NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Thread

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Houston is the easy rooting interest imo. With or without what happened Saturday night

Can’t say they’re my favorite team to watch but the discipline and toughness is commendable
 
A. As a Duke fan, that game really sucked.
B. Houston is an easy team to root for.
 
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Todd Golden is not a good dude. And that's aside from the sexting thing, true or not. That's all I'll say about that.
this. and the allegations go well beyond "sexting" - that implies consent or mutual participation, which don't seem to have been a factor with any of the coeds that he was harassing/stalking.

go cougs.
 
As a Duke fan, it doesn't come close to a top ten loss. I don't care about it being K's last game - that team was good, but not great. Ultimate losses in 1986, 1999, 2004 and 2019 hurt much more.

Hell, the Carolina losses in 1974 and 1984 in Carmichael hurt more.

Is it too soon to ask for an update on these rankings?
 
If "better" means a 3 point victory at home, correct. As a counterpoint, 1986 Duke was ACC regular season champion, ACC tourney champion and made the final Monday night game.
 
I'm somewhat surprised by the national media pile-on, TBH:

 
The ‘86 Heels really lacked sufficient wing play - Kevin Madden was a FR and not ready for prime time (and, he might have already been in the doghouse over academics - Coach Smith made him sit out the ‘86-‘87 season over academics) AND Curtis Hunter never became the “next Michael Jordan” (granted, his entire career was injury-plagued). Steve Bucknall was also a FR who wasn’t ready for big minutes.

Smith, Hale, and Lebo were on the court A LOT as a trio. ‘86 was the season that Hale punctured a lung against MD; but, he only missed the ncsulol game, IIRC. Three excellent players; but, not one was a 6’5” to 6’7” wing.

At times, UNC also went with a Three Towers line-up featuring some combination of Daugherty, Wolf, Martin, and Popson. That was a group lacking quickness.
 
If "better" means a 3 point victory at home, correct. As a counterpoint, 1986 Duke was ACC regular season champion, ACC tourney champion and made the final Monday night game.
Well, my point was that the Heels were better until the injuries. So that would explain why they didn't win those championships.

My case is: UNC was 21-0, undefeated until Jan 30. Then won a few more games until losing to Len Bias near the end of the year. The team ended up losing 4 of its last 5 non-NCAA games, and went out in the s16 (though to the same team Duke lost to).

Against my case: I recall there being a lot of injuries, but I can't find much of that in the stats. Hale missed three games; Warren Martin missed 6. The available data isn't very complete and I can't find game logs, but if we assume my memory wasn't COMPLETELY wrong, then it's likely Hale and Martin missed the same games, and those were probably ones that UNC lost.

BUT, I also thought Joe Wolf had missed time but that seems to be a spurious memory. And three games from Hale and 6 from Warren isn't a rash of injuries.

That said, Warren Martin was extremely underrated. He had many flaws in his game, but he blocked 2.8 shots in 16mpg, which is astounding. Duke, by contrast, didn't have a single player who averaged even a block per game, which is probably why Pervis demolished them.
 
The ‘86 Heels really lacked sufficient wing play - Kevin Madden was a FR and not ready for prime time (and, he might have already been in the doghouse over academics - Coach Smith made him sit out the ‘86-‘87 season over academics) AND Curtis Hunter never became the “next Michael Jordan” (granted, his entire career was injury-plagued). Steve Bucknall was also a FR who wasn’t ready for big minutes.

Smith, Hale, and Lebo were on the court A LOT as a trio. ‘86 was the season that Hale punctured a lung against MD; but, he only missed the ncsulol game, IIRC. Three excellent players; but, not one was a 6’5” to 6’7” wing.

At times, UNC also went with a Three Towers line-up featuring some combination of Daugherty, Wolf, Martin, and Popson. That was a group lacking quickness.
Hale missed three games. If he got hurt against MD, then he probably missed NCSU, UVa, and Duke -- 2 of which we lost. That's one of the end of season injuries.

The problem with Kevin Madden was that he was never a perimeter player. He was a 6'5" PF essentially.

My memory was that UNC played Three Towers until later in the season when they went to the three guard lineup. That might or might not have coincided with Warren Martin's injury.

But you're right -- the team really lacked a wing player. They had absolutely nobody who could check Len Bias (not that anyone could fully check him), and that was reflected in his performance.

It's worth remembering just how good the ACC was that year. Top 3 picks in the draft were Daugherty, Bias and Washburn. Johnny Dawkins went in the top 10, IIRC. John Salley was a first rounder, I think, and Mark Price was underdrafted -- he became an NBA all star.
 
Hale missed three games. If he got hurt against MD, then he probably missed NCSU, UVa, and Duke -- 2 of which we lost. That's one of the end of season injuries.

The problem with Kevin Madden was that he was never a perimeter player. He was a 6'5" PF essentially.

My memory was that UNC played Three Towers until later in the season when they went to the three guard lineup. That might or might not have coincided with Warren Martin's injury.

But you're right -- the team really lacked a wing player. They had absolutely nobody who could check Len Bias (not that anyone could fully check him), and that was reflected in his performance.

It's worth remembering just how good the ACC was that year. Top 3 picks in the draft were Daugherty, Bias and Washburn. Johnny Dawkins went in the top 10, IIRC. John Salley was a first rounder, I think, and Mark Price was underdrafted -- he became an NBA all star.
You’re correct on Hale - he missed the last 3 regular season games.

Martin tweaked a foot or ankle in that same MD game. Not sure which games he missed.
 
You’re correct on Hale - he missed the last 3 regular season games.

Martin tweaked a foot or ankle in that same MD game. Not sure which games he missed.
He missed 6, so it probably would have been through the whole rest of the regular season. He did come back for the tourney but wasn't 100% and only played 6 minutes against Louisville.
 
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