NCAA Tournament 2023 Thread

#227      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Worst final four ever? I can’t imagine a worse one in terms of interest
Total opposite for me. I generally root for the underdogs anyway, and the complete lack of blue bloods is icing on the cake. This tournament has been a blast.
If I may offer a synthesis, I think the basketball has been a lot of fun to watch, and upsets are always engaging, but the lack of star power among the players/coaches/programs/storylines remaining shows some of the weakness of the more chaotic college basketball as a product.

I don't think the TV ratings will be pretty.
 
#230      
No way. That UNC Duke game was damn near epic. FAU SDSU who the hell cares. I don't.
Well, the thing about the NCAA tournament is that it's a crap shoot. About like the postseason in any sport. IMHO, the measure of a team is its complete body of work throughout a long season. For example, it's pretty obvious that the Dodgers were baseball's best team last year, but they didn't win the WS.
 
#236      

jjv0004

Greenville, SC
UConn is going to destroy either FAU or SDSU. It will be a snooze fest. So yes I wish there was a traditional power that was good this year so the national championship game would be fun to watch.
 
#237      

Illini92and96

Austin, TX
UConn is going to destroy either FAU or SDSU. It will be a snooze fest. So yes I wish there was a traditional power that was good this year so the national championship game would be fun to watch.
Like Alabama was going to destroy SDSU, and Tennessee and KState were going to destroy FAU? Duke lost to Tennessee and Kentucky lost to K-state. Would they be a better matchup for UCONN?
 
#238      

jjv0004

Greenville, SC
Like Alabama was going to destroy SDSU, and Tennessee and KState were going to destroy FAU? Duke lost to Tennessee and Kentucky lost to K-state. Would they be a better matchup for UCONN?
Nope. They would not. That was why my post actually read, "a traditional power that was good this year." Alabama, Tennessee, Duke and Kentucky were not that good. And Tennessee and Alabama are definitely not traditional basketball powers.
 
#239      
UConn is going to destroy either FAU or SDSU. It will be a snooze fest. So yes I wish there was a traditional power that was good this year so the national championship game would be fun to watch.
Give me a ‘boring’ UCONN outcome any day over another potential blue blood winning it yet again. Can you imagine the media slobber if KU and Self and his stents were still in it, pass.
 
#240      

Illini92and96

Austin, TX
Nope. They would not. That was why my post actually read, "a traditional power that was good this year." Alabama, Tennessee, Duke and Kentucky were not that good. And Tennessee and Alabama are definitely not traditional basketball powers.
Jj, I'm curious to understand a differing point of view, so take it in that vein.

Who are "traditional powers" that were "good" this year? Kansas and UCLA. Is Arizona a traditional power? Duke was ranked 12th at 26-8 but you said that is not good.

You think the #1 ranked team was not that good. That quite a contrarian though. If there were not that good, where should they be ranked?
 
#241      

jjv0004

Greenville, SC
Jj, I'm curious to understand a differing point of view, so take it in that vein.

Who are "traditional powers" that were "good" this year? Kansas and UCLA. Is Arizona a traditional power? Duke was ranked 12th at 26-8 but you said that is not good.

You think the #1 ranked team was not that good. That quite a contrarian though. If there were not that good, where should they be ranked?
I am not even sure how to answer the question because I don't know at this point who are considered the traditional powers. UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky come to mind but heck, UConn has won 4 titles since 1999. There have been some really good teams over the years in the tournament. I don't think there are this year. Kansas was down in my opinion and UCLA would have potentially been in the final four if 2 of their top players were not hurt. Duke was too young so I think they were flawed. I am an Alabama fan and Illinois fan. I watched every Bama game this year. They were just not that good. They rely too much on the 3 pointer so I saw the defeat against SDSU coming. I don't think Bama is a number 1 team in most years. I think my point is that I want to see a good basketball game in the finals. I don't see that happening this year as I think UConn is head and shoulders better than anyone remaining. Maybe I am wrong to want to big powers playing in the final. It's just my opinion.
 
#242      

danielb927

Orange Krush Class of 2013
Rochester, MN
I just wonder how much was BU's goal, how much was the team's poor interpretation of BU's goal, and how much was hero ball.

That's the million dollar question (and from BU's point of view, I mean that quite literally).
 
#243      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Regional bias at play of course but there was just a football school-y, sun belt-y, commuter school-y, roster-just-happened-this-season-y vibe about college basketball this year, and those aren't the core essences of the sport.
 
#244      

Illini92and96

Austin, TX
I am not even sure how to answer the question because I don't know at this point who are considered the traditional powers. UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky come to mind but heck, UConn has won 4 titles since 1999. There have been some really good teams over the years in the tournament. I don't think there are this year. Kansas was down in my opinion and UCLA would have potentially been in the final four if 2 of their top players were not hurt. Duke was too young so I think they were flawed. I am an Alabama fan and Illinois fan. I watched every Bama game this year. They were just not that good. They rely too much on the 3 pointer so I saw the defeat against SDSU coming. I don't think Bama is a number 1 team in most years. I think my point is that I want to see a good basketball game in the finals. I don't see that happening this year as I think UConn is head and shoulders better than anyone remaining. Maybe I am wrong to want to big powers playing in the final. It's just my opinion.
Well after our 2021 #1 seed flop and this year Bama #1 seed flop I feel for you! Texas is my adopted team, so it's been mostly rough going rooting for Illinois and Texas football the last 15 years.
 
#245      
UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky come to mind but heck, UConn has won 4 titles since 1999. There have been some really good teams over the years in the tournament. I don't think there are this year.
Point taken, all good and no worries. And full disclosure I had totally forgotten that Connecticut had 4 titles relatively recently. However two of those were against Duke & Kentucky so I probably gave them a mental pass! I guess I agree UConn is in the conversation but the four schools you mentioned are what I consider the blue bloods. UConn, UCLA, next tier. Refuse to say Indiana, it's been too long since they won anything.
 
#246      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
There have been some really good teams over the years in the tournament. I don't think there are this year.
The transfer portal's ability to fill holes in rosters and NIL's ability to keep marginal NBA talents in college for longer will help a bit, but in general the cream of the crop college teams today are not even close to as good as they were 20, 30, 40 years ago and they're never going to be again.

I think the best we can do is find a way to connect players to schools for the full term of their college careers in most cases, which will allow for the building of multi-year programs and multi-year narratives.
 
#247      
Wasn't sure where to post this but absolutely epic meltdown by Wisconsin in the final 9 minutes in NIT semifinals vs North Texas. I don't think they scored a point, and their last couple possessions were especially painful including the final one when they were down 2, Wahl passes up a 2-footer to make one more pass that was fumbled away as time ran out. Also plenty of turnovers, missed FTs and a dumb timeout by Gard when Wisconsin looked like it was about to finally score on a broken play. Can't imagine what our postgame thread would be after a loss like that.
 
#248      

azillini1

Scottsdale
Same here, not sure where to post this. The McD All American Game is on now. There are some decent looking players, especially on the West team. Kentucky has 3 of the top 4 ranked recruits committed.