I hate this UCLA team. I can’t help it. I didn’t know this until I turned on the game.
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UCLA -3.5 never in doubt
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Is it just me or has the amount of quality rosters been on a huge uptick over the last few years.
I’ve been super busy the last 3-4 months so I missed a lot of transfers ect and every roster I just clicked on in the top 25 seemed extremely dangerous.
Last year kinda felt that way but Baylor and Gonzaga did seem a cut above ( although I thought Michigan was right there if healthy) but this year looks super wide open. I like the Zags a lot but they lost some serious contributors.
Like even Memphis is very interesting. Lots of possibilities. Kansas doesn’t appear to have a top 5 roster to me though nor do I think UCLA is top 3. UCLA is still going to be very good but I don’t see another final 4.
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KenPom pointed out that this is an extremely veteran season in college hoops thanks to the free year of extra eligibility which should translate to higher quality teams overall, and also teams have some extra scholarships related to those “super seniors” that aren’t counting against 13 scholarship limit.
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Bad year to be good.
Good problem to have
Just watched the game this morning, felt like Villanova’s entire offense was trying to back down guards with the off-arm. I’m just not crazy about this Villanova roster.
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He’s useful because Cody Riley got hurt but he was massively overrated when people talked about him in the portal. I’ve never really seen it with him but some coaches/analysts continue to hype him consistently.
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Agree with you on Myles and not loving Nova. Despite there being more experience, I don’t see a ton of dominant teams out there.
You get 5 teams to cut down the nets - no odds - who you taking?
I think the idea would be for them to kick out to shooters but UCLA stayed home which is the right move. But yeah just a crazy amount of post ups
Yep, the No help defense has made plenty of good offensive teams look bad. Nova just doesn’t really have great one on one players, needs to be a ball movement team.
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I think Justin Moore is that type of guy. Hard to see it when Moore gets 2 fouls in the first 8 minutes and 3 by halftime.
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I watched a chunk of the first half and thought the same. Nova didn’t look really that good or comfortable and there was no one on the roster that really stuck out to me. Think its a roster of good not great players.
UCLA I don’t know. I hate them for their run last season and think they are super over valued. But I guess if they keep winning maybe they just are that good and last year wasn’t a fluke.
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He still played 33 minutes, though.
Thank you Dylan. I never understood the whole “Myles Johnson is a great defender” thing and when I’ve said something along those lines before it hasn’t been well received. He’s a terrible offensive player and in my opinion he’s just “okay” on defense. Useful player to be sure, especially as a rebounder, but nothing special.
In attendance what stood out was the lack of NBA athleticism on either team. Peyton Watson has some draft hype but he didn’t play the entire 2H.
Villanova looked like a team with Eli Brooks as their best player. Gillespie has a reliable jumper but I wonder how far he can carry a team by himself. I did like Samuels in this game but I assume he has stayed in college five years for a reason (and/or it speaks to UCLA’s wing defense). Villanova also has zero bench whatsoever – one brick-laying sixth man and bupkis. They are going to gas out. That young Arcidiacono kid got in again and was just terrible. Imagine trying to steal minutes with CJ Baird against a top-5 team on the road.
UCLA’s offense was hideous but I guess it’s built for March with all that iso. Jaquez is a far more complete player than Juzang IMO. Seemed like Tyger made considerable off-season improvement in his game. He played really well. Myles Johnson was mostly invisible but had two thunderous blocks late in the game. Jules Bernard also looked a lot more well-rounded and he pulled down a ton of rebounds. I think a lot of UCLA players got better and Juzang is the same guy, which is a decent recipe for success.
Overall I thought both teams would get baptized by a bouncy guy like Moussa. Both teams were ruthless in pursuing certain defensive switches and I just kept thinking “this says way more about the defender than the ball handler.”
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Dylan’s point about them just continuously trying to post up UCLA was what stood out to me from Villanova. What were they thinking? It was like the only way they were trying to generate any offense.
I think it was in large part due to how UCLA was defending them (not helping off of a shooters) which means you have to make a play and score 1v1 and that’s the best way they have to score 1v1.
Doesn’t Villanova always prioritize post offence? I believe they’ve always been willing to have any of their guys work the post if they like the matchup. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary for them to do what they did last night. The one thing that drove me crazy was how they’d post someone, then their true big (#43) would move to occupy the weak side block, which brought Myles right into great position to challenge shots. I don’t know why he kept doing that.
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Yeah I thought Cronin (defensively) outcoached Wright (offensively) but it was a good fight. The other end of the court was N/A. UCLA’s offense reminded me of Scots Secrit Plays.
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