College Basketball 2023-2024

[gflore34]

Going after the big guy to get him foul trouble was a good plan, he fouled on several occasions, the officials were not going to call them.  So, they should have taken the open 3's, passed up quite a few good looks, should have been up at halftime.  Well, I think Underwood will learn, they'll more elite eight appearances he'll get to the final four one of these times.

I guess the question is will Purdue be able to compete with UConn.  Boilers will be facing a team with a big man who can more than hold his own with Edey and who, like Edey, appears the officials have swallowed their whistles for.  It'll come down to the guards, which I still think are the Boilers kryptonite.

[bukie]

There were only going to be two ways to beat UConn - rain 3's and stretch the defense so Clingan would leave the lane, or get Clingan in foul trouble off drives. The 3's weren't falling, so they went with option 2, and the officials called an extremely loose game, so they were 0 for 19 at the rim with Clingan in the paint, and 1 for 19 from 3 if their name wasn't Marcus Domask (until the garbage time when Hansberry drained two after they were down 30 and had given up).

It was just a bad game for their shooting to completely escape them. They ended up being completely unable to do anything offensively for a 10 minute stretch early in the second half.

[gflore34]

I wish the Illini could play them again, much of what happened last night was a one-shot.  They probably would not win but, the Illini are also much better than last night' showing. Shannon wouldn't have such a terrible game, they'd hit far more of the open 3's.

[Derwood]

Burns and Eadey banging on each other is going to be really fun

[mul21]

21 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I wish the Illini could play them again, much of what happened last night was a one-shot.  They probably would not win but, the Illini are also much better than last night' showing. Shannon wouldn't have such a terrible game, they'd hit far more of the open 3's.

I thought the gameplan was trash from the outset.  It very much felt like Underwood was more interested in proving who was more macho than winning the game and that quote at halftime was very telling.  Guerrier was absolutely awful and passed up wide open 3s repeatedly as the announcers pointed out.  I agree there was no way they were winning that game but it wouldn't have been embarrassing with a little better game plan going in.  Ty Rodgers just can't be on the floor when the other team has a big man that won't leave the lane to guard him.

[CubinNY]

24 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I thought the gameplan was trash from the outset.  It very much felt like Underwood was more interested in proving who was more macho than winning the game and that quote at halftime was very telling.  Guerrier was absolutely awful and passed up wide open 3s repeatedly as the announcers pointed out.  I agree there was no way they were winning that game but it wouldn't have been embarrassing with a little better game plan going in.  Ty Rodgers just can't be on the floor when the other team has a big man that won't leave the lane to guard him.

They didn't move the ball well and they didn't move without the ball on offense. Too much 1:1 and not enough ball movement. It doomed them. 

[gflore34]

3 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

They didn't move the ball well and they didn't move without the ball on offense. Too much 1:1 and not enough ball movement. It doomed them. 

Agree completely, I guess some credit could be given to UConn, it was more on them though.  We've seen this team move the ball regardless of who their facing hell, saw excellent ball movement against Iowa State.

[javy knows my name]

Caitlin Clark is a joy to watch, that was a really entertaining game

[Derwood]

21 hours ago, javy knows my name said:

Caitlin Clark is a joy to watch, that was a really entertaining game

Clark vs. Curry in the 3 point contest next year is going to break the All Star Game

[scarey]

3 hours ago, Derwood said:

Clark vs. Curry in the 3 point contest next year is going to break the All Star Game

[Old Style]

 

[bukie]

Kentucky losing their coach to Arkansas,  because Arkansas lost their coach to USC, because USC lost their coach to SMU, is some kind of backwards coaching carousel that's somehow getting all the way to NBA coaches.

[CubinNY]

The SC team had too much size and quickness for Iowa and everyone else they played this year. Impressive. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Kentucky should call Dawn Staley

[UMFan83]

Man it would be so awesome if Billy Donovan went to Kentucky.  As a coach of the Bulls he's whatever, but the Bulls just need to do something different and Billy was always more revered in the college ranks.

[CubinNY]

23 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Man it would be so awesome if Billy Donovan went to Kentucky.  As a coach of the Bulls he's whatever, but the Bulls just need to do something different and Billy was always more revered in the college ranks.

That would close the backward coaching carousel circle.  

[NOLA]

Wow.  I was pretty bummed about Muss leaving for USC, but this changes things entirely.  Arkansas should be getting a very motivated Cal next season moving across the conference from Kentucky.

It’s being reported that the Tysons, Waltons and Jerry Jones agreed to pitch in $7M per year into NIL.  

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Finally, we get to see how good a Calipari team can be if he could win some recruiting battles.

[scarey]

Interesting game so far.

UConn just appears to be letting Zach go on Clingan with interesting results. Zach is eating him up at times, but Clingan is definitely making things uncomfortable for him. It seems they are trying to shut down any outlet passes for Edey when he gets the ball in the post, but Zach is getting a bit antsy almost like he is feeling phantom digs.

Pretty happy with Purdue's defense so far. They are playing the screen game pretty decently and forcing UConn into mid range shots, which is what they want to do.

 

I want Edey to try to go through Clingan some more. One shot fake and a turn I think puts him in a bad position to either give up an easy bucket, or foul. A third foul on Clingan would loom large, especially since Johnson has 2 as well.

It feels like UConn could rip off 8 points at any minute. Purdue's holding strong. As a Purdue fan and alum, I'm just happy they're here. I want them to represent well, and if they win it will be all that much more sweet. 

Looking forward to a good second half. Purdue's been a big time second half team all year, but UConn seems like they're the same way.

[Old Style]

UConn just too damn good. 

[scarey]

That was... a disappointing second half.

Honestly, I don't mind the loss. It's how badly they lost that gets me. I know UConn has done this all year to almost everybody they've played... but I truly believe Purdue is better than this game would indicate.

It's difficult to have optimism after watching UConn reload off of the portal like they've done the last two years. I'm looking forward to the Covid players finally ending next year. The number of 5th year seniors I've had to watch Purdue contend with the last 2 seasons is crazy. But I think the portal is going to continue to have a huge influence over the game. The Purdue's of the world are going to just have to continue to deal with the up-hill battle.

[scarey]

BTW, Tristen Newton winning MOP over Edey when Edey outscored him by 25 in the Final Four is a joke. I know Edey lost... but he was clearly the best player on the floor.

[Irrelevant Dude]

32 minutes ago, scarey said:

It's difficult to have optimism after watching UConn reload off of the portal like they've done the last two years.

There are no guarantees with the portal, but it has really consolidated the power in college basketball.  Mid-majors have virtually no shot now.  The product itself is still exciting to watch, but I really hate what it is doing to the sport as a whole.  I don't know what the solution is, and maybe there isn't one now that Pandora's box has been opened, but hopefully we aren't seeing NIL in its final form.  There has to be a way to get players paid while also not making every season a recruiting free for all.

[gflore34]

7 hours ago, scarey said:

That was... a disappointing second half.

Honestly, I don't mind the loss. It's how badly they lost that gets me. I know UConn has done this all year to almost everybody they've played... but I truly believe Purdue is better than this game would indicate.

It's difficult to have optimism after watching UConn reload off of the portal like they've done the last two years. I'm looking forward to the Covid players finally ending next year. The number of 5th year seniors I've had to watch Purdue contend with the last 2 seasons is crazy. But I think the portal is going to continue to have a huge influence over the game. The Purdue's of the world are going to just have to continue to deal with the up-hill battle.

Felt the same way after Illinois-UConn, both the Illini and Boilers are better they showed in their games.

[Rex Buckingham]

8 hours ago, scarey said:

BTW, Tristen Newton winning MOP over Edey when Edey outscored him by 25 in the Final Four is a joke. I know Edey lost... but he was clearly the best player on the floor.

UConn also stopped being worried about Edey's scoring about halfway through the 2nd half. He scored 21 2H points, all of them from 14:15 on, and not a single one of them brought them any closer than 9 points.