Interesting weekend of games starts today, highlighted by #3 Kansas @ #4 Baylor at 1 on CBS and slumping #12 UVA at #10 UNC. Michigan State at Purdue is a big game at the top of the Big 10.
Some chances for bubble teams to really solidify their spots: Va Tech at Louisville or Houston hosting SMU.
For the NY/NJ locals, Nova visits Seton Hall today and a big game in the NEC at Hackensack, Mount St. Mary's comes to Fairleigh Ridiculous.
Enjoy!
No Reynolds again? That's 3 games now, no? It's tough to get back to a Final Four only playing 7. Just getting there with this team playing 7 all year might be the best coaching job of Wright's run here.
RAMS RUN RICHMOND!
Brunson might have to make a business decision at the end of the year.
Hart or Mason is going to win it, but theres been no doubt that Ball has been the best player so far.
Brunson missed a free throw.
Being the selfish alum I am, I hope he stays. I'd love to see Spellman next year with a vet PG who has literally seen it all through (hopefully) 2 consecutive deep NCAA tourney runs. Today aside, I don't think his jumper is close to NBA ready. In the end, I'm sure he'll at the very least inquire with the draft committee to gauge his pro prospects like Hart and Big Smoove did last spring.
Wow.
I made the trip back for the game. It was absolutely awful. Even badger fans were upset when the calls went against Maryland at some point. Just let em play.
Also, absolutely brutal job by Turgeron. Got a T when the game was close and had to rest Trimble for the last 5 minutes cause he was winded. That's awful awful work by him.
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one of the worst officiated games I've watched in a while.
I made the trip back for the game. It was absolutely awful. Even badger fans were upset when the calls went against Maryland at some point. Just let em play.
Also, absolutely brutal job by Turgeron. Got a T when the game was close and had to rest Trimble for the last 5 minutes cause he was winded. That's awful awful work by him.
Turg has many issues as an in-game coach. He has no feel for when to take a TO to break the other team's momentum and his substitution patterns are all over the place. That technical was very out of character for him. He usually gets accused of not being emotional enough.
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one of the worst officiated games I've watched in a while.
I made the trip back for the game. It was absolutely awful. Even badger fans were upset when the calls went against Maryland at some point. Just let em play.
Also, absolutely brutal job by Turgeron. Got a T when the game was close and had to rest Trimble for the last 5 minutes cause he was winded. That's awful awful work by him.
Do you really want to get me started? I guess those refs were ready for their close-up on national TV. Wisconsin had 27 points in the first half - TWENTY BY FREE THROW. They shot 37 for the game. But the game went pretty much according to a script I feared. Wisconsin was going to be physical and just plain wanted it more - no shame in losing this one ut highlights the lack of a post presence.
Turgeon has a lot of faults as a coach - I mean a lot - but making the tournament with this team is a real accomplishment and he's had three good seasons in a row now.
That was highway robbery.
It's across the country, because the Big 10 ones are just as bad. I just saw Tough Guy Teddy Valentine call a technical on the Michigan bench from across the court in a close game when they reacted to a bad call. Beilein doesn't go nuts too often, this was one of those times.
Link - ( New Window )
Poor kid can't catch a break - no pun intended.
I know Virginia fans like the fact that they have been winning in the regular season under Bennett, but I would have a real hard time if I were a fan of this team watching them play every night. It's just plain old boring basketball. And this style he plays will never get to a final four, never mind win a title.
I was at the game on Saturday at UNC and watching them play offense is painful.
He has a name. It's Future Knick Bruce Brown.
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In the last 40 seconds tonight. Absolutely pathetic.
I know Virginia fans like the fact that they have been winning in the regular season under Bennett, but I would have a real hard time if I were a fan of this team watching them play every night. It's just plain old boring basketball. And this style he plays will never get to a final four, never mind win a title.
I was at the game on Saturday at UNC and watching them play offense is painful.
Pretty much.
The refs should've counted the not-quite buzzer beater based on the shitty calls they made against Miami down the stretch. That baseline ref shouldn't see an ACC tournament game.
If you can guard Parrentes, UVA has nothing. You can't play into OT and have less that 50 points.
Unfortunately, right now the offense is completely broken. With what we graduated, I knew this season would be a test. I was also looking fo seeing Austin Nichols in the system who would have been the highest-rated recruit on paper that Bennett had gotten at UVA. And with two years of eligibility left, he was going to be our anchor inside on both the defensive and offensive ends.
More importantly, after graduating Gill and Tobey, we relied on Nichols because he was going to be our only legitimate interior offensive threat. But Bennett kicked him off the team after one game for drugs, apparently. I applaud Bennett for sticking to his principles (Nichols is still enrolled in classes), but it also meant that this season had a lower ceiling than in previous seasons.
So now we have absolutely no inside game and every team is starting to realize that and know that if you extend your defense and chase our guards off the perimeter, we can be contained rather easily. We still move well without the ball, but we can't play any type of inside-outside game, and we lack the speedy guards that are great at getting to the rim. We are also terrible at drawing fouls, so we have become completely one-dimensional on offense.
Virginia's offense reminds me very much this season of the Giants offense. Defenses can play the same away against us (cover 2) because they know that we can't run the ball or throw to tight ends over the middle, and so defenses will keep playing that way and the offense will continue to stall all season.
In the last two weeks our offense went from the 3rd most efficient per KenPom to the 39th. But the defense is still #1. If the offense can figure out something new and get back into being one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, the season is far from over.
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That said, the idea that UVA will never get to a Final Four under Bennett because of his system is stupid. They've been one of the most consistent winners over the last 3-4 years, and they were a terrible collapse (with some brutal no calls against Tobey when we busted Cuse's press) and Malachi Richardson pulling a horseshoe out of his ass in the second half from being in the Final Four last season.
Much of the season, the offense was working great. But like I said, teams have figured out how to shut us own and we haven't figured out our next move to beat it. Sometimes, though, bad shooting is just a matter of a team pressing during a really tough stretch.
Saturday they definitely missed open shots. That guy kid the freshman could not throw the ball in the ocean, every time he came in he was shooting and missing.
I also think Benetts style catches up with teams sometimes at the end kf the year. It has to be exhausting to play grind it out games all year
Given how consistently we've been fucked over by ACC refs over the past two decades, forgive me if I don't give a flying fuck. Didn't matter anyway.
Perrentes can't carry a team. He's a great complimentary player, but he can't create his own shots. We have zero inside game - Salt has no offensive skills, Diakite is too skinny to play the post, Wilkins is too small - and we don't have guards who can finish at the rim. Hall and Shayok can get to the rim but have a bizarrely difficult time converting layups.
Probably ends up being a rebuilding year. Guy and Jerome are struggling like everyone else right now, but they've both shown flashes on offense and I'll be interested to see Huff and Hunter next year add some size and scoring ability.