Running 2019-2020 college hoops thread

Yeah, the only way the A-10 looks like a two-bid league now is if Dayton slips up in the tournament. URI and VCU both stumbled badly in February.

 

Uh, the A-10's second-place team has an excellent shot of getting in, if it wins at Duquense on Friday and gets at least to the A-10 semis.

 

Hamilton would be my pick. But UVA is an insane story, and I really think this is Bennett’s best coaching job.

Three ACC teams in the past five years have scored less than one point per possession. Those teams and their conference records:

2016 BC: 0-18
2018 Pitt: 0-18
2020 UVA: 14-5 and counting

It’s a truly remarkable job to get that performance out of this group. There are three guards on the roster. One is 5-9 and another is literally the worst 3-point shooter in the country. That they’re going to the NCAAs is astounding.

 

Totally agree.
Of course, I've got way too many teams going out in the round of 32 in my head. Kind of the reverse of the days when every pundit said, "xxxx is in the field" until informed that they had anointed 82 teams for inclusion.

 

Agreed, Big Circus. But part of what skews that stat is Virginia's commitment to defense and the game pace, which reduces the number of possessions. The games are always rock fights - uncomfortable for opponents, while the Cavaliers feel right at home.

Still an impressive job.

 

All of that is fair, @Big Circus . I’m more irritated by Katz, et al, being dismissive of other great coaching jobs. FSU lost 6 of its Top 8 scorers and 67% of its production from a really good team that reached the Sweet 16 last year as a 4-seed and somehow is even better this year, almost certainly going to claim the No. 1 in ACC for the first time and a No. 2 in the tourney (another first).

 

Apparently, Fox wants its talking heads to be opinionated, no matter how wrong or ignorant their stance is. Probably learned that in Bristol.

 

Bennett is awesome because he continually does what seems implausible. His teams win while never, ever getting an easy shot. They don't run. They don't press. They don't even send anybody to the offensive glass. But I suspect voters may have regrets when Hamilton's team is playing in the second week of the NCAA tournament and Bennett's club, although resourceful and overachieving, is watching from home.

 

This might be a dumb question - but why do you usually see players dribbling the ball toward their coach before calling a timeout? Is it because most entry plays are designed from that specific spot?

 

Duquesne (siq) will win anyway, and if not the Spidahs have no shot unless they reach the title game...and they won’t

 

I guess we will see. Nine road/neutral wins, neutral win over Wisconsin, road win at Rhode Island, no bad losses, 45 NET ranking. Need two more wins at least, and beating the Dukes on Friday would be huge.

 

I thought the "Snacks" story was great, but I liked this one even better:

College basketball player scores first career points four years after nearly-fatal car crash