Sweet 16 Discussion

[Wally Pryor 5381]

- Horns are in. Damn straight. Great, resilient effort v. Penn State. It will beat Xavier, who will beat Pitt.

- Sampson wants nothing more than to see and murder IU. UH guards both look okay. Trouble for other teams. 

- San Diego State is cocksure of itself, for good reason - length, athleticism and confidence. Bama matchup will be tasty. 

- And on the subject, Oats is a clown and Miller may well have been an accessory to a murder. But the former has somehow kept his team focused and the latter is the best player in the tournament as long as he stays out of the cage. Fascinating team, for many reasons. Some not good. 

- The only upside to seeing more of Arkansas is seeing more of Musselman's wife.

- FAU should probably opt out of Tennessee. Ask Filpkowski and his face / forehead.

More to come, add as you wish.

(And as a side note both Iowa State and Missouri should be banned from the tournament for a year for vaginal efforts that embarrassed the game.)

[SOBMarcos 60]

Xavier is slicing and dicing Pitt… they look pretty good and well coached

[Wally Pryor 5381]

 

- CBS moved early tips on Thursday and Friday up 40 +/- minutes. Those two games have always started just after 6:00 central. 

- Sampson won’t be able to exact any revenge on and molest IU. Miami gets it instead.

- Sparty and K-State is going to be outstanding; no need to worry about breathing exercises during timeouts from either coach.  #laughatshaka

- Barnes has to beat FAU. No option, It's FAU, a basketball juggernaut. Tenny will try and make this another football game.

- Creighton will dispose of Princeton. The latter shoots wide open 3s really well and hustles alot but so do teams at the Y. 

- Zags and UCLA will be fun. Both play their conference tourneys in Vegas so they’re comfortable in the setting. Bruins dodged another injury situation, sounds like Singleton will play. Clark’s still done and that could be its undoing. But you never bet against Jacquez and Campbell. Timme, either, I guess after last night’s performance.  

 

[Underdog 29006]

Princeton/Creighton and UTenn/FAU are about the only "dud" matchups and that's mainly due to the others being stellar.  A lot of really good teams still playing, both Miami and UConn look good, Aztecs, should be another good weekend of action. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

Miami and Houston might be the best game out of the bunch. Both teams are physical and like to scrap. I'm expecting some altercations in that game. 

The refs are going to have a handful in that one. 

 

[BurntOrange&White 41360]

5 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Princeton/Creighton and UTenn/FAU are about the only "dud" matchups and that's mainly due to the others being stellar.  A lot of really good teams still playing, both Miami and UConn look good, Aztecs, should be another good weekend of action. 

I don't think so with regards to Princeton/Creighton. I think that could end up being a pretty good basketball game. Miami/Houston is an interesting matchup from an athletic basketball standpoint. I feel like Arkansas/UCONN is a bigger dud.


 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

I picked Miami and Texas to make the elite 8 in my bracket. 

I think they're a bad match up for Houston. They have better guards than Houston (especially if Sasser isn't 100%) and Houston's style of play is not going to be a shock to Miami like it is to most teams. 

[BurntOrange&White 41360]

7 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I picked Miami and Texas to make the elite 8 in my bracket. 

I think they're a bad match up for Houston. They have better guards than Houston (especially if Sasser isn't 100%) and Houston's style of play is not going to be a shock to Miami like it is to most teams. 

Houston's plays good defense and should be a nightmare for a small Miami team downlow. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

13 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Houston's plays good defense and should be a nightmare for a small Miami team downlow. 

Houston is not big. The tallest player is 6'7 that gets regular minutes.

They're just really physical at every position (especially guard/wing). 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Rickylovesweed

[BurntOrange&White 41360]

13 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Houston is not big. The tallest player is 6'7 that gets regular minutes.

They're just really physical at every position (especially guard/wing). 

Miami isn't big either but as you pointed out the physicality will be key.

[Wally Pryor 5381]

5 hours ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I picked Miami and Texas to make the elite 8 in my bracket. 

I think they're a bad match up for Houston. They have better guards than Houston (especially if Sasser isn't 100%) and Houston's style of play is not going to be a shock to Miami like it is to most teams. 

Sasser looked fine Saturday. Moving around fine and shot it well beyond the arc (6 for 9). Would have played more than 31 minutes had it not been for foul trouble. Sheed's knee may be a bigger issue than Sasser's groin.

I think Houston wins by 6 - 8 points but we'll see.

[The Ace of Aces 5353]

My rough thoughts:

• Izzy finds a way to slow down Nowell and they pull out a win 
• Uconn rolls over pig fairly easily
• Tennessee plays a football scrimmage and FAU has no idea how to handle the defense and the game isn't too close
• I'd think Gonzaga v UCLA is a pick 'em. I'll take UCLA.
• SDSU is good, but Alabama is better. Alabama by 15 or so.
• First to 80 wins Houston vs Miami. Give me Houston in the win. 
• Princeton's run is great, but it ends with Creighton winning without much trouble
• Texas beats Xavier in a close back-and-forth game

[CashMcCoy 3316]

Honestly Tennessee’s football team this past season might score more points than their basketball team as of late.

[Js1 86397]

ESPN predictions from Borzello, Gasaway and Medcalf

MSU/KSU - KSU 2/3
Arky/UConn - UConn sweeps
Tenn/FAU - Tenn sweeps
Gonzaga/UCLA - UCLA sweeps
Alabama/SDSU - Alabama sweeps
Miami/UH - UH sweeps
Princeton/Creighton - Creighton sweeps
Xavier/Texas - Texas 2/3 (Borzello and Gasaway say we win by 3, Medcalf says we lose by 2)

Common denominator in Borzello and Gasaway's picks - Xavier has an average defense, which will be their downfall 

[Underdog 29006]

29 minutes ago, CashMcCoy said:

Honestly Tennessee’s football team this past season might score more points than their basketball team as of late.

Survive and advance at this juncture, style points mean squat. 

[CashMcCoy 3316]

8 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Survive and advance at this juncture, style points mean squat. 

No doubt. It was more of a compliment towards their potent offense this football season.

[Wally Pryor 5381]

I really like what I saw from Michigan State yesterday. Sometimes it's fine to get knocked out early in a conference tourney. (See Texas '03 in the run to New Orleans.)

Sparty has that mix of blue collar, tough guys around the paint along with some nice talent on the perimeter and Hauser seems to love to take, and make, big shots. Izzo is Izzo. Nowell seemed to hit a wall at the end of the conference season but now he's playing teams that have not seen him and he's capable of carving up any defense, over and over. 

This will be a fun game.

[Wally Pryor 5381]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:37 PM, The Ace of Aces said:

My rough thoughts:

• Izzy finds a way to slow down Nowell and they pull out a win 
• Uconn rolls over pig fairly easily
• Tennessee plays a football scrimmage and FAU has no idea how to handle the defense and the game isn't too close
• I'd think Gonzaga v UCLA is a pick 'em. I'll take UCLA.
• SDSU is good, but Alabama is better. Alabama by 15 or so.
• First to 80 wins Houston vs Miami. Give me Houston in the win. 
• Princeton's run is great, but it ends with Creighton winning without much trouble
• Texas beats Xavier in a close back-and-forth game

 

Interesting hearing Timme this week on his decision to come back. Not about any allegiance to Gonzaga, etc. Simple math - more money on the NIL front than the NBA. There's always going to be these guys in college who are stars at that level but whose game won't necessarily translate much, or at all, to the next level. NIL makes it an easy decision for them. 

Great college player. I'll still take Jaquez tonight. I don't bet against him. 

[Vic Mackey 47741]

 
Interesting hearing Timme this week on his decision to come back. Not about any allegiance to Gonzaga, etc. Simple math - more money on the NIL front than the NBA. There's always going to be these guys in college who are stars at that level but whose game won't necessarily translate much, or at all, to the next level. NIL makes it an easy decision for them. 
Great college player. I'll still take Jaquez tonight. I don't bet against him. 

And this is why the NIL is a great thing. Keeps these good college players around longer who know the NBA will be tough. It also should spread the talent out over time. Although there is much more parody in college basketball than football and it isn't even close.

[Felix 610]

I don't know about that.  I think both football and basketball are ripe for parody. 

[Underdog 29006]

ISWYDT

[Wally Pryor 5381]

2 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

2 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

 
Interesting hearing Timme this week on his decision to come back. Not about any allegiance to Gonzaga, etc. Simple math - more money on the NIL front than the NBA. There's always going to be these guys in college who are stars at that level but whose game won't necessarily translate much, or at all, to the next level. NIL makes it an easy decision for them. 
Great college player. I'll still take Jaquez tonight. I don't bet against him. 

And this is why the NIL is a great thing. Keeps these good college players around longer who know the NBA will be tough. It also should spread the talent out over time. Although there is much more parody in college basketball than football and it isn't even close.

Bacot looks to be doing the same. 

[Wally Pryor 5381]

Wooga Poplar very iffy to play tomorrow for Miami. DD scorer.  Back injury vs IU. 

Whether he plays or not, Wooga's already made the all-name team for the tournament. 

[Rickylovesweed 15193]

On 3/20/2023 at 7:50 AM, Rickylovesweed said:

I picked Miami and Texas to make the elite 8 in my bracket. 

I think they're a bad match up for Houston. They have better guards than Houston (especially if Sasser isn't 100%) and Houston's style of play is not going to be a shock to Miami like it is to most teams. 

Saw that one. 

[Quagmire 2147]

Hahah bye bye bama . Karma