College Basketball Thread 2018

Leonard Hamilton’s game management continues to crack me up. Down 4 with 13 seconds left in the NCAA tournament? Time to fold the tent. Down 29 with 3 minutes left in the ACC opener? We can make that shit up!

We were at the game, and it really can’t be overstated how physically imposing FSU is up close. They looked like the damn Monstars.

 

UVa will need to worry about beating the 16 seed in its way in the first round before thinking of the Final Four.

 

They won’t be a 1 this year. ACC schedule is too tough (Duke 2x, VT 2x, Louisville 2x, UNC/Clemson/NC State/Cuse all on the road). FSU was the only tournament contender from the ACC they only had at home. They’ve got 5-6 losses between now and Selection Sunday.

 

I'm just hoping the Hokies don't shit the bed at Georgia Tech this week, so it sets up a monster game at JPJ.

Tech got the better of the ACC scheduling, again. GT, ND, Miami and UVA are the only two-fers. UVA is UVA, but the other three are bottom of the league. Duke is at home. Some tough roadies at FSU, UNC and NC State, but otherwise, the schedule sets up great.

 

Apropos of nothing, my ACC power rankings:

As close to NCAA locks as possible on Jan. 7:
Duke
UVA
VT
UNC
FSU
NC State

Flawed lower seeds/bubble teams:
Syracuse
Louisville
Clemson

NIT and below:
BC
ND
Pitt
Miami
GT

"Ryan Odom is really going to have these guys cooking once he gets his own recruits in there":
Wake

 

When the topic is basketball, it's probably best for a Hokie not to talk too much smack at a Wahoo. Especially since:
1) The Hokies haven't made the Sweet 16 since, well, ever. To say nothing of a Final Four.
2) The Hokies haven't seen the finals of the ACC Tournament since, well, ever.
3) UVa bent over and gave in to politics to let the Hokies into the league in the first place.

 

Yeah but Virginia's never won the NIT!

Actually that was a great tournament the year Tech won. Five wins by six total points, I think. Alan Bristow and Bobby Stevens, watched it with some friends from Winchester in our dorm. We'd defeated Tech in 2 OT several weeks before. That game, and those VPI cheerleaders in skin-tight orange tops, hot pants and boots, were quite a change from the Westhampton ladies we saw every day!

 

False. It has won two: 1980 and 1992.

 

It has been years since Leonard Hamilton didn't have a physically imposing team by any Division I standard. Then he teaches defense and maximizes the length ...

 

Way too early. They've played one conference game.

How many times did Clemson go through a non-conference slate filled with community colleges and middle schools, come out of it 14 or 15-0 and get its butt handed to them in the ACC? How many of the schools above faced the sort of non-conference gauntlet that really showed us who they are at this point of the season?

Duke has yet to play a true road game ... finally will in Winston-Salem on Tuesday.

Hope you're right about NCSU ... really hope you're correct, but got to see this depth run more teams into the ground. The depth was the only reason the Wolfpack survived the opener in Coral Gables. What happens if Markell Johnson gets in foul trouble?

Chapel Hill is talented, as always, but inconsistent. The team that beat Gonzaga was impressive. Some of the other games make me wonder.

Has Buzz Williams' program truly turned the corner?

Tony Bennett's program is there ... again. Can they shut down everyone the way the Cavaliers did Florida State. Will the Seminoles recover?

Way too many questions to formulate any answers. Yet.

 

Don't remember those. Do remember Tech's.

 

The 1980 one was Sampson's freshman year. The NIT actually meant something back then. Cavaliers beat Lafayette, BC, Michigan, UNLV and Minnesota (Kevin McHale.)
Current Hokies are excellent. It'll be a shame for them when Texas grows weary of Shaka Smart and christens a new arena in a couple of years by welcoming coach Buzz Williams to town.