Florida 65, Houston 63

[Dan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1906514355719417975

 

[Flyin' Illini]

Damn, who would've thought the four best teams would be the four best teams? Clearly this means the end of college basketball.

It may just be a fluke. It has happened before and it will happen again. At the same time, it could mean that college basketball is more top-heavy than ever and it will become harder and harder to complete with the top teams in the NIL/Portal era. We shall see.

 

[DeeIL89]

Defeat Sampson and Satan at all cost.

 

[TheodoreRex]

The worst part of watching all 4 teams.. We still feel pretty far away from being anywhere near as good as them...

 

[Combo]

Phenomenal job by the seeding committee. Duke has the feel of the last 2 UConn teams. I don’t see any team coming close against them

I agree. Supremely talented team. I would be almost shocked if they didn't win it all.

 

[IlliniFaninHoosierLand]

2nd time in tournament history with all 4 #1 seeds making it to the Final 4. Other previous time was in 2008.

 

[jamie13197]

I like there young coach also. He's is a badass! He came out of nowhere.

 

[OrangeKrush1981]

It is almost like the endless demands for better tools for seeding worked! And yet, that leads to a .. what did I read, a "dreadful tournament."

So whoever chastized me and the rest of the demanding here for being too argumentative (or demanding): sorry for the dreadful state of affairs.

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

No one to cheer for hope all lose

The good news is that 3 of them will. The bad news…

 

[Orange Roughy]

Defeat Sampscum and Satan at all cost.

FIFY

 

[Chillinini]

As long as Satan loses. More so than Sampscum.

I’m down with Golden and Scheyer.

 

[Brosky]

Looks like Duke to me.

 

[BrimfieldBomber]

I did not know that Master P's kid was on Houston.

Will I be rooting for Houston & Kelvin?

Na, nah, nah naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[TrahNeb]

NIL going to make this more common.

 

[Vinegarben]

The Illini will never compete in the final four until they recruit guys that are physically and mentally tough. Guys that take the ball to the basket with determination. They will never win a championship until the so-called starts they recruit play like stars when the games get tough.

 

[derrick6]

Saturday, April 5th

1 Florida vs 1 Auburn, 5:09pm CT, CBS

1 Duke vs 1 Houston, 7:49pm CT, CBS

Florida is the only Illinois neutral coach?
Scamson-> IDKWTI
Scheyer-> Weber diss
Satan-> Program wrecker

 

[Orangeandblue72]

I don’t fault Scheyer. He could not have made a better choice. I still remember being pissed about it though.

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

Florida is the only Illinois neutral coach?
Scamson-> IDKWTI
Scheyer-> Weber diss
Satan-> Program wrecker

Tainted by Pearl's coaching tree consanguinity.

 

[OrangeBlue98]

Tainted by Pearl's coaching tree consanguinity.

 

[IlliniFanTX]

I think it's hilarious how for YEARS everyone has talked about how awfully flawed the selection process was with just using RPI, strength of record, etc. and now that we have advanced metrics being used there is alot more chalk... it's almost like improving the seeding process has led to more games going according to seeding

 

[MDchicago]

Looking at the 10 listed most "Similar Resumé" teams (per Bart Torvik's site) for each of this year's Final 4 teams:
- Duke's list include 3 champions, Florida and Houston's list include 1 champion, and Auburn's none.
- Interesting that 2021 Illini show up on both Florida's and Auburn's list of the 10 most "Similar Resumés".

Looking at the 10 listed "most similar Efficiency Profile" teams (per Bart Torvik's site) for each of this year's Final 4 teams:
- Duke's list includes 5 champions, Auburn's list includes 4 champions, Florida's list includes 2 champions, and Houston's list includes 1.
- Houston's list includes the last 4 Houston teams (begrudging hat tip to Sampson for continuity and consistency).

 

[OrangeBlue98]

I think it's hilarious how for YEARS everyone has talked about how awfully flawed the selection process was with just using RPI, strength of record, etc. and now that we have advanced metrics being used there is alot more chalk... it's almost like improving the seeding process has led to more games going according to seeding

That's true, and I guess the reaction is based on what everyone wants to see.

For a single-elimination tournament like the NCAA tournament, I love the chaos and upsets. It's always been part of the magic of the event to see the small schools take their moment and create a lasting moment (of course, I certainly never want that to happen with Illinois ). But if you like seeing the heavyweights of the sport go at it in really meaningful late-round games, then using all of the metrics available satisfies that. It's pretty hard to argue that we don't have four of the very best teams in college basketball (man, I hate saying that given Pearl and Sampson coach two of those teams) playing this weekend.

Since I also watch quite a bit of the NBA, I've always wanted to see chaos in the single-elimination event and the best of the best going at in in the playoffs with 7-game series. But I know others disagree.

 

[IllinitripleJ]

As long as Satan loses. More so than Sampscum.

I’m down with Golden and Scheyer.

I got nothing against Sampson. I love the way his teams play. In fact, I wish Guenther had gone with his initial thoughts on replacing Self in 2023 with Kelvin S. I realize Sampson stole Eric Gordon from Illinois and Weber in 2023 but my understanding it was the Gordons who played Weber.

 

[jjv0004]

I agree. Who wants to watch the 4 best teams on the tournament compete for a national championship? Complete waste of time for a basketball fan.

 

[Illini2010-11]

I got nothing against Sampson. I love the way his teams play. In fact, I wish Guenther had gone with his initial thoughts on replacing Self in 2023 with Kelvin S. I realize Sampson stole Eric Gordon from Illinois and Weber in 2023 but my understanding it was the Gordons who played Weber.