NCAA Basketball Thread 2024-2025
Quick OP here just to get us up and running
Things to watch for this year:
1. Can UConn 3-peat? Hurley won back to back championships with Clingan, Tristen Newton, and company. Can he make it a third with only one returning starter?
2. Who will be this years national player of the year? Zach Edey was the best player I've seen play college basketball in my lifetime. People throw the term generational talent around alot and Edey was truly a generational talent winning back to back national player of the year awards. But, now he's gone. So who can win the award?
- the 5th year guards in Mark Sears(Alabama) and RJ Davis(UNC) are a good spot to start. Both elite shooters and engines of an offense, they should lead two really good teams.
- the 5th year centers in Hunter Dickinson(Kansas) and Ryan Kallbrenner(Creighton) are also viable options. They'll be the anchors to what should be two really good teams.
- The phenoms: Cooper Flagg(Duke), Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper(Rutgers), VJ Edgecombe(Baylor), and Tre Johnson(Texas) lead a loaded freshman class.
3. Who are the contenders?
Spoiler
Lettuce college basketball
Big ten not doing as great round 2
I like the way Florida won that game in terms of how it bodes for their title chances.
wowzers
CSU player should be ejected
unreal
It was obviously never going to sustain itself, but Goodman brought up a good point yesterday.
Most major conferences got some bubble area teams into the field but the Big Ten basically had zero of those teams in. They had 8 teams in, all seeded 2 through 7.
Nique helping CSU elbow past a mighty mighty mighty mighty BIG opponent
many those are going to be pricey tix at Lucas Oil
Wild ending
Bro just gonna run all the way to the hoop without dribbling I guess.
I said, "Who wants the ball." He said, "Give me the MF ball."
.
To madness beggars:
New Mexico is our last hope.
Houston I guess would kinda be a cool story, although now they're a power conference team so **** em.
I own UNM in my Calcutta and because of no madness at all if they win this they chop the "low seed win" bonus for 2R with Arkansas.
LFG Lobos.
Commentary for CSU/maryland finish among the worst I’ve ever heard
Looks like that picture of gall, Calipari, beat the other two active coaches with the most career wins in the first two rounds, Pitino and Self. (Including all wins, even those cancelled by NCAA. So basically the other two GOAT active coaches he beat.) Amazing.
Taking Arkansas to break stride right here as they just had an enormous emotional release, and are talking in retrospective ways about how rewarding the season has been. Even Calipari is doing that, he's in a different space than other tournament runs. That was a special, peak achievement for them. They came into March wondering if they'd be in the dance, with no designs on a deep run, totally unsure about round 1, then an ultimate situation got dumped in their lap for round 2.
They climbed that mountain, so their peak experience came very early in the tournament ... kind of like a Yale winning in Round 1. Super orgasm win. Not the business of routine winning Calipari is known for. The all-for-one intensity they shaped into won't be there on Thursday, and they'll get cut up.
That's the theory. They are super hard to play against and Pitino knew it, but my take is it's done. Weird space they are in. Coach taking bows on the season sort of subconsciously, talking about how rewarding it's all been.
Next behavior: flat.
Taking Arkansas to break stride right here as they just had an enormous emotional release, and are talking in retrospective ways about how rewarding the season has been. Even Calipari is doing that, he's in a different space than other tournament runs. That was a special, peak achievement for them. They came into March wondering if they'd be in the dance, with no designs on a deep run, totally unsure about round 1, then an ultimate situation got dumped in their lap for round 2.
They climbed that
How many units do we wager against them?
DellOrso gets himself open by himself twice with no screen and buries 4 free throws to ice it.
Great fight in the Walton memorial Conference of Champions reprisal
That's a good question. I don't think it will work. That's my first take on the situation, spelled out there, of which I am a master, have been for 50 years. But I don't do tout services and I rarely give up plays beforehand. Cherry picking one play out of thousands isn't a good recipe.
Calipari's history in the tournament is nothing short of amazing (this drought the last five years notwithstanding). He just took down a 2-seed, maybe should have been a 1-seed, with a 9th place team that shot 2-19 from 3 and gave up 28 offensive rebounds. The vast majority of the time in such situations you lose by about 30 or 40. However, they had St. Johns totally mismatched in terms of being able to score on them. As in 10% on 3's and 10% on layups. Pitino was wise to this factor of course; he played against that kind of Calipari team for years (UK vs. UofL). Somehow he was staring right at it again with a 2-seed versus a team that finished ahead of 4 teams in a 16 team conference. "Shyt, we can't score." Somehow they managed 21 field goals in 40 minutes.
I don't know near enough about Texas Tech. I'll do some homework on it. I don't have much of a feel at all for how they play into Arkansas's strengths. I might be too hot to be right here: 9-1 in tournament (and that's not counting all those live action bets on Arkansas vs. St. Johns).
Pups lose their HC
sorry golddog
Yeah, friend texted me that this morning. No surprise. I bet Iowa gets a guard too.
Thanks for the thought though ligastar.
Did some research. If my analysis is correct, Drake's last non-First-Four NCAA win was March 18, 1971 vs Notre Dame.
Spoiler
In Wichita
Of course, the Pups won a First Four game a couple years back
Spoiler
vs Wichita State
Love the drake
