Defenserocks28

Did teams just figure out how to better attack and defend them?

What the heck has happened to the Magic?  Why such a drop off in the past two months?

Oh my goodness.  Statistics fan wet dream right here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KUMU7x_8WBxYuROD4fuOsHWp1WIk-YIyX6ZwK5F7inw/edit#gid=1386191792   "Of interest: here is a google sheet with all pre-tourney kenpom data, including filters depending on how far each team went. You can use this to look at basic kenpom stats/ranks before tourney play started. You can make interesting pivot tables such as: double digit seeds that made it to S16 or E8, then analyze the characteristics of those teams, or champs, or Final Four... etc. Best practices is to use the 02-14 tab and create a pivot table from there. "

Not sure what Vegas Odds were, but per Ken Pom, and using Fivethirtyeights model, we had about a 7% chance of winning.  (6th best team in KenPom, which roughly translates to 7% probability to win tournament via Fivethirtyeight).  I'm kinda borrowing from both methods, so take that with a grain of salt.     For reference, this year KenPom currently ranks us 9th, which is about a 6% chance of winning. However, I believe every team that has ever won the title had an adjusted offense and defense in the top 40.  Our current adjusted defense is 67.  Granted, that encompasses the full season.  I'd like to see what it's been during conference play only. 

  Yep.  20% is typically the highest.  This year is supposed to be even "crazier" than most. The favorite is predicted at about 11%.  Good read on fivethirtyeight about what the lack of a favorite means for the rest of the field (other than the obvious, better % chance a lower seeded team wins): "Because the NCAA Tournament is a zero-sum game, the rest of the field gains from this lack of top-heaviness. Although pretty much every team ranked No. 4 to No. 25 by Pomeroy benefits some (teams ranked below that don’t really have much of a chance either way), the biggest beneficiaries are positioned in the back half of the top 10 and into the teens:"   http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-best-mens-college-basketball-teams-just-arent-very-good-this-year/

He's getting paid quite well.  6 year, 21MM dollar contract: http://www.thechampaignroom.com/2016/3/7/11172264/lovie-smith-illinois-football-contract-details-announcement-hire

30 (ugh) and the only reason I care about the conference tournament is because winning it is a huge indication of whether a team will win the NCAA Tournament.  There used to be a site that compiled all the biggest indicators of tournament success but I'm having trouble finding it at the moment.  I just remember winning your conference tournament being one of them.  

So, doesn't really have much to do with basketball...but wanted to post because this is a somewhat shocking result for Kentucky:   Surprisingly, when searching for adult related movies...it's "Step Mom" and not "Step Sister" that is Kentucky's favorite past time. A big surprise for sure (FYI, this was trending on facebook of all places):   http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/breaking-down-each-states-most-searched-pornhub-term/?utm_campaign=SFFB&utm_source=BarstoolFB&utm_medium=Socialflow  

This is random, but Gottlieb tweeted the following:    Doug Gottlieb ‏@GottliebShow  15m15 minutes ago Fran and Crean used to hate each other. Crean was a total mensch when Fran's son had cancer... Now friends. #Iubbvsiowa   Any idea what he's talking about???

This thread ain't going anywhere.  He's not getting fired this year, and like most have said, it's about the body of work and what we see come the NCAA tournament.  For Iowa...14 point lead blown in about three minuets...then to close out the game, bad out of bounds plays (of course), two WIDE open threes....   But...going to enjoy being Big Ten OUTRIGHT Champions. Let's beat Maryland and go from there.  I could see that game either being a close loss, or an enormous blow out (we win).  Just depends on how loose we are (some is good obviously, loose like we were at the beginning of the season....would be terrible).  

THIS X e^10000000000000

We better win one of the two against Iowa or Maryland (I think we lose to Iowa and a win against Maryland).  I don't want to be co-champions with a two game lead with just two games left.   If we lose both games this thread will blow up.  Many (IU fans and other fanbases alike) will view us as champions due to weak scheduling.   And even if we do win one of the two, if we lose early in the BTT and are knocked out prior to the sweet sixteen, this thread will jump up to 10k posts before the start of the next season.  

Or more specifically: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index#type/replay/

If you have the WatchESPN app, the replay is available there.  

Well does she or doesn't she???!!  Could be worth it depending...   Feel free to delete mods 

Agreed.  I bet there was some type of recruiting promise along the lines of "you will always start, regardless of performance."   

He hasn't won two BIG Titles yet.     I want Crean fired, but it is about timing.  If Steven, Bennett, Miller (Sean) and Donovan have straight up let us know they aren't coming, then yes, take the flyer.  In my opinion, Crean is not going to coach a team to BIG tournament championship, much less, an NCAA championship.  So for me, we have to make a change if we know we aren't getting one of those four.  Now, if they have said, hold on, "there's a chance I will come in a year or two"; then yea, keep Crean until then.  I don't think Crean looks any better in two years than he looks now to the fanbase; so we'll have no problem letting him go.      Crean's "improvement" in coaching came precisely when JBJ went down with injury.  We lost a guy who didn't care about defense  (and whose attitude, again, IMO, affected the whole team's defensive attitude) and gained one or two solid defenders in the rotation, which finally forced others to be held accountable.     ***Edit: Also hasn't been to three sweet sixteens in 5 years yet.  

Whoops, lol.  Let's try it again:  https://sports.yahoo.com/news/source--pistons-acquire-tobias-harris-from-magic-194520966.html   BTW, doesn't that trip look amazing!  1171 Excellent ratings out of 1204 ratings!

I mean....this was stated: "That is the most ignorant thing I have seen on this board in some time. Were you even following the coaching search at the time? "

What will this do to Victor's playing time: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294314-d2547689-Reviews-Alpaca_Expeditions_Day_Tours-Cusco_Cusco_Region.html   Tobias Harris traded for Brandon Jennings of the Pistons.

I honestly thought it was because he wanted/wants the Wisconsin job and knew coming to IU would mean forgoing ever coaching Wiscy (not very often coaches switch jobs in the same conference without some type of time in between).  

I was about to post the same thing.  Beat me to it.     Diana Taurasi was the highest paid WNBA player in 2014 at 107k.  I believe she's playing in Russia now, rather than the WNBA, to make more money.     Looks like the average league salary has gone up to 75k per year.  Rookies though, average about 35k per year. So yeah, better for Buss to get that college degree.      https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/basketballs-gender-wage-gap-is-even-worse-than-you-think https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=wnba%20rookie%20salary

Just watched the end of the Duke game.  So just to be clear, as long as you're Duke, you can take 3 steps, charge into a defensive player, jump up for the shot and land back down, then shoot, and it's AOK.  Allen should have waited for the clock to read 0.0 so the refs could conclude the game clock was running too fast and the shot should count regardless.  Then they would have had one of the most homer calls of all time.  As it stands now, just slightly above normal for a typical Duke game at Cameron.  

The spinning mascot with Gordon...wow!  Creative, amazing athleticism, pulled it off on the first try.  Everything you need for a memorable dunk.

Agree 100% with this.     Honestly, that was probably the best dunk contest I've ever seen.  Gordon and LaVine were crazy impressive.