NCAA Basketball 2023-24

[Pyperkub]

Saw this article and figured it may be time to start the new thread for the final year of the Pac12

How much does a transfer starter cost?

But most coaches told us the floor for transfers who project as high-major starters is around $150,000 -- and then what amounts to a bidding war can and will take things much higher. For what it's worth, many coaches told us SEC schools -- and a few other big brands from other conferences, but mostly SEC schools -- are the ones that tend to drive up prices. (It just means more and all that.) And one other tidbit coaches offered up is that good transfers are almost always more expensive than good high school players because good transfers are usually proven commodities who are older and more likely to make an immediate impact than 99% of high school graduates entering college.

And regarding this quote, I'm going Arizona, though it could be Oregon

"You have bozo-schools offering insane numbers, and typically those coaches get fired. We lost a guy when we offered over $200,000 -- and he would have helped us. But we were blown away by the offer a Pac-12 school made."

[Pyperkub]

And the Ivy's may not be completely irrelevant and could upend the sport entirely...

A group of 15 Dartmouth men's basketball players became the latest college athletes to pursue unionization this week with a petition to the National Labor Relations Board to join a local union. The "employer" listed with the petition is Dartmouth College/Dartmouth College Board of Trustees, while the union is Service Employees International Union Local 560 based out of Hanover, New Hampshire.

[Pyperkub]

Well, 3 months into the season and holy cow are my Bruins a trainwreck.

I'm almost watching just to see how bad we can play and how low we can sink. I'd probably be dead if missed open shots were a drinking game.

PS. Thanks for the historic drubbing last night skiny!

[ImLawBoy]

I'm told that this season doesn't count, which is good because Michigan is also garbage. Seems the Juwan Howard era may be drawing to a close.

[Pyperkub]

I'm told that this season doesn't count, which is good because Michigan is also garbage. Seems the Juwan Howard era may be drawing to a close.

I'd say you're as bad as us, but I'd be wrong - at least you can score! We're lucky to break 50...

[Pyperkub]

Hey! We both got wins this weekend!

Yay us!

[ImLawBoy]

Beating Ohio State in anything never gets old. And the Fab 5 were all there together for the first time since they were playing!

[Pyperkub]

To get an idea of how bad the .net rankings are at determining how good a team is *now* (as compared to November/December), I give you Los Angeles.

USC (9-14) - has lost 7 of 8 games, all but 1 by double digits, alone in last place in the mediocre Pac12. NET ranking of 99

UCLA (12-11) - won 6 of last 7 games and have climbed from last place to 4th in the Pac12. NET ranking of 118 (including a double digit win at USC)

I'm starting to believe UCLA will be playing top 30 basketball and be better than a large chunk of the at-large teams by the time the tourney rolls around, but dear lord is the deck stacked against teams who get better during the season.

[Pyperkub]

At the airport on the way to the final Pac12 tourney in Vegas

Go Bruins!

[ImLawBoy]

And after a year with the most losses in Michigan basketball history, the Juwan Howard era (mach II) is over after five years. Bummer because I really wanted him to be successful, but I also think it was necessary at this point.

Although it is weird that the football program winning 2 games in 2024 is considered a success while the basketball program winning 2 games in the same time frame is a failure.

[ImLawBoy]

In non-Michigan news, interesting that DePaul has hired recently fired OSU coach Chris Holtman to try to resurrect the program. He lost something like 8 of 9 and took OSU out of tournament consideration before being fired, but his replacement has gone something like 7-1 to likely put them in the tournament. Not exactly the kind of momentum you want to see from your new head coach, but I think DePaul has to be thankful for what they can get these days.

It's hard to believe now, but DePaul basketball used to be a real thing in Chicago. My dad played for Coach Ray Meyer (well, he largely kept the bench warm, but that's an important role!) and the city was buzzing about them in the 1980s. Now they play in a lifeless stadium off campus and Loyola has overtaken them as the city's team.

[Pyperkub]

Yeah, DePaul has been inexplicably awful for decades now. I think it's a good hire for them., but I have zero idea why they've been consistently abysmal for so long.

[ImLawBoy]

My dad's opinion, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong, is that it all boils down to the fact that they haven't played on campus regularly since the early '80s. They used to play in an on campus gym (couldn't really call it an arena), but around that time they moved to the Rosemont Horizon (currently Allstate Arena) in suburban Rosemont. It was a soulless building (although I've seen Van Halen, Robert Plant, Joan Jett, Rush, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and more in concert there!) in blah suburbia, but it was easily accessible just off the Kennedy Expressway. Coach Ray was still around and the team was in high gear. Coach Ray retired and Joey Meyer took over. He kept things going for a few years, but then things dropped off precipitously. With no buzz around the team and no students minutes away, it was hard to recover. They eventually moved to a new arena downtown (also home to the WNBA's Chicago Sky), but it's not easy to get to from campus. I went to a game there just before pandemic times, and the place was lifeless.

DePaul is a pretty small school, so they'll always need non-students and non-alumni to fill the house, but they need a core of students and alumni to bring some energy and excitement. I can only imagine how unimpressed recruits are if they visit for a game in a mostly empty arena with zero energy. If they had an arena on or near campus, maybe they could get some student energy there, which might attract some recruits, which might get the city interested again. For now, though, they're in a death spiral. Maybe Holtman will be able to help, but with all of the resources of OSU he never won a Big Ten title (regular season or tournament) and I'm not sure he ever got out of the first weekend of the tournament - I'm almost certain he never got to the Sweet Sixteen.

[Isgrimnur]

[JCC]

I am still reeling from NCSU winning the ACC tourney. They have been so mediocre for so long. I was 100% sure UNC would win, because... well, everytime NC State makes it to the ACC tourney final, either UNC or Dook beats them. Such an odd feeling to be happy at the end of an ACC tournament! haha.

[Carpet_pissr]

Auburn looks damn near unbeatable right now.

I really hope we don't face them in the tournament again...getting absolutely trounced both times we played them this season was enough.

[Jaymann]

Couldn't find the First Four until I looked down the channels to TruTV. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Apollo]

I just barely follow college basketball, but I especially enjoy years when Alabama, Auburn and UAB all make the tournament as happened this year. I'm an Auburn fan but I would love to see any of these 3 get hot in the tournament and get through a round or two.

[Carpet_pissr]

Any Oregon fans in here?

[Pyperkub]

Any Oregon fans in here?

Yeah , pac12 rooting for Oregon here, even tho they eliminated my Bruins last week barely (it's hard to root for Arizona tho)

Arizona fans, as usual, bought up all the tix, so since I was paying a lot to scalp for our last game, I spent an extra $50 or so and ended up Courtside :

[Pyperkub]

Oregon looked like they finally figured it out, and could be capable of a good run.

[Pyperkub]

And FWIW, here is my 2024 NCAA fantasy team (since I post it every year, generally):

Player Team Taken
Kam Jones Marquette 1
Trey Alexander Creighton 2
Graham Ike Gonzaga 3
Coleman Hawkins Illinois 4
Stevie Mitchell Marquette 5
Chad Baker-Mazara AUBURN 6
Josh Hubbard Miss. St. 7
Jermaine Couisnard Oregon 8
Jaden Bradley Arizona 9
T.J. Bickerstaff James Madison 10

Points only. 17 teams, 10 players each.

[Jaymann]

[Pyperkub]

Yup. This year was a massive dumpster fire - see above, we didn't quite hit Michigan levels, but we saw a lot of Cronin's flaws get exposed massively, especially that he needs to grow massively as an offensive coach. UCLA is definitely not a top competitor in NIL, which is part of it, but we had the returning P12 freshman of the year, a PG who had been in training to take over, and a top 20 class coming in. We still should have been a lot better than we ended up, and a LOT of that is on Cronin.

Another tough year next year, and even his $16m buyout (currently $20m, but goes to $16m at the end of the month) may get tested -there were rumors that Ohio St and Louisville might be interested in hiring him away for their vacancies, and while I don't see any way Ohio St would pony up that kind of cash for basketball, Louisville could be that desperate as a basketball school (but have said publicly that they aren't paying a large buyout for a coach, and Cronin's isn't just large, it's massive).

[Carpet_pissr]

Any Oregon fans in here?

Yeah , pac12 rooting for Oregon here

Mildly interesting note: Cousinard played at SC for four years before transferring to Oregon, but there are only two players left on our current team that played with him (this the ‘mildly’ )

[Pyperkub]

Any Oregon fans in here?

Yeah , pac12 rooting for Oregon here

Mildly interesting note: Cousinard played at SC for four years before transferring to Oregon, but there are only two players left on our current team that played with him (this the ‘mildly’ )

I wanted Dante, but my teammate wanted to wait another round as there are 3 big scorers - Dante, Couisnard and Shelstad, all playing well. I was fine with Couisnard, as he's a chucker - he hoisted far more shots up all year than the other 2

Chuckers aren't necessarily the best to have on your college team, but in fantasy, they're the kind you like to have - you KNOW they are going to get their shots, you just have to hope the team wins so they get another game to chuck... plus, when rooting, you aren't watching your fantasy player not take shots and yelling at him

[Carpet_pissr]

Any Oregon fans in here?

Yeah , pac12 rooting for Oregon here

Mildly interesting note: Cousinard played at SC for four years before transferring to Oregon, but there are only two players left on our current team that played with him (this the ‘mildly’ )

I wanted Dante, but my teammate wanted to wait another round as there are 3 big scorers - Dante, Couisnard and Shelstad, all playing well. I was fine with Couisnard, as he's a chucker - he hoisted far more shots up all year than the other 2

Chuckers aren't necessarily the best to have on your college team, but in fantasy, they're the kind you like to have - you KNOW they are going to get their shots, you just have to hope the team wins so they get another game to chuck... plus, when rooting, you aren't watching your fantasy player not take shots and yelling at him

Not familiar with the chucking term as it pertains to hoops - please educate me.

Also, I never fill out brackets, because I just don't watch enough, different teams for it to make sense, but my predictions based on teams I have watched regularly:
SC will exit before Auburn, but should win their first couple of games, POSSIBLY three.
Auburn could make it to Final Four
I think Auburn easily beats UNC if they play.

[Pyperkub]

A chucker is a player who will just chuck the ball up, good shot or bad shot (most of them 3 pointers). Usually they are pretty good players and enough go in to keep them in the starting lineup, but they will chuck anything at the basket given the slightest opportunity. And they can be really streaky - if those shots are falling, you really can't do much to keep them from chucking more shots up (and in). In his case, he took the most shots for Oregon (443), which is as many as their next 2 players in shots, Shelstad and Dante, combined (tho Dante was injured for a chunk of the season).

And that's just our nickname for those players. It's not an official term

[ImLawBoy]

Chucker has been a common term since at least Seinfeld. IIRC, George was a chucker.

[Jaymann]

You could call them a Kobe.

[Pyperkub]

Chucker has been a common term since at least Seinfeld. IIRC, George was a chucker.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

10) Chucker (n.): a sports player who shoots every time he or she gets a hold of the ball

As a general term, “chucker” refers to “one who chucks,” but as a Seinfeld word, it refers to a sports player, usually a basketball guy, who shoots every time he gets his hands on the ball, no matter how far away the hoop is. You may miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take but that’s better than missing 100 percent of the shots you do take when the whole point of the game is scoring.

[Skinypupy]

I run the March Madness bracket for my office, and there are three huge BYU homers on the team. All three of them picked BYU to the final...and they just lost their first round game.

That amuses me greatly.

[stessier]

Perfect in my bracket through 4 games - time to retire.

[ImLawBoy]

Anyone catch the end of Kansas-Samford last night? Kansas was up one with about 20 seconds left. Kansas player had a breakaway but a Samford defender made an incredible play to catch up and swat the ball away as Kansas tried to dunk. The Kansas player went down hard, but that was just his momentum - replays showed zero contact other than ball. There would have been an uncontested rebound by a Samford player, but refs called a foul. Kansas hit two free throws.

Instead of having the ball down one with 20 seconds to go (and a Kansas player on the floor under the opposite basket), Samford got the ball back down 3 into a set up defense. As someone who still isn't over the terrible foul call on Trey Burke's clean block in the 2013 title game against Louisville, this is the worst clean block called a foul I've ever seen.

[Pyperkub]

It's awful, but it will also become legendary in its own right.

[Jaymann]

Great finish to the UAB - San Diego State game. I had mixed emotions having lived in both cities. My dad actually worked at UAB and my ex attended SDSU. Go Aztecs!

[Jaymann]

WTF? Yale beat Auburn.

[Lassr]

WTF? Yale beat Auburn.

SEC sucking HUGE ONES!
About to watch Bama, hope they can break the trend...

[Pyperkub]

WTF? Yale beat Auburn.

Auburn's 2nd leading scorer committed a thug life flagrant foul to start the game and was deservedly ejected.

It cost then the game and their tourney. Every coach should use this as a teachable moment.

[Jaymann]

Crazily SDSU get to face Yale instead of Auburn.