5. "i'll wait till i see the brackets" In response to Reply # 0
but yeah, saying the top teams are weaker than normal this year is pretty obvious.
i do think indiana, unless it has a really tough bracket, should make it...though i don't trust a tom crean coached team, they really do have crazy talent (for this season's field).
----------- It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86672 posts
Fri Mar-01-13 11:54 AM
10. "Agreed. And though it's homerism..." In response to Reply # 5
... if Ryan Kelly is close to where he was in the fall, Duke is a good bet too. We were playing easily like the best team in the country until he went down. I'm really hoping he can start giving limited minutes next week.
(If the Hoyas can keep their tear going and get a 1 seed, I don't hate them either. Obviously all of these depend on matchup... but Porter with the ball in his hands is a juggernaut.)
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86672 posts
Fri Mar-01-13 12:06 PM
15. "I agree that Miami and the Zags smell busty..." In response to Reply # 11
... and the Hoyas certainly seem to show multiple personalities at times depending on the game or sometimes even within a game... but a team with an offensive weapon like Porter that's as consistent as they are at team defense has me high for the moment.
And I'm usually the guy betting against JTIII in the tourney. But betting against Porter is tough unless they face an unfavorable matchup.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86672 posts
Fri Mar-01-13 12:15 PM
20. "You might be right." In response to Reply # 17
They are pretty famous for tourney flame-outs in the JTIII era. Perhaps I'm letting my love for a star overshadow my rationale about a team (and its coach).
I just don't know what other 1 seed I'd take.
If (and it's a big if) Miami loses tomorrow, I doubt they get a 1. Unless they bounce back and win the ACC Tourney. Which doesn't feel likely with how they've played their last few games (Va Tech notwithstanding, as they're terrible).
21. "i have no faith. none" In response to Reply # 14
this has been a great ride, but coming into the season (and with Whittington), we thought we were a bubble team with potential. we hoped Porter would be almost this good and we'd be a respectable at-large team.
i'm so flabbergasted by the past month or so, that making the sweet sixteen is a huge win for me, even as it'd probably be a disappointment with regards to our seeding.
one of the problems of being a slow-paced, grind it out team is that statistical anomalies (armon fucking bassett's random day of 3 point shooting prowess) are more harmful when they occur. If you play only 60 possessions and are about 10% better than your opponent, you're less likely to win than if you play 70 or 80 possessions and are 10% better than your opponent.
anyway, i'm nervous as shit. plus, it's a really thin team--after DSR, the bench options are limited. Bowen is high energy but doesn't really do anything well other than fly in for the occasional, amazing, HUGE offensive rebound (but that's not enough to warrant time). Moses Ayegba is a defensive and rebounding beast, but has no offensive abilities to the point that he can really only play against a zone, otherwise he drags the offense down.
it's a 6, maybe 7 man team with two bigs who are foul prone.
----------- It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.
25. "porter alone is good enough offense." In response to Reply # 24
potentially.
in previous years, they've had the offensive efficiency wisky lacks, but the defense has secretly been not that great. this season they really are what everyone thinks wisconsin is--ridiculously good defense, bad offense.
but, the bad offense has actually gotten a lot better over the course of the season. so maybe there's hope. i don't know. im quite a bipolar fan right now.
----------- It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.
Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86672 posts
Fri Mar-01-13 12:39 PM
27. "That's exactly where I am. It falls to Porter." In response to Reply # 25
If Porter is getting touches (like, say, the second half of the UConn game), they can easily outscore opponents.
If Porter isn't getting touches (like, say, the first half of the UConn game), it's bust city.
But since he's getting the ball more consistently, and perhaps more importantly he's demanding the ball more consistently, if we see that trend continue, there's no reason they shouldn't be bare minimum an Elite Eight squad. He'll be one of the top five players in the tournament.
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