job simply for making the second weekend. And a few of the top schools require consistent FF and ships. With that said, even the coaches who maintain jobs for making the first or second weekend will be criticized if they never actually reach the pinnacle.

Houston overtime yet another big blow to the 'momentum is real' crowd. Also good job by Spero Dedes at sounding about 1.2% more animated for the best buzzer beater of the tourney as he is for a random 17 foot jumper with 18:23 left in the first half. This is why he and his terrible GUS impersonation is the worst announcer of all time.

The Avery Johnson crew is easily the worst. It's not even particularly close. But that has a lot to do with, well, Avery Johnson. Lappas also insufferable, but Catalon is good, so they can't be the worst.

I get all the arguments about how important it is to make Final Fours and win titles, but man, the non-Wooden GOAT in Coach K made 6 Final Fours between 1995 and 2022.

I just can't stand the arguments that look at only what happens in March when discussing how great coaches are when the best modern coach is making Final Fours less than 25% of the time.

Like what if in 2021, Villanova shoots better than 3 of 17 from three and knocks out Baylor? Then we're discussing Scott Drew in this same vein, but because he had one title run he gets to escape any of this for the rest of his career.

Fatter Lever