2024 NCAA Tournament

[Puffdad]

five observations going into the sweet 16 ...

1. heard on b12 radio that fifteen of the sweet sixteen were kenpom picks, auburn's loss being the outlier. so much for lunardi and those who question computer generated brackets/picks. ha.

2. the tournament is going chalk. kenpom has the final 4 being uofa, houston, tennessee, uconn. i have it uofa, houston, illinois, purdue. kenpom picks uconn repeating. i have purdue winning their first only because it is so hard to repeat - hear me uconn?

3. interestingly, cinderella got hammered in the second round. james madison, grand canyon, northwestern, yale, utah state got sent packing unceremoniously.

4. houston/aTm was bare knuckle fist fight to the end with houston's four star players all fouling out and some sorry ass walk-on having to knock down an important free throw. but the coogs prevailed somehow. good for them.

5. two sweet 16 games stand out for me: iowa state v. illinois. i've like brad's guard-oriented outfit as a sleeper for some time now. and duke/houston which classically frames finesse versus power.

I felt pretty good for “the sorry ass walk on” myself. Here’s a walk on who had practiced and played very little in four years at Houston. He’d had like 4 free throws in his career. And he gets pushed into having to make at least one free throw of two to make it a two possession game to avoid the humiliating loss. Every one of his teammates gave him a hug before he shot the free throws. Talking about a guy having yellow socks in all likelihood! And he missed the first which added to the insane pressure. And he netted the second one and the place goes apes! That was what true college basketball ought to be about!

A story that his grandkids will hear for the rest of their lives. And he’ll retire as a happy insurance salesman.

[tmcats]

five observations going into the sweet 16 ...

1. heard on b12 radio that fifteen of the sweet sixteen were kenpom picks, auburn's loss being the outlier. so much for lunardi and those who question computer generated brackets/picks. ha.

2. the tournament is going chalk. kenpom has the final 4 being uofa, houston, tennessee, uconn. i have it uofa, houston, illinois, purdue. kenpom picks uconn repeating. i have purdue winning their first only because it is so hard to repeat - hear me uconn?

3. interestingly, cinderella got hammered in the second round. james madison, grand canyon, northwestern, yale, utah state got sent packing unceremoniously.

4. houston/aTm was bare knuckle fist fight to the end with houston's four star players all fouling out and some sorry ass walk-on having to knock down an important free throw. but the coogs prevailed somehow. good for them.

5. two sweet 16 games stand out for me: iowa state v. illinois. i've like brad's guard-oriented outfit as a sleeper for some time now. and duke/houston which classically frames finesse versus power.

I felt pretty good for “the sorry ass walk on” myself. Here’s a walk on who had practiced and played very little in four years at Houston. He’d had like 4 free throws in his career. And he gets pushed into having to make at least one free throw of two to make it a two possession game to avoid the humiliating loss. Every one of his teammates gave him a hug before he shot the free throws. Talking about a guy having yellow socks in all likelihood! And he missed the first which added to the insane pressure. And he netted the second one and the place goes apes! That was what true college basketball ought to be about!

A story that his grandkids will hear for the rest of their lives. And he’ll retire as a happy insurance salesman.

you know my "sorry ass walk on" comment was meant as sarcasm. we were all pulling for him to knock it down.

[tmcats]

SWEET 16 TEAMS - LISTED BY NET RANKING (AT START OF TOURNAMENT)

red are my final 4

#1 Houston (1)
#2 Connecticut (1)
#3 Purdue (1)
#4 Arizona (2)
#6 Iowa State (2)
#7 Tennessee (2)
#8 North Carolina (1)
#9 Alabama (4)
#10 Duke (4)
#11 Creighton (3)
#13 Illinois (3)
#14 Marquette (2)
#17 Gonzaga (5)
#20 San Diego State (5)
#35 Clemson (6)
#63 NC State (11)

TOP 5 ELIMINATED SO FAR

#5 Auburn
#12 BYU
#15 Baylor
#16 Saint Mary's
#18 Kentucky

source: texasjeremy

[farrout10]

I felt pretty good for “the sorry ass walk on” myself. Here’s a walk on who had practiced and played very little in four years at Houston. He’d had like 4 free throws in his career. And he gets pushed into having to make at least one free throw of two to make it a two possession game to avoid the humiliating loss. Every one of his teammates gave him a hug before he shot the free throws. Talking about a guy having yellow socks in all likelihood! And he missed the first which added to the insane pressure. And he netted the second one and the place goes apes! That was what true college basketball ought to be about!

A story that his grandkids will hear for the rest of their lives. And he’ll retire as a happy insurance salesman.

you know my "sorry ass walk on" comment was meant as sarcasm. we were all pulling for him to knock it down.

Interesting stat in that game, it was the first time since 1987 that a tourney team had won, with 4 starters fouling out!

[SCKSCat]

Well Cyclones are about to lose. So much for the best league in the nation.

[bhoovy]

Well Cyclones are about to lose. So much for the best league in the nation.

I honestly don’t believe it really has any bearing on who’s the supposedly best conference. The tournament is a different animal. Neutral sites. Officiating possibly called differently. A different level of emotion. Supposed upsets are a common thing.

But I said I didn’t believe ISU would make it out of the first weekend so they played one more game then I gave them credit for.

[spot2180]

I am of the opinion that Iowa State shot themselves out of the game in the first half. A lot of silly shots, forced shot early in the possession. Kinda like they believed their own hype and wanted to be a different team than what they were. At that stage of the tournament, everyone can beat everyone else.

Besides Houston, I am pulling for the mid majors at this point. I am fine with UConn winning it all. I just don't want to see the SEC and Big10 in the final four or the finals.

[NatCat2]

Iowa State got into foul trouble and it cost them the game. No surprise there as most of us figured it would happen. I predicted they’d make it to the sweet 16 but not the final four. However, I did want them to beat Illinois.
I don’t want any sec or big teams in the FF. Hopefully Houston beats Duke.
The top 3 blue bloods, KU, Kentucky, and UNC are all out. Good.

[Catalum]

I am of the opinion that Iowa State shot themselves out of the game in the first half. A lot of silly shots, forced shot early in the possession. Kinda like they believed their own hype and wanted to be a different team than what they were. At that stage of the tournament, everyone can beat everyone else.

Besides Houston, I am pulling for the mid majors at this point. I am fine with UConn winning it all. I just don't want to see the SEC and Big10 in the final four or the finals.

^^This^^....I have to live in SEC country and I had to hear all season from the local sports media about how great that conference is. They kept referring to how Arky beat Duke back in November, then the Hogs proceeded to have a losing SEC conference record. That was their metric for how tough the SEC was.

[tmcats]