March Madness 2024

[RedStickBrew]

Conference tournament time is here. The UW-Milwaukee squad will be playing tomorrow night for the Horizon League Championship 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Save for the Brewers reaching the Series, the best time of the year for me.

UWM seems to have a curious pathway to success. In many of their games they fall behind early & look terrible doing it, then come on strong with the pressure, gain momentum & never look back. I think it would be their first bid in 10 years.

Freeman is an impressive scorer but a really high-usage guy. I think he's best in a situation like the one he's in: the go-to guy on a low or mid-major where everyone else defers to him & the coaches are willing to wait for him to get hot.

[RedStickBrew]

I came across this a while back and thought it was interesting...

 

 

[RedStickBrew]

8 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Save for the Brewers reaching the Series, the best time of the year for me.

UWM seems to have a curious pathway to success. In many of their games they fall behind early & look terrible doing it, then come on strong with the pressure, gain momentum & never look back. I think it would be their first bid in 10 years.

Freeman is an impressive scorer but a really high-usage guy. I think he's best in a situation like the one he's in: the go-to guy on a low or mid-major where everyone else defers to him & the coaches are willing to wait for him to get hot.

Agreed, I love tournament time.  I caught the last half of the UW-M game last night and came away impressed with them, it would be nice to see three WI teams in the tournament.  Marquette has a good team that can make a run of course so it will be fun keeping tabs on them as well.

[Jim French Stepstool]

UWM falls short in a very entertaining game. I think they'd be a nice entry for the NIT, but if they go strictly by body of work, computer rankings, etc I would guess the Panthers fall short. Kenpom in the 220s. Best wins were Youngstown St & Chattanooga, both in the 130s. Kinda fun team to watch though.

[RedStickBrew]

6 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

UWM falls short in a very entertaining game. I think they'd be a nice entry for the NIT, but if they go strictly by body of work, computer rankings, etc I would guess the Panthers fall short. Kenpom in the 220s. Best wins were Youngstown St & Chattanooga, both in the 130s. Kinda fun team to watch though.

They have some athletes for sure and played hard when I watched them. They don’t really have any consistent outside shooters though. Everything they get seems to come off dribble penetration with their guards. Their season is likely over but a team to keep an eye on going forward 

[Samurai Bucky]

I was pulling for DePaul yesterday vs. Villanova.  That would have been a huge story.  DePaul has only 3 wins on the year, I think and 0 in the Big East.

[Jim French Stepstool]

55 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I was pulling for DePaul yesterday vs. Villanova.  That would have been a huge story.  DePaul has only 3 wins on the year, I think and 0 in the Big East.

It's one of the things that makes this time of year so much fun. The chance for redemption, not wanting to go home or have your career end. Detroit Mercy gave UWM all they could handle in the Horizon tourney, losing by four. It would've been their second win of the year.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Not going so far as to predict an upset, but I have a funny feeling Michigan State will give Purdue all they can handle on Friday.

[Samurai Bucky]

8 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Not going so far as to predict an upset, but I have a funny feeling Michigan State will give Purdue all they can handle on Friday.

Let me guess -- you have seen Tom Izzo's teams before?  😁

Izzo is a guy with whom I would enjoy having dinner.  I would ask about coaching philosophy, of course, but also growing up in Iron Mountain.  I wonder if Izzo would have the same opinion of NIL as Nick Saban.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Let me guess -- you have seen Tom Izzo's teams before?  😁

Izzo is a guy with whom I would enjoy having dinner.  I would ask about coaching philosophy, of course, but also growing up in Iron Mountain.  I wonder if Izzo would have the same opinion of NIL as Nick Saban.  

I couldn't stand him early in his tenure as the head coach at State, but in time came to really appreciate the way he tries to get his teams to play. He's a favorite of mine, too.

I based my guess on their game today on the combination of toughness, preparation & their guards playing really well. So far the third leg of that hasn't happened.

[nate82]

For me Izzo is a better coach than coach K was at Duke.  K gets all the glory but to me Izzo was better and vastly underrated compared to how K was perceived at least by the media mainly ESPN.

[RedStickBrew]

Izzo and MSU uglied up this game enough to have a chance to pull this one out

[HarryDoyle]

Wow, Houston is getting mauled in this second half. Only 9 points in 15 minutes.

[stoutdude04]

Iowa State is quite good.

[RedStickBrew]

Nice run for Marquette without Kolek. Hopefully he comes back healthy next week

[RedStickBrew]

TJ Otzelberger has done a great job at Iowa State.  That’s a big win over Houston

[HarryDoyle]

Well, someone's bubble just burst. 10 seed N.C. State wins the ACC tournament.

[RedStickBrew]

Here’s one bracket forecast…

Marquette looks good. I think UW may get to five, we’ll see

[nate82]

UCONN looks like the only strong #1 this year and that probably means they will have an early exit.  Of the #1’s I think UCONN has the best chance to win it all.

I think Purdue gets bounced early especially if they get in foul trouble.

The Badgers coming back to life again maybe a good pick to make it to the sweet 16.  Though if they play someone with a good big and that big doesn’t get in foul trouble they maybe in trouble.  In the above bracket a Creighton matchup would be a real challenge for the Badgers.  If Creighton is hot at 3 that could be an early exit for the Badgers.  

[RedStickBrew]

4 minutes ago, nate82 said:

UCONN looks like the only strong #1 this year and that probably means they will have an early exit.  Of the #1’s I think UCONN has the best chance to win it all.

I think Purdue gets bounced early especially if they get in foul trouble.

The Badgers coming back to life again maybe a good pick to make it to the sweet 16.  Though if they play someone with a good big and that big doesn’t get in foul trouble they maybe in trouble.  In the above bracket a Creighton matchup would be a real challenge for the Badgers.  If Creighton is hot at 3 that could be an early exit for the Badgers.  

I agree UConn is a strong, deep team and probably the odds on favorite to win it all. Every other team has its warts. Should make for a great tournament this year with plenty of upsets

[Jim French Stepstool]

13 minutes ago, nate82 said:

UCONN looks like the only strong #1 this year and that probably means they will have an early exit.  Of the #1’s I think UCONN has the best chance to win it all.

I think Purdue gets bounced early especially if they get in foul trouble.

The Badgers coming back to life again maybe a good pick to make it to the sweet 16.  Though if they play someone with a good big and that big doesn’t get in foul trouble they maybe in trouble.  In the above bracket a Creighton matchup would be a real challenge for the Badgers.  If Creighton is hot at 3 that could be an early exit for the Badgers.  

I get the feeling Iowa State might be a good darkhorse pick to win it all. Maybe not even all that "dark" of a horse. It's so dependent on matchups. I mean it wouldn't be surprising to see an Auburn in the FF, an Illinois, a Kansas if they get healthy..........

[Jim French Stepstool]

Just a quick PSA about this time of year for college basketball & how entertaining it is. Just watched the 2nd half of the Ivy League championship game. Yale was playing Brown, who has made the tournament twice--in 1986, and 1939. They appeared on the verge of winning it, but missed some FTs & Yale made a few huge threes, then knocked in a short jumper at the buzzer to win it. You see the pure exhilaration from the players & fans, as well as the contrast of the disbelief from the Brown fans in attendance as they get something they thought they'd probably never experience in their lifetime placed in front of them, then ripped away. This whole time of year is just such a passion play, repeated time & time again. True reality TV at its' best. I love March.

[RedStickBrew]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Just a quick PSA about this time of year for college basketball & how entertaining it is. Just watched the 2nd half of the Ivy League championship game. Yale was playing Brown, who has made the tournament twice--in 1986, and 1939. They appeared on the verge of winning it, but missed some FTs & Yale made a few huge threes, then knocked in a short jumper at the buzzer to win it. You see the pure exhilaration from the players & fans, as well as the contrast of the disbelief from the Brown fans in attendance as they get something they thought they'd probably never experience in their lifetime placed in front of them, then ripped away. This whole time of year is just such a passion play, repeated time & time again. True reality TV at its' best. I love March.

Well said. The NCAA tournament is one of the best sporting events of the year. I love seeing the Ivy or HBCU teams get a chance to compete in the championship tournament. Just great drama and entertainment 

[HarryDoyle]

UConn is the undisputed overall #1 seed. You can't make a viable argument for anyone else.