CBB Thread

I think Kentucky wins but Harrell is a different player now than he was when they first met. So that gives me some, false, hope...Russ is also playing on a different level....only way Ville wins is if 2 of Russ/Harrell/Luke goes off.

Honestly don't know. I think Kentucky is the better team at their peak, and if they play like they did last week they'll beat anybody, but Louisville has been peaking for a while now, and small, quick guards have given Kentucky trouble all year. Louisville obviously has the experience advantage, and Rick in the Sweet 16 is Rick in the Sweet 16. And when you have a guy who can go off for 40 in any given game (Russ), there's no telling what will happen.

That said, I did hear an interesting statistic. The only 2 teams Louisville played all year that were in the top 50 in KenPom offensive efficiency were Kentucky and North Carolina.. both losses for Louisville. The highest offensive efficiency team in their conference (besides Louisville) was Memphis.. who beat them twice. So that gives me a little hope and helps explain why all the models are predicting Louisville.

It'll be interesting, for sure. Sad as it is to say (and everyone has been saying this), but it depends on the officiating. What sucks is I know I won't enjoy a win nearly as much as I would hate a loss.
 
It's amazing how much the NCAAT is about match-ups and who you have to play. We judge every year based on how far you go in the tournament.. but is Dayton making it to the Elite 8 really more impressive than Wichita State losing to Kentucky in the 2nd round? Every year the bracket just opens up for somebody. Sometimes that team wins the title without really being tested (see Duke, 2010). But no one has gotten an easier road over the past four years than Florida. Four straight Elite 8s is pretty good, sure.. but look who they've played:

2011:
15 Seed UCSB
7 Seed UCLA
3 Seed (overseeded) BYU
8 Seed Butler (Loss)

2012:
10 Seed Virginia
15 Seed Norfolk State
3 Seed (overseeded) Marquette
4 Seed Louisville (Loss)

2013:
14 Seed Northwestern State
11 Seed Minnesota
15 Seed Florida Gulf Coast
4 Seed Michigan (Loss)

2014:
16 Seed Albany
9 Seed Pittsburgh
4 Seed UCLA
11 Seed Dayton

That's just absurd.
 
It'll be interesting, for sure. Sad as it is to say (and everyone has been saying this), but it depends on the officiating. What sucks is I know I won't enjoy a win nearly as much as I would hate a loss.

Fact
 
Yeah wow - we lost to two eventual champions and a finalist...so easy. It's also easy to ignore the teams that lost like UConn to Norfolk State. Its also convenient to say a team was overseeded, but why can't a team like UCSB or FGCU be underseeded? This is what the financial world calls selection bias.

It's amazing how much the NCAAT is about match-ups and who you have to play. We judge every year based on how far you go in the tournament.. but is Dayton making it to the Elite 8 really more impressive than Wichita State losing to Kentucky in the 2nd round? Every year the bracket just opens up for somebody. Sometimes that team wins the title without really being tested (see Duke, 2010). But no one has gotten an easier road over the past four years than Florida. Four straight Elite 8s is pretty good, sure.. but look who they've played:

2011:
15 Seed UCSB
7 Seed UCLA
3 Seed (overseeded) BYU
8 Seed Butler (Loss)

2012:
10 Seed Virginia
15 Seed Norfolk State
3 Seed (overseeded) Marquette
4 Seed Louisville (Loss)

2013:
14 Seed Northwestern State
11 Seed Minnesota
15 Seed Florida Gulf Coast
4 Seed Michigan (Loss)

2014:
16 Seed Albany
9 Seed Pittsburgh
4 Seed UCLA
11 Seed Dayton

That's just absurd.
 
LOL at the notion that Duke had an easy road in 2010. They played the 6th (Baylor), 8th (West Virginia) , 9th (Butler), 14th (Purdue), and 20th (California) ranked teams based on Ken Pom ratings on their way to the championship. The Elite Eight game against Baylor was in Baylors back yard and essentially a home game for Baylor. Yeah, it was the hardest, but in no shape or form was it the easiest.
 
Yeah wow - we lost to two eventual champions and a finalist...so easy. It's also easy to ignore the teams that lost like UConn to Norfolk State. Its also convenient to say a team was overseeded, but why can't a team like UCSB or FGCU be underseeded? This is what the financial world calls selection bias.

Not saying there's any shame in losing to those teams you lost to. Just saying that you guys got extremely easy roads four years in a row.. not that you didn't take care of business, but it's not like you had to beat anybody you shouldn't have been able to beat.. and when you did, you lost.

I'm just saying, it's a great accomplishment.. but it's not as crazy as it sounds when you look at it in context.
 
LOL at the notion that Duke had an easy road in 2010. They played the 6th (Baylor), 8th (West Virginia) , 9th (Butler), 14th (Purdue), and 20th (California) ranked teams based on Ken Pom ratings on their way to the championship. The Elite Eight game against Baylor was in Baylors back yard and essentially a home game for Baylor. Yeah, it was the hardest, but in no shape or form was it the easiest.

Dook played no one.

One of the easiest roads in CBB history, flukiest **** ever.
 
Kind of a bummer that Michigan is hitting every three and long jumper. I know they are a great shooting team, but heavens. Would be a close game if they were human from downtown in this one. Sometimes the other team is just hitting everything though. What can you do?
 
Kind of a bummer that Michigan is hitting every three and long jumper. I know they are a great shooting team, but heavens. Would be a close game if they were human from downtown in this one. Sometimes the other team is just hitting everything though. What can you do?

Agreed. Crappy thing about the tournament.

Great run by Tennessee, though. That charging call was horrible.
 
Agreed. Crappy thing about the tournament.

Great run by Tennessee, though. That charging call was horrible.

Yeah. Really a crappy way to end the game. Would have liked to have seen UT get a last shot, but the ref took that away. Looked like a pure flop on the replay to me.
 
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