2015 NCAA Tournament thread

Baylor should be better and could give them a run for their money, but it's hard to argue with anyone picking UConn to roll again.

And it's even harder to be enthused about that because Geno is such a colossal dick.

 

The UConn recruiting class for next season is the No. 1 player in the country, a 6-3 wing, the No. 7 player in the country, a 6-1 wing, and the No. 22 player, a 6-2 post.
And they already have the No. 3 player in the 2016 class, a 5-6 point guard, and a natiionally unranked (gasp!) 6-2 post who is 11th in the country at her position

 

And Notre Dame, the one team that could theoretically challenge UConn, is losing its best player to WNBA draft early entry.

I guess she couldn't resist the medium bucks.

 

Hell, that's only about half the list. You're forgetting about Shane Battier, Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel. The oversaturation of dukies on TV has gotten downright laughable.

 

But he's just six behind Ric Flair.

 

Unlike my vehement belief that male college basketball players should enter the NBA as soon as they can, I'm not sure I hold the same sentiment for the women. When your league's maximum salary is $107,000 (for players with at least six years of service time), the free college degree is probably a good thing to have in your back pocket.

 

Is she graduating with a year of eligibility left, or is she actually leaving school?

 

Good question. I took LTL's and Zagoshe's posts to mean she was leaving school early, but yes, if she is graduating early, then by all means it is the right move.

 

Nobody has made mention of her graduating, which you'd think would be the kind of thing a place like Notre Dame would blast with a megaphone if that was the case.

It doesn't make much sense on the surface, but I'd assume she probably isn't far from her degree, close enough to finish by correspondence or maybe by returning in the off-season. I'm guessing she was recruited by Skylar and Jay-Z with the promise of endorsements. And if the WNBA doesn't work, there is actual money to be made overseas.

Plus it's not like she would come back for one more chance at the title. There is no chance at the title.

 

I don't know who this person is, or what other personality traits she has, or what kind of business acumen she has, but you'd think there was a way for a star player on an ND team -- even a women's basketball team -- to parlay that success into business success.

And, one more season with a contending team would only add to that ability to capitalize off of it.

 

I think that's what the bent should be in the #30for30 for Geno.

He *is* a great coach -- for the recruiting, for the coaching, for the 900+ wins and 10 titles -- but someone had a point here that few would mention him in their top 10 of great college coaches.

You know that has to eat at him on some level. He's no doubt had offers to go to the men's game, even the NBA, but he stayed at UConn and built the best program in women's college history -- with all due respect to Pat Summit. I read his book years ago and his No. 1 dream was (still is?) to coach the U.S. Men's Olympic Team. Will he ever get that chance? Does he still want to? Does USA Basketball want him to?

He'll retire as the winningest coach ever -- pro or college -- but I wonder if the lack of adoration on the grand scale will take luster off that shine.

 

I've seen no evidence in all these years that Geno ever does anything during a game that positively influences the outcome. If he's going to beat you, it's going to be with exactly what he had when practice started in November.

He is the women's game version of Calipari.