Let’s hope this one turns into something. Aside from our game, it’s been a dull day by tournament standards.
Wow some pretty questionable officiating going for ucla
All year the media literally said the big ten is down. The conference is weak this year. Michigan gets a 7. Wisconsin an 8. Is there any final four contenders? Probably not. But what makes a good conference? Just having a top 4 team in the conference? I’d argue the big ten is far superior to the pac 12, big 12, and big east even tough those conferences are great at the top. It was as deep and tough as usual.
Personally I think Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin are top 20 teams. Even if they didn’t always play like it. I saw many analysts picking first round losses and talking like the conference is garbage. All year.
Personally I think it was still the second best conference top to bottom. Any final four teams? Probably not. But I’d rank 6 big ten teams in the top 32. That’s More impressive to me then having zona, Oregon, and ucla.
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Before the tourney I considered picking South Carolina to beat duke in a bracket or two. Watching them right now I’m starting to think this hunch could be correct.
This is the exact type of team duke gets upset by in the tourney. Just like they lose to Miami, or fla at every year. That is going to be a very tough game for duke. Duke seemed to struggle at stopping people at the rim and inside all year. I could see their tough perimeter d and to the rim style really being tough for duke
They certainly could give duke issues. The worry for South Carolina is that they are so dependent on Thornwell for everything that if he is off their whole team is off. This was obviously a big offensive game tonight for them but it was against a terrible defensive team.
I thought smu would emerge from that portion of the bracket. Good call by me 
I talked myself into smu over Baylor cause my bracket was so chalk. Wish I went with my gut instead of trying to match up seeds
NC State hired Kevin Keatts from UNC Wilmington, that is Billy Donlon’s alma mater so he might be a candidate there.
I think that’d be a stretch for him to take that type of job. Stick around Ann Arbor and he could land a d1 job.
UNC Wilmington is a d1 job. I don’t see him landing a power conference job though, unless ift’s for a historically crummy program. He could do a lot worse than UNC Wilmington. He wasn’t a failure at Wright State, but they weren’t amazing either. UNC Wilmington would be a pretty good job for him IMO.
It could be. But if we keep playing well and keep improving defensively, he’s going to get a lot of attention. Are Detroit and Milwaukee better jobs then unc Wilmington? Beilein can get his guys some good jobs. Stick around a few years donlon 
Deteroit’s probably the best of the three IMO. But mostly has to do with being located within a talented city. I think he’d be better served going to UNC Wilmington, which is a solid program than trying to build up a crappy program at the bottom of a power conference like a Boston College, Penn St, Oregon St or something equivelant to that.
Lots of good games on tap today IMO.
Three B1G teams in action today.
Wisconsin vs Villanova
Northwestern vs Gonzaga
Purdue vs Iowa St
Rest of the slate:
WVU vs ND - going to be a really interesting watch. WVU thrives on turnovers, ND seems to value the ball decently. High scoring game IMO
Xavier vs FSU - I have Xavier in the Sweet 16. A lot of talent in this game
MTSU vs. Butler - Might as well be a 4 v 5 seed IMO. MTSU was underseeded IMO and about half of brackets picked them to beat Minny.
St Mary’s vs Arizona - St Mary’s not unfamiliar with long, athletic opponents since they’re in the same conference as Gonzaga
Virginia vs Florida - I think Cavaliers win this one easily
Wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the lower seeds win today though.
Probably only Purdue advances from the 3 Big Ten Games.
UNC-Wilmington is not only his alma mater, he was an assistant coach there for four years, so he’d probably at least listen if they’re interested. But it’s not like other opportunities won’t come up if he stays at Michigan and the team does really well. He’s obviously got a lot of midwest and Chicago connections. A gig like Loyola, now in the MVC, comes to mind as something that could open up in the next couple years and be a good fit for him, or maybe something else in that conference. Getting paid >$200,000 to live in Ann Arbor, learn from Beilein, get a ton of exposure, etc., isn’t a bad deal. He’s only 40. But, like I said, he’s got a long history at UNC-W.
I know we’ll have Dylan’s preview later today, but has anybody watched enough of Louisville that has some quick keys to tomorrow’s game?
Seems to me like athletic bigs and off/on guards that are usually off efficiency-wise.
I hope Louisville does as horrible a job of defending 3 point shots as they did in 2003 against Butler. That would be nice.
No TOs. Limit Offensive Rebounds. Don’t give Snider open looks from 3.
The way OkSt played, with pressuring the ball at times and crashing the boards, was probably a pretty good practice for Louisville. Obviously a much better defensive and multiple team, but a less dynamic offensive team. Hopefully we can be somewhat better on the boards without having to deal with Evans and the same multitude of three point threats. Stay with that downhill mentality when we do break pressure.
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Thanks for the write-up, I appreciate it.
Sounds like with athletic bigs that are good offensive rebounders, it’ll be big for Moe and DJ to stay out of foul trouble. Probably moreso DJ with how well the small ball lineup has been playing.
Are their guards quick that get into the paint a lot?
Yeah, their guards seem quick. Be interesting to see what Dylan’s shot charts show. I don’t think they have a guy who gets to the rim as much as Evans does. The Nate Mason mold of course is an easy one that comes to mind for Snider.
Somewhat surprised at this wvu-notre dame game. Thought notre dame would handle the pressure better but they have struggled to run any offense and have shot poorly from three. West Virginia has made everything from outside in the second half.