College Hoops 2015-16

A little Pop-Culture bandwagoning never hurt anyone Fog...unless of course if you became obsessed with Chia-Pets . Besides its only Pop-Culture if you're surrounded by brackets, sharpies, and highlighters. Watch Indiana versus North Carolina because it should be a helluva college basketball game, nothing more than that.

 

True dat.

 

Some great games tonight:

South: Miami v Villanova: Is this the year where Nova finally gets past this stage? I'll say yes.

Maryland v Kansas: Maryland has the horses to compete with Kansas, but something's missing (maybe it's the coach as alluded to by Matt). Can't pick against KU.

West: Texas A&M v Oklahoma: Old conference rivals renew hostilities. Will the Aggies play loose with a 'house money, team of destiny' vibe after the miracle win? The Sooners rely on their superstar too much (props again to Matt with the great stat about no team has gone to the Final 4 since 1990 with a player averaging over 25 a night). Rolling with the Aggies.

Oregon v Duke: It's been a nightmare for the Pac 12, but the Ducks can save a little face. Everyone will say Duke, but identical circumstances happened 5 years ago for Duke (defending champs, Sweet 16, 'inferior Pac-12' opponent, Anaheim, and Arizona blew them out by 20). Oregon won't destroy them, but Duke wants to play at pace, which is right up the Ducks alley. Oregon advances.

 

I've got Miami over Nova. The Canes have so much experience they're being recruited by AARP.

Kansas over Maryland. Turge's teams at MD are plagued with the same problems his A&M teams were...too many turnovers & struggle for offense away from home. For my money, the Jayhawks are the best team in the field.

A&M over Oklahoma. Because I'm a homer. We're better on the wings & inside, they're better scoring from the guard spots. For A&M to win we have to defend the 3 better & we have to attack the rim. If we settle for jacking up 3's, they'll win that battle.

Oregon over Duke. Duke is not a good defensive team. As a result, they've been playing to outscore teams. It's worked for 2 rounds but the Ducks can score with them.

 

My son got some nosebleeds to the South Regionals tonight. $25! Always been a Jay Wright fan, so I hope he goes to Houston. They'll beat Miami, but I don't see them beating Maryland, who I think will upset Kansas.
A&M WILL beat Oklahoma because Billy Kennedy is an old Murray man. Not sold on the Ducks. Duke wins. I hate to say that.

 

So with A&M and Maryland out & my bracket in tatters, I can go back to being a casual college hoops fan & direct my attention on the Capitals.

I think tournament inexperience got to A&M. Prior to the tournament, we were among the best teams in the country at creating turnovers & protecting the ball. In our 3 tourney games, we were a turnover machine. That & we ran into a better team in Oklahoma. While tonight was disappointing, a conference championship & sweet 16 in our 1st tourney appearance in 5 years isn't.

 

2 regions down and the #1 & #2 seeds rose to the top with comfortable wins last night.

Midwest: Iowa State v Virginia: The Cavaliers have been knocking on the door and with nemesis Michigan State out of the way there is no excuse not to reach the Final 4 with the 3 other teams left in their region. Cavs cruise

Gonzaga v Syracuse: 3 weeks ago, these teams were left for dead, but now one of them is going to reach the Elite 8. I really dislike Boeheim, but the $#&%$ can coach. Was going to pick the Zags, but when Mark Few said Gonzaga has faced a zone defense for 30 possessions the entire season I changed my mind. Syracuse plays a zone defense that is really hard to prepare for.

East: Notre Dame v Wisconsin: Similar to Gon-Syr game in that one of these two is an unlikely Elite 8 team. The Badgers are shooting under 40% for the tourney, and if Nigel Hayes doesn't get untracked Whisky can't beat the Irish. Will pick Notre Dame to win an ugly one.

Indiana v North Carolina: The Hoosiers weren't seeded properly (more like a #3 instead of a #5 seed) and won't be intimidated against the Heels. North Carolina can go along sputtering, but then boom put a 12-0 run against you. Taking NC, but IU will give them all they want.

 

Dang, Joe. I agree with all of that word for word. That can't be a good omen for your picks. That's surprising about the Zags & zones.

 

Kind of funny that Cal State Bakersfield has given Oklahoma the toughest game of the tourney thus far (that was a 3 point game with 3+ minutes to go before OU finished them off). The shooting display put on by them from 3 point range in Anaheim in both games here was remarkable.

Villanova finishes off my bracket for good by taking down Kansas. Gritty effort by Nova, especially after KU had taken the lead late.

Midwest: Virginia v Syracuse. The Hoos were very impressive the other night while it took Gonzaga gagging for the Orange to advance. The two teams met in ACC play (have to keep telling myself Syracuse isn't in the Big East anymore) with Virginia winning by 8. Going with UVA in a battle.

East: North Carolina v Notre Dame. Wow, UNC was impressive in demolishing Indiana. Notre Dame has arguably been outplayed in each of it's three wins (the Irish have saved their best for the last minutes however). The teams did play twice with ND winning by 4 in South Bend, and the Tar Heels crushed them by 31 in the ACC tourney a couple of weeks ago. I can't pick against UNC.

 

Oklahoma might have a shot at them, but I see this as a Tar Heel waltz.

 

I think it'll be UNC & Nova. Football stadiums haven't been kind to shooters & no one relies on the jump shot more than the Sooners. Shooting percentages in Houston last time were pretty bad.

 

Going with NC-OU, but the other two teams have plenty of things going for them. Syracuse has lost twice already to the Tar Heels, but both were close and it's very hard to beat someone 3 times in one season. Villanova is a tough veteran bunch that deservingly beat Kansas. Let's see if the week off and change of venue hurts the Sooners shooting.

 

Gotta give big props to Nova. Don't think I've ever seem a more consistent shooting team. They were money. Did a lot of other things well, obviously, but man, they took every punch from supposedly superior opponents in size and talent and just kept plugging...and making shots. And making shots, and making shots and making shots. And great strategy by Jay Wright and execution of same. No disrespect to the school, but he's really too good to be coaching there.

 

Gotta agree with everything you said James except for the last sentiment. Philly is historically one of if not the all-time great cities in the US for college hoops w/The Big 5 (Nova, Temple, St. Joe's, LaSalle, & Penn). The Big East isn't what is once was, but Villanova is and has been a premier basketball school for decades. I loved Jay Wright's reaction, it totally reminded me of Roy down at Portsmouth when Murphy's header went in.

 

Disagree with both of your last thoughts. While I'm not saying I want to see people act like Valvano, I'd rather have seen a little emotion from Wright. He looked like someone getting a monkey off of his back.

Nova is a fine hoops gig. It's not one of the basketball "blue bloods" (I hate that phrase) but there aren't that many of those around & they're all full. Nova is 26th in wins (1646) in Men's hoops & 13th in winning pct (.644) all time.

After all of the blowouts, it was great to get an evenly contested final. Props to Nova. I really didn't want UNC to win seeing as they should be on probation.