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Orioles
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Post by Orioles »

Getting excited for tonight's Hoyas-Hoosiers matchup and hoping Georgetown makes enough noise this year to temporarily drown out the sound of the bell tolling for the Big East.

Another year, another underrated Hoyas squad. JTIII keeps restocking the cupboard with multi-dimensional talents and enough size to cause trouble defensively for most opponents. Gtown's style of play limits possessions, allowing the Hoyas to keep games close against tough opponents early in the season when lack of experience might doom a less patient offensive attack to the occasional blowout. The key for the Hoyas will be how their shooters fare when the motion offense stalls. Otto Porter is the real deal, doing everything well and filling up the stat sheet a la Jeff Green. He's got a chance to be one of the Big East's best players this year. Greg Whittington showed rare range and shooting ability for a player of his size last night against UCLA. Markel Starks seems ready to bear a greater scoring load from the guard position (though I wouldn't expect too many 20+ outputs like yesterday). I'll be interested to see how JTIII works freshman D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera into the guard rotation, as the Hoyas will need a few perimeter threats to keep those passing lanes open and run their offense.

As a side-note, it was disappointing to see 2013 C Kennedy Meeks pick Carolina, when he seemed like such a good fit for Georgetown. My guess is he shows up too fat to run with the Heels and can't stay on the court enough to be effective. Not bitter. I swear.

2023 GM Totals: 1780 W - 1460 L | 0.549 wpct | 89-73 (avg 162 G record)
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Post by Giants »

The leading scorer in the NCAA is Kevin Foster of Santa Clara. I don't know that the Broncos have been this watchable since they beat North Carolina when I was sophomore. Oh, no one cares about WCC basketball? My bad...
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Post by Astros »

So nice for my Hoosiers to be relevant again. We haven't been this good since Calbert Cheaney was on the court. Didn't get to see tonight's game but listened to most of the 2nd half and overtime on the radio in the truck. Shame Kentucky started ducking us because we're good again, not because of "dangerous environments" or whatever shit Calipari said
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Post by Astros »

I swear we're the only #1 team that never gets calls. Will Sheehey got a technical for literally going "Woooo!" after a dunk, but Illinois' coach threw a 30 second tantrum on the sidelines and nothing. Still a horrible lack of execution on the last inbounds play but still, that was bullshit and proved the difference in the game. Also the 5 flops the Paul kid got called helped matters
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Post by Marlins »

I thought college hoops didn't start until March?
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Post by Orioles »

Great win by Georgetown in a hostile, emotionally charged road environment to close out the Carrier Dome chapter of their storied Big East rivalry with Syracuse. I thought the Hoyas were underrated going into the season, but it turns out they're a little better than I expected them to be. Alone atop the Big East after Villanova's upset of Marquette, the Hoyas will deserve the top 10 ranking they're likely to get when the polls come out on Monday. Awesome performance by Otto Porter Jr. (33 pts, 8 reb, 5 stl) leading the Hoyas to a win that snapped Cuse's 38 game home winning streak. They rewarded the largest crowd ever to attend an NCAA hoops game on-campus with a defensive effort that held Syracuse to just 46 points.

Indiana is the best team in the country, imo, and the only safe bet out there to pencil in for the Final Four. Even a loss at Michigan to close the regular season shouldn't knock them off the tournament's top line. Talent, experience, solid defensively, great coach. They're in good shape for a deep run. I also like Florida a lot but am less sure about the rest of the top 5. Michigan State tends to play their best ball in March, so they're always one to watch out for. Gonzaga hasn't beaten (or played) anyone since December, and their best 2 wins (@ OK St by 1 and over K-State in Seattle) were good but not enough for me to say they're definitively a top 5 team. I guess I'm saying that other than IU (and maybe Florida if they finish strong against a so-so sked) it's pretty wide open. I suppose I'd also have to start respecting Miami more if they won @ Duke next week.

I don't think G'town is a top 5 team, since they just don't have the depth (especially in terms of offensive options), but I do think they're a top 10 team. They play great defense and have a great player in Otto Porter. Sometimes that's enough to make a run in the tourney. The emergence of freshman G D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera as a scoring option (he went off for 33 vs DePaul) to go with Porter and Markel Starks certainly helps. Because they play a style that controls and limits the number of possessions they tend to play a lot of low-scoring close games. That has a lot to do with how calm and unflappable the they've been in pressure situations despite being a young team (there are no seniors on the roster and they start 2 of just 3 juniors in the regular rotation). That's another quality that should prepare them well for March basketball. Tough assignment coming up Wednesday @ UConn before games vs Rutgers, @ Villanova, and home against Syracuse to close the regular season (and end the Big East rivalry). Can't wait for March.

2023 GM Totals: 1780 W - 1460 L | 0.549 wpct | 89-73 (avg 162 G record)
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Post by Astros »

I bought tickets for the Indy regional in hopes IU is the #1 overall seed. They may be nosebleeds but 2 Sweet 16 games and the Elite 8 game for $90 is a good deal. The IU candy striped warmup pants are sold out everywhere though. Every website they're on backorder until 3/31 and I called every sporting goods store within an hour and a half today and they're all sold out
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Post by Orioles »

$90 is a good deal. Never been to an NCAA tourney game (sad, I know). Been to a lot of BE tourney games at MSG though, and hopefully going down this year since it's the last time it'll ever be the awesome event it's been for the last 30 years. Headed to Storrs tomorrow night for G'town @ UConn, which should be a good game. Connecticut is a tourney-caliber team this year, even if they can't go.

2023 GM Totals: 1780 W - 1460 L | 0.549 wpct | 89-73 (avg 162 G record)
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Post by Athletics »

Marlins wrote:Connecticut is a tourney-caliber team this year, even if they can't go.
They would likely be a darkhorse national contender if they still had drummond and lamb and were eligible.
"My shit doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is fucking luck."

LAA 11 - 15 331W - 479L
LAA 16 - 20 477W - 333L 17-20 ALW
OAK 21 - 22 214W - 110L 21-22 ALW
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Post by Orioles »

ESPN has a nice piece reflecting on the Big East up right now. Great compilation of thoughts from most of the key people in the league's history. Some great anecdotes about being in the room for league coaches meetings with the likes of Thompson, Boeheim, Pitino, Massimino, Carnesecca, Carlesimo and Calhoun. Player and coach insights into some of the BE Tourney's biggest moments. Good stuff.

Sadly, I'm not making it down to MSG this year for the final go around of what, for decades, has been the best annual hoops tournament including fewer than 64 teams. However, I've been to quite a few in the past 10 years, and there's really nothing quite like the Garden when it comes to big-stage sporting events. As Boeheim says in the article above, the Big East Tourney is unique because unlike other conference tourneys when teams drop out other teams' fans and NY basketball fans scoop up their tickets and keep the seats full and the energy going. When Gtown made it to the semis and finals, one of the things I always liked about those games is that the place would be full of really good basketball fans. Whether fans of eliminated teams or just fans of the game, there was always a solid crowd who knew they might see college hoops history happen on any given night. For $75 bucks you get a couple of games and a chance at seeing 6 overtimes, a Ray Allen floater with 13.4 left, or a Walker or McNamara become a legend by single-handedly carrying their squad through a gauntlet of top-25 opponents.

I looked back through 10 years of BE Tourney brackets and didn't see a season where the quarterfinals included fewer than 4 teams ranked in the top 25, and typically saw more than that. In 2011 the quarterfinals featured 7 of the league's 8 teams ranked in the top 25. Even bolstered by the BE defectors chasing football money to the ACC, Big 10 and Big 12, it's hard to imagine any other conference again being able to boast 6-8 NCAA tourney-caliber teams annually duking it out for their league crown.

Sadly for college basketball fans, it's the end of the greatest show this side of the Big Dance. Hopefully it'll give us a few more classic moments before the lights go out for good March 16th.

2023 GM Totals: 1780 W - 1460 L | 0.549 wpct | 89-73 (avg 162 G record)
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Post by Astros »

Needless to say I'm not happy with Louisville getting the #1 overall seed and playing in Indy. IU beat a team that'll finish in the Top 10 a total of 6 times this year. Louisville didn't do that at all. Didn't lose to a non tournament team. Louisville's hot right now, but I think body of work, IU is more impressive. Now I'm trying to unload Sweet 16/Elite 8 tickets
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Post by Astros »

Let me preface this by saying that I dislike Louisville almost as much as I dislike UK. The jump ball call at the end of the game today, in the words of the late, great Gorilla Monsoon, was a miscarriage of justice. 9 seconds left, a 9 seed with a chance to force the #1 overall seed to overtime after dominating almost the entire game, and a jump ball is called when, at best it is a play on and in reality, Luke Hancock grabs Ron Baker's arm. Awful, just awful, but Louisville and Kevin Ware's injury is the story of the tournament
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