Running 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Thread

On one hand, I admire Lunardi for building a unique brand. And people I know who know him say he's a good guy. But the monster is unwieldly--every Tom, Dick & Harry has a bracketology he's updating everyday--and he's become the news-making part of the machine, which, again, is great for him, but not necessarily the most ethically sound thing in the world. Again, it's 2023, nobody gives a fuck, and good for him. But if you're old school like us, it's a little uncomfortable.

I'm not concerned about his bracket projections influencing the Selection Committee, though. Those guys were crooked assholes on their own long before he got there and they'll forever be crooked assholes on their own.

 

They fled the impending C-USA implosion. The Sun Belt makes a lot of sense for them as a conference. There are several ready-made regional rivalries (South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette).

From a basketball perspective, this is a season where the words "first time since" are being used a lot in their stories. They got crushed by NCAA sanctions after the Donnie Tyndall era — they went 27-10 and 29-7 in Tyndall's two seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14, and all of the wins (plus two NIT appearances) were vacated; Tyndall is under a show cause penalty until 2026 — and this is really the first year they've been good since. They've been to the CBI once in the past nine years.
The current head coach, Jay Ladner, is a Southern Miss alum who found some magic in the transfer portal and with a few returning guys who have meshed well. They were 7-26 last season and are about to do a full 180 on that record. Hopefully they can make a run in the conference tournament and get a moment in the NCAA tournament.

 

They were left behind when the AAC took the six C-USA teams with the largest athletic budgets. Louisiana Tech and SoMiss had the two lowest athletic budgets in the conference. They got left for dead.

 

Christ is that ever a perfect example of "when the worst person you know makes a good point."

 

Yeah. I ain't claiming it, I just linked it. Comments section is probably fun but I didn't have a body condom handy.

 

Wolken.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ke-brandon-millers-role-shooting/11314346002/

 

He took Bama to the woodshed.

 

USF-UCF started at 7 EST and just ended at 9:30.
It was brutal to watch. There were 48 total fouls and probably could have been 6-10 more.

 

Alabama, looking completely out of sorts for mysterious unknowable reasons, wheezes into overtime at South Carolina.

 

So they’ve just said, Fuck it, roll Tide!

 

/me looks at you in UAB.