NCAA impressions

[Skkorpion]

1. I'm going to watch the ASU women play tonight but I'm not sure why. Charlie Turner-Thorne's teams are built on hussle, man-to-man smothering defense and absolutely no offensive scheme of any kind.

2. You think Sendek's offense is boring? UCLA took boring to a new level of slumber this weekend. So did Georgetown.

3. Ohio State should be out of the tournament.

 

[Russ Smith]

1. I'm going to watch the ASU women play tonight but I'm not sure why. Charlie Turner-Thorne's teams are built on hussle, man-to-man smothering defense and absolutely no offensive scheme of any kind.

2. You think Sendek's offense is boring? UCLA took boring to a new level of slumber this weekend. So did Georgetown.

3. Ohio State should be out of the tournament.

At least UCLA was TRYING to score, they just couldn't make a shot. That was brutal so many wide open jumpers or easy inside shots missed. They should have been up 15-20 at the half. I expected a rout after halftime, which basically was happening until Howland milked clock, IU got hot from 3 and nearly won it. Howland said UCLA got tired, makes sense all the starters played at least 30 minutes.

Couldn't agree more on Ohio State, even ESPN in a game story referred to it as a borderline body slam that remarkably was not called intentional.

I should add, team I'm really impressed with Southern Illinois, wouldn't surprise me at all if they beat Kansas. Kansas is one of those teams that tends to get lazy and take the first shot they see because they like to run, SIU won't let you do that, and they won't give you good shots quickly. When Kansas out talents you they will blow you out, when they don't just physically dominate sometimes they lack patience and get in trouble.

They got a lot better at patience as the younger players grew up this year but a team like SIU could bug them, and they have some guys who can score too, Tatum in particular. Hadn't seen them much at all but was really impressed with them.

 

[ajcardfan]

Offense seems to be down as a trend. You weren't the only one to comment on it Skkorp. There were a lot of ugly looking games played in the first two rounds. One of the talking heads said it's due to "overcoaching". So many guys try to micromanage the game, rather than letting the players just play. Howland, Gillespie, Matta, Bennet, Ryan, etc, have all had a lot of success with that philosophy, so it's catching on.

 

[Russ Smith]

Offense seems to be down as a trend. You weren't the only one to comment on it Skkorp. There were a lot of ugly looking games played in the first two rounds. One of the talking heads said it's due to "overcoaching". So many guys try to micromanage the game, rather than letting the players just play. Howland, Gillespie, Matta, Bennet, Ryan, etc, have all had a lot of success with that philosophy, so it's catching on.

Yep that's a very noticeable trend all the long shot clock possessions and set plays being run.

I also think for the most part the refs are really letting them play in the tourney which favors teams that defend a certain way and that tends to make it harder to score.

 

[Skkorpion]

Russ, I didn't get to see SIU but I'll make sure I do this week. My brother watched them and called me raving about the Salukies.

Didn't Walt Frazier go there? Somewhere in the back of my mind, I vaguely remember SIU was in the tournament back in the early 70's when the whole field was only 16 teams. Am I wrong?

 

[Dback Jon]

Russ, I didn't get to see SIU but I'll make sure I do this week. My brother watched them and called me raving about the Salukies.

Didn't Walt Frazier go there? Somewhere in the back of my mind, I vaguely remember SIU was in the tournament back in the early 70's when the whole field was only 16 teams. Am I wrong?

Walt Frazier was a Saluki. And they did have good teams back then.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Offense seems to be down as a trend. You weren't the only one to comment on it Skkorp. There were a lot of ugly looking games played in the first two rounds. One of the talking heads said it's due to "overcoaching". So many guys try to micromanage the game, rather than letting the players just play. Howland, Gillespie, Matta, Bennet, Ryan, etc, have all had a lot of success with that philosophy, so it's catching on.

Because it doesn't require too much NBA talent to run and be successful, only smart and tough players that know their roles and whatever plays are called. It's not everybody though, Roy Williams and Bill Self let their guys play and they have looked like the two best teams thus far in the Tournament. Of course a week can change all that though.

 

[Nasser22]

1. I'm going to watch the ASU women play tonight but I'm not sure why. Charlie Turner-Thorne's teams are built on hussle, man-to-man smothering defense and absolutely no offensive scheme of any kind.

2. You think Sendek's offense is boring? UCLA took boring to a new level of slumber this weekend. So did Georgetown.

3. Ohio State should be out of the tournament.

I've enjoyed watching the ASU women more than the men this year. I'm watching them now.

 

[ajcardfan]

Because it doesn't require too much NBA talent to run and be successful, only smart and tough players that know their roles and whatever plays are called. It's not everybody though, Roy Williams and Bill Self let their guys play and they have looked like the two best teams thus far in the Tournament. Of course a week can change all that though.

Yeah, I can understand it. If you are not a Kansas or North Carolina loaded with studs, that's really your best chance to beat them. I think what we're seeing now is guys are carrying that style they used at smaller schools into the bigger programs - like UCLA.

 

[Southpaw]

I am really down on this play not to lose mentality. It is boring and brings many games down to ref's calls and desperation shots. It is nice to see Tennessee score 120 or Florida 110. A perfect example of overcoaching has to be Big 10 teams. They are perfectly content with brawling and 50 point rugby matchlike games.

Bring back the Runnin' Rebs and Loyola Marymount run and gun.

 

[DWKB]

I should add, team I'm really impressed with Southern Illinois, wouldn't surprise me at all if they beat Kansas. Kansas is one of those teams that tends to get lazy and take the first shot they see because they like to run, SIU won't let you do that, and they won't give you good shots quickly. When Kansas out talents you they will blow you out, when they don't just physically dominate sometimes they lack patience and get in trouble.

They got a lot better at patience as the younger players grew up this year but a team like SIU could bug them, and they have some guys who can score too, Tatum in particular. Hadn't seen them much at all but was really impressed with them.

I know many of you haven't seen us play, but Kansas is a defense first team, not like Roy's UNC team. We're 30th in the nation in Points allowed at 61.6 and 2nd in Opp FG% at .373. The Salukis only avg 63.1 PPG on 45% shooting.
Kansas gets their "running" off of defensive stops and turn overs. With the Salukis lack of scoring effort and height for defensive rebounding (Salukis 9.4 Off RPG 294th in the nation) they aren't going to be able to hold us in the half court the whole game. The fast break points will come.
Even if they do, Kansas has won many games this year when limited to half court. When their tallest players are 6'7 it's going to be hard for them to stop us in the paint without playing some zone. Well SIU hasn't played zone in 6 years. Even if they did, we shredded UK's zone last round.
If it turns into a foul-a-thon because of the SIU style of play (a OU type where every possesion is a foul waiting to be called) we've got more depth than them.

I'm certainly not saying it's a guarenteed win for us, but I like our chances. If we move on, maybe we get to face #1 seed (according to ESPN and CNN) UCLA. Oh if only...

You must be registered for see images

 

[abomb]

"HEY, I"M DICKIE V. DUKE IS AWESOME BABY, MCROBERTS IS A PTPer!!!"











Sorry, I misread the thread title.

 

[Russ Smith]

I know many of you haven't seen us play, but Kansas is a defense first team, not like Roy's UNC team. We're 30th in the nation in Points allowed at 61.6 and 2nd in Opp FG% at .373. The Salukis only avg 63.1 PPG on 45% shooting.
Kansas gets their "running" off of defensive stops and turn overs. With the Salukis lack of scoring effort and height for defensive rebounding (Salukis 9.4 Off RPG 294th in the nation) they aren't going to be able to hold us in the half court the whole game. The fast break points will come.
Even if they do, Kansas has won many games this year when limited to half court. When their tallest players are 6'7 it's going to be hard for them to stop us in the paint without playing some zone. Well SIU hasn't played zone in 6 years. Even if they did, we shredded UK's zone last round.
If it turns into a foul-a-thon because of the SIU style of play (a OU type where every possesion is a foul waiting to be called) we've got more depth than them.

I'm certainly not saying it's a guarenteed win for us, but I like our chances. If we move on, maybe we get to face #1 seed (according to ESPN and CNN) UCLA. Oh if only...

You must be registered for see images

Yeah I'm not saying Kansas doesn't play good defense they do, in large part because they have so much size, and those quick guards don't hurt either. What impressed me about SIU is they're not that big they get by on sheer hard work. I didn't even know until yesterday they have won 2 games in the tourney without their 3rd leading scorer, Matt shaw(?) who has an ankle injury and might miss the Kansas game too. Apparently he's one of their better rebounders too. So I just think they deserve some compliments for getting this far with such a small team.

I certainly do think Kansas should win but it won't shock me if they don't, SIU has that style of play that just drives good teams nuts. If you look at their schedule they play in the 60's almost every game, Kansas averages just about 80 PPG so something will have to give.

What I really like about Kansas now is their guard play and in particular Brandon Rush seems to finally realize how good he is and is asserting himself. When they move the ball they're awfully tough to beat, it's when they settle for the first look that they get in trouble. When we got the "look in" on the UK game one of the first things the announcer said was Kansas was sharing the ball so well that UK simply couldn't get any stops.

Where I fear SIU will struggle is keeping Kaun, Arthur and Jackson off the offensive glass.

I think all 4 matchups on Thursday are good games where either team winning wouldn't shock me. Memphis if Douglas-Roberts can't go is in trouble with A&M, Tenn played Ohio State tough the first time around and will likely do so again, and the way UCLA has shot in 3 of their last 4 games you have to think Pitt's defense is going to give them trouble.

I think the Thursday games will be much closer than the Friday games.

 

[Skkorpion]

Walt Frazier was a Saluki. And they did have good teams back then.

That's right, you're an Illinois fan. My condolences. First, they killed your Chief, then your team.