NCAA Tournament Thread

[40bill]

Congrats to Alabama. First final four in team history.

Join Kentucky, Florida, LSU, Georgia , Arkansas and Mississippi State.

[justford]

SEC in the final four

[largebluej]

Congrats to Alabama. First final four in team history.

Join Kentucky, Florida, LSU, Georgia , Arkansas and Mississippi State.

And USCjr and Auburn. And effective 7/1/24, The Real UT and Oklahoma.

[Matt Dillon]

Continuing with the age of teams starters
Clemson 2 seniors 2 graduates 1 Junior
Alabama 3 seniors 1 Graduate 1 Sophomore

Cal has another fine crop of Diaper Dandys coming in this coming season.

[Catgrad7072]

Cal has another fine crop of Diaper Dandys coming in this coming season.

In an effort to boost the team's average age, I'll walk on next season.
If Matt Dillon and Lighthouse will agree to join me, we'll have the average age so high that the starters will be getting AARP mailings.

[Joneslab]

Hard to believe that Alabama team was the same one that limped to the end of the season. College basketball is...strange.

[George]

Cal has another fine crop of Diaper Dandys coming in this coming season.

He actually doesn’t. Aside from Quaintance, the incoming class is pretty blah.

Quaintance will be 17 as a freshman, too.

[40bill]

Yup. Even more amazing is the NCState run.

Once you get an invite, 4 wins and youre Final 4.

[Joneslab]

He actually doesn’t. Aside from Quaintance, the incoming class is pretty blah.

Quaintance will be 17 as a freshman, too.

People say this every year.

[Joneslab]

However re: freshmen, whether a freshen class is blah or not is kinda meaningless. We've clearly entered a time when freshmen cannot drive the bus.

They could ten years ago. Even five years ago. Not now.

So whether the freshmen class is down or not is inconsequential. It probably doesn't matter how good they are; they could be freakin unbelievable and unless we get a couple of key returners and at least two transfers who can really play, it's not gonna matter.

The age of freshmen is over.

[George]

People say this every year.

Somto and Knox are very mediocre. Have you watched either of them? If we’re counting on them for big minutes, we’re in trouble.

Jury’s still out on Fland and Richmond.

[Matt Dillon]

In an effort to boost the team's average age, I'll walk on next season.
If Matt Dillon and Lighthouse will agree to join me, we'll have the average age so high that the starters will be getting AARP mailings.

Lol.

[Joneslab]

Somto and Knox are very mediocre. Have you watched either of them? If we’re counting on them for big minutes, we’re in trouble.

Of course not. Almost nobody has. You know anybody who sits around and watches those games?

I've heard "the class is weak" almost every year I've been on message boards with the exception of a couple. That's a quarter century. The reason: these guys get in the recruiting echo chambers and just say the same things a couple of the main guys say. Most of those guys don't watch these players either, just like us.

But again: it doesn't matter. Kentucky's only chance is we get two or three of those freshmen to be Dillingham/Sheppard types, get a couple of major returners, and then put some age around it. The freshmen class cannot save us.

[George]

Of course not. Almost nobody has. You know anybody who sits around and watches those games?

I do, sometimes. Gimme a little credit.

Somto’s the kind of big Kansas gets. The ones that, come sophomore or junior year, are in those big man of the year convos. As a freshman, though? Almost nothing whatsoever to his game. Just pure, athletic muscle.

Knox is about four inches shorter than his brother and not quite as good, and we know Kevin didn’t exactly live up to the hype.

[Joneslab]

Somto’s the kind of big Kansas gets. The ones that, come sophomore or junior year, are in those big man of the year convos. As a freshman, though? Almost nothing whatsoever to his game. Just pure, athletic muscle.

Which is, honestly, what we needed on this past team.

The inability to just body guys was a huge deal for this past Kentucky team. So massive you can't understate it. Having just one bruiser may have made all the difference for us, even if that guy couldn't ostensibly "play."

But also: with the way Calipari coaches at this point you can have talent coming out the ears--which we did--and it won't matter either. So the freshmen class could be colossal and at this point we've got a coach (and a coaching staff, possibly) who'll misuse them. The preparation, the planning, and what's happening during games on an in-game adjustment level is huge right now for Kentucky (duh).

We didn't have the roster makeup to really be a "Final Four team" this past year because we were a donut. But if Alabama and Duke can do it, we could've. It's our coaching that's holding us back more than anything.