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2018-19 College Basketball Season-Long Thread

Gonzaga has the talent to win it all, but wonder if not playing a close game for more than three months (early December) is going to bite them in the arse during the tournament. Teams traditionally collapse when they have not had to face a late game challenge for a long time prior to the NCAAs.
 
Is there any history to back that up? Winning it all obviously is a tough task for any team. Two years ago the Zags only lost once before the post season and made it to title game. St Joe’s was undefeated and made Final Four. Unlv was undefeated and made Final Four.
The theory makes sense but what are the examples historically that a team flamed out after beating teams down all season?
 
Zion RIP #waytooathletic
 
daaberry said:
Is there any history to back that up? Winning it all obviously is a tough task for any team. Two years ago the Zags only lost once before the post season and made it to title game. St Joe’s was undefeated and made Final Four. Unlv was undefeated and made Final Four.
The theory makes sense but what are the examples historically that a team flamed out after beating teams down all season?
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For a decade UCLA rarely had a close game.
 
PhDeac said:
Zion RIP #waytooathletic
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UVA actually did a decent job on Zion, though that block was amazing. And you should never run a high screen and roll with whoever he's guarding. But if Duke is gonna shoot 13-18 from behind the arc, they just ain't gonna lose. This is also by far the best defensive team they've had in years, and it's all freshmen. Guys like Reddish and Barrett are longer and more athletic than Guy and Jerome, making it hard for UVA to get off decent treys. Barrett is going to be a hell of a consolation prize for whoever gets the #2 pick.

I don't recall an atmosphere like last night ever before at UVA. They've had some nice upsets of Duke over the years, but last night was pretty amazing. LeBron, Rondo, Grant Hill and Ralph were in the building. At least I don't have to witness Zion and Barrett again in person at a college game.
 
Northwestern blew a 12 point lead with 2:40 to go to lose to Iowa tonight. Chris Collins is having his 2nd straight disappointing year.
 
daaberry said:
Is there any history to back that up? Winning it all obviously is a tough task for any team. Two years ago the Zags only lost once before the post season and made it to title game. St Joe’s was undefeated and made Final Four. Unlv was undefeated and made Final Four.
The theory makes sense but what are the examples historically that a team flamed out after beating teams down all season?
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The examples that I was thinking of are:

2013 Gonzaga - 18-0 in the conference, including the conference tourney. 31-2 entering the tournament -- #1 seed. Won every conference game from January 24 on by double digits. Lost in the 2nd round of the NCAAs to #9 seed Wichita State.

2014 Wichita State - 21-0 in conference, including the conference tourney. 34-0 entering the tournament -- #1 seed. Played one game that was decided by less than double digits from January 11 on. Lost in the round of 32 to #8 Kentucky (who was under-seeded), but the point is that Kentucky team had played several tight games heading into the tourney while Wichita State had not.

Then the classic example was 1991 UNLV. A loaded team which destroyed the Big West conference (19-0) no game was close. Dominated early in the NCAAs, but fell apart late when Duke played them close.


Just generally think that it helps to play a high level of competition and play competitive games. Winning every game by 30 against also-rans is not the best preparation for a one and done NCAA tourney scenario when you have never had to come from behind to win or haven't faced a late tight game situation in months. Maybe this Gonzaga team is so good that it won't matter, but suspect that they might have a tough time dealing with critical late game situations when they haven't faced any since December.
 
It depends on the team. Teams like UCLAs dynasties completely contradict your point.

KY beat Wichita State because they were a BETTER team. KY had five NBA players on their squad and two others had cups of coffee in the NBA. It had little to nothing to do with their schedule. KY underachieved during the regular season but ended up losing in the National Championship game.

It's ridiculous to say losing to a vastly more talented team had to do with all blowouts and being undefeated in their league.

BTW, as usual Pilch spews stuff without knowing much about Wichita's results of that year in their league. They had an OT and multiple games they won by less than 10 and a few more in the 10-15 point range (some of which were under ten in the closing minutes).
 
Imagine how much more athletic Zion will be when he loses 15-20 pounds and makes other weight into more muscle.
 
UCLA played in a different age of college basketball, but if you want to rely on a UCLA run fifty years ago to attempt to make a point about college basketball today; it does not contradict the point that it helps to play a high level of competition in the months heading into the NCAAs.

The PAC 8 did not form until 1968-9. From the time that it formed, John Wooden won 6 national titles (1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1975). UCLA went unbeaten in the conference just two of those years (1971 and 1972). In 1971, UCLA played 14 conference games, 7 conference games that were decide by less than 10, and 6 of those games were decided by 5 or less. In 1972 (UCLA's most dominant team), the closest game that UCLA played until the NCAA final, a five point win over FSU, was a 6 point win over Oregon State. Also, in the middle of each conference season when Wooden coached, UCLA would play Notre Dame who was a quality independent in those days. So, the best competition that UCLA would face all season in 1972 was in the conference or against a quality OOC game later in the season; UCLA was just much better than everyone else. That is not the same as Gonzaga going through the motions against Pepperdine, Pacific and Portland today.

As for Wichita State's 2014 season. In their last 17 games before the tournament they played two that were won by less than 10 and even those two were not super-close (by 7 over Indiana State and by 9 over Northern Iowa). In their last 8 heading into the tournament, the Shockers won by 16, 14, 24, 29, 20, 23, 22, 25, 14, Also, that Wichita State team had 3 future NBA players, and they were favored against a 24-10 Kentucky team; so, don't make it seem like Wichita State was hopelessly outmanned. In the 8 games leading into the 2014 tournament, Kentucky had played two OT games, a game decided by 1 (to #3 Florida), and three other games decided by 7 or less. So, yes, using Wichita State/KY as the example, the evidence exists that Kentucky may have benefitted from playing close/competitive games heading into the Wichita State matchup.

On a larger point, it's hardly controversial to think that teams/players benefit from playing against high quality competition; that is conventional wisdom, and helps explain why a Power 6 team has won the last 53 NCAA tourneys except for UCONN from the AAC in 2014. Maybe Gonzaga will mow through the tourney this year, but they aren't as battle tested as teams playing in the Power 6 conferences, and in a close game in March it may make a difference. Maybe it won't, but I'm not "spewing stuff without knowing much about (it)". I leave that to RJ.

We shall see.
 
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Im with RJ on that 2014 Wichita State team, they got absolutely screwed by the committee. Their game against Kentucky that year was wire to wire and one of the best played games of the entire tournament. In another bracket I think that team goes to the elite 8 at least.
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BTB said:
I didn't think the IU boards could be any more a cesspool of frustration and anger and then this happened.
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If you've seen the Knight documentary, it's tough not to tell IU fans to go fuck themselves. Similar to the PSU fans with Paterno. Parks and Rec even realized that Knight was toxic and removed Knight's picture from Ron Swanson's office after the 1st or 2nd season.
 
Just noticed that no Conference USA teams have games currently scheduled after this weekend. Looks like they planned that each team would play the other 13 C-USA teams at least once and then the commissioner would schedule the last three weeks of the season to try maximize at large bids. Mickey Mouse, but apropos for UNC-Charlotte.

The plan is not going to work out as planned as none of the 14 C-USA teams are among the top 100 in the country, and as a result, C-USA will be a one-bid league regardless of the manipulable schedule.

If the ACC did this, WF would playing BC, Pitt, GT, Miami, ND again so that at least one of the ACC craptastic 6 would end up with an overall .500 record.
 
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Pilchard said:
Just noticed that no Conference USA teams have games currently scheduled after this weekend. Looks like they planned that each team would play the other 13 C-USA teams at least once and then the commissioner would schedule the last three weeks of the season to try maximize at large bids. Mickey Mouse, but apropos for UNC-Charlotte.

The plan is not going to work out as planned as none of the 14 C-USA teams are among the top 100 in the country, and as a result, C-USA will be a one-bid league regardless of the manipulable schedule.

If the ACC did this, WF would playing BC, Pitt, GT, Miami, ND again so that at least one of the ACC craptastic 6 would end up with an overall .500 record.
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I like the idea though.
 
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