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Saturday, March 28, 2015
Tournament Thoughts: Sweet 16 Friday
Every time I've seen them play I've really liked Gonzaga.
I love everything about Pangos except for his hair.
Przemek Karnowski is the Polish Jake Voskuhl. With the conditioning of Matt Stainbrook.
Love Donatos Sabonis. He looks like he could be a star. A shame we'll never know what his father could have been if he had been allowed to play in the NBA in his prime.
How many times do you think he's heard the Not Your-Vidas, Not My-Vidas, he's Ar-Vidas?
After Louisville kicked Chris Jones off the team he is accused of raping one girl, in the ass, and with two other guys, forcing a second girl into unwanted oral and vaginal sex. Nice guy.
Valiant effort by NC State they just couldn't make the plays at the end.
Last time I ever listen to Mike Francesa. I thought Louisville wasn't very good and when he said he thought they would go out early, he just sounded so sure. So I picked them to lose in the first round. You see how well that worked out.
I normally don't buy that crap that teams have to adjust to shooting in domes and big stadia, because I have a lifetime of evidence of Syracuse home games to disprove that, but Duke and Utah certainly took long enough to make a field goal.
We've mentioned this before this tournament but you can definitely see that Duke has more athleticism this year than they have had in the recent past. I'd even put this team above the 2010 title team in terms of ability to run the floor.
I'm a little concerned about Okafor's defense on the NBA level. I saw a couple times Utah's big guys put the moves on him.
Delon Wright did not live up to his billing this game.
I hate these arena setups where the floor is elevated and you have to step down to get o the bench. I realize it's necessary in these huge arenas, but it's still silly.
Michigan State was 3 of 10 from the line, but Valentine and Trice nailed 4 down the stretch when they needed to.
Love Tom Izzo. The guy just wins in the tournament. But this does not mean they were underseeded. Michigan State lost 10 games this season, including 0-6 against top 40 teams until the Big Ten tournament, when they beat Maryland. They were 23 in the RPI which favors them for playing such a tough schedule. So 6 or 7 was a fair seeding, 5 or 8 would be a stretch. You can seed a team based on how awesome their coach is in the tournament.
Although this bracket didn't turn out as we planned, a Louisville-Michigan State matchup is pretty interesting.
And even though tonight's games weren't that great, I think we have 2 great matchups to look forward to on Sunday.
Very astute commentary again. You're absolutely right that Duke is more athletic and runs the floor better than many of its recent teams (last 10 years or so), although last year's team with Parker, Hood and Sulaimon was pretty great offensively.
ReplyDeleteLet's see how the tournament pans out, but for my money right now I'd take Duke 2010 over 2015. That team was an absolutely dominant defensive team that made almost no mistakes, and it had 3 seven footers in its starting rotation. 2015 has much more NBA talent and highlight reel material, but 2010 was mature, smart and extremely efficient. Given its size inside, I actually think that 2010 team could give 2015 KY a run for its money if the 2010 outside shooters were on point.
You got your Gonzaga/Duke matchup as predicted and I think it's going to be a great one.
Minor correction - I meant that Duke 2010 had 3 seven footers in its rotation. Miles and Mason Plumlee rarely started but played significant minutes along with 7 foot 1 starting center Zoubek.
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