NCAA Tournament Thread

[George]

Absolutely pathetic.

Yeah, Louisville is trash.

[Joneslab]

As many have said, our team doesn't like contact. How will these guys ever make it in the NBA?
I don't follow the the NBA except for the highlights I see at the gym which consist of LeBron running over people on his way to the rim.

They tend to change a little as they get older and stronger. I mean Malik Monk played the way a lot of these players do when he was here. He's had a really good career so far. Things change.

Also, let's be honest: not much defense in the NBA. Especially now with the rules as they are. A couple of these guys will fit right in.

[KCKUKFan]

As many have said, our team doesn't like contact. How will these guys ever make it in the NBA?
I don't follow the the NBA except for the highlights I see at the gym which consist of LeBron running over people on his way to the rim.

*LeBron being fouled eighteen times on the way to the rim, and still managing to finish despite not getting a whistle. Fixed that for you.

Our team doesn't like contact now, but the majority of them are eighteen year olds. It's fair to assume that as they get older and get on an NBA weight lifting/diet regimen, they will get stronger. Brandon Boston was a beanpole here, and his body has transformed (still skinny, but much stronger).

[KCKUKFan]

Houston would neuter Justin Edwards. I’d be genuinely concerned about what that game might do to him.

Or Justin Edwards would have one of those 25 point games he randomly has. I thought Tennessee's stronger guys would beat him up, and he just kept punishing them.

[Joneslab]

Edwards' whole thing seems contingent on whether or not he hits his first couple of shots.

He missed those first two early threes against Texas A&M...and then just fell apart. Guy doesn't just get down on himself, he seems locked in primordial torment for his very soul.

[Joneslab]

...and in the end a blue blood will end up winning it. Like usual.

Back to this point: this is going to change.

In the last six years we've had Baylor win a title. We've had San Diego St. get to a title game. And we've had Texas Tech come within an overtime of a championship.

There have also been two 16s knock off 1 seeds during that same time frame.

A low-major will win the championship at some point. It's inevitable. The sport is too crazy, too volatile. It wouldn't even really surprise me if a mid-major won it. Because if you can get to the Final Four, you can win two more games once you're there. And the number of times we're seeing those types of teams get to the final weekend, the roulette wheel is gonna land at some point on one of them.

Whether that's a good or bad thing for the sport as a whole, I don't know. This is just me personally but I prefer this landscape way more than college football...but if you're a big fan of a particular program as we all are, the wild volatility can make the thing very frustrating.

[Joneslab]

Back to Oakland: they aren't a great three-point shooting team by percentage, but they have the nation's best three-point shooter in terms of threes made. Jack Gohlke has made 121 threes on the year.

They also have another guard who's made more than 80 threes.

So, yeah, they're basically going to shoot a three every trip down the court. Which in all honesty is probably better than the head-down, screaming-line-drive-to-the-basket offense we've seen all through the SEC season...

...assuming they don't go nuts and hit 15+.

[Catsrock]

Just saw this:

Aggravating for sure. But UK hasn’t played many games in the OVC or Horizon league tournaments.

[KCKUKFan]

Cal suggests that he might "play two seven footers at the same time" to "shore up our defensive problems."

Further proof that he's either A) a massive troll who hates us or B) an idiot or C) both.

[Joneslab]

Cal suggests that he might "play two seven footers at the same time" to "shore up our defensive problems."

Further proof that he's either A) a massive troll who hates us or B) an idiot or C) both.

I suspect this is a smokescreen so that he can plant something in the Oakland coaching staff's mind. The fact that Oakland is super small might also be the logic there assuming Cal is being honest...which I don't think he is.

But in all honestly, he has already played two seven footers at the same time before. Hasn't happened much but it has happened.

[Lighthouse]

Cal suggests that he might "play two seven footers at the same time" to "shore up our defensive problems."

Further proof that he's either A) a massive troll who hates us or B) an idiot or C) both.

I pick C. As usual we can't believe anything he says. He's not going to do anything different because he doesn't know how. I hope we win at least 2 games before he's out-coached again.

[Joneslab]

Another thing that might be in play there is Bradshaw. His minutes against TAMU were way low and you know that didn't sit well with him or his people. Might be a throw-the-last-guy-on-the-totem-poll-a-bone sorta thing.

The portal opened today. If Kentucky had a player jump out now it would really stink. There are a bunch of players already in the portal, which is crazy.

[Pobilly]

Trying to get up for this tourney but having a very hard time doing so.

We have a good regional (one of the 2 easiest). Thing is with this team, easier is not always better. How does the team get up for Oakland and NC State or Texas Tech when we cannot get up for UNCW at Rupp, we cannot get up for LSU at LSU, we cannot get up for Texas AM (which had beaten us once). We have no trouble getting up for Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn and such.

Maybe I am being to hard on this group. The past 2 tourney were not a good experience.

I am still doing it up big and going to watch 4 days of basketball. I just hope we find a way to make it to the 2nd weekend.

[Joneslab]

I actually don't think it's a matter of getting up or not getting up. I think the team has some real flaws with its habits and how it's coached on the technical details of defense.

We've seen a pretty similar team for 32 games now for the most part. Even in games where we played really (really) well, teams have made huge runs at us at the ends of games because we just don't have the kind of defense that can be consistent through 40 minutes.

The idea that we "play down to our opponent" doesn't apply to this team that much, IMO. We are extremely weak defensively and we don't have great balance because of our center situation. So you get these wild movements of games where we give up 70% shooting and stuff like that.

[twan890]

Have a bad feeling Oakland will be hitting 3's on us all night. Hope we can guard a little bit better. NC State scares me the most out of all these teams. Florida is familiar, and Houston seems to be exactly the kind of big match up this team has shown up for. Let's go!