Running 2023-24 NCAA Basketball Thread

KY and TN gonna get into a brawl before this is over. I’m here for it.

 

For all the coaching box shenanigans, Scott Drew getting ejected for that is a joke

 

Get busy living, or get busy grabbing.

 

Both teams will make the tournament, so it really doesn't matter who wins or loses.

 

Both teams have been near locks to make the tournament the last 40-plus years, but that didn’t stop the regular season meetings from being a capital E Event. But I suspect with no K, Roy or Dean around that a bit of magic is gone that won’t easily be recaptured.

 

Nothing beats February basketball.

Because March sucks.

 

No different in my world, but with family connections to one school, well ...

 

I just rewatched Duke/UNC and it was even more glorious. Harrison Ingram is one helluva glue guy who can also fill it up.

As I said before, who knows how the season will end, but they are a wonderfully likable bunch for this alum.

(And hoo boy, Seth Greenberg basically called Duke soft at the half. I'll enjoy that moment for what it is, which is nothing. Except tonight. Tonight, it's everything.)

 

Another great, back-and-forth game between Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga in Spokane.

Mahaney continues as a Zag killer. Not just a strong shooter — he’s really taking it to the hoop tonight.

 

I would have to dig deeper into everything (I love bracketology), but it would depend on how their wins stacked up with the rest of what the RPI is. In those days they'd do stuff like top 25, 50, 100 wins and losses, etc.

There were four top 30 RPI teams left out this century before they went away from it. Of course all four were non-major teams. The highest was Missouri State at 21 in 2006. One was my CSU in 2015, which still hurts to this day, but was also when they started saying they used KenPom and other metrics. Up until then they never publicly did. It obviously wasn't that long after that they started using the NET.

You can find the RPI, but it is pointless to look at it because they don't use it. Of course they still do for all the other sports. It does seem like an outlier metric at this point.

 

Virginia is now second in the ACC but on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament, according to the bracketologists.
Clemson is now 11th in the ACC but safely in the field, according to the bracketologists.
Okey dokey.

 

Zags made a 3-pointer with 36 seconds left to cut the deficit to three points. They elected to defend rather than foul.
Bad decision. With 6.5 seconds to play, they were called for a foul on a rebound.
Even if they had elicited an air ball and rebounded it cleanly, Saint Mary's would have committed the pre-emptive foul.
Just not enough time.