2016 NCAA Tournament

Jack Lambert

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I know every year during the tournament we talk about this on this site. But I'm watching the Iowa-Temple game, and its amazing how often black players grab on defense. A lot of their defense just consists of grabbing, which if it's done to a man in the open court who has the ball, it should be called a foul. One of the Iowa players just got by his man, and the Temple player literally just reached out and grabbed him from behind. No foul called. Unbelievable.

Dubbed "playing while white" fouls by Jimmy Chitwood, they're still alive and well. I just saw Mike Gesell trying to dribble the ball out of trouble, and watched the Temple defender repeatedly grab him, so much that even the announcers were saying there should've been a foul.
 

celticdb15

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Big Ten teams choking against Little Rock and Middle Tennessee St. No that's not a typo. Watching SDSU against Maryland. Trap game for Maryland. Jackrabbit big man Connor Devine is great shot blocker and they have a couple shooters(Tellinghuisen and Bittle)
 

Riggins44

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In the games left today South Dakota State v. MD and Wisconsin - Pitt are solid caste matchups. It's too bad Notre Dame and Michigan are playing each other later since one has to lose. I think the Irish will prevail.
 

Jack Lambert

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In the games left today South Dakota State v. MD and Wisconsin - Pitt are solid caste matchups. It's too bad Notre Dame and Michigan are playing each other later since one has to lose. I think the Irish will prevail.

And South Dakota St. loses in part because the refs fouled out one of their guards on an absolute BS foul call. I guess even black players can't escape phantom fouls when they play on whiter teams.
 

celticdb15

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Badgers getting on a roll after starting slow. Ethan Happ has shown up big time so far. Hayes and Koenig need to get it together, Wisconsin doesn't have enough fire power without them being big contributers.
 

Riggins44

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Great to see the Badgers tough it out and win ugly in this one. A win is a win. All that matters in March is survival!

Ethan Happ is tough. 15 and 9, and he kept Wisconsin in the game when everyone else was cold in the second half. Nigel Hayes finally got it going. As you said Celtic they both need to lead the way if the Badgers are going to survive the next round.

Looking forward to Notre Dame - Michigan at 9:40.
 

Phall

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Happ finishes with 15 and 9 and is the star of that clunker game. Good result against a pesky Pitt team that couldn't hit a shot.

Meanwhile Thomas Walkup is dominating the Mountaineers with 18 points otherwise another offensive stinkfest. Let's go SFA!
 

Jack Lambert

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Looks like SFA coach Brad Underwood has become a real adherent of the caste system; another coach whose stopped playing the guys that helped get him into the NCAA tournament. It looks like Walkup is the last one left, and of course, he's the team's best player.
 

white lightning

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Wisconsin has been so fun to watch the last 3 or 4 years. I hope they can make another deep run
in the tournament. They need to play better but a win is a win. I'm not sure who I want to win out
or Notre Dame and Michigan. I guess I will be happy either way. Hope it's a close, exciting game.
 

Jack Lambert

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Thomas Walkup with a HUGE night!! He obliterated the Mountaineers with 33 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals... what a game!!!
 

TwentyTwo

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Brilliant performance tonight by gaurd Thomas Walkup ... 33 points.. 9 rebounds 5 assist & 4 steals..as #14 seed S.F. Austin embarrasses #3 seed West Virginia 70-56
 

Phall

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Looks like SFA coach Brad Underwood has become a real adherent of the caste system; another coach whose stopped playing the guys that helped get him into the NCAA tournament. It looks like Walkup is the last one left, and of course, he's the team's best player.

That's a real shame. Walkup looked like a bonafide superstar tonight. I expect Underwood will get some power conference offers this spring; he might wind up leaving SFA worse than he found it despite all their successes. (And the successes are incredible: Underwood has only lost ONCE in the Southland conference in three seasons, going 88-13 overall.)
 

Riggins44

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It'll be interesting to see if Walkup gets a shot at the NBA. In a fair world it wouldn't even be a question. But of course his game might not "translate to the next level", kind of like Jimmer.
 

Jack Lambert

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That's a real shame. Walkup looked like a bonafide superstar tonight. I expect Underwood will get some power conference offers this spring; he might wind up leaving SFA worse than he found it despite all their successes. (And the successes are incredible: Underwood has only lost ONCE in the Southland conference in three seasons, going 88-13 overall.)

That's pretty impressive!! I checked his recruiting the last couple of years; he actually did recruit a couple of white players, but they transferred out on him. He does have two out of three white recruits signed for this year, though, plus, it looks like he's offered at least 1-2 more.

Also, I was on my Facebook page after the game. I follow the Sportscenter page, and they had a post about SFA advancing. Despite Walkups' HUGE game, with him being by far the main reason the Lumberjacks won, the picture they have with the post is, of course, of one of SFA's many actual athletes. The guy, Demetrious Floyd, had 9 points on 3/12 shooting, 1 assist, 1 board, and 2 turnovers. But move along, there's no agenda.
 

Riggins44

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Wat
Wisconsin has been so fun to watch the last 3 or 4 years. I hope they can make another deep run
in the tournament. They need to play better but a win is a win. I'm not sure who I want to win out
or Notre Dame and Michigan. I guess I will be happy either way. Hope it's a close, exciting game.

I know what you mean. I thought I wanted Notre Dame to win, now I'm no so sure. I guess one of our teams advances either way.
 

Jack Lambert

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Just saw a Northern Iowa player get raked across the face by a Texas player. No call, just a turnover on Northern Iowa (the ball went out of bounds with nobody there to catch it), and over course, not a peep from the announcers on the matter. At any rate, the Panthers lead Texas by 10 closing in on half time.
 

Phall

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Michigan and Notre Dame are locked in a nail-biter (update: ND holds out to win). This might be my only chance to sing praises for the Wolverines' Duncan Robinson this season. He's a 6'9 forward who was the Division 3 'freshman of the year' two seasons ago before receiving a surprising scholarship invite from John Beilein to Michigan (only after the UM was depleted by three early entries that year). Robinson sat out his mandatory year and put on a lot of good weight, meanwhile obliterating Nik Stauskas' lofty practice shooting records. The lazy, pre-written journalist take was always a feel-good story that Robinson would struggle to reconcile his shooting skill with the "speed" of top-flight ball.

Why did Robinson get a chance at Michigan? Transfer buzz? No, the outgoing (newly-promoted) D3 coach had previously worked under Beilein and personally forwarded his game tape. Conventional wisdom simply states that D3 players can't possibly compete with the big boys.

Robinson got a year off (because of his scholarship transfer) to train weights and practice with some "real athletes." He stepped in smoothly though and has been a viable scorer AND rebounder with two years of ball left. He started because his individual defense is much better than natural athlete Aubrey Dawkins. Michigan isn't really an elite team, but maybe that is more of a cue that such an overlooked misfit can thrive in the top flight.

Just realize that there isn't really that much difference between a tall, amateur D3 sharpshooter and the hundreds of garbage players who have their tuitions paid for because of their imaginary upside or "positional fit." I think the announcer tonight mentioned that Duncan was the only D3 player to receive a scholarship transfer this year. All the teams that lost at the buzzer today probably missed some influential player who would have jumped high at the opportunity.
 

icsept

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I was in attendance at last night's Northern Iowa upset of Texas. UNI played a 7 man rotation with 5 Whites, defeating the Longhorns who only played one White. Ben Jacobson is UNI's young, highly successful coach for the past 10 years, and could easily moved on to a higher profile job. However, it appears he's content with churning out highly competitive, primarily White teams at UNI.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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