2023-24 College Basketball Thread

[Ad@m]

Damn! This UNC/Bama game is insane.

[Orlando Penguin]

Damn! This UNC/Bama game is insane.

Woe to those who took the plunge on the under. *raises hand

[Ad@m]

Roll tide!

[RonnieFranchise]

Bye Carolina. Take Duke with you tomorrow.

[Orlando Penguin]

Boy oh boy oh boy, you're up 1 with a minute left and you have some no-name huck up a 3 with 15 on the shot clock. That is some incredibly bad on-court leadership. It's ironic that a team that was so terrible on defense all year played immaculate defense on the game-deciding possession.

Meanwhile, I really didn't need that Bacot layup with 1.2 left. Number was 174 1/2 and it was sitting 174 until that point. I could have won all 3 bets without it.

[Orlando Penguin]

FRIDAY'S GAMES:

South -- NC State vs Marquette (-6 1/2) at Dallas

The narrative in the first two rounds for the Wolfpack was whether or not they'd be tired from winning 5 games in 5 days and then coming back after 4 days rest to win 2 in 3 days. Mission accomplished. Now they have had 6 days off and should be fully charged. First big question -- emphasis on big -- how does Marquette handle DJ Burns? They have plenty of weapons to fire at him and I think if they take a similar tact to Burns's teammates that UCONN did with Ledee & San Diego State, then this is going to get out of hand early. But those teammates are very adequate and the Pack has gotten balanced scoring from their entire lot throughout their 7-game run. As for Marquette, how Kolek and Jones go on offense will determine the Golden Eagles fate. I think NC State hangs around a lot like Colorado did with Marquette on Sunday and we get a tight one down the stretch with Marquette moving on to their first Elite Eight since 2003.
PICK -- NC State +6 1/2 (Marquette wins outright)

Midwest -- Gonzaga vs Purdue (-5) at Detroit

Easy question -- what will Gonzaga do to contain Edey? I have been the thought all season that you take your chances on Edey getting 35 points but you make sure that his teammates don't hurt you from the outside. Defensively, you pull Edey away from the basket as much as you can with your big man and then take midrange shots when he decides to play his one-man zone in the lane. When these two tussled in Maui in November -- a 10-point Purdue win -- the Zags held the Boilers to 23% from the 3-point line. But they were 0 of 13 themselves in the 2nd half from 3 as their 5-point halftime lead melted away. So how do the coaches adjust from that first meeting? I think whatever Painter did defensively in the 2nd half of that game he duplicates and continues to run the Zags off the 3-point line. Purdue has more than enough horses to handle Gonzaga and will put together a similar plan that St. Mary's deployed in their 2 wins over Gonzaga this season.
PICK -- Purdue

South -- Duke vs Houston (-4) at Dallas

Nearly every Cougar starter, including Clyde Drexler and Akeem Abdul Olajuwon (yes, he went by that in college), fouled out in their thrilling, near-choke OT victory over aTm in the 2nd round. Now that the fouls are reset and their emotions are reset, they can set their sights on a Duke team that is just...ok? Everyone seems to focus on Filipowski but along comes Jared McCain who pumps in 8 3s for 30 points against JMU. The Dukies still have Roach running the show and Proctor to knock down jumpers outside. Maybe McCain's performance on Sunday was an outlier. Whatever it was, Houston's suffocating defense is going to be out to improve their efforts from Sunday's mess. Houston will drag this game into the swamps and muck it up as much as they can, trying to keep this game in the 60s. Duke isn't as explosive as Sunday made them seem. Cougs put on a defensive display and roll on to Sunday.
PICK -- Houston

Midwest -- Creighton vs Tennessee (-2 1/2) at Detroit

So Arizona showed us that they will annually shrink when the lights are brightest. Here's another test for a Rick Barnes led team to not do the same. A big question here is if Vescovi will play for the Vols after battling an illness the last week. All of the attention will be on if Creighton can stop Dalton Knecht. Given how they did such a great job handling Oregon's duo of Cousinard and Dante on Sunday, I wouldn't hold my breath. Creighton's game offensively is lots of outside shots with three guys who can knock them down. But a sturdy defensive effort will handcuff those guys and Oregon had that formula until Ashworth got a couple of breakdown 3's late in the shot clock in the last 3 minutes of regulation. Barnes stresses defense to his teams and after the mess they made against Miss State in the SEC Tournament, I think he's got them refocused on that end of the floor, especially after seeing them frustrate Texas's Max Abmas and Dylan Disu into a combined 7 of 28 effort.
PICK -- Tenneseee


Thursday's record -- 2-2 vs spread, changed my mind and bet Bama outright as well.

[MWB]

Damn! This UNC/Bama game is insane.

Woe to those who took the plunge on the under. *raises hand

I had the over…. In a parlay with nc -4.5.

[shafnutz05]

Boy oh boy oh boy, you're up 1 with a minute left and you have some no-name huck up a 3 with 15 on the shot clock. That is some incredibly bad on-court leadership. It's ironic that a team that was so terrible on defense all year played immaculate defense on the game-deciding possession.

Meanwhile, I really didn't need that Bacot layup with 1.2 left. Number was 174 1/2 and it was sitting 174 until that point. I could have won all 3 bets without it.

He missed an open dunk earlier so call it even

That Withers 3 was just brutal. He had attempted eleven threes in the last two months

[Beveridge]

I liked the results. Outside of Uconn, the "blue bloods" were sent home. I like when "newer" teams make it. Last year was fun with FAU and SDSU

[Orlando Penguin]

Oh look, found another team that prefers to hoist up bricks and keep hoisting them up instead of getting into the lane. Marquette might be coached by a guy named 'Smart' but they have certainly been playing stupid tonight. NC State just keeps plugging along and their defense has been on point.

Meanwhile, Edey has been largely quiet for Purdue and the 3-point shooters are running roughshod. I guess Gonzaga either didn't want to or can't execute the idea of taking out the teammates on defense.

[MWB]

Marquette missed so many open shots. And then wasting lots of time in the last minute and a half when state could’ve been shooting 1 and 1s and you might have a slim chance to get back in the game.

[Orlando Penguin]

It's amazing to me that we've watched 3 teams in the last 2 nights have ridiculously poor shooting nights from the outside and only one of them - Carolina - would at least try to get into the lane as much as they could for their offense. Arizona & Marquette kept thinking they were gonna shoot themselves out of the slump. That doesn't happen when you're a 2 seed in an upset situation.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Duke isn’t as good as Houston but Duke is certainly trying to match the physicality

[Ad@m]

Come on Cougars

[King Colby]

That was a great game in dallas

[Orlando Penguin]

Scheyer having Young out there with Filipowski was brilliant. They matched Houston pound for pound in the bully department and once Shead went out, Houston didn't have as many answers on offense outside of Cryer. It sucks that an injury decided it but when you're so defensive-minded like Houston is, the offensive side lacks a bit more. Duke hit some big shots too. Now I gotta root for the Wolfpack to keep the Cinderella run going.

[King Colby]

ACC with 3 of their 4 teams in the elite 8

[Dickie Dunn]

Pitt got screwed.

[King Colby]

There are over 1,000 players in the transfer portal right now. Obscene.

The NCAA might not exist in 10 years, at least as we know it.

[RonnieFranchise]

It might not exist now, really.

Who the hell will want to coach these teams when you have to recruit all your roster spots every year?

[MWB]

Yeah, recruiting has completely changed. First you have to re-recruit your own players to stay. Then you recruit portal players. Then jucos and high school. I don’t think it’s ever been harder for high school players to get offers unless you’re one of the top prospects.

[Beveridge]

NCAA should have left transfers alone and make it if a coach bails on a contract, they have to sit out a year.

[Orlando Penguin]

SATURDAY GAMES

East -- Illinois vs UCONN (-9) at Boston

These are the 2 most efficient offensive teams in the country. So that over of 155 should be a slam dunk, right? Ummm, not so fast. What has been overlooked throughout UCONN's 9 straight NCAA Tournament wins over the last two years is their defense. They're the #6 defensive team in the country now and if you watched the way they suffocated San Diego State's attack on Thursday, you can see why they boast those numbers. Where Iowa State's top-rated defense failed on Thursday was letting Terrance Shannon, Jr. get lost, especially allowing him to be wide open in the corner for a 3 in a 2-point game with about 3 minutes left. UCONN just comes at teams in waves. Who do you try to stop? Clingan was awful offensively against SDSU but there's no one on Illinois who can handle his size like SDSU could. Yes, Illinois shot poorly from the free throw line vs Iowa State but UCONN doesn't send teams to the line all that much, allowing 18 FT attempts per game. How does Illinois win? A combination of torrid shooting and bad UCONN offense. How does Illinois cover? Same combination. I don't see it. Give me the Huskies to keep their double-digit margin streak going.
PICK -- UCONN

West -- Clemson vs Alabama (-3) at LA

Another classic clash of styles in this one. Clemson is #257 in tempo while Alabama hasn't met a quick 3 it hasn't wanted to shoot. Clemson successfully slowed the game down against Arizona and frustrated the Wildcats into a 5-28 effort from beyond the arc. Bama shot less than 30% from 3 in 8 games this year and they went 2-6 in those games (wins vs Grand Canyon & Florida in OT). Hmmm. We'll come back to that one. These teams faced off in Tuscaloosa in late November, a game the Tigers won by 8. Yes, those pre-conference Tigers were on fire before they hit the ACC gauntlet. That was a game in which Clemson held the Tide to 34% shooting while they shot 53%. There's a theme here and it's defense. Clemson's got it, Bama's is lacking outside of that one crucial possession at the end against Carolina. If Clemson can establish the tempo early and frustrate Bama into an early shooting slump like they did against Arizona, we're gonna see the same result. Again, I don't like advancing teams who don't play defense and as weird as it's gonna be to have Clemson in a Final Four, I can definitely see it happening today.
PICK -- CLEMSON (and to win outright)

Friday's record -- 3-1

[King Colby]

It might not exist now, really.

Who the hell will want to coach these teams when you have to recruit all your roster spots every year?

If only they were fairly compensated for all this extra work

[Beveridge]

30-0 run is good, right?