Gopher Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) How about this list of guards whose fathers were in the NBA, all of which should be in this year's tournament... Isaiah Thomas Jr., Seth Curry (dad and bro), David Stockton, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Pretty good blood lines, in terms of guard play, if you ask me. Actually, the list of college players whose dads played in the NBA is much longer than that (Sampson, Sikma, Jordan, Rice, Thompson, McMillan, Turner, Mason, Dumars, Pressey, Hawkins, etc.), but some of them have not been nearly as dominant as their fathers were... at least, not yet. Two former NBA players, Paul Pressey and Mychal Thompson, have two sons playing D-I ball... Pressey's sons both play at Missouri, while Thompson's are at separate schools (Pepperdine and Washington State). Edited March 13, 2011 by Gopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Gotta say, if the big dance is half as interesting as the little dances have been, we're in for a great March. Duke's got to be holding their breath about Smith's toe. That would truly be a shame if he's out for any significant stretch. To think they were arguably the best team in the nation before Irving went down and then to lose a Natl Player of the Year candidate as well. Effing brutal. I'm not sure whether I should be confident at the fact that UNC keeps figuring out how to win or worried that, by and large, they're scraping by teams that are really not that good. Oh well, since it really doesn't matter how I feel, I'll go with confident. My chef is from Bristol, so he's freaking giddy about the Huskies. What a run and that Walker kid is a beast! Nice comeback win by the Heels today. Meanwhile, Smith not only plays, but scores nearly 30 points for Duke. As for how entertaining this week's games have been, they keep getting better. I'm not sure I can remember a week of conference tournaments with this many close finishes and/or buzzer-beaters... Both Big East Semi's go to OT last night, Princeton wins the Ivy at the buzzer, Thomas and Washington beat 'Zona at the buzzer (in OT), and in maybe the most intense game of the day, Akron knocks off Kent State. The atmosphere for that game was crazy... makes Duke-UNC look like child's play. I say that jokingly, but there was actually almost a fist-fight after the game concluded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) Did anybody see Digger Phelps' forehead the other night? I'm not sure what it was, but it looked like his head was starting to cave in, right in the middle of his forehead. Today, it's gone. Not sure what it was, but I'm 99% sure it wasn't my TV. I'll probably take chit for this but I was rather pissed at ESPN for allowing him on the air with that smudge on his forehead. It was ashes from Ash Wednesday service that Christians smear on themselves. Some symbolic thing. It pissed me off because it was a tacit endorsement of one religion over another by ESPN. Other than that, the conference tourneys have been fantastic. I loved San Diego State evening the score in taking down BYU in the Mountain West Tourney last night and of course, the fantastic run by UCONN in the BET. Penn State is still alive after taking apart MSU in the Big Ten semi final. I think that their game with Ohio State could be closer than a lot of people think. Then there's Duke UNC in the ACC tournament. It doesn't get much better than this. Edited March 13, 2011 by Kid Cid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) I'll probably take chit for this but I was rather pissed at ESPN for allowing him on the air with that smudge on his forehead. It was ashes from Ash Wednesday service that Christians smear on themselves. Some symbolic thing. It pissed me off because it was a tacit endorsement of one religion over another by ESPN. Other than that, the conference tourneys have been fantastic. I loved San Diego State evening the score in taking down BYU in the Mountain West Tourney last night and of course, the fantastic run by UCONN in the BET. Penn State is still alive after taking apart MSU in the Big Ten semi final. I think that their game with Ohio State could be closer than a lot of people think. Then there's Duke UNC in the ACC tournament. It doesn't get much better than this. I had no idea that's what that was, but in hindsight, probably should have been able to figure it out. Of course, I'm not Catholic, either, and had no idea it was Ash Wednesday. Tourneys have been absolutely fantastic this week. Today's conference championships have been somewhat anti-climatic, but that's pretty typical (usually, Saturday is the best day, by far). Here is my final projected field... If Penn State (trailing at halftime) somehow pulls off the win over OSU, I would probably move them up to an 11, swapping spots with Michigan. PROJECTED SEEDS (RPI): 1 - Ohio State (2), Kansas (1), Duke (4), Pittsburgh (6) 2 - Notre Dame (9), SDSU (3), North Carolina (6), Texas (13) 3 - Connecticut (14), Kentucky (8), Florida (10), Purdue (8) 4 - Syracuse (17), BYU (4), Louisville (21), Wisconsin (14) 5 - Texas A&M (30), UNLV (25), Arizona (15), Vanderbilt (27) 6 - West Virginia (19), Cincinnati (32), Kansas State (18), Temple (29) 7 - Georgetown (12), Washington (39), Xavier (20), St. John's (24) 8 - Old Dominion (24), Missouri (33), UCLA (31), Florida State (45) 9 - Richmond (44), Memphis (39), Utah State (15), Tennessee (37) 10- George Mason (26), Butler (35), Marquette (58), Gonzaga (62) 11- Villanova (36), Clemson (61), Michigan State (51), Michigan (56) 12- Illinois (38), Penn State (55), Virginia Tech (64), USC (70), Colorado (67), St. Mary's (47) 13- Princeton (47), Belmont (52), Oakland (58), Bucknell (81) 14- Morehead State (79), Long Island (77), Indiana State (84), Akron (117) 15- St. Peter's (101), Northern Colorado (112), Wofford (119), Boston U. (135) 16- UNC-Asheville (149), Hampton (165), UCSB (170), Arkansas-LR (201), UT-SA (202), Alabama State (267) OUT: Boston College (44), Georgia (40), Alabama (78), UAB (28), VCU (49), Colorado State (42), California (65), Washington State (76) I'm pretty confident on the teams I left out... VCU and UAB simply didn't beat enough quality teams to make the field, in my opinion. The ones I'm somewhat torn about are my first three out... Georgia, Alabama, and BC. Alabama falls into the same category as the two teams above (didn't beat anybody, pretty much all year). Unfortunately, for Georgia, it's going to be hard to make an argument for Georgia to be in, if 'Bama is out, since 'Bama beat Georgia twice within the past week or so. As for BC, I can't really say much, other than two things worked against them. First, Clemson and Virginia Tech (who were the other two ACC teams on the bubble, a week ago) both made it further in the ACC tournament. Secondly, the other teams on the bubble (Penn State, Michigan State, USC, Colorado, St. Mary's) all won at least one game this week (some of them won 2 or 3). As unfair as I think it is, this week gets a lot of attention... probably more than it should... in determining the field. BC lost it's only game this week, and as a result, I think they're going to miss out. If they do squeeze in (and the committee looks more at the "full body of work" instead of concentrating on this week), it's going to be at the expense of St. Mary's, in my opinion. St. Mary's won a somewhat meaningless game on Friday night, against Weber State. I think BC's body of work is stronger than St. Mary's, but the committee could go either way on those two teams. That said, I'll probably second-guess a few of these teams several times in the next hour or so. Edited March 13, 2011 by Gopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 (edited) Just to correct one thing... I made reference, a few times, to the 30 automatic bids (and 38 at-large). It's actually 31 automatic, and 37 at-large. I think what confused me is that it was always 34 at-large bids, and I was thinking it would now be 38 (with four additional games). But, they really only added three teams (from 65 to 68)... The fourth game was added a few years ago, as a result of the number of automatic bids changing from 30 to 31 (when one of the existing conferences split). It was at that point that the NCAA went from 64 to 65 total teams, wanting to keep the number of at-large bids at 34. Moving on... Looks like I missed on three teams, but I really only have a problem with one of them. I had St. Mary's, Virginia Tech, and Colorado in, and VCU, Georgia, and BC out. Don't have a problem with St. Mary's and Virginia Tech... BC and Georgia may be more deserving, but it's really a crap shoot. I do not, however, see any way that VCU is more deserving than Colorado, frankly. Colorado beat Kansas State THREE times this year, and had some other pretty nice wins. VCU lost seven games in it's conference alone (Colonial... a mid-major conference, essentially). To me, that's not good enough, considering the teams that were left out (especially Colorado). There were some other discrepancies (in terms of what seeds certain teams got) that I have issues with, but that was really the only mistake that I felt the committee made, in terms of who is in/out. Edited March 13, 2011 by Gopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budlitebrad Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Selection committee was smoking something when they set this bracket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprofessor Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) How about this list of guards whose fathers were in the NBA, all of which should be in this year's tournament... Isaiah Thomas Jr., Seth Curry (dad and bro), David Stockton, and Tim Hardaway Jr. Correction .... Isaiah Thomas of UW is not the son of the former Isaiah Thomas of NBA fame. Edited March 14, 2011 by theprofessor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Correction .... Isaiah Thomas of UW is not the son of the former Isaiah Thomas of NBA fame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Selection committee was smoking something when they set this bracket. Every year the committee picks a few head scratchers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 In general, I never have a problem with any of the teams that get "snubbed" because neither them, nor the handful of teams that get chosen in place of them, should have a legitimate claim at the right to play for the NC game. In fact, all this pissing and moaning does a disservice to the football side of things because it proves one of the points those against expanding that play-offs always make. That, regardless of how far you push it out, someone will complain. Anyone not ranked in the top 20 should feel like their inclusion in this tourney is a gift. Because only those top 20 teams have any right to say they might be the best team in the country. And, isn't that actually what this tourney is supposed to decide? Don't get me wrong, it's entertaining as hell, and I look forward to every March for it. And if they expanded to 96, it would be just more of the same fun, but, just like this recent expansion, as with the one that pushed it to 64 from 48, it would make the tourney a less accurate means to proving who the best team is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprofessor Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Easy thing to assume. I always enjoy your informative discussion about college basketball. You do a tremendous job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Gonna have a UNC v. Washington matchup in the second round? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprofessor Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Gonna have a UNC v. Washington matchup in the second round? I think so. Should be a good one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Easy thing to assume. I always enjoy your informative discussion about college basketball. You do a tremendous job! +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Gonna have a UNC v. Washington matchup in the second round? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 It's funny, I'm not nearly as confident about the Heels after their performance in the ACC tourney. Don;'t get me wrong, I believe the Heels are capable of beating anyone when they are playing their best. They really showed their immaturity over the last 4 days, however, not respecting the fact that Duke would bury them if they came out of the gates without intensity (which is precisely what happened). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice breakdown Gopher. I agree! A job well done!! My Illini are going to be fodder if they do squeeze in as a 9 or 10. Brutal. I am also sad for the future of the Illini in the tournament. They have good players, but the coaching hasn't been there this year. They have lost alot of close games due to playing uninspired basketball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice win for the Tigers last night. I think they are poised to give WV trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Nice win for the Tigers last night. I think they are poised to give WV trouble. That was a crappy seed for them. They're not a great team, but they're better than plenty of the teams seeded a bit higher than them. Say what you want about the ACC, but they had a decent league record, completely waxed BC in the tourney and then took UNC (who the same committee deemed worthy of a 2 seed) to OT after leading the entire game. And they get a play-in game? Meanwhile plenty of other middling teams from conferences that are really no better than the ACC who didn't even win a game in their conference tourney get 8s, 9s, and 10s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 That was a crappy seed for them. They're not a great team, but they're better than plenty of the teams seeded a bit higher than them. Say what you want about the ACC, but they had a decent league record, completely waxed BC in the tourney and then took UNC (who the same committee deemed worthy of a 2 seed) to OT after leading the entire game. And they get a play-in game? Meanwhile plenty of other middling teams from conferences that are really no better than the ACC who didn't even win a game in their conference tourney get 8s, 9s, and 10s? Agreed... Michigan and Marquette are probably two examples (I would flip-flop the two). No way does Michigan (who was on the bubble in most people's minds) deserve an 8-seed, while Marquette (who nobody really talked about as being on the bubble) gets an 11. Clemson falls into the same category (in my mind) as Marquette... they weren't on the bubble, so why are they playing a game on Tuesday, to essentially get into the tournament? The more I look at the field, and where teams were seeded, the more I agree with people like Jay Bilas... the committee needs to consist of more "basketball people" who realize that the ball is round, rather than school officials who just look at the teams on paper. The problem with having solely basketball people is that many of them would have an agenda, depending on which school/conference they are from. I agree with your general sentiment, though... None of these teams have a leg to stand on, in terms of arguing why they should be in the field. If they wanted to be a lock, they should have won another game or two, or more importantly, won another meaningful game or two. Still, it just sucks for a team like Colorado... they've generally sucked, year in and year out. This year, they won some very big games, and definitely deserved to be in the tournament. If there was one team that did get screwed, in my mind, it's Colorado, a team that has five seniors who will now never play in the NCAA's (when they should have finally made it in, this year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Not to harp on the Clemson thing, and I'm not even a fan, but did their coach screw someone else's wife or something? As has been noted, they did more in their tourney than plenty of other bubble teams and, yet, it would seem like they were either the last in or the 2nd to last in. Then, they play the late game on Tuesday in Ohio, had to then fly to Tampa, and now play the first game today. Basically 36 hours later, with a long-ish flight in between. I mean, I get that they're kids and all but wouldn't you think they'd at least put them in the evening game today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footballjoe Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 My home town team, Old Dominion just lost a heart breaker at the buzzer to Butler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Down goes Louisville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTSuper7 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Down goes Louisville Good no call on the final play there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Good no call on the final play there. I'm sorry, did you say something? I was too busy looking at your avatar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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