Official NCAA MBB Sweet 16 Elite 8 Games Thread.
- Thread starter LionJim
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A storyline for tomorrow night...the B1G now has 3 teams into the Elite 8. The most ever is 4.
Michigan is a 9 point favorite tomorrow night. Michigan St is a 1.5 point favorite. Very realistic shot to break that record.
Michigan is a 9 point favorite tomorrow night. Michigan St is a 1.5 point favorite. Very realistic shot to break that record.
I gave up on Illinois-houston in the first half. No scoring, and not because of good defense. These guys put up bricks. It was ugly.
It was incredible defense…a big part of which was taking the other teams best players out of the game and forcing guys to take long jumpers late in the clock that you want to see taking jumpers (and contesting everything…hardly any really clean looks).
I had watched Houston in an earlier game and had been vastly impressed by their defense.
Me too! I picked them in my pool, thinking they would push people around and shoot well enough.
and won! That has to give them some confidence. I have a theory that most teams who get to the final game have one game where things don't work but they still win. That may have been their down shooting game.
Purdue has really built a culture and have an identifiable style of play; they're a program whose sum is almost always greater than its individual parts.
B10 hoops is still a pretty tough style to beat -- inside out, rebounding, tough man defense and teams that wear you down over time.
Not a B10 team but similar in style -- St. John's is going to try be physical tonight vs a very quick Duke team. Should be entertaining.
Not a B10 team but similar in style -- St. John's is going to try be physical tonight vs a very quick Duke team. Should be entertaining.
This year, their experience is really paying dividends. Painter isn't getting one and done guys, but he's getting these really good college players like Smith, Loyer, Kaufman-Renn, Edey, etc that stay for 4 years. This season, they are 16th in Pomeroy's Experience ranking and 5th in his Continuity ranking. Smith and Loyer have now started 148 games, and Kaufman-Renn 111 (came off the bench as a freshman, and missed two games this season). Kluff has been a 3 year D1 starter, Cox has been starting for a year and a half.
I don't think they'll get past Arizona, but it won't be because Purdue beats themselves.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Duke is a soft team. I will be curious to see how they respond if St. John's gets physical with them and the refs let them play. Although it will depend on who is reffing the game. There are a bunch of NCAA games where both teams get into the bonus before 10 minutes are gone in the half.
In contrast, I believe the Purdue-Texas game went almost 10 minutes without a stoppage in play last night. It was refreshing to see.
The local discussions are just that. You nailed it. Additionally, no one calls a charge these days due to the tighter rule change. Some of these games are wars. Duke will have to shoot very well to win, not just average.
We are a wrasslin' school! @BobPSU92A particular b1g “team” should try that.
I would argue that Duke is probably the toughest team in the nation this year, and not at all soft. Best defensive team in the country, arguably the best rebounding team (along with Michigan State), very big, doesn’t foul, etc.
We shall see. They didn't look very tough in the first two rounds of the tourney. Maybe they were just tight and will get their bearings now that they are in the Sweet 16. But maybe the ACC as a whole was soft.
My worst nightmare is a Ricky Pitino vs Danny Hurley East Regional final. Ugh!
I can't see Purdue beating Arizona. Purdue barely escapes Texas, an average SEC team, and everyone thinks they are OKC now.
Illinois probably beats EyeOWahh. Can't believe it is those two.
Michigan will get to Indy out of the midwest.
Probably either Michigan or Zona winning it. Just please not UConn and the crybaby or McDirty Pitino.
I can't see Purdue beating Arizona. Purdue barely escapes Texas, an average SEC team, and everyone thinks they are OKC now.
Illinois probably beats EyeOWahh. Can't believe it is those two.
Michigan will get to Indy out of the midwest.
Probably either Michigan or Zona winning it. Just please not UConn and the crybaby or McDirty Pitino.
I dislike both Pitino and D Hurley but Pitino is a great XO coach, always has been. Even I can tell going from way back, he was brilliant in the Elite Eight against Georgetown I forget what year. More on this later, it's a good story.
Illinois vs. iowa tomorrow (Saturday) evening. When I was in graduate school at Illinois, the running joke was that iowa was for Chicagoland kids who couldn’t get into Illinois. Years ago, I worked with a sales guy who lived in the Chicago area, and his son got rejected by Illinois and ended up going to iowa. 
Go Illini!
Go Illini!
They slept walked through most of the Siena game, but came up with a huge effort against TCU (held them to 58 points, their lowest mark of the season), beating them by 23. If you want to ignore their ACC performance, they also held Texas to 60, Kansas to 66, Florida to 66, and Michigan St to 60.
To me, nothing shows toughness more than defense, rebounding, and scoring in the paint...and that's Duke's "M.O.".
I get that St John's is playing well over the past month...but this is still the same group that allowed 103 to Alabama, 85 to Auburn, 83 three times (Iowa St, Georgetown, and Xavier), 82 to Xavier the second time, and 81 to Baylor.
It's a one game "series" so anything can happen, but I'm shocked at how little respect Duke is getting these days, and how many are on the St John's bandwagon.
Oh I think Duke is certainly favored. On the other hand, all these mix it up teams are advancing, literally bullying their way to the hoop. St. John’s often resorts to it.
That is my take as well. I worked with someone from the Chicago burbs who went to Iowa and I'm fairly certain this person could not get into U of Illinois. Also, Iowa out of state tuition plus room and board is only about $11,000 more than Illinois in-state tuition, room and board.Illinois vs. iowa tomorrow (Saturday) evening. When I was in graduate school at Illinois, the running joke was that iowa was for Chicagoland kids who couldn’t get into Illinois. Years ago, I worked with a sales guy who lived in the Chicago area, and his son got rejected by Illinois and ended up going to iowa.
Go Illini!
St John's was lucky they didn't blow it vs KU. I hope Duke hits it's stride and throttles Ricky and the boys.
Not a Duke fan, but...
St. John's will need to shoot the ball better than they have and/or play outstanding defense for all 40 minutes.
Duke will need to care of the ball and handle the pressure that St.John's applies
Caleb Foster may or may not return. If he does, expect him to be on a pitch count.
Cayden Boozer must play well.
Should be fun.
St. John's will need to shoot the ball better than they have and/or play outstanding defense for all 40 minutes.
Duke will need to care of the ball and handle the pressure that St.John's applies
Caleb Foster may or may not return. If he does, expect him to be on a pitch count.
Cayden Boozer must play well.
Should be fun.
Purdue-Texas played through two TV timeouts. Clock finally stopped on a 2-shot foul. TV TO before the foul shots, 2nd TV TO after the first foul shot.
And with all of that, there probably isn't a bit of difference between the education that one can get at either place if one applies himself or herself.
I concur but Illinois is a much higher rated university than Iowa for whatever that is worth. I'm kinda shocked how Illinois ranks, it is #36 among all public institutions. Iowa nowhere close to that at #102.
If Foster can give them good minutes then that will give Duke a huge boost. Although Duke should win without him. St John's will have to play lights out to win, imo.
I’ll mix in the PSU Hockey game on a third TV at 9pm too.
Also note that they pushed Michigan to 7:50 to give a little more of a stagger tonight.
Scheyer is very good at adjustments. First 10 minutes playing out with intense St. John's pressure that is speeding up Duke and St. John's inability to knock down shots to create separation.
Duke is the better looking team. SJU is 8-17 on threes with the first half winding down.
Just looking at the box score. 2-point field goals are 12-5 in favor of Duke which leads to 9-3 advantage at the FT line.
14 career 3's in 69 games heading into tonight, and he hit 3 in the 1st half. Duke was playing off of him, but that will change the game plan in the 2nd half.
Mitchell was 0-14 for the season from 3 and shooting under 18% in his career and also made a 3.
Cam Boozer is so good...matchup nightmare, and he really brings it at the defensive end too. Duke got a lot of help from Evans, Brown, and more than I ever would have expected from Foster...but every time they really needed a basket, it flowed through Cam Boozer.
Never would have thought that St John's could keep up that 3 point shooting...but give them credit, they kept it up for 30+ minutes.
Never would have thought that St John's could keep up that 3 point shooting...but give them credit, they kept it up for 30+ minutes.