NCAA Basketball 20-21 Catch-All

I honestly think the ncaa selection committee loves the idea of UNC as an 11 seed. No guarantee they'd upset the 6, but it'd probably make for good ratings.

Regardless, UNC won their impromptu matchup with Northeastern despite some shaky play in the first half. The remaining slate is down to 4 now... Louisville, FSU, Syracuse, and Duke (since the BC game was also postponed).

I imagine they have to win 2 of those to remain on the bubble. 3 to improve their seeding even slightly (of course, the 'reward' for being an 8 or 9 is likely a second round game with a #1 seed) .

Worried after Louisville canceled again tonight, if Saturday is going to happen. Already 16 days since our last game. And the 18 game break in Dec is when we came back and got drilled by Wisconsin without our PG.

Looks like Clemson is on a second pause this week too, after they already had a big one before.

6pm, Louisville at UNC. Good luck, Tyrian.

And Louisville announced yesterday that injured senior center Malik Williams is back and will play today.

But due to contact tracing, testing, etc. we're not sure who else is playing today until close to game time. So we may be short handed and not have a chance from the start. Then again it's our first game in 19 days, so we're going to struggle either way. Hopefully we have enough players to keep it close and have a chance to win.

Stele wrote:

6pm, Louisville at UNC. Good luck, Tyrian.

And Louisville announced yesterday that injured senior center Malik Williams is back and will play today.

But due to contact tracing, testing, etc. we're not sure who else is playing today until close to game time. So we may be short handed and not have a chance from the start. Then again it's our first game in 19 days, so we're going to struggle either way. Hopefully we have enough players to keep it close and have a chance to win.

And to you, sir. I hadn't realized it had been 3 weeks since you last played a game. This season is insane.

Frankly, I have no idea what even makes a difference anymore. UNC's had week pauses due to postponements and come out flat. Then they'll play a solid game of offense and follow it up with a day of being unable to throw it in the ocean.

It's the ACC, and it's still the weird season we've had all along... so we're definitely in any-given-day territory.

See ya on the other side.

f*ck

So, uh. That did not go like I expected. The rust was evident for Louisville. 3 weeks off is a brutal stretch, and probably had a significant impact on game readiness.

Was nice to see several tarheels hitting from outside, even if they couldn't buy a free throw. Still a lot of work for Caleb Love to do, as he struggled with ball pressure early in the 2nd half.

I'll take the W, we needed it for our resume.

Cards bounce back with a wire to wire win by 12 over Notre Dame. Looked much better.

Also GaTech beat VaTech on the road handily. Very interesting. Cards only beat VaTech by 2 at home but handled GT by 20 right before this last pause. Play at VaTech next week.

But first, revitalized Duke on Saturday.

Stele wrote:

Cards bounce back with a wire to wire win by 12 over Notre Dame. Looked much better.

Also GaTech beat VaTech on the road handily. Very interesting. Cards only beat VaTech by 2 at home but handled GT by 20 right before this last pause. Play at VaTech next week.

But first, revitalized Duke on Saturday.

Yeah, Louisville looked far more together last night than in Chapel Hill. I'm looking forward to you beating Duke on Saturday.

The GT / VT game was surprising to me as well. GT looked like that scrappy, confident team that sometimes shows up to play in the ACC. They've done that to a number of teams this year, and have been IN other games they didn't win. If you sleep on em, they will bite you (or sting, I guess. You know, yellowjackets...)!

Welp, that went exactly as I was afraid it would. The useless UNC team showed up and forgot how to play defense or shoot.

I gave up with 3 minutes to go.

What an absolute disappointment.

Hah imagine how we feel. Where was that UNC team Saturday?

And UVA goes down again, at home, to NCSU. 3 losses in a row. And their only win over a ranked team was Clemson way back before their first pause when the wheels came off. UVA might actually suck this year.

FSU back on top in ACC.

Stele wrote:

Hah imagine how we feel. Where was that UNC team Saturday?

And UVA goes down again, at home, to NCSU. 3 losses in a row. And their only win over a ranked team was Clemson way back before their first pause when the wheels came off. UVA might actually suck this year.

FSU back on top in ACC.

Yeah, who knows. Typical UNC this season, Jekyll and Hyde.

UVA is actually kinda similar. They show moments of brilliance and then follow up with inexplicable collapses. They definitely aren't as talented as the 2019 team.

FSU is absolutely the best team in the ACC

Well holy crap on toast. After that dismal first half, I didn't think they had an inkling of a shot.. but they hit a crapload of free throws to seal the deal in the 2nd. Insanity.

I'll definitely take the W after that abysmal loss on Wednesday!

WHEW!

Cards survive overtime @Duke.

Terrible whistles. Duke didn't make a FG for the final 5 minutes of regulation but still came back from down 3 to take the lead. Foul on every damn possession, with very few on them, even though they were going full court press. Frustrating as hell but we had a shot to win in regulation.

Finally got a couple calls in OT and made our FTs to hold them off.

Stele wrote:

WHEW!

Cards survive overtime @Duke.

Terrible whistles. Duke didn't make a FG for the final 5 minutes of regulation but still came back from down 3 to take the lead. Foul on every damn possession, with very few on them, even though they were going full court press. Frustrating as hell but we had a shot to win in regulation.

Finally got a couple calls in OT and made our FTs to hold them off.

Yeah, some of the calls were completely bizarre. The baseline steps? It honestly didn't look like either player had actually stepped on the line. And that goldwire double dribble wait no it's not? WTF? The fouls were also insanely placed. Touch foul / no call / touch foul / no call / no call... Are we watching the same game, refs?

But, the Cards hold on! And Kentucky lost!

Tyrian wrote:

Well holy crap on toast. After that dismal first half, I didn't think they had an inkling of a shot.. but they hit a crapload of free throws to seal the deal in the 2nd. Insanity.

I'll definitely take the W after that abysmal loss on Wednesday!

It also didn’t help us that we did not respond to your pressure in the 2nd half and gave the ball away like Oprah and her cars.

I knew this is a rebuilding year, hopefully we rebound even stronger

Ego Man wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

Well holy crap on toast. After that dismal first half, I didn't think they had an inkling of a shot.. but they hit a crapload of free throws to seal the deal in the 2nd. Insanity.

I'll definitely take the W after that abysmal loss on Wednesday!

It also didn’t help us that we did not respond to your pressure in the 2nd half and gave the ball away like Oprah and her cars.

I knew this is a rebuilding year, hopefully we rebound even stronger

I was surprised by the mostly veteran crew having trouble responding to the UNC pressure. FSU is so deep and relatively long at every position, I figured they'd be throwing over the top in most cases. Not sure if it was a bit of shock that UNC came out like they were a different team, or what. Maybe the cursed rim theory held true... we couldn't buy an outside shot in the first half, but that was more true for y'all in the 2nd.

Shouldn't drop you out of the top 25, though. You might drop to 16-20, but who knows. If we hadn't lost to Marquette, we might have been knocking on the door of the top 25 this coming week.

And down went Baylor finally last night.

Down went Villanova again this afternoon.

It appears Gonzaga is the only great team this season.

edit: and down goes Ohio State again.

Woo! Go Jayhawks! This season is the least interested I have been in college basketball in 25 years, but that game last night was fun to watch.

Stele wrote:

And down went Baylor finally last night.

Down went Villanova again this afternoon.

It appears Gonzaga is the only great team this season.

Michigan is playing pretty well these days. Gonzaga is the only undefeated team remaining, and they've played some competition, but nothing ranked since their game vs UVA? Kansas looked like a different team last night, and Baylor still looks like they're shaking off rust from their most recent pause. I expect they'll still be a tough out in the NCAAT.

Iowa over Ohio State, and NCSU holds off a fairly depleted Pitt to round out Sunday.

Michigan is definitely the best of the Big 10 but they just lost last week too. All the top 5 except Gonzaga has lost either last week or this week I think.

Stele wrote:

Michigan is definitely the best of the Big 10 but they just lost last week too. All the top 5 except Gonzaga has lost either last week or this week I think.

I just wonder if Gonzaga had a conference slate like the Big10 or Big12 they'd still be undefeated. Don't get me wrong, they are a juggernaut on the floor. I just think the quality of opponents aren't equal.

Damn, just saw that Louisville's Malik Williams is out for another 4-6 weeks after reinjuring the foot. What a devastating blow for that young man and the Cards as a whole. Sorry Stele.

Sigh. Too many missed 3s, too many missed free throws. Despite that we had a chance.... and flubbed that too.

Oh well.

Tyrian wrote:

Damn, just saw that Louisville's Malik Williams is out for another 4-6 weeks after reinjuring the foot. What a devastating blow for that young man and the Cards as a whole. Sorry Stele. :(

Thanks. This season has been one thing after the other.

Sorry about your game today. Seems y'all are really Jekyll and Hyde the last couple weeks

Stele wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

Damn, just saw that Louisville's Malik Williams is out for another 4-6 weeks after reinjuring the foot. What a devastating blow for that young man and the Cards as a whole. Sorry Stele. :(

Thanks. This season has been one thing after the other.

Sorry about your game today. Seems y'all are really Jekyll and Hyde the last couple weeks

It's an absolute mystery. You never know what team is going to show up any given night. Though frankly, the last couple of games are disturbingly similar to early season, where they would play poorly in the the first half and then decide to try in the second.

Still, had Walton made a single three, the game has a different outcome. Very frustrating.

I stand corrected. Illinois just beat the pants off Michigan at Michigan.

Baylor survives OT at WVU.

GT is going blow for blow at home against Duke.

To follow up, Duke falls in OT.... And Kentucky loses again!

f*ck Virginia

Stele wrote:

f*ck Virginia

I feel the same way when we play them. I think we've lost 7 straight or more? It's terrible.

However, I will totally take the W over Duke this evening. The 'good' Tarheels showed up tonight, as did the 'mediocre at best' Duke. Classic beatdown, and frankly we owed em for last year.

Yeah well Louisville went from 3rd to 7th in ACC seed with today's results. Now we get FSU in the quarters instead of the semis. Going to suck.

Trending towards the bubble or a 12/11 seed without some wins next week.