If Michigan wins the NC (they won't) that makes us the best team in the nation. Am I right?
The Sweet 16
- Status
Perhaps the sting of losing his recruiting battle hurts less now? I hated him when he was playing, because I felt he should have been ours...
Everyone predicting he would fall on his face after K retired might have to recalibrate... While he inherited an absolute ideal situation, we've seen plenty of people mess those up...
He's getting plenty of talent and he knows what to do with it.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
All power conference teams, 7 from the SEC, and the only seed above a 6 is John Calipari's Arkansas.
A disturbingly charmless tournament. I'm sure it's MOSTLY luck of the draw and future years will have more upsets, but to the extent NIL world bends in this direction it's horrible for the sport.
A disturbingly charmless tournament. I'm sure it's MOSTLY luck of the draw and future years will have more upsets, but to the extent NIL world bends in this direction it's horrible for the sport.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
Someone earlier pointed out 75% of the S16 teams have top 20 NIL budgets
So, sadly, I agree... mid-majors are just priced out of the tourney now
Probably MSU right? Izzo has been anti portal and didn't go big name hunting. This is arguably his best coaching job.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I think a lot of people were pessimistic on Scheyer because of how meh (at best) the K coaching tree really has been.
I would agree that Scheyer was left a great situation at Duke, but we have examples of significant regression in once-proud programs with Kyle Neptune at Villanova and Adrian Autry at Syracuse. It's not even exclusive to the men's game, as Stanford's women's team missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1987 in the first year after Tara Vandeveer's retirement.
Izzo manages ego better than most coaches. Getting players to stay and play 10 deep is hard. Having players move from the starting lineup to the 6th man is rare and actually excel. With that said MSU exited the second round last year and got old the old way and had success this year
First Sweet 16 with only major conference teams since 1975.
Only charm I feel warm about, ever, is Illini charm. Just another way to view the world, brother.
Its not just all major conference teams. Its mostly just 3 of the 5 major (basketball) conferences.
7 SEC
4 B10
4 B12
1 ACC
0 BE
Bigtex
- DFW
Your forgot dusty may
Understatement of the week. Duke is by far the most talented team in college basketball.
NIL will make it impossible for there to be any cinderellas. It’s pros (Power 5) and amateurs (mid-low majors) now. When it was just a scholarship to a school- that’s as even playing field as you can get. Now it’s 500,000+ salaries vs literally nothing at the mid/low major level.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
By my count, there are 7 non-power conference teams in the top 50 in KenPom this year and there were 10 in the top 50 in 2015.
While I think it’s possible NIL kills Cinderella, I think a bigger sample size is needed to say for sure.
What does this even mean? So back in the day a super-talented kid who supposedly wasn't getting paid was going to pick a mid-major because... vibes? The top kids always went to the top programs. These glasses are so rose-colored the eyes are bleeding.
Every year plenty of high school basketball players go under-recruited and end up at mid majors. Some of those players end up being really, really good college basketball players.
Used to be that if they wanted to leave and go to a brand name, they’d have to sit a year, etc. Now, high majors can come and grab those guys with an NIL bag for which their small school has no answer.
I honestly don't know if it luck of the draw. Mid major teams used to have the advantage of typically being older and a lot of their guys were playing together for 3-4 years which was in conference to the power conference teams losing their best players to the draft and often being lead by freshman and sophomores.
Now the power conference teams can reload every year with transfers and poach the best players from mid majors while NIL is keeping the fringe/2nd Rd pick type NBA guys in college longer so the power conferences have deeper and more talent rosters.
I've seen some stuff on people saying the ball they are using is overinflated and not broken in which is hurting 3 pt shooting(the great equalizer for smaller and less athletic mid major teams) so maybe if they fix that it could help.
I hope I'm wrong and we can see some more parity but I'm not optimistic.
The top guys have always went to the best programs. That’s true. But the diamonds in the rough, the overlooked guys, the development guys aren’t going to stay at the midmajor level now. They will be bought by the high majors.
Also, the big budget power 5 teams are buying those mid to low major guys instead of taking a HS guy that is less likely to be as effective. The Power 5 stay strong, their floor has raised exceedingly by poaching these older midmajor depth guys. Look at the mid major transfers Alabama and Auburn are starting. Look at Kentucky’s entire roster constructed from scratch.
It’s death for mid to low major basketball. It’s pros vs amateurs.
The only sell the mid-low majors have is the Podz sell. If you want 40 minutes of PT to create an NBA profile, we can give you that. But again..even that is not going to be much of a sell bc most guys realize they aren’t going to the NBA and they’d rather make 300,000 as a bench player than be a starter somewhere else and make very little
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OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
There are a few games that are interesting to me, but I don't feel like I'll be glued to the TV this weekend. Definitely interested in BYU-Alabama and Florida-Maryland. If I don't have conflicts, I'll watch Texas Tech-Arkansas. The other games just don't have a lot of drawing power for me. We'll see how the games shake out tomorrow and Friday to see what matchups may be interesting for the weekend.
- Status