College Basketball 2022-2023

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Big Ten teams that didn't make it: Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin

 

Two years ago you would have said that was crazy

Is this your first year watching B1G basketball?

[NOLA]

I have a feeling the Big 12 will be this year's version of the past couple years of the B1G's "clearly the best conference, but the regular season kind of inflated every team's profile" and teams ended up a bit overseeded and will disappoint in the tournament.

I don’t know, but TCU has looked really good.

 

I think the AAC with Houston and Memphis could make a deep run.

[gflore34]

Couple of Kansases, sure no problem.

 

They will not have to worry about Kansas, Arkansas wins comfortably.

Something has got to change, I'd really like to see Underwood replace Mayer in the starting lineup with Epps, Mayer has been terrible lately. In fact, I'd go with a bench rotation of Harris, Goode, Rodgers and Mayer.

[NOLA]

Couple of Kansases, sure no problem.

 

They will not have to worry about Kansas, Arkansas wins comfortably.

Something has got to change, I'd really like to see Underwood replace Mayer in the starting lineup with Epps, Mayer has been terrible lately. In fact, I'd go with a bench rotation of Harris, Goode, Rodgers and Mayer.

How’s the guard play for Illinois? Arkansas’ guards are really long and can defend and are the strength of the team. If they get neutralized, the Hogs do not score.

[bukie]

Couple of Kansases, sure no problem.

 

They will not have to worry about Kansas, Arkansas wins comfortably.

Something has got to change, I'd really like to see Underwood replace Mayer in the starting lineup with Epps, Mayer has been terrible lately. In fact, I'd go with a bench rotation of Harris, Goode, Rodgers and Mayer.

How’s the guard play for Illinois? Arkansas’ guards are really long and can defend and are the strength of the team. If they get neutralized, the Hogs do not score.

Assuming both Epps and Shannon are healthy (Epps was in concussion protocol for the last week, Shannon had an ankle injury during the BTT game) they have a lot of length and interchangeable parts, as everyone not named Dain Dainja can play and guard anywhere. They did a lot more switching early on in the season and pressured defenses. Now they play mostly straight up, but they'll tinker with lineups during the game until they find something that works both offensively and defensively.

 

If Illinois is engaged from the start, they are a super dangerous team, as they beat UCLA and Texas on the road, took Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa to the brink on the road, and will occasionally look like world beaters, particularly in the second half of games. However, if they are not engaged from the start, they tend to really go through stretches of terrible play, long offensive droughts, and really slow starts (see, every game against Penn State, game vs Missouri, game at Northwestern).

 

Offensively, Illinois is a poor 3 point shooting team that takes a lot of bad 3's (heat checks from the logo, turnaround fadeaway 3's, 3's with a defender in their face), and they don't really have a go-to scorer most of the time (Shannon destroyed UCLA but has been mostly quiet the last month. Meyer is occasionally amazing and occasionally just disappears on both ends of the floor, Hawkins is 100% energy but can take bad shots, Dainja can't make anything more than 5 feet from the rim, and everyone else has been some version of injured/ineffective during the season). They've had injury issues all season between concussion protocols for Shannon, then Harris, then Epps, and a broken foot for Goode, but it looks like everyone might be healthy for one of the few times all season.

 

Defensively, Illinois is one of the best shot blocking teams in the country, and defends well against 2 point baskets, forcing a lot of long jumpshots. They tend to struggle against good 3 point shooting teams that can pass their way through the defensive pressure. When engaged they're a fantastic rebounding team (and when they aren't they can't get a rebound to save their life).

 

I can only assume they'll be ready to go from the jump Thursday, because if not then, then when?

[NOLA]

Thanks bukie.

 

A lot of what you said about Illinois could also be said about Arkansas. They can beat anyone when they’re hitting their shots, but they’re prone to long offensive droughts and for much of the season were the worst 3 pt shooting team in the SEC.

 

This is more like a Nolan Richardson team than one of Mussleman’s teams. They want to defend and run to create offense, and are great at both. They have 3 guys who can run PG, but Anthony Black is the true 1 and at 6’7” can drive smaller guards to the rim. The whole team really shares the ball and are great passers. Council IV is more of a scorer than a shooter at the 3 but can put in 20+ on any night.

 

The wild card is Nick Smith Jr. He’s a consensus lottery pick, but has only really been healthy and playing this season for the last 10 games or so. He’s been streaky trying to shake off the rust, but he’s getting more consistent late and has the ability to take over any game against any competition. The dude just is an elite scorer and might be ready to take off.

[scarey]

 

They will not have to worry about Kansas, Arkansas wins comfortably.

Something has got to change, I'd really like to see Underwood replace Mayer in the starting lineup with Epps, Mayer has been terrible lately. In fact, I'd go with a bench rotation of Harris, Goode, Rodgers and Mayer.

How’s the guard play for Illinois? Arkansas’ guards are really long and can defend and are the strength of the team. If they get neutralized, the Hogs do not score.

Assuming both Epps and Shannon are healthy (Epps was in concussion protocol for the last week, Shannon had an ankle injury during the BTT game) they have a lot of length and interchangeable parts, as everyone not named Dain Dainja can play and guard anywhere. They did a lot more switching early on in the season and pressured defenses. Now they play mostly straight up, but they'll tinker with lineups during the game until they find something that works both offensively and defensively.

 

If Illinois is engaged from the start, they are a super dangerous team, as they beat UCLA and Texas on the road, took Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa to the brink on the road, and will occasionally look like world beaters, particularly in the second half of games. However, if they are not engaged from the start, they tend to really go through stretches of terrible play, long offensive droughts, and really slow starts (see, every game against Penn State, game vs Missouri, game at Northwestern).

 

Offensively, Illinois is a poor 3 point shooting team that takes a lot of bad 3's (heat checks from the logo, turnaround fadeaway 3's, 3's with a defender in their face), and they don't really have a go-to scorer most of the time (Shannon destroyed UCLA but has been mostly quiet the last month. Meyer is occasionally amazing and occasionally just disappears on both ends of the floor, Hawkins is 100% energy but can take bad shots, Dainja can't make anything more than 5 feet from the rim, and everyone else has been some version of injured/ineffective during the season). They've had injury issues all season between concussion protocols for Shannon, then Harris, then Epps, and a broken foot for Goode, but it looks like everyone might be healthy for one of the few times all season.

 

Defensively, Illinois is one of the best shot blocking teams in the country, and defends well against 2 point baskets, forcing a lot of long jumpshots. They tend to struggle against good 3 point shooting teams that can pass their way through the defensive pressure. When engaged they're a fantastic rebounding team (and when they aren't they can't get a rebound to save their life).

 

I can only assume they'll be ready to go from the jump Thursday, because if not then, then when?

 

WTF? Why all the concussions?

[bukie]

How’s the guard play for Illinois? Arkansas’ guards are really long and can defend and are the strength of the team. If they get neutralized, the Hogs do not score.

Assuming both Epps and Shannon are healthy (Epps was in concussion protocol for the last week, Shannon had an ankle injury during the BTT game) they have a lot of length and interchangeable parts, as everyone not named Dain Dainja can play and guard anywhere. They did a lot more switching early on in the season and pressured defenses. Now they play mostly straight up, but they'll tinker with lineups during the game until they find something that works both offensively and defensively.

 

If Illinois is engaged from the start, they are a super dangerous team, as they beat UCLA and Texas on the road, took Virginia, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa to the brink on the road, and will occasionally look like world beaters, particularly in the second half of games. However, if they are not engaged from the start, they tend to really go through stretches of terrible play, long offensive droughts, and really slow starts (see, every game against Penn State, game vs Missouri, game at Northwestern).

 

Offensively, Illinois is a poor 3 point shooting team that takes a lot of bad 3's (heat checks from the logo, turnaround fadeaway 3's, 3's with a defender in their face), and they don't really have a go-to scorer most of the time (Shannon destroyed UCLA but has been mostly quiet the last month. Meyer is occasionally amazing and occasionally just disappears on both ends of the floor, Hawkins is 100% energy but can take bad shots, Dainja can't make anything more than 5 feet from the rim, and everyone else has been some version of injured/ineffective during the season). They've had injury issues all season between concussion protocols for Shannon, then Harris, then Epps, and a broken foot for Goode, but it looks like everyone might be healthy for one of the few times all season.

 

Defensively, Illinois is one of the best shot blocking teams in the country, and defends well against 2 point baskets, forcing a lot of long jumpshots. They tend to struggle against good 3 point shooting teams that can pass their way through the defensive pressure. When engaged they're a fantastic rebounding team (and when they aren't they can't get a rebound to save their life).

 

I can only assume they'll be ready to go from the jump Thursday, because if not then, then when?

 

WTF? Why all the concussions?

I can only assume they practice hard, just wish it translated into games more often.

 

But yeah, they began the year with a 10 player rotation, then Skyy was a disaster and Perrin was upset that they wanted him to do strength training before jumping into game minutes, and Goode broke his foot playing Kansas, and suddenly they're staring at a 7 guy rotation for the majority of the year with 3 freshmen who they weren't really expecting to get majority minutes so early. Then the concussion rotation started and they got really thin really fast, particularly in early January after Skyy Clark left. They played like absolute garbage for 2 weeks before Clark left, which we can only assume was to team chemistry issues where Clark was a starter but was putting in zero effort offensively and defensively. Then he left and they suddenly played amazing for about 6 weeks, despite being without Shannon for 4 games, then without Harris for 4 games, mostly thanks to Mayer being the obvious go-to guy and relishing the role. Then Mayer just took a dive in effort that he's claiming was due to caffeine poisoning or dietary issues or being overworked in practice or having an improper offensive scheme or defensive scheme (there was a new excuse from him after each poor game).

 

The past 3 weeks, then, it's just been they get down big early while pretending they're a good 3 point shooting team, Underwood lays into them at halftime, urging more post play and trying to get Mayer and Hawkins dominating down low, and seeing the team play awesome for the last 20 minutes, only to come up short at IU, Purdue, and against PSU in the BTT (though they were actually on a roll against PSU until about 8 minutes to play, then got jump shot happy again). The only good 3 point shooters they have are Melendez, who has effectively had the yips all season (finally made a 3 the last 2 games) and Goode (who is just finally starting to get into a rhythm after spending 3 months completely out), but most of the 3s are being taken by Shannon and Mayer, who are shooting below 30% from deep the past month.

 

It's like Eamonn Brennan said in the bracket analysis today: the West bracket is totally stacked, but this goofy Illinois team could absolutely win it if they can click like they were before the player health dominoes started.

[bukie]

On a non-NCAA tournament note, North Carolina has refused an NIT bid, and so their season is over.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

how in the world does the committee let Auburn go to Birmingham as a 9 seed

 

Alabama plays in the session before that, do they stay and root against Auburn?

[Old Style]

This seeding is wild

Yeah, Texas aTm got hosed.

Glad someone else said it so I didn't have to. Clearly the committee is holding a grudge for Buzz questioning them last season so publicly and with actual facts. Thought with the way we've been playing since 1/1 that we could have been a potential Final Four surprise team if we got a decent draw. Now I'm not even thinking Sweet Sixteen. To get Texas, arguably a 1 seed, in the 2nd round is horsefeathering brutal.

[Old Style]

Thanks bukie.

 

A lot of what you said about Illinois could also be said about Arkansas. They can beat anyone when they’re hitting their shots, but they’re prone to long offensive droughts and for much of the season were the worst 3 pt shooting team in the SEC.

 

This is more like a Nolan Richardson team than one of Mussleman’s teams. They want to defend and run to create offense, and are great at both. They have 3 guys who can run PG, but Anthony Black is the true 1 and at 6’7” can drive smaller guards to the rim. The whole team really shares the ball and are great passers. Council IV is more of a scorer than a shooter at the 3 but can put in 20+ on any night.

 

The wild card is Nick Smith Jr. He’s a consensus lottery pick, but has only really been healthy and playing this season for the last 10 games or so. He’s been streaky trying to shake off the rust, but he’s getting more consistent late and has the ability to take over any game against any competition. The dude just is an elite scorer and might be ready to take off.

The pigs have loads of talent. They just can't put it together on the court.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

This seeding is wild

Yeah, Texas aTm got hosed.

Glad someone else said it so I didn't have to. Clearly the committee is holding a grudge for Buzz questioning them last season so publicly and with actual facts. Thought with the way we've been playing since 1/1 that we could have been a potential Final Four surprise team if we got a decent draw. Now I'm not even thinking Sweet Sixteen. To get Texas, arguably a 1 seed, in the 2nd round is horsefeathering brutal.

 

I think there's a very good argument for aTm to be seeded higher, but their paper thin non-con, unfortunately weak SEC draw(4 games against Bama/UK/UT including tourney), and pair of quad 4 losses are a more likely culprit than an imagined vendetta against Buzz.

[Old Style]

Yeah, Texas aTm got hosed.

Glad someone else said it so I didn't have to. Clearly the committee is holding a grudge for Buzz questioning them last season so publicly and with actual facts. Thought with the way we've been playing since 1/1 that we could have been a potential Final Four surprise team if we got a decent draw. Now I'm not even thinking Sweet Sixteen. To get Texas, arguably a 1 seed, in the 2nd round is horsefeathering brutal.

 

I think there's a very good argument for aTm to be seeded higher, but their paper thin non-con, unfortunately weak SEC draw(4 games against Bama/UK/UT including tourney), and pair of quad 4 losses are a more likely culprit than an imagined vendetta against Buzz.

Our resume certainly has some big flaws. Our non-conference schedule was not good and we had some horrible losses on top of that. In no way did I think this would even be a discussion back in late December. But according to Torvik since January 1st we are playing like a top 5 or 6 team in the country. Our NET ended up at 19. Even Lunardi says we got screwed (quote below). Plenty of national writers are saying the same thing. This is not a biased homer whining about his team getting screwed. A&M finished as a 6 seed or better in all 82 of the brackets submitted in bracket matrix. We were a 4 in 11 of those brackets. Creighton finished as a 7 in almost every one of those brackets and as low as a 10 in some yet ended up as a 6 seed.

 

The committee did 7-seed Texas A&M no favors. The Aggies were clearly a line or two better than that. Then again, we said last year that A&M's public temper tantrum over its exclusion from the field was a very bad idea. Committee members are human, after all, perhaps with long memories.

[Old Style]

[SouthSideRyan]

People always overrate teams coming in "hot"

 

Penn State will beat A&M

[bukie]

People always overrate teams coming in "hot"

 

Penn State will beat A&M

I've got my eye on Oral Roberts over Duke.

[SouthSideRyan]

I thought Purdue was prone to an early exit, but their bracket has every other team I thought could lose early.

[NOLA]

Thanks bukie.

 

A lot of what you said about Illinois could also be said about Arkansas. They can beat anyone when they’re hitting their shots, but they’re prone to long offensive droughts and for much of the season were the worst 3 pt shooting team in the SEC.

 

This is more like a Nolan Richardson team than one of Mussleman’s teams. They want to defend and run to create offense, and are great at both. They have 3 guys who can run PG, but Anthony Black is the true 1 and at 6’7” can drive smaller guards to the rim. The whole team really shares the ball and are great passers. Council IV is more of a scorer than a shooter at the 3 but can put in 20+ on any night.

 

The wild card is Nick Smith Jr. He’s a consensus lottery pick, but has only really been healthy and playing this season for the last 10 games or so. He’s been streaky trying to shake off the rust, but he’s getting more consistent late and has the ability to take over any game against any competition. The dude just is an elite scorer and might be ready to take off.

The pigs have loads of talent. They just can't put it together on the court.

Trevon Brazille was easily their best player early in the season. Losing him to injury was a gut punch.

[Old Style]

People always overrate teams coming in "hot"

 

Penn State will beat A&M

This isn't some little 4 or 5 game hot streak. We have played like a Top 10 team for the past 3 months. This is what I expected before the season started. The non-conference horsefeathers show was confounding. I am concerned about PSU's ability to shoot the 3 and their ability to play defense without fouling. A&M gets to the FT line and makes more FT's than any team in the country. 25% of our points come at the line. We normally don't shoot a lot of 3's but we play tough D and pound the glass hard. Wade Taylor IV is the best PG in the SEC and one of the best in the country. Penn State may very well beat A&M but I think some of you are in for a big surprise if you haven't really seen us play.

[bukie]

I thought Purdue was prone to an early exit, but their bracket has every other team I thought could lose early.

I have a feeling this year is going to be one of those wacky years with a double digit seed in the Final Four. No team has shown to be really dominantly good all season except maybe Houston, and they haven't had much competition (their good wins are Virginia, St. Mary's and Memphis).

 

UCLA has been good all season, this might be their year. Unless they lose to Illinois in the Elite 8.

 

The East bracket, though, is chock full of teams that are either mediocre for the season but hot right now (Duke, Memphis, Kentucky), suffered injuries lately or just poor play lately that make them not as good as their seed (Tennessee, K-State), or have just won a ton of close games all season and haven't looked good in efficiency metrics (Purdue, Marquette, MSU). It's got big "FAU vs Providence in the E8" vibes.

[NOLA]

I thought Purdue was prone to an early exit, but their bracket has every other team I thought could lose early.

I have a feeling this year is going to be one of those wacky years with a double digit seed in the Final Four. No team has shown to be really dominantly good all season except maybe Houston, and they haven't had much competition (their good wins are Virginia, St. Mary's and Memphis).

 

UCLA has been good all season, this might be their year. Unless they lose to Illinois in the Elite 8.

 

The East bracket, though, is chock full of teams that are either mediocre for the season but hot right now (Duke, Memphis, Kentucky), suffered injuries lately or just poor play lately that make them not as good as their seed (Tennessee, K-State), or have just won a ton of close games all season and haven't looked good in efficiency metrics (Purdue, Marquette, MSU). It's got big "FAU vs Providence in the E8" vibes.

I’ve watched a lot of Kentucky this year and wouldn’t expect much of a run from them.

[pitchcs]

People always overrate teams coming in "hot"

 

Penn State will beat A&M

 

Wouldn't that apply to Penn St as well?

[stitchface]

I thought Purdue was prone to an early exit, but their bracket has every other team I thought could lose early.

I have a feeling this year is going to be one of those wacky years with a double digit seed in the Final Four. No team has shown to be really dominantly good all season except maybe Houston, and they haven't had much competition (their good wins are Virginia, St. Mary's and Memphis).

 

UCLA has been good all season, this might be their year. Unless they lose to Illinois in the Elite 8.

 

The East bracket, though, is chock full of teams that are either mediocre for the season but hot right now (Duke, Memphis, Kentucky), suffered injuries lately or just poor play lately that make them not as good as their seed (Tennessee, K-State), or have just won a ton of close games all season and haven't looked good in efficiency metrics (Purdue, Marquette, MSU). It's got big "FAU vs Providence in the E8" vibes.

 

Hard to lose to a team you won't be playing.

[Old Style]

Let the Madness begin!