NCAA Basketball 21-22 Catch-All

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPYNoS7XwAAZZzC?format=jpg&name=large)

Lol where were you when we filled out brackets?

Good half, biggest lead 5. Nice and competitive

Haha I did a family bracket and a work bracket, and I'm in the bottom third in both. The only thing redeeming about my bracket this year is that I picked KU to win it all, which I do every year. Once in awhile it pays off to take them deep.

Oh. My. God.

I am dying. I cannot breathe. How the hell did we pull this off again.

Way to go Hubert.

And South Carolina are the women's champs, winning both games by double digits.

Stele wrote:

And South Carolina are the women's champs, winning both games by double digits.

They looked pretty dominant in the bits I caught.

Tonight, the men's final. I dunno how UNC managed it, but they've been playing pretty great basketball for a few weeks now. Kansas has ALSO been playing great, and potentially at a faster pace than we've seen all season. This is where I start to worry about tired legs, particularly after that epic Duke game in the final four. Still, it'll be what it's gonna be! One more tilt!

If Agbaji keeps his shooting going and McCormack doesn't forget how to dunk, I like the Jayhawks' chances. But I will go into it expecting a humiliating loss, because there are far more of those in my memory than epic tournament wins.

Boudreaux wrote:

If Agbaji keeps his shooting going and McCormack doesn't forget how to dunk, I like the Jayhawks' chances. But I will go into it expecting a humiliating loss, because there are far more of those in my memory than epic tournament wins.

I feel you! It's somehow better to go in with the bar set low. When you win, you're pleasantly surprised. If you lose, you already knew it was gonna happen!

An interesting development for Louisville...

Nolan Smith leaves Duke for Assoc Head Coaching job at Louisville

Tyrian wrote:

An interesting development for Louisville...

Nolan Smith leaves Duke for Assoc Head Coaching job at Louisville

I've been hearing the rumors for 2 weeks but Duke kept winning.

Nolan coming home. Still a little sad he didn't play here. Could have won another with him back then when we were already overall #1 seed in 09. But maybe he can hang a banner as coach.

Stele wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

An interesting development for Louisville...

Nolan Smith leaves Duke for Assoc Head Coaching job at Louisville

I've been hearing the rumors for 2 weeks but Duke kept winning.

Nolan coming home. Still a little sad he didn't play here. Could have won another with him back then when we were already overall #1 seed in 09. But maybe he can hang a banner as coach.

I first heard it when JWill was talking about it recently... today, maybe? Basically that if they (Duke) wanted to keep recruiting at a high level, they'd better lock Nolan down... guess they couldn't do it (or didn't want to?).

Welp. Humiliating loss it is, then.

Boudreaux wrote:

Welp. Humiliating loss it is, then.

You'd think, but no... Flipped the script in the second. Some heroics, but not enough at the very end. Ah well, it was a good run.

Hat tip to Kansas, heck of a second half.

I'm sorry, I saw the score at the half and went to watch some TV, what the f*ck just happened?

Prederick wrote:

I'm sorry, I saw the score at the half and went to watch some TV, what the f*ck just happened?

Kansas made the shots they missed in the first half. UNC started playing not to lose. Kansas' defense turned it up to 11. Take your pick, it just didn't go well for my Tarheels. They fought hard as the half wore on, but there's a toll for blowing a 15 pt lead... and they just never recovered.

Proud of the team for making it where they did. I don't think anyone expected them to make it to the tournament, much less to the last game. Still, this one's gonna sting for a while.

Woo!! Way to go Kansas City Jayhawks!! RCJH!

Bacot limping. Manek tripping on final play. Love having a John Starks kind of night chucking it. Puff having the game of his life and then suffocating on the court. UNC couldn't catch a break second half.

Guess I win the bracket challenge. But wow.

Stele wrote:

Bacot limping. Manek tripping on final play. Love having a John Starks kind of night chucking it. Puff having the game of his life and then suffocating on the court. UNC couldn't catch a break second half.

Guess I win the bracket challenge. But wow.

Love was on the off-rotation day for his shots, but I think the weight of the moment finally got in his head. Towards the end of second half, when he was still missing... I saw him hesitate for the first time. He passed up a shot. Then another.

Manek left it all on the court. I don't know how many shots to the head he took during that game, but he was playing hard on both ends of the floor. Kansas' defense in the 2nd kept him from really even getting a shot up, which was a big factor in that comeback. That last play where he stumbled under the basket, I feel like it was supposed to be him taking the shot.

Puff played incredible minutes. One of the announcers said he took a shot to the stomach which keyed the vomiting (I didn't see it).

When Bacot rolled his ankle AGAIN, I knew it was over. We were down 1 with ~50 or so seconds, but that ankle gave out and dropped him to the floor. I watched in horror as he forced himself to his feet and hopped down the court so that the refs would stop play.

And of course, all I'm hearing from most Duke fans this morning is how thankful they are that we set a record for biggest blown lead. Pure class.

Tyrian wrote:

That last play where he stumbled under the basket, I feel like it was supposed to be him taking the shot.

Yes one of the basketball breakdown accounts I follow on Twitter diagrammed the play. Looked like he was supposed to run through and get the final shot. Would have been nice for them to actually execute play that Hubert wanted. If he missed he missed. But the way it ended felt almost like they didn't get a shot off. Even though they really did chuck up 4 3s in the last 20 seconds, none were particularly good shots.

Stele wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

That last play where he stumbled under the basket, I feel like it was supposed to be him taking the shot.

Yes one of the basketball breakdown accounts I follow on Twitter diagrammed the play. Looked like he was supposed to run through and get the final shot. Would have been nice for them to actually execute play that Hubert wanted. If he missed he missed. But the way it ended felt almost like they didn't get a shot off. Even though they really did chuck up 4 3s in the last 20 seconds, none were particularly good shots.

Yeah, there were way too many of those hoisting tough/contested 3s in the last 2 min. The other thing I keep seeing is the reports about the floor buckling under our second half basket. It was around the area where Bacot rolled his ankle, where Manek slipped / stumbled, and where Caleb turned his ankle in the 2nd. But I mean, same floor from the Duke game. Same basket that Kansas had in the first half (where they did actually miss a number of close shots).

It doesn't matter, though. The rough/sloppy play in the 2nd half is what sunk them. Too many turnovers in the first 4 min period led to all those fast break points. I mean, if Caleb or RJ had made 2 more threes in the game (well within their normal percentages), we win by 3. But alas, not meant to be.

Tyrian wrote:

And of course, all I'm hearing from most Duke fans this morning is how thankful they are that we set a record for biggest blown lead. Pure class.

I'm sure Tarheel Nation had only positive things to say about Coach K after his final regular and post-season game.

Carlbear95 wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

And of course, all I'm hearing from most Duke fans this morning is how thankful they are that we set a record for biggest blown lead. Pure class.

I'm sure Tarheel Nation had only positive things to say about Coach K after his final regular and post-season game.

Honestly? Every fan base has their jerkwads . The good fans can enjoy the victory and respect the fact that the other team lost and is now in a fair amount of emotional distress. Those kids left it all on the court and almost overcame the challenge despite the setback.

I've struggled with a response here for a bit, because the context of my complaint was around people I know personally. Saying things to me, or in conversation around the loss. This context was not available to you via the content of my post. These same people were complaining earlier in the season about UNC fans having no class (in part due to the student section behavior during Duke's blowout win in Chapel Hill, and the fact that we didn't hold some honoring ceremony for the GOAT coach at halftime).

*shrug* I understand where you're coming from. But in the end, no player sustained any serious injury, there was no hooliganism after the game as far as I know, no riots in Chapel Hill or Lawrence (or Durham). UNC-Duke is one of the most heated rivalries in sports.

Not sure how often you head out to basketball games at UNC.. I admit I've never, but come on, next time Duke plays @UNC, don't you want highlights of UNC sending coach K packing (forever) to be played on a loop on the jumbo-tron? A month ago when I posted my little Coach K "rememberance", I spent 30 minutes looking for a photo of him crying after losing to Cal, which I could have swore happened, but obviously the internet back then wasn't what it is today, so I had to settle on the SI cover. Don't tell me you didn't smile a bit when you saw it, and you probably would have smiled more if I found a Coach-K crying picture.

I still get goosebumps watching The Play. As most have pointed out, I didn't go to that game.. I didn't even know who Cal was in 1982. Maybe there was an illegal lateral (there wasn't), it was some dude name John Elway's last game, who cried and made some impassioned plea for justice. Put it in my veins.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Not sure how often you head out to basketball games at UNC.. I admit I've never, but come on, next time Duke plays @UNC, don't you want highlights of UNC sending coach K packing (forever) to be played on a loop on the jumbo-tron?

Honest answer? No, not really. Those highlights have their place in the season wrap up, and the accolades for past accomplishments... but it would feel pretty crappy to keep trotting it out each time Duke came to town. I know it happened, the Duke fans know it happened... rubbing it in their face forever without cause feels bad. If they wanna come at me with something, then sure, it's a nice 'trump' card to have... but past victories are just that. Fuel for the fire. The games that matter are the ones you have yet to play.

From a fanbase that sets up whole reddit communities just to troll their rivals and that's just the start... I just let it roll off of me and do my own thing. I can't be responsible for other people who may like the same team as I do.

https://www.reddit.com/r/olltide/

Tyrian wrote:

I know it happened, the Duke fans know it happened... rubbing it in their face forever without cause feels bad. If they wanna come at me with something, then sure, it's a nice 'trump' card to have... but past victories are just that. Fuel for the fire.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. This is exactly what sports fandom, particularly a rivalry like UNC-Duke is all about to me. As long as no one is getting hurt and we're not cheering for injury, poking fun and rubbing in face is part of sports for me. I hate to use Yankee Fan as an example, but prior to 2004, the chant "19-18" broke out pretty much constantly regardless if you were in the Bronx or in Boston. I certainly regret some of the things I've done as a fan when I was in college, and I'm thankful there were no smartphones back then, but I'd be lying fi I told you I still don't think about them, and my group of friends certainly loves to joke about them.

And of course my context is different from yours. Cal hasn't been to the Rose Bowl in 60 years, hasn't won a Basketball championship in I have no idea how many years. I need something to cheer for, and if it isn't my team, schaudenfreude it is.

Carlbear95 wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

I know it happened, the Duke fans know it happened... rubbing it in their face forever without cause feels bad. If they wanna come at me with something, then sure, it's a nice 'trump' card to have... but past victories are just that. Fuel for the fire.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. This is exactly what sports fandom, particularly a rivalry like UNC-Duke is all about to me. As long as no one is getting hurt and we're not cheering for injury, poking fun and rubbing in face is part of sports for me. I hate to use Yankee Fan as an example, but prior to 2004, the chant "19-18" broke out pretty much constantly regardless if you were in the Bronx or in Boston. I certainly regret some of the things I've done as a fan when I was in college, and I'm thankful there were no smartphones back then, but I'd be lying fi I told you I still don't think about them, and my group of friends certainly loves to joke about them.

And of course my context is different from yours. Cal hasn't been to the Rose Bowl in 60 years, hasn't won a Basketball championship in I have no idea how many years. I need something to cheer for, and if it isn't my team, schaudenfreude it is.

I think for me it's because I have a number of close friends that are also Duke fans. When one of our teams wins, we have direct exposure to the absolute heartbreak that encompasses the other side. They are people too, and because I care about them, it's harder to dwell in the moment. It doesn't mean I'm not thrilled for the victory, but it just means I know there's another side to the coin.

I'm wary of absolutes.

It doesn't mean there can't be good back n forth between the fan bases, but I feel like it's really too easy to take it too far. You don't always know how what you say will be absorbed by the person you're talking to. Thin / Thick skin isn't universal, and I don't think it's incumbent upon a fan of any particular team to need to 'toughen up' to participate.

But, that's only my experience/musings. Agree to disagree.

I remember fans of UK calling Louisville's players the n-word in the 80s and 90s. To my face. They refused to play us for 24 years through the 60s and 70s because their coach was a racist. And considering the way their fans treated Tubby Smith in the aughts, and considering how many of their fans are Trumpers... Well f*ck UK fans. Yeah even the ones that are in my family.