Thursday Game Thread

Soxy

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Dec 1, 2008
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Very excited to watch my Winthrop Eagles go dancing in the tournament! Most pundits had us as a 14 seed or even a 15 seed. I didn't see anybody pegging us as a 13, so I was pleasantly surprised on selection Sunday.

It was always going to be an uphill battle regardless of who we faced but can't really complain about being matched up with Butler. Our biggest weakness is a lack of size and rebounding but Butler isn't exactly a team of redwoods either. Unfortunately our other weaknesses seem exploitable by the Bulldogs. Winthrop has a tendency to get sloppy and turn the ball over whereas Butler is one of the best teams in the nation at turnover ratio. Winthrop also likes to speed up the game and play at a frenetic pace; Butler will look to slow the game down and play in the halfcourt. Always seems like it's easier to slow down the pace of play in the tournament than it is to speed it up.

Since Butler doesn't turn it over very often it's going to come down to halfcourt defense and defensive rebounding for the Eagles to get out on the break and look for those transition opportunities. Again, rebounding isn't Winthrop's strong suit by any stretch, but they're a capable enough defensive team to get stops. Just can't give up too many second chance points or it will be tough sledding.

One thing in Winthrop's favor is that they'll have the most explosive scorer on the court in Keon Johnson, who will probably draw more than a few Isaiah Thomas comparisons from any Celtics fans who happen to be watching. The 5' 7" guard is totally fearless and can drain shots from anywhere in the gym. He's the kind of player who can single handedly carry a team to an NCAA win or two if he catches fire. If you want to see Johnson at his best, check out his 38 point game during an OT win at Illinois earlier this season.

Thankfully Winthrop has enough capable role players to help out Johnson. Xavier Cooks can fill a stat sheet in a lot of different ways. The Broman brothers are both solid outside shooters who ensure defenders can't cheat too much to help on Johnson. Roderick Perkins showed what he's capable of in the Big South championship game, where he carried the team in the first half while Johnson was struggling to find his shot.

While this Winthrop team has no experience playing in the NCAA tournament, they do have a lot of experience playing in do-or-die tournament games as they've made it to the Big South final four years in a row. Yeah, I'm probably reaching with that one. But it can't hurt.

Regardless of what happens on Thursday, this season can't be considered anything but a success for the Winthrop Eagles. Hopefully they can flip the script on Butler and pull the upset but even if they get blown out by 30, I'll still be proud of what this team has accomplished.
 
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wibi

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Jul 15, 2005
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They should be fine. S. Dakota St. is exactly the sort of competition they are used to.
You sure are cute. Glad you find it easy to look down on people from your blue blood throne
 

DukeSox

absence hasn't made the heart grow fonder
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Dec 22, 2005
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If Gonzaga hadn't so brutally underperformed their seed the past 15 years they probably would be considered a blue blood by now
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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Jul 21, 2005
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They made it to the Elite 8 in 1999 and 2015 but have otherwise been unspectacular. Part of that is what I have been harping on all year --- they don't get any run during the year.
 

Fred not Lynn

Dick Button Jr.
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Jul 13, 2005
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On the theme of little known schools, Mount St Mary's brings the shortest player in D1 to Buffalo in the person of Junior Robinson, which I am sure the TV guys will mention once or twice.

Sooner or later a 16 will beat a 1, and the Hollywood script has it being a play-in team that got there on a 1 point win, with the shortest player in D1 hitting the game winning shot.

C'mon, it's no less believable than Sharknado...
 

BigSoxFan

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I had no idea that Randolph Childress' son is now playing for Wake. Poor Jeff McInnis. Won't ever be able to escape this family.
 

Greg29fan

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I had no idea that Randolph Childress' son is now playing for Wake. Poor Jeff McInnis. Won't ever be able to escape this family.
Yes my eye started twitching watching him make a bunch of threes against Carolina earlier this year
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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This is the only time of year I bet and I'm staying up because I have Wake +1. God, they are frustrating. No defense whatsoever.
 

Soxfan in Fla

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Jul 30, 2001
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On the theme of little known schools, Mount St Mary's brings the shortest player in D1 to Buffalo in the person of Junior Robinson, which I am sure the TV guys will mention once or twice.

Sooner or later a 16 will beat a 1, and the Hollywood script has it being a play-in team that got there on a 1 point win, with the shortest player in D1 hitting the game winning shot.

C'mon, it's no less believable than Sharknado...
I watched the game last night. Robinson is a fun player to watch. Dropped 23 points last night.
 

wibi

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If Gonzaga hadn't so brutally underperformed their seed the past 15 years they probably would be considered a blue blood by now
But have they really under performed compared to their seed all that often?

I see five years that where they were upset by a lower seed
2002 v Wyoming [6 v 11 seed] - First round loss
2004 v Nevada [2 v 10 seed] - Second round loss
2005 v Texas Tech [3 v 6 seed] - Second round loss
2008 v Davidson [7 v 10 seed] - First round loss to Steph Curry who took his team to the Elite Eight
2013 v Wichita State [1 v 9 seed] - Second round loss to the team that went on to the final four

Otherwise they either performed better than their seeding and got beat by a higher seeded team in the round they were expected to lose.

The only knock I can see is that they haven't made a Final Four yet which I cannot argue against.
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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I only give you crap because it's fun and you consistently have a higher score than me on every level of Two Dots.

Let's talk gambling today. I've got Winthrop +11 but as of now that's it. Anyone like anything?
 

wibi

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Jul 15, 2005
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I only give you crap because it's fun and you consistently have a higher score than me on every level of Two Dots.

Let's talk gambling today. I've got Winthrop +11 but as of now that's it. Anyone like anything?
Im hyper sensitive about Gonzaga and I know it. Im on fucking pins and needles this morning even though Gonzaga should have no trouble against South Dakota State ...

Whats the line on the SMU v VCU game?
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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I love Gonzaga's path (I thought they'd get stuck with Duke, who I think is playing the best bball right now because I'm an ACC-slut and because all along they were supposed to be the dominant team) and I think this is the most complete team they've taken into the tournament.

VCU SMC (which I'm sure is what you mean) is -4.5 SMC. I don't know anything about SMC and actually picked VCU in my about-to-be-busted bracket just because Gonzaga beat the crap out of them once and handled them with ease another time. I really do have a hard time getting a read on how good the Zags are. I watched them, I like the team a lot but man I hate that conference.
 

wibi

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Jul 15, 2005
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I love Gonzaga's path (I thought they'd get stuck with Duke, who I think is playing the best bball right now because I'm an ACC-slut and because all along they were supposed to be the dominant team) and I think this is the most complete team they've taken into the tournament.

VCU SMC (which I'm sure is what you mean) is -4.5 SMC. I don't know anything about SMC and actually picked VCU in my about-to-be-busted bracket just because Gonzaga beat the crap out of them once and handled them with ease another time. I really do have a hard time getting a read on how good the Zags are. I watched them, I like the team a lot but man I hate that conference.
I did mean SMC not SMU. Thanks for catching my brain fart.

SMC's hopes will come down to how well Jock Landale can stay out of foul trouble. In every game versus Gonzaga (two regular season plus conf tournament) they stayed with Gonzaga until Jock got into foul trouble; which was easy for Gonzaga to do since they have multiple bigs (Karno, Collins and Tillie plus Williams) who they kept throwing at him. If VCU can do something similar and survive the low tempo game that SMC likes to play they should have a good chance at beating SMC.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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File this under the Bold Prediction thread:

Princeton beats Notre Dame today.

South Dakota St scares the living shit out of Gonzaga. Wouldn't shock me if they become the first 16-seed to win a first round game.
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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I always feel like one day has big upsets and one does not. My bracket has the upsets today with UNCW and Winthrop my big ones.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Selection committee and CBS screwing the state of Tennessee
Middle Tennessee , East Tennessee and Vanderbilt all in the "same" timeslot
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

Red-headed Skrub child
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I only give you crap because it's fun and you consistently have a higher score than me on every level of Two Dots.

Let's talk gambling today. I've got Winthrop +11 but as of now that's it. Anyone like anything?
I've got Princeton, Winthrop and VT covering with a 6 point teaser. Also took the NC Wilmington over 63.
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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This UNCW Virginia game is going to be fun, UNCW so far successfully pushing the pace. Some extra intrigue with Bennett's supposed monster Illinois offer and UNCW's coach potentially headed to the ACC to coach State.
 

luckysox

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Keats is a very, very good coach. He learned at the knee of Pitino and manages to also recruit like it's his only job. If he goes to State, they'll be good and quickly. This result thus far, despite my stupid ACC bias in my brackets, is not actually surprising.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
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The kid from UNCW who is lighting up UVA--Ambrose Moseley--was kicked out of ODU by former UVA player and coach Jeff Jones. This is his final revenge.
 

Drocca

darrell foster wallace
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Keats is a very, very good coach. He learned at the knee of Pitino and manages to also recruit like it's his only job. If he goes to State, they'll be good and quickly. This result thus far, despite my stupid ACC bias in my brackets, is not actually surprising.
He is a good coach but they won't be good quickly. State has a tremendous geographic disadvantage.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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Gonzaga isn't losing to SDSU.
Bold statement considering no #1 has ever lost to a 16 and is a 23-point favorite. ;)

SDSU is peaking at right time winning 6 in a row after being 12-16 a couple weeks ago, they have one of the college games best scorers and have good complementary scorers/shooters. If they can dribble penetrate as they did in their tournament it could open up their shooting. Gonzaga will likely be flat and a flat team can put itself in danger against an opponent putting points up.

Obviously a ridiculous longshot that they win but I expect them to put a scare into the 'Zags with the game being a 2-3 possession game in the second half.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Cacok, the forward for UNCW, shoots 79.9% from the floor. Wow.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
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A solid first half comeback by VA. They had to expend a lot of energy but at least they have halftime to rest.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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I haven't seen many teams as tight at this Notre Dame team is right now.