2016 March Madness thread

[Julio Riddols]

NC proved why they're a 1 seed for sure.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Congrats to Tarheels fans. You guys were hitting everything, hustling to get loose balls, etc. You were clearly better than us tonight.

Yup that has been UNC's issue all year. If they can hit their 3-pointers and Marcus Paige returns back to his 2014 form UNC is unbeatable.

[britrock88]

From the UNC crowd, much love to Yogi.

[Julio Riddols]

Yeah, I will miss Ferrell.. I hope Bryant and Anunoby et al return and don't go chasing NBA dreams just yet.

[ColtCrazy]

Props to UNC. IU obvious game planned for a different UNC team, and not this one that suddenly got hot from three. Unreal performance by them. Impressive to give up 80+ an still win by 20. Also, class to see UNC fans join the IU chorus thanking Yogi. He's become one of my top 5 favorite Hoosiers this year. Gonna miss him. Can't imagine Bryant is NBA ready yet. Wouldn't be surprised to see him and maybe OG try out the new rules though.

[JPhillips]

Buddy Heild has made himself a lot of money over the past two weekends.

[Young Drachma]

Low-lottery pick? I mean where does he slot in the NBA? What's a good parallel? I'm not seeing it. I think he deserves a pro shot, just not sure he can do what he's doing to these college "defenses" in the league.

[JPhillips]

I think he's six to ten range. This draft isn't very deep and his shooting is going to be very appealing to someone. Every year someone gets a big boost from the tourny and this has to be his year.

[digamma]

There's always room for a shooter.

[Groundhog]

He's definitely top 10. I don't know what else he'll be able to do in the NBA besides shoot the 3, but if he can knock down open looks anywhere around the 40% mark then he should have a long career.

[spleen1015]

Next Steph Curry.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Next Steph Curry.

I don't think anyone is that crazy, but someone will see him as the next Klay Thompson.

[nol]

Originally Posted by digamma

There's always room for a shooter.

Tell that to Jimmer. But Buddy's good and should be drafted high.

[Groundhog]

The problem with Jimmer is that he's 6'2 and a below average ball handler and poor decision maker who isn't athletic enough to defend NBA PGs or SGs. Hield has NBA SG size, at least.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Next Steph Curry.

Next JJ Redick or Cutino Mobley.

I think Buddy could go as high as the 3rd pick tbh. He's that ready.

[RedKingGold]

V FOR VILLANOVA
V FOR VICTORY

[wustin]

Welp, i think it'll be Oklahoma vs UNC in the finals. I would be happy for either team to win.

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

The problem with Jimmer is that he's 6'2 and a below average ball handler and poor decision maker who isn't athletic enough to defend NBA PGs or SGs. Hield has NBA SG size, at least.

Jimmer's biggest problem was his own mind as he refused to run plays in the NBA that weren't for him.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

wow so far every quarterfinal game in the CIT has been decided by two points or less. Columbia and UC Irvine have claimed spots so far with one game left to play tomorrow. Coastal is the only south-eastern team left in the tourney, so their next opponent will have to travel quite a bit to play them.

Unfortunately, it looks like Coastal's success may have hit a pothole. Their second best player and starting point guard was arrested Sat. night on domestic violence charges against an ex-girlfriend. He has been suspended for this game rightfully so, but man talk about bad timing.

Coastal's game (and the other semi-final) are on TV tonight. First Columbia/NJIT then at 9pm Coastal's game. They will be on CBS Sports Network. I think Coastal will need a lot of good luck and wishes to win this one.

[murrayyyyy]

Vandy coach Kevin Stallings has offer from Pitt, expected to accept - CBSSports.com

So Pitt is going for Kevin Stallings... Not sure if that is the splash you want.

Other coaching news, sounds like UNLV is deciding between New Mexico State's Marvin Menzies and UALR's Chris Beard as both were interviewed yesterday. Think Beard is wrong for here since he can recruit Texas better than the west coast probably. Menzies use to be an assistant @ UNLV and is probably in UNLV's price range (even though they offered Cronin 3 mill supposedly).

[Young Drachma]

So much for the UVa game being a snoozer. Syracuse wants it more than we thought.

[hoopsguy]

Richardson from Syracuse is going bananas right now.

And this thread is empty.

[Galaril]

Incredible game. Love to see some teams others especially old school Big East schools in the Final four as opposed to the the usual Kentucky, Kansas OSU Wiscy etc. Would live to see Notre Dame upset UNC but doubt that is possible.

[cuervo72]

Just looking at the 538 graph...wow, wtf, UVa?

[Young Drachma]

Heck of a comeback by Syracuse. Thought this one was DOA for sure, Boeheim gets one more Final Four looks like.

[jbergey22]

It was crazy how the switch just turned in the game. No signs through the first 32 minutes that Syracuse had any business in that game.

[spleen1015]

I'm a lot surprised since I don't think Syracuse should be in the tournament.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I'm a lot surprised since I don't think Syracuse should be in the tournament.

Nope, could have easily been left out. Very much like that VCU run a few years back. Notre Dame wins and it's basically MSG old Big East tournament comes to Houston.

[jbergey22]

Way to blow a great first half Notre Dame by not playing aggressive the final 3 minutes. Does Brey not release that Notre Dame has been scoring easily and were up when he decided to pack in the first half?

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Unfortunately, it looks like Coastal's success may have hit a pothole. Their second best player and starting point guard was arrested Sat. night on domestic violence charges against an ex-girlfriend. He has been suspended for this game rightfully so, but man talk about bad timing.

Coastal's game (and the other semi-final) are on TV tonight. First Columbia/NJIT then at 9pm Coastal's game. They will be on CBS Sports Network. I think Coastal will need a lot of good luck and wishes to win this one.

And the loss of their point guard was too much to overcome. 66-47

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Way to blow a great first half Notre Dame by not playing aggressive the final 3 minutes. Does Brey not release that Notre Dame has been scoring easily and were up when he decided to pack in the first half?

Yay agree. I am not sure why ND fans think he is such an elite coach.

[wustin]

Trying to slowball UNC was a good strategy. The problem was they played awful defense and couldn't keep UNC off the glass. Kenny Smith mentioned that during halftime.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by wustin

Trying to slowball UNC was a good strategy. The problem was they played awful defense and couldn't keep UNC off the glass. Kenny Smith mentioned that during halftime.

Didnt work out the best! Went from being up 1 with momentum to down 5 without momentum at the half. UND has a fully capable offense that was firing on all cylinders. No reason to try to slug it out and get destroyed by 35 again like they did in the ACC tourny.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Didnt work out the best! Went from being up 1 with momentum to down 5 without momentum at the half. UND has a fully capable offense that was firing on all cylinders. No reason to try to slug it out and get destroyed by 35 again like they did in the ACC tourny.

I assume Brey just didn't want his team gassed out by the 2nd half but it looked like that happened anyways.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by wustin

I assume Brey just didn't want his team gassed out by the 2nd half but it looked like that happened anyways.

Probably! It was just the fact they ran 3-4 straight shot clocks down to under 10 seconds and didnt get a good shot which changed the entire first half outcome. Slowing it down would have been fine but running the clock down just to whip up some low percentage shot late in the shot clock was just odd. Notre Dame was getting good looks the entire first half until that point. But yes UND was in trouble either way because of matchups, lack of depth, and horrendous rebounding.

[molson]

What an odd time to be a Syracuse fan. I assumed they wouldn't be in the tournament and only checked the bracket as an afterthought late that Sunday night since I was coming back from a weekend away. Then somehow, as a 10 seed, they get to play two lower-seeded teams after their first round win. I got to watch the Gonzaga game in the Monte Carlo sportsbook in Vegas with some old college friends I hadn't seen in forever, so that turned out to be great timing. I still don't think they're very good, they just play good defense almost all the time and great defense in significant stretches. Like with 3 out of the 4 tournament games so far, I don't think they'll win next week, but they have been competitive against North Carolina this year (they lost by 5 at Chapel Hill right in the middle of that bad stretch to end the year). So I guess they have a shot.

Edit: And, I saw this - this year, Syracuse lost to St. John's, who lost to Incarnate Word, who lost to Our Lady of the Lake, who lost to Univ. of Arts & Sciences of Oklahoma. That last school plays in the NAIA and has 900 students.

[sooner333]

I'm really excited about OU going back to the Final Four for the first time since 2002. Even more excited to head down to Houston for the games this weekend. Should be a blast.

[Young Drachma]

Villanova stopping Buddyball so far.

[wustin]

This is probably foreshadowing the WCF matchup between Golden State and San Antonio. Elite defense wins championships.

[Groundhog]

Buddy has a better off-the-dribble game than I realised.

[Groundhog]

Twice in that one possession where someone should've hit Buddy for an open 3.

[wustin]

They're doing a good job switching off on Buddy when he runs around.

[Groundhog]

What an inbound pass by Oklahoma.... wow.

[RedKingGold]

This is a lot more satisfying and relaxing than last Saturday's game.

[EagleFan]

This is a beat down.

[CrimsonFox]

Can you think of a more embarrassingly pathetic final four game than this villa-okla game?

[Groundhog]

Villanova just utterly dominant on both ends, but at the same time it was a pretty unimaginative offense from Oklahoma, especially this 2nd half when what they were doing clearly wasn't getting them anything.

[Comey]

I can't tell if I'm more surprised or thrilled. The Big 5 is being repped in a way I didn't think possible. They've gone through both Kansas and Oklahoma in a fashion nobody would have believed.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Can you think of a more embarrassingly pathetic final four game than this villa-okla game?

I'm sure I'm missing games, but the last time I remember something getting this out of hand was UNLV destroying Duke in the Championship Final.

This is even worse. It was a 9 point game with 15:55 left. Over the next 11 minutes, Villanova outscored OU 39-10.

As of now, Villanova has outscored them 46-14 from that point of the game.

What a shocking result.

[Young Drachma]

Keep trying to kill the Big East. Can't quite do it.