Running 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament thread

K is the best college basketball coach ever, other than, perhaps, Wooden, so he might someday be inducted into some high shrine.
Izzo? No. He's done well in his chosen field, but he's got many of his peers on the same level as his.
What K's done is special, though. Ya' gotta admit.
Summitt and Geno are there, too, on the women's side. A high plateau they live on, for sure. And a spot that's been earned, IMHO.

 

Both are fine gentlemen, I'm sure. I'd prefer to see someone else have a chance to enjoy the spotlight, that's all.

If I could have written the script for Sunday, Tennessee and Baylor would have earned spots at the FF. No one associated with these programs has ever had such an experience and they would have been the ideal complement to Butler and WVU. (No, I don't give a damn about TV ratings.)

If it's MSU-Duke in the final, sure, I'll watch, but it's unlikely the game will have my undivided attention.

 

Izzo has a losing record in the Final Four.

Over the previous five, he is 3-4.

 

My dad was rooting against Duke last night and I tried to explain to him that's what the rest of the world was doing to MSU. They've reached that Duke/UNC/UCLA/Kentucky/Kansas status where people are sick of them winning.

 

That is an inside looking out perspective.

Trust me, the world hates Duke a lot more than the nuetral opinion they have of MSU.

 

And how many coaches have won three final Final Four games in their careers?

You have a serious bias against this team.

 

Yeah, mustang, on this I have to agree with Devil. The dislike for Duke in the rest of the country is miles ahead of any perceived dislike of Michigan State that you may feel there is.

 

OK, that's one of the more ridiculous attempt to bash a coach I've seen in awhile. Nevermind that he's got a staggeringly impressive overall NCAA tournament record, that he's been to more final fours than any coach in recent years, and that most coaches can only dream of getting to the FF once in their entire career. Let's bash him for not winning it all every time he gets there.

And, of course, that ignores this little detail: ONLY ONE of his six final four teams was really a national championship favorite, and that was the 00 team that closed the deal. And only two were No. 1 seeds. The other four were all teams that were not expected to get there in the first place, and overachieved by doing so. To make an improbable run like that four seperate times in such a short period is unreal. Not to mention that he ALSO fully met expectations the two times that he did have a No. 1 seed.

And that's what makes his 6 in 12 more impressive to me: he did not do it during a period when he was getting a No. 1 or 2 seed every year like Duke did throughout the late 80s and 90s, and he did NOT do it with North Carolina's talent. He has had some awfully good talent (Jason Richardson and Mo Peete are obviously nothing to sneeze at), but it's a notch below what was playing at UNC, Duke, UConn and a couple other elite schools during that period. The guy IS Mr. March.

 

But he's looking for talent in the wrong century.

 

Better than looking around the dome in St. Louis at a sea of green with Richardson and Mateen Cleaves....