NCAA Basketball 2023-2024

add 7 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, and 5 turnovers

Auriemma keeps roaming around on the sidelines over there, looks like he got lost a couple times. I think he's in the "Old Timer's Club."

that's gotta suck to be Van Lith.. like you allegedly are sick and getting IVs before the game and your coach is just like, "hey, we have no absolutely game plan for the greatest scorer in our sports history. we dont want to get our star tired by guarding her, so you just go out there and try to guard her yourself. oh and we aren't even going to hedge on screens. have fun!" and then you just get predictably torched and twitter just says your trash all night.

So Mulkey has one finger extended, the middle one, across her chin during her press conference. Check it out. "F the media??" Wonder if she's pulling a Csonka?

It's so bad, stupid, and inexcusable that I suspect some kind of Belichick thing. She's like that, hard core a-hole. Like Belichick did with Butler. BTW, did Butler just die in the news recently? Gonna check.

Purdue should run when Burns and Clingan are in the game, then go half court when they hit the bench. Clingan has had foot problems and seems like their conditioning is suspect.

Bama seems like another bad matchup for UConn for the same reasons. If they shoot well and just run on the gas and chuck quick threes all game I think they'll be a lot closer than most people expect.

Here are D1 possessions per game rankings for UConn's tournament opponents this season:

#6 Alabama

#87 Illinois
#231 San Diego State
#293 Stetson
#328 Northwestern

Illinois hung with Connecticut except for that 10 minute stretch when their coach said he didn't care if Clingan blocked 100 shots, they were just going to keep going at him anyway.

Bama should play their fastest game all season. Purdue usually doesn't have to with Edey posting down low but their guards are more than capable.

let's hold our horses

there's a 37% chance we don't even see this match-up

Another bad matchup like....?

I'm not tracking why this is relevant tbh

To me this just reads "UConn still a double digit favorite, the total is just higher than in previous games"

If it ends up being Bama / Purdue with Purdue getting the same whistle as before, I think there's a decent chance Oats gets ejected. Has that ever happened in a NCG?

not sure about a NCG, but Dean Smith was ejected in the national semis at the '91 F4. the opponent was KU. UNC was down 5 pts w 35 seconds left

Alabama can beat UConn playing like this:

Isn't high possessions per game partially a function of awful defense?

Illinois didn't score a point for the first 4 minutes of the game. If you watched that game and thought UConn was going to lose at any point, you obviously haven't watched much of the huskies. Clingan sat extended minutes in the first half with one foul. That second half bet was free money.

They can! They're still a double digit dog for good reason.

DK dealing Connecticut -5.5 against Purdue. Im tryna eat

over fouing has long been an intentional strategy, thinking the refs will be afraid to call all the fouls. coaches will judge that committing 50 fouls and getting called for 15 (still a lot) is better defense than committing 7 fouls and getting called for 5, trying to stay out of the bonus. as long as an irreplaceable player doesn't foul out or otherwise get sidelined

belichick was the master of this in the nfl and in hockey there's almost a rule no penalties in the last 5 minutes of games

now fans are complaining because fouls are actually being called. to kinda quote that illinois coach, if they foul edey 100 times, he should go to the line 100 times. the tendency to think that's excessive or rigged is just because it's outside normal expectation. if someone doesn't like it, don't foul him. figure out a different strategy.

i've even seen different talking heads in the media these last couple weeks saying the opposing coaches should keep working the refs in their press conferences before the game and during the game and after the game, get them to swallow the whistle.

that beta crying and pleading and coercing is so engrained in the culture it's practically second nature for every team to stick with that approach.

Stop doing drugs.

aka Izzoing

Utah has hit 17(!!) threes tonight. Currently down 12 with a minute to play.

this guy is so made wow lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGjGuWZ...