2022 NCAA Tournament Open Thread

OSU is a different team with Kyle Young and I don’t want to lose to them in a sweet 16. I’m fine with losing to Nova.

Holtmann adapted to the doubling nicely against LUC. He changed it up and made that a pretty easy win for them. Helped that LUC had an utterly abominable shooting day but it looked like OSU would be stuck in that same slog.

I suspect they’ll need quite a bit more than 54 points to defeat Villanova.

Yeah I don’t think we match up well with Nova. I’m hoping they’re cold from deep today and lose to OSU. Even with Key and Young I would feel confident playing OSU on a neutral court without B1G refs.

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It’s similar to CSU. We match up poorly with Villanova on D and they matchup poorly with us on offense. I don’t think it’s the worst matchup. They don’t play anyone really taller than 6’8. Hunter would eat again. Villanova is a lot better than CSU though and 3s are worth more than 2s.

I hate playing conference teams though because they have the full scouting report on us, which has been tested in actual games and they aren’t adapting on the fly. Losing to OSU would leave a very sour taste in mouth unlike Nova.

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You expect that with Nova but it’s not actually true.

I mean I guess it is, because they’re 19th in 3P rate. But they play a 6 man rotation and of those guys:

  • Starting 6’8 C Eric Dixon is 14-29 on the year, so not a volume shooter.

  • Starting 6’7 PF Jermaine Samuels is 25-95 (26%) on the year, which is inline with his career 30% 3P shooting line. Considering 5 of his 25 makes came in the 2nd game vs UCLA, he’s not someone I’d be scared of as a 3 point shooter.

  • Starting 6’7 SF Brandon Slater is 30-88 (34%) on the year, and before this year he was 13-50. Like Samuels though, 9 of his 30 makes came in two of the first 3 games, so he’s not really a 3 point threat.

Only the 3 guards they play (Gillespie, Moore, Daniels) are actual 3 point threats, and Moore is only shooting 35% this year which is inline with his career mark (35%). Granted, it’s on an insane volume.

Objectively OSU is the better matchup because they’re a worse team. But especially since there’s a natural matchup for Hunter that plays 60%+ of minutes that’s significantly smaller, I really don’t hate the Nova matchup for Michigan. And considering the downside of losing to OSU vs Nova, I’m fully rooting for Nova.

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Thanks for posting those numbers.

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If you had ever been to Jersey City, you’d feel the same way.

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Plummer playing like garbage so far. Lost on defense, bricking jumpers

Houston’s style of play is so uniquely absurd, you can’t help but tip your hat off to it.

Houston can’t hit a damn thing but Illinois can’t grab a board without Kofi in there

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I mean, Underwood can be angry but if you’re thinking Grandison is gonna rebound with Houston, I think that’s a you problem, Brad.

Bring on all comers. It’s all gravy.

Houston with an offensive rebound percentage off the charts so far today. But a FG% in the basement

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That is literally their entire gameplan lol

Wow Houston is a team of bricklayers. No wonder they are the best at rebounding missed 3s since they brick so many.

I know they go for boards, but gotta shoot more than 20% from the field lol

Curbelo gonna lose this game for Illinois

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Illinois players passing up 3’s so Curbelo can take 3’s a couple feet behind the line is not winning basketball.

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Yeah he’s been not so good

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