2009 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament

[SabresRule]

Any idea which FF game will be the early game and what'll be the late game?

I think it depends on who wins tomorrow.

I'm looking at the possiiblities:

Villanova/UNC would be, IMO, the late game since it would capture the Philly market against UNC, a team that is, IMO, a ratings-drawing traditional hoops power.

OTOH, a possibly titanic Louisville/UConn game could be the late game.

 

[anders5189]

Any idea which FF game will be the early game and what'll be the late game?

I think it depends on who wins tomorrow.

I'm looking at the possiiblities:

Villanova/UNC would be, IMO, the late game since it would capture the Philly market against UNC, a team that is, IMO, a ratings-drawing traditional hoops power.

OTOH, a possibly titanic Louisville/UConn game could be the late game.

No idea. I know CBS usually likes to put Carolina in the 2nd game, but they haven't always done that. UConn-Louisville would be pretty good too. I just hope Carolina's in it.

 

[BillD1984]

Any idea which FF game will be the early game and what'll be the late game?

I think it depends on who wins tomorrow.

I'm looking at the possiiblities:

Villanova/UNC would be, IMO, the late game since it would capture the Philly market against UNC, a team that is, IMO, a ratings-drawing traditional hoops power.

OTOH, a possibly titanic Louisville/UConn game could be the late game.

For me it comes down to this:

UNC wins, they're the late game.

UNC loses, the other side of the bracket is the late game.

 

[SabresRule]

I've calmed down since the game ended (it was painful to watch, but they did what they had to do to avoid OT- good for them on that), and I did some research.

Everyone associates Villanova with the miracle of 1985, but they also made it to the Final Four in 1971.

Also, they have come close to making other Final Fours- got to the Elite Eight in 1982, 1983 and 1988 (lost to that great Tar Heel team, Phi Slamma Jamma, and Billy Tubbs' high-scoring Sooners, respectively), as well as the Kerry Kitles' led team that was a Big East threat in the mid-90s.

Then, there was the Randy Foye-Allan Ray team that got to the 2005 Sweet 16 as a 6-seed and almost made the Final Four in 2006.

 

[anders5189]

I've calmed down since the game ended (it was painful to watch, but they did what they had to do to avoid OT- good for them on that), and I did some research.

Everyone associates Villanova with the miracle of 1985, but they also made it to the Final Four in 1971.

Also, they have come close to making other Final Fours- got to the Elite Eight in 1982, 1983 and 1988 (lost to that great Tar Heel team, Phi Slamma Jamma, and Billy Tubbs' high-scoring Sooners, respectively), as well as the Kerry Kitles' led team that was a Big East threat in the mid-90s.

Then, there was the Randy Foye-Allan Ray team that got to the 2005 Sweet 16 as a 6-seed and almost made the Final Four in 2006.

They also made the elite 8 in 1978 and their 71 FF appearance, in fact runner up to UCLA, was vacated beacuse their top player decided to turn pro before leaving school ala Chris Webber.

 

[SabresRule]

Villanova's near-perfect free-throw shooting got me wondering just how important it is to make your free throws in the tourney.

[youtube]CZiJWVoQvJM&[/youtube]

Everyone remembers the Valpo buzzer-beater over Ole Miss- what some people forget is that Ole Miss missed two costly free throws that gave them that final chance.

Who knows how history might have changed?

 

[anders5189]

Free throws are indeed important. Memphis cost themsleves a NC last year by missing free throws late. East Tennessee St could have become the first 16 seed to beat a 1 seed had they made free throws and Missouri could have beaten UConn today had they converted. Instead it was UConn who hit 10 free throws in the last minute to seal the victory and the one team that did hit their free throws was the team that did beat Pitt.

 

[cybok0]

Nova played a great game, ot was a normal Big East game, down to the wire.

Pitt had a great season, I'm proud of them having a great year, the made it past the sweet 16.

 

[uncrules]

Kudos to 'Nova for pulling off the win. But I gotta say that both Pitt in this game and Western Kentucky last weekend versus Gonzaga were pitiful defensively on the last play. Both teams let the other team's guard run from one end of the court to the other while playing matador defense. Somebody has to step up and stop the progress of the ball. Both Gonzaga and 'Nova had easy layups to win the game.

For Pitt that has to be especially disappointing because they have been a great defensive team all year. I have wished during the season that Carolina played D as well as Pitt.

 

[anders5189]

Kudos to 'Nova for pulling off the win. But I gotta say that both Pitt in this game and Western Kentucky last weekend versus Gonzaga were pitiful defensively on the last play. Both teams let the other team's guard run from one end of the court to the other while playing matador defense. Somebody has to step up and stop the progress of the ball. Both Gonzaga and 'Nova had easy layups to win the game.

For Pitt that has to be especially disappointing because they have been a great defensive team all year. I have wished during the season that Carolina played D as well as Pitt.

You're right about the defensive at the end, but we've both seen that happen to us too. Remember the Maryland game? OK bad thought. We need good karma today!

 

[Paul Wozniak]

You're right about the defensive at the end, but we've both seen that happen to us too. Remember the Maryland game? OK bad thought. We need good karma today!

Not Karma - DEFENSE! You know, that part of basketball they don't play in the Athletic Coast Conference.

 

[cybok0]

[/B]

Not Karma - DEFENSE! You know, that part of basketball they don't play in the Athletic Coast Conference.

LMAO!!!!!!

 

[anders5189]

[/B]

Not Karma - DEFENSE! You know, that part of basketball they don't play in the Athletic Coast Conference.

Too bad Carolina's holding their opponents to 68 PPG in the tournament so far. Oops. And Michigan St's gonna need some offense if they hope to beat Louisville.

 

[SabresRule]

Carolina's holding their opponents to 68 PPG in the tournament so far.

LSU and Gonzaga are good teams, so it's not like they were playing cupcakes in the tourney.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Too bad Carolina's holding their opponents to 68 PPG in the tournament so far. Oops. And Michigan St's gonna need some offense if they hope to beat Louisville.

If you can tell what the average is for all the games, and it's significantly lower, I'll tell you that I'm impressed.

 

[uncrules]

You can't use PPG to accurately rate how good or bad UNC d is. Because of the fast pace that their games are played at, there are a lot more possessions in the average Carolina games than say a Big Ten game, so more points will be scored. So you need to look at something like Pomeroy's ratings to get get a better sense of how good a team's D is. He takes in account of points scored per possession.

Carolina's tempo/pace is 6th in the nation, their offensive efficiency is 1st and their defense efficiency is 22nd.

2009 College Basketball Statistics: Efficiency

                                         TEMPO/PACE             OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY         DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY       PYTHAG WINNING PCT
Team (Conf T/O/D/P)                Raw (Rank)  Adjusted(Rk)     Raw (Rank)  Adjusted(Rk)     Raw (Rank)  Adjusted(Rk)       Adjusted(Rk)
Connecticut[1] (BE)                68.1 (108)   68.1 ( 99)     112.8 ( 13)  117.1 ( 12)      90.8 (  7)   84.2 (  3)         .978 (  1)
Memphis[2] (CUSA)                  68.2 (103)   66.9 (147)     110.1 ( 29)  114.2 ( 24)      85.3 (  1)   82.4 (  1)         .977 (  2)
Louisville[1] (BE)                 69.2 ( 76)   68.2 ( 91)     108.0 ( 59)  113.9 ( 25)      88.8 (  3)   83.3 (  2)         .973 (  3)
North Carolina[1] (ACC)            75.9 (  4)   74.3 (  6)     118.2 (  1)  123.9 (  1)      95.4 ( 48)   91.1 ( 22)         .972 (  4)
Pittsburgh[1] (BE)                 66.9 (147)   66.0 (184)     116.3 (  3)  122.4 (  2)      96.7 ( 73)   91.8 ( 31)         .965 (  5)
Missouri[3] (B12)                  72.5 ( 15)   71.4 ( 21)     112.5 ( 14)  117.8 (  8)      93.0 ( 13)   89.0 ( 13)         .962 (  6)
Gonzaga[4] (WCC)                   68.1 (109)   68.2 ( 96)     115.2 (  5)  118.3 (  6)      92.0 (  9)   90.5 ( 17)         .956 (  7)
West Virginia[6] (BE)              65.7 (198)   64.9 (240)     109.7 ( 36)  115.5 ( 20)      94.0 ( 24)   88.9 ( 11)         .953 (  8)
Villanova[3] (BE)                  69.3 ( 71)   69.1 ( 66)     110.8 ( 27)  115.8 ( 19)      95.4 ( 46)   89.6 ( 15)         .951 (  9)
Kansas[3] (B12)                    69.5 ( 68)   68.5 ( 82)     109.8 ( 33)  113.7 ( 26)      93.5 ( 18)   88.0 (  7)         .950 ( 10)

Oklahoma[2] (B12)                  68.9 ( 80)   68.1 ( 97)     114.8 (  6)  119.0 (  4)      97.0 ( 81)   92.2 ( 38)         .950 ( 11)
Duke[2] (ACC)                      69.2 ( 75)   67.4 (123)     111.9 ( 19)  117.3 ( 11)      95.0 ( 40)   90.9 ( 20)         .949 ( 12)
UCLA[6] (P10)                      65.5 (205)   66.7 (155)     115.5 (  4)  120.0 (  3)      97.8 ( 93)   93.2 ( 45)         .948 ( 13)
Syracuse[3] (BE)                   71.0 ( 34)   70.4 ( 34)     109.5 ( 41)  117.5 ( 10)      98.4 (101)   91.5 ( 27)         .947 ( 14)
Michigan St.[2] (B10)              66.3 (168)   67.5 (121)     108.9 ( 49)  113.5 ( 29)      94.7 ( 36)   88.7 ( 10)         .944 ( 15)
Arizona St.[6] (P10)               60.4 (331)   60.0 (333)     113.7 (  9)  118.4 (  5)      98.6 (105)   93.2 ( 44)         .940 ( 16)
Washington[4] (P10)                72.0 ( 20)   73.9 (  8)     108.0 ( 60)  112.0 ( 41)      95.2 ( 44)   88.5 (  9)         .938 ( 17)
Purdue[5] (B10)                    65.4 (209)   66.9 (146)     105.0 (109)  110.1 ( 57)      90.6 (  6)   87.2 (  5)         .936 ( 18)
Marquette[6] (BE)                  69.2 ( 74)   68.4 ( 85)     112.9 ( 12)  117.7 (  9)      99.2 (118)   93.7 ( 48)         .932 ( 19)
Xavier[4] (A10)                    66.7 (154)   66.6 (157)     107.4 ( 71)  110.5 ( 50)      92.1 ( 11)   89.0 ( 12)         .924 ( 20)

Brigham Young[8] (MWC)             68.7 ( 92)   69.9 ( 47)     111.7 ( 21)  113.6 ( 28)      94.2 ( 26)   91.7 ( 30)         .921 ( 21)
Clemson[7] (ACC)                   70.1 ( 53)   68.8 ( 71)     111.8 ( 20)  115.9 ( 18)      96.0 ( 56)   94.2 ( 52)         .916 ( 22)
Texas[7] (B12)                     67.4 (132)   66.1 (182)     107.3 ( 74)  112.3 ( 39)      96.7 ( 72)   91.5 ( 29)         .913 ( 23)
Georgetown (BE)                    64.2 (266)   63.6 (285)     106.4 ( 88)  111.4 ( 43)      97.3 ( 84)   91.0 ( 21)         .911 ( 24)
Wake Forest[4] (ACC)               75.0 (  7)   73.2 ( 11)     108.0 ( 58)  111.5 ( 42)      94.0 ( 23)   91.3 ( 25)         .909 ( 25)
Illinois[5] (B10)                  63.0 (294)   64.0 (270)     102.3 (161)  105.7 ( 99)      90.2 (  5)   86.7 (  4)         .907 ( 26)
Southern California[10] (P10)      65.1 (224)   64.7 (246)     105.1 (106)  109.9 ( 61)      97.4 ( 85)   90.4 ( 16)         .905 ( 27)
Oklahoma St.[8] (B12)              72.0 ( 21)   69.9 ( 48)     112.2 ( 16)  116.6 ( 15)     102.5 (206)   96.3 ( 75)         .901 ( 28)
San Diego St. (MWC)                62.7 (297)   62.4 (312)     106.6 ( 85)  109.7 ( 63)      94.4 ( 28)   90.8 ( 19)         .899 ( 29)
Utah[5] (MWC)                      65.3 (212)   65.8 (198)     107.8 ( 65)  109.8 ( 62)      96.7 ( 71)   91.3 ( 24)         .893 ( 30)

 

[anders5189]

If you can tell what the average is for all the games, and it's significantly lower, I'll tell you that I'm impressed.

Carolina averages 90.5 PPG and allows 72.4 PPG for the season. Not bad when you're outscoring people by 18, and a faster pace means more possesions not necessarily bad defense.

 

[anders5189]

Michigan St looking good against Louisville.

 

[BillD1984]

Michigan St looking good against Louisville.

Yes, and I'm lovin' it!!

 

[SabresRule]

I know Anders is sick at the thought of a Big 10 team in the Final Four, given how he can't stand the conference.