NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game thread

wibi

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This one is coming down to the end
I'm not sure my heart can takenit
 

RedOctober3829

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This is going to be a terrific Final Four.  You have four of the best programs of the past 20 years.  Four Hall of Fame or certain HOF coaches.   5 of the best players in the country(Okafor, Kaminsky, Towns, Cauley-Stein, Winslow, ).  Can't wait.
 

54thMA

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Good for Duke, they finally caught a break, such a likable program; can't you just sense the whole country getting behind this plucky band of underdogs?
 
And coach K, what can you say; love that hairdo too, he looks like an extra from the set of Battlestar Galactica.
 
I'll pass on Duke/MSU, I'd rather watch a hanging.
 

StuckOnYouk

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If it's duke and Kentucky I will have to pass on watching the final. Please let's have at least one upset.
 

HomeRunBaker

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RedOctober3829 said:
I want Winslow on the Celtics.
We're probably looking at a 9-10 slot which will make it difficult since their is a dramatic dropoff after the Top-5 and then Winslow. Maybe Porzingis and Hezonja show great in workouts but that still probably leaves us short.
 

mabrowndog

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54thMA said:
And coach K, what can you say; love that hairdo too, he looks like an extra from the set of Battlestar Galactica.
 
I've always thought a Fisher Price toy was the best comparison:

 

mabrowndog

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StuckOnYouk said:
If it's duke and Kentucky I will have to pass on watching the final. Please let's have at least one upset.
 
Believe me, I totally get the hate for both programs, and I'd love to see an upset as well.
 
Maybe you were kidding, but to deny yourself the chance to watch two ridiculously deep, talented, and well-coached teams do battle -- with one of them going after the first unbeaten season in nearly four decades -- is something I just don't get.
 

DukeSox

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I know you're not supposed to look past teams, but I really hope K puts in some solid time in practice this week on prep for Kentucky.
 

wibi

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mabrowndog said:
Yup. And it was all downhill from there. Had a chance to tie it.

T&P wibi. Great season by the Zags.
 
Rough way to end it given Gonzaga was holding with Duke until 6:30 left in the game.  After that they made a total of two free throws and nothing else.  Gotta make shots and at that point they stopped doing that. 
 
Going to be tough to watch them without Pangos next year.  Kid started all but one game in his four years at Gonzaga.  Good news is our front court is all expected to return in Wiltjer, Karno and Sabonis plus we've got a red shirt sophomore coming back next year that is as big as Karno and Sabonis.   Gonzaga will be back and big next year.  
 

mabrowndog

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Obviously the Fred Brown pass and Webber time-out are at the top of the all-time NCAA Tournament bonehead choke list. But can anyone name a worse miss of an absolute gimme shot in an Elite 8 or later round than that blown layup by Wiltjer?
 
Given the stage (inside 5:00, going toe-to-toe with Duke & Coach K), the situational gravity (make it and the Zips tie the game), the ease (a 6'10" forward with an uncontested backdoor layup and NOBODY within 4 feet of him) and what transpired afterwards (a 13-1 Duke run to end the game), I'm hard-pressed to name one. And it wasn't just the miss -- it was how he looked like a total nerve-wracked spaz in doing so.
 
I'm sure there's a blown dunk or something that I've forgotten, but man, that was just awful.
 

HomeRunBaker

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DukeSox said:
I know you're not supposed to look past teams, but I really hope K puts in some solid time in practice this week on prep for Kentucky.
Michigan State is hoping for this too.

I'm sure he'll have an assistant dedicated to splicing film and doing work on both Kentucky and Wisconsin with the quick turn time to the Championship (just as the other 3 programs will be doing). 100% of the prep work with his players will be focused solely on Michigan State though.
 

mabrowndog

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Dan to Theo to Ben said:
I think it was a bad sign for the Zags when it was Capel, not Shishevsky, fielding questions from Wolfson.
 
Dude, I realize it's not the easiest name to spell. But... seriously?
 

DukeSox

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That was an awful miss but he was Gonzaga's leading scorer. I still can't get over how bad Pangos was. Played all 40 minutes and scored 4 points with 0 assists. Just a complete turd sandwich from a guy who I thought was pretty good.
Quinn Cook has been absolutely shutting down the opposing team's best guard the last few months.
 

minischwab

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DukeSox said:
Quinn Cook has been absolutely shutting down the opposing team's best guard the last few months.
 
This has been a remarkable and underrated aspect of Duke's late-season improvement.  He went from being one of the WORST defensive guards in the country to shutting down 2 of the top 5 PG in the nation in consecutive tournament games.  Winslow has been a different player since the St. John's game, but Cook's defensive improvement is unreal.  
 
Entering the tournament, Cook ranked LAST among all ACC guards in Pts allowed per isolation play.  That's not a stat good teams struggle with. From ESPN Stats and Info, again, entering tournament:
 
[SIZE=10pt]Duke ranks 268th in isolation points per play allowed and 283rd in isolation points per game allowed.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Last year, UConn went on a surprising run to win the National Championship. The Huskies ranked 3rd in the country in isolation points per play allowed and No. 1 among NCAA Tournament teams.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10pt]Duke's struggles defending the perimeter aren't anything new. The Blue Devils allowed the most isolation points per game of any major conference team last season.[/SIZE]
 
Duke has gone from ranking in the 60s in the KenPom adjusted Def Eff rankings to 17(!!!) in the span of 3 weeks.  Dominant D for 4 games from a team that couldn't stop Virginia Tech in late February. I'm stunned and I can't remember a Duke team improving this much in the span of just 4 weeks this late in a season. 
 

DJnVa

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mabrowndog said:
 
Dude, I realize it's not the easiest name to spell. But... seriously?
 
 
Holy crap, that spelling was so bad I thought he was mangling some players name and couldn't figure out why.
 
 

DukeSox

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Duke has allowed 56, 49, 57, 52 points so far in tourney.
 

IdiotKicker

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Yeah the defensive improvement has been huge. MSU always shows up in the tourney, but I don't think they have the horses to play with Duke and I was not overly impressed during their first meeting this year.

The Wisconsin-Kentucky matchup should be a great game as well. Wisconsin is obviously not as athletic as Kentucky, but is a very good offensive team that could give them trouble. Really excited to watch that, and then hopefully a Duke/whoever game on Monday. Should be an awesome weekend of basketball. Had thought about flying out to Indy but would've been ridiculously expensive so watching at home is going to have to work.
 

DukeSox

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Chuck Z said:
Yeah the defensive improvement has been huge. MSU always shows up in the tourney, but I don't think they have the horses to play with Duke and I was not overly impressed during their first meeting this year.

The Wisconsin-Kentucky matchup should be a great game as well. Wisconsin is obviously not as athletic as Kentucky, but is a very good offensive team that could give them trouble. Really excited to watch that, and then hopefully a Duke/whoever game on Monday. Should be an awesome weekend of basketball. Had thought about flying out to Indy but would've been ridiculously expensive so watching at home is going to have to work.
Check out flying into Dayton or Cinci - they are each like a 90 min drive from Indy, and car rentals at those airports can be had for dollars a day.
 

IdiotKicker

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DukeSox said:
Check out flying into Dayton or Cinci - they are each like a 90 min drive from Indy, and car rentals at those airports can be had for dollars a day.
Yeah the bigger issue is hotels, as during the 2010 FF I stayed about an hour outside Indy to find somewhere cheap, but don't want to do that again since I felt I missed out on a lot by being that far away. And right now, having just spend a week skiing and in New Orleans, I can't justify the expense of staying in the city for three nights now in addition to flights and tickets.
 

minischwab

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Dan to Theo to Ben said:
I think it was a bad sign for the Zags when it was Capel, not Shishevsky, fielding questions from Wolfson.
 
FWIW, Krzyzewski rarely does halftime interview.  He almost always leaves that for his assistants, both tournament and regular season.  
 

HomeRunBaker

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DukeSox said:
Duke has allowed 56, 49, 57, 52 points so far in tourney.
Not to downplay what Duke has accomplished but it's important to understand the first two games were against an overmatched Robert Morris team who ranked 133rd in ppg at 69.0 and San Diego St 304th (of 351 D1 programs) at 61.4 ppg at the first venue and played the other two games in Houston which was proven to be a shooters nightmare with the not-made-for-basketball backdrop.

Speaking of the Houston site. This was a dry run for next years Final Four which may become unwatchable when you combine the nerves of the big stage and the awful shooters background.
 

RedOctober3829

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HomeRunBaker said:
Not to downplay what Duke has accomplished but it's important to understand the first two games were against an overmatched Robert Morris team who ranked 133rd in ppg at 69.0 and San Diego St 304th (of 351 D1 programs) at 61.4 ppg at the first venue and played the other two games in Houston which was proven to be a shooters nightmare with the not-made-for-basketball backdrop.

Speaking of the Houston site. This was a dry run for next years Final Four which may become unwatchable when you combine the nerves of the big stage and the awful shooters background.
You do know they hosted a Final Four at that venue in 2011(UConn was the champion)?  It produced probably the most unwatchable championship game in history.  I loved every minute of it because I'm a UConn fan but it was horrible basketball.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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RedOctober3829 said:
You do know they hosted a Final Four at that venue in 2011(UConn was the champion)?  It produced probably the most unwatchable championship game in history.  I loved every minute of it because I'm a UConn fan but it was horrible basketball.
 
I went to the championship game that year.  I remember vividly walking into the arena, the entry ways to the sections had black curtains to not let in light from the concourse.  I pulled back the corner to look at the arena near one of the corner end zone sections.  I couldn't really believe what I was looking at.  It was absurd.  It looked like a postage stamp of a court in the middle of the massive barn.  I guess that's what all final fours look like these days -- at least in the last few years when they moved the court to the fifty yard line instead of putting it perpendicular to the football field and then installing bleachers.  I suppose it looked equally absurd in Dallas.  It's really no way to play a basketball game.  I remember looking up at one point during half time, and unlike many stadiums there are two levels above the club seats.  It wasn't until I had been there an hour and a half that I noticed there was even another level I hadn't seen -- the 600 level.  It's hard to explain why it looked so absurd.  Other football venues seem to be able to host basketball without the same feeling like the court is just floating far away from much fan involvement.  The Carrier Dome.  The Alamo Dome.  
 

DJnVa

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minischwab said:
 
FWIW, Krzyzewski rarely does halftime interview.  He almost always leaves that for his assistants, both tournament and regular season.  
 
 
Yeah, but he was talking about Shishevsky.
 
 

54thMA

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mabrowndog said:
 
I've always thought a Fisher Price toy was the best comparison:
 
Thanks, that's hysterical.  Love how they murdered the way his last name is pronounced and then added "or some other variation."
 
 

Return of the Dewey

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WSJ's "Brackets of Brackets" is pretty cool.  Really is amazing how many good UConn games are in there...and it doesn't even include the great '90 loss to Duke in the Regionals.  
 
And, I can't believe BC made it with the '94 win against then No1 seed NC.  That '93-94 year at BC (my senior year) had a bunch of great BC sports moments (including the fball win at then No1 Notre Dame).  I really miss good BC athletics.
 

Dan Murfman

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Return of the Dewey said:
WSJ's "Brackets of Brackets" is pretty cool.  Really is amazing how many good UConn games are in there...and it doesn't even include the great '90 loss to Duke in the Regionals.  
 
And, I can't believe BC made it with the '94 win against then No1 seed NC.  That '93-94 year at BC (my senior year) had a bunch of great BC sports moments (including the fball win at then No1 Notre Dame).  I really miss good BC athletics.
The UConn '94 loss to Florida was the worst. Donyell misses 2 ff with seconds to go when 1 would've put them in the Elite 8 against BC who they had beaten 20 something times in a row.