2019-2020 College Basketball Thread

[Orlando Penguin]

YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE....well ok, not quite but you get the idea. Some of you young'uns on here probably never knew about THAT college basketball music. Still not the best...that one comes out before the Elite 8. Tonight, it's the Regional Semifinals in the Orlando Penguin NCAA Tournament presented by WebMD (sales team has been hard at work these last 48 hours...working from home, of course). Courtesy of our friends at WhatIfSports.com, we'll simulate the 8 matchups with a small write-up summary of the boxscore and notable plays. Here we goooo....

MIDWEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #1 (INDIANAPOLIS)
Oregon 85, Kansas 77 -- Payton Pritchard had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists to lead the 4th-seeded Ducks to a surprising 8-point win over the top-seeded Jayhawks. Surprisingly, Oregon outrebounded Kansas 36-32 as Jayhawks star center Udoka Azubuike fouled out of the game scoring 14 points and pulling down 12 boards. Kansas held a 60-58 lead with just over 9 minutes to play but Oregon went on an 13-2 run, fueled by a pair of Will Richardson 3's off the bench and a 3 by Chris Duarte. That put the Quacks up 71-62 with 5:16 left. Oregon hit 7 of 9 free throws in the final minute to put the game away. Once again, it marks another year where a Kansas team with high expectations crashes to Earth prior to reaching the Final Four. For Oregon, it's a pleasant run after the rigors of conference play put a lot of bullets in their resume in the eyes of college basketball observers.

MIDWEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #2 (INDIANAPOLIS)
BYU 101, Florida State 89 -- Those of you with the over were probably rejoicing about midway thru the 2nd half. Yoeli Childs dominated the paint with 25 points and Zac Seljaas when 4 of 5 from the 3-point line to lead the Cougars to a convincing victory over the 2nd-seeded Seminoles. BYU jumped the Noles from the tap, racing out to a 17-4 lead by the first TV timeout. They'd extend that to 53-31 at the half and the Noles would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way. For BYU, it's their furthest advancement since the Danny Ainge days in 1977.

SOUTH REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #1 (HOUSTON)
Stephen F. Austin 95, Baylor 93 OT-- THE UPSETS CONTINUE!! I always thought that this tournament, if played, would be one of the most fascinating and upsetting tournaments in the last 20 years. If these sims are any accurate indication, we really missed out on a potential doozy. Back in November, Nathan Bain got a breakaway layup at the buzzer to beat Duke at Cameron. This time, Kevon Harris knocked down a 17-footer at the overtime buzzer to send the Lumberjacks to an improbable regional final appearance. Harris's heroics (32 points on 10-21 shooting, 5-11 from 3-point line) came after Macio Teague knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer with :22 left for Baylor. It capped off a feverish overtime where 28 points were scored after the final 1:18 of regulation went scoreless. The game marks a massive disappointment for the Big XII as they see its top 2 teams get bounced in the same night. Baylor's huge contingent at the Toyota Center could not will their squad to victory and the Lumberjacks corner the market on the glass slipper.

SOUTH REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #2 (HOUSTON)
Creighton 88, Cincinnati 78 -- Creighton used a 17-4 run midway thru the 2nd half to break open a tight affair to run away from the Bearcats. Creighton hit 12 3's in the game and held AAC all-conference star Jarron Cumberland to a miserable 3 of 13 shooting night to advance to their first Elite Eight since 1941. Ty-Shon Alexander led the Jays with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Creighton's richest fan, Warren Buffett, will bankroll any fan who wants to support the Jays in Atlanta should they make it.

WEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #1 (LA)
Auburn 95, Gonzaga 92 -- #1 seeds be damned. Auburn roars back from a 17-point halftime deficit using a 26-5 run to grab the lead with 12:59 left. Freshman phenom Isaac Okoro hit a big jumper with :15 left to give the Tigers a 4-point lead and proved to be the clincher. Auburn was able to succeed by holding Gonzaga guards Joel Ayayi and Corey Kispert to 3 of 10 shooting and big man Drew Timme was held in check off the bench. Auburn continues their repeat run to the Final Four.

WEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #2 (LA)
Duke 98, Michigan State 77 -- Duke never trailed after the 17:44 mark of the first half and used a combined 41 points from Cassius Stanley and Matthew Hurt to run pas the Spartans and advance to yet another Elite Eight under Coach K. Sparty shot just 41% and got outrebounded 45-31 as Cassius Winston closed out his college career with 16 points.

EAST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #1 (NYC)
Dayton 101, East Tennessee State 97 -- Obi Toppin starred with 23 points and 9 rebound as the Dayton Flyers continued their dream season with a 4-point win over the Cinderella Buccaneers. The Bucs trailed by 1 in the final minute until Rodney Chatham knocked down a pair of free throws to get it to 3. Isaiah Tisdale came down and clanked the game-tying 3 with :09 left. Dayton advances to their 2nd Elite Eight in the last 7 seasons.

EAST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL #2 (NYC)
Seton Hall 91, Richmond 85 -- Sandrom Mamukelashvili had 25 and Myles Powell had 23 as the Pirates rolled to the Elite Eight with a 6-point win over the surprising Spiders. Richmond held a 1-point lead at the half and a 6-point lead with 12:00 left but the Pirates rallied back behind a balance attack before Mamu buried a pair of jumpers for a 5-point lead with 1:14 to go. Seton Hall advances to their first Elite Eight since 1991 and gets the #1 seed as their reward.

So there you have it. Regional championship matchups will be BYU-Oregon, SFA-Creighton, Auburn-Duke, Seton Hall-Dayton. The Final Four is going to be a fascinating scene no matter who ends up there. And we'll find that out on Thursday night.

[shafnutz05]

Damn it man....this tournament would have been incredible.

[RonnieFranchise]

I feel like this is set up for DOOK to win it all. Say it ain’t so!

Historically great regular season for the B1G and they all gone.

Finally we should be in the first half of the first window of tourney games right now.

[Orlando Penguin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that NBC hasn't done the NCAA Tournament since the early 80s but for a young OP, this music told me it was college basketball time on a Saturday or Sunday. Get a little Dick Enberg with the whimsy of Al McGuire and a couple of top-25 teams and you had yourself some entertainment and I had plenty of material to mimic on the Nerf hoop in the basement or the big hoop in the driveway. But, alas, CBS has control of the tournament now and thanks to the latest contract, we never have to be at the mercy of some dumbass in programming to decide which game we are stuck seeing in 'regional coverage'. You haven't screamed at your TV (or called your local CBS affiliate) until you're stuck watching Villanova hammer a 16 seed by 30 because you live in the Philly area while Belmont has Duke on the ropes in the last 15 seconds. Anyway, tonight is the regional finals of Orlando Penguin's NCAA Tournament presented by WebMD and we have 4 really strong games involving many different styles. If I was a Vegas handicapper, here's how I'd prognosticate tonight's matchups:

BYU O/U 174 1/2
Oregon -2 1/2

SFA O/U 159
Creighton -6

Auburn O/U 170
Duke -3 1/2

Seton Hall O/U 165
Dayton -4

And now, courtesy of our friends at Whatifsports.com, here's how the tickets to the Final Four in Atlanta were doled out.

WEST REGIONAL FINAL
BYU 82, Oregon 68 -- The Ducks had no answer for Yoeli Childs inside as the BYU big man put up 28 points on 10 of 14 shooting to carry the Cougars to the first Final Four appearance in school history and a resounding 82-68 victory at the Staples Center. The Cougars marched to a 12-point lead at halftime and the lead never dipped below double digits the rest of the game. For Childs, it's a giant redemption story after having to miss the first 9 games of the season due to bad paperwork involved with his workouts for NBA teams after last season. BYU also got 18 points from Jake Toolson, a grad transfer from Utah Valley who followed coach Mark Pope to Provo. But where the Cougars won the game was locking down the rest of the Ducks outside of Payton Pritchard. Pritchard led the Ducks with 28 but the rest of Oregon's starting five combined for just 10 of 26 shooting and as a team, Oregon committed 17 turnovers. No truth to the rumor that Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette showered each other with beer after the game.

SOUTH REGIONAL FINAL
Creighton 73, SFA 66 -- Stephen F. Austin's Cinderella run came to an end as Creighton used a balanced attack to race out to a 14-point first half lead and never looked back. The Jays advance to their first Final Four in school history and will take on the BYU Cougars in the first semifinal game on Saturday night. For coach Greg McDermott, it's the culmination of a 10-year run at Creighton that saw him coach his son, Doug, and also come up short of the Sweet 16 in five previous Tourney trips. But this team shoots the 3 better than most (finished 9th in the nation) and against SFA, they popped in 9 of 18 from beyond the arc. Interestingly enough, their opponent in Atlanta led the nation in 3-point percentage. So expect bombs away in Mercedes-Benz on Saturday night. In this one, the Jays also did it with defense, holding SFA to one player in double figures (Kevon Harris with 15; he had 32 in the upset over Baylor) as well as 37% from the field.

MIDWEST REGIONAL FINAL
Duke 109, Auburn 82 -- Vernon Carey, Jr. had 31 and Tre Jones had 21 to lead 5 Blue Devils in double figures as Duke blasted Auburn in the second half to face to Atlanta with a 27-point shellacking of the Tigers, who were seeking their 2nd straight Final Four trip. For Coach K, it's his 13th Final Four appearance and he'll be seeking his 6th national championship. This game was tight in the first half with Duke holding a 6-point lead at the break. But the Devils burst out of the locker room with a 12-3 run in the first 3 minutes to stretch the lead to 15 and they'd just increase it from there. Duke shot a blistering 58% from the field, including 67% from the 3-point line. They also held Auburn to a horrid 7 of 26 night from the 3-point line. Duke's appearance marks the 5th time in the last 6 years that the ACC has had a representative in the sport's final weekend.

EAST REGIONAL FINAL
Dayton 103, Seton Hall 66 -- The Flyers historic march through this 2019-20 season continued on leaving a shipwreck of Pirates in its wake as Obi Toppin put up 31 points and 11 rebounds in an absolute throttling of Seton Hall at MSG. It's Dayton's first Final Four appearance since 1967 where they lost in the championship game to the UCLA dynasty. This game was also tight in the first half with Dayton holding an 8-point advantage at the break but used an 18-0 run to turn a 6-point lead into a 24-point cushion. The Flyers outscored the Pirates 56-27 in the 2nd half as the Seton Hall could not get the same magic from Sandro Mamukelashvili like he did in the semifinal win against Richmond. Ibi Watson was also clutch for Dayton, coming off the bench for 22 points including 4 of 6 from the 3-point line. Dayton remains undefeated in regulation this season and sets up a monumental heavyweight matchup in the nightcap in Atlanta on Saturday night.


And then there were four. BYU vs Creighton and Duke vs Dayton. It has a little similarity to the 1983 Final Four in which the undercard resembles a nice little appetizer much like Georgia-NC State did for the #1 vs #2 battle in the nightcap of Houston-Louisville. Expect a ton of 3's to fly in the first game and expect racehorse basketball in the second game. I think if the real tournament had played out like this, there would have been a number of satisfied TV executives. Tune in Saturday night for the national semifinals.

[Orlando Penguin]

The Peachtree city of Atlanta is the scene as this 2019-2020 tumultuous season comes to an end. Tonight, in the Orlando Penguin NCAA Tournament presented by WebMD, it's the national semifinals. Upstarts BYU and Creighton will square off in the first game while heavyweight Duke will take on a history-making Dayton team looking to cement their name in the game's annals. These games will be played on actual over-the-air network TV. We won't succumb to the mountains of cash to put it on a cable network that you have to be tethered to a greedy cable company to receive. So with that, thanks to our friends at Whatifsports.com, here are tonite's results.

Vegas says...

BYU O/U 163
Creighton -4

Duke -2
Dayton O/U 175 1/2


NATIONAL SEMIFINAL #1
Creighton 94, BYU 82 -- Creighton advanced to their first national championship game behind 42 combined points from Marcus Zegarowski and Damien Jefferson and held Yoeli Childs to just 11 shots and 17 points. The Jays used a 20-5 run at the beginning of the 2nd half to break open a 2-point halftime lead and cruise on to victory. BYU led the country in 3-point shooting and they stuck to their average of 42% but Creighton, 16th in the nation in 3's, torched the nets at the tune of 55%. It didn't help the Cougars that Zac Seljaas, who went for 4 3's against Florida State in the Sweet 16, was held scoreless in the game on just 4 shots. For Creighton, they had 5 guys in double figures, including 15 off the bench from Denzel Mahoney. They say you live by the 3 and die by the 3 and right now, Creighton is riding it all the way to the championship game.

NATIONAL SEMIFINAL #2
Duke 103, Dayton 91 -- Vernon Carey led 5 Duke players in double figures and Matthew Hurt and Cassius Stanley combined for 8 3's as the Blue Devils advanced to another championship game under Coach K with a 12-point win in the nightcap. When you look at the boxscore, there isn't really anything that stands out that made Duke far and away the best team in this game. However, one big stat was them outrebounding the Flyers 36-26. They did outscore Dayton from the 3-point line 36-21, which was a big difference as well. The game was tied at 41 at halftime and Dayton held a 56-50 lead at the 15:41 mark before Duke reeled off a 20-4 run fueled by a pair of 3's each from Hurt and Stanley and 6 points from Carey inside. Obi Toppin had 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting but didn't get as much help from his supporting cast as Duke held starters Ryan Mikesell and Rodney Chatman to 16 points total. Coach K advances to his 10th national title game and will attempt to win his 6th championship.


Duke haters (me included) are now cringing at what could be. I was hoping that both games were going to be closer than the sims spit out and maybe the championship game will be just that. I can't say I'm too surprised though because if Duke got the right draw, they definitely had the type of team that could go thru a bracket against teams that they don't constantly see. As for Creighton, I never really like a team that relies so much on the 3-point shot because all it takes is a 4 for 23 night to torpedo your hopes. Monday night, we'll see who the computer crowns as this year's pseudo champ.

[RonnieFranchise]

Damn it Obi

[shafnutz05]

This is awesome stuff thank you again OP. This is the only saving grace.... My biggest fear this tourney with all of the new arrivals was that Duke, as one of the only blue bloods in the top seeds, would find a way to win. So maybe it's good it wasn't played

[Orlando Penguin]

THE ROAD ENDS HERE. Or at least that's what it says on the sideline of the Final Four court. First off, the music. I'm a sucker for all of the old theme music that can be mined on Youtube. This John Tesh (yeah, that's right) tune is far and away the best sports music used by any network. It had laid dormant for years after NBC gave up the NBA in the early 2000's. But in December 2018, Fox was able to corral it to use on their college basketball coverage. At first, I was pretty skeptical because as a 90's teen, I hear that music and I'm thinking Pacers-Knicks or Jazz-Lakers or Bulls-anybody and not Villanova-Butler or Sparty-Suckeyes. As they've continued to use it, the music has grown on me. Granted, the audio engineers could do a better job of mixing it in and out of break but it's still nice to hear it again in a basketball background.

OK, on to the game. Creighton vs. Duke. In the white corner, we have the Blue Jays who have ridden a strong 3-point attack and terrific guard play. In the blue corner, we have the perennial contender Blue Devils, seeking their 6th national championship under Coach K. When looking at this matchup, it's pretty clear that Duke has the edge simply because of their strength inside with Vernon Carey, Jr. Creighton faced a similar team in their non-con season - San Diego State - and failed miserably, getting blown out of Las Vegas by 31 points. Villanova also has similarities to this Duke team and Creighton split with them. For Duke, the Jays are pretty similar to a number of teams in the ACC. They could be a Louisville, a Syracuse, a Wake Forest, or maybe an NC State. I think if this game was played, K would sneak a zone into the defensive repertoire and dare Creighton to move the ball around for open shots, similar to what they did to NC State in the 2nd meeting at Cameron. Are we going to get a Duke walkover like their wins in the 90s over Kansas and Michigan or will we get a game like their narrow win over Butler? Or will we have a 1999 situation where a Big East team stares down a strong Duke team (this one nowhere as dominant as that 99 team) and pulls off the upset? Here's where Vegas (i.e. my brain) would see it and away we go...

Creighton O/U 173
Duke -8


NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Duke 96, Creighton 79. As suspected, Duke dared Creighton to hit the 3 and the Blue Jays failed. The Blue Devils held Creighton to 8 of 22 from the 3 point line and Tre Jones erupted for 27 points on 4 of 6 from the 3-point line and captured their first national championship since 2015 and the 6th in school history, all under Coach K. The game started slow with Duke holding a 7-6 lead at the first TV timeout. But in the next 4-minute segment, Duke outscored Creighton 18-6 to open up a double-digit lead that would become 13 by halftime. In the 2nd half, Creighton reeled off a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 4 with 14:31 remaining. Duke answered with a 9-3 push, anchored by a pair of Tre Jones buckets and a Jordan Goldwire 3 that pushed the lead back to 10 and the lead would not dip below 6 the rest of the way. Vernon Carey, Jr. had 13 points and 13 rebounds in what was likely his final college game and Cassius Stanley tacked on 19 of his own. Creighton was led by Denzel Mahoney with 22 points off the bench but were hamstrung by only 2 points out of Mitch Ballock, who averaged almost 12 points per game this season. The loss ends the best non-Villanova run by a Big East team since UCONN won the 2011 championship. For Duke, it continues a pattern of winning the championship every 5 years as they won their last in 2015 and a previous championship in 2010. Tre Jones announced after the game that he would move on to the NBA Draft and it's expected that Carey will join him with Wendell Moore and Cassius Stanley giving it heavy consideration. But for the time being, Coach K will bask in his 6th championship, putting him one closer to John Wooden's all-time best of 10.


Welllllll, nobody wanted to see that result except Dukies of course. Thanks for indulging my silliness. I've had a tradition the last 10-12 years of picking out the teams and seeding them (but not placing them) to see how I'd do against the various so-called 'experts' out there. Thought it would be fun to actually play out what I came up with. Hopefully, we'll never have to do this exercise again so I can go back to my Hangover Monday of actually going outside and seeing the sun after spending hours upon hours over 4 days inside watching (and betting on) games.

[count2infinity]

Boooooooooooo

[Freddy Rumsen]

I hate you Orlando.

[willeyeam]

Boooooooo

[RonnieFranchise]

It’s make believe! Make ip a Creighton win?

Duck Fuke.

[RonnieFranchise]

ESPN poll on greatest college player of all time comes up with Bird vs. Jordan, showing apparently either nobody has the ability to read what the poll is for or people in general don't know how great NBA players performed in college.

Jordan of course was the third pick in 1984 behind Hakeem and Bowie (lol).

Bird was 6th. Part may have been his playing at Indiana State.

In my mind any answer other than Lew Alcindor is incorrect. He lost to Shaq. LMAO. I'll say Magic #2.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Pistol Pete should be top 3.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Also Jerry West deserves to be in the Top 5. That West Virginia team he carried to the title game was him and 4 Division II quality guys.

[willeyeam]

Look at Pistol Pete's stats. Before the 3 point line came in too. Ridiculous

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pl ... ich-1.html

[Freddy Rumsen]

Another guy that loses out on recency bias is Oscar Robertson. My F-i-L saw him play and said he was by far the most dominant individual player he ever saw.

[RonnieFranchise]

ESPN had Maravich as a 13 seed. Ridiculous.

Here's the bracket

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... ll-bracket

[willeyeam]

Okay let's have some fun and do this with players we've all seen. Top 5 college basketball players from 2000 and on, go.

[willeyeam]

my list without a ton of research that i'll probably change once some other names come up that I haven't though of:

Tyler Hansbrough
Jameer Nelson
Carmelo Anthony
JJ Reddick
Emeka Okafor

Shout out to my other favorites that aren't necessarily close to the top 5: Jimmer Fredette, Dougie Fresh McDermott, Julius Page, Brandin Knight, Gerry McNamara

[skullman80]

Ronald Ramon

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Doug Mcbuckets really was good

JJ Reddick was good too. Also such a jagoff

[MR25]

Greg Oden
Evan Turner
Kemba Walker

[willeyeam]

**** Kemba

[RonnieFranchise]

Gerry McNamara

God damn I hated that guy. Friar Killa.