NCAA Tourney Sweet 16/Elite 8 Running Thread

Couldn't you say that for just about every team left? I mean how many of these teams have even played each other? I mean they beat UConn, G'Town, USC, Siena, Arizona, Austin Peay, Gonzaga -- that's a decent amount of tourney teams, not Memphis' fault they didn't advance.

 

Both losses were to Purdue.

 

Kansas is 0-0 non-conference against teams left in the tournament. Guess they're next, too.

 

If America needed that lesson I guess we can blame the Pac-10's horrible TV deal or, hate to say it, East Coast Bias. Or do people even bother watching games anymore and instead just let Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas tell them who's good?

Wazzu finishes second in a good Pac-10 last year, third in a better Pac-10 this year, is ranked all year (fourth at one point), has a strong RPI, SOS and several quality (true) road wins and they have to horsewhip that basketball leviathan Notre Dame to prove it? They're new to March, but their resume should have told just about everybody that, yeah, these guys are pretty good.

But it's not just Wazzu ... Jim Boeheim was analyzing the Stanford-Marquette matchup like it was 15-2 game ... essentially talking of the Cardinal as though they were Central Connecticut.

 

Lester, I watched Pac 10 games a lot and saw Wazzu play 5 or 6 times this year. I knew how tough they were on defense, but just never saw enough offensive inconsistency to be impressed with them, especially against really good teams. I'm not surprised they beat ND, but I also wouldn't have been shocked if they scored 15 points in the second half and lost.

They remind me too much of those Knight/Page/Brown Pitt teams, which were very good on defense all the time but you knew their offensive woes would come back to hurt them in the tourney.

 

It also made me very happy.
Wazzu!

 

No doubt. In two of their losses to Stanford this year they led by 14 and 11 points and their offense went DEAD for about 9 minutes in each game. They cannot will themselves to be great offensively and because of that they are one of the most dangerous and vulnerable teams in the nation every time they take the court. Because of their tendencies they play a ton of close games. I've always said that any team in America -- from UNC to NJIT -- can beat them on any given night. It's the nature of Bennett's style ... focusing less on putting the ball in the basket and more on making it damn impossible for the other guys to get it in.

But I couldn't care less about lack of respect for a style or even a team. The lack of imagination is what gets me, as if there's only one way to win a game ... score a bunch. Actually, what really gets me is the lack of education from a group of people who think what Bennett does sets basketball back 30 years (35 for Notre Dame) when it's actually pretty damn innovative these days. It's the same douchebags who bring up lame arguments against Kevin Love, saying "he's just going to be another guy in the NBA."

It's like we are so ingrained to want everyone to look like Marvin Williams and to play like Carolina that we forget that there's more than one way to play the game and there's certainly more than one way to win a game.

 

...there's certainly more than one way to win a game.
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As Wisconsin proves in all those beautiful First-team-to-50-wins games.

 

I agree the bottom half of the Big Ten sucked ass. But damn, give Purdue some respect. They finished three games ahead of Michigan State in the conference, in case you didn't know.

The NCAA got Purdue's seed right, a 6. They pounded 11th-seed Baylor and then lost to a 3 seed.

 

Kansas isn't as tested as others in the field, yes. That's not really debatable. But the Jayhawks still have a shitload of talent.

 

As does Memphis. Somehow, someway, I think the Tigers will make the Final Four this season, allowing Calipari to jump ship to the NBA (Bulls maybe?) or a power-conference program if he so desires.

Too bad Tennessee plays Louisville in the Sweet 16. Those were two teams I wanted to pick to the Final Four, but it got me wondering -- who do the Kentucky fans root for or consider the lesser of two evils this week, Louisville (disdain for Pitino) or Tennessee (disdain for the school, SEC rivalry)?

 

Calipari would be a good fit in Bloomington...