BShark said:
This SHU team beat TTU pretty handily. They concern me.
Tech also isn't a good offensive team while Seton Hall is. If we play Seton Hall, it shoiuld be an up tempo game with a lot of possessions which will favor Kansas because we're a better offense than they are.
Didn't Al Freeman used to play at Baylor?
KUSTEVE said:
@BShark do you know what time we play on saturday?
That'll get announced later tonight after all the games are done.
Penn is legitimately a better defensive team than either of these teams.
wissox said:
Some of ya'll think KU should just be winning the entire game!
Not necessarily, but there was also no reason for KU to ever be down 10 to Penn.
Sit Svi's ass the rest of the half!
Svi cannot make a damn layup!
@approxinfinity I would argue that Self's most successful teams were ones that largely played through the post and utilized the high-low on a very regular basis and weren't dependent upon the 3 ball to win games.
I would also say that Tony Bennett's style likely wouldn't attract many OAD types because his style of play isn't attractive to OAD caliber players.
@approxinfinity So basically you'd want Tony Bennett to abandon what got him to the position he's in today?
@BShark I know, still didn't think they were advancing past Arizona before that.
@wissox The east was the hardest region to pick for me. Virginia has a habit of flaming out early under Bennett (only 1 Elite 8 appearance) so picking them to lose early is betting on history. Kentucky is an insanely young team and I don't think they can beat Arizona. I think Arizona's offense is also going to be too much for Virginia to overcome.
I also have Cincinnati/Tennessee in the other Sweet 16 game. That's gonna be a street fight and Cincy is playing as good as anybody in the country right now.
The east region is the one I'm least certain about along with KU over Sparty given Self's historic struggles in the Elite 8 and against Izzo. I'd honestly feel better if we played Duke in the Elite 8.
My Elite 8 picks are Cincy over Arizona, North Carolina over Gonzaga, Kansas over Michigan St. and Purdue over West Virginia.
kjayhawks said:
@JayHawkFanToo Ranking mean absolutely nothing in the tournament, don’t care which ones you look at.
Bullcrap, there's a reason 1 seeds make the Final Four about 50% of the time and why there's only been a handful of champs that weren't a 3 seed or higher. Rankings matter.
Newman needs a big who can play away from the basket to open the lane up for him. Doke is not that player unless he's screening for Newman and on the receiving end of lobs.
@wissox KU entered the 2000 NCAA tournament at 23-9 and finished in 5th place in the Big 12 that year. That wasn't a TV match up, that was a below average KU team, by KU standards, and didn't have any tournament expectations.
Definitely won't hurt recruiting.
BeddieKU23 said:
Texas Hawk 10 said:
@BeddieKU23 And they're still capable of beating FSU because they have Michael Porter.
If a player who's played in 1 game + 2 minutes with less then two weeks of practice can be the difference in a win for them I tip my hat to Porter. I'm banking he's just a big name not ready to do his best which is what he looked like in the SEC tourney
Michael Porter is a top 5 draft pick, he's a difference maker. The SEC tournament was him knocking the rust off.
@mayjay I'm plenty familiar with Indiana's history. They made 5 NCAA tournaments prior to Knight. They were an inconsistent program prior to Knight displacing UCLA as the best program at the time.
They are a tier 2 program with Duke and UCLA because they don't have the consistency that Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina have had.
@BeddieKU23 And they're still capable of beating FSU because they have Michael Porter.
@Kcmatt7 Virginia would do just fine against Cincinnati or Tennessee. Virginia's issues are going to be against teams that play up tempo and Kentucky and Arizona are both really good up tempo teams. Either of those teams are capable of dropping 70+ on Virginia which is how you beat them.
To me, there are really only 3 true bloods. Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina. These are the three programs that you can look at just about any decade and they are/were relevant to college basketball in that decade.
I would put Duke, Indiana, and UCLA as 2nd tier programs. Their history is largely associated with one coach, but they have had some success during the tenure of other coaches.
BeddieKU23 said:
mayjay said:
No one, but no one, of the "experts" at TBS, CBS, CBSSports.com and NBCSports.com is picking KU to even get to the NC game, and I think there weren't any picking us to get thru either M State or Duke. I might have missed somebody, but these kids are loving trying to prove people wrong, so being the most disrespected #1 should be as much of a chip as they could ever want.
Jay Will put Xavier on upset alert in the 2nd round.
I'm sure Seth Greenberg picked the field against KU like usual. I would pick the field against Seth in a coaching search if we are being honest
I would have Xavier on upset alert too if they play Missouri. A healthy and reintegrated Porter makes Missouri a top 15 team this season more than capable of beating Xavier.
1st round games I'm looking forward to:
Florida vs. UCLA/St. Bonnie's
Alabama/VTech
Ohio St./South Dakota St.
Texas/Nevada
Creighton/KSU (Marcus Foster should be motivated for that one)
Texas A&M/Providence
Missouri/Florida St.
I'm sure they'll be other great games, but those 7 are the ones I'm most looking forward to now.
Hawk8086 said:
I think the West looks easiest at the top. I like our bracket early, but we will have to get past a one seed type in either MSU or Duke if we get to the elite 8.
Elite 8 is supposed to be a top 10 caliber match up. Not supposed to be an easy one.
Kcmatt7 said:
West looks like they type of bracket something crazy could happen in.
I could see Missouri knocking off Xavier with Porter working his way back into the mix.
@cragarhawk Agreed, not a fan of revealing the teams first.
@BShark Duke will be too dependent on freshmen next year. They might be the most talented team next year, but I don't see them having the experience to win it next year.
Someone is going to have to leave to make for Agbaji. I still don't think Romeo Langford is coming to KU and I'm perfectly fine with that and would honestly prefer he goes elsewhere for reasons other than his talent level.
Cunliffe appears to be the one who will be squeezed out to make room for Agbaji.
KU's front court depth is going to be insane next year. Mitch Lightfoot might legitimately end up the 5th big man next year.
I can also see a scenario where Quentin Grimes comes off the bench for KU with the way Garrett is coming along and if Newman stays. KU could easily end up having a top 10 recruit come off the bench next season.
I think Kansas and Kentucky will be the two runaway favorites for the 2019 NCAA Title.
@BeddieKU23 Legendre already had an offer from Alabama when he committed to KU. An offer from FSU won't be the reason he would decommit. LSU hasn't offered yet, that's who I'd be more worried about at this point of an offer came through than FSU.
@wissox Hey now, I'm not trying on championship shirts yet, I'm looking up hotels and ticket prices in San Antonio. Enjoyed it though.
No, and he would anyway. He's still too raw even for the NBA.
Newman is gonna be the MOP of this tournament.
BeddieKU23 said:
BShark said:
BeddieKU23 said:
BShark said:
Guys...Silvio....I think we might have something here...
Bingo
If he isn't ahead of Mitch in the rotation now I'm gonna be mad.
Only a blind man could not see that
Depends on match ups. DeSousa is definitely better against more physical players, but Lightfoot is better against agile bigs that play away from the basket.
Silvio is going to win the Big 12 6th man award next year.
We need WVU to get the lead to double digits before the comeback happens. Just the way the games have gone this year.
Mitch is the next Landen. Lower ceiling, but solid fundamental based player who isn't going to hurt the team playing long stretches.
@Kcmatt7 KU probably already gas the 1 seed in the Midwest now with Xavier's semifinal loss and Duke's loss to UNC. As long as KU doesn't get blown out today, I think they'll be the 1 seed in Omaha.
The UNC player may have over exaggerated the hip check, but Allen definitely stuck his ass out just as the guy was running by.
Crimsonorblue22 said:
Did dg kill brown?
Just blinded him
@BeddieKU23 I don't want Newman running the point for KU. That's not a strength of his. He's much more effective offensively when he's playing off the ball.
@Crimsonorblue22 Not at this point. I think the Big 12 really only deserves 5 teams this year. I've always believed you should have to finish at least .500 in league play to make the tournament.
dylans said:
@Crimsonorblue22 I’ve been told it’s because OU has 6 quality wins, but it’s Trae and the ESPN effect.
ESPN would want OU to.miss the NCAA Tournament and play in the NIT. You know, since ESPN broadcasts the NIT and not the NCAA tournament.
@truehawk93 He's still not going to be 100%. I've dealt with this injury in football before. I was playing 2-3 weeks later, but my knee wasn't 100% until about 6-7 weeks after the injury even with rehab. Doke should be able to play in the NCAA Tournament, but like I said, he won't be playing at 100%.
Doke might play in the NCAA Tournament, but he won't be at 100% unless KU is playing games in April and even then it would be doubtful he's 100% then.
@Gorilla72 FGCU is going to the NIT this year.
JayHawkFanToo said:
Lots of 13 win teams don’t make it to the dance. Considering how weak the Big 10 is this year and that it does not have a true round robin so many of theirs wins are against the weaker team they played twice but played MSU, Purdue and OSU only once and lost. Their RPI is #64.
You also don't really ever see 13 win teams from major conferences miss the NCAA tournament so this might be unprecedented for a power conference team.
kjayhawks said:
Libscomb tops Joe Dooley and FGCU to get to the dance. I watched this one and FGCU flatout didn’t show up till the last 15 minutes, they were down 29 at he half and by as many as 32 in the second. They got it down to 5 points on a few occasions but didn’t have enough stops in the end to pull off what would’ve been the biggest come back in NCAA history.
Wouldn't have even been the biggest this season. Drexel came back from 34 down a couple of weeks ago.
jayballer73 said:
Just a note. - - -Radford becomes the 1st team in the dance. - - Big South Champs - - -22-12
Murray St. got in first
I would've gone with Bamba over Wade, but other than that, I have no issues with the first team.
justanotherfan said:
Don't forget that KU has something neither Duke or Xavier can get, a regular season conference title.
That could matter in the final equation.
Xavier did win the Big East regular season title this year and Duke may not have won the ACC title, but the team that did is going to be the overall 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. That's why Duken can get a 1 seed because they'll still be ranked lower than the 1st place team in the ACC.