Obviously our season is over but figured we could start a thread to discuss games going on whether in the conference or not.
As far as our conference looks like UNCW will open the tournament at noon on Thursday against Duke. Hofstra plays on the road at George Washington in the NIT on Wednesday at 8 pm on ESPN3.
There has been a lot of parity this year in college hoops and of course the mid majors got the short end of the stick last night. This year seems very eerie on the matchups. I mean that it looks like the committee had specific matchups they wanted and formed brackets in a way to try and get all of those matchups, while making it very difficult for a mid major to go on any type of run (on paper). There will be upsets, dont get me wrong, but compared to past years it seems like there will be fewer chances for upsets in the first round.
Ive pretty much got Wichita winning their play in then beating arizona, beating miami, Hawai'i beating Cal, and UNCW beating Duke. Thats it. The other good mids that made the tournament got some rough draws like Little Rock, SFA, Iona, Gonzaga, UNI, Chattanooga. We shall see but it seems like the committee made extra sure we were not going to have a deep run by a cinderella.
Bash got a huge win last night as his 8th seeded Wagner squad upset top seeded Bonnies in the NIT.
The Dub hanging tough with Duke heading towards halftime, currently up 26-25. Was feeling good about their chances heading in, refs seem like they are going to be a factor though. Shocking, I know.
(03-17-2016 12:01 PM)DrachenFire Wrote: [ -> ]The Dub hanging tough with Duke heading towards halftime, currently up 26-25. Was feeling good about their chances heading in, refs seem like they are going to be a factor though. Shocking, I know.
Yup, very shocking for a Duke game. Barely have to breathe on Allen and its a foul. UNCW has no answer to Ingram, not that many teams do. At least they are shooting well enough to stay in it right now.
Plumlee is killing UNCW. So many fouls. Still a close game. Will be an interesting finish if they get Plumlee his fifth quickly.
Tough loss for UNCW. Good showing though.
Thought Keats stuck with the press a little too long which let Plumlee kill them. Nice showing by the Hawks.
I was ok with it but 3 straight plays the back guy came up to help and gave them lobs. The press is how they play so not suprised, but you gotta know where you are and when to help or not help. The block call on UNCW sealed that game. If that is a charge a good chance you had a 2 point game after Ponder's ridiculously long 3. That was a huge game changing call. Without Jones and Plumlee, Duke was just praying to hold on
Yeah, I mean I realize that's who they are and Duke isn't deep this year, just seemed as though Duke didn't have too many real issues with breaking it and UNCW in its rush to get back and defend found themselves out of position too often.
And yes, that foul at the end was just awful, and Gettys fifth was just a dumb play on his part. As the announcers said, he was more important than the two points he would have given up. Those and the Seahawks had, like, 4-5 threes that went half way down only to pop back out. Oh well, more importantly the league seems to have recovered from the defections and can hopefully start to win some tourney games in the future (hopefully we will help). It's also been nice rooting for the CAA representative the last two years with a clean conscience.
Hopefully next year we introduce some zone defense into the mix. Either that or we have to get quicker feet on defense and not really on the hands so much.
It's funny to me that handsy, press and run teams like UNCW are so exciting and entertaining to watch, yet the NCAA has encouraged refs to call games tighter to keep the games moving quickly and entertaining. Does the exact opposite and makes no sense to me.
In other news from the day. Yale choked hard but still held on for a nice upset. Purdue choked hard and did everything in their power to lose. Both Baylor and Purdue had chances at the end and coughed up the ball without being defended. Interesting to see major programs making such simple mistakes costing them everything (for the season anyhow).
FGCU played a solid first half. Very surprised the UNC defense was semi exposed. They are starting to pull away but FGCU continue to show that they really should have been a 15 seed and not a play-in 16
I agree on that seeding issue. There were a lot of poor seeds given in this tournament.
(03-17-2016 08:25 PM)CoastGuardHawk06 Wrote: [ -> ]I agree on that seeding issue. There were a lot of poor seeds given in this tournament.
Absolutely agree. They seeded for matchups and didnt hide that fact this year. Also seemed like they matched up strong mids against teams that were bad matchups for them (UNI, WSU, UALR, SFA etc). Very glad Purdue choked since UALR is a really good team this year but Purdue was just a bad matchup for them. Really wasnt seeing a Yale upset today either so that was also a pleasant surprise. No matter how hard they try to knock the mids down some always tend to rise anyhow.
I can't remember the last time I saw a power conference team meltdown against a mid as severely as Purdue did in the last 3:30 of that game. And Baylor screws me every year, and for some reason I always come back. Prince from Baylor's answer in the post game press conference was pretty good though.
(03-18-2016 10:25 AM)DrachenFire Wrote: [ -> ]I can't remember the last time I saw a power conference team meltdown against a mid as severely as Purdue did in the last 3:30 of that game. And Baylor screws me every year, and for some reason I always come back. Prince from Baylor's answer in the post game press conference was pretty good though.
It was accurate lol. But yes what a meltdown and terrible decision making. Even with Purdue trying to give UALR the win they were hesitant to take it and still needed some ridiculously bad shots to go in to win.
lol @ Matt Painter's wikipedia page, which was edited to read the following:
Quote:2015–16 season
Despite having two NBA-level 7-footers and several other near-NBA level talent, Painter once again lost early in the NCAA tourney and otherwise performed below expectations as has been his repeated practice during his coaching career since the "baby Boilers" left the university.
Purdue fans not very happy, and rightfully so.
Welp, my pick for champion is about to go down in its first game. Enjoy the rest of the tournament everyone!
What an ending to the second day! A half court heave at the buzzer for UNI to knock off Shaka and Texas, and a dunk at the buzzer for Cincinnati against the Hawks that was a split second too late. First time ever a 13, 14 and 15 seed all won on the same day, and a new record of 10 double digit seeds advancing to the Round of 32.
It has been awesome. MSU losing was the only one I couldnt see happening. I am glad so many smaller guys are taking advantage even though it will likely just further the committees opinion on keeping the mids out and spoiling their party. So many close games, its been one of the best tournaments in my opinion. With all of these "upsets" it is a shame UNCW couldnt join the party.
For todays games there are some great matchups and I dont think I have ever seen 2 11 seeds favored before (Wichita and Gonzaga). Just shows the craziness this season.
Another good day of hoops yesterday. WSU started the game down 27-6 to Miami before coming back and taking the lead 43-42. As soon as they took the lead Angel Rodriguez decided enough was enough and wen ton a tear until the end of the game. He went 9-11 and seemingly anything he through at the basket went it. Tough loss for Wichita but for periods of the game they were certainly the better team. But shooting ~35% for the game will make it tough to win any game. Since WSU was favored this was technically an upset with the 3 beating the 11
Gonzaga played their best game of the year and made Utah look like a high school team. Congrats to them. Not really an upset since they were favored, even though it was an 11 versus 3.
Butler gave UVA a good run before running out of gas at the end where the UVA defense showed why they are one of the best.
Today should give us some good games as well, starting with Iowa and Nova. To continue showing how poorly seeded the tournament was, SFA is favored by 1 as the 14 seed today against #6 Notre Dame.