2022 NCAA Basketball Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/MarkPacker/status/1618810076533243904

[GeorgiaModerate]

Texas Tech finally won its first Big 12 game of the season, rallying from 23 points down in the second half to beat #13 Iowa State 80-77 in OT.

[Podgy the Bear]

#4 Alabama comes roaring back from its inexplicable blowout loss to Oklahoma by crushing Vanderbilt 101-44.

[Storr]

ACC leading #20 Clemson lost tonight to then 4-7 in conference (now 5-7) Boston College 62-54. Clemson is now 10-2 in conference, followed by 9-2 #3 Virginia.

North Carolina (7-3 ACC) and Pittsburgh (8-4 ACC) will play for 3rd in the conference on Wednesday in Chapel Hill at 7pm. It should be a good one, Pittsburgh won the December 30th home matchup against UNC 76-74. I'll be there in the UNC band.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#19 Florida Atlantic just lost at UAB 86-77, its first loss in conference and second overall (the other was at Ole Miss).  The Owls should still be on the right side of the cut line for an NCAA tournament bid if they lose the CUSA tournament, but they probably can't afford any more regular season losses.

[GeorgiaModerate]

This year's other mid-major darling, Charleston, also lost last night, 70-69 at Drexel.  Charleston probably needs to win the CAA tournament to get into the NCAA tourney.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#1 Purdue lost at Indiana, 79-74, its second loss of the season.  Purdue came back from 15 down at the half to get within one point late in the game, but Indiana held on for the win.

[Хahar 🤔]

I was in Moraga to watch Gonzaga and Saint Mary's last night. I've been a fan of the WCC for a long time. Most of the time nobody has been good enough to consistently challenge Gonzaga in Spokane, so the game of the year every year has been Gonzaga's trip to Moraga. It's a big game because normally this determines whether the Gaels will make the tournament (except in 2016, when Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga both home and away and was denied a tournament bid anyway). This year that's not an issue, because Saint Mary's is a genuinely great team, top ten in all the computer rankings, and they were favored in this one. I'd never been to a game at Saint Mary's before, so I felt like I had to be at this one or I'd regret it for a long time. I had great seats, although I had to pay through the nose to get them.



As you can see from the picture, this is a tiny venue. There are at least ten high school gyms in Indiana that have twice the capacity. On one side there are seats, but the side I was on was all benches: the student section (visible in the foreground) in the lower half, and general admission (where I was) in the upper half. I got there very early and had my choice of location, so I ended up right around midcourt in the second row from the bottom in the general admission section.

Because half of the arena has no actual seats, there's no hard limit to how many people can be in the stands. The announced attendance was a nice round 3,500, which is conveniently the same as the listed capacity. Saint Mary's is known for overselling games and there's just no way there were only 3,500 people present. On the general admission side, everyone had to stand because otherwise it was impossible to see over the students (who were also standing) and because with all the people present there wasn't any space to sit down anyway. The only time all game that I was able to sit was during halftime when people were out in the concourse.

Putting so many people in such a small space meant that the game was both extremely hot (hence the constant condensation on the floor) and incredibly loud. Even when it got quiet it was still loud, and when the Gaels did something to get the crowd going the noise was such that I had a hard time hearing myself think. I can't imagine having to come into that environment and play a basketball game.

The game itself was great, one of the best of the year. Gonzaga took the lead early, opening it up to double digits in the first half, and led by eight at the half. Saint Mary's brought the game within three six minutes into the second half, but Gonzaga opened it back up again, and with seven minutes to play Gonzaga was up by eight. At that point, the Gaels' best offensive player, freshman Aidan Mahaney, was 1-for-10 with two points. Over the rest of the game, he was 7-for-9 with sixteen points, with the crowd getting louder and louder with each basket as Saint Mary's completely erased the lead and pulled away in overtime to win by eight.

I came away from the game with a lot more respect for Drew Timme. Before he had Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren, but now he’s the only guy opponents care about. The woman next to me was very excitedly telling me about how she had two daughters who went to St. Mary’s and were on the dance team right up until tipoff, when she exclaimed to me "I just hate that Timme!" I think he’s probably the most famous player in college basketball right now and every opponent has the Gonzaga game circled on the calendar and all the fans hate Gonzaga (there was a loud "[inks] Gonzaga" chant at one point) and everyone is keyed in on him and he just keeps doing his thing.

Mahaney was the story people were talking about, but the best player on the Gaels was center Mitchell Saxen, who played Drew Timme basically to a draw. The way Saint Mary's won was particularly impressive to me. With thirty seconds left in regulation I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Gonzaga had only made two three-pointers, which I had noticed, but also that they had only three assists for the whole game. They play at a glacial pace and it’s just impossible to move the ball around against them. It makes you think of a different Bennett! I think this victory was important, even if it was at home, because they beat a very good team even as they were ice cold from the field. It’s a lot less likely for the defense to slump in the tournament. As long as they don’t turn the ball over on offense (and they don’t turn it over a ton) they’ll keep winning. I hope that they can make a deep run in March.

[NewYorkExpress]

I was in Moraga to watch Gonzaga and Saint Mary's last night. I've been a fan of the WCC for a long time. Most of the time nobody has been good enough to consistently challenge Gonzaga in Spokane, so the game of the year every year has been Gonzaga's trip to Moraga. It's a big game because normally this determines whether the Gaels will make the tournament (except in 2016, when Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga both home and away and was denied a tournament bid anyway). This year that's not an issue, because Saint Mary's is a genuinely great team, top ten in all the computer rankings, and they were favored in this one. I'd never been to a game at Saint Mary's before, so I felt like I had to be at this one or I'd regret it for a long time. I had great seats, although I had to pay through the nose to get them.



As you can see from the picture, this is a tiny venue. There are at least ten high school gyms in Indiana that have twice the capacity. On one side there are seats, but the side I was on was all benches: the student section (visible in the foreground) in the lower half, and general admission (where I was) in the upper half. I got there very early and had my choice of location, so I ended up right around midcourt in the second row from the bottom in the general admission section.

Because half of the arena has no actual seats, there's no hard limit to how many people can be in the stands. The announced attendance was a nice round 3,500, which is conveniently the same as the listed capacity. Saint Mary's is known for overselling games and there's just no way there were only 3,500 people present. On the general admission side, everyone had to stand because otherwise it was impossible to see over the students (who were also standing) and because with all the people present there wasn't any space to sit down anyway. The only time all game that I was able to sit was during halftime when people were out in the concourse.

Putting so many people in such a small space meant that the game was both extremely hot (hence the constant condensation on the floor) and incredibly loud. Even when it got quiet it was still loud, and when the Gaels did something to get the crowd going the noise was such that I had a hard time hearing myself think. I can't imagine having to come into that environment and play a basketball game.

The game itself was great, one of the best of the year. Gonzaga took the lead early, opening it up to double digits in the first half, and led by eight at the half. Saint Mary's brought the game within three six minutes into the second half, but Gonzaga opened it back up again, and with seven minutes to play Gonzaga was up by eight. At that point, the Gaels' best offensive player, freshman Aidan Mahaney, was 1-for-10 with two points. Over the rest of the game, he was 7-for-9 with sixteen points, with the crowd getting louder and louder with each basket as Saint Mary's completely erased the lead and pulled away in overtime to win by eight.

I came away from the game with a lot more respect for Drew Timme. Before he had Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren, but now he’s the only guy opponents care about. The woman next to me was very excitedly telling me about how she had two daughters who went to St. Mary’s and were on the dance team right up until tipoff, when she exclaimed to me "I just hate that Timme!" I think he’s probably the most famous player in college basketball right now and every opponent has the Gonzaga game circled on the calendar and all the fans hate Gonzaga (there was a loud "[inks] Gonzaga" chant at one point) and everyone is keyed in on him and he just keeps doing his thing.

Mahaney was the story people were talking about, but the best player on the Gaels was center Mitchell Saxen, who played Drew Timme basically to a draw. The way Saint Mary's won was particularly impressive to me. With thirty seconds left in regulation I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Gonzaga had only made two three-pointers, which I had noticed, but also that they had only three assists for the whole game. They play at a glacial pace and it’s just impossible to move the ball around against them. It makes you think of a different Bennett! I think this victory was important, even if it was at home, because they beat a very good team even as they were ice cold from the field. It’s a lot less likely for the defense to slump in the tournament. As long as they don’t turn the ball over on offense (and they don’t turn it over a ton) they’ll keep winning. I hope that they can make a deep run in March.

I think Gonzaga's still on the right side of the cut line, but they can't lose another game like Loyola Marymount, and they need to win the return game with Saint Mary's if they want to avoid being reliant on the WCC Tournament auto-bid. On the other hand I think if Saint Mary's beats Gonzaga twice, they are in regardless of what happens in the WCC tournament.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Huge upset in Nashville as Vanderbilt knocks off #6 Tennessee 66-65 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.  Congratulations to ER!

[Stockdale for Veep]

Teams with losing conference records should not be eligible for the tournament. I'd even go further and say that if you finish in the bottom half of your conference you should be ineligible. The latest projections have 8 Big 12 (Ten) teams, finishing 8/10 should not be rewarded.

The casual fan would rather see a third place mid-major over a 20-14 Kentucky team every single time. But, money.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Huge upset in Nashville as Vanderbilt knocks off #6 Tennessee 66-65 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.  Congratulations to ER!

It's when stuff like that happens that I regret not going up to Nashville for the game!  I definitely screamed in my living room when that shot went down though!

Also, the decision by UT to pass up the wide-open dunk to burn a couple more seconds was really bad- especially when they ultimately missed the front end of the 1-and-1.

[7,052,770]

I always cheer against Vanderbilt in basketball because of their terrible court design in the benches on the end instead of the sides. Why is that even allowed?

(Also, I was there for this dagger-to-the-heart, which sucked: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=280650238)

[GeorgiaModerate]

St. Mary's lost its first WCC game of the season, 78-74 in OT to Loyola Marymount.

There are now three remaining D1 teams that are undefeated in their conferences.  Can you guess them without looking it up?  One of them is pretty obvious.

[Podgy the Bear]

Huge upset in Nashville as Vanderbilt knocks off #6 Tennessee 66-65 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.  Congratulations to ER!

It's when stuff like that happens that I regret not going up to Nashville for the game!  I definitely screamed in my living room when that shot went down though!

Also, the decision by UT to pass up the wide-open dunk to burn a couple more seconds was really bad- especially when they ultimately missed the front end of the 1-and-1.

I was there at Memorial on Wednesday night (had not been there in 35+ years--even though the sound/video has improved, the gym has not).  I have degrees from both Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and I tend to go for the school that has the best chances to advance (which has been the Vols for the past several years). 

That said, it was a tremendous finish for Vanderbilt, and Stackhouse outcoached Barnes brilliantly in the last 17 seconds of play.  And it was great to see some of the Memorial Magic that has gone for many years.  Hopefully, this will be an incentive for Vanderbilt to get their basketball (forget about football) program back to a strongly competitive level.  No reason for them not to do so when other academically excellent schools are able to do it.

[NewYorkExpress]

Butler just stunned #13 Xavier 69-67 before a packed Hinkle Fieldhouse.

[NewYorkExpress]

New Mexico State's season has been suspended indefinietly following new allegations within the program.

New Mexico State men's basketball has canceled Saturday's game at Cal Baptist and suspended its season indefinitely following "new allegations" within the program, according to a statement from the school.

The new allegations have prompted an investigation by the school and led to the coaching staff being put on paid administrative leave, the statement said.

The Aggies have been embroiled in controversy since November, when forward Mike Peake shot and killed a New Mexico student in self-defense in Albuquerque after he'd been lured to the campus. Per the school's statement, Friday's decision to suspend the season is separate from that case.

I would be very surprised if the NCAA doesn't come down hard here. The Death Penalty might even possible, if not likely in this scenario.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Very strange story. I suspect there’s more to this than meets the eye.

[7,052,770]

Yikes. Not to trivialize what may be very real and important issues, I hope that there aren't any allegations that go back farther than about 10 months ago...

[NewYorkExpress]

UT Arlington has fired head coach Greg Young.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Long-time East Carolina radio announcer Jeff Charles died suddenly of a heart attack yesterday while with the team on its road trip to Tulane.  The game has been postponed until an unspecified date.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Georgia beats Kentucky, 75-68.  What a turnaround this year has been under Mike White; I'm feeling optimistic about UGA basketball for the first time in quite a while.

I have to think that if the season ended today, Kentucky would not make the NCAA tournament.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Tennessee lost to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for the second game in a row, this one to Missouri at home.  The Volunteers trailed by 17, stormed back to take the lead, and seemed to have things in hand in the final seconds.  But they succeeded in blowing it again.

[NewYorkExpress]

Stanford stuns #4 Arizona 88-79.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Stanford stuns #4 Arizona 88-79.

It was nearly a double disaster for the Arizona schools as Arizona State needed OT to get by Cal.  (Stanford is pretty bad, but Cal is pathetic.)