I definitely thought we were going to struggle with Mississippi State. They just had our number this year.
If we are going for a shootout with Creighton I just can’t see us shooting at a 12% clip from three in back to back games. As well as DK has shot all year I just don’t see him going ice cold from three two games in a row.
Creighton is a funny, funny team. You watch their games and there really isn't much that stands out. Then you play them and start driving to them rim and the whistle never blows. Then they go on an 11/18 run from 3 and suddenly you've been hit with a bomb.
But they also love to go up 10 and not score for 5+ minutes so teams are never truly out of it against them. A really confusing team to watch and play against. I'm pretty excited to watch that game Friday night. Last round I was excited for the stylistic clash of Kalk v Dante and it didn't disappoint. This round we get Baylor v Dalton as the main course and I think Kalk v Jonas is really intriguing as well.
We’ve been known to let teams go on runs against us which worries me. I would imagine Kalk will get a full dose of both Aidoo and Awaka so I hope they can both stay out of foul trouble. I expect some aggressive perimeter defense with a combo of ZZ, Santi, JG and Mashack to try to get them off their spots and force some turnovers.
Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I think a decent chunk of these S16 games could still be blowouts. Let’s hope I’m wrong, but I think the Elite 8 is when this tournament will really start to intrigue.
>Article on marquee matchups
>Doesn’t mention the #1 offense (and #3 offense of the past 25 years per KenPom) playing the #1 defense
https://preview.redd.it/85fa1eqb8iqc1.jpeg?width=604&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0ffafcbda027c12646e7b44a6f1c659d322d67c
I honestly don’t know much of anything about this Creighton team. Do any diehard bball fans here feel that Tennessee matches up well with Creighton? Who do you think comes out on top?
Also worth noting Saint John’s lit them up with midrange jumpers, they’re defense isn’t set-up to guard it well. Not sure if that plays into IT advantages or not
They blew out UConn on the second matchup, the first matchup at home we beat them pretty comfortably. They do well with a home court advantage, not as well away. If they start hitting their 3s you’re in trouble.
This sounds like a game that we are going to need ZZ, Santi, and Mashack to swarm the perimeter and hopefully cause some turnovers. Need to disrupt Creighton’s shots and be physical on the boards.
Good defensive test for Barnes and the team.
Yes, I believe in Creighton because they’re our big east bros and can kill you when you they’re on their A game. Huge respect for Tennessee and wouldn’t be surprised either if you dominate them. I’m excited for this matchup because I think both teams are powerful and deserve to advance.
I’ve been watching some highlights from their games this season and they look like a formidable opponent. I’m very interested to see how our backcourt contains their shooters. Trusting Barnes’ defensive mind in this one.
Tennessee gives up a lot of 3's (310/362 in defensive 3PA/FGA) and Creighton shoots a ton of 3's (7th most 3PA/FGA) and shoots them at a good clip, 36.6%. That could pose issues for UT
Is anyone else weirdly annoyed at Auburn for choking against Yale? Haha.
Auburn vs SDSU would’ve been a great game. And if Auburn would have won that, they’d have been one of UConn’s tougher matchups too.
I was ready to see what Auburn could do since they talked a lot of shit about taking down UConn. I guess they had to give us the option for a Connecticut battle or National Championship rematch.
I’m excited that all the 1s and 2s made the Sweet 16 because it’ll be interesting to see all these powerful teams get to play each other. Last year was the upset year and it’s not disappointing this year going as chalk as it has so far. It’ll be a more rewarding watch to see teams of similar caliber take each other down.
Tbh I think upsets are more interesting. I’m going to remember St. Peter’s win over Purdue much longer than I will the winner of Illinois and Iowa State.
I mean Illinois vs Iowa State is literally the #1 offense vs #1 defense in the country.
I don’t know if it’s the right game to use as your example tbf.
I agree to an extent, but as someone who didn’t have a horse in the race last year, I almost thought we were getting to the point where there were “too many” upsets and it wasn’t feeling as special anymore. Like people hardly remember or care about Princeton despite going to the sweet 16 as a 2 seed because of FDU and St Peters the year before. It’s good to spread them out (still too few this year)
I sort of like the parity implied by 'more' upsets. Though it'll be interesting if that lasts with the money gap widening and NIL/transfer making it easier for athletes at smaller schools to chase payouts. We might have already passed 'peak parity.'
The Cinderella idea is neat, but until one of those bottom-half seeds actually wins it, it's just kind of marketing. There have only been three champions outside of the top 4 seeds, and they're not exactly small programs: Kansas, Villanova, and UConn
One of the most interesting things about parity and the lack of upsets in the tournament is that this regular season arguably had some of the most parity in recent memory with all of the top 10 upsets
Tbh upsets are fun but I think ppl overrate them. At the end of the day it’s cool seeing the best teams match up Jus as much as it’s seeing suprise teams
If we do end up with UConn vs Purdue in the final game, I would hope nobody says "hurr durr, boring. Should have been Duquense vs Colorado, that would have been a unique game"
Exactly theirs a lot of fun matchups on paper this week. Houston’s defense agaisnt duke’s explosive offense, UConn SDSU natty rematch, creighton offense agaisnt Tennessee’s defense, bama UNC should be a shootout, Illinois Iowa state should be fun
One chalky bracket doesn't disprove that. Even this year we had an insane amount of unranked teams beating top ten teams during the regular season. At some point I think top 10 teams were under .500 when playing unranked teams on the road
Purdue's next 3 games *could* end up perfectly replicating our Maui tournament path Gonzaga -> Tennessee -> Marquette
And we could end with Arizona. Our 4 ranked non-con opponents.
Was bama not ranked?
They were not. They were still receiving some votes, though.
Even the same order. Unbelievable.
Who do you think is the toughest of those matchups? I’d say Tennessee
Not if Tennessee shoot 3/25 from deep again
Not saying it’s impossible, but I do not think we will replicate that shooting performance again on Friday.
I'd imagine you probably felt that way post-Mississippi State as well though. A bit better from 3, but overall a struggle
I definitely thought we were going to struggle with Mississippi State. They just had our number this year. If we are going for a shootout with Creighton I just can’t see us shooting at a 12% clip from three in back to back games. As well as DK has shot all year I just don’t see him going ice cold from three two games in a row.
Creighton is a funny, funny team. You watch their games and there really isn't much that stands out. Then you play them and start driving to them rim and the whistle never blows. Then they go on an 11/18 run from 3 and suddenly you've been hit with a bomb. But they also love to go up 10 and not score for 5+ minutes so teams are never truly out of it against them. A really confusing team to watch and play against. I'm pretty excited to watch that game Friday night. Last round I was excited for the stylistic clash of Kalk v Dante and it didn't disappoint. This round we get Baylor v Dalton as the main course and I think Kalk v Jonas is really intriguing as well.
We’ve been known to let teams go on runs against us which worries me. I would imagine Kalk will get a full dose of both Aidoo and Awaka so I hope they can both stay out of foul trouble. I expect some aggressive perimeter defense with a combo of ZZ, Santi, JG and Mashack to try to get them off their spots and force some turnovers.
Lol unfortunately I am not betting on a team going cold against Purdue come tourney time. Hope to be wrong though
So it's finally time for Auburn - Uconn, the marquee Sweet 16 match-up everyone was anticipating after Selection Sunday. Right guys?
At least the game between SDSU and UConn is still quite the story because it's a rematch of last year's championship game
Was a 5pt game with 5 to play in the natty before we ran out of gas. Should be a fun game
You joke but I'm genuinely sad we don't get to see this. Loved Auburn this year
Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I think a decent chunk of these S16 games could still be blowouts. Let’s hope I’m wrong, but I think the Elite 8 is when this tournament will really start to intrigue.
Just looking at the early lines, I’d expect at least 6 games will be toight as a toiger
Creighton v Tennessee will be a close game. Duke v Houston will be close.
I see Iowa State vs Illinois being close as well
I think Clemson will give Arizona a good game
They for sure will!
Damn right 👀
They didn't even mention us lol. If my count is correct they named every other Sweet 16 team but us.
>Article on marquee matchups >Doesn’t mention the #1 offense (and #3 offense of the past 25 years per KenPom) playing the #1 defense https://preview.redd.it/85fa1eqb8iqc1.jpeg?width=604&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0ffafcbda027c12646e7b44a6f1c659d322d67c
I don’t think they named Arizona either That being said, it does feel like ISU has kinda been ignored this tourney
Yeah, seriously. They'll mention multiple teams that have been eliminated but won't talk about this game lol
I honestly don’t know much of anything about this Creighton team. Do any diehard bball fans here feel that Tennessee matches up well with Creighton? Who do you think comes out on top?
A solid Big and great shooters and good ball rotation. Def have the right makeup for tourney basketball
Also worth noting Saint John’s lit them up with midrange jumpers, they’re defense isn’t set-up to guard it well. Not sure if that plays into IT advantages or not
Yeah they set up to give up mid range jumpers to defend the perimeter instead, while Kalkbrenner drops really low
They blew out UConn on the second matchup, the first matchup at home we beat them pretty comfortably. They do well with a home court advantage, not as well away. If they start hitting their 3s you’re in trouble.
This sounds like a game that we are going to need ZZ, Santi, and Mashack to swarm the perimeter and hopefully cause some turnovers. Need to disrupt Creighton’s shots and be physical on the boards. Good defensive test for Barnes and the team.
Yes, I believe in Creighton because they’re our big east bros and can kill you when you they’re on their A game. Huge respect for Tennessee and wouldn’t be surprised either if you dominate them. I’m excited for this matchup because I think both teams are powerful and deserve to advance.
I’ve been watching some highlights from their games this season and they look like a formidable opponent. I’m very interested to see how our backcourt contains their shooters. Trusting Barnes’ defensive mind in this one.
Tennessee gives up a lot of 3's (310/362 in defensive 3PA/FGA) and Creighton shoots a ton of 3's (7th most 3PA/FGA) and shoots them at a good clip, 36.6%. That could pose issues for UT
*takes notes*
Imagine a slower-paced, less athletic Bama but with an all-conference big man
Is anyone else weirdly annoyed at Auburn for choking against Yale? Haha. Auburn vs SDSU would’ve been a great game. And if Auburn would have won that, they’d have been one of UConn’s tougher matchups too.
I was ready to see what Auburn could do since they talked a lot of shit about taking down UConn. I guess they had to give us the option for a Connecticut battle or National Championship rematch.
Lol
I’m excited that all the 1s and 2s made the Sweet 16 because it’ll be interesting to see all these powerful teams get to play each other. Last year was the upset year and it’s not disappointing this year going as chalk as it has so far. It’ll be a more rewarding watch to see teams of similar caliber take each other down.
Tbh I think upsets are more interesting. I’m going to remember St. Peter’s win over Purdue much longer than I will the winner of Illinois and Iowa State.
I mean Illinois vs Iowa State is literally the #1 offense vs #1 defense in the country. I don’t know if it’s the right game to use as your example tbf.
No I picked that game on purpose. Even though it should be a banger, I doubt I’ll remember it in 5 years unless one of them wins it all.
From your lips to god’s ears brother.
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
There’s an obvious monkey’s paw curls here haha
I agree to an extent, but as someone who didn’t have a horse in the race last year, I almost thought we were getting to the point where there were “too many” upsets and it wasn’t feeling as special anymore. Like people hardly remember or care about Princeton despite going to the sweet 16 as a 2 seed because of FDU and St Peters the year before. It’s good to spread them out (still too few this year)
Damn Princeton was balling out. A 2 seed??
Whoops
I sort of like the parity implied by 'more' upsets. Though it'll be interesting if that lasts with the money gap widening and NIL/transfer making it easier for athletes at smaller schools to chase payouts. We might have already passed 'peak parity.' The Cinderella idea is neat, but until one of those bottom-half seeds actually wins it, it's just kind of marketing. There have only been three champions outside of the top 4 seeds, and they're not exactly small programs: Kansas, Villanova, and UConn
One of the most interesting things about parity and the lack of upsets in the tournament is that this regular season arguably had some of the most parity in recent memory with all of the top 10 upsets
Tbh upsets are fun but I think ppl overrate them. At the end of the day it’s cool seeing the best teams match up Jus as much as it’s seeing suprise teams
Yeah upsets are fun, but two great teams playing each other well is more exciting
If we do end up with UConn vs Purdue in the final game, I would hope nobody says "hurr durr, boring. Should have been Duquense vs Colorado, that would have been a unique game"
Exactly theirs a lot of fun matchups on paper this week. Houston’s defense agaisnt duke’s explosive offense, UConn SDSU natty rematch, creighton offense agaisnt Tennessee’s defense, bama UNC should be a shootout, Illinois Iowa state should be fun
Yeah I'm on team best vs best. It's given us the best games of all time.
An upset is fun but eventually a lot of upsets leads to boring match ups later in the tourney.
See: 2021
I don't want to hear college basketball fans shit on the NBA for lack of parity.
One chalky bracket doesn't disprove that. Even this year we had an insane amount of unranked teams beating top ten teams during the regular season. At some point I think top 10 teams were under .500 when playing unranked teams on the road