NCAA Official Tournament Thread

[Phog Allen]

Gents, March Madness is upon us so I started this thread for the members to post in. Mods, if calling this thread "official" is not the correct thing to do please edit the title appropriately.

I will start off. As bball fans will know, my user name gives away my loyalties. Kansas is playing very well now and has a real shot at the title this year. As much as I dislike some of his schtick, Duke Vitale has been saying it for years; guard play. And right now Kansas' guards are playing just about lights out. Defence as well as offense. When it gets tough they screw down the D really tight and take over games.

Bill Self is typically more old school preferring a high/low game with a monster big man. He doesn't have that guy this year but we do have a forward in Perry Ellis who can really game it. He put in nearly twenty again last night against a very lanky and athletic Baylor team. Even though we scored a season low first half point total. Once again the guards locked down to he D and then shredded Baylor's zone. Something Kansas teams had a hard time with the last few years. I did not like the coast they went into the last three minutes of the game but they held on.

So here it is. KU guards have to take the pace of the game over early and keep the foot on the he throttle. The two big shooting guards(6'6" and 6'8") Selden and Mykhailiuk must play wide awake and hungry. Both can play ridiculous D and Mykhailiuk can flat out drain 3s. If they and the two.points are 'on' this tournament then look out.

Early in the season this team would go to sleep at times and it cost them big time. A couple of road losses in which they held big leads early. Avoid that and they play with anyone.

So who"s your team and what are your thoughts?

 

[Phog Allen]

Well the Jayhawks managed the number one overall seed. Everyone always thinks their team has the toughest row to hoe but honestly, I look over at the East bracket and...that is a rough one. Right now the Jayhawks are peaking. Yeah, even on a 14 game win streak they are peaking. If any of you watch the Big 12(-2) you will know exactly how rough this conference has been this year. We won the tournament championship as well as regular season and I can tell you, the West Virginia Mountaineers under Bob "Huggs" Huggins is no dunce of a team. They play brutal defence and have some good shooters. KU still controlled them the last 8 minutes of the game. This is no mean feat. Watch WV sometime. They aren't easy and I am REALLY happy they are not in our bracket.

I like KU's chances this year. Unlike the last two years when when we the fans kind of had this 'yeah...but they don't look right' sort of thing happening. And instincts were right. Bounced in the first weekend of the tourney. And to be honest, they looked the same till right around midway through conference play. Play well the first half, go to sleep with a big lead the second half and get spanked. Finally coach Self called a meeting and straightened some things out with the players and sorted the roster a bit and blammo, instant results. Self is still one of the best in season/in game coaches around. About the only fault I find is the sometimes insistence upon playing high/low type offense when he doesn't have the horse for it. We have four guards who are all really good and one off again on again three point bomber who can make a difference if he is on. Tournament has proven to me over and over again that even if your guards don't score load of points every game they HAVE to play better than they have all year. It is that simple. One long stretch of turnovers, missed shots or errant passing and it's over. These kids are too athletic to simply allow a monster big man to dominate the game from start to finish. Oh yeah, he may get his 28 points and 10 boards but what if the other team puts in six or seven treys? Those extra six or seven points are just like a bench player coming in and laying it up three or four times in the old days. A bonus that amounts to MUCH more than the six points.

Back when Roy Williams was coach here I watched TOO many times as we had the best bigs in the country and lose a tourney game by four points because we didn't have a guard score ten points for the game. While conversely the other team had a guard go off for two dozen or better in addition to the rest of the team doing it's normal thing. Just watch the 2002 title game between Kansas and Syracse. We got schooled by two freshmen(admittedly one was Carmello Anthony a lottery pick I think) but still, we had Nick Collison and Kirk Heinrich both of who spent over a decade in the league and I think Kirk may still be playing or just retired. Irregardless, we had a senior and junior dominated team with two NBA first round picks and couldn't get it done because the other guards went to sleep. Okay, okay, enough ranting. Suffice to say this team is a lot like the guards in 2008. Tough, resilient and unafraid to take it to the hoop. Here is Mr. Selden from Saturday's championship game. Enjoy.

 

[Phog Allen]

And here's another from our earlier game with them. Our back up big guy Jamari Traylor launching from half way in the key.

 

[Phog Allen]

Well the Jayhawks rolled today. They should as the No.1 seed.

How about your team(s)?

 

[August West]

Yale.

 

[BSAGuy]

 

[BSAGuy]

I am a UNC graduate, and of course fan. Roy is a pretty good recruiter, but no good at all down the stretch in close games. He is no Dean Smith, for sure.

Well the Jayhawks managed the number one overall seed. Everyone always thinks their team has the toughest row to hoe but honestly, I look over at the East bracket and...that is a rough one. Right now the Jayhawks are peaking. Yeah, even on a 14 game win streak they are peaking. If any of you watch the Big 12(-2) you will know exactly how rough this conference has been this year. We won the tournament championship as well as regular season and I can tell you, the West Virginia Mountaineers under Bob "Huggs" Huggins is no dunce of a team. They play brutal defence and have some good shooters. KU still controlled them the last 8 minutes of the game. This is no mean feat. Watch WV sometime. They aren't easy and I am REALLY happy they are not in our bracket.

I like KU's chances this year. Unlike the last two years when when we the fans kind of had this 'yeah...but they don't look right' sort of thing happening. And instincts were right. Bounced in the first weekend of the tourney. And to be honest, they looked the same till right around midway through conference play. Play well the first half, go to sleep with a big lead the second half and get spanked. Finally coach Self called a meeting and straightened some things out with the players and sorted the roster a bit and blammo, instant results. Self is still one of the best in season/in game coaches around. About the only fault I find is the sometimes insistence upon playing high/low type offense when he doesn't have the horse for it. We have four guards who are all really good and one off again on again three point bomber who can make a difference if he is on. Tournament has proven to me over and over again that even if your guards don't score load of points every game they HAVE to play better than they have all year. It is that simple. One long stretch of turnovers, missed shots or errant passing and it's over. These kids are too athletic to simply allow a monster big man to dominate the game from start to finish. Oh yeah, he may get his 28 points and 10 boards but what if the other team puts in six or seven treys? Those extra six or seven points are just like a bench player coming in and laying it up three or four times in the old days. A bonus that amounts to MUCH more than the six points.

Back when Roy Williams was coach here I watched TOO many times as we had the best bigs in the country and lose a tourney game by four points because we didn't have a guard score ten points for the game. While conversely the other team had a guard go off for two dozen or better in addition to the rest of the team doing it's normal thing. Just watch the 2002 title game between Kansas and Syracse. We got schooled by two freshmen(admittedly one was Carmello Anthony a lottery pick I think) but still, we had Nick Collison and Kirk Heinrich both of who spent over a decade in the league and I think Kirk may still be playing or just retired. Irregardless, we had a senior and junior dominated team with two NBA first round picks and couldn't get it done because the other guards went to sleep. Okay, okay, enough ranting. Suffice to say this team is a lot like the guards in 2008. Tough, resilient and unafraid to take it to the hoop. Here is Mr. Selden from Saturday's championship game. Enjoy.

 

[August West]

Syracuse advances.

 

[Phog Allen]

I just heard Michigan St. lost to Middle Tennessee. I am sure Mr. Izzo is not a happy camper right now.

 

[August West]

I just heard Michigan St. lost to Middle Tennessee. I am sure Mr. Izzo is not a happy camper right now.

Indeed. Syracuse v MTSU coming up. Both lower seeds.

 

[Phog Allen]

I am a UNC graduate, and of course fan. Roy is a pretty good recruiter, but no good at all down the stretch in close games. He is no Dean Smith, for sure.

I haven't followed the 'Heels but from what I have seen since Roy's been there is that his guards are much bigger and more athletic than when he was recruiting at Kansas. Has he finally gotten over the 1957 notion that point guards are there to feed the ball to the big in the middle and NOT score? He actually benched a couple of our point guards for a possession or three during games for trying to score a bit too much. They were there to feed the center, not score. And it cost us BIG in tournament games. We always had a streaky shooter type but he came in off the bench in certain situations. Our guards, particularly the point, never averaged more than 6-10 points per game. No one is winning a NC doing that anymore and lest we forget, Roy didn't do it at Kansas that way either. He has managed two NCs at Carolina so I assume something has changed.

Most Kansas fans bemoan 1997 because that team was 'destined' they thought. Well I don't. Arizona beat THREE number one seeds that year on the way to the NC. They were the best team in the tournament. Period. Losses like that you can deal with. What I cannot deal with is a team with two NBA first rounds picks(one of them lottery) going to the FF two years in a row and losing to a team full of freshmen. I don't care if one of them was Carmello Anthony. The other was Jerry Mathers as the Beaver. Ahem, I mean Jerry McNamara. Our two future NBA guys played their guts out but the rest of the team just stood around with 'anybody but me' looks on their faces when the game was on the line. Nick Collison was so tired he could barely lift his arms to shoot FTs at the end. And so it went. Every year. We've had a few of those seasons under Self but one thing I will give his teams, they will kick you square in the arse with guard defence and he is NOT afraid to change things up even in-game. He has learned that you cannot always ride a Clydesdale to the top. Sometimes you need the sprinter. And that's where the guards come in. Our guards this year remind me a lot of the 2008 NC team. Not as good at stopping dribble penetration but they really get after it and they can shoot lights out most times. We'll see. After the Sparty's going out early today I don't know whether to think 'okay, the monkey is on someone else this year' or to fear it is setting a trend!

 

[BSAGuy]

Stephen F. Austin dominates West Virginia! Down goes a #3 to a #14.

 

[auk1124]

Congratulations to the Hoosiers, knocking off UK. I wish those two teams would start scheduling a rivalry game each season again. College basketball is simply more fun when Indiana and Kentucky try to kill each other every year.

 

[Phog Allen]

Definitely a huge tournament game. Crean has been on thin ice with Hoosier fans and this win is much needed for Indiana to get some of their tournament swagger back.

On the Kansas side of things the Jayhawks pretty much dominated UConn but two things showed up that made my head swim for awhile. First was a few missed free throws at the start of the game but they seemed to rectify it later. This has haunted us in tournament over the years.

Second, and more concerning was coming out in the second half sound asleep on offense. Look, nobody carries a 24 point lead in a big tourney game right through the second half. I didn't expect a 20 point win. What I did NOT expect was a team that made 6/9 3 point shots in the first half to score only 6 points in the first ten minutes of the second half. They had enough moxie to get back on track and control the rest of the game but that cannot happen again. The teams we face next weekend will not let a gift like that get away from them.

Those who follow KU know earlier this year they pulled this stuff and it cost them. They led Michigan St., Iowa St., and Ok. St., by double digits. Only to lose each of those games by double digits. They had pretty much kicked the lolly gagging to the curb halfway through the season. I hope last night's relapse was a one and done deal and a BIG reminder to keep the throttle smashed. This team does not do well when they over think things. Survive and advance.

 

[Heron]

Yikes. I'm seeing red in my round of 8. Lots of red.

 

[BSAGuy]

How in the world did Univ. of Northern Iowa play so well for 39:16 and then give up 12 points net, (14-2) in last 44 seconds to Texas A&M?

Kudos to A&M for not giving up.

 

[Phog Allen]

BSA, N. Iowa is a nemesis of my Jayhawks. They knocked us out of the tournament a few years ago when they had no fusing so doing so. They always play bigger than you think they should. I did not see the game but I would not have been shocked if you would said the events were reversed. Wow. 12 points in less than a minute. That will haunt them.

 

[Phog Allen]

Gents, sorry for not keeping this front page for a few days but it has been hectic here. Anyroad, updates. Since the first weekend upsets this has become a fairly conventional tournament if such a thing can be said. All the 1 seeds are still playing in the Elite 8 and this is going to ratchet up the intensity of the games.

Kansas. We had a really good win over Maryland Thursday night. These two programmes and each team associated with them this year are far from not being savvy about all the underdog routines, 'aw shucks, we're just glad to be here' tripe and all that. Still, I thought the sports media did Maryland a bit of a disservice last week. Even our local AM sports talks stations were running their gobs all week about how Kansas essentially stood no chance of dealing with Maryland's size. Particularly their bigs.

While coach Self and Mark Turgeon are much too savvy to let anything the media says influence too much, I noted a distinct interest by the Kansas players. You could hear it in their voices in the pre-game mini interviews and particularly in their post game interviews. They were tired of hearing how they couldn't handle Maryland's size. Match up problems was the phrase of the week. It is probably the most over used expression by sports media concerning NCAA basketball. Only slightly less over used is Dook Vitale's constantly calling any coach he's covering a 'class act'. Some of them don't know the meaning of the word. Anyroad, I think they used it as a motivator for the game. Hey, if it works, use it. I guess the media types did not exactly understand that KU has been under sized against a great many opponents this year. Still, I am glad we are past that game. Lest we forget, Maryland was ranked as high as No.2 just a month and a half or so ago.

Next up Villanova. This is going to be tough for a big reason. Well, other than V. being really, really good. Villanova pretty easily despatched Miami the other night but Kansas expended a LOT of energy in the game with Maryland. So we will see if tired legs cause problems. Devonte Graham was on the sidelines having his hamstrings stretched by the coaching staff a little over midway through the game. Not good. And the way Villanova is shooting our guards MUST control their outside shooting. I think Perry Ellis will likely have a great game again. He always seems like money in these tournament games. Honestly, I would just as soon Villanova have an off shooting night. They've been ridiculous lately. And our guards have not been hitting in tandem. Last game was Wayne Selden. Game before was Selden. We need Graham and Mason to absolutely contribute over ten each to add to Selden(who can go stone cold at times) and Perry. We'll see. Nail biting til game time tonight.

 

[Phog Allen]

Boomer Sooner!

 

[Phog Allen]

Well, my fears came true. All due props to Villanova but we were right there. Right there. One made trey by other than Devonte Graham. Perry Ellis went on vacation. Selden couldn't buy a trey with a 1000 bill. Don't get me wrong. Villanova's D made a lot of difference but man, a LOT of those shots were wide open. I've said from day one; Guard play, guard play, guard play. With Perry on the ropes I knew the guards were going to have to make it up. See my above comments about the guards. Perry puts in ten and we hit the FF. Again, no disrespect to Villanova at all but our best player turns up zero in the first half and four total and we lose by only five? Oi. What could have been. I guess I go Big 12 fan now and root for Oklahoma but man, Villanova is really tough. I thought they should have been a 1 seed rather than Oregon. Good win and best of luck.