🏀 KuBuckets Archive

@FarmerJayhawk said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

This title feels so damn empty. I feel so shitty for all the seniors that worked so hard to get to this point and now it’s just... over. Goes for baseball, softball, track, basketball. The NCAA should do the right thing and give them all an extra year if they want and waive the scholarship cap for a year so no HS kids get left out in the cold.

100% agree with this. Also a great way to get a lot of athletes started in masters programs as well if they did something like this.

@mayjay said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

So, is anyone thinking KU should have just caved and accepted a postseason ban this year?

Hell no, KU needs to raise a national championship banner for this year since we were the unanimous #1 ranked team in the final poll this season. Give the NCAA a middle finger since there's no chance in hell the NCAA wouldn't have the balls to declare Kansas and South Carolina the men's and women's national champions this season.

@bskeet said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

@jayballer73 Yeah.. I heard it too. Just seems premature to make such a drastic decision.

Jay Bilas is talking about a possible reason for cancellation could be due to contractual and insurance issues the NCAA has.

Another probable factor would be the logistics of trying to rebook venues in a couple of months down the road when many of those venues are also probably going to be trying to squeeze in NBA and NHL games as well.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

If they want to make an actual impact stoppage of a few basketball games isn’t it. That’s just optics. All flights need to be stopped. All public transportation needs to stop. Ban groups of over 100 - sucks for bigger businesses as they won’t even be able to run right. Stop all inter-state traffic. Don’t allow people into or out of areas with known infection. Etc.

Cancelling games is window dressing and frankly a bunch of crap unless it’s just the start of something more sweeping.

Sports is often the catalyst for social issues in this country rightly or wrongly. The hopeful effect of this will be that without sports around, people will take heed of the warnings given by the CDC and WHO and not flippantly dismiss them because it doesn't directly affect them. They'll see people that are generally considered invincible because of the health and conditioning most athletes are in taking precautions and realize they need to as well.

Rudy Gobert's story has really pissed me off since it came out that he'd been very dismissive of it and making light of the situation and now he has it and spread it to at least 1 teammate and who knows of he spread it to any opponents yet or not

@kjayhawks There's two things going on here. Sporting bodies are not caving to media pressure by cancelling or postponing events, they are listening to groups like the CDC and WHO and following their advice.

The people going out and buying multiple years with of TP and other sanitation products are the ones buying into the media fear mongering.

Pushing pause on life for 2-3 weeks to slow down the spread of this disease is a reasonable measure in this case based on what happened in Italy.

All major sports leagues in North America are now on hiatus that are in season as MLB, NHL, and MLS have suspended operations for the time being.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

The nfl isn’t thinking about canceling, because only Tom Brady and the oldest coaches are at risk. Lol

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28891831/nfl-not-delaying-start-league-year-coronavirus ↗

The NFL also doesn't have much going on either right now. It's easy enough to FaceTime Pro Day drills and interviews and still get the information teams need/want on players.

The next thing in their agenda that's going to be affected is the draft in April in Las Vegas. In a little over a month. I'd expect that to be closed to the public based on projections of when the spread of this disease should slow down.

@bskeet said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

i'm not a epidemiologist but my understanding is that this virus is corona-style which is not one that people tend to develop immunity as compared to chicken pox/shingles.. I think it's a different strain...

COVID-19 shares about 90% of its DNA with SARS from what I've read.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

@Texas-Hawk-10 they should. Schools foster disease. Kids are great at spreading colds and such. It’s as if they’re meant to supplant us.

And if my district says I have to be there, I'm still going to be there because I still have bills to pay. As much as I would disagree with that decision, I don't have the PTO saved up to take an extended break until this outbreak settles down.

@rockchalkwyo said in Big 12 Tournament:

So when the actual tournament gets cancelled, can we use this year as our post season ban?

Hell no, declare the #1 team champs they way college football used to!

ESPN not even mentioning the B12 Tournament being cancelled.

@kjayhawks said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

So, millions are riding subways and elevated trains each day in major cities. The whole country is still working and going to school for the most part. But we are worried about 20k at a basketball game. Just doesn’t sound remotely logical to me.

It's not and that's why Italy was essentially shut down.

I'm a teacher on spring break right now. My district hasn't made any announcement yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they sent an email out sometime before Monday that they are delaying the return of students as well to minimize risks.

NCAA Tournament will more than likely be cancelled at some point today as well.

@BeddieKU23 said in Big 12 Tournament:

45 minutes til the first game and it could be canceled the way things are going.. The AAC and Big-10 just did

AAC makes sense because the tournament hasn't even started yet. Today was their first day of games.

@mayjay said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

A second Jazz player just announced to be positive.

Donovan Mitchell

@dylans 2 big flaws with you statement here.

1) Campuses are not empty because many students cannot afford to travel home for spring break and are still on campus. Also, not every school has spring break the same week so not every campus is taking this step yet.

2) The timeframe of being outwardly symptomatic is about 2 weeks from exposure. Players were still going to classes 7 days ago so it's not out of the question that a basketball player, coach, trainer, manager, or someone else affiliated with the basketball team of an NCAA Tournament team currently has COVID-19 but is asymptomatic and won't show outward signs until in the middle of the NCAA Tournament.

@dylans Also keep in mind these players are still students that have classes with hundreds of other students on a college campus where the local clinic is not prepared to deal with mass exposures. These players are exposed to a lot more people on a regular basis than adults are because they are still students.

@dylans The issue regarding playing the NCAA Tournament is the travel involved. Most teams playing in the NCAA Tournament have to fly commercial because they don't have chartered planes due to the budgets of the school. You also have these players coming into contact with fans at the hotels.

Using KU for example, KU does charter so the flights aren't an issue, but there's still interactions with fans in Omaha. Whoever KU's 16 seed is will be a program that flies commercially. Let's say that one of their players picks up the virus from another asymptomatic passenger and passes the virus to a KU player during the game. Fast forward a couple of weeks to the Final Four in Atlanta and Devon Dotson starts showing outward symptoms OF COVID-19 on Saturday mid afternoon of the semifinals game. Medical officials scramble to test Dotson and it comes back positive for COVID-19. Now KU can't play their Final Four game because they are locked in quarantine in their hotel in Atlanta while everyone is being tested.

Because of what happened in Oklahoma City last night involving the Utah Jazz, this escalates very quickly and if a player tests positive.

What would've happened to the B10 Tournament today had Fred Hoiberg tested positive for COVID-19 last night? Would Indiana have been allowed to play today after that exposure last night?

There was one automatic bid given today to Boston University as they won the Patriot League tonight.

As of now, games involving bubble teams for Thursday 3/12 include:

ACC

NC State vs. Duke:. NCSU is probably in at this point, but another win over Duke would lock the Wolfpack in for sure.

American

Memphis vs. ECU: Memphis needs a run in this tournament to reach the NCAA's and their journey starts against the Pirates in a must win game for Memphis.

Big 12

Texas vs. Texas Tech:. Winner should be locked into the NCAA's and loser may very well be NIT bound.

Oklahoma vs. West Virginia: Sooners need a win to feel safe on Sunday

Big East

Marquette vs. Seton Hall: Marquette is a long shot for an at large right now, but wins over Seton Hall and Villanova could change that one.

Big 10

Indiana vs. Penn St.: Indiana got a much needed win today, but a win over an at large team in Penn St. should solidify Indiana into the dance.

Pac 12

UCLA vs. Cal: Bruins have to win to keep their hopes alive although they should feel better with Stanford losing tonight

Arizona St. vs. Colorado/Washington St.: Sun Devil's are right there in that last 4 in, last 4 byes group so a loss may not eliminate them if it's to Colorado. A win locks ASU into the dance.

SEC

Arkansas vs. South Carolina

SC must win to keep their slim hopes alive and a win for Arkansas should lock the Razorbacks into the dance.

Xavier goes down in the 1st round of the Big East Tournament to DePaul. This will probably bump Xavier into the NIT.

Stanford also probably blew any tournament hopes they had with a loss to Cal.

Arkansas got a 13 point win over Vanderbilt to keep their chances alive.

Indiana with a 25 point win today over Nebraska. Obviously not the story in this game with the Fred Hoiberg situation and Nebraska's players being quarantined inside their locker room right now. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the B10 Tournament if Hoiberg or someone tests positive for COVID-19.

@Crimsonorblue22 said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2020/03/11/coronavirus-fred-hoiberg-leaves-big-ten-tournament-game-illness/5028815002/ ↗

Didn't realize Doc Sadler was back at Nebraska. That's gotta be a weird feeling to be an assistant coach of a program you were the head coach of for several years in the not to distant past.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

@Texas-Hawk-10 yeah that’s not normal. FYI

I’d be pissed if I paid for classes and they were indefinitely suspended and switched to online classes for any other reason.

Keep in mind a lot of schools are on spring break right now so kids have been traveling all over the country and world. Who knows how many new cases are going to pop up on college campuses in the next 2-3 weeks. KU is also hardly the only school taking this step. A lot of schools beside KU are doing the same thing to minimize the spread of the disease.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

KU has suspended classes indefinitely

This is surreal.

They haven't suspended classes indefinitely. In person classes are delayed until March 23 and will continue as online classes at that point. Classes that were already online will resume at their regularly scheduled date of March 16. The one week delay is so professors can have time to transition their classes to online platforms.

@kjayhawks said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

NBA just suspended the season due to a Jazz player testing positive for the virus. We are close to having no shot at title. For a virus that is less than a cold to people under 50.

The danger of this isn't in the mortality rate (about 4% in the US). The danger is in the number of cases that require hospitalization and would overwhelm medical facilities and tie up resources in a lot of different areas of need.

This is the core reason why Italy shut down was the stress on their medical resources from this, not the severity of the disease itself.

@rockchalkwyo said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

Give it 1 hour and the NCAA will follow

They should go ahead and cancel and name the #1 team national champs. Just my unbiased opinion.

@Crimsonorblue22 said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

I like Rudy!

Hate the Jazz with a passion and have since John Stockton knocked the Rockets out of the playoffs in the 1997 WCF and denied the world a Rockets-Bulls finals that we never got. Also, Karl Malone was one of the dirtiest players on NBA history and an even worse human being. They're also coached by Quin Snyder.

@dylans said in NCAA Tournament: Should it happen?:

Looks like a Jazz player has tested positive for covid-19. Oh boy

That player is Rudy Gobert and the NBA is suspending the season as of the completion of tonight's games.

It's weird watching this go on as the Nuggets and Mavs are playing on ESPN.

With no fans in the stands, how great are the odds of a true mid major winning the tournament now?

Programs like KU feed off the energy and there won't be any inside the arenas now. Also, why play the games in Indy and Atlanta in the football stadiums at this point. Move the Indy regional to the Pacers arena or Hinkle if the Pacers schedule conflicted with moving S16 and E8 games there.

Same deal with Atlanta, move it to the Hawks arena or Georgia Tech at this point because it makes little sense to play basketball games inside a football stadium with no crowd.

There are no automatic bids on the line tomorrow, but there are several games involving bubble teams as all the major conferences will get underway tomorrow if they weren't already underway (ACC). I believe the American will be the only conference tournament not underway tomorrow as they start on Thursday.

In the ACC, NC State takes on Pitt in a game the Wolfpack must win to stay in the mix.

In the Big 10, Indiana will take on Nebraska in a game the Hoosiers must win. Nebraska actually added a couple of football players to the basketball team because of how shorthanded they are now with a couple of suspensions that got handed out.

In the PAC 12, Stanford takes on Cal in a game the Cardinal have to win to get a crack at UCLA in what should amount to an elimination game from the NCAA Tournament for those two. A loss to Cal will send Haase to the NIT.

In the SEC, Arkansas takes on Vanderbilt in a game the Razorbacks must win to whatever hopes they have left alive.

Recap

Automatic bids given out today:

CAA: Hofstra

Horizon: Northern Kentucky

Ivy: Yale (Regular season champs since Ivy cancelled their post season tournament)

NEC: Robert Morris (potential 1st round KU opponent)

Summit: North Dakota St.

WCC: Gonzaga

Gonzaga and NDSU each rolled to easy wins to wrap their bids.

Gonzaga will be the 1 seed out west and probably the 2nd overall seed behind KU.

@kjayhawks said in 2020 Bubble Watch:

@Marco I see, Gonzaga ended up spanking them.

Saint Mary's was up 5 at one point late in the 1st half when I checked on my (when I posted the 3 automatic bids from the early games actually) and only down 1 at halftime. Gonzaga smoked them in the 2nd half.

What happens with the NCAA Tournament is largely going to be dependent other number of infections in the area where games are being played.

Here in Houston, there's been 14 confirmed cases, all travel related, out of a population of about 7 million people. We also currently have a much larger event than the NCAA Tournament going right now with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo which is a 3 week event held at NRG Stadium that draws upwards of 80,000 people daily to the venue for the show and carnival around the grounds. Since that hasn't been affected yet, I can't see the NCAA banning fans from games here in 2 weeks unless something drastic happens with an outbreak here in the city.

I was also at the Rockets game tonight, go Ben McLemore, and there didn't appear to be any extra precautions being taken other than the PA guy and some graphics reminding people to wash their hands.

I can't speak for other cities, but I don't see the NCAA banning fans from attending the S16 and E8 games in Houston at this point.

Northern Kentucky, Hofstra, and Robert Morris have all punched their tickets to the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State appears well on their way to the NCAA Tournament as well.

Add Yale to list of NCAA Tournament teams as the Ivy League announced they have cancelled their post season tournaments giving their automatic bids to the regular season champs.

@kjayhawks Texas/Tech is essentially an elimination game as I can't see the loser getting an at large bid.

In the PAC12, If Stanford beats Cal, they would play UCLA in what should essentially be another elimination game.

@mayjay said in NOA response from KU discussion:

Just a quick observation: KU depending on the appeal of the federal case not being final sort of depends on that case not becoming final while ours is still pending. What happens if it does?

I am also wondering something about my fellow readers: how many of you supporting KU's objection to the NCAA's use of the not-technically-admissible evidence have ever expressed anger about a criminal defendant getting off on a technicality if a judge threw out a technically illegal search?

I am a full defender of the exclusionary rule, but I seem to vaguely recall that not everyone is....

The NCAA is not the US legal system though and don't abide by the same rules when it comes to making decisions and handing out punishments.

I do support the exclusionary rule because it does protect people from having their 4th amendment rights violated, but since the NCAA doesn't operate by the same rules, neither should KU in this case.

No games with bubble implications today, but there are 5 automatic bids on the line today.

The Horizon League final between UIC and Northern Kentucky on ESPN at 6pm (Central)

The NEC title game between St. Francis (PA) and Robert Morris on ESPN2 at 6pm (Central)

The Colonial title game between Northeastern and Hofstra on CBSSN at 6pm (Central)

Gonzaga and St. Mary's on ESPN at 8pm (Central) for the WCC title.

North Dakota and NDSU for the Summit League title on ESPN2 at 8pm (Central).

The first of power conference tournaments also gets going today as the ACC Tournament gets underway with 2 games today. Pitt and Wake Forest in what could be Danny Manning's final game as head coach at Wake. The other game is UNC and VA Tech. As bad as UNC has been this year, that team still has a lot of talent capable of making a run in the ACC Tournament so I'll be curious to see what they do this week.

@jayballer73 said in South vs Midwest Region:

@FarmerJayhawk said in South vs Midwest Region:

Maybe our fear of BYU was overblown. Just lost in a nail biter to St. Mary’s.

Not really , still a very good team.Sure we beat them really early in the year but without their best player. I mean I'm not going to toss and turn and not be able to eat worrying about them, just saying there is a lot OTHER teams I would much rather face early then them, Watch they are going to get somebody in a 1st round match. - - think there is going to be some people who over look them. Then at the end of the game going to be wondering what the hell happened. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY

BYU should win their first round game since they're probably going to be a 5 seed.

Bubble teams are rejoicing tonight as ETSU comes alive in the 2nd half to roll to an easy victory in the SoCon title game and clinch an automatic bid and remove themselves from the bubble pool.

Listening to experts, it sounds like KU and Gonzaga are the only 2 teams locked into a 1 seed at this point. Baylor is still in good shape for a 1 seed, but if they lose again before the B12 title game, then they run the risk of dropping to a 2 seed. If Baylor dropped off the 1 line, Florida St. would be the most likely team to replace them if FSU won the ACC tournament.

Here's what I'll say about flying from KC to Houston. IAH is the big airport in Houston where most airlines fly into and is on the north side of Houston, but it is not that convenient to downtown Houston where Toyota Center is. Houston also has terrible public transportation and unless you only planned on staying downtown, you'd have to rent a car to go do any sightseeing here on the day between games because none of the tourist attractions in Houston are convenient to downtown even if you took and Uber or Lyft.

I can't speak to how Indy is laid out in regards to tourism, but Houston is terrible.

My mailing address is Houston, but it takes me 45 minutes to get to Toyota Center on a normal day when I go to a Rockets game or concert at Toyota Center.

Also, the two seed in the South is projected to be Florida State and Creighton is currently projected to be the two seed in the Midwest.

Bubble games for 3/9

There's only one game today that will impact the bubble and that is the SoCon Tournament title game. East Tennessee State takes on Wofford for the SoCon's automatic bid. Bubble teams will be cheering for the Bucs to take that automatic bid and remove themselves from the bubble pool.

Bubble watch results for Sunday 3/8.

Helped themselves

Wichita St.- the Shockers needed a good win and got one by blowing out Tulsa and denying Tulsa an outright AAC title. Shockers still have some work to do to lock themselves in though.

Liberty- the Flames won the A-Sun Tournament title to get the automatic bid and not need to sweat it out Selection Sunday.

East Tennessee State- the Bucs reached the SoCon title game with a win in the semifinals.

Hurt themselves

Memphis- Tigers couldn't stop former Jayhawk Quentin Grimes on the 2nd half and suffered a double digit loss to Houston in a game Memphis needed. Now the Tigers will need to reach the AAC title game and probably win the tournament to get the automatic bid.

Tulsa- the Golden Hurricane's at large bid hopes took a big hit with their 22 point loss at Wichita St. Tulsa was also denied the outright AAC title and probably need to win the tournament at this point.

I want KU in the South so I can go to those games at Toyota Center since I live in Houston.

@Marco said in Team Chemistry:

@Texas-Hawk-10 Good observations, but I think that you are wrong about Harris - he's a junkyard dog.

He is, but I just don't see a lot of minutes for him next season once Self trims the rotation for conference play. Harris isn't some highly touted recruit, he's a 100ish ranked player that needs time to learn the system. He also needs time to put on muscle so he's not a complete defensive liability. Recruiting sites had him listed between 150-160 lbs. He'll be a good player in time, but I don't see it next season when KU will have Garrett with Thompson and Braun as capable back ups. Harris should be ready in 2021-2022 to take over the PG job.

Gethro will be non factor next season and I wouldn't be surprised if he redshirts. He's a 5 and KU has Dave, Silvio, and Mitch at that spot already so there's not really any room for Gethro next season.

@kjayhawks said in Ok so here is another question with the tourney:

@BShark for sure they are probably on the 12 line, liberty is probably a 13-14 and Utah state a 10-11. So we probably won’t see them baring major upsets.

Liberty is projected a 12 seed right now.

@BShark That's crazy, 8.5 PPG is their leading scorer and 22.6 mpg is their top minutes guy.