2016 March Madness thread

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by wustin

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

Not even close.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Not even close.

I made that post in the first half.

[EagleFan]

Curious rules question. From a play in the last game. The play itself was meaningless in the overall outcome (obviously) but a comment by the announcer on the station I was watching got me thinking.

Villanova player driving, Oklahoma player's momentum carries him past the basket into out of bounds territory, Villanova player is hit and loses the ball as he is going for the shot (no foul called but that doesn't come into play as far as the question just leads to what happens). The ball goes off the Villanova player's hands and travels out of bounds never touching the ground and being caught by the Oklahoma player who is standing out of bounds.

I think this would be considered out of bounds off the Oklahoma player and would be Villanova ball which is how the ref called the play. The announcer says the ref got the call wrong and it should have been out of bounds off the Villanova player. I could see that if it landed out of bounds before the Oklahoma player caught it but doesn't that player catching it while standing out of bounds effectively make it out of bounds off him?

[CrimsonFox]

DUNK FAIL!!!

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Curious rules question. From a play in the last game. The play itself was meaningless in the overall outcome (obviously) but a comment by the announcer on the station I was watching got me thinking.

Villanova player driving, Oklahoma player's momentum carries him past the basket into out of bounds territory, Villanova player is hit and loses the ball as he is going for the shot (no foul called but that doesn't come into play as far as the question just leads to what happens). The ball goes off the Villanova player's hands and travels out of bounds never touching the ground and being caught by the Oklahoma player who is standing out of bounds.

I think this would be considered out of bounds off the Oklahoma player and would be Villanova ball which is how the ref called the play. The announcer says the ref got the call wrong and it should have been out of bounds off the Villanova player. I could see that if it landed out of bounds before the Oklahoma player caught it but doesn't that player catching it while standing out of bounds effectively make it out of bounds off him?

My memory is from when I played, so maybe the rules are different at the college/pro level, but we were always told if we were out of bounds with both feet, we became part of the out of bounds area (like a fan) and if we touched the ball, it would not be out of bounds on us.

We had a game decided by that so it is very fresh in my head. This was Colorado HS ball for what it is worth.

[Groundhog]

Not really liking Syracuse on offense... a lot of long Js and rushed shots. Carolina doing a much better job of tailoring their offense specifically to attacking the 2-3 zone.

[JPhillips]

Carolina is ridiculously deep. If they can push the pace Syracuse won't have the gas for a late comeback.

[wustin]

UNC hasn't made a 3 against the zone defense, hasn't had Brice Johnson for the latter part of the first half, and they're still up by double digits. Just very good defense.

[CrimsonFox]

Looks like not only the game but the tournament is over

[Groundhog]

I know Boeheim has been doing it for a long time and has obviously had a lot of success with it, but I always find running the 2-3 all the time is a bit of an Achilles heel in a tournament setting. You don't necessarily get a lot of time to study up on what your opponent does and work on counters for it, but every team should already have a 2-3 zone attack in their playbook.

On the other hand, it does force teams to have to change up what's been working for them up until that point, because all that high screen and penetration stuff that gets most teams to this point of the tourney isn't really going to work against Syracuse.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Not really liking Syracuse on offense... a lot of long Js and rushed shots. Carolina doing a much better job of tailoring their offense specifically to attacking the 2-3 zone.

yeah. Just a lot of scrambling and machismo. No order, no teamwork. Just "I'm gonna take this in myself and...*brick*"

[tarcone]

That 2-3 isnt a conventional 2-3, though. I love what Boeheim does with it.

2-3 is my favorite defense. And I love watching Syracuse run theirs.

[Groundhog]

It's not conventional, and the guards do a great job denying the pass to the big at the FT line in particular, but it's still a 2-3.

Nothing wrong with a 2-3 defense but IMO it depends on who you're playing. I prefer it as something you bring out for stretches to throw teams off their sets than something you run 24/7 unless the other team doesn't have shooters.

[JPhillips]

The question is whether you believe they could achieve more being less reliant on the 2-3 or whether you believe they are as successful as they are largely due to the 2-3. Syracuse is generally not as talented throughout the lineup as are the other top programs, and I think the 2-3 has done a lot to make them a national power.

[Groundhog]

I think some years they might have done better, but I don't pretend to know more than Boeheim either. It's a good D to run against stronger teams because you do force them to do something different on offense which is in itself sometimes enough to upset a team, but it's a predictable defense too, as long as you are prepared.

[wustin]

This Cuse team in particular is not big and Boeheim only goes 7-man deep so 2-3 makes sense. They're going to be scary next year though, Malachi Richardson is going to be an all-american.

[Groundhog]

There's always one round that disappoints, hopefully the championship game is a lot less one-sided than the Final Four.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

There's always one round that disappoints, hopefully the championship game is a lot less one-sided than the Final Four.

Nova has been scary good in this tournament and Carolina hasn't had an in-game win probability of less than 65% yet. Expect fireworks.

[CrimsonFox]

did someone say that north carolina was missing a player during that game last night?

[molson]

Originally Posted by wustin

This Cuse team in particular is not big and Boeheim only goes 7-man deep so 2-3 makes sense. They're going to be scary next year though, Malachi Richardson is going to be an all-american.

I'm assuming he's leaving (he's projected as a late teens 1st round pick right now).

[wustin]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm assuming he's leaving (he's projected as a late teens 1st round pick right now).

I think it's doubtful but I really hope he doesn't. He's an amazing scorer but he can't shoot that well.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

did someone say that north carolina was missing a player during that game last night?

UNC had its regular 9-man rotation Saturday night.

(Go Heels!)

[hoopsguy]

Too easy for UNC right now, getting layups and 3s nearly every trip. Still close, but Villanova is going to need to make some adjustments.

[jbergey22]

So much for an unbias commentator. Pick a former heel to do the championship game, smh. Carolina wont continue to drop 3s like this. Nova just need to keep their head up and UNC will shoot themselves out of the lead.

[wustin]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

So much for an unbias commentator. Pick a former heel to do the championship game, smh. Carolina wont continue to drop 3s like this. Nova just need to keep their head up and UNC will shoot themselves out of the lead.

You know there are 4 different broadcasts right? There are two teamstreams for both schools. I assume you're watching the UNC team stream that's on TNT. Then there are the two neutral broadcasts with TBS (Grant Hill, Jim Nantz, etc.) and ESPN International with Dickie Vitale.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by wustin

You know there are 4 different broadcasts right? There are two teamstreams for both schools. I assume you're watching the UNC team stream that's on TNT. Then there are the two neutral broadcasts with TBS (Grant Hill, Jim Nantz, etc.) and ESPN International with Dickie Vitale.

Didnt know. Thanks

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

So much for an unbias commentator.

*sigh*

[hoopsguy]

Well, this has been fun one to watch so far after both of these teams had shed everyone in their path up to now (excluding Kansas/Nova game)

Nova just makes so many tough/contested shots compared to what I've grown accustomed to seeing at this level.

[jbergey22]

Seems like Jenkins has been in foul trouble this entire tourny.

[MrBug708]

Never thought Jay Wright was close to a NC caliber coach but if Ollie can win one, I guess anyone can

[albionmoonlight]

good game. Feel sorry for whomever loses.

[wustin]

That last foul call on UNC was horrendous

[cuervo72]

You've got to be kidding me.

(This is why I rarely watch things anymore.)

[cartman]

Holy shit Paige

[hoopsguy]

Holy crap.

[hoopsguy]

Wow.

[EagleFan]

WOW!

[cartman]

Holy shit Jenkins

[jbergey22]

Fantastic game. Congrats Nova!

[MrBug708]

What a game

[JonInMiddleGA]

Well damn, but that was as clutch as it gets & it was well earned. Congrats to Villanova

[Kodos]

Awesome win, Villanova!

[Dutch]

Two amazing plays to end the game. Wow! Congrats to Villanova. The Paige 3 was awesome....holy crap...it would've been iconic had they pushed it to overtime.

[wustin]

Gotta feel very sorry for Paige. Practically willed his way the last 2 minutes. He went from a near-lottery pick his sophomore year now projected as undrafted. I hope a team picks him up in the 2nd round.

[Young Drachma]

Hahaha... what a finish.

[Groundhog]

Man, I usually take the day off to watch the game but didn't today because I'm saving up leave for a Europe trip this year.... kinda wish I'd opted for the day off now.

[wustin]

I still think that 2008 game between Kansas and Memphis is better than today's.

[Groundhog]

I think the thing that let the Kansas-Memphis game down a bit was how much Memphis shot themselves in the foot with their FTs. The game winner was one of the greatest of all time, but it still feels more like Memphis beat themselves.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Didnt know. Thanks

I made the same mistake. Was taken aback by it all. I could only guess the refs were making such bad foul calls because they were too busy picking up all the names that were dropped :P.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by wustin

Gotta feel very sorry for Paige. Practically willed his way the last 2 minutes. He went from a near-lottery pick his sophomore year now projected as undrafted. I hope a team picks him up in the 2nd round.

yeah as the "unbiased" announcer said, Paige really was willing all of his baskets in. He shot that one he OR'ed without even being able to see the basket and it went in.

That bicycle basket was amazing!

I can only guess the NC coach is now thinking "well maybe I shouldn't have told them to COMPLETELY stay away from them. They seriously cannot let them shoot threes. THey are a three-machine.