B1G/NCAA basketball

[Hannibal]

Are you talking talent as "future NBA players" or talent as "currently great basketball players"? We have seen with Beilein how much guys tend to improve from year 1 to year 2, so the distinction is very important.

In 2013, we had a cavernous advantage in terms of future NBA talent but not in terms of great basketball players.

[hack]

Very important, yes. In that game Craft, Thomas and Morgan were excellent players and key to its outcome. The first two were all-conference performers and yet are not, thus far, NBA material. (Maybe that changes, dunno). Which is why it's a rough measure of talent. But still -- roster with 6 future NBA players vs roster with none, and they played us to a standstill in our building. A few bounces and whistles decided things. I hope we never have an offense like that again and don't think we will, in which one player is so damn good that the others defer to him too much, because that offense was defensed well once the conferenced figured it out in February. It's a credit to Burke and Beilein and 25-foot 3-pointers that they succeeded like they did. I thought last year's offense was so much more beautiful. I bet it was a giant leap closer to what's in Beilein's head.

But the key to me, in this particular thread, is that when Michigan got elite talent and lost Novak the team's identitiy immediately became offense-first, whereas before it was more about underdog hustling. Matta's teams hang their hat on defense, and as much as I absolutely love Beilein, I still prefer teams that don't believe they can win unless they defend very well.

[The Oracle]

I think you are underestimating how good Maryland is. It will be a close game.

Maryland just lost Dez Wells for a month. They're done. Please stay current.

[hack]

[iam416]

Maryland just lost Dez Wells for a month. They're done. Please stay current.

This. Virginia, 64-43.

[iam416]

BTW, how on earth did Maryland draw Virginia? They typically try to match up teams based on how they finished the previous year. With Louisville coming in, and Maryland going out, that's a bit trickier. But, still....Virginia WON the ACC. Maryland was 9-9. Virginia should get Michigan or Wisky or MSU. Leaving the Wisky/M games alone because they are reasonable, it should be MSU-Virginia and Maryland-Notre Dame.

[The Oracle]

Well, honestly if they had Wells and Smote, I think it would have been a really good game. Didn't MSU/Virginia just play a year or two ago in this though?

[iam416]

A quick check of kenpom says MSU-UVa haven't played in a while. They played the pre-Naismith game against Wisky last season (48-38) and M the season before. So, that would explain why UVa wasn't matched up against either of those teams -- and why MSU should have been the pick.

Even if MSU isn't the pick, pairing them Notre Dame doesn't make much sense.

[hack]

Agreed.

[The Oracle]

I guess I was thinking last year when MSU/UVa played in the tourney. Seems longer ago than that somehow. Doubt it, but wonder if that played any role

[hack]

Certainly helps Maryland sell out a game. But I don't know if that's a big factor or not.

[entropy]

FSU size is really getting to nebraska now... Struggling on D and also on O

[entropy]

this crew loves to call fouls on nebraska..see baylor in last years tourney

[Dr. Strangelove]

Well Rutgers proved me wrong...damn. Didn't think they had much of a chance at all to win a road game. Even against a craptastic team like Clemson

[Dr. Strangelove]

Know it got close but nice work Huskers. Big10 2-0. Was not expecting that good of a start.