Official NCAA Tournament Thread

[Dwight Schrute]

I don’t mind criticizing Cal, some of it is warranted. But this sky is falling crap is old. Duke had the most electric player I’ve seen in college basketball since John Wall and nearly got beat in the 2nd and 3rd round. UNC and Kansas , Tennessee and Gonzaga all lost. Who had Texans Tech in the Final Four?

[Dwight Schrute]

So your saying Auburn is more talented than us, really, or K State last year or Wisconsin 4 years ago

With the exception of maybe Wisconsin, they were all more experienced. Wisconsin had the best player in the country their year.

Did Auburn have more talent than UNC or Kansas? What about Tennessee?

Cal’s system needs top level talent or days like today can happen.

[Blue Heaven]

With the exception of maybe Wisconsin, they were all more experienced. Wisconsin had the best player in the country their year.

Did Auburn have more talent than UNC or Kansas? What about Tennessee?

Cal’s system needs top level talent or days like today can happen.

This. Top talent often equates to high basketball IQs. Hagans and sometimes Keldon just didn't have it. Cal's teams generally goes as his PGs go. Turnover prone PGs are a disaster in March. Hagans has a lot to learn and Keldon is a defensive liability.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Duke’s gonna have their third title since Cal got to UK.

People’s heads are going to explode when they win it all again.

NOT THIS YEAR

[TrueblueCATfan]

what I don't get is all the Cal bashing because he had all that talent and didn't make the FF...but what about Coach K....look at his talent this year and he flames out today

[Dwight Schrute]

I’m not a media agenda guy, but it seems like the media hates Cal. Forget K, Bill Self is a guy I don’t get. His team got blown out by Auburn last weekend. UNC got blown out Friday night.

[Joneslab]

I’m not a media agenda guy, but it seems like the media hates Cal. Forget K, Bill Self is a guy I don’t get. His team got blown out by Auburn last weekend. UNC got blown out Friday night.

A lot of this is old stuff that Cal cultivated a long time ago, before he got to UK.

He had this brash, abrasive manner about him that earned him a lot of really loyal friends and bitter enemies. Very little in-between with Cal.

Dan Wolken is one guy who's hit Cal pretty hard after today's game. Well, that goes back years to their time at Memphis.

Cal's media relationship at UK has been different because he hasn't needed to be this outspoken, antagonistic type. Early in his career he was a lot more of a Jerry Tarkanian sort.

The Cal we see at UK is mostly goofy. Sometimes he turns into Swaggy Cal and that's when you see folks--even quite a few UK fans--rolling their eyes. But he doesn't have to do that a lot here. I think at Memphis and UMASS it was his persona most of the time.

Cal has a bit of a troll in him.

[Matt Dillon]

Why is everyone so “happy” about Duke losing, it did nothing for me. UK lost that’s all I care about. We should worry more about why we have lost 2 years in a row with superior talent snd not what Duke is doing

I agree 100%, Jload. I posted virtually the same thing in Bill's "Am I a terrible fan" thread.

[Dwight Schrute]

A lot of this is old stuff that Cal cultivated a long time ago, before he got to UK.

He had this brash, abrasive manner about him that earned him a lot of really loyal friends and bitter enemies. Very little in-between with Cal.

Dan Wolken is one guy who's hit Cal pretty hard after today's game. Well, that goes back years to their time at Memphis.

Cal's media relationship at UK has been different because he hasn't needed to be this outspoken, antagonistic type. Early in his career he was a lot more of a Jerry Tarkanian sort.

The Cal we see at UK is mostly goofy. Sometimes he turns into Swaggy Cal and that's when you see folks--even quite a few UK fans--rolling their eyes. But he doesn't have to do that a lot here. I think at Memphis and UMASS it was his persona most of the time.

Cal has a bit of a troll in him.

The Dan Wolken thing did kinda piss me off. Mostly because it was so idiotic and blind to everything else. I remember Forde writing a pretty scathing column when UK hired Cal too. Forde has written a few of those. The famous one was in '14 about a month before 'the tweak' and UK almost won a title.

[Dwight Schrute]

On a somewhat related note, how good was this past weekend of basketball? I thought the opening weekend was a bit bland - there were a few 12/5-13/4 type upsets, but mostly everyone that was good made it through. The blandness in the first couple of rounds made for a fantastic second weekend with a bunch of heavyweight matchups.

I always like to see Duke lose, but I wasn't at all surprised. We talked about this a few times over the season, but Duke was a poor shooting team and that caught up to them. They also never seemed the same after Zion came back. But mostly, they hadn't played well all tournament. They were missed layups away from losing in the Round of 32/Sweet 16, and they didn't play well for most of the game vs North Dakota State. Michigan State was a really good team and I'm not surprised they beat Duke.

I'm excited to see Auburn/UVA. The contrast in styles will be fun to watch. I'm rooting for Auburn because they're fun to watch. I admit to not having seen a Texas Tech game all year so I have no idea how they play. Michigan State/UVA would be a pretty boring title game though.

It's gonna be a long off-season. Only 4 months til fall football camp.