NCAA Basketball 2014-2015 (This may help ease the pain)

Started by PDH, November 02, 2014, 10:14:32 PM

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sbr

I'm not a huge NBA fan either actually, though the NBA is getting better in terms of style of play and likability of players.

I guess I should have said in theory basketball is my favorite.  I love the idea of the game and I love to watch when it is played well and "properly", but you don't see much of that anymore.  There is a tremendous lack of fundamentals at most levels of the game.  I don't know if incoming college freshman are less fundamentally sound than they used to be, back in the Glory DaysTM but it feels like it.  And even if they are not most major programs have so many kids that don't stick around for 4 years that it isn't worth the coaches time to teach them a bunch of fundamental stuff.  Why spend a bunch of time teaching how to play the game properly when the kid may not be around long enough for it to matter.  Just figure out a way to turn his limited skills into something that can help get to the tournament a couple times before he moves on and you have to repeat the process.

I used to play basketball every day.  I wasn't on the high school team but I could play in pick up games with guys on the team without embarrassing myself.  In college I played intramurals with a couple of guys who had offers to walk on at Pac-10 schools.  I was the 7th or 8th best player on the team but I played and could contribute.  I still love to go to a gym and just shoot but I can't really play anymore.

I used to watch any basketball game I could find.  I remember back in 1992 getting home from the bar and sitting and watching a Tournament of the Americas game, someone like Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico, on the Spanish network just because it was on.  I watched as much college and NBA hoop as I could find and had time for.  But now I can barely be bothered to watch much. 

The rash of college players leaving early is a huge part of it at both levels.  I can't get invested in a team when there is so much turnover and the players don't spend enough time actually learning to play the game before they move on.  This leads to way too many guys getting into the NBA without knowing how to play, which leads to too many guys getting drafted too high based purely on potential which drops the talent level in the NBA.  Not as much as over-expansion in the late 80s and early 90s did though, and if I could only pick one, I would rather see the NBA significantly shorten their season than change the one-and-done rule but the lack of fundamentals at the highest level is a problem to me.

Maybe I just need to move to Europe.  I want to see skilled players play a flowing, up tempo game without having one player pound the ball into the ground for 75% of the shot clock and every player having to look at the coach for direction before they can do anything on every single possession.

jimmy olsen

Wow, Kansas going down, the Shockers proving everyone right that they were seriously underseeded.
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

sbr

Wichita may have been underseeded but Kansas was most definitely overrated.

Valmy

Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 22, 2015, 06:35:24 PM
Wow, Kansas going down, the Shockers proving everyone right that they were seriously underseeded.

Wichita State has been talking trash to Kansas all season. I am sure they were loving that.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Admiral Yi

Kansas' loss makes You Kay look a tad less invincible.

derspiess

Ugly win for WVU, but they're incapable of winning any other way.  Hope they can play UK close.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Ed Anger

Did Bob Huggins eat a couple of Tudor's restaurants?
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Valmy

Quote from: Ed Anger on March 23, 2015, 07:35:42 AM
Did Bob Huggins eat a couple of Tudor's restaurants?

Yeah people have been calling him Blob Huggins around here. Fat shaming :weep:
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Ed Anger

Quote from: Valmy on March 23, 2015, 07:39:46 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on March 23, 2015, 07:35:42 AM
Did Bob Huggins eat a couple of Tudor's restaurants?

Yeah people have been calling him Blob Huggins around here. Fat shaming :weep:

NOT FAT SHAMING!  :o
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

derspiess

Huggz definitely has a big appetite... FOR WINNING  :cool:
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

dps

Quote from: sbr on March 22, 2015, 05:27:36 PM
I'm not a huge NBA fan either actually

I'm kind of in the same boat--I enjoy playing basketball (though I make absolutely no claim of being good at it) but I'm not a big fan of it as a spectator sport.  The NBA season is too long, and almost meaningless, and the "one and done" model hurts the college game.  I didn't even bother to fill out a bracket this year, 'cause I haven' paid enough attention to do even a halfway decent job.

Valmy

Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

derspiess

"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

derspiess

So I'm a little ashamed that WVU's first two games were under two hours away in Columbus and I didn't go.  We were kind of locked into plans to watch the games at my brother's house Friday, and tickets for last night's game were $100 apiece and there's no way we would have been able to go without taking the boys.  So it would have been $200 for me to take Tommy.  Would have been worth it to see the win, but oh well.

Thursday night's game against UK in Cleveland will be $200 and up if we can even find tickets, and I don't think I'll feel like shelling out $400+ to be in an arena packed with YEW KAY fans.  I've been to all rounds of an NCAA tournament except for the Sweet 16/Elite 8 rounds, so I will need to mark that off the bucket list at some point.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Berkut

My son has already stated that if Arizona makes it to the Final Four we have to go to Indy to watch them.

I asked him how he was planning to pay for his ticket...he kind got this blank look...
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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