2023 NCAAM Final Four Thread

[uh_no]

I don't get the perceived sleaze factor of UConn today. I'll grant you Calhoun was high on my list (and I don't think much of Geno either). But Calhoun left them 11 years ago, and it doesn't seem like there's been much fuel for the fire since, so why the continued hate? I like little Hurley, ever since he got his big brother back in the game at Wagner and then RI, and I have not heard of anything that makes him appear slimy to any degree. Maybe there is good reason for the continued anti-UConn bias that I am not aware of, but lacking that it just seems to smell of sour grapes to me.

uconn will always be a sore spot for beating two of the best, not only duke, but ever, teams. the 1999 and 2004 teams SHOULD have their place in the rafters alongside the others, but won't. It hurts that 2 of the titles that allowed uconn to equal duke in that department (at least for a single year in 2014) came directly at duke's expense...and had those gone the other way, it would be lopsided the other direction.

[lotusland]

Yep. UConn isn’t like UNC last year, which wasn’t that great but got a fairly easy bracket and got hot at the right time.

The question is how many of UConn’s players choose to go pro or transfer.

Like UNC they are the likely preseason #1 team if they’re are no unexpected departures of eligible players other than Hawkins. But that’s no guarantee of returning to the Final 4 or even making the tournament.

[Steven43]

They're #1 in effectively every computer ranking, and beat darling alabama by 15.

That does not refute a single point I made as to why Connecticut will not repeat next year.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

That does not refute a single point I made as to why Connecticut will not repeat next year.

The odds of any team repeating are tiny, no matter how good they are. But I'm sure you will show up a year from now when UConn doesn't repeat and pat yourself on the back for predicting it.

This thread is not about accepting or refuting your opinions. Or sharing how much you hate a team. Enough about me, let's talk about me!

[Steven43]

The odds of any team repeating are tiny, no matter how good they are. But I'm sure you will show up a year from now when UConn doesn't repeat and pat yourself on the back for predicting it.

This thread is not about accepting or refuting your opinions. Or sharing how much you hate a team. Enough about me, let's talk about me!

I didn’t say anything about myself nor about looking forward to patting myself on the back. Your comments are misplaced.

And no, I don’t like the University of Connecticut men’s basketball program, but I didn’t say anything about that.

[Ol Guff]

I’m of the ABC crowd- anybody but Connecticut!
I do get a pang about the Hurley connection, but
‘99 and ‘04 still hurts. But we’ll always have Laettner
in ‘90 and 101-54 in the ‘64 East Regional Finals
(Elite 8 {ugh} to you younguns).

[uh_no]

I’m of the ABC crowd- anybody but Connecticut!
I do get a pang about the Hurley connection, but
‘99 and ‘04 still hurts. But we’ll always have Laettner
in ‘90 and 101-54 in the ‘64 East Regional Finals
(Elite 8 {ugh} to you younguns).

yep. UConn fans hated Duke before Duke fans hated UConn.

because obviously it's a contest 🤣

[Wander]

It's just wild that the 3 most nonsense titles of the past few decades are all won by the same school. The biggest Final Four seed total in 2011 with the worst title game in the history of the tournament, a 7-8 seed title game in 2014, and now the first Final Four with no 1, 2, or 3 seeds. The thing is, they probably do deserve it this year, and I think are the best team, even as a 4 seed. But still.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Florida and Duke are the only repeat champions of the modern era. Those 2 and UNLV in '91 were probably the 3 teams with the best odds of winning a repeat title. I think this UConn team is excellent (I also think this is a really bad year for college basketball), and if they win AND return most everyone they are the prohibitive favorites to repeat. I think they will be much better next year. And despite that, I would take the field. Hard to win 1. Harder to win the 2nd.

[Music man55]

After watching the two final four games last night, it seemed that the rims were really tight. Lot’s of missed layups and clanking shots. Maybe it was just me, I don’t know. Sure looked that way!

[AGDukesky]

After watching the two final four games last night, it seemed that the rims were really tight. Lot’s of missed layups and clanking shots. Maybe it was just me, I don’t know. Sure looked that way!

I thought the same thing. It felt like some layups would come off the backboard and then accelerate when the ball hit the rim. Several shots I assumed were in ended up bouncing out.

[uh_no]

It's just wild that the 3 most nonsense titles of the past few decades are all won by the same school. The biggest Final Four seed total in 2011 with the worst title game in the history of the tournament, a 7-8 seed title game in 2014, and now the first Final Four with no 1, 2, or 3 seeds. The thing is, they probably do deserve it this year, and I think are the best team, even as a 4 seed. But still.

it's really only the butler game that was cheap... they beat Kentucky and #3 Florida in 2014 for goodness sakes... but that's nonsense i guess.

this is the same stuff people say about our 2010 team, frankly.

we can't pretend the acc is legit and Miami being in the f4 as evidence, then downplay the quality it takes to beat them.

in the end, the committee sucks at seeding, and basing quality wins off seeds is probably bogus.

[robed deity]

it's really only the butler game that was cheap... they beat Kentucky and #3 Florida in 2014 for goodness sakes... but that's nonsense i guess.

this is the same stuff people say about our 2010 team, frankly.

we can't pretend the acc is legit and Miami being in the f4 as evidence, then downplay the quality it takes to beat them.

in the end, the committee sucks at seeding, and basing quality wins off seeds is probably bogus.

There's no such thing as a cheap title, imo. But 2010 Duke was around the top of the computer rankings all year, and 2014 UConn finished 15, while 2011 UConn finished 10. That's different. On the other hand, this year's UConn team was underseeded, for sure.

[uh_no]

There's no such thing as a cheap title, imo. But 2010 Duke was around the top of the computer rankings all year, and 2014 UConn finished 15, while 2011 UConn finished 10. That's different. On the other hand, this year's UConn team was underseeded, for sure.

whollly agree with their coming out of nowhere those two years. but as you say, it's never easy, and both of those runs involved beating some really strong teams.

this team has been in the top few of kp all year.

[cato]

Good read by Eamonn Brennan on SDSU’s win over Florida Atlantic: https://theathletic.com/4372152/2023...-championship/

In a nutshell: a small tweak to how they were defending ball screens enabled San Diego to regain their identity and claw there way to victory.

[brevity]

I was thinking about geography during the Final Four games yesterday -- San Diego State, FAU/Miami, and Connecticut are about as close as you can get to three corners of the continental United States. (Gonzaga might have made a nice fourth corner had they played in the same region as one of the Florida schools.)

It reminded me of this joke from the late Mitch Hedberg (#18 on this massive list):

mitchhedberg.jpg

So then I wondered if this year's group presented the longest distance between two teams in the same Final Four, and also one of the shortest distances (FAU-Miami). This is what I found.

Longest Drive Distances Between Final Four Teams

3,099 mi Stanford to Dartmouth (1942)
2,987 mi UCLA to Providence (1973)
2,955 mi Santa Clara to St. John's (1952)
2,925 mi Oregon State to Duke (1963)
2,905 mi SDSU to Connecticut (2023)
2,896 mi California to NYU (1960)
2,877 mi San Francisco to Temple (1956)
2,861 mi Oregon to UNC (2017)
2,821 mi Seattle to Temple (1958)
2,713 mi USC to La Salle (1954)
2,664 mi SDSU to Miami (2023)
2,603 mi SDSU to Florida Atlantic (2023)

This is a partial list. Aside from SDSU, I only listed each West Coast team once, using its farthest Final Four opponent.

Shortest Drive Distances Between Final Four Teams

10 mi Duke to UNC (1991, 2022)
53 mi Florida Atlantic to Miami (2023)
79 mi Louisville to Kentucky (1975, 2012)
104 mi Louisville to Cincinnati (1959)
110 mi Cincinnati to Ohio State (1960, 1961, 1962)
113 mi Virginia to Georgetown (1984)
116 mi Charlotte to UNC (1977)
120 mi Villanova to St. John's (1985)
127 mi Indiana to Cincinnati (1992)
143 mi Villanova to Georgetown (1985)

[hsheffield]

Devastating for Florida Atlantic, but what a way for San Diego State to end the game.

There was a clear set of winners and losers here.

Winners: people who watched
Losers: people who let potential TV ratings dictate their interest in sports

best part about this game for me personally is that my San Diego based in-laws now understand why I'm such a basketball fanatic.

[brevity]

Pregame Press Conference Video for San Diego State:



00:07:00 SDSU coach Brian Dutcher
00:29:00 SDSU players Lamont Butler and Matt Bradley join in

[brevity]

Pregame Press Conference Video for Connecticut:



00:04:30 Connecticut coach Dan Hurley with players Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson Jr (the players leave after 10 minutes)

Jordan was eventually asked a health question at about the 13:30 mark, and he replied that he would be 100 percent on Monday.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I was thinking about geography during the Final Four games yesterday -- San Diego State, FAU/Miami, and Connecticut are about as close as you can get to three corners of the continental United States. (Gonzaga might have made a nice fourth corner had they played in the same region as one of the Florida schools.)

It reminded me of this joke from the late Mitch Hedberg (#18 on this massive list):

mitchhedberg.jpg

So then I wondered if this year's group presented the longest distance between two teams in the same Final Four, and also one of the shortest distances (FAU-Miami). This is what I found.

Longest Drive Distances Between Final Four Teams

3,099 mi Stanford to Dartmouth (1942)
2,987 mi UCLA to Providence (1973)
2,955 mi Santa Clara to St. John's (1952)
2,925 mi Oregon State to Duke (1963)
2,905 mi SDSU to Connecticut (2023)
2,896 mi California to NYU (1960)
2,877 mi San Francisco to Temple (1956)
2,861 mi Oregon to UNC (2017)
2,821 mi Seattle to Temple (1958)
2,713 mi USC to La Salle (1954)
2,664 mi SDSU to Miami (2023)
2,603 mi SDSU to Florida Atlantic (2023)

This is a partial list. Aside from SDSU, I only listed each West Coast team once, using its farthest Final Four opponent.

Shortest Drive Distances Between Final Four Teams

10 mi Duke to UNC (1991, 2022)
53 mi Florida Atlantic to Miami (2023)
79 mi Louisville to Kentucky (1975, 2012)
104 mi Louisville to Cincinnati (1959)
110 mi Cincinnati to Ohio State (1960, 1961, 1962)
113 mi Virginia to Georgetown (1984)
116 mi Charlotte to UNC (1977)
120 mi Villanova to St. John's (1985)
127 mi Indiana to Cincinnati (1992)
143 mi Villanova to Georgetown (1985)

Mitch Hedberg sporks!

Edit: someone please spork, I cannot