2015 NCAA Tournament thread

That too.

 

I think he was in there during the game, too.

 

Dan Wetzel has a great column today about how people try to convince themselves that Team X can beat Kentucky despite it being such a longshot. Anyway, the money quote is from Calipari at the end.

"At some point, you have to get in the ring. And we'll be there to lift the rope."

Goddamn, what a great fucking quote. I'd link the story here, but my browser and Yahoo aren't speaking at the moment.

 

It's nice to see Calipari finally get a little cocky.

I think a lot of people (myself included) picked against Kentucky because it's just not as fun to pick or root for a team that should just cruise to the title.

 

Bobby Knight said coaches choose between two ways to prepare a team before a game: this team can beat us or we can beat this team.

It seems like Cal has come up with a third; we should be this team back to the stone age. It seemed like that worked for the WVU game, and it might be the way they go the rest of the tourney.

 

I picked against Kentucky in the SJ.com group because I figured everyone else would pick them and I might be the one left standing if they went down. I really think they're going to win it. Wisconsin is the only team I see that even has a chance, and it's a slim one at best.

 

It's hard to remember, but Kentucky has struggled at times this season. Georgia, A&M, Ole Miss -- didn't they win back-to-back overtime games at one point?

 

Yeah, I think the Arizona-Wisconsin winner has a slim chance, but it's hard to imagine Kentucky losing to anyone after last night's win.

My biggest concern about Kentucky was that they didn't play any top teams in conference play, but watching that game last night reminded me of the Kansas game earlier this year where Kentucky just looked unstoppable.

 

That is a great quote and a great story, but I still prefer to believe Kentucky's record represents nothing more than 37 separate coaching failures this season.

 

Yeah. Kentucky's players are getting entirely too much damn credit for their success this season. Had they played against teams with even remotely competent coaches, this wouldn't even be a thing.

 

Yeah, it's not like they beat teams with coaches who have won titles like Bill Self, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams and Billy Donovan, oh wait, they did.... Nevermind...

 

It's a long season, and they might have lost focus for a game or two in the regular season, but they are amped up now.

It would take an almost perfect game to beat them, because they are just so long on defense. Height, speed and defense don't have nights off if you are focused as a team. There will be nights where shots just won't fall on offense, but defense should never slump. Not the defense they play.

Even if you are a pressing team, your defense can be solved. But what Kentucky does? Damn. The only way to solve it is to be lights out from the outside, which is not easy since you are shooting over players whose size you are not used to shooting over. Not only do you need to be lights out, but you need to be lights out 1-2 feet further back than where you usually shoot the ball.

They're just a nasty team. Unselfish. Play hard. Defend. Shoot. Drive. Deep on the bench. Athletic. Disciplined. Tall. Fast. Rebound.

The only thing they don't have is a Jordan, Bird, Magic, Thomas, Kareem, Walton, all-time great, but at this point that does not matter.