Cool Hand Lucroy

All in all, glad baseball is back. Glad we get cheap HRs, weird check swing calls, and a home plate ump with little clue. It's like we never left!! Seriously happy for Capra. That was crushed.

We are the worst team in baseball at scoring a runner from third with less than two outs. I know this to be true.

I was more optimistic than most last year. The injuries have me concerned so far this year. I would take 90 and run. I think 85 is more realistic. But, hey, let's play and see how it goes.

Gophs hiring Medved, Iowa gets McCollum. The neighbors made good hires. I like that, honestly. Makes things more fun and competitive.

One question I have in the wake of this Badger season is: Going forward, is this about where the expectations for the Badgers should be? Does losing a really good regular season, a B1G tournament title game appearance, an NCAAT win, and a close, round of 32 game loss against a team that was probably a little bit underseeded constitute success? I would say: yes. I'm curious what others think. Bo had the two FFs and hit S16s and E8s a few times before. Gard has the two S16s since. We're now pushing a decade without a S16, so I understand wanting a little more. On the other hand, the landscape has changed so much, and I think being at this level is about where we want to be. As long as Gard keeps this up, I could see another 10-12 years of this kind of situation, and I would take that. He's still only 54. Even 5 or 6 years (coaches age more quickly in the NIL era) is great with me, hopefully with a graceful exit and transfer to the next dude. All to say, I think this program is in a good spot. I'm also a little worried the ceiling isn't as high as it once was. Marquette certainly seems to have a higher ceiling in some ways. I think the BEast was down this year, but Pitino, Shaka, Cooley at Georgetown, even Holtman looking to turn around DePaul, Nova getting a needed new coaching hire, and that's not even mentioning "the best ***** coach in the sport" (he ain't wrong), I think that league is on a rocket for the next couple years. We'll see what comes, but definitely curious what the smarter-than-me, more behind-the-scenes Badger followers on this board think.

Yeah, they gave up the 9-0 run up 64-59. That was killer. Nearly overcame it, but Queen just made the better play at the end.

Tournament needed that. Great game. Was hoping for the Rams there, but not at all disappointed to see a fun, really good Maryland team pull it out. They have a much better shot against Florida.

Bama seems vulnerable, and that game is a true class of styles. I just don't trust SMC against that kind of athleticism. Vandy was a great matchup for them. I think Randy Bennett deserves a second S16. That program does. I will be rooting for it like crazy, but I don't have a lot of belief. Florida just made clutch shots and UCONN didn't. Failure to rebound missed free throws killed them, along with the ball turnover into the under 4, where they had the ball up 3. Duke took some gearing up, but they are now making this a blowout. Good team there. I weirdly like their guys a lot. If not for the name on the jersey, I'd almost be cheering for them.

Especially with replay, the umps argument is nuts. Bad work. Bad union leadership. Pros of this FAR outweigh the cons. First base has always been a footrace scenario. Footraces work best with finishing lines and not finishing points. Anyone who has ever done musical chairs with grade schoolers knows that races to points are a recipe for injury.

They had already used one at 25-11 or something? 26-12? So, they didn't have the use it or lose it, and you did end up needing the last TO for Gilmore to secure the possession at the end. I think Tonje could have been better there. The feed to Crowl is something you should ignore. Wasn't like he had a massive mismatch. Now that Marquette and UW are both gone (yeah, it's good to see both teams win, especially in March), as are most of the underdog stories, I'm finding myself drawn to Houston because their long-haul build. I also really like Texas Tech because Grant McCasland has a great defensive mind, and I liked him a lot at North Texas. Turns my stomach to root for Hurley today, but at least Danny's just a garden-variety jerk. Golden I find much more troubling, for reasons that have been widely reported. Outside the Big 12 teams, who I find pretty universally fun to watch because of the way they defend without really trying to ugly it up too much, I also like Tennessee. Maryland is a team I'm really high on, but of course I'll be all Ram and Gael this afternoon, hoping for a true, outside-the-power-structure team in the S16. Same goes for New Mexico, who I think has the best chance of the bunch, though I've seen the Mountain West crap the bed often enough that I can also see Izzo just giving the coup de grace to the Pitno family. Excited for one more day of wall-to-wall hoop, even if I find Oregon-Arizona the blah of all blah to close the night.

Lots of good post-mortems here and thoughts ahead to next year. I thought BYU was the much looser team, with more guys playing with more confidence for more of the game. The more I think of it this biggest issue with Badger teams of recent vintage is that they lack some of that. This year, we had Tonje and Blackwell. Last year, it was pretty much Storr. Davis before that. Lots of deferring to those key pieces. I think this year's team was very balanced, but comparing it to the Hayes, Kaminsky, Dekker, Koenig, Gasser (or Brust in 14) teams....you can see the huge gap. All five of those dudes wanted the ball but knew their roles (I know Nigel faded a little in 2015). Plus, they could bring an insanely confident Showy or Duje off the bench for either energy or shot-making. That's hard to find these days and harder to build at UW. And, really, it goes for about every non top-4 team this year. One thing about the portal is that these become a bit more like NBA teams, where everyone knows the hierarchy, and BYU had none of that. It is five on the floor, ten deep, everyone sharing and running pace and firing when they sight the hoop. You could see that tonight (I second "playing scared" as ridiculous--that team was feisty and up front all night, they just got the flagrant 2 and turned it over and finally missed shots in the last 3 min). Underrated credit: BYU's defense. We missed some open looks, but they mixed zone and man effectively and generally stopped our drives to the hoop (Blackwell excepted, I thought he played an incredible game). They forced the ball to Crowl and Gilmore, and though the former made some shots early, he wasn't much of a threat beyond the first quarter. And they were willing to live with his occasional three. Good strategy, well-executed. Tonje and Blackwell got theirs, but BYU defended especially well in the first 35 minutes. Some fun teams still left. I really like the Big 12 teams as a group. Different flavors but a lot of toughness and fluidity from Tech, Houston, BYU, and Iowa State. For all the SEC talk, would not shock me one bit, if we've got two of those teams in the FF.

Aside from the offensive boards we gave up, some key first half FT misses stung. Janicki missed a pair in the second half. Just fine fine margins in March. Could go round and round all day. We played a B game, they had an A one. That's probably the hottest team in the country save for Colorado State and Florida.

Wow. What a crazy finish. Hated the last sequence. Rather have a step-back three. At least you get it clean with a chance to win. The end of the first half and the offensive glass killed them. That's March. They couldn't defend, BYU hit more shots, and the late run failed. Not bothered, really. BYU was better. Chippy game comes with the stakes. The F2 didn't seem dirty to me. McGee got burned on one of those too early in the year. All year, I felt like this team was really good, but something was missing. Call it magic, call it confidence, I don't know. Tonje and Blackwell are stars. They needed a third guy to really take the reins, and they just didn't have it.

Yup. Crowl did bad.

Pretty happy to only be down 11, but no excuse for Crowl to shoot a jump hook instead of holding for the last shot. Worst case scenario you're down 8. We lose by 3, that's a huge deal. BYU was clearly the better team that half. Better shot making and more fluidity. We obviously can't win shooting like this, but the good news is this is going to be played in the 80s or 90s. Lots of possessions left. I would not feel safe with an 11-point halftime lead.

Okay, but can they be here to go to school? Because NIL is not a salary (the NCAA has been pretty clear on this point). It's simply the benefit of being good at sports. These guys are not employees. They're students, right? I get the law is designed to clearly separate "study" from "employment" and NIL's financial volume seems to put it into the latter category. But I would also imagine somebody could make a claim in court that federal requirements around "work" and "active income" don't apply to NIL and have a decent shot at a favorable ruling. Not disagreeing here, really. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong and others have a more specific understanding of the case law. It just looks to me like you can maintain an F-1 visa if your income is passive. A lot of NIL deals are structured that way, or at least close to it, so it seems this is an issue we'll see in the courts at some point. Lots of ambiguity. I'm also skeptical that whichever gutted federal department is assigned student visa oversight is ever going to be competent enough to effectively punish international athletes, and there seems to me zero chance this administration has any political interest in doing so, even if they were capable of actually making competent policy on these layered and complicated issues. Seems like a risk I'd be willing to take if I'm a university, or even a high-major hooper.

Yeah, it's a fun game because BYU is basically us. They play offense at a similar level, at close to the same pace (a little faster), and they play a lot of guys, most of whom can shoot. They are deeper. We guard much better. In theory, it should be a good matchup for us. We're about at their level in terms of offensive efficiency and guard way better. 1.5 as a line seems too low to me, I'd take UW to cover while acknowledging anything can happen. You've got to be a pretty big believer in altitude to make it basically a toss-up. I'd guess KenPom has us favored by 3-4.

I think the top 4 seed lines were unusually strong this year, and the 13-16 lines unusually weak. Perhaps having to do with transfer portal just making the Power 5 leagues a lot deeper. Looking at the set matchups for Sat/Sun, you'd think there'd be at least one or two true surprises. Not a lot of fluky wins in the final 32 so far. Xavier-Illinois might be the game of the round. Something to stay up for anyway.

I hope this proves true, but it's still very possible we look up and have 4 of the final 8 (or even Final Four) teams from the SEC. All the clearly good teams are winning, and Vandy looks in good shape as an underdog (a win for them would set up an all-SEC round of 32 matchup with Bama), and Ole Miss is currently hammering UNC. When you have 14 teams in the field, you have a lot of room to lose.

I think it's hilarious that the only SEC team to win a game so far is coached by the guy a lot of folks declared officially done for like two months ago. Love to see Drake finally getting a win in the big bracket. That program and that league deserve it, wherever McCollum ends up. UC San Diego looks entirely unprepared for Wolf and Goldin. Yikes. Long way to go, but adjustments will be needed if that's going to become a game.

I was right there with you. Clemson was sleepwalking for the first 25 minutes there. They made it...kind of interesting? Looked like McNeese was just perfectly ready to run that thing down. Have to say, I've also been impressed with BYU's defense. VCU is not great offensively, but they have guys who can hurt you and usually BYU struggles with teams on the more physical side. I still think BYU is a good matchup for us, but they've also been playing hot lately and will have the geography advantage. Should be a very good second round game.

This is where the plus/minus of our bracketing slot comes in. I thought we looked a little bit sluggish, just getting our feet under us most of the half. Against a better 14, we might be down or tied. But Montana is too little. We can get whatever we want inside, and get open looks on kick outs. If we lose, it'll be because we fall asleep on defense and fail to hit shots (or Montana gets absurdly hot). Just don't think they can hang for another 20 minutes.

I'm more optimistic on Ole Miss than lots of folks, I think, mainly because of Beard's track record in the NCAAT. I also think last night was way more about SDSU than UNC. North Carolina has not beaten a single team as good as Ole Miss this year. They beat UCLA on a neutral. That's as close as they get. I'd take Ole Miss over UCLA on a neutral.

Well, one of these teams clearly doesn't belong. I guess we were all right. SDSU's inability to be any kind of threat offensively is a killer here. UNC shooting the lights out doesn't help. SDSU was going to have to win this one in the 60s in all likelihood. Good bye to that.

Sounds like 5 mil a year. I would say coaching at Indiana is a hard way to earn that much money, but I get the appeal. Great opening NCAA game. Hope SDSU-UNC delivers more of the goods. SDSU gets after you, but, man, is their offense ugly. At least those low-tempo Badger teams of the Bennett era were efficient. They just didn't play a lot of possessions. This Aztecs squad has to win with defense. I'd like to see them do it.