NCAA South collector thread (Virginia #1 seed, Cincy #2)

[rsvman]

Hands:UVa::feetuke

Sucks for them, for real.

[rsvman]

No way to avoid the software turning a colon followed by a capital D into a smiley face. SMH.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Hands:UVa::feetuke

Sucks for them, for real.

It is bad...I hate it for them.
Maybe for us, Trevon will be okay, and we'll be healthy. Last season we had, just off the cuff, about 5-6 years worth of injuries in one season. It was terrible. Maybe we're due for a clean run for a while.

[jv001]

Nobody is saying we can't, but we expected to before this. Now nobody will be surprised if we lose to AZ or KY.

We should still win the first 2 games, if we win that 3rd game I like our chances against the other half of our bracket still and even against the top 3 from the West.
Beating Duke, MSU, and Nova seem like the biggest hurdles without him.

But you have the coach that can get them team ready for this. He's the 2nd best coach in the country. GoDuke!

[richardjackson199]

I smell pie.

Ha, you might be smelling my pie. Their odds of making Elite 8 are still substantially higher than 14-18%

[left_hook_lacey]

Ha, you might be smelling my pie. Their odds of making Elite 8 are still substantially higher than 14-18%

But trending in the right direction.

[Wahoo2000]

Been off the message boards mostly since news broke. I had a little pity-party for my school and team. It was pathetic. In retrospect, it was dumb to go overboard with all these "it's not fair" thoughts - what team goes an ENTIRE season without facing some kind of adversity? I really believe we still have the tools to get to the FF, but our margin for error went from "not big" to "razor thin".

For the last 20ish games, Hunter has been a force for us. He was our highest usage player (though still only at about 25% when on the floor). He was shooting 50/47/72 from FG/3PT/FT and had the highest FTRate on the team by a mile (almost double the next closest guy). He also rebounded and defended very well for a wing player put in the post.

We'll probably need our remaining top 7 players to ALL play at or near their best basketball to win 4+ games, but it is definitely possible. Especially if we get Jerome, Guy, and Hall ALL shooting well from deep. Those guys have all been GREAT shooters at times this year, but seemingly rarely all at the SAME time. We'll need that for probably 2 straight games in the second weekend (assuming we're not upset the first weekend) unless AZ/KY/Cinci/whoever just doesn't come to play (which I don't expect).

If those guys DON'T all shoot well, we'll need Diakite (and maybe Salt) to contribute much more offensively than expected. Diakite is VERY close to flipping the switch. He's been very good offensively in the last 8 or so games when he gets significant minutes - at a usage and efficiency rate right up there with Hunter. He's also a better rebounder than Hunter. He has MAJOR fouling issues though, so not sure how much his role can possibly expand as his foul rate has him being about a 22-25 mpg tops.

I anticipate the "slack" from Hunter's loss to be absorbed pretty evenly by Guy/Jerome/Hall/Diakite. I hope those 3 perimeter guys in particular are well rested, because given Nigel Johnson not really looking like a guy Bennett trusts, I think all 3 will be out there 37-40 min in pretty much every game (maybe not round 1).

[PackMan97]

That's some NC State level *$#! right there. If there is a team that can pull it off without one of their best players, it's UVa.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Been off the message boards mostly since news broke. I had a little pity-party for my school and team. It was pathetic. In retrospect, it was dumb to go overboard with all these "it's not fair" thoughts - what team goes an ENTIRE season without facing some kind of adversity? I really believe we still have the tools to get to the FF, but our margin for error went from "not big" to "razor thin".

For the last 20ish games, Hunter has been a force for us. He was our highest usage player (though still only at about 25% when on the floor). He was shooting 50/47/72 from FG/3PT/FT and had the highest FTRate on the team by a mile (almost double the next closest guy). He also rebounded and defended very well for a wing player put in the post.

We'll probably need our remaining top 7 players to ALL play at or near their best basketball to win 4+ games, but it is definitely possible. Especially if we get Jerome, Guy, and Hall ALL shooting well from deep. Those guys have all been GREAT shooters at times this year, but seemingly rarely all at the SAME time. We'll need that for probably 2 straight games in the second weekend (assuming we're not upset the first weekend) unless AZ/KY/Cinci/whoever just doesn't come to play (which I don't expect).

If those guys DON'T all shoot well, we'll need Diakite (and maybe Salt) to contribute much more offensively than expected. Diakite is VERY close to flipping the switch. He's been very good offensively in the last 8 or so games when he gets significant minutes - at a usage and efficiency rate right up there with Hunter. He's also a better rebounder than Hunter. He has MAJOR fouling issues though, so not sure how much his role can possibly expand as his foul rate has him being about a 22-25 mpg tops.

I anticipate the "slack" from Hunter's loss to be absorbed pretty evenly by Guy/Jerome/Hall/Diakite. I hope those 3 perimeter guys in particular are well rested, because given Nigel Johnson not really looking like a guy Bennett trusts, I think all 3 will be out there 37-40 min in pretty much every game (maybe not round 1).

Yeah, of all the teams who are favorites, your squad is likely most able to absorb an bench injury.

Also, this time of year, everyone has injuries - disclosed and undisclosed.

Having said all that... It sucks, man. Go out there and win anyway!

[OldPhiKap]

Everywhere you see it, the term "got screwed" should be replaced with "was unlucky".

True, because I always heard that "getting screwed" was the same as "getting lucky."


(Sorry, I'll show myself out now. . . .)

[luvdahops]

True, because I always heard that "getting screwed" was the same as "getting lucky."


(Sorry, I'll show myself out now. . . .)

Well played, sir

[weezie]

True, because I always heard that "getting screwed" was the same as "getting lucky."


(Sorry, I'll show myself out now. . . .)

Watch out for that door knob on the way out...

[El_Diablo]

Loyola-Chicago with a dagger vs. Miami!

[ice-9]

Sigh, the one upset pick everyone and their mother made, but I the clever contrarian didn’t.

After all even with Miami only giving a measly 2-3 points that’s still more than a toss-up.

[dudog84]

Kentucky's first game since 1988 without a 3-pointer. Wow. 1,047 games (if you're counting).

[rsvman]

Buffalo shooting the three very well. Up 8 on zona now.

[Troublemaker]

lol, Zona. After all that bellyaching about them being a 4 seed, I'm glad to see this is happening to them.

The statistics never bore out that they were a team on fire. Two games ago, they were taken to overtime by UCLA. How is that a team that's peaking?

Zona came into this game ranked #71 on defense. Think about how fast Duke went from 100+ on defense to top-30 (and now top-10). Where was the proof that Zona was improving rapidly?

I call Bull on all that. A bunch of Bulls.

[tbyers11]

lol, Zona. After all that bellyaching about them being a 4 seed, I'm glad to see this is happening to them.

The statistics never bore out that they were a team on fire. Two games ago, they were taken to overtime by UCLA. That's not a team that's peaking.

Zona came into this game ranked #71 on defense. Think about how fast Duke went from 100+ on defense to top-30 (and now top-10). Where was the proof that Zona was improving rapidly?

I call Bull on all that. A bunch of Bulls.

Yeah. I don't think Arizona is going to be favored against UVA

[ice-9]

IIRC J-Will had Arizona winning the whole thing. LOL!

[Bluegrassdevil1]

Arizona is getting destroyed.

Wow.