NCAA FINAL FOUR: Championship Game Thread
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The studio crew is terrible . I know turner wants it this way . But man these guys Barkley , smith and Johnson don’t watch the sport all year and it shows. Its bad when plum is better at analysis
I guess if you’re Purdue you hope Edey on D cancels most or all the off script easy put backs clingan gets even when the UConn offense doesn’t click for a few possessions.
UConn shot it alright tonight but has struggled at times the rest of the tournament from deep.
UConn is amazing right now but but maybe that’s part of the path not that it’s groundbreaking stuff.
Love the TNT crew they are great. The average fan doesn’t care about great analysis heck we see that dynamic play out here everyday day.
They serve their purpose well imo
Cam Spencer will stuff Edey in final seconds for the win. We all know it. It is written.
I think they have 2 centers who can guard Edey one on one, the advantage Purdue has at the 5 will be a lot smaller than it usually is, and their other guys will have to step up. UConn’s other players are better, so they should be able to win, but Purdue definitely has a shot.
Congrats to Purdue and UConn , as bac stated they are the best two teams
and we all know this is great match-up for the Championship game
and we all know this is great match-up for the Championship game
I guess you think I am great , since my analysis is better !
NJHawk somewhere muttering to himself that Cam is still average.
I think Hurley has figured it out. They gave talent, but their offensive sets/concepts are phenomenal. People are going to copy Uconn’s offense
When they get in a rhythm i would definitely throw a zone at them.
When they get in a rhythm i would definitely throw a zone at them.
If Purdue doesn’t play a lot better than they did tonight, UConn will win by double digits.
Cam played a very nice all around game last night. Maybe he can stick on an NBA roster. A tribute to Hurley's ability to build a cohesive group. Will be interesting to see what happens if Cliff winds up there.
I think Clingan is much better than Edey and believe the NBA scouts feel the same way. His stock is on the rise. I don't think the game Purdue played last night will be good enough to beat UConn. They will need to control the pace or UConn will run Edey off the floor. He certainly won't play 40 minutes. Should be interesting.
I think Clingan is much better than Edey and believe the NBA scouts feel the same way. His stock is on the rise. I don't think the game Purdue played last night will be good enough to beat UConn. They will need to control the pace or UConn will run Edey off the floor. He certainly won't play 40 minutes. Should be interesting.
I've seen some articles predicting him to be a second round choice.
That shows ( to me) he has a chance to stick .
He might not be a starter but come off the bench as a 3pt threat
Both centers will be in foul trouble if the refs don't allow the constant holding /pushing the opponent for positioning around the basket.
Depends how you define great. He was 25-6 his second and final season at Wanger, their best record in history, I think Wagner fans would consider that great. He took URI to the Round of 32 his last two seasons at URI with 25 and 26 wins, I think URI fans would consider them great seasons. If you take out the first year at each stop where he took over down programs I would say he has 5 great seasons in 10 years. Unfortunately for us I think he has many great seasons in front of him.
Danny Hurley is great basketball coach, period.
URI fans, including me, liked Danny and considered him a great coach there. Unlike Rutgers, URI is the #2 college basketball team in a tiny state with little in-state basketball talent. Winning NCAA games two years in a row takes a great coach, not a good one. Keep in mind Danny won more NCAA games in 12 months at URI than Pike has won in 20 years.
Danny irked some URI fans when he said he wanted to remain URI coach until his son graduated from a Rhode Island high school. Danny left a few years earlier. He did a very nice job exiting through interviews that were complimentary of the program and its fans.
So far in the final four there's been a very loose whistle, so they may allow them to bang a lot more tomorrow
Agreed. He needs elite talent around him that are better than the competition.
The difference to me is that UConn-minus-Clingan is a much better team than Purdue-minus-Edey, so a tight whistle would favor UConn. Edey's generally been very careful this tournament, though, and has backed off contesting several shots at the rim to reduce his risk of drawing fouls.
UConn is a better defensive team and is more versatile/balanced offensively. Purdue is better offensively overall (when their shots from the arc are falling) and has the best player on the floor.
Going to be an interesting matchup to watch.
UConn is a better defensive team and is more versatile/balanced offensively. Purdue is better offensively overall (when their shots from the arc are falling) and has the best player on the floor.
Going to be an interesting matchup to watch.
I think Clingan's athleticism will give Edey problems.
While I think Clingan is big and strong enough to at least hamper Edey's post game.
Definitely has the makings of a bench shooter.
Offensively in general I think he can contribute off the bench.
I do wonder about his on ball defense though at the NBA level.
Wagner's 25-6 team lost in the NEC semis and didn't even get an NIT bid. Maybe somewhat less than great for a program that has been to the NCAAs twice, including this year. URI has been a strong program for decades, and has 10 NCAAs, including an elite 8 and a sweet 16. Not sure a round of 32 qualifies as great, but we could argue that back and forth to no avail.
But there is no question he is doing great right now, and part of that greatness is player development and creative coaching. I think the only portal steal he has is Spencer. i think the rest are pretty much home grown. If he has an Achilles heel, it is his temperment.
But the question now is where does he go from here? He's only 51 and arguably one of the most talented and creative coaches in basketball. He's at a storied basketball venue (no pun intended) and could be there for the next 20 years. The two questions about him are: 1) Does he stay?, and 2) Will his temper get the best of him?
As to coming to RU, does anybody really believe he would have been here for more than three years? It's like the Jay Wright fantasy. I think we have in Pikiell the best long term coach we could have.
did you realize URI hadnt been to the tourney since 1999 before Danny, so please know your history. and were coming off of a 7-24 season when he was hired....you are trying to hard...it obvious
temper? you really think temper is an issue wow...the guy is on the verge of winning back to back national championship and somehow you are saying ooh where does he go from here...he will have plenty of opportunities in front of him, dont worry about him
Just watched his Sunday pressor on BTN. Breath of fresh air. I'd contribute cash to get his *** here. He's another admitted old school coach who says we "don't kiss the recruits ***" or put them up on pedistols..
Guy was born to be a Jersey Coach .he finished using the word accountable. Interesting.
There were people who legitimately thought we were too good/classy for a guy like danny hurley. These people dont care that much about winning and prefer a buttoned up “rutgers man” than a savage win at all costs guy
Yes, I did know that. I also know that that was a span of 13 years, not exactly a lifetime. I also know that in the five years prior to the 7-24 season, URI had four consecutive 20-win and one 19-win seasons. So again, with a bit of real historical perspective as opposed to cherry picking, they weren't exactly a disaster as a basketball program. Not like the program Pikiell inherited.
That he has temper is undeniable. Will it get him into trouble? Not as long as he keeps winning big and doesn't do anything really dumb.
I didn't say, "Ooh, where does he go from here?" I said, " Does he stay?" A couple years ago, Brad Stevens was the flavor of the month in college coaching, and he was lured away to the Celts. And then there's Steve Alford, Larry Brown, etc. The question is not "What else can he do?" but "Will he stay in Storrs, Connecticut?" What if UCLA or Duke come calling down the road?" That was my question. Surely he wouldn't have stayed at RU long if he were successful here.
Right now you'd have to call him one of the 3 or 4 best coaches in the college game and his roster is filled with kids. So the future seems bright. But prior to last year, he was a sub .600 coach. Which is what I said at the outset here. Edit: And that he really whines a lot.
Not sure why people think he will leave UConn or would have left us if he came and had the same success. He grew up in NJ, coached in NY, RI and now Conn and is now having major success. His first three moves were up levels but he is now where he can win NC's. He is a NE guy and his father stayed at St Anthony's his entire career. You never know if a guy will leave, money, admin disagreements, etc., but based on above my guess is he stays long term.
Not sure on the logic of removing the last two years of his career to get him below .600. A more logical cherry pick might be removing his first years when he took over down programs and did not have his system and players in place, then he is just over .700, and that looks like it will keep getting better.
He does whine but it seems effective, I wish Pike would hone this skill a little.