March 25th, 2011 at 12:20 AM ^
Mack just daggered them
March 25th, 2011 at 12:20 AM ^
nothing to see here
March 25th, 2011 at 12:22 AM ^
comebacks don't count if you don't come back.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:25 AM ^
Butler vs Florida should be a good game.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:26 AM ^
End.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^
Would have been a good comeback had it happened. Oh well
Also interesting how many close games Butler has played, this one wasn't a buzzer beater but they made it close at the end, blowing that huge lead. Florida - Butler should be a really good game. I keep thinking Butler's time will end soon and they keep proving me wrong. Florida in a good game
March 25th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^
Great, now cheering for the Big Ten means cheering for OSU.
GO UK BEAT THE BUCKEYES
It may be very Sparty of me, but I'll never cheer for them in any athletic event ever. Not after their fans literally kicked horseshit at me.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:31 AM ^
It isn't Sparty of you to hate the Buckeyes. It is Sparty if all your joy and satisfaction in your athletic life comes from watching the Buckeyes lose. But I think you're probably OK :-)
March 25th, 2011 at 12:36 AM ^
I hate when people try to tell me that I have to pull for Big10 teams in Bowl games, the dance, etc. I don't see it fit to root for teams that I normally want to see get destroyed. I don't care if the conference looks good or not.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:35 AM ^
Dang now i feel bad for turning it off.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:35 AM ^
Brad Stevens is 9-3 in the NCAA Tournament now. Amazing. Hoosier fans have to be beside themselves watching Butler while their own program can't get out of the basement.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:41 AM ^
I'm sorry but I don't feel a bit sorry for Wisconsin. This happens to them every year and will continue to happen until they get a coach not named Bo Ryan, who isn't afraid to solely recruit giant, slow, unathletic Swedes. When Butler has better athletes than a Big Ten team, there needs to be a change in philosophy or you aren't going to make a Final Four.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:54 AM ^
I don't ever want us to play like Wisconsin.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:45 AM ^
The Badgers, after their win over OSU, ended up being another slightly above average team carried along by their early season record. What makes little sense to me is how well they play at home and how poorly they play on the road.
That Butler-Wisconsin game was probably the worst college basketball game I've seen all year.
Wisconsin-PSU in the Big Ten Tournament was worse still.
I didn't watch that game, but I imagine it was pretty bad as well.
Wisconsin Basketball = FARM/AG BALL
That is all.
How do you go to eleven straight NCAA tournaments and still accept that you aren't going to make it to the Final Four because of your style of play? Shouldn't Wisky raise their expectations at some point?
It's really weird. Wisconsin is usually very efficient offensively during the regular season, and then in the tourney they always seem to be ice cold in the second or third round and get knocked out. Leuer was like 1-12 tonight. Maybe they're just too accustomed to the Kohl Center.
They're style is perfect for the grind of a conference season, where they get to play in familiar places against familiar opponents. I don't doubt Bo Ryan's ability to coach, but you would think when they've had players like Alando Tucker, Travon Hughes, etc. that he would try to get a few more of those type of players by going into Chicago which is at his doorstep. Those type of players win you national titles.
But no, let's go to Iowa and Minnesota and get a bunch of guys that will have great pro careers in Italy and Greece. Of course, Ryan probably wouldn't know how to coach anyone else.
Don't forget about Harris, coached by Bo Ryan, but recruited by Dick Bennett (I think).
It's pretty much their operating mode in football, as well.
I hate Wisconsin more after that buzzer beater at Crisler. So good riddance.
i can't believe wisky couldn't dominate in the paint, considering their size advantage.
none of their big guys are post players.
They aren't good. They didn't even win the Horizon League regular season title. And yet, I'm sure because they were good last year a bunch of people who know nothing picked them to go back to the Final Four. Now they are winning. This makes me irrationally upset.
I also generally root for the favorite all else being equal and thought the OSU president was right about Boise State. Maybe I need to find a different sporting event or get Yankees season tickets or something.
Sounds like someone is upset they picked Butler to lose in the first round.
I don't think Butler will get it done against Florida. Florida has too many athletes, too much height, and too many players who can actually hit open shots from outside. Florida has been quiet since losing almost their entire starting lineup after their last NC, but they still recruit a lot of Mr Basketballs, and Billy Donovan hasn't forgotten how to coach.
His game plan for Jimmer Fredette was brilliant last night, and he adjusted to how the refs called the game, which was more like hockey. BYU's coach never adjusted, and was too classy to to play "Hack-a-Mack" at the end of the game, when BYU could have stolen a game they "shouldn't" have won.
When it comes to competition, I'm not as nice as BYU's head coach. I would have played Hack-a-Mack. Macklin makes Shaq look like a world-class free-throw shooter. Someone is probably going to take advantage of that in one of the next three games. It may be enough, and it may not. But it would be worth a shot in a close game.
Brad Stevens is a pretty sharp guy, don't be surprised if he's willing to use that strategy if need be. Whether Andrew Smith can play is key. Butler can go without him for stretches (he gets in foul trouble rather often), but they need him to have a post presence and allow Howard to play both inside and outside, which has been a headache for every team they've played in the tourney. And Howard of course needs to stay on the floor and not pick up stupid fouls.
Florida's guards are in for a bit of a shock going from BYU's comparatively unathletic guards defensively to what Butler will throw at them. They turned Jordan Taylor into a crappy point for much of the game and made Ashton Gibbs disappear in the second half of the Pitt game. Not fun to play against.
If it's as good as the last Butler/Florida game we're all in for a treat.
In 10 years Ryan has never finished lower than 4th in the Big Ten and has made the NCAA tournament every single year, advancing to the Sweet 5 times. He's extended the program's tournament streak to 13 years - trailing only Kansas, Duke and MSU. I'm quite happy with a coach who develops a team of good kids who play fundamentally sound basketball and stay out of trouble, puts 17,000 in the seats every night and punches a ticket to March Madness in January every single year. The rest is gravy. Most fanbases would kill for that. Including yours.
Wisconsin is a better than average road team. They are nearly unbeatable at home, which skews the perception. They were #1 in the nation in offensive efficiency for most of the year, (ended up at #2). The problem this year was defense, although they are traditionally among the leaders there, as well. They score. They defend. And they are plenty athletic, as any coach or educated observer will tell you. Unathletic teams don't have that kind of success in a major conference. They don't beat Duke and OSU and Texas and Pitt and Marquette and dominate MSU. They don't produce Big Ten Players of the Year or 2nd team All Americas (Jordan Taylor was selected today). It's just that we like our athletes to be basketball players, too. And for a long time I'm not sure Michigan knew the difference.
The beauty of this thread is that while you guys chuckle at how slow and unathletic Wisconsin plays, we look to Michigan games for entertainment purposes of our own. As in, thank god we aren't as sloppy, stupid and undisciplined as Michigan is. Watching uber athlete Brent Petway try to deal with farmboy Mike Wilkinson was high comedy Or Leuer against Sims. I could go on and on. But please, continue with your analysis of what Wisconsin needs to do, where they should recruit or how unsatisfying their seasons are. You've earned that right, 1 whole week removed from a decade long exile in college basketball Siberia, and in the midst of a 10 game losing streak against the team you'd never want to be like. Believe me, I wish your basketball program continued the strategy of the past 10-15 years that you are still so enamored with, throwing together a loose collection of freestylers who could jump out of the gym and looked really cool in headbands but had no idea what it meant to be fundamentally sound or play team basketball, as they dunked and swaggered their way to the NIT in front of 7,000 catatonic fans at Crisler. That's what the style of basketball you crave got you (well, that and the probation). Fortunately your coach is much smarter than that, and he's molding his team differently. Ironically enough, you guys started to win just as your team played more and more like . . . Wisconsin. I'm sure you'll be bored to tears and hate every bit of it. Except for the winning.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
Eat shit.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:45 PM ^
Even the Wisconsin fans are boring.