Zags and Texas Tech in a great one early.

Virginia and Purdue later tonight.

UK/Auburn and Duke/MSU tomorrow. Auburn is down Okeke, so I've already hammered UK -4.5.

Off the dribble.

Never liked that strategy.

Incredible displays on both ends.

Tough pass, and he had no defenders in front of him. 2 dribbles and pull it.

Cline is the best 3PT shooter on the team, and Edwards was drawing instant double teams the second he crosses mid-court. I thought Cline's cut through the screen could've been tighter, and I thought Clark whacked Edwards on the pass tbh. If Edwards's pass connects, they get an incredible look by a white-hot 3-point shooter. *shrug*

Ultimately it's a miracle Purdue was even in the game. They were outplayed ALL GAME in every way... *except* for Edwards. They damn near won. So you have to trust that Edwards would've audibled if he felt it was the move.

Edwards had his man beat and no one in front of him. That’s a tough pass and Kline would’ve been well defended from what it looked like.

Hindsight is 20/20 though.

Purdue’s gotta be sick about that sequence to tie it in regulation.

Edwards had his man beat and no one in front of him. That’s a tough pass and Kline would’ve been well defended from what it looked like.

Hindsight is 20/20 though.

Purdue’s gotta be sick about that sequence to tie it in regulation.

NO.
If they hit and 3 and we go into overtime so be it.

But Virginia had been CRUSHING Purdue on the boards all game. So you have to assume that the foul-up-3 may skew in their favor. Anything other than getting crushed on the boards, then foul up 3, by all means.

But I'd also have fouled with closer to 4 seconds left, not 6. So... yeah.

>But Virginia had been CRUSHING Purdue on the boards all game.
>So you have to assume that the foul-up-3 may skew in their
favor

https://images.genius.com/49ffa1f35b549f77b0508c35f7ab26f9.640x640x1.jpg

Came back and improved to the mean like a motherfucker.

http://oi65.tinypic.com/2v3puvp.jpg

He gives them better size, versatility, and rebounding. All of which they need to even compete with UK. This game gonna be a blowout.

>He gives them better size, versatility, and rebounding. All
>of which they need to even compete with UK. This game gonna be
>a blowout.

Brown got hot, but I still wouldn't be surprised by a double-digit UK win if Purifoy, Dunbar, and Spencer all are either defending conservatively or sitting on the bench.

Every time they drive, good things happen, but they keep settling. Baffling coaching. Send Johnson inside, send Washington inside, feed Travis.

Can't believe UK beat Auburn twice this season, and then Auburn beats UK on the big stage *without Okeke.*

Free basketball

That was the best call Cal has made all game. Auburn's offense has looked fucked since.

>Auburn's offense has looked fucked since.

Gotta call timeout if a Spencer 3 is your only option. That's like Jordan Goldwire shooting a 3 for the Duke win.

my guy, you dribbled into a trap for like the 5th straight possession and burned off 6 of those 10 seconds by yourself

I have no idea what Calipari was doing much of the game. They didn't run much offense, didn't get the ball to Washington consistently. On defense, too much Herro on quicker guards, too much Travis in transition, too much Hagans gambling for steals and giving up free lanes to the bucket. A baffling end to Kentucky's season, and stone cold NARDS for Auburn.

They beat the most talented team in the land....

They're not as good as previous years. Speaking specifically when they had Miles and Jeron along with Cassius, Ward, Goins, Langford...

to say they're not that good is a reach. I can't stand Duke - so this W is extra special.

watching zion cleaning up the glass is the greatest thing in basketball

but fuck, not sure what Reddish is great at

him, Nassir and Romeo were the 247 composite top seven of their class? ugh

If refs aren’t calling fouls inside either way, that favors MSU.

you got a miracle against UCF and survived against VT...then can't beat POS Izzo and the Larry Nassar University?

fucking chokers

Now I don't need to watch the rest of this shit

Way to go Spartans.

https://giphy.com/gifs/yeah-flair-ric-yUI3a7RwLhOFy

Cassius is the fucking man.

Not ready to see RJ and Zion go. Sad day. Good game plan by MSU, and good playcalls out of timeouts down the stretch by Izzo.

Clutch

the Wall-Cousins-Patterson-Bledsoe one...clearly the most talented group in basketball that year, but no reliable shooters

same ending basically

UK was more dominating and deeper, but both of them had the same iffy profile for a one-game knockout tournament.

fuck tho. that UK team was just eating people alive that year (funnily enough, Tennessee beat them in Knoxville as usual). if only Cal could've convinced Jodie Meeks to stay; they would've gone undefeated.

and yeah, I know you know all this.

then you said it.

It's all good. Lol

And I’m gonna laugh when he’s a poor man’s Brandon Ingram.

I'll cyse everything else about him, but not the shooting. Still, I'd rather draft the player that's *too* aggressive about shooting/playmaking than the one who isn't.

needs to come back next year, he along with Jones and whatever studs K has coming in next year and they could be right back up there

We'll have more returning talent than the last couple of seasons, and while we don't yet have a Bagley or a Zion, we'll be able to fill the roster gaps. We'll definitely be less talented, but we may be a better shooting team and a deeper team, which would help.

And if Tre leaves and RJ Hampton takes his place, that would... also do a lot for us.

Cuz I thought a NyQuil was someone who disappeared for stretches or whose impact wasn't felt for stretches? And that wasn't RJ today at all. He fucked up tonight too often, no question, but he was asking for the damn ball.

CAM is definitely a NyQuil. His ass vanished on offense. RJ? He was second on the team in points, FGAs, and first in assists. I don't see him as a NyQuil.

>Cuz I thought a NyQuil was someone who disappeared for
>stretches or whose impact wasn't felt for stretches? And that
>wasn't RJ today at all. He fucked up tonight too often, no
>question, but he was asking for the damn ball.
>
>CAM is definitely a NyQuil. His ass vanished on offense. RJ?
>He was second on the team in points, FGAs, and first in
>assists. I don't see him as a NyQuil.

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

>Zags and Texas Tech in a great one early.
>
>Virginia and Purdue later tonight.
>
>UK/Auburn and Duke/MSU tomorrow. Auburn is down Okeke, so I've
>already hammered UK -4.5.
>
>

And Cam Reddish didn’t develop at all. He might’ve gotten worse.

Coaching performance

they were fine but whenever they needed something more than that to get them over the hump it wasn’t there. After the close calls with UCF and VT what happened yesterday wasn’t really a surprise.

but he ain't ever out coaching Izzo.

>

Yesterday notwithstanding, K has crushed Izzo head to head historically. Including in the OAD era.

Was Duke’s one and done factory thing in full swing yet when they won it all in 2015?

I feel like it was just getting going, but they still had some veteran talent.

Seems like it’s hard to build any real continuity. Their bench sucked, and they had no shooting. Poorly constructed roster. But how do you fix that, given their recruiting strategy?

Same with Kentucky. They won one title in their one and done factory era and are always good off pure talent but it’s not like top 2 recruiting classes every single season are leading to top 2 teams every season.

I question if it’s the best strategy for their program and for most of their players. Only ones who “benefit” from it are the top couple players on the team. Everyone else gets forced out the door to make way for the next group, or is in danger of riding the bench.

What’s going to happen with Bolden and DeLaurier next year? These were big recruits and they should be solid upperclassmen players, but it seems they’ll be buried behind Duke’s top recruit bigs.

It’s hard for some teams to make it out of the 1st weekend. ***double shrug***

>It’s hard for some teams to make it out of the 1st weekend.
>***double shrug***

Even some teams that didn’t make it out the 1st weekend this year have been there more recently. ***Arms extended out, with a spin around, Randy Savage style***

Your team is not a consistent threat to win anything.

Your team does not produce pros.

These are all facts.

That is why...

Your team is not a top destination for recruits.

You stay mad because of it.

It’s pretty simple when you look at the facts I’ve listed.

“Do you want to play with one of the top 1 or at worst 2nd coach in the country, or a top 30 ish coach in the country?”

Since Cal has gotten to UK, more wins than anybody, more tourney wins than anybody, more Final Fours than anybody, more Elite 8s than anybody, more lotto picks than anybody.

Kentucky does not have to rethink anything.

Yeah, that’s what Kentucky and Duke are doing. “Producing” them.

Good stuff.

Even Syracuse has seriously contended for a title more recently than Kentucky. *Shrug*

You make it to a Sweet 16 and it’s a surprise.

>Seems like it’s hard to build any real continuity. Their
>bench sucked, and they had no shooting. Poorly constructed
>roster. But how do you fix that, given their recruiting
>strategy?

Cam Reddish was supposed to be The Shooter. Every year we've had OADs come into be the shooter.

3P% of Duke OADs:
Kyrie: 46%
Austin: 37%
Jabari: 36%
Tyus: 38%
Justise: 42%
Ingram: 41%
Tatum: 34% (tho 38% in ACC play-- he started the year DREADFULLY)
Frank Jackson: 40%
Trent: 40%
Bagley: 40%
Carter: 41%

I mean, Tatum's start aside, that's an *absurd* record of taking OADs-- including a number of whom we're supposed to be shooters!-- and getting them to a good shooting percentage from distance.

Then, you get to this year:

Barrett: 31% (33% in ACC play)
Reddish: 33% (31% in ACC play)
Zion: 34% (37% in ACC play)
Tre: 26% (an awful 21% in ACC play)

Reddish came in with the Shooter reputation, so everyone at Duke expected he'd do 38+%, and if we could get *one other* player to even an acceptable percentage, we'd be golden. But Reddish really struggled, no one (except for Zion) really improved from outside, and thus it didn't work. And when you add to that Jack White's bizarre shooting slump and Alex O'Connell's shooting regression? It was just a damn plague, man.

And sometimes that shit just happens. But Duke's roster construction in regard to having shooters? We were supposed to have one of the best in the class. He just didn't pan out. But on paper, preseason, I really liked our chances to be, at worst, *fine* from 3. It's really all we needed. Just two guys who could shoot. Instead we had zero. Sigh.

>What’s going to happen with Bolden and DeLaurier next year?
>These were big recruits and they should be solid upperclassmen
>players, but it seems they’ll be buried behind Duke’s top
>recruit bigs.

Nah, Carey is definitely playing the 4 and will desperately need rim protectors behind him. He's not a 5 imo, and neither is Hurt if we got him. Considering K wouldn't even consistently do Zion as a small ball 5, I really don't expect it with Carey. K seems to be really loving the two-big lineups lately. (Likely a result of the disaster of 2016.) I'd really, really love Bolden to come back and finish the year, because I don't think next season we'll be doing the versatile switch-everything defenses, and Bolden is just so perfectly equipped to defend the interior.

playing away from the basket?

The usual 2 big action K's run for the last two years.

He'll do pick and roll with the guards, he can pop jumpers up top if need be (he's been working on the 3 a lot, the scouts say), he can roll if need be. He'll also do straight post ups. Zion was fed in the post plenty with Bolden/Jav on the court, because they'd stay on the weak side and either get putbacks or, if their guys double teamed Zion, Zion could pass it around for the easy 2. He can also do high-low action with the other big (and/or Hurt, if we get him).

And maybe I've heard wrong about his defense. I've just heard he's not really a rim protector on his own. He's kinda short armed for a guy so big, and he's not a big-time athlete. He's supposed to be an effective strong guy inside, great rebounder... but if he's up against, say, a Nick Ward type, if what they say is true, Ward would prob eat his lunch. Same for guys on the penetration-- Jav and Bolden both were terrific shot blockers this year, but Carey really isn't supposed to be that. Maybe if we're facing a smaller, more versatile team, Carey'd play the 5... but as I said before, I thought K was gonna do that this year with Zion, and he tended to stick with Zion at the 4 and Bolden/Jav at the 5.

It'll be really interesting to see what Duke does with Carey, because the reports have indicated he's not the fastest dude on the planet and he would potentially benefit from a slower pace... but then again, most everyone else we'll have (save Bolden) can run transition (and even Bolden has improved dramatically in that regard). I wouldn't be surprised if K tosses some zone out again next season, depending on the personnel.