MSU fans complaining about Michigan fans being too happy or celebrating too much has got to be the saltiest thing I’ve seen in my life
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My son worked at the Staples Center back in 2018. He was General Manager of Purchasing for all the food and beverage. His office was literally across the concourse from the arena. He called to tell me the sound in that arena was the loudest he had ever heard it there. Then he walked across the concourse to do a video of the electricity in that place with his phone. That’s the closest I came to experiencing it live. I had to live it vicariously through him and the video he sent me! I’m so jealous of you guys! 
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Where? I refuse to visit RCMB but otherwise I’m all for viewing some of that nonsense please.
Losing sleep over those takes is exactly why they exist, my friend.
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In the end, we are still dancing 
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My facebook feed just showed me a picture from 3/23/13: me with my four-year-old cudding up next to me as we watched something on my laptop. Checking now, it would have been our cancellation of VCU in the second round. I was wearing my “Ohio is God’s Blind Spot” shirt. Hate Has No Home Here, friends. Unless it’s for Ohio State and Michigan State athletics.
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Going to be interested in what the press makes of the relationship between Coach Howard and his old Miami coach Leonard Hamilton, with whom I know he has maintained a friendship. There’s a lazy narrative out there of Hamilton not being a savvy coach, which is absolute bunk and wants. . . a little. . . examining. Smart, dignified, and highly successful guy, given the uphill climb he has made in Tallahassee, where he now has rabid crowds watching his teams regularly destroy the likes of NC and Duke in home games (undefeated for going on two seasons here until recentily, IIRC). Maybe this matchup helps furnish some of the respect he’s due.
I think part of it is that it’s not pretty basketball. They have athletic big men that aren’t very skilled on offense (not a lot of a skilled athletic bigs in college.) they generally have a lot of early entries. And they have athletic wings that can get to the basket but maybe not shoot as well. Leads to teams that are great on defense but not a lot of spacing on offense.
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Dunno; when it’s all working it’s more fun that your avg 20-point first half B1G game, I gotta say.
Well I’m on record as saying 90% of Big Ten basketball is unwatchable.
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I blame Tom Izzo! But I must say it would be neat to see some deeply knowledgeable writer with historical perspective break down the degree to which these narratives about the different conferences and coaching styles hold up or are mostly fiction. I remember making the argument, with few facts to back me up, that John Beilein was going to alter the style of play in the league to the good. . . my admiration for MSU’s success was always tempered by the fact that–like their football counterpart–fouling more than the refs could call was often their approach against more talented teams.
But again, would love to hear people who really see this stuff weigh in. . .
I mean his two recent lottery picks, Patrick Williams and Devin Vassell are two good shooters with size/length/athleticism. FSU was a scarier team last season than this season, but COVID prevented them from making a possible run to the Final Four. They had talent to get there.
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Interestingly, and I had pointed this out earlier in the year when I think it was even higher, the B1G as a whole finished with a faster relative pace than they have in this century at least. I could only go as far back as 2008.
B1G finished as the 16th fastest conference which was on par with B12 and BE, above ACC and P12, but well below the SEC.
Illinois went from 288th to top 100 in tempo. Minnesota did the same thing. Then of course Hoiberg has sped up Nebraska big time, and Michigan plays faster than they did under Beilein, although still quite slow. Even NW jumped 100 spots.
I would say the most obvious thing about the B1G from a statistical profile is incredible ball control. #1 in TOR on offense, and also last in TO% on D. Certainly those go hand in hand - not many pressing teams - but teams that have tried that have failed miserably in conference. And also incredibly stout interior D.
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A lot of college basketball games are unwatchable.
My modest proposal to rule change for a better overall on court product.
- Get rid of charge/block rule. It rewards teams without playing defense and it can be dangerous for all involved with potential injuries.
- Implement defensive 3 second so teams can’t camp in the paint at all time. That would open up spacing
- Each team would get 4-5 timeouts for the entire game. No resetting timeouts at halftime
- Implement continuation shot rule. I’ve seen so many times where it should’ve been and one but was called off because it was “on the floor”
That should go a long way towards making a better on-court product IMO.
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Good piece on the evolution of Leonard Hamilton’s style of play:
Good stuff. Thanks.
Yes, I should say that 90% of college basketball is unwatchable. It’s weird how I’ll jump out of my seat when a Michigan player makes a great shot that NBA players (not even star players) make routinely every night.
People always like to say there’s no defense in the NBA but the players won’t last long in the league if they can’t play defense. The biggest difference is NBA is so much more skilled that they make difficult shots look so easy that people think there’s no defense in this league.
That’s how I know people don’t watch the NBA.
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The NBA plays defense, and this is sort of contradictory, but the product is more frictionless and that’s what I don’t enjoy about it. Even though the NBA is full of athletes who can shut you down, college is where you see a greater proportion of contested shots taken. More friction. It doesn’t feel like two teams taking turns doing things to each other.
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