March Madness 2022

[jfish26]

I can live with Kansas playing free and easy without the stupifying heaviness of expectations that comes with jersey. If this team keeps its Braun/Remy/Mitch swagger, it will cut down the nets this year.
Note: KU has been vexed by poor shooters shooting well, poor shots going in, phantom charging calls and floor fouls on clear shot attempts. The team is due to have a run where the odds even and the team thrives.

My biggest non-player-specific concern with this team has been that we have shrunk when getting pushed around by bigger, more athletic teams. That's the brilliance of our draw - there's only one of those before the Final Four, and it's a team that cannot score.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Yeah, I don’t recall Dave often rising to the occasion against a better big and sounds like we ducked all of those. I was convinced they would stick us with UK—pretty surprising they didn’t.

[twocoach]

Yeah, I don’t recall Dave often rising to the occasion against a better big and sounds like we ducked all of those. I was convinced they would stick us with UK—pretty surprising they didn’t.

Or Purdue. Or Duke. I was sure we would get at least one of those three and we got none of them.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Yeah, I don’t recall Dave often rising to the occasion against a better big and sounds like we ducked all of those. I was convinced they would stick us with UK—pretty surprising they didn’t.

Or Purdue. Or Duke. I was sure we would get at least one of those three and we got none of them.

Supposedly they don’t do this, but I get how the bracket makers would look at the 1 seeds and think, ok, Kansas, if you want to be a final four team and live up to that top seed, the 2 seed you have to go through is the team that smashed you a couple of months ago.

[KUTradition]

instead, they gave us the squad that sent us home last year…plausibly for the same sort of story line

[CrimsonNBlue]

instead, they gave us the squad that sent us home last year…plausibly for the same sort of story line

Auburn basically is USC from a year ago, but I actually think Auburn might even be worse.

[twocoach]

instead, they gave us the squad that sent us home last year…plausibly for the same sort of story line

Auburn basically is USC from a year ago, but I actually think Auburn might even be worse.

If we get to the Elite Eight and lose to Auburn then I will consider it an excellent season. I am hoping we make it that far and Auburn doesn't. Auburn has lost three of their last six games because they scored just 62 points in each of those three losses which tells me they are prone to going completely cold on offense. And two of those three games were to teams that didn't even make the ncaa tourney (Florida and Texas A&M). Maybe they go cold again sometime in their next 3 games as they haven't won 3 in a row since late January/early February.

[jfish26]

I really don't think anyone in the room is conspiring about matchups/ratings. I think the fact is that programs like ours have such deep tournament histories that there's always something.

To wit...

...if we were the 1 in the West,
......we'd have a potential title game rematch in the Round of 32; and
......we'd have a potential Elite Eight rematch against either Davidson or Duke in the Sweet 16.

...if we were the 1 in the East,
......another potential Roy game in the Round of 32;
......bluebloods galore in the Sweet 16 (UCLA/Indiana); and
......have to beat the UK boss in the Elite Eight.

...if we were the 1 in the South,
......Bill versus Illinois in the Sweet 16; and
......have to beat the Villanova boss in the Elite Eight.

[KUTradition]

good points all around

[Wiff]

Is there anyone here that wasn't on the .com? Illy might be the only one?

I was not on .com. Every single thing that is said here goes over my head, including my own posts.

[twocoach]

I really don't think anyone in the room is conspiring about matchups/ratings. I think the fact is that programs like ours have such deep tournament histories that there's always something.

To wit...

...if we were the 1 in the West,
......we'd have a potential title game rematch in the Round of 32; and
......we'd have a potential Elite Eight rematch against either Davidson or Duke in the Sweet 16.

...if we were the 1 in the East,
......another potential Roy game in the Round of 32;
......bluebloods galore in the Sweet 16 (UCLA/Indiana); and
......have to beat the UK boss in the Elite Eight.

...if we were the 1 in the South,
......Bill versus Illinois in the Sweet 16; and
......have to beat the Villanova boss in the Elite Eight.

Yep. When you are consistently elite for more than two decades, the list of potential beef games or story line games grows very long. I don't think there is a single consistently upper tier team that we haven't had some sort of history with except for maybe Gonzaga or Louisville.

[sdoyel]

[NewtonHawk11]

Not that CBB teams are required to do injury reports, but we should just go ahead and rule Mitch OUT tomorrow night.

Don't think it's any surprise either. Clemence will be first big off the bench. Also, with emergence of Remy, don't be surprised to see a lineup of Dajuan, Remy, CB, Och and Jalen out there sometimes depending on matchup.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I really don't think anyone in the room is conspiring about matchups/ratings. I think the fact is that programs like ours have such deep tournament histories that there's always something.

To wit...

...if we were the 1 in the West,
......we'd have a potential title game rematch in the Round of 32; and
......we'd have a potential Elite Eight rematch against either Davidson or Duke in the Sweet 16.

...if we were the 1 in the East,
......another potential Roy game in the Round of 32;
......bluebloods galore in the Sweet 16 (UCLA/Indiana); and
......have to beat the UK boss in the Elite Eight.

...if we were the 1 in the South,
......Bill versus Illinois in the Sweet 16; and
......have to beat the Villanova boss in the Elite Eight.

This is always my stance with the perennial conspiracy theorists. KU and UK have a history with everyone.

I do think, though, and we even know, that they are paying some attention to the matchups from the individual season. Maybe avoiding another repeat game until later, certainly avoiding conference matchups if possible, and then trying to get the last 1 seed and first 2 seed in the same bracket, especially when the resumes are close.

It would have made sense to me to have KU and UK in the same bracket this year. It's a very obvious storyline to decide who goes to the Final Four. I will take having UK far away, though.

[CrimsonNBlue]

If we get to the Elite Eight and lose to Auburn then I will consider it an excellent season.

With the favorable bracket and being the 3rd best resume in the tourney, it's hard for me to consider anything less than a F4 as an excellent achievement.

This is a region we/Bill need to win save for a bunch of injuries (knocks on wood).

[jfish26]

If we get to the Elite Eight and lose to Auburn then I will consider it an excellent season.

With the favorable bracket and being the 3rd best resume in the tourney, it's hard for me to consider anything less than a F4 as an excellent achievement.

This is a region we/Bill need to win save for a bunch of injuries (knocks on wood).

It’s weird. I don’t think the job we’ve done this year gets you a 1-seed most years. But yes, we ARE a 1, and we DO have an objectively favorable path. So YES, anything short of a Final Four is a disappointment this year.

[Wiff]

anything short of a Final Four is a disappointment this year.

I'm disappointed every year we don't win the natty.

If we're going to make it to the Final Four, we might as well just go ahead and win the damn thing. It's that easy, right.

[jfish26]

anything short of a Final Four is a disappointment this year.

I'm disappointed every year we don't win the natty.

If we're going to make it to the Final Four, we might as well just go ahead and win the damn thing. It's that easy, right.

Eh, I was good with 2012. This is sort of like that year, but with less of a juggernaut out there.

[jhawks99]

But as far as we know, everyone can hit a 3 in a football stadium.

[twocoach]

If we get to the Elite Eight and lose to Auburn then I will consider it an excellent season.

With the favorable bracket and being the 3rd best resume in the tourney, it's hard for me to consider anything less than a F4 as an excellent achievement.

This is a region we/Bill need to win save for a bunch of injuries (knocks on wood).

We all know that the resume of this team is more impressive than the ability of this team.

It took a hot steak to end the regular season and Big 12 tourney and a favorable bracket for me to feel like the ceiling on this time was higher than Round of 32/Sweet Sixteen so I'll still stick with getting beyond that as my measure of satisfaction. The limited skill level of the team and the weaknesses they have didn't magically change due to 4 wins and a nice bracket. If anything, knowing that both DMac and Mitch are gimpy right now has only made them more vulnerable than ever.