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
For Tar heels And Liga. Sounds like EC hitting the portal.
The March Madness coverage has, across the top of the screen, a scroll of scores (if other games are going on) and the upcoming games' tipoff times and networks.
Saturday, we're in a park near the arena, watching McNeese/Purdue end up. First game, so everything else is times/networks.
Except Drake/Texas Tech never got mentioned.
C'mon, CBS, there were only 16 games to manage to get up there.
if i was part of the UNC cbb brain trust i would've sat down EC after the Ole Miss loss and told him we'd love to have him back as the backup PG, but we understand if that isn't the right choice for him. obv this would mean we'd be parting ways
a team's ceiling is capped w him getting starting PG mins
all that said, who is this Trilly dude Redd? you seem plugged into the cbb social media world
He's anonymous, likely multiple people, and he/they know who is getting hired where and which players are entering the portal before it's announced. Likely multiple people connected to agencies.
i see. nice
we have a GM now (plus additional FO staffing is ongoing). i'm guessing we've already targeted/landed the player who will be running point next season
EC rumors on IC too. He can be replaced. He did not play up to his pedigree.
Pippen going portal too and Michigan still in the tourney lol
I mean, he's got a point.
I'll probably get what I deserve on that rant. Not too sure what that is. If Calipari can make a monkey out of Pitino, he can sure do it to me.
Moar like Elliot C'Adieu amirite?
Thinking about Drake's season on the drive back from Wichita. IIRC, against the big-time conferences"
Big 12, 2-1: vs OK St, @K St, L vs Texas Tech
ACC: 1-0: vs Miami
SEC: 2-0: vs Vandy, vs Mizzou
Of course, none of those teams are the cream of their conference. But still, for a mid-major, that's pretty good.
I heard teams in sweet 16 had one on ones with players yesterday to find out who was portalling. Crazy times we live
While I can see the downsides of current mega conference and NIL era ( lack of cindarella -only 1 10 seed or higher to sweet sixteen each of last 3 years after 3 or more prior couple years plus power 5 dominance) the tournament is still fun. Wagering still delivers, look at the point totals today bs just a few years ago. Would take a lot of bad to remove my enjoyment of round of 64 and 32.
They just need to have an actual schedule for the offseason. It seems like basketball should be easier to do because the offseason lines up where transfers can easily happen with the academic calendar, to the extent that even matters anymore.
Just play out the season, give the month of April for coaching changes, retirements, firings and hirings, then open the player Transfer Portal on May 1st.
