2017 March Madness Tournament Thread

[AKHoosier 6,547]

Just pisses me off how we have to pay out the @$$ for years because of phone calls, yet UNC and Roy can turn a blind eye to cheating and academic fraud for years and the NCAA does nothing. 

Don't let the good ole boy demeanor fool you. Roy Williams is as dirty as they come. 

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,169]

Gonzaga...you had one job

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[rebelhoosier848891 9,588]

I guess our "one shining moment" this year was beating the National Champion. I'd rather be the National Champion---let's get it done Archie!


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[GloryDays 5,888]

I think I'll throw up and kick the dog now.

[cthomas 5,917]

I think the NCAA fears that the power schools will withdraw and form a new organization if they sanction them to severely. The result is the embarrassing shame we saw tonight.

[hoosierbannerd 1,518]

2nd half was a ****-show on Zags side- poor shooting % plus Karnowski disappeared entire game... refs sucked as well, no flow with the **** ton of fouls called..damn

[Demo 17,306]

Thank God this crew took to heart the teachings of the immortal Teddy Valentine and made the National Champioship Game 100% about them. Managed to make a game between 2 really good teams into unwatchable dreck.

Guys, you made Teddy proud.

[CR3AMnCR1MS0N 1,867]

Will say, scoring 21 on two bum ankles isn't easy. Joel Berry sure played well tonight. I hate UNC.

[rebelhoosier848891 9,588]

U-ntouchable (by NCAA)
N-ational
C-heaters and Champions


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[Hoosier Guy 7,472]

And it's not this way with just college basketball. It's college football as well. Yeah I'm starting to think college sports are rigged. I hate to think like that but it just seems too obvious


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[HoosierAloha 29,886]

And it's not this way with just college basketball. It's college football as well. Yeah I'm starting to think college sports are rigged. I hate to think like that but it just seems too obvious


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The NCAA actually punishes football programs though. USC, Ole Miss, a few others. They don't make the crazy amount of cash on football that they do on basketball.

[VeevlandBrowns 134]

Some Final Four and tournament in general thoughts:

I think what’s great about college basketball is what you saw in some of the emotions of the semis and championship game. If you saw Frank Martin’s post game press conference and what this group of players meant to him. Or you saw the maturity in which Nigel Williams-Goss handled himself in the post game interview. Or not my favorite coach, but Roy Williams talked about how he felt like he was powerless last year in that locker room to say or do anything to help his kids and then 365 days later what he could feel and the jubilation of seeing his players how they were. Those emotional moments are all the great things that are great about college sports and the tournament especially.

That South Carolina-Gonzaga game I was impressed with the heart and toughness of South Carolina. I thought at the 10-minute mark they were left for dead. They go on a 16-0 run and a freshman 7 foot center who is a decent shooter steps out and crotches this three off the side of the iron and it spins back into the hoop. Williams-Goss then leads Gonzaga down the stretch. That was a great game.

Carolina-Oregon was a good game. Neither team played really well. At the end of the day, it wasn't enough from Dorsey and Brooks. They have to be stars for Oregon to win. Kennedy Meeks was dominant. The other part that really killed Oregon was the turnovers, so many unforced errors that cost them possessions, and then it ends up with Carolina cutting down the nets. What I like about it is it’s a team of juniors and seniors with no one and dones. They get redemption for what happened last year. What I don’t like is this cloud of academic fraud allegations that hangs over this program and over this university. So I thought there were things to like about Carolina who I did think was the best team all year long but there were also some things I didn’t like that kind of hang over that team and that program.

Where does Mark Few rank in the upper echelon of coaches? I think Roy Williams was actually asked this question the other day on Mike and Mike about Mark Few and the job he’s done. I do think you have to consider how hard it is to do the job he’s done at a place like Gonzaga. Roy to his credit said it’s a lot easier at Kansas and North Carolina. I think the best coach on planet earth under whatever age Brad Stevens is, is Brad Stevens. I couldn’t think higher of a basketball coach when I think of Brad Stevens partially because and even though some people paved the way for him at Butler, for him to get that team to back-to-back Final Fours, I start to think of Mark Few in that hemisphere of college coaches because when you get to the championship game at a school like that, I think even more of you.

Does this change the opinion of where high end D1 talent should go? I think it does. The Butler’s, the Gonzaga’s, the Wichita State’s are in a little bit of a different spot. I think Gonzaga has put themself where they’re seen as a power 5 solid program by a lot of kids. We saw it with the transfers. This handful of kids that transferred there wouldn’t have transferred there unless they saw Gonzaga in that realm. So I think it can be one of those destination places. I don’t buy that this is going to be it for them. I think it’s harder to get back there for Gonzaga than it is for North Carolina but I’m of the opinion that he can do it.

South Carolina and the SEC as a whole were pretty impressive this time around. What do the runs by SEC schools mean? Was this a flash in the plan by South Carolina? Does this change your opinion of the SEC? Do we need to stop bagging on these guys? It’s still Kentucky and everyone else BUT I feel like the quality of coaching may be bringing the SEC up a higher notch than most people had them. If you look at a lot of pre-season top 25’s for next year, you’ll also start to see Alabama and the job that Avery is doing there, especially in recruiting. The way for you to get there similarly in the way the Big Ten East is getting there in football is to have really, really quality coaches and maybe the ceiling for some of these coaches is a little higher than I thought, which means the ceiling for the SEC is a little higher than I thought.

My final thought on the tournament is Carolina won the best league in the USA by three games in the regular season. Justin Jackson, Berry on the perimeter. Meeks and Hicks down low. It’s funny but I thought they played three mediocre games and still won the national championship. They did not play well in the Arkansas game. They were down late in that game. I didn’t think in the other final games they were great. So I think that maybe speaks to the depth and how good that team is. They could play an average game and win a couple of those games. I think the real most outstanding player was their frontline. I know you can’t give it to an entire cast of characters but the job their frontline did defensively against Gonzaga and how you saw their bigs frustrated more than anytime this year and what they did on the offensive glass against Oregon. You couldn’t have a worse shooting percentage for a MOP than Berry. He went 1-8, 2-13, 8-13, 4-12, 2-14 and 7-19 in the tournament. That’s nothing that is Most Outstanding Player worthy but I think the real most valuable player, so to speak, was the frontline for North Carolina. 

[HoosierAloha 29,886]

The real MOP for UNC was the NCAA. They should have never been in that position to win.

Great review of the FF and natty though. Always enjoy reading your take on matchups and games.

[theriverpilot 5,588]

I'm not sure if this has been talked about prior in this thread, but I always like how the teams with the upperclassmen rise to the top.  Gonzaga, South Carolina, even UNC had upperclassmen playing for them and leading the way.  I believe this is why UK will always be at a disadvantage the deeper in the tourney they go and my knock on 1-and-dones.  When times start getting tough, the talented freshmen start looking around for someone to lead them, and they never have one.  The one championship they did win, they had a senior guard leading the way in Miller.