A lot of less than stellar basketball being played in this tournament. Representative of a year when there were very few high level teams.

The Marshall/WVU game has been awful.

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Hey, if UMBC had hit anything in the last 6 minutes, they'd be in the Sweet Sixteen.

At the risk of repeating myself, the Wolfpack is no joke.

Every year the tourney reminds me that most coaches are recruiters in good suits who aren't that great when it comes to in-game coaching. Looking at you, Mick Cronin and Chris Mack. Well, glaring at you.

Only four of the top eight seeds made it to the Sweet 16, and only seven of the top sixteen.

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No #1's OR #2's, at all, on the left side of the bracket...but two #7's and two #9's.

(03-18-2018 10:03 PM)billymac Wrote:  Hey, if UMBC had hit anything in the last 6 minutes, they'd be in the Sweet Sixteen.

Just 6 minutes? Before the shot at the buzzer, they literally had 2 fg's in the final 15 minutes. The game was theirs for the taking.

Yeah, after hitting so many contested threes vs. UVA, they missed a ton of "practice" (no defender even in the same zip code...) threes, and layups, in the final 10 minutes.

Can someone start humming "what a difference a day makes..."?

I watched a part of the game early and was looking forward to seeing UMBC in the Sweet 16. Bummer.

I can't get excited about the narrative that Syracuse, FL State and KS State are Cinderella's. I may watch less of the NCAA tournament this year than in any year I can remember. The only 2 teams that engender excitement, Nevada and Loyola are paired against each other.

The selection committee has taken much of the joy out of the tournament.

Syracuse is no Cinderella and neither is Florida State. I don't know much about K State. Nevada appears to be a ton of transfers meshed together, but they are meshed very well.

I don't see more mid majors getting in via the at large bid(would love to be wrong on that). So, there will be roughly 20 auto spots for mid majors. One neat stat I saw was that the MVC is 10-0 in their last 10 games in the opening round of the tourney(Thur/Fri). That is super impressive. Granted much of that was N Iowa and Wichita State, but still amazing. Meanwhile Charleston lost a great opportunity against Auburn who performed terribly in both of their games. Not just W&M, but all the CAA schools will need to schedule more aggressively and wins some OOC games for things to change. But, exposure in March for programs is invaluable as some have said. UMBC and Loyola may see major benefits from the success they had this weekend.

Cannot say I was sorry to see Michigan State and UNC go down(even though I really dislike Syracuse).

Twice in the last 8 seconds Syracuse fouled Sparty while up 3 to prevent a 3 pointer even though Sparty couldn't hit a 3 to save their lives. Both times Sparty opted to make both free throws and play defense instead of trying to miss the FT and grab the rebound even though they were killing Syracuse on the glass all game. Syracuse threw Sparty into the briar patch and Sparty still didn't know what to do. In a weekend of questionable coaching what Izzo did (not just in those 8 seconds, but the entire game) stood out in part because he's supposed to be good at the in-game stuff.

(03-19-2018 08:29 AM)billymac Wrote:  Yeah, after hitting so many contested threes vs. UVA, they missed a ton of "practice" (no defender even in the same zip code...) threes, and layups, in the final 10 minutes.

Can someone start humming "what a difference a day makes..."?

Teams with no depth get exposed on the weekends in the tournament. UMBC looked completely gassed for the last 10-15 minutes of the game.

(03-19-2018 06:00 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(03-19-2018 08:29 AM)billymac Wrote:  Yeah, after hitting so many contested threes vs. UVA, they missed a ton of "practice" (no defender even in the same zip code...) threes, and layups, in the final 10 minutes.

Can someone start humming "what a difference a day makes..."?

Teams with no depth get exposed on the weekends in the tournament. UMBC looked completely gassed for the last 10-15 minutes of the game.

I think it was more of UMBC used up all of their made 3s against UVA and bricked a ton of 3s (despite a good amount of them being wide open) and FTs yesterday. They were still outhustling K St. and forcing them into a lot of turnovers. Lyles having a stinker hurt also, as he was most of their offense this season.

The NIT is heating up. St Mary’s, with their one seed, continues to host. Playing in a genuine snake pit, look for them to fade in MSG. My picks for the weekend include FSU, coached by the great Leonard Hamilton, and the aforementioned Wolfpack from Reno. UNR, where the N stands for nowledge. Told to me laughingly by an alum. The Utes won in OT at Moraga. Rare event. Shows you how much I know.

Pretty strong rumors floating around that Gonzaga is tired of the "Church League" (WCC) and will move soon to the Mountain West, joining teams like Nevada, Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, etc. That should definitely strengthen the MWC.

(03-22-2018 08:34 AM)billymac Wrote:  Pretty strong rumors floating around that Gonzaga is tired of the "Church League" (WCC) and will move soon to the Mountain West, joining teams like Nevada, Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV, etc. That should definitely strengthen the MWC.

I can understand the interest from the Mountain West to get an almost yearly NCAAT autobid added to the conference. How does adding more competition benefit Gonzaga? With the way they recruit and the success they've had, probably better off where they are. Of course, a lot can change when Mark Few retires/leaves. Being in the MW might set them up for success if there is a drop off post Few.

Is the MWC going to take a school with no football team? That would be out of character

If it means an automatic entry (and thus one more pay slot from the NCAA Tourney Cash Machine), I think they will have no problem being a bit out of character.

Not sure if this was posted but Wright Foreman to the draft per twitter. He won’t hire an agent either.

Anybody else having problems with csnbbs/Tribe Talk?
I am being asked to authenticate and sign in...for EACH PAGE.

Pretty strange.