Huge loss if it's serious.

Still don't think zona is a final four team.

SportsAndLady;1575299 wrote:Still don't think zona is a final four team.

They go as far as their guards.

IMO, they have 2 VERY experienced and solid guards. However, they have little depth and if they get a bad match-up against a back court that can hurt them, they lose.

For instance, Arizona could be a team that VCU could beat in a 1/8 or 9 game.

What makes Arizona any less of a Final Four team than, say, Kansas or everyone's favorite, Michigan State (whom I don't like at all)?

Because they are losing on the road at a tough Cal team after playing at Stanford just two days ago? I don't get the line of thinking at all. At full strength, Arizona is as good and complete a team as anyone. Nick Johnson, while having an off day tonight, is as good a guard as there is nationally. T.J. McConnell is the best playmaker in the country IMO. And the front court is super strong. What is there not to like?

And lol at the Cal band going on to the court to celebrate before the game was over. What is it with this team and not being able to keep fans/bands off the playing surface. Cal is lucky it wasn't called for a technical. Although, that would've been a horrible ending to a great game.

Cal gets the win. I think anyone who has followed Arizona this week knew that tonight would be a difficult game to overcome. That Stanford game took a lot out of them, and with Ashley going down. Well, the perfect recipe.

I don't disagree with you Rec. That's why there about still 20-30 teams that could make it. Syracuse is really the only team that has dominated, but they have been challenged a few times at home AND their style has proven recently to not necessarily be the best for the NCAA's.

That's why I said before that if Chris Walker has an impact, Florida is pretty damn loaded. They have all the pieces. 2 very solid, Senior big men (Young, Yeguette). 2 point guards, one is a very solid Senior (Wilbekin) and the other a stud Freshman (Hill). A great 3-ball shooter in Frazier, 2 talented scoring wings (Prather and Finney-Smith) and now add in a guy who may be on the talent level of Vonleh, Gordon, etc...? Also, a coach who has been to 7 Elite Eight's, 3 Final Four's and has 2 titles.

I'd lay money on Florida at this point...

Florida is a growing favorite of mine as well. The Gators have just two losses (early in the season by six points to Wisconsin, when the Badgers were playing as well as anyone in the country, and by one point to UConn) and are destroying their competition right now.

IMO, the Gators have looked far superior to Kansas, Michigan State or any of the other teams outside of Arizona or Syracuse that everyone keeps mentioning as Final Four locks. That's not to say I do not like Kansas. I do. I just do not believe the Jayhawks are as strong a national championship contender as some appear to believe. They've lost five games now, including two games in which they were, for the most part, beaten handily (at Florida and at Texas). Let's also not forget KU losing at home in Allen Fieldhouse to a San Diego State team that most here have referred to as pretenders. The Aztecs won that game from start to finish.

Right now, if I had a gun to my head, I'd say Arizona, Florida and Kansas are the most likely rosters to get to Arlington, Texas. But I am far less confident about Kansas than the other two. With the way that Andrew Wiggins does seem to be invisible at times if his shot is not falling from the outside, I could just as easily see KU lose in the early rounds.

KU has 5 losses, yes. But no poor losses. That's incredible to say that Kansas has lost 5 times but all to quality opponents. All rpi top 30 teams. Insanity. (Might have to double check that stat as it's been a while since I saw it and that was before Texas, but id guess they're a top 30 rpi team at 17-4 playing in the best conference in America.)

Andrew wiggins believe it or not is actually not the key factor to this team. Whether or not he's playing well is usually pretty meaningless to whether or not ku is winning. The key, IMO, is Joel embiid. When he's making jumpers, inside shots, and hitting on his passes to shooters, this team is literally unstoppable. But when he's in foul trouble or just playing poorly, the outside shooters look lost trying to make things happen on their own.

I'm not at all worried about Kansas losing in the early
Rounds. I feel those days are behind bill self lol. The one thing that I've kinda turned to lately is trusting big time coaches in march. That's why I think Sparty, despite their troubles this season, are as big a favorite to make it to Arlington as anyone. Same with duke and coach k. You know they're gonna be in an elite 8 game this year. And that's also why I think the Texas, Memphis, Oklahoma state's of the world could all be upset in the first round. Whether or not a team like that makes it far is purely based on the luck of the old white dude's draw on selection Sunday.

SportsAndLady;1575360 wrote:KU has 5 losses, yes. But no poor losses. That's incredible to say that Kansas has lost 5 times but all to quality opponents. All rpi top 30 teams. Insanity. (Might have to double check that stat as it's been a while since I saw it and that was before Texas, but id guess they're a top 30 rpi team at 17-4 playing in the best conference in America.)

Andrew wiggins believe it or not is actually not the key factor to this team. Whether or not he's playing well is usually pretty meaningless to whether or not ku is winning. The key, IMO, is Joel embiid. When he's making jumpers, inside shots, and hitting on his passes to shooters, this team is literally unstoppable. But when he's in foul trouble or just playing poorly, the outside shooters look lost trying to make things happen on their own.

I'm not at all worried about Kansas losing in the early
Rounds. I feel those days are behind bill self lol. The one thing that I've kinda turned to lately is trusting big time coaches in march. That's why I think Sparty, despite their troubles this season, are as big a favorite to make it to Arlington as anyone. Same with duke and coach k. You know they're gonna be in an elite 8 game this year. And that's also why I think the Texas, Memphis, Oklahoma state's of the world could all be upset in the first round. Whether or not a team like that makes it far is purely based on the luck of the old white dude's draw on selection Sunday.

I would actually tend to agree with this as well, but against a team loaded inside with strong front court play, rebounding and shot blocking such as Texas, which can work to neutralize the advantage of Embiid in the paint for KU, the Jayhawks absolutely need Wiggins to take the game into his hands as a leader on the perimeter and make plays. That didn't happen yesterday. I like Wiggins' game a lot -- he's super smooth -- but I think his absence of any real inside game (being able to post up at 6-8, etc.) sort of hurts his versatility a bit and makes it hard for him to create if his jumper isn't falling. JMO.

As I said, though, I think Kansas has a top four roster this season. Easily. Time will tell.

reclegend22;1575365 wrote:I would actually tend to agree with this as well, but against a team loaded inside with strong front court play, rebounding and shot blocking such as Texas, which can work to neutralize the advantage of Embiid in the paint for KU, the Jayhawks absolutely need Wiggins to take the game into his hands as a leader on the perimeter and make plays. That didn't happen yesterday. I like Wiggins' game a lot -- he's super smooth -- but I think his absence of any real inside game (being able to post up at 6-8, etc.) sort of hurts his versatility a bit and makes it hard for him to create if his jumper isn't falling. JMO.

As I said, though, I think Kansas has a top four roster this season. Easily. Time will tell.

Yeah, I don't understand why he doesn't post up either..he's not a big dude, so maybe he feels it won't be effective? Who knows. Something he'll definitely be taught to do in the NBA.

The announcers kept saying this yesetrday vs texas and I agree, that Wiggins actually was very aggressive yesterday and it was great to see. Poor guy just couldn't get a fucking bucket to drop. Literally 4 in and outs and 2 missed put-backs. He was aggressive though, which was nice to see.

I've been following the sport as closely as my life allows for about 18 years now, and it's going to be hard to change my biases. So yes, I don't care how well they are playing...I will never bank on certain teams/coaches to make any noise. I will also believe that others will perform, even when their body of work says they might not.

Josh Pastner, Rick Barnes, Steve Alford are all in that class.

Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo, Coach K are not in that class.

So, in my master bracket, most likely, Memphis, Texas and UCLA will all be gone early, despite how well or who they are playing.

It sounds like Sean Miller believes Brandon Ashley will be out for the year...which sucks for Zona.

Billy Donovan in the same class as K and Izzo, Buike? Haha you guys know my thoughts on Billy Donovan, so I'll just simply say 'I disagree'.

Not overall, no. However, Billy's teams are usually a sure fire pick to win 2 or 3 games at least in the NCAA. Now, he's been to 3 straight Elite Eights, and all 3 were against teams I felt they could beat. They absolutely choked up the regional final against Butler 3 years ago, and that Florida team may have very well won the title. The only one they probably didn't deserve was the Michigan game last year.

I'll say this. The only thing keeping Billy D from being in the Coach K and Pitino class is winning another title with a different group. He's got an amazing W/L resume, has the postseason accolades as well, but the one stat the doubters point out is that his only FF's came with a single core of players. If he wins another 7 years later, he's near the very top.

Azubuike24;1575371 wrote:It sounds like Sean Miller believes Brandon Ashley will be out for the year...which sucks for Zona.

Feel bad for Sean Miller, whom I really like. He had a legit shot to win it all. Still could obviously, but the road will be far more punishing without the versatility of Ashley in the front court on both sides of the ball.

Reports are that Ashley may have suffered a broken foot. Now, there is precedent for players returning in less time from similar injuries. In 2001, Duke lost Carlos Boozer to a broken foot the week prior to the ACC Tournament and it appeared as if the dream had died for Duke. I remember, at the time, there was a now infamous thread started on one of Duke's message boards with the title of "It's over." Well, Coach K went on to perform one of his greatest coaching performances that post-season, overhauling the Duke offense and going small with a faster-paced attack that went on to win the title after Boozer returned to the team for the Final Four. Perhaps Sean Miller has a similar trick up his sleeve.

Azubuike24;1575370 wrote:I've been following the sport as closely as my life allows for about 18 years now, and it's going to be hard to change my biases. So yes, I don't care how well they are playing...I will never bank on certain teams/coaches to make any noise. I will also believe that others will perform, even when their body of work says they might not.

Josh Pastner, Rick Barnes, Steve Alford are all in that class.

Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo, Coach K are not in that class.

So, in my master bracket, most likely, Memphis, Texas and UCLA will all be gone early, despite how well or who they are playing.

Georgetown, Missouri, and Gonzaga as well, no matter how good they seem.

F*ck this blows about Ashley. Curious to see Miller's adjustment. My guess is more playing time for Rondae, and featuring Gordon more on the block.

Huge loss.

Add UNLV to the list of teams to never trust in a game that counts. Ever.

Missouri gets me every fucking year

OK State's Stevie Clark arrested again, this time for outraging public decency, whatever that means. This after being arrested last month for drugs during a routine traffic stop. I imagine he's done for good this time, at least for this season.

A bigger loss for the Cowboys than some might think. A good scorer off the bench with three-point range who is capable of going for double figure nights. I don't think it's any coincidence that OK State's downslide really began after the suspension of Clark and loss of big man Michael Cobbins in early January. Depth has become an issue.

Both OSU and Wisconsin dropped out of AP top 25. I thought OSU might stay with the win at Wisconsin, but I guess everyone is down on both teams. What is interesting though is that Wisconsin still received more votes than OSU.

Fly4Fun;1575861 wrote:Both OSU and Wisconsin dropped out of AP top 25. I thought OSU might stay with the win at Wisconsin, but I guess everyone is down on both teams. What is interesting though is that Wisconsin still received more votes than OSU.

OSU lost to Penn State at home. That outweighs a win in Madison.

OSU stayed in at 25 in the coaches poll though.

Iowa State just sank a three to send the game to triple overtime in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

One of the best games of the year. Whew.

Fun game to watch for sure.