2014 NCAA Tourney Thread

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:25 pm

Games like this are why I can't understand people who root for their favorite teams' conference mates. So much more fun to watch them lose in embarrassing fashion.

On a side note, nothing more dignified than fouling down eight points with five seconds to go.

Post by **Sabo** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:26 pm

I think I would like Coach K more if he didn't dye his hair.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:28 pm

Unlike the prior Duke 1st round exits, this was a beat down. Unconscious 3pt shooting kept it close.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:29 pm

That's always fun.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:34 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:Beaten on the go route. Hilarious.

Mercer sure didn't play scared down the stretch. Love to see a team just go for it.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:35 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:Games like this are why I can't understand people who root for their favorite teams' conference mates.

Different for mid-majors. I'm a big Cal Poly SLO fan tonight. And it has felt different as a Pac-8 fan in the post-Wooden years (fuck Arizona.) For basketball. The decades of lack of respect from the Eastern dominated media I guess. In hoops, tend to root for Oregon/Stanford/Washington, even USC. I'm sure it would be different had I actually attended UCLA.

But Fuck Cal. Seriously. Fuck those Cal weenies (Scottie's really gone, right?) (Does that wake yr ass up, Steve?)

Post by **brian** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:38 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:Games like this are why I can't understand people who root for their favorite teams' conference mates. So much more fun to watch them lose in embarrassing fashion.

On a side note, nothing more dignified than fouling down eight points with five seconds to go.

I was rooting for Syracuse to win by 100 yesterday. Fuck Western.

Post by **brian** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:39 pm

(Though if it had been, say Ohio or Kent I probably would have rooted for them.)

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 2:21 pm

Jim Boeheim with some world class trolling:

"Just watching Mercer play, I thought they were the better team. Duke didn't play that bad."

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:32 pm

tennbengal wrote:Jim Boeheim with some world class trolling:

"Just watching Mercer play, I thought they were the better team. Duke didn't play that bad."

Jim Boeheim needs to learn a thing about conference camaraderie!

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:34 pm

tennbengal wrote:Jim Boeheim with some world class trolling:

"Just watching Mercer play, I thought they were the better team. Duke didn't play that bad."

He's the best. And K is one of his best friends.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:33 pm

Hey Bill Self - if you are attacking a 1-3-1, and you settle for long corner jumpers, you are doing it wrong.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:43 pm

What is SuperJew's twitter? He's a big UNC fan, right?

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:46 pm

Lake Rosenberg ‏@LakeRosenberg

but he doesn't tweet very often

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 5:56 pm

howard wrote:Hey Bill Self - if you are attacking a 1-3-1, and you settle for long corner jumpers, you are doing it wrong.

Had that happened I was going to KFC for dinner.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:00 pm

howard wrote:Lake Rosenberg ‏@LakeRosenberg

but he doesn't tweet very often

Heh.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:03 pm

Brontoburglar wrote:
howard wrote:Hey Bill Self - if you are attacking a 1-3-1, and you settle for long corner jumpers, you are doing it wrong.
Had that happened I was going to EKFC for dinner.

fify

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:17 pm

The play-by-play guy for the Gonzaga-Oklahoma State just referred to Oklahoma's strategy of intentionally fouling Gonzaga's center Przemek Karnowksi as "Hack a Polack." That might be the most ridiculous thing I've every heard an announcer say.

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:23 pm

Also, to make things even more awkward, the color guy for that game is Mike Gminski. The play-by-play guy initially went with the weak "sorry if you were offended apology," then added, "I sincerely apologize" two minutes later. At that point, Gminski said, "you're good now."

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:49 pm

As a Polack, I am not offended. I laughed. MAKE THEM PAY WITH YOUR FOUL SHOTS.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:28 pm

Carolina has no offensive concept. So lucky to have a shot at winning this mess.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:43 pm

When VCU wears a team down, it is a sight to see.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:29 pm

Getting a little sweaty in VA.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:30 pm

tennbengal wrote:When VCU wears a team down, it is a sight to see.

They wore down two teams, for the price of one. OT now.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:38 pm

Brienne of Tarth steps up for SFA in OT.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:50 pm

Look who dusted off Ralph Sampson and dressed him up for TV. Can Terry Holland be far behind? Is Rick Carlisle working tonight?

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:08 pm

Joe K wrote:The play-by-play guy for the Gonzaga-Oklahoma State just referred to Oklahoma's strategy of intentionally fouling Gonzaga's center Przemek Karnowksi as "Hack a Polack." That might be the most ridiculous thing I've every heard an announcer say.

Just another in the long line of Syracuse announcing greats.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:11 pm

Virginia going for another "first time" dave!

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:12 pm

Apparently they can play from down double digits.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:06 pm

Whew.

Coastal Carolina was hitting everything in the first half. I knew they couldn't keep that up, but I was worried it would feed their confidence while also making UVA play tight. Luckily, it didn't work out that way. UVA tightened up the D in the second half and the Chanticleers stopped hitting ever semi-open look.

Again, whew.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:07 pm

Man K-State made nothing.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:08 pm

howard wrote:Look who dusted off Ralph Sampson and dressed him up for TV. Can Terry Holland be far behind? Is Rick Carlisle working tonight?

Poor Ralph has never been good in front of a mic. He's too shy. I wish he'd made a crack to Clark about putting up 42 on his Buckeyes back in the day.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:15 pm

But wasn't that on Herb Williams, so, not that big a deal.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:25 pm

howard wrote:But wasn't that on Herb Williams, so, not that big a deal.

Possibly. I don't remember the game at all, just that Ralph went off on them on national TV (that was much less common then) on Super Bowl Sunday. He didn't usually score a ton, so that game was unusual.

A Google search turns up a Curry Kirkpatrick article about the then-upcoming Sampson-Ewing tilt that included this paragraph:

The last man, the only man, to guard Sampson head up was Ohio State's Herb Williams. Sampson was a sophomore. Williams, now an established pro, was a senior. On national television on Super Sunday Sampson went for a cool 40 points. Williams later said, "Ralph embarrassed my coach."

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:28 pm

Back when I was a betting man, Herb Williams made me a lot of money. See 1980 West Regional Sweet 16, UCLA v OSU (no t). (Mark Aguirre, you helped my wallet too that March.)

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:41 pm

Seeing Danny Manning on the sidelines got me to thinking ...

Are there more former great players coaching these days? Or is it just that I'm older now and remember these guys?

Just thinking of teams in this tourney:
Johnny Dawkins (NPOY)
Craig Neal (OK, he was far from great, but he played against Dawkins in college, so that was kinda cool)
Manning (NPOY, FF MOP)
Steve Alford (twice 1st Team AA, FF MOP)
Tommy Amaker
Fred Hoiberg
Tony Bennett (2200+ pts, NCAA career leader in 3pt%)

I'm sure I'm missing several.

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:49 pm

Shirley wrote:Seeing Danny Manning on the sidelines got me to thinking ...

Are there more former great players coaching these days? Or is it just that I'm older now and remember these guys?

Just thinking of teams in this tourney:
Johnny Dawkins (NPOY)
Craig Neal (OK, he was far from great, but he played against Dawkins in college, so that was kinda cool)
Manning (NPOY, FF MOP)
Steve Alford (twice 1st Team AA, FF MOP)
Tommy Amaker
Fred Hoiberg
Tony Bennett (2200+ pts, NCAA career leader in 3pt%)

I'm sure I'm missing several.

Billy Donovan was a solid college player, and Kevin Ollie was good enough to play in the NBA for 13 seasons. But other than that I think your list got everyone.

Post by **Shirley** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:58 pm

Ollie played that long in the NBA? Man, I missed that. I still remember him more from college.

Post by **Shirley** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:04 am

Dammit Tulsa, I need to go to bed. Quit making this game interesting.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:18 am

I have no memory of Tony Bennett as a player. And I remember his dad coaching at UWGB (and them beating the Lamond Murray-Jason Kidd version of the weenies).

As long as I am reliving my bookmaking prowess in 1980 (I think I still owe Kiki Vanderwege some tribute), lets look at the playing talent in the coaching ranks.

Larry Brown must be top of the list. I don't think Denny Crum was much of a player for Wooden in the pre championship years, from the finals matchup.

List of coaches and teams in the 1980 tournament, from the wiki

In no particular order
Ralph Miller and Norm Sloan were probably better known as football quarterbacks at Kansas and NC State. Gene Keady was another quarterback, at K-State
Bob Knight
John Thompson
Jim Valvano was a good but not great player at Rutgers
Don DeVoe coached Tennessee, he was a teammate of Knight at tOSU
The Lefthander played at Duke
Boeheim was pretty good I guess (but Dave Bing was the star)
I don't remember Billy Tubbs as a player, but Lamar wasn't on the teevee very much.
I hear Ray Meyer was really something before electricity.

I'd say there are more star players who achieve some success as coaches in the current era than before. Name recognition is more important these days.