NCAA Tournament Open Thread
But do we match up better with one of these squads if we were to advance and get them the next game?
I feel like Marquette is a better matchup than Syracuse, although I don't have a firm reason for that other than that Syracuse's zone just seems tricky to negotiate.
I had the same question. While I think the 2-3 zone of Syracuse is pretty scary, I think have the right kind of team to beat it. We have pretty good perimeter shooting, with a lot of guys that can shoot the long jumper. We have a couple good slashers that can cut through the zone, especially GRIII. Also, a week to prepare for the 2-3 zone would help a lot.
That being said... I still think we would probably have a better shot against Marquette.
To me it seems that neither team is as skilled as we are and they rely on making the game ugly. I think Syracuse is more athletic so I would rather play Marquette.
EDIT: How did I double-post three minutes apart?
Delorean.
It's OK to root for a team from Kansas today.
I'd rather see Marquette. I just don't want to face that zone...look what it did to Indiana who has a similar offense to ours
Yea, but our coach isn't Tom Cream. I would trust Beilein to have us prepared in a potential game with Cuse.
I was kind of thinking the same thing, but, at the same time, the last time we played a system defense, we picked it apart and dominated them thoroughly.
James Southerland from Syracuse has been a hot shooter lately. Our perimeter D isn't always stellar so avoiding him would be ok with me
Was going for Syracuse when I had a nice unique Final Four of Wichita St., Cuse, Duke, and Kansas. Now that that Kansas team lost to that Michigan team my bracket that could have been something special is dead, go Marquette. Torn on "rooting" for Ohio, I'd still kind of like to see Wichita St. in the Final 4.
F MY BRACKET IN IT"S FACE BECAUSE MICHIGAN IS IN THE ELITE 8!!!!
If they win it sets up Michigan-Florida where Michigan can eliminate me, or if Florida wins I'm still alive (and winner if Louisville wins). So a consolation prize.
So of course Wichita State will win, and then Michigan won't even win tomorrow. (And Duke will win to go for the trifecta of suck).
And who let him sit so close to Obama?
Show up to the "President's Suite" like you do for every other NCAA Tournament came and Obama is sitting in there.
He was sitting in the corner like no one was going to notice him.
So if Mich doesn't win it all I'm hoping for 'Cuse to win it and then have their season vacated due to the ongoing investigation. Because F the NCAA and their BS multi-year investigations.
I feel like Marquette needs to actually start taking some of these perimeter jumpers. Clearly trying to get into the lane is not working.
Yeah, i've seen them pass up on tons of semi-open to open looks. They've got to start taking those or they will continue to not have one field goal in 10+ minutes
Marquette's new game plan: make some shots
Brutal
Not only to avoid the zone but mainly because Syr is a MUCH more talented team offensively and a better rebounding team.Also McGary would have more success vs Marq.
I just want to be in the game. Both teams are underwhelming but have unorthodox strengths. Syracuse runs that zone, Marquette specializes in making the game ugly.
They're both succeeding right now.
I feel like we could shoot over the zone and Trey could penatrate it...but Syracuse is the better offensive team.
I feel like we could match Marquettes bigs with McGary and Morgan, but it would be like playing MSU again.
In the end, just survive and advance. It's not supposed to be easy in the Final 4.
Human slinky
I hope he's ok.
This has the feel of one of those games where the team ahead throughout the first half fails to deliver the knockout punch and ends up getting dominated in the second. Syracuse should be up by a lot more than 3 right now.
Ok, now I see why MU wasn't doing perimeter shooting. They're apparently terrible at it.
...this is painful to watch.
I feel like I'm watching a regular Big East Conference game at noon on ESPN2 in January. Nothing about this game says March Madness, Elite 8 or NCAA Tournament.
That was an awful half of basketball. I feel like we'd just need to get to 60 against these teams, even with our subpar defense.
We want Marquette to win
We have shooters, I'd rather play Syracuse. Marquette is tough and physical. Cuse is long and athletic but they only play that 2-3 zone. I live 50 miles from Syracuse and have been to many games over the years. If you start making shots the zone widens and you can finally get inside. However if you're not shooting well you're looking at an almost certain loss. Jim Boehiem is a genius and one of the greatest ever.
I just think I would rather play the team that hasn't been looking unsolvable on defense since both can be inept offensively.
conference, along with the floor they're playing on...
Hope the second half is more compelling basketball.
The Trey Burke-Mitch McGary 2013 NCAA Dynamic Duo® is tailor made for that scheme.
BTW, it turns out that Dickie V might be the most accurate ESPN commentator. He alone predicted us to make the Final Four. Three of his four teams (UM, OSU, Louisville and IU) are still alive.
Ok, so MU is shooting 7% from 3 (1-13), and 25% overall. Is this a product of Syracuse's D or are they just shooting shitty tonight. I mean, it's not like MU is getting wide open looks all the time, but I feel like they're just blowing a lot of decent shot opportunities.
If I remember correctly they're generally a pretty terrible shooting team. This isn't a good matchup for them. Edit: Though they did beat SU earlier this year...
34th in the country, 46%. So, they're shooting half their normal clip tonight. Awful.
I was thinking more about their 30.5% 3 Pt shooting. I think they're more of a cutting and close to the basket scoring team (though I wouldn't even know where to look to confirm that).
Crazy thing I just read about Kansas:
Kansas has been a #1 seed 10 times since 1992. That's 10 out of 22 seasons.
Of those 10 times as a #1 seed, Kansas has:
Won the title 1 time
Lost in the Final Four 1 time
Lost in the Regional Final 2 times
Lost in the Sweet 16 3 times
Lost in the 2nd round 3 times
That is pretty staggering underachievement. OK, winning it all is hard, but only two Final Fours in 10 times as a #1 seed?
Ouch.
And they were very fortunate to win the one title. It was pretty much a mirror image of our game yesterday - Memphis bricked some FTs and KU hit a three to send it into OT.
This is just plain ugly. Wake me up when the game is done....
A Wisconsin game?
Somehow it's worse...
Must be all the cheese, brats, and beer.
Verne Lundquist is very entertaining to me. When he calls a game it sounds like he has heard a lot about basketball but has never seen a game in person and this says "WOW!" frequently.
I also love his laugh when he just says "HA!"
What the hell is wrong with college basketball in the state of Wisconsin
The Wisconsin diet isn't very conductive to intense physical activity.
(EDIT: MEZman beat me to it.)
My reply was supposed to go here but I replied to the wrong one... glad you stepped up to the plate.
First to 40 wins?