Valid argument. Chambers is pretty synonymous with moral victories. I guess I’d have to see what the matchup would be. Would love to see something like perhaps PSU and Iowa. (Thinking perhaps 6-11.) Dunno, perhaps Iowa is the inverse, popular pick for imploding, but seriously, does Iowa ever finish strong? I still remember sharing a cab ride with distraught Iowa fans in Indy in 2016 after they got dumped in the first game as a 5 seed. I realize a school’s institutional history doesn’t have much to do with each season, but it feels like it happens every year. Perhaps a battle of “Who wants to lose less”? rather than “Who wants to win more”?
Yeah, Iowa has been a flop in the BTT. Even in years with legitimately strong regular season finishes ('13, '15, '17), they followed it up by losing early in the conference tournament. In fact, Iowa has never made the semis under Fran and has only played on Friday twice. You have to go all the way back to 2006 and the penultimate year of Steve Alford to find an Iowa team that made it past Friday, when the Hawkeyes won the BTT. Fittingly, Iowa (as a 3-seed) proceeded to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Northwestern State on a last-second turnaround 3-pointer with .5 seconds left.
Agree re: Iowa. The other night, I heard some analyst comment on how the fan base loves McCaffrey, and thought “no way is that true”. If we, on the outside looking in, recognize the same-old Iowa fade, fans of the program have probably just come to expect it.
I would tend to think that after his next son is coerced into, er, happily in the fold for Iowa, McCaffrey’s leash becomes much shorter. I don’t know the extent of his contract, but his biweekly tirades have dissolved into almost becoming unhinged, and his players seem to emulate it more than I remember in past years (for example, Bohannon, who I always remembered as a respectful player, constantly slapping his forearm to let the refs know he was fouled on that last three). Additionally, in the presser discussing McCaffrey’s suspension, Fran seemed almost… smug…about his behavior. IMO, the era of enraged-coach-brings-out-passion is no longer a good look, especially in today’s game. Then again, what is timeless is that if you win, you stay. You lose, you don’t.
Northwestern State, eh? Kind of says it all.
OSU is zero-for-twelve from the field to start at Northwestern. Eight minute stretch.
Another win for PSU. KenPom now has them 339th in “luck” while facing the #2 schedule in the country.
As for OSU, are they a sure thing to make the tournament if they lose this one?
Man, Rutgers must really have stormed back in that game. Turned it on for a minute and PSU was up 13 with about 10:00 left. Just checked the final and see that Rutgers had multiple chances to win in the final possession.
won’t they get “credit” for Wesson being out? or is that a special rule for Duke?
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Only scoring 50 points and losing by 18 to Northwestern should automatically preclude you from a Tourney berth.
I had penn st minus two. I was not happy. I had nw too but the way the Florida, penn st, and Marquette games ended made me want to puke on myself. Oh well.
I’m hoping a win like that is a big lift for Northwestern into Saturday!
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Northwestern can’t possibly lose this game
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Wow. I love those jerseys.
Nice for sure, but kind of just a knock off on old Vancouver Grizzlies unis ha:
In fact, looks like they exactly mimicked that design, all the way down to the nail marks.
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If it makes them play like Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Big Country Reeves then I’m all for it.
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Haha only problem is they don’t have anyone on that roster to play like Mike Bibby.
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Dang, good eye on those jerseys
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I haven’t checked on Twitter if people are calling that out, or if that’s the point of these, but for whatever reason I knew I had seen that jersey before and immediately thought of the old Vancouver uniforms ha.
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Same here - I thought “Vancouver Grizzlies” right away. I don’t know how I remembered that. I guess because that was at the end of my basketball card collecting days.
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