That’s why I quoted the rule. It’s quite definitive: you are in the backcourt only if you are touching, or have touched, the backcourt. You can leap from the frontcourt into air above the backcourt to save a ball – I saw that exact thing happen yesterday.
In fact, I forget the game, but there was also a backcourt violation called in one of the games yesterday: the ball bounced into the backcourt, and the whistle wasn’t blown until the ball was retrieved down near the free-throw line extended. Until that point, no backcourt violation had occurred because, although the ball was in the backcourt the first time it bounced there, no player from the offense had touched it.
Thanks for reminding me to start my now-annual youtube rewatch of old Michigan tournament games.
Thinking about it now, if the season was over I would be distancing myself from college basketball, but repeatedly ending up in the Sweet 16 means I can’t get enough content around this time.
When I first saw him playing in Wisconsin,. I thought they recruited Ollie from the Hoosiers. The kid who was always at the end of the bench, and took the underhand free throws.
People wonder why the b1g has struggled in ncaa tournaments, heres the answer. Despite having the most passionate fan bases and commitment to the sport of all the conferences, the programs simply dont recruit well enough.
This was the year the B1G didn’t lack top end talent though
regardless, I’d be curious to see those stats without Duke and UK. Also, if Purdue makes the F4 they’ll be the 7th program to make the F4 since 2000. Which I believe would be the highest among any conference. I did the research once but don’t feel like doing it now
Good point - and you might be able to throw UNC in there too. Those conferences don’t have the depth that the B10 does…but they tend to have a couple of teams loaded with talent so the 4th or 5th guy is still an NBA prospect.
That being said, part of it is still a bit “luck” in the sense that the B10 has sent plenty of teams to the Final Four - just haven’t won enough. I think it will be interesting to see how NIL and the Portal change things everywhere. Not to mention that some of the elite coaches are starting to retire.
Yep. Aggregating draft talent at the conference level over that period is mostly a silly exercise. There’s a handful of teams that provide a lot of talent to the NBA and then it’s everybody else.
Meanwhile, look at who the B1G is losing to in the tourney. They’re not getting housed bc of a draft pick deficit.
Flipping channels and saw ESPN talking about upcoming matchups. They were hyping Banchero as the only player left who’s averaged 18/7 this year…with one made three per game. That seemed like an oddly specific stat and I looked up Hunter, who’s averages are better but who has only made 21 threes in 31 games. So apparently they really wanted to make him one of a kind.
Obviously he’s great and a future lottery pick…but another example of how Hunter hasn’t received the attention that his performance should warrant.
