hey, I love UC and am wearing a UC sweatshirt at this very moment, but no one gave a shit about them nationally until Huggins started getting guys out on work release and winning some games. See also Beamer, Frank at VaTech- this kind of profile-building is essential.

Also, this made me LOL.

Not sure if it says anything about our general interest in the tourney at this point that there hasn't been a post here in a week.

I'm all Butler tonight.

Should there be anything read into the fact the 2 teams playing for it all are an 8 seed and a team that finished 9th in it's conference? Has the 1 and done player killed the tourney? It's become completely unpredictable (even moreso than it ever has).

If anything, I hope the message is that if you recruit good (not necessarily great) players and keep them together for 3-4 years, you can accomplish great things.

Also, what about Jim Calhoun and his suspension? Some say UConn shouldn't have even been in the tourney and banned from post-season play. Here was the ruling:



That sounds pretty serious. Post-season banworthy serious.

Anyway, just wanted to throw some stuff at the wall......

I'm with you Derris, GO BUTLER!

fuck Calhoun.

Ya gotta root for the Bulldogs.

Edit: but my lack of interest in the tourney due to a decimated bracket means that I prob won't bother to watch.

i'll be pulling for butler, but it was more fun last year when they were taking on a truly hated team like duke, as opposed to the meh-tastic uconn huskies

I'll also be pulling for Butler, but it's hard to root against Kemba & Lamb, IMO. I actually like both teams playing in the Final. It's been a few years since that's been the case.

But, yes, I think the 1-and-done era has kind of soured the tournament a bit. I love unpredictability, but I miss the heavyweights getting a swing at one another. For example, I'll enjoy tonight's game, but in the back of my mind, I'll still be thinking... "Man, this could of been a Kansas-Ohio State matchup!!!"

seems the truly savvy coaches will start recruiting guys they identify as solid players with zero hopes of becoming an nba player, then ride a roster full of those dudes for four years

not much point in going after the superstars, when your window to win it is so tiny in those situations

Christ what a flaming turd sandwich.

I gave up at halftime. Hopefully the world remembers this as VCU's triumphant run to the final four instead. Who won the year George Mason went- Florida?

I was saying this during the game - seems like The Little Team That Could can get to the Final Four, but rarely wins.

If you extend that moniker to teams from major conferences, I guess NC State and Nova qualify, but it seems as if lately you eventually get cold, or run into a team with 9 McDonald's All Americans.

Well, the one and done player has only been in place for 5 years and it's already changed the landscape of the sport. I think one of these types of teams will win one eventually. We've already seen unprecendented low seeds make Final Fours.

As for last night, Butler shot 18 fucking percent from the floor. EIGHTEEN. You can't win if you can't score.

I know this will sound cliche but I think Butler was the better team. They just picked the worst night of their lives to have the worst shooting performance in a final of all time. I mean, they even held Kemba to 16 (?).

It is what it is. Butler, you are now the Buffalo Bills of college basketball.

The game was ugly, but that wasn't surprising. What surprised me was that Butler ended up panicking in the second half. They played way too fast, especially in the post, the length of Uconn was just too much for them, and they shot the ball terribly. I guess not making shots can make you panic.

For the people that listen to Mike and Mike...how crazy is it that Liam's Mom picked UConn over Butler and was like two points off on picking the final score.

While it has changed the landscape of the sport, teams full of one and done's (or for that matter team's where a freshman was the best player) have fared no better than the little-engine-that-could schools in terms of winning the championship. Teams still win the big one. (so far)

Or put more succinctly, they ain't won shit.

Oh and I made it about 7-8 minutes into the second half before I had to tap out last night. That was fucking brutal. Loved both games Saturday though even if they weren't exactly clinics.

Didn't Melo pull Cuse to a championship in his Freshman year and then dip, or was I drunk?

You were probably drunk but yes, he dipped after one year.

And Bloor, yes, Teams have always won the big one but the point is that the traditional powers from major conferences no longer have a stranglehold on the Final Four. At least the way things are currently structured.

Oh darn...I didn't care to watch. Way to bring it home to the Big East UConn.

I almost added that as an addendum to my post, but since that hpnd. before one and done was the law I didn't mention it. (see also: Derris' "5 years" qualifier above)

Given your five year window from your earlier post, 17 of the 20 teams in the FF have come from major conferences. (20 out of 24 if you go back one more year to George Mason)

Not bad for the little guy; I guess it's comparable to the non major conference teams in the BCS except that Butler has actually gotten a chance to play for the championship. Twice.

I don't even know what that rule is. Does it mean you can or can't do 1 and done?

But yeah, Derris, I think you're right. The Big 4-5 conferences aren't strangeholding, but you eventually run into a team that has a coach like Harrick, and talent like Kemba and you lose.

It's just that the NBA, in 2006, said you had to be 19 to play in the League. So, basically, the best talent can't go directly into the NBA now and the ones who can, after one year, usually go. Unless you're Brandon Jennings and opt to go from high school to Europe and then get drafted.

Seems like it's been more. I'd be curious to know the stats of those reaching the Elite 8.

Still, I can't remember a mid-major team making a run prior to this current era outside of the Hank Gathers Loyola-Marymount teams.

Whatevs, I'm of the opinion that the NBA should RAISE the minimum age limit even more. Tourney needs more star power.

If they raised the age limit to 21 all of these players would've most likley been playing in the tourney (don't quote me on the ages please, I may be off a year, but you get the drift)

OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose, Andrew Bynum, Rudy Gay, Brandon Jennings, Thaddeus Young, Greg Oden.......

C'mon Derris. What about all the years Princeton has made the Sweet 16 or Cincinatti under Bob Huggins in the early nineties.

There were less out of nowhere teams ala VCU, but there's a reason The Big Dance has Cinderella Stories every fucking year.

THE BALL IS TIPPED....

5 out of 40 in the last five years. (Davidson and Xavier in '08)