I remember watching Villanova last year during the regular season and thinking that it was an incredible team with marvelously eclectic pieces. As the tournament wore on I kept praying they would have an off night and somehow lose to a hot-shooting team. Our last hope was Kansas, and they fell almost instantly. I haven’t seen a team this year that came close to that Villanova club. Such is our luck, and such is Michigan State’s.
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Duke barely made it this far and is comprised of freshmen.
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The Cassius Winston recruiting saga really impacted both programs in ways unimaginable at the time. No clue what MSU’s backup plan would have been, but it’s impossible for me to see this team advancing so far with anyone but Winston running the show
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Yeah the most talented freshman to ever play college basketball and three consensus top 5 picks in next year’s draft. They have 5 former McDonalds All Americans on the roster. Their play in the tournament was poor but that’s one of the most talented college teams in history in my opinion and a monumental win for Izzo
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So … anyone think that if MSU wins it all there’s a chance that Izzo just up and calls it quits? He’s not ever gonna have a better moment to go out on top (not only the championship, but a BIG title, tourney title and 3 wins over UM), and while he’s only (“only”) 64, he does not look good and, based on Brendan’s article in the Athletic just before our 2nd game with them, does not appear to be having a lot of fun day-to-day. I gotta think it would at least be a temptation.
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Honestly, though, they are not particularly well coached. My friend pointed out last week that he doesn’t think K does a ton of in game coaching with these guys and I think between last year and this year… I mean, these guys made terrible decisions down the stretch. It’s unreal that people not named Zion decided this game for Duke. I have all the respect in the world for at least the coaching acumen of K (of course), but I don’t think he’s done a particularly good job either of the last two years.
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I can’t believe that other teams’ players don’t just dribble it into the coach on the floor and force the refs to make the call. Then again, I have recent bad memories of Poole forcing the refs to make a different call and the refs declining spectacularly, but I can’t see them no-calling a player with the ball colliding with a coach on the floor.
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As bad as Izzo with that, I think Calipari is even worse. Pretty sure he was in the circle at the opening tip.
NBA draft picks and cool dunks don’t move my needle as much as they do yours. Duke wasn’t anything close to a great ncaa tournament team and I can’t believe I’m wasting my time arguing the point. Give K two more years with those kids and he’d have something Duke fans could be proud of.
I’m with you but I don’t say it Often because it makes us come off as haters. I personally think he underachieved big time.
I actually think his squad last year was better.
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Yeah you may be right and I don’t blame JB at all for his choice to take Simpson. Love X, he took us to the title game. But it’s quite an interesting what-if to think about
Their defense was so incredibly terrible though last year. Like, not even passable.
Duke has outstanding talent. Very experienced from all of the pre-college tourneys, but didn’t play their best as a team-too much iso. Without Zion they were top 3-5 in their conference or B1G. Zion was all-world and carried them very often. Also one of the best passing bigs of all time and super on D. MSU is a great TEAM. They lost 3 NBA players and 3(?) of this year’s starters and still won. Iz it Izzo? Who knows? Read BQ’s article about who takes the last shot today (written before today) and you’ll see why they win.
I agree MSU is a great team and I love BQ’s article. I was responding to the assertion that there’s no great teams in this tournament and that would somehow lessen MSU’s title this year because they didn’t have to go through a team like Villanova last year.
Agreed they didn’t play well in the tournament (before today).
What about Virginia? Kenpom has them as the third highest ranked team in the history of his database.
Duke > Texas Tech > Virginia seems like a much tougher path to a title than Florida State > Loyola > Villanova last year IMO.
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They played much better in the zone. Honestly I hate duke but if carter doesn’t get in foul trouble I think they win it all.
The most interesting what-if to think about is if we still had Aubrey Dawkins. In their Duke game, he looked like he could get a shot against anybody when needed. We needed that in every loss this year.
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Without an injury he has no eligibility. Also, you have to subtract a player from our roster probably in the process.
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This times a thousand. Without Zion they were a fringe top 20 team. I actually think it shows how special Zion really is.
So so d, too much Barrett hero ball, total lack of depth, cam rarely playing with an edge, not great from three. I don’t mean to pile on but the fact they were the biggest favorite in five years or whatever it was was a joke. They should have been out round two.
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I posted this yesterday. I love that kids game, lack of d and all. Then again I’ve made my love for his game and disappointment in his transfer known many times. Kid can score and shoot with just about any one in college imo.