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***Official NCAA Basketball Tournament thread***

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IndyColtsFan said:
Really sad ending for Butler. They blew too many chances.
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Yeah I feel so bad for those guys. It's sad because it's amazing that they made it there twice as a Cinderella team and both times went home empty handed. I'm just not sure when or if they will ever be able to enjoy what they accomplished.
 
why did I watch that game!!!!

But I guess the big question now is does Calhoun retire or return to face the sanctions?
 
I imagine I'll be hearing the number 18.8 more than a few times over the next week or so on sports talk radio.

Butler: Making Jimmer Fredette look like Reggie Miller.
 
That was possibly the least interesting game of the entire tournament (at least that I watched). I'm not even sure if stout defense or just flat out shit shooting kept the score so low for both teams.

Regardless, one of the more enjoyable NCAA hoops seasons in many years, I won my pool, and my teams look to have solid seasons next year.
 
Fingolfin269 said:
Yeah I feel so bad for those guys. It's sad because it's amazing that they made it there twice as a Cinderella team and both times went home empty handed. I'm just not sure when or if they will ever be able to enjoy what they accomplished.
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Butler executed their defensive game plan to perfection. The problem is that they just couldn't execute on the offensive end. Part of that is due to UConn playing lights out defense, but a large part of it (probably most of it) has to be pinned on Butler. They missed wide open shots and layups. Andrew Smith couldn't catch a ball in the first half if his life depended on it. As someone said, had Butler matched UConn's FG% or even shot their average, they win going away. You have to give UConn credit but you have to really wonder WTF happened to Butler and if they just started to panic. Something is wrong with Matt Howard -- his last two games weren't great and I wonder what's up with him.

At any rate, Stevens is an awesome coach and you're going to continue to see deep runs in the tournament from Butler. You can't blame these two losses on him -- at some point, the talent at the bigger schools will be too much. Last year, Butler had 2 chances to win it in the final seconds and missed both shots; this year, they couldn't hit anything including layups and wide-open shots. That's not coaching, that is on the players. I can't say enough good things about Stevens and I personally hope that he lands at Indiana one day and restores the program. I guarantee you that if Brad Stevens had top 10 recruiting classes he'd win multiple championships.

Even before the last two seasons, they were making the sweet 16 fairly regularly and I don't expect that to change. If Mack stays next year and Stevens brings in some good recruits, you might even see a run to the Elite 8.
 
wkabel23 said:
why did I watch that game!!!!

But I guess the big question now is does Calhoun retire or return to face the sanctions?
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I don't know the status of the violations or the case against Calhoun, but I hate it when good teams lose to cheating teams. At least last year, I didn't feel too bad about losing to Duke because Coach K runs a clean program.
 
Well, Butler's house money finally ran out. Great defense from both teams, and it should have been closer had Butler not choked on wide open looks. It was a long season for both teams and Butler may have just been tired, because you know UConn was (Kemba said the UK game really took a lot out of them).

UConn's run was nothing short of amazing. Beating 5 Big East teams in 5 days, followed by their undefeated run in the tourney will go down as one of the best ever. Calhoun wasn't lying when he said this was the best team he's ever coached and he has coached a plethora of NBA players.

The Big East continues to show why it's the best conference in college basketball. A shame that heavy hitters like St.J, Nova, G-Town, and Louisville got hit with the injury bug but that's life. Pitino claimed that his team this year would beat UConn 20 times out of 30 which could very well be true.

Great tourney this year.

Edit: Grats to USS Nef (zzupp) for the win. I tied for 5th which was better than I thought I'd do.
 
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SP33Demon said:
Well, Butler's house money finally ran out. Great defense from both teams, and it should have been closer had Butler not choked on wide open looks.
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I think playing on an elevated floor in the middle of a football stadium had a lot to do with the poor shooting in all 3 games. It just doesn't seem like it'd be easy to move from an arena to a stadium and still maintain a good feel for the depth to the basket.

That's just my opinion though, I could be wrong. Gotta sell 75k tickets somehow I guess.
 
IndyColtsFan said:
I don't know the status of the violations or the case against Calhoun, but I hate it when good teams lose to cheating teams. At least last year, I didn't feel too bad about losing to Duke because Coach K runs a clean program.
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From what I understand, it's already been settled. 3-game suspension for Calhoun next season and 3 years of probation for the program.
 
Kind of a fluke year for basketball, or maybe a taste of things to come? With the NBA draining most of the talent from the NCAA, maybe there will be no more truly great teams. I still think there will be david's and goliath's though. Neither Uconn or Butler were great teams though, and they both made it to the final.

The NCAA tournament is always great no matter what. I don't know why they don't do something similar for NCAA football (obviously with less than 68 teams though 😛). The BCS has always been flawed. Not to mention it's great that they play the championship game in basketball 2 days after the final game is set where as with NCAA Football, once the title game is set, it's literally over a month until they play the damn game, almost like the start of the next season.
 
blurredvision said:
I think playing on an elevated floor in the middle of a football stadium had a lot to do with the poor shooting in all 3 games. It just doesn't seem like it'd be easy to move from an arena to a stadium and still maintain a good feel for the depth to the basket.
That's just my opinion though, I could be wrong. Gotta sell 75k tickets somehow I guess.
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:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
I miss the days when the tournament was played in real basketball arenas.


edit: 1988, Kemper Arena in Kansas City for the 50th anniversity of the tournament was the last time it was in a proper setting...
 
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