College Basketball 2018-19

The college hoops season has begun, and not a moment too soon around these here parts. Although Kentucky is still the best of the local “holy trinity,” Indiana has a chance to make some noise. They won the Romeo Langford sweepstakes. They’ll go as far as he can take them. Chris Mack’s first season in Louisville will be challenging. They’ve got a lot of baggage to overcome, and it could take a while. Duke annihilated UK in Indy, but it’s hard to make much out of that this early. There is still the specter of the ongoing pay for play scandal that, so far, has cost Louisville the most. It’s not over. The recent convictions of the original defendants only means that more are sure to come.
And the NCAA now has the feds files and will start their own inquiries. It could get very ugly. Lots of vacations of records and post season bans presumably just around the corner.

 

@stlouisbrad mentioned it on the Scousers thread (congrats to SLU for punching their ticket), but The Madness and it’s 3 weeks of brilliance is upon us. Have been waiting for James to hype Ja Morant and his Racers (btw Marquette & Murray State is a must see game, w/Morant vs Markus Howard of Marquette).

Duke is the heavy favorite (CBS executives are praying for Zion Williamson to get to the Final 4), but the #1 overall seed rarely wins.

Haven’t filled out my bracket yet, but think at first glance the Tar Heels will eventually cut down the nets.

Looking for a shocking upset? #13 seed UC Irvine will knock off #4 Kansas State.

 

I wasn't that adventurous with my bracket this year. I got Duke, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee in my final four with Duke winning it all in the end.

I do think the Billikens got a good shot against Virginia Tech. Javon Bess and Hassan French are terrific and if one of them gets going, they could do some damage. SLU had a couple bad losses this year (the game against southern Illinois comes to mind), but had a great win at seton hall and should have beaten pitt, but we missed some free throws in that one. Very much looking forward to Friday evening

 

Ja doesn't need any hype. Just watch the game. I don't know how we match up against Marquette, but Mr. Morant does have some help on this team. I think people are going to be surprised at how strong the supporting cast is. My only concerns are our height, defense and depth. Our first six can hold their own against most anybody, outside the Kentuckys and Dukes. If we can get by the boys from Milwaukee, there's a decent chance we make a nice run. By the way, keep an eye on the other team from the OVC, Belmont. They won their play in game in Dayton over Temple yesterday. They may be a better tournament team than the Racers. And this could be a banner year for the Ohio Valley in the big dance.

 

Still have the Heels taking it all. @encorespanish Got to love Richard Pitino taking the Gophers up against Louisville (what a coincidence ). Concur w/James on Belmont. 6 years in a row a play-in game winner has gone on to win at least one more (getting that first game jitters out of the way helps). Really want to see some of these dark horses (Houston, Texas Tech, Tennessee) match up with the blue bloods at the Sweet 16.

 

Big coincidence, although it appears the game is not going according to the committee's plan to apply hurt to the Pitino family...Gophers up 12 in the second half currently.

 

Ja Morant.... For most of us, other then see him dunk on a highlight this was the first time seeing him play: WOW!! 17 points, 16 assists, 11 rebounds. Had his hand in 55 points, which is the most in 10 years. Next up is a good old-fashion FUSA showdown between @jumpkutz & @MicahMan. Micah, Florida State had a very good win. The committee loves to set up possible upsets, and FSU as a 4 seed had to play 13 seed Vermont in Hartford . So it was a road game basically for the Noles.

@HatterDon, Fear the Turtle!

 

Not at all surprised that Louisville lost. Chris Mack's done a good job, but there's a lot of work to do here. I am surprised that the mighty Racers ran away from a very good Marquette team in the second half. I'm under no illusions that we'll have our hands full with the Noles, but I still like our chances. People are going to laugh, but that was just another night at the office for Mr. Morant. He's got some quality team mates, and they showed why. Brown and Buchanan have been burying 3's off Ja's passes all season. And the bigs know to keep their heads on a swivel, lest they get bonked in the head and miss a bunny. Go ahead, run two guys at Ja and see what happens. Or a box and one. Doesn't matter. If his mates are making plays, we're going to be a very tough out.

 

@jumpkutz Of all the 5-12 matchups (36% of the time the 12 seed wins) I thought that was the easiest pick. Marquette came in off losing 5 of their last 6 games in a media hyped overrated Big East. Morant’s passing is was the only thing that surprised me (he’s in all the NBA guys top 3 pick), he let the game come to him which is hard to teach. Best comment was from Marquette’s Coach Woj (a dang good Duke Point Guard back in his day) when he said he’s the best guard he’s coached or played against.

 

That’s perhaps his biggest attribute. He doesn’t (normally) force it when things aren’t going well. He’s really good at letting the game come to him. And, oh yeah, he makes his free throws (just over 80%, last I checked). I have no illusions about their chances against Florida State. But they’ll make it interesting, no doubt.

 

Perfect day for me. Oregon & Washington roll and uphold a little dignity for what’s been a nightmare Pac 12 season and the Arizona State Scum Devils get waxed . Looking forward to the UCIrvine-Oregon matchup Sunday.

12 seeds went 3-1. I guess Miss State can now say ‘Give me Liberty AND Give me death!’

Besides the great FSU-Murray State game, looking forward to Wofford and Fletcher Magee shooting the second they get off the bus vs Kentucky. Villanova-Purdue, Maryland-LSU, and the oddly scheduled Big 10 Minnesota-Sparty matchup (round 2??) should be good as well.

 

Clark Kellogg said it best today; ‘March Madness never fails to deliver’. The Duke-UCF game was simply 5 Star, knife’s edge drama. The eventual champion will look back and say they got lucky to escape from a certain game, and this could be Duke’s springboard. UCF totally deserved to win, and I’m still not sure how the final tap-in didn’t drop, but in the words of William Munny;

 

Joe, as a lover of puns, I want to single this one out as the best/worst one I've heard in a while. Well done sir!

 

Some Gooduns’ tonight!

About 15 minutes from mi casa at the Honda Center a couple great matchups; Zags & Florida State, Texas Tech & Michigan. Going Gonzaga & Tech, but easily could be other way.

In the south, I’ll go with Virginia to beat the Ducks, and Tennessee to beat Purdue (regretting this choice already).

 

Blue Bloods report to Elite 8. Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Sparty looking to advance (not a single pushover though as their opponents).

 

Several quick thoughts:
Way too many blowouts after rd 1 again.
As long as Turgeon is coach, there’s nothing to fear about the turtle.
Duke is damn lucky but won’t win it all because...
I think this is finally the Zags year.

Curious to see who my Aggies poach for our next coach. Word is we’re going away from the mid major route and splashing the cash on someone more established. Favorites so far are 1. Buzz Williams of VT and 2. Beard of Taco Tech. Buzz was an asst at A&M previously. Beard obviously is a Texas guy and has done wonders in Lubbock.

 

@AggieMatt, Buzz is a dang good hire. Sickest folks in America over the weekend? CBS Sports execs. What promised to be a tv ratings boom has gone bust. If every Elite 8 game had gone the other way a FInal 4 of Duke v Gonzaga and Purdue v Kentucky would've been the huge.

 

Texas Tech v Virginia tonight, first team to 55 wins. Hoping it’s Tech, just to shut up all the ACC guys on tv that just fell over themselves saying that it might end up being an All-ACC Final 4. UVA might be a team of destiny after the last 2 incredibly lucky wins in a row, and after losing to a #16 seed to a Natty would be a good story.

**First time since 1979 that 2 first time finalists meeting in title game. Back in ‘79 was Larry vs Magic (Indiana State vs Michigan State).

 

While technically correct with that prediction, I'm not sure if that was quite the finish you had in mind!

 

Lol, half way through the first half I wanted to change it to 45, but both teams played great on both ends the rest of the way. Texas Tech played perfect defense until inexplicably leaving Hunter wide open for the tying 3.