NCAA Tournament Thread

Big picture-these are the four best teams in the country.

SJU was able to check off two of the three “big picture “ accomplishments this season. BE tourney and an NCAA win.

A sweet sixteen is the next marker. Can’t wait for next season. And I’m happy the SEC didn’t get three final four teams. Still holding on to the 85 mark of conference greatness.
 
With Passover fast approaching, I want to remind basketball fans that 3 of the 4 coaches in the Final Four are Jewish.
Mazal to coaches Todd Golden, Jon Scheyer and Bruce Pearl!
Also, as Easter is also approaching, let's give a shout out to Saint Mary's and Boston College who provided Golden and Pearl with solid educations.😉😇
 
paultzman said:
Talented Final Four, but I think the Cinderella upsets in future NCAA Ts may occur but not as frequently, as mid majors get poached routinely. I always thought that was the charm of the Dance, something players would remember all their lives. Oh well.
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totally agree. I doubt we ever see a University of Penn or George Mason making final 4 runs again. I believe the "Cinderella's" now will more likely be from the major conferences like NC State and Villanova were
 
lawmanfan said:
This is how I see it:

The three primary pieces of "coaching" are recruiting, management, and actual coaching (game strategy and tactics).

To be successful at recruiting, you need resources, a brand, a personality, things along those lines. If you get the job at (say) UNC,. Duke, or most SEC schools you have a big leg up in the talent acquisition department.

After that, you have to be able to manage your team. We have seen a couple of coaches at SJU where that was an issue.

The third piece - and the one that makes the difference in high level games - is being good at the actual craft of coaching.

So IMO the measurement is not simply wins and losses. Guys like Hubert Davis and Shaka Smart win plenty because they are good.at 2/3 of the job and mediocre at the third. Shaheen Holloway is great at 2/3 of the job but without the first part he can't win.

You look at Florida v TTU and you see the team with inferior talent be better organized, more disciplined, and take advantage of their strengths against Florida. And you see Florida fail to adjust to getting bullied inside (tho very late in the game they finally sent help in a big spot) and turn a 5 point lead into an 8 point deficit without calling a time out to get organized or changing anything to adjust to what TTU was doing. And when they did call a time out they somehow came out of it without a play to run.

And in the end - Florida won because it has outstanding talent (probably second only to Duke) and players made plays off script.

By contrast, you look at Duke vs Tennessee and not only did Duke have an excellent strategy to space the floor and beat Tennessee's excellent defense on cuts to the hoop, they executed it perfectly. Exceptional player talent sure helped, but it was a professionally designed and implemented offense. Not to mention what they did defensively to possibly the best offense in the country, a product of both design and implementation and talent. Good job by Scheyer, bad job by Golden, both won.

Is Golden a better coach than McCasland? Is Scheyer better than Barnes? Reasonable minds can differ. I guess it depends on what you're talking about when you talk about "coaching."
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LMF not sure if this was tongue in cheek but Duke played Alabama not Tennessee and no don’t want to hear all those southern states are the same lol
 
L J S A said:
Weirdly enough, the refs don't seem to mess too much with Houston's aggressive defensive style.
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Not so sure about that, did you see the foul differential the first 16 or so minutes of the second half? At one point is was 8-2 and than 10-3. Allowing TN to close the gap to single digits
 
NCJohnnie said:
LMF not sure if this was tongue in cheek but Duke played Alabama not Tennessee and no don’t want to hear all those southern states are the same lol
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Yes typo/brain cramp I meant Alabama. Tennessee offense is OK; Alabama is another story. Great defensive plan against them along with beautiful sets on offense. But the talent (otherworldly) definitely helps.
 
lawmanfan said:
One of my favorite lines that Rangers fans of a certain age might remember:

Ulf Samuelsen out due to an injured elbow.

Reporter: "Ulfie, how did you hurt your elbow?"

Ulf, totally deadpan: "I don't know - you don't use your elbows in hockey."
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I really don’t want to smash this thread into pieces, but since you brought up Samuelson, I am very tempted to add another:

Reporter: “Hey what happened to your career?”

Samuelson: “I had the honor of being steamrolled with a clean check by one of the 5 greatest defensemen of all time.”

Carry on…😇😉
 
Rocket said:
With Passover fast approaching, I want to remind basketball fans that 3 of the 4 coaches in the Final Four are Jewish.
Mazal to coaches Todd Golden, Jon Scheyer and Bruce Pearl!
Also, as Easter is also approaching, let's give a shout out to Saint Mary's and Boston College who provided Golden and Pearl with solid educations.😉😇
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Isn’t it Mazal Tov for correctness ? This might be the wrong spelling but , Sisen Pesa

Which I think means “ Happy Passover ?”

Even being Catholic , I was always interested in the Jewish Religion . It is historic , of course

Old Testament is part of both , religions .

Not sure what Coaches ethnicities mean to Coaching BB but , hey why not,

Kelvin Sampson , I think has significant Native American Heritage

Watching Florida , you can understand why Pitino wanted both , Walter and Jenkins .

No reply necessary , Marillac
 
Rocket said:
With Passover fast approaching, I want to remind basketball fans that 3 of the 4 coaches in the Final Four are Jewish.
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This comment reminds me, in 1985, when it was Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's in the Final Four (still a record), Dana Altman the Memphis State coach remarked, I am an outsider, this is the Catholic Invitational (or something like that). I believe Memphis was still called Memphis State back then.

Bruce Pearl annoys me for some reason, I can't put my finger on it.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
This comment reminds me, in 1985, when it was Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's in the Final Four (still a record), Dana Altman the Memphis State coach remarked, I am an outsider, this is the Catholic Invitational (or something like that). I believe Memphis was still called Memphis State back then.

Bruce Pearl annoys me for some reason, I can't put my finger on it.
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Well, the infamous BBQ doesn't help.

www.espn.com

Contract letter: Pearl knew BBQ was violation

During the barbecue that got him into hot water with the NCAA, Bruce Pearl told recruits and their families at his home that their visit equated to an NCAA violation, according to the termination of employment agreement between Pearl and the university.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Maybe someone will start a “Let’s go Johni” chant at the final four?

If we drink a couple of beers and try not to picture Forrest Gump saying Jenny, it’s almost like St. John’s is there.
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
Yes , indeed . Several of my fraternity Bros were Jewish .
St John’s seemed a decent community of Diversity , when I attended long ago .
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I had a priest who taught theology when I was an undergraduate in the late 1970s. He grew up Jewish near St. John’s, went to St. John’s, and converted to Catholicism.
I wish I could remember his name. Great professor and person.
 
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