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2021-22 Men's College Basketball Season - UNC v. Kansas for the Natty

IAppreciateIt said:
the gonzaga hate is misplaced imo. i read they have the most ncaa tourney wins of any program the last 5 years and the longest sweet 16 run (7 years). they were in the title game twice in the previous five tourneys.
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A lot easier to do when you are gift wrapped a top seed after playing in a jv conference all year.
 
Pilchard said:
That's what happens when you fall of the face of the earth. Zion is/was dynamic, but has he done anything worth remembering at this point?
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Does eating his way out of playing this season count?
 
Liquid Karma said:
A lot easier to do when you are gift wrapped a top seed after playing in a jv conference all year.
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yeah i dont buy this. They have been doing this for almost a decade. And their teams have gotten better and better and deserved those seeds. The last 4-5 years specifically they have played great teams out of conference. And Few has gone public about how teams dont want to play them
 
Rafi said:
Last year Gonzaga signed the #1, 21, 33, and 57 recruits in the country. The previous year they signed the #11, 72, 74, and 76 recruits.
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Like I said their success has helped bridge that gap. But this also proves my point. Few coaches more like Belichick than Coach Cal. He doesnt care how good you are. You run his system. Which by the way often doesnt run through Chet. Chet played a lot of the year setting screens for guards and deferring to Timme down low. Two freshmen, Sallis and Hickman averaged 15 mins a game and less than 5 ppg. Perry hardly played.

I would argue that even Chet as #1 recruit, hurt his stock in some ways by not going somewhere where he was THE guy. A lot of the questions on him werent answered because Gonzaga doesnt ask him to be the guy. And for every Suggs and Chet, Few has far more 4 year guys. This isnt Kentucky or Duke signing 5 top 30 guys (even though their success should have conceivably led to that)
 
Also KenPom still has us ahead of two teams still alive in tourney (Iowa St and Miami) and Texas A&M who just beat us
 
Pilchard said:
Now, because the talent on hand has gelled, Duke gets to play the 4th best team in the SEC to go to the Final 4. Sucks, but it's now looking like this tournament is going to end badly. Even a corpse, if it has five 1st round draft picks on the roster, can win a Natty.
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Arkansas has only lost three games since January 8th, certainly places them higher than 4th in the SEC.

Duke probably is the most talented but teams like Arkansas/Houston/Villanova are tough, relentless and experienced. I still question whether Duke has enough within their collective selves to survive all of those tests
 
Yep I still think at some point they’re not going to handle the pressure in an end of game situation. Hopefully tomorrow night
 
Can't figure out Gonzaga. For years, agreed with the narrative that Gonzaga wasn't as good as their ranking and that they played in a crap conference and got exposed in the NCAAT every year. As stated above, Gonzaga now consistently recruits above everyone else except for Duke and Ky. They prove how good they are in OOC games. This year, Gonzaga crushed UCLA by 20 in December. It's no longer a talent issue. Gonzaga has had 4 1st round picks since the 2019 draft and Holmgren will be #5. The only thing that I can come up with is that Few's system is based on transition scoring, and in the early-season OOC and in their crappy conference, Gonzaga can get away with playing transition and out-scoring teams. By the time the tourney rolls around, Power Conference teams are honed and know how to slow tempo and play grind it out basketball. Except for St. Mary's, Gonzaga hasn't had to play that type of game, and so, they crack when they can't play into the 90s. It's happened 4 tourney's in a row against strong athletic defensive oriented teams that controlled tempo (FSU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Arkansas). I guess that Gonzaga just isn't used to that type of ball after playing Pepperdine, San Diego and Portland for the last two months.

Would love to see Arkansas beat Duke. Will be rooting for the Razorbacks, but Duke may have 6 guys that will be in the NBA next year. That may be more than the collective sum of the other teams still alive in the tournament.
 
DeacdeTejas said:
I would argue that even Chet as #1 recruit, hurt his stock in some ways by not going somewhere where he was THE guy. A lot of the questions on him werent answered because Gonzaga doesnt ask him to be the guy. And for every Suggs and Chet, Few has far more 4 year guys.
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Doesn't every draft site have Chet as a top 5 pick, with most placing him at #1 overall?
 
My humble $0.02 is that Gonzaga hasn't cut down the nets because it's a single elimination tournament replete with uncontrollable variables, randomness, and small sample size, and which is just really effing hard to win. My gut is the Zags will get there eventually.
 
Rafi said:
Doesn't every draft site have Chet as a top 5 pick, with most placing him at #1 overall?
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Yes but most of the critiques about him haven’t really been answered. Which is why he is not clear #1 pick. Pilch point on their style. Chet isn’t bringing ball up or doesn’t have an offense centered around him in Gonzaga’s half court set and unlike some of the other top 4 guys, when game is on the line Zags aren’t running through Chet. It’s Timme time
 
DeacdeTejas said:
Yes but most of the critiques about him haven’t really been answered. Which is why he is not clear #1 pick. Pilch point on their style. Chet isn’t bringing ball up or doesn’t have an offense centered around him in Gonzaga’s half court set and unlike some of the other top 4 guys, when game is on the line Zags aren’t running through Chet. It’s Timme time
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Leonard Hamilton keeps playing future lottery picks off the bench. I don't think it's a problem.
 
Pilchard said:
Can't figure out Gonzaga. For years, agreed with the narrative that Gonzaga wasn't as good as their ranking and that they played in a crap conference and got exposed in the NCAAT every year. As stated above, Gonzaga now consistently recruits above everyone else except for Duke and Ky. They prove how good they are in OOC games. This year, Gonzaga crushed UCLA by 20 in December. It's no longer a talent issue. Gonzaga has had 4 1st round picks since the 2019 draft and Holmgren will be #5. The only thing that I can come up with is that Few's system is based on transition scoring, and in the early-season OOC and in their crappy conference, Gonzaga can get away with playing transition and out-scoring teams. By the time the tourney rolls around, Power Conference teams are honed and know how to slow tempo and play grind it out basketball. Except for St. Mary's, Gonzaga hasn't had to play that type of game, and so, they crack when they can't play into the 90s. It's happened 4 tourney's in a row against strong athletic defensive oriented teams that controlled tempo (FSU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Arkansas). I guess that Gonzaga just isn't used to that type of ball after playing Pepperdine, San Diego and Portland for the last two months.

Would love to see Arkansas beat Duke. Will be rooting for the Razorbacks, but Duke may have 6 guys that will be in the NBA next year. That may be more than the collective sum of the other teams still alive in the tournament.
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After the first round, every team is faced with winning five consecutive games against tournament quality teams, each with their own style and experience against similar teams. Gonzaga doesn't play two months worth of those teams like many of its opponents. Even the second division teams in most P6 conferences require focused quality of play to win. You can't take a night off. Gonzaga isn't as battle tested. The West Coast conference offers Gonzaga the luxury of staying #1. It doesn't afford them the depth of quality opposition needed to win against five straight top quality teams.
 
Would love to see the first 15 seed make it to the elite eight. But they’re not going to take out taking out Carolina if they win tonight.

Can you imagine if they did though - denying Carolina a final four and making the Tar Heels the team that gave up a final four to a 15 seed…
 
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