NCAA Tournament LATE NIGHT Thread
Here's the schedule:
7:30 PM | (11) Belmont vs (6) Arizona* | TNT |
7:45 PM | (12) California vs (5) UNLV* | tru TV |
TIME (ET) | MATCHUP | TV |
9:34 PM | (9) Missouri vs (8) Colorado State* | TBS |
9:45 PM | (12) Akron vs (5) Virginia Commonwealth* | CBS |
9:50 PM | (14) Harvard vs (3) New Mexico* | TNT |
9:57 PM | (13) Montana vs (4) Syracuse* | tru TV |
March 21st, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^
BOOK IT
March 21st, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
Personally, I'm more of a Brad Stevens fan. Brad Stevens recruits in a tough region against some real powerhouses and coaches up his players. I don't really like the VCU "havoc" defense, as I think it is a little gimmicky and ends up being better in a tourney setup than it does in an conference setup because I think it loses some of its efficacy with familiarity. That being said, both would be great hires, but I wonder if 5* recruits would be that gung-ho about playing in VCU system, as they may be looking for something that translates more closely to the NBA, etc.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
He will eventually - he's only 35. But note that he inherited a VCU program that had already been built up by Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant. He's done a great job keeping the momentum they established going, but has never had to rebuild.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
Question is, does his system play when he can recruit legit talent? Would they want to play that style? Bballers want to play somewhere that can get them to the NBA on a year or two.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
New Mexico's coach just said that what jumped out at him about Harvard's film was how good the coaching was. Mind. Blown.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^
Their coach is Steve Alford, another B1G washout. Like Amaker, he's done shockingly well in his new job.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:46 PM ^
And they have been one of the best MW teams the last 7 years and counting. Tourney relevant...
March 21st, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^
Alford did the same thing Tubby Smith did - leave a school where he was on the hot seat before they could fire him, for a less-prestigious program. He didn't do very well at Iowa. He succeeded Tom Davis, who had them in the tourney pretty much every year, and performed at about the same level as Amaker here.
He has done extremely well at UNM, though. It must be as mind-boggling to Iowa fans as Amaker's success at Harvard is to us.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^
I had somehow forgotten Tommy Amaker was the coach of Havard. Having said that go New Mexico!
March 21st, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^
Do not attempt to run with VCU. I know we have great athletes, but this team plays 12 guys every game and just goes all game. You get the ball into half court and sprint back, when we break their press we only take the shot if we have a layup or a dunk.
VCU is very entertaining to watch. I really hope we play the game we want against them because that's the best team I've seen in the tourney so far.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
Against a flu ridden Akron team playing their backup PG. Brian says on Twitter he has a TO rate of 46 (!!!!). Small difference between that and Burke.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 10:43 PM ^
Who just died?
March 21st, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 10:49 PM ^
New Mexico's fat ginger is impressive.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
People need to chill about VCU. Yes, they force a lot of turnovers. They also give up a lot of easy buckets, which is why they are 236th in opponent FG%.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:55 PM ^
We need to Rebound well on the defensive end so they cannot set up the press. If we do that and not get caught into playing at their pace we will be fine.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
They're smoking an Akron team that is short on starters and on bodies in general. I'm not going to worry (too much) until I see Trey start turning the ball over consistently against that D
March 21st, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
77-36 with seven minutes to go--jeebus. Hope they are blowing their next five wads here.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^
In MSU game they were literally grabbing the ballhandlers arms as they drove by. Also, the picks are more like O Linemen engaging rather than a pick. It sure makes for some ugly basketball when the ref's ignore these things and others.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^
Here is a great look at VCU's ridiculous defense, with GIFs
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20130211/vcu-p…
March 21st, 2013 at 11:01 PM ^
VCU's diamond press is taken from Smart's old boss at Clemson, Oliver Purnell, who still uses it often in his new gig at DePaul.Purnell, you'll recall, is the guy we beat in the 2009 NCAA tournament. So Beilein is familar with the press.
March 21st, 2013 at 10:56 PM ^
The pace of the VCU vs Akron is nuts. I would think the looser, run and gun style favors us, but maybe too much of a good thing?
March 21st, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^
ok, vcu is good no doubt.
but they are shooting lights out tonight.
better tonight against akron than against us.
no way they shoot this well against us and burke shoots as badly as he did tonight.
beilein will have the boys ready.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
my brackets be damned, I love laughing at the SEC's expense
March 21st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
Just saw Tommy Amaker's halftime interview and it bothers me to say I immediately noticed he was sans turtle neck. Did harvard make him give it up? is he a changed man?
March 21st, 2013 at 11:05 PM ^
His one-man (two man if you count Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) crusade against the necktie, however, continues.
Fucking useless pseudo-scarves.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
And looking very good. I thought New Mexico was supposed to be good. This game is a bracket-destroyer!
I always thought Amacker would succeed; perhaps his problem at Michigan was that he wasn't good at recruiting super-studs. I never joined in the Michigan fandom beat-down of Amacker.
So much for the pundits who thought the Mountain West was some sort of power conference.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
Amaker recruited well enough. He landed Daniel Horton, Dion Harris, Lester Abram, Epke Udoh, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, to name a few. But his teams were always really careless with the ball and also seemed to fade as the year went on.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:25 PM ^
that didn't mean he was a bad coach. Love that he is doing well in Bean Town.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
VCU is up 38 points. Maybe it's time to stop pressing?
March 21st, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
Missouri continuing the trend of terrible postseason play from the SEC.. why, oh why, did I pick a team from this awful conference in the Final Four? That damn Florida pick is going to just ruin my bracket.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:15 PM ^
i don't know. that's vcu's thing. it's not like they haven't subbed the starters out a lot.
i probably would, but in the end, you don't want your team to take their feet off the gas pedal in the tourney.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:32 PM ^
It's more than a little. It's a dick move.
It also doesn't seem like the smartest move from an endurace standpoint, even if they do go 10-deep.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
What's makes it worse is Shaka is close friends with Akron's coach. I don't get it.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
Check out the article about VCU's press that was linked above.
Basically, two players were asked if Smart would call off the dogs. One responded by saying only if they were up big with a couple minutes remaining. The other said they would still press, just not trap, and that he has never heard Smart tell them to stop pressing.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:58 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
March 21st, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
They also reach over the baseline while defending the inbounds pass at least 40% of the time. Never called.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:31 PM ^
Based on Wisconsin, the refs surrender.
March 21st, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
I dont normally watch anything other than Michigan games but it seems like almost every game tonight has had a flagrant foul reviewed and called. Here is one now in the Montana-Syracuse game. Is it a normal thing to see this much?
March 21st, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
IT'S CALLED HAVOC FOR A REASON. Thats the problem with the society today, everybody want everyone to take their foot off the pedal. No you stop me if you don't, I will score 100 and beat you by 50. good approach Shakain trying to send Michigan a message. I hope our kids are watching .