March Madnes 2022 NCAA Men’s Tournament

[DJ Fieri]

Ready for tonight's Madness.

 

[jontaejones]

I was thinking the other way around.

You could look at it that way. Nova is really solid and deliberate and they're going to play their game and move the ball. They won't get rattled. They could be down 25 and still moving the ball to shoot 3s.

But their guards are pretty big.

One of the things Nova likes to do is bully another teams guards and I don't think they can do that against Houston.

Houston is a system team. They don't have enough talent to win the title, but they can definitely beat Nova

 

[jontaejones]

I thought last year's tournament was the poster child for proving a team must have good guard play to win it.

Yea, that Baylor teams guards were ridiculous.

That's how you beat a team like Houston. We don't have those kinds of guards this year.

I actually think Arkansas Houston would be a fantasic game. Notae is fast and strong and plays unpredictably and Houston would have trouble

 

[Mr.Hockey]

You could look at it that way. Nova is really solid and deliberate and they're going to play their game and move the ball. They won't get rattled. They could be down 25 and still moving the ball to shoot 3s.

But their guards are pretty big.

One of the things Nova likes to do is bully another teams guards and I don't think they can do that against Houston.

Houston is a system team. They don't have enough talent to win the title, but they can definitely beat Nova

Yeah being able to neutralize guys like Gillepsie and Moore is the key.

Having guards and forwards that can guard them with length on the perimiter to disrupte the shots. And as you said having defenders that are strong enough to stop the post up back downs.

Nova can still have a red hot game and win because like you said, they are going to keep firing. But being versatile enough on D to stop their versatility is definitly the key

 

[jontaejones]

Yeah being able to neutralize guys like Gillepsie and Moore is the key.

Having guards and forwards that can guard them with length on the perimiter to disrupte the shots. And as you said having defenders that are strong enough to stop the post up back downs.

Nova can still have a red hot game and win because like you said, they are going to keep firing. But being versatile enough on D to stop their versatility is definitly the key

Slater and Samuels having a big game will help because they are a matchup problem.

But I think we can win even without a great game. Just cant miss easy shots, and need to keep the game close. They foul a lot too. The spread would have been more I think against Arizona which is funny.

 

[Mr.Hockey]

Slater and Samuels having a big game will help because they are a matchup problem.

But I think we can win even without a great game. Just cant miss easy shots, and need to keep the game close. They foul a lot too. The spread would have been more I think against Arizona which is funny.

Yeah if Samuels plays like last night that would be huge.

Nova can definitely win this game even without being great. Especially if they take care of the ball. As you said foul trouble on Houston will be big.

 

[jontaejones]

BTW, Houston has zero starters back from last year's Final 4 team, and bunch of their key players transferred in.

That's the future.

So, your team has no excuse lol. Hit that portal hard

 

[Volbound1700]

What makes college basketball so great IS the fear of losing the final game of the season and going home. The CFB Playoff isn't the best two out of three. Or the NFL isn't the best of five. GTFO with your dumbass comparisons. Nothing comes close to the excitement of college basketball. NOTHING.

I never said it wasn't exciting, I am just saying it really isn't the best method for determining who is the best team in the sport. It is actually one of the worse out of all sports.

Based on March Madness logic, Arkansas should have been the SEC Champion.

 

[Volbound1700]

Arkansas is the perfect example of what the football purists were and are afraid of with expanded playoffs. They loathe the thought of a team being bad at some point in the season, then figuring things out, getting better and steamrolling a playoff run at the right time. Such is heresy to them.

Every game should matter during the regular season in their minds. If you've stumbled or play if a worse league you don't deserve a spot at the table with those that have been at the top all season.

But, it isn't heresy when they desire multiple teams in the playoffs from their own leagues....like Arkie in hoops.

Football is different. The games are so long so eventually depth plays a part.

I feel like with basketball, it comes down to how your shooting is that day. Go outside and shoot the ball, some days everything is droppings and others nothing is going in. It is just the way of the sport.

This is why March Madness is NOT a very good method for determining a champion because the best team may have a poor shooting day and get beat. Three #1 seeds and two #2 seeds are already gone.

 

[SJ76]

I never said it wasn't exciting, I am just saying it really isn't the best method for determining who is the best team in the sport. It is actually one of the worse out of all sports.

Based on March Madness logic, Arkansas should have been the SEC Champion.

no it’s actually quite simple SEC conference play determines the conference champion. SEC tournament play determines the tournament champion. NCAA tournament is a national tournament that determines the national champion. That’s all all amateur sports roll

 

[OregonDucks]

Gonzaga is like Oklahoma in college football. Always has a high ranking, always wins it's conference, always goes to the tournament, never does anything once there.

 

[Volbound1700]

Gonzaga is like Oklahoma in college football. Always has a high ranking, always wins it's conference, always goes to the tournament, never does anything once there.

That is a lot of teams. Even Duke and Kentucky haven't made a final four since 2015.

 

[OregonDucks]

That is a lot of teams. Even Duke and Kentucky haven't made a final four since 2015.

Nah, Gonzaga is routinely ranked very high, usually always a #1 seed or #2, always predicted to win it all the last 4-5 years. They get close, but never do.

Time to move on from the nice story of Gonzaga in the WCC, send them back to 3 and 4 seeds.

I miss the Gonzaga of old, the cinderella story Zags.

 

[SU Nittany Tide]

Yeah it’s basically sudden death in all college sports. Those Tennessee/Kentucky fans are just salty right now. The golf comparison was kinda stooopit

Eh. I wouldn't change a thing about the setup. It's the best postseason in sports.

 

[jontaejones]

Football is different. The games are so long so eventually depth plays a part.

I feel like with basketball, it comes down to how your shooting is that day. Go outside and shoot the ball, some days everything is droppings and others nothing is going in. It is just the way of the sport.

This is why March Madness is NOT a very good method for determining a champion because the best team may have a poor shooting day and get beat. Three #1 seeds and two #2 seeds are already gone.

You say that but...

In the past 22 years, there's only I would say three instances where you can say of the team that eventually won...'OK, if they played a 3 game series, that team is clearly not the best team and would not win.'

And I think that's the two UConn titles in 2011 and 2014 and ... MAYBE 2003 Syracuse.

Every other year you can say the team that won is legit the best team. Of course, 'best' in this case means a group of teams that can win.

 

[SU Nittany Tide]

You say that but...

In the past 22 years, there's only I would say three instances where you can say ...'OK, if they played a 3 or 7 game series, that team is clearly not the best team and would not win.'

And I think that's the two UConn titles in 2011 and 2014 and ... MAYBE 2003 Syracuse.

Every other year you can say the team that won is legit the best team.

Kentucky's 38-1 team was clearly the best. I'd say the Cousins and Wall team was also the best. Unfortunately Duke won both of those years (without having to play Kentucky).

 

[jontaejones]

Kentucky's 38-1 team was clearly the best. I'd say the Cousins and Wall team was also the best. Unfortunately Duke won both of those years (without having to play Kentucky).

Yea, the 38-1 team, I think you could argue would win in a 3 game series every time. But you could also make an argument Duke had a chance.

The Wall/Cousins team, less so.

Kansas also has had a few really good teams not win, but they never overwhelm you.

But a team within a group of the best usually comes out, and theres so much parity these days, its almost always a group.

 

[jontaejones]

I can't believe they had to play that well to beat Texas Tech. Whats in the water there in Texas?

 

[jontaejones]

Arkansas is decent but not great. The NCAA Tournament is a joke when defining how good teams are or crowning a champion. Imagine a Major League Baseball tournament that was one game and done or the Masters if they played 9 holes and we were done.

The way hockey and baseball are, the 'best' team doesn't win either.

In hockey, you could lose Game 7 at home like every single time.

The NBA is the best at crowning the best team, but it takes a literal eternity

 

[Volbound1700]

The way hockey and baseball are, the 'best' team doesn't win either.

In hockey, you could lose Game 7 at home like every single time.

The NBA is the best at crowning the best team, but it takes a literal eternity

You are probably correct about the NBA.

Football (both college and pro) is basically one game but football is a sport where it is hard to not win if you are not the best team. This is why mid-majors rarely do well in big-time games and the most talented teams usually win. Even if you did a 64-team College Football Bracket, you would not see 16 over 1s, 15 overs 2s, or 14 over 3s. The 1s would likely not be challenged until the Elite 8.

The easy fix to improve would be to give the top seeds home field advantage for first couple of games. However, I see the appeal of the current format for excitement and understand why we wouldn't change.

Plus, I am a little bias right now since my team lost to an 11 seed Michigan who had one of their best games of the season while Tennessee could not hit open 3s that they were making the week before in Atlanta for the SEC Tournament.