Tournament Thread - B1G Tournament

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

You wouldn't be saying any of this had meeeechegan won. This reminds me a little how you insisted for about a year and half that meeechegan beat Ohio State in 2016.

Sure I would. The last 5 minutes were exciting and probably fun to watch. The previous 7/8 of the game were relatively pointless to get to that point.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Using that logic nothing in any close sporting event matters til the last 3 minutes . OSU got outscored late but won the game BECAUSE of the first 38 minutes.

Every sport has close games and blowouts

Every sport let's the teams who are behind use a different game plan from what they normally would to try and catch up

In basketball you foul late to stop the clock

In football you intentionally ground the ball to stop the clock

In hockey you pull your goalie

In baseball you see pinch hitters, pinch runners and 3 pitchers on one inning

Yes, every sport has close games. They're more rare and exciting. Basketball produces a game that's consistently close and relatively pointless for 7/8 of the game.

 

[Mr.Hockey]

It's a bit different though and I think the difference is that in basketball scores are regular and consistent. It's a game of keep up and the team that doesn't keep up with the scoring, probably loses. Unless the game is really close, it rarely comes down to the final 5 minutes or so. In basketball it's rare that a game doesn't come down to the final 5 minutes.

If you don't like basketball nothing wrong with that. It would be insane if everyone liked every sport.

But Im with the rest on this one in regards to your reasoning on the rule breaking being encouraged and "only the last 5 minutes matter". Its just not true.

I will agree that basketball is probably the most likely sport to allow you to miss 80% of the game and still see it decided late. But all sports have their variations of ebs and flows. And the intentional fouling thing, while its technically "rule breaking". That is short sighted. I mean that team is also willingly allowing the other team to have a wide open chance at 2 pts.

As rmilia said, every sport has atypical methods of trying to comeback late in games.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

If you don't like basketball nothing wrong with that. It would be insane if everyone liked every sport.

But Im with the rest on this one in regards to your reasoning on the rule breaking being encouraged and "only the last 5 minutes matter". Its just not true.

I will agree that basketball is probably the most likely sport to allow you to miss 80% of the game and still see it decided late. But all sports have their variations of ebs and flows. And the intentional fouling thing, while its technically "rule breaking". That is short sighted. I mean that team is also willingly allowing the other team to have a wide open chance at 2 pts.

As rmilia said, every sport has atypical methods of trying to comeback late in games.

I'd say in more than 90% of the games, basketball comes down to the final 5 minutes. It isn't a rare occurrence. In most other sports this isn't true. You might see an onside kick to try and get a ball back or a last minute comeback attempt in one of your 13-14 games a year if you follow your team. But in the majority of football games, you know who's going to win within the last 5 minutes most of the time. Only typically in the most competitive games does it match the back and forth that you get in a basketball game throughout most of the game.

I just don't like that about basketball. I can't get excited for scores in the first half, they really don't matter. I get excited if I'm watching a game, in the last 5 minutes and there's some big scores then. That makes it exciting. But it's really only in the back half of the game.

 

[rmilia1]

Yes, every sport has close games. They're more rare and exciting. Basketball produces a game that's consistently close and relatively pointless for 7/8 of the game.

I'd say football is more consistently close actually. Probably 50% of football games are decided by 1 possession. . Thats far more rare in basketball

 

[jontaejones]

I'd say in more than 90% of the games, basketball comes down to the final 5 minutes. It isn't a rare occurrence. In most other sports this isn't true. You might see an onside kick to try and get a ball back or a last minute comeback attempt in one of your 13-14 games a year if you follow your team. But in the majority of football games, you know who's going to win within the last 5 minutes most of the time. Only typically in the most competitive games does it match the back and forth that you get in a basketball game throughout most of the game.

I just don't like that about basketball. I can't get excited for scores in the first half, they really don't matter. I get excited if I'm watching a game, in the last 5 minutes and there's some big scores then. That makes it exciting. But it's really only in the back half of the game.

The 90% is highly exaggerated, but it's also one of the things that makes March Madness the best sporting event.

You watch one game and keep your eye on the other scores and once one game could be a contest you switch over.

If football did a similar tournament, it would somewhat similar, but the ends of football games can be drawn out.

 

[Wamu]

Yes, every sport has close games. They're more rare and exciting. Basketball produces a game that's consistently close and relatively pointless for 7/8 of the game.

Why won't you answer this simple question- do you like watching cars drive in circles for 3+ hours at a time? As far as your bizarre opinions of basketball I'd be surprised of anyone that follows the game agrees with anything you've said. But to each their own.

 

[Mr.Hockey]

I'd say in more than 90% of the games, basketball comes down to the final 5 minutes. It isn't a rare occurrence. In most other sports this isn't true. You might see an onside kick to try and get a ball back or a last minute comeback attempt in one of your 13-14 games a year if you follow your team. But in the majority of football games, you know who's going to win within the last 5 minutes most of the time. Only typically in the most competitive games does it match the back and forth that you get in a basketball game throughout most of the game.

I just don't like that about basketball. I can't get excited for scores in the first half, they really don't matter. I get excited if I'm watching a game, in the last 5 minutes and there's some big scores then. That makes it exciting. But it's really only in the back half of the game.

I hear ya definitely. It 100% is the most likely to be decided in the final qtr or final 5-8 minutes of a game. And its the one that is definitely least likely to affect you should you get stuck at work/in traffic and show up 15-20 minutes late. You do that for a baseball or hockey game and it could be a disaster.

Your viewpoint on the not getting excited for 1st half buckets makes sense for someone that is not really into basketball. But for big basketball fans I think the way we look at it is almost from the reverse point of view. An early first half 12 pt run by your team now leaves you with two positives 1. You may be one your way to a satisfying easy win and 2. at the very least its keeping your own team in the game so that those final minutes can matter.

I get what you mean though. I just look at the 1st half as mattering so that its not my team getting pasted. And also for the off chance I wont have to experience any late game heartburn if we can win in a route.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Why won't you answer this simple question- do you like watching cars drive in circles for 3+ hours at a time? As far as your bizarre opinions of basketball I'd be surprised of anyone that follows the game agrees with anything you've said. But to each their own.

No...I don't?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The 90% is highly exaggerated, but it's also one of the things that makes March Madness the best sporting event.

You watch one game and keep your eye on the other scores and once one game could be a contest you switch over.

If football did a similar tournament, it would somewhat similar, but the ends of football games can be drawn out.

March madness is somewhat fun, like fantasy football, because there's a side game involved; the bracket and it packs in a lot of games into a really short window. Also playing for a national title makes any sport a little more exciting than a random Wednesday night game in January.

 

[Wamu]

March madness is somewhat fun, like fantasy football, because there's a side game involved; the bracket and it packs in a lot of games into a really short window. Also playing for a national title makes any sport a little more exciting than a random Wednesday night game in January.

"march madness is somewhat fun"

Totally disagree. As a sports fan I think it's the most exciting time of the year. Always look forward to March Madness.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I'd say football is more consistently close actually. Probably 50% of football games are decided by 1 possession. . Thats far more rare in basketball

Let's look at the national title bracket in football this year.

Alabama beat ND 31 to 14
OSU beat Clemson 49 to 28

And Alabama won the title 52 to 24 against OSU

None of the final best 4 teams, playing in 3 different games, came down to the last 5 minutes of play. Same with the firsta (Iowa state 34 Oregon 17) and Orange (A&M 41 NC 27). So you've got the top 8 teams playing, and not a single game came down to the last 5 minutes. I know this is just a small snapshot but I think there's a bigger separation in football. If we watch this tournament next week, even the best teams probably won't have as decisive wins throughout the tournament and scores will all be relatively close.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

"march madness is somewhat fun"

Totally disagree. As a sports fan I think it's the most exciting time of the year. Always look forward to March Madness.

I like it because it happens during work. I get to throw something on my 3rd monitor and have something going on in the background.

 

[Mr.Hockey]

One thing thats funny to me though is all sports have a stereotype for why people don't like them. People who don't like a certain sport have the exact same reason for why they don't like/don't watch whenever they tell me.

Basketball- Only the last 5 minutes matter
Hockey-Not enough scoring/Nothing happens
Football- I don't understand it(mostly girls lol)
Baseball- Too slow and boring on tv
Soccer- It flat out sucks ass

 

[Kburjr]

Basketball is either chess or checkers. Maize is a checkers fan. Not that there is anything wrong with that. College basketball for me is 3 games in one.

1. First 10 minutes is searching for weaknesses and the proper match ups.

2. Middle 20 minutes. Time to exploit those matchups to build on what you learned.

3. Make changes if necessary and kick up the energy as the sense of urgency builds.


The best teams have that sense of urgency from the beginning and the talent to make it work. The reason 1 loss/go home tournaments give you the best games. Also why playoff hockey, especially Game 7s, is so good.
,

 

[jontaejones]

Let's look at the national title bracket in football this year.

Alabama beat ND 31 to 14
OSU beat Clemson 49 to 28

And Alabama won the title 52 to 24 against OSU

None of the final best 4 teams, playing in 3 different games, came down to the last 5 minutes of play. Same with the firsta (Iowa state 34 Oregon 17) and Orange (A&M 41 NC 27). So you've got the top 8 teams playing, and not a single game came down to the last 5 minutes. I know this is just a small snapshot but I think there's a bigger separation in football. If we watch this tournament next week, even the best teams probably won't have as decisive wins throughout the tournament and scores will all be relatively close.

That has more to do with college football than the nature of the sport though.

Notre Dame can't beat Alabama because the sheer physical talent level discrepancy is too high. That has more to do with recruiting.

In the NFL, a single touchdown spread is pretty big.

 

[rmilia1]

Let's look at the national title bracket in football this year.

Alabama beat ND 31 to 14
OSU beat Clemson 49 to 28

And Alabama won the title 52 to 24 against OSU

None of the final best 4 teams, playing in 3 different games, came down to the last 5 minutes of play. Same with the firsta (Iowa state 34 Oregon 17) and Orange (A&M 41 NC 27). So you've got the top 8 teams playing, and not a single game came down to the last 5 minutes. I know this is just a small snapshot but I think there's a bigger separation in football. If we watch this tournament next week, even the best teams probably won't have as decisive wins throughout the tournament and scores will all be relatively close.

Thats a small sample size though man. I'm just saying in general more football games are decided by 1 score than basketball. Not that that's bad. I wayyy prefer a close game of any kind to a blow out

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

That has more to do with college football than the nature of the sport though.

Notre Dame can't beat Alabama because the sheer physical talent level discrepancy is too high. That has more to do with recruiting.

In the NFL, a single touchdown spread is pretty big.

That's the point. The best teams in basketball probably won't pull that far away until the last 5 minutes of a game when the other team starts to foul and they start to make free throws, sealing the game away.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Thats a small sample size though man. I'm just saying in general more football games are decided by 1 score than basketball. Not that that's bad. I wayyy prefer a close game of any kind to a blow out

That's more to do with it being harder to score in football than anything else. A two score game in the final 10 minutes is not impossible, but extremely hard to overcome.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Thats a small sample size though man. I'm just saying in general more football games are decided by 1 score than basketball. Not that that's bad. I wayyy prefer a close game of any kind to a blow out

I was thinking about this more, and I think another difference is the spread of the score + the difficulty it is to score. You can have a one TD lead in football and feel pretty comfortable, a 3 point lead probably not as much, headed into the final 5 minutes (depending on how the game has been going). Because it's harder to get that TD than it is the 3 pointer. Both are considered "one score leads". Unless you're in the final 5-10 seconds of a game, you're not going to feel comfortable with either a 2 or 3 point lead in basketball if the other team has possession. Even if you have a 5-10 point lead, those lead changes happen so fast and consistently that they could be wiped out in second. That kind of lead change is ultra rare in football. You don't see a, say, 14 point swing in seconds in a game where one team is down, very often.