College Basketball Thread 2013-14

[homer]

Man that was an entertaining basketball game. Before the brackets came out I questioned whether UW's defense would be good enough to get to the Final Four but maybe their offense can just carry them the whole way? Unreal second half.

[LouisEly]

I think UW's defense was just fine. Keep in mind, Oregon shot 91.3% from the free-throw line (season average 76.6%) and 44.4% from 3-pt (season average 39.2%, but that includes two misses in the last 15 seconds so before that they shot 50%, 8-16); not including the awful officiating, if Oregon had shot their season averages for free throws and 3-pt shots they would have had nine fewer points and UW would have won by 17. (UW shot slightly higher from 3 pt., 39.1% vs. 37.3%, but much worse from the free throw line, 65% vs. 74.4%). The key was UW's 14 offensive rebounds, which helped them generate 11 more shots than Oregon.

[patrickgpe]

Howland would be a great replacement for Marquette. It shows the recruits that Marquette is serious about not falling off the grid after buzz left.

 

I think it is very important to not go with someone like Wardle. While he has done an OK job at green bay there are more high profile mid major head coaches out there if they can't get a home run like Howland. The fact that he is a Marquette guy isn't good enough. They have already lost one top 100 recruit, they can't lose any more

[brwrsfan]

Anyone know where/how I can watch a replay of the Badger game? I was at the game but forgot to record it on the DVR.

[jjfanec]

http://www.ncaa.com/march-madness-live shows the games.

 

Have people read the Sports Illustrated article on Howland? He let the inmates run the asylum toward the end of the UCLA run. I would be worried about that guy. He definitely had success though.

[GAME05]

holy cow that was a heck of a game. i was never expecting the Badgers to come out of the half the way they did. and moreso, that Oregon never ended up going on a run of their own. i was surprised they didn't end up getting the ball to Kaminsky as much, since he looked like they couldn't figure him out down low, and it would have drawn doubles to kick back out to Brust.

 

actually, almost all the games last night were great games.

 

so who should we be rooting for in the Creighton/Baylor matchup tonight? i don't know if the Badgers always do well against single-star teams and could end up with McBuckets pouring it on the way someone like Craft does.

[fondybrewfan]

Wichita St played a pretty darn good game I would hate for people to call that them overrated. Kentucky sure seemed to get the benefit of the doubt from the officials in the 2nd half. Anytime they got in the lane it was an automatic foul it seemed like.

 

Even though my bracket is shot and I have virtually no chance of coming out ahead at least I have UW to cheer for yet.

[brwrsfan]

I think we matchup better with Baylor, but that's only if we hit our threes. Creighton can score, but they play very very poor defense and don't rebound well. All that said, I'd rather play Baylor. When playing someone like McDermott and Wragge, you never know when they may go off for 40 on any given night.

 

I do worry some about the Baylor zone and their length against us, but we've handled that this year too I guess.

[LouisEly]

I hope Marquette waits until Dayton is eliminated from the tourney so they can talk with Archie Miller, brother of Arizona head coach Sean Miller. And I'll reiterate my interest in the coach from Stephen F. Austin, Brad Underwood. He was an assistant under Frank Martin at Kansas State before taking over at SFA.

 

Sandy Cohen hasn't been released from his scholarship yet. Marquette has a policy across all sports that they will not release a player from his scholarship until after he/she meets with the new head coach. Cohen talked with Marquette AD on the phone, and apologized for not following school policy.

[RockCoCougars]

If Baylor plays anywhere close to what they did tonight, no one is beating them. That said, you have to think they are due for a letdown.

[GAME05]

i didn't see too much of the Baylor game, but it seemed like they played a zone really far out to guard against the 3. i don't get the sense from that that we'll get a ton of open looks from long range, but that we can get open shots if we can break it through penetration dribble, which is done pretty much just by Jackson. i think a lot of the game may well depend on his ability to penetrate and kick out.

[brwrsfan]

They did play a zone, not sure if they will do that against us or not.

 

Baylor shot something like 65% for the game, and were something like 11-17 from three. That's tough to sustain and both are almost 20% more than their season average shooting wise. They are due for a letdown.

 

Anyone else have a problem with SDSU (as the four seed) getting to play roughly 2 hours from their campus in the regionals? It'll essentially be a home type atmosphere for them I would imagine. I understand we just had that advantage, but we were a 2 seed, not a 4 seed against a higher seeded team. It wasn't like they were a 12 seed that the committee wasn't expecting to make it here. As a 4, they are expected to be favored in both games and make it to this round. Similar to Baylor vs Creighton playing in Texas today.

[RobDeer 45]

My bracket is all jacked up!!! I'm usually pretty conservative with picks....this is not the year. I still have my final four teams, so I'm hoping, if I get them all right and pick the champion, I still have a shot in my pools!

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

These Regional sites are tough in terms of seeding and home court. Connecticut gets to play at MSG, which will be at least a small advantage for them, I would think, and they're a 7. Louisville in Indy is a HUGE advantage with so many Cardinal fans in Southern Indiana, and they are a 4.

 

I think it's just so tough to match sites and programs and seed lines, especially given that the regionals are played at 4 sites, and when the committee tries to protect all teams on the 1-4 lines, there is going to be some clustering. Throw in randomness, and it's not surprising that some teams will have an advantage they may not have earned.

 

Is it fair? Nope. Is it avoidable? I don't really think so.

 

On a semi-related note, isn't the Anaheim regional in an actual basketball arena (as opposed to Lucas Oil or the Jerry Dome, which must feel like the moon compared to, you know, something designed for hoops)? I prefer that for Wisconsin for some reason. Probably because of all the unsubstantiated rumors about how much more difficult it is to shoot in those cavernous spaces. Small detail, but maybe worth mentioning.

 

Go Badgers! Get us through the last week before baseball!

[fondybrewfan]

The UW / Baylor game should be a solid contest. It should really help that both Kaminsky and Hayes can step out and hit that mid range jumper.

 

Baylor basically had to account for only 2 guys on Creighton and could be very aggressive. With Wisconsin they can't leave anyone. I like UW in that game. Arizona will be a really tough game for UW though.

[brwrsfan]

SDSU could beat Arizona. They played earlier this year and Arizona won by 9, but SDSU plays extremely good defense and it could be a real slugfest. If that's the case and it's just a one or two possession game, you never know. Badgers can worry about that after we beat Baylor on Thursday

[FVBrewerFan]

On a semi-related note, isn't the Anaheim regional in an actual basketball arena (as opposed to Lucas Oil or the Jerry Dome, which must feel like the moon compared to, you know, something designed for hoops)? I prefer that for Wisconsin for some reason. Probably because of all the unsubstantiated rumors about how much more difficult it is to shoot in those cavernous spaces. Small detail, but maybe worth mentioning.

 

Yes, it's a "regular" arena. I was actually there for tourney games a few years ago. SDSU was one of the teams there. They had a big, loud cheering section then, so guaranteed they'll have that going for them again.

 

Speaking of loud, that WISC/Oregon game was the loudest atmosphere I've ever experienced at the BC.

[Crew2323]

There are rumblings on Twitter that Shaka Smart may be the new MU coach.

[brwrsfan]

That makes sense as he is a WI native (though personally I thought he was holding out for the WI job). They could pay him a ton of money if that's what it boils down to. He's passed up bigger jobs before though (UCLA for example), so who knows. If true, that's about the best hire Marquette could make I think.

[fondybrewfan]

Well Archie Miller already agreed to an extension with Dayton so he is of the board. I don't think you could go wrong with Shaka Smart or Gregg Marshall. Those would be the clear top names on my list. If you can't get either one then you probably have to re evaluate. I don't like Howland or Wardle to much for that job.

[DHonks]

This would be huge for Marquette. Given their issue of some disgruntled players and some recruits wanting out...who wouldn't want to play for Shaka???!?!?!? His up-tempo style would let everyone have chances to shine.

[patrickgpe]

it would be the best case scenario, Howland has had great success at UCLA and Pitt, but he preached more defense and wasn't the most up tempo of coach. Getting Smart would mean little change over what occurred during Buzz. I think this would be great, but at 36, I don't think he would be at Marquette for more than 5 years.

[fondybrewfan]

Also the Big East was a train wreck in the Tourney so perhaps Smart thinks he can get a better job then being on an above average team in a below average conference. I would take him in a heartbeat though.

[patrickgpe]

he is in the atlantic 10 now. he would get way more tv exposure and Marquette could break the bank to give him what he wants. His total compensation was 1.5 million last season, Marquette could easily give him double that much.

[jjfanec]

Shaka would be a much better hire that Howland. Howland had great success but wears out his welcome quickly