March Madness Discussion (Men's Nat'l Championship Game: Mon 4/8: Purdue vs UCONN)

[azcatz11]

Anyone want to feel old?

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39832450/siena-tabs-long-syracuse-assistant-gerry-mcnamara-coach

Gerry McNamara is 40. Feels like yesterday he was playing with Carmelo

[___Rand___]

I think State's run of high level play comes to an end, I think Marquette covers that. And Ive got Zaga beating Purdue (depends on how its reffed) and Ive got Creighton over Tennessee.

I may roll with your picks...feel like everyone is going to be on NC State...but I like the Marquette pick...

Marquette is such a better team overall. And I do think sooner or later this run State is on is going to come to an end.

But I will say, they do have 2 things going for them. Crazy high confidence with how theyve been playing over the last month. And Im not sure how Marquette is going to matchup with Burns. Marquette is a tiny team. Are they going to put Oso on him to start the game? He's 6'8 and maybe 215. He's going to get pushed around by Burns, or worst case scenario he gets into early foul trouble. And if they double him, Burns is a damn good passing big man.

I think that game is decided in the first 10 minutes of the game. If State is still in it at that point, I think they will be in it for the rest of the game. If Marquette is up by double digits, they will cruise.

Isn't Oso 6'11" 235? Oso is big, and they have 2 pretty good 3 point shooters. Wolfpack's been defending well. Neither team plays fast. NC State doesn't turn over the ball that much. So this match up will be interesting. I think it could be a close one through out.

[___Rand___]

Hope Clemson wins it all now. Would make me feel a little better.

Not me. I’m rooting against them. I’m pulling for UNC

That was probably short lived, though I know you love rooting for teams that BJJ does. I like rooting for a team that knocked out AZ, since it will show AZ was maybe 2nd best.

However, I kind of like Clemson. Shef and Hall were great and Hunter played really well. And the fans with the chef hats were hilarious. They are well coached.

I give AZ credit though for getting it very close by the end despite Caleb Love playing like absolute ****. This is the PAC 12 player of the year. Larsson was very disappointing as well. And Boswell did nothing.

Excited for next year with a young team, but still some returnees, particularly Jaden Daniels and KJ Lewis, but also Krivas. Then you have Boswell (though not too excited for him), but top recruits in Carter Bryant, 4th ranked PF with serious size, Jamari Phillips, 5th ranked SG, and 7 footer Emmanuel Stephens, 14th ranked C. It also looks like they have Joson Sanon, a highly ranked SF. So solid freshman class with some good returnees. Should be 7 or 8 deep. They are also good at getting transfers.

Yeah you got a big freshmen class coming in. I like their size. Any of them 1 and done you think? Bigs will hopefully stay 2 years. You still need Boswell to find his game since you don't have a backup PG coming in. Spend the summer coaching him up I'd say.

[___Rand___]

Yes it is.... great night. Duke fans feel less pressured now.

because UNC's out? That's so silly.

Yeah, if anything that doesn't bode well for them, unless what he is saying is that they feel less pressure because NC fans can't brag about going further if they lose.

I had Houston losing to UConn in the final, but Houston is pretty injured overall so I won't be too surprised if they lose. Marquette/NC St should be interesting. NC State rolling and Marquette struggled with Colorado, though I do think the Buffs were playing really well.

Creighton vs Tennessee was my hardest pick in my bracket, but I finally went with Tennessee. The SEC has been weird. Kentucky out early, Auburn out early, but Bama doing really well.

I expect Purdue to take care of Gonzaga. I wasn't really high on Purdue coming in, but they have looked good. I wasn't really high on the Zags either.

I didn't have Houston going that deep because I saw their starting center/PF hobble out of the Big12 championship game and didn't play 2nd half. Just based on that. Turns out he's fine so I would've made my picks different had I known. If Tennessee plays like they should, they should beat Creighton, based on what I've seen of both teams. Vols are a big physical defensively sound team. But Vols also tend to choke. So which Vols will show up will decide the game.

[Duke4life831]

I may roll with your picks...feel like everyone is going to be on NC State...but I like the Marquette pick...

Marquette is such a better team overall. And I do think sooner or later this run State is on is going to come to an end.

But I will say, they do have 2 things going for them. Crazy high confidence with how theyve been playing over the last month. And Im not sure how Marquette is going to matchup with Burns. Marquette is a tiny team. Are they going to put Oso on him to start the game? He's 6'8 and maybe 215. He's going to get pushed around by Burns, or worst case scenario he gets into early foul trouble. And if they double him, Burns is a damn good passing big man.

I think that game is decided in the first 10 minutes of the game. If State is still in it at that point, I think they will be in it for the rest of the game. If Marquette is up by double digits, they will cruise.

Isn't Oso 6'11" 235? Oso is big, and they have 2 pretty good 3 point shooters. Wolfpack's been defending well. Neither team plays fast. NC State doesn't turn over the ball that much. So this match up will be interesting. I think it could be a close one through out.

Marquette may list him at 6'11, but I think that will be one of those exaggerated measurements that most schools do, I think he's really a 6'8-6'9 guy. I dont think he has the girth and strength to be able to handle Burns 1 on 1 down low. If Oso can handle Burns 1 on 1, its game over for State. But if they have to double him, its basically up to, can State still be on this heater that theyve been on for the past month.

And again the other big fear of trying to go Oso 1 on 1 vs Burns is Oso getting into foul trouble.

[Duke4life831]

So if Hurley goes back 2 back. Do we see a NBA team this summer offer him a massive contract?

[bwgood77]

Not me. I’m rooting against them. I’m pulling for UNC

That was probably short lived, though I know you love rooting for teams that BJJ does. I like rooting for a team that knocked out AZ, since it will show AZ was maybe 2nd best.

However, I kind of like Clemson. Shef and Hall were great and Hunter played really well. And the fans with the chef hats were hilarious. They are well coached.

I give AZ credit though for getting it very close by the end despite Caleb Love playing like absolute ****. This is the PAC 12 player of the year. Larsson was very disappointing as well. And Boswell did nothing.

Excited for next year with a young team, but still some returnees, particularly Jaden Daniels and KJ Lewis, but also Krivas. Then you have Boswell (though not too excited for him), but top recruits in Carter Bryant, 4th ranked PF with serious size, Jamari Phillips, 5th ranked SG, and 7 footer Emmanuel Stephens, 14th ranked C. It also looks like they have Joson Sanon, a highly ranked SF. So solid freshman class with some good returnees. Should be 7 or 8 deep. They are also good at getting transfers.

Yeah you got a big freshmen class coming in. I like their size. Any of them 1 and done you think? Bigs will hopefully stay 2 years. You still need Boswell to find his game since you don't have a backup PG coming in. Spend the summer coaching him up I'd say.

I have no idea about 1 and dones. Maybe Carter Bryant. I doubt the others. Hopefully not. I won't be surprised if they get a vet transfer PG if there is a really good player at a good school behind even a better player, especially if he is a soph or junior behind a younger player.

[bwgood77]

The top two brackets in our competition have UConn winning it all, but interestingly, both have Creighton beating Marquette in the final 4. One of them also has UConn over Alabama. They are looking the best if UConn wins it all.

The other top bracket has Houston winning it all, beating Bama in the final. Bama over UConn in the final 4 and Houston over Purdue.

Others who have a chance is one in the top 5 that has Marquette winning it all, another in the top 7 that has Creighton winning it all, and Rand in the top 10 who has NC State winning it all.

[azcatz11]

So if Hurley goes back 2 back. Do we see a NBA team this summer offer him a massive contract?

100%

Best coach by far rn

[scrabbarista]

Go Cougs

!

[azcatz11]

I have a 3 team parlay:

Marquette -7.5
Houston -4.5
Gonzaga +5.5

[jkvonny]

Go Cougs

!

Go Coogs!

[RookieStar]

Yes it is.... great night. Duke fans feel less pressured now.

because UNC's out? That's so silly.

Yeah, if anything that doesn't bode well for them, unless what he is saying is that they feel less pressure because NC fans can't brag about going further if they lose.

I had Houston losing to UConn in the final, but Houston is pretty injured overall so I won't be too surprised if they lose. Marquette/NC St should be interesting. NC State rolling and Marquette struggled with Colorado, though I do think the Buffs were playing really well.

Creighton vs Tennessee was my hardest pick in my bracket, but I finally went with Tennessee. The SEC has been weird. Kentucky out early, Auburn out early, but Bama doing really well.

I expect Purdue to take care of Gonzaga. I wasn't really high on Purdue coming in, but they have looked good. I wasn't really high on the Zags either.

Exactly my point. They aren't scared that UNC has a chance to win it all without them. So less pressure.

[___Rand___]

Marquette is such a better team overall. And I do think sooner or later this run State is on is going to come to an end.

But I will say, they do have 2 things going for them. Crazy high confidence with how theyve been playing over the last month. And Im not sure how Marquette is going to matchup with Burns. Marquette is a tiny team. Are they going to put Oso on him to start the game? He's 6'8 and maybe 215. He's going to get pushed around by Burns, or worst case scenario he gets into early foul trouble. And if they double him, Burns is a damn good passing big man.

I think that game is decided in the first 10 minutes of the game. If State is still in it at that point, I think they will be in it for the rest of the game. If Marquette is up by double digits, they will cruise.

Isn't Oso 6'11" 235? Oso is big, and they have 2 pretty good 3 point shooters. Wolfpack's been defending well. Neither team plays fast. NC State doesn't turn over the ball that much. So this match up will be interesting. I think it could be a close one through out.

Marquette may list him at 6'11, but I think that will be one of those exaggerated measurements that most schools do, I think he's really a 6'8-6'9 guy. I dont think he has the girth and strength to be able to handle Burns 1 on 1 down low. If Oso can handle Burns 1 on 1, its game over for State. But if they have to double him, its basically up to, can State still be on this heater that theyve been on for the past month.

And again the other big fear of trying to go Oso 1 on 1 vs Burns is Oso getting into foul trouble.

And that's one of the big reasons why I like NC State from the start. And they have 2 other bigs all 3 of whom play with each other incredibly well. And they have a mature ball handler in Horne.

But I think Oso is legit 6'11" if Zach Edey is really 7'4". He was only slightly shorter when they played Purdue at the start of the season in Maui Invitational.

Watch on YouTube

[___Rand___]

That was probably short lived, though I know you love rooting for teams that BJJ does. I like rooting for a team that knocked out AZ, since it will show AZ was maybe 2nd best.

However, I kind of like Clemson. Shef and Hall were great and Hunter played really well. And the fans with the chef hats were hilarious. They are well coached.

I give AZ credit though for getting it very close by the end despite Caleb Love playing like absolute ****. This is the PAC 12 player of the year. Larsson was very disappointing as well. And Boswell did nothing.

Excited for next year with a young team, but still some returnees, particularly Jaden Daniels and KJ Lewis, but also Krivas. Then you have Boswell (though not too excited for him), but top recruits in Carter Bryant, 4th ranked PF with serious size, Jamari Phillips, 5th ranked SG, and 7 footer Emmanuel Stephens, 14th ranked C. It also looks like they have Joson Sanon, a highly ranked SF. So solid freshman class with some good returnees. Should be 7 or 8 deep. They are also good at getting transfers.

Yeah you got a big freshmen class coming in. I like their size. Any of them 1 and done you think? Bigs will hopefully stay 2 years. You still need Boswell to find his game since you don't have a backup PG coming in. Spend the summer coaching him up I'd say.

I have no idea about 1 and dones. Maybe Carter Bryant. I doubt the others. Hopefully not. I won't be surprised if they get a vet transfer PG if there is a really good player at a good school behind even a better player, especially if he is a soph or junior behind a younger player.

Yeah Zona has been hitting the portal so let's see if a good PG becomes available. Boswell's shaky play just disappoints me. I guess that's the 18 year old showing up now.

[rockmanslim]

Just realized that the March Madness theme song sounds like the Family Ties theme song.

[Duke4life831]

Marquette just has no idea on how to defend Burns. It’s also not helping outside of Kolek, Marquette just can’t make a shot.

[2weekswithpay]

Purdue is raining down 3s

[jkvonny]

GG with Zags and Purdue. Back and forth with the leads.

Marquette, lead very early in the game. All NCSU ever since.

[azcatz11]

Marquette just has no idea on how to defend Burns. It’s also not helping outside of Kolek, Marquette just can’t make a shot.

They’re coming back circa Arizona vs Duke 2011