NCAA Basketball 23-24

[Shirley]

Season starts tonight!

I'll be heading over to Chapel Hill in a bit to see if UNC can handle Radford and start to erase the memory of last season's disaster.

Unfortunately, UVA opens their season at the exact same time and I don't think it's on a service I can record.

[DaveInSeattle]

Gonzaga's season starts on Friday against Yale.

Looks like they've got a solid non-conference schedule, with games against Purdue, USC, UConn, and San Diego St.

[brian]

A Tom Izzo team underperforming? Never!

[wlu_lax6]

JMU is a surprisingly good athletic program across many sports.

[Giff]

Gonzaga's season starts on Friday against Yale.

Looks like they've got a solid non-conference schedule, with games against Purdue, USC, UConn, and San Diego St.

Apparently they had a secret scrimmage against Baylor and won 81-78.

[A_B]

Gonzaga's season starts on Friday against Yale.

Looks like they've got a solid non-conference schedule, with games against Purdue, USC, UConn, and San Diego St.

Now you're just hurting my feelings. Hope Cameron Mills calls all your teams' games.

[DaveInSeattle]

Gonzaga's season starts on Friday against Yale.

Looks like they've got a solid non-conference schedule, with games against Purdue, USC, UConn, and San Diego St.

Now you're just hurting my feelings. Hope Cameron Mills calls all your teams' games.

Ha! I didn't scroll down the schedule far enough to see they are playing Kentucky in February.

Did you see the the Athletic story about how the UK loss to Wisconsin back in 2015 broke Calipari's brain?

John Calipari lost his way. Can he and Kentucky find it again?

More than eight years later, Calipari and the Wildcats have not been back to a Final Four. They’ve won one NCAA Tournament game in the last three years. The mountaintop has faded from view, and the question now is whether a 64-year-old Calipari can climb again or if he’ll continue the descent in his 15th season in Lexington. The slide was subtle enough at first — Kentucky was one shot away from returning to the Final Four in 2017 and 2019, and won the Southeastern Conference by three games in 2020 before COVID-19 canceled the postseason — but the decline began in those waning moments against Wisconsin.

“I really believe that game broke him,” said one former support staff member, who, along with four others, requested anonymity to protect their relationship with Calipari.

[A_B]

It broke my TV.

[Nonlinear FC]

Um. The quoted paragraph doesn't in any way point to a decline beginning in 2015. Facts don't support that argument.

[A_B]

Um. The quoted paragraph doesn't in any way point to a decline beginning in 2015. Facts don't support that argument.

Oh it certainly hasn't been as bad as some UK fans would have you believe (though only two appareances past sweet 16 since isn't ideal). The biggest issue is less results and more that the product on the floor didn't seem to make sense a lot of times. So Cal tried to do things differently to no avail. I think that was more of the "decline". And yeah, not being back in the final Four since then blows holes.

[Shirley]

Well, and for a few years there, ending in 2015, Kentucky was incredibly dominant nationally. But that was never going to last.

[Steve of phpBB]

Um. The quoted paragraph doesn't in any way point to a decline beginning in 2015. Facts don't support that argument.

Oh it certainly hasn't been as bad as some UK fans would have you believe (though only two appareances past sweet 16 since isn't ideal). The biggest issue is less results and more that the product on the floor didn't seem to make sense a lot of times. So Cal tried to do things differently to no avail. I think that was more of the "decline". And yeah, not being back in the final Four since then blows holes.

AB, do you follow https://twitter.com/TBrown_80? He's a big-time UK sports guy, does a weekly podcast, etc. And he's a good follow in general.

[Nonlinear FC]

A Tom Izzo team underperforming? Never!

"You just wait until basketball season!!"

womp womp

[Nonlinear FC]

I had absolutely zero expectations for MI basketball this season. A couple of dudes transferred out (most notably Dickinson) and a few recruits flipped. Some decent guys coming back, but really nothing special.

I know it's just one game, but they beat a very good mid-major in UNC-Ashville last night and it wasn't really close. This is a team that went 16-2 in their conference last year and was a 15 seed. And they returned all their key pieces.

Guess I'll tune in and see where this goes.

[mister d]

Maybe you can steal all of your opponents offensive play calls!!!!!!!

[sancarlos]

Defending women's national champ and #1 ranked LSU got thumped on a neutral court by #20 Colorado. Nice.

[A_B]

Defending women's national champ and #1 ranked LSU got thumped on a neutral court by #20 Colorado. Nice.

I know the west coast is late but this late?

[A_B]

Maybe you can steal all of your opponents offensive play calls!!!!!!!

I chuckled.

[Nonlinear FC]

And, because I've been buried in this shit all week... Apparently you can "steal" basketball signals!!

[sancarlos]

Defending women's national champ and #1 ranked LSU got thumped on a neutral court by #20 Colorado. Nice.

I know the west coast is late but this late?

Yes, Monday. But, if you didnt know, it’s new to you!

[A_B]

[EnochRoot]

Virginia looked good vs Florida. Maryland looked like crap vs a smaller, slower, weaker Davidson team. It wouldn't surprise me if both teams finish around .500.

Oh, and Duke lost.

[DSafetyGuy]

It's only been two games, but I am going to enjoy tracking all the statistical results people hated about Syracuse's zone defense now that they are playing an overwhelming amount of man defense.

[Shirley]

Inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge starts tonight. Hard to be too optimistic for the ACC. The conference looks pretty mid yet again this year. Ken Pomeroy has the SEC going 5-2 tonight. We will see. I guess it’s a good opportunity for the ACC.

[A_B]

We did our part.

[Shirley]

Sure did. SEC lead 4-3 after day 1. The SEC also hosted 4 of the games, so in a sense we're on serve. I had forgotten that Chris Beard is now at Ole Miss. There's been a nice influx of good coaches (if questionable men) to the SEC lately with Beard, Musselman, Buzz, and Oats. And a bit before that, Pearl and Barnes.

[Shirley]

It finished up all tied, 7-7. The ACC was actually set to win Year 1 before FSU crumbled late, blowing a 17-point lead.

I went to the UNC-Tennessee game last night. It was a lot of fun. I was expecting a bruising game, given Tennessee's reputation and their #1 KenPom defense. Instead, UNC put up 62 points in the first half! The Vols actually shot well all game long and they made a game of it in the second half before fading. Good win for the Heels.

At the same, UVA was playing Texas A&M, who had one of the most efficient, highest scoring offenses in the country. UVA smothered them 59-47. UVA won against a top-15 team while scoring fewer points in the game than UNC did in the first half against UT. There are many ways to skin a cat.

[A_B]

It finished up all tied, 7-7. The ACC was actually set to win Year 1 before FSU crumbled late, blowing a 17-point lead.

I went to the UNC-Tennessee game last night. It was a lot of fun. I was expecting a bruising game, given Tennessee's reputation and their #1 KenPom defense. Instead, UNC put up 62 points in the first half! The Vols actually shot well all game long and they made a game of it in the second half before fading. Good win for the Heels.

At the same, UVA was playing Texas A&M, who had one of the most efficient, highest scoring offenses in the country. UVA smothered them 59-47. UVA won against a top-15 team while scoring fewer points in the game than UNC did in the first half against UT. There are many ways to skin a cat.

Only one cat got skinned in the whole event! LSU Lost. Missouri, Auburn, UK and Clemson all won.

[DSafetyGuy]

It finished up all tied, 7-7. The ACC was actually set to win Year 1 before FSU crumbled late, blowing a 17-point lead.

I went to the UNC-Tennessee game last night. It was a lot of fun. I was expecting a bruising game, given Tennessee's reputation and their #1 KenPom defense. Instead, UNC put up 62 points in the first half! The Vols actually shot well all game long and they made a game of it in the second half before fading. Good win for the Heels.

At the same, UVA was playing Texas A&M, who had one of the most efficient, highest scoring offenses in the country. UVA smothered them 59-47. UVA won against a top-15 team while scoring fewer points in the game than UNC did in the first half against UT. There are many ways to skin a cat.

Only one cat got skinned in the whole event! LSU Lost. Missouri, Auburn, UK and Clemson all won.

Their offensive rebounding kept them in the game in the first half. After that happened, they had no way to offset their poor 3-point shooting (2/22) or sloppiness (19 turnovers, including several head shakers of different varieties).

[sancarlos]

Noted basketball school Colorado State in the top 20, for those of you keeping score at home.

[Nonlinear FC]

Noted basketball school Colorado State in the top 20, for those of you keeping score at home.

Because I've spent so much time out there the last 4-5 years, plus having visited FoCo* 3 times... And, of course, YOU...

I had been clocking this development.

* - We saw this on a Facebook post about something related to snow or something and they referred to Fort Collins this way and I didn't like it.

[DaveInSeattle]

Wonder if Gonzaga tonight will get to see the college debut of Bronny James.

[DaveInSeattle]

Wonder if Gonzaga tonight will get to see the college debut of Bronny James.

Didn't see Bronny on the floor, but wow, did we get a lot of shots of him in sweats sitting on the bench.

[sancarlos]

Wonder if Gonzaga tonight will get to see the college debut of Bronny James.

Didn't see Bronny on the floor, but wow, did we get a lot of shots of him in sweats sitting on the bench.

Is he injured? Or, just not in the rotation?

[A_B]

Wonder if Gonzaga tonight will get to see the college debut of Bronny James.

Didn't see Bronny on the floor, but wow, did we get a lot of shots of him in sweats sitting on the bench.

Is he injured? Or, just not in the rotation?

Probably related to the cardiac arrest in Preseason.

[wlu_lax6]

Wonder if Gonzaga tonight will get to see the college debut of Bronny James.

Didn't see Bronny on the floor, but wow, did we get a lot of shots of him in sweats sitting on the bench.

Is he injured? Or, just not in the rotation?

Probably related to the cardiac arrest in Preseason.

He was cleared 2 days ago. Lebron said he would miss a Lakers game to see Bronny play his first college game.

[Ryan]

Anyone care to guess the school responsible for the absolute dumbest loss ever?

[+] spoiler

https://x.com/mcallistermike1/status/17 ... Z6KGOlLOIg

[mister d]

Was that the only buzzer-beater yesterday?

[Shirley]

Anyone care to guess the school responsible for the absolute dumbest loss ever?

[+] spoiler

https://x.com/mcallistermike1/status/17 ... Z6KGOlLOIg

Both of those whistles were suspect.

[mister d]

Was that the only buzzer-beater yesterday?

Alright, guess there was enough #sportsaction this weekend that everyone DVR'ed the 3rd place game of the inaurugal Big 5 Classic.

[+] spoiler