2024/2025 Lineup

[pdub]

man, I'm gonna just go full guttermeter with this one then prob be done for the day.

Not that I don't appreciate the shit out of Self's 2nd natty, buuuut...

does it ever feel like 2022 was less a function of having the best team that season, and more a function of just finally getting one of the best tournament breaks of all time??

16
9 (down a starter)
4
10 (and literally started Charlie Moore)
2 (down a starter)
8

and that 8 sucked all season but got hot at the right time but also still so inexplicably mid that they returned almost everyone but didn't even make the tournament the next year

like don't get me wrong, thank the lord we won it. But, holy shit, what a cakewalk!

Not of all time, no.
But yes, we absolutely got a break.
Just how that tournament is - maybe more often than not.

[DeletedUser]

man, I'm gonna just go full guttermeter with this one then prob be done for the day

That'd be awesome.

[randylahey]

McCormack was a meh defender. But he had an injured foot he played on for whatever that is worth. He really pushed through the injury when it really mattered tho

And yeah 2022, was not our best team. But it was the basketball gods finally giving us a good break after having the opposite happen tooooooo many times

[DeletedUser]

man, I'm gonna just go full guttermeter with this one then prob be done for the day.

Not that I don't appreciate the shit out of Self's 2nd natty, buuuut...

does it ever feel like 2022 was less a function of having the best team that season, and more a function of just finally getting one of the best tournament breaks of all time??

16
9 (down a starter)
4
10 (and literally started Charlie Moore)
2 (down a starter)
8

and that 8 sucked all season but got hot at the right time but also still so inexplicably mid that they returned almost everyone but didn't even make the tournament the next year

like don't get me wrong, thank the lord we won it. But, holy shit, what a cakewalk!

Not of all time, no.
But yes, we absolutely got a break.
Just how that tournament is - maybe more often than not.

It wasn't a cake walk.

Almost every national champion gets breaks, one way or another.


So far:

CB sucks.
DH sucks.
Hunter sucks.
The 2nd natty doesn't count.

[KUTradition]

we coulda lost to Davidson in 08, but for what some might call a few lucky breaks

[pdub]

We coulda won it all in 16 but for what all should call a few shitty officials.
We coulda won it all in 20 but for what none should call the Deep State manipulating the people to gain more control.*


*sorry, had to

[DeletedUser]

Also, that's really only 2 matchups that were to higher seeded teams than expected.

And one of them, UNC, had been the hottest team in the country for weeks.

[pdub]

The 8 seed in the final is what makes it pretty unique...but yes, UNC just clicked at the right time.

[DeletedUser]

It's going to become increasingly common for lower seeded teams to win games.


We had never had a 16 seed win a game for a LONG time....now 2 have in recent years.

We've had numerous higher seeded teams (6 seed or higher) make the final 4 in the last 20ish years.

It takes nothing away from the accomplishment to me. That's now bracket tournaments work.

[BiggDick]

We coulda won it all in 16 but for what all should call a few shitty officials.
We coulda won it all in 20 but for what none should call the Deep State manipulating the people to gain more control.*


*sorry, had to

Man, that vaccination melted your brain cells even faster than jet fuel melts steel beams.

[BiggDick]

we coulda lost to Davidson in 08, but for what some might call a few lucky breaks

Yea.

I remember the starters coming out all right, then Sasha checked in all hollering and screaming with energy and it brought the vibe up for the whole team.

Still crazy it was within a shot. And the whole plan the final play was, let somebody else shoot it if they gotta but let’s just smother Steph

[BiggDick]

The 8 seed in the final is what makes it pretty unique...but yes, UNC just clicked at the right time.

Yea.

And the highest ranked full strength team we played was a 4-seed mid major.

I shouldn’t say that disparagingly tho, cuz mid majors usually fuck with us in the tourney even more than blue bloods.

But…anyone know what the numerically easiest path to the title has ever been? I’d look it up but can’t right meow

[DeletedUser]

So much for being done for the day...

[DeletedUser]

Not going to spend of bunch of time looking it up....

Uconn 2 years ago went 13, 5, 8, 3, 5, 5

Pretty sure it still counts even though the best team they beat was a mid major 3 seed.

[pdub]

I knew UNLV had an easy path back then - I think from watching a documentary about Tark.

UNLV 90
16, 8, 12, 11, 4, 3
Average 9.

vs

KU 22
16, 9, 4, 10, 2, 8
Average 8.1.

[twocoach]

man, I'm gonna just go full guttermeter with this one then prob be done for the day.

Not that I don't appreciate the shit out of Self's 2nd natty, buuuut...

does it ever feel like 2022 was less a function of having the best team that season, and more a function of just finally getting one of the best tournament breaks of all time??

16
9 (down a starter)
4
10 (and literally started Charlie Moore)
2 (down a starter)
8

and that 8 sucked all season but got hot at the right time but also still so inexplicably mid that they returned almost everyone but didn't even make the tournament the next year

like don't get me wrong, thank the lord we won it. But, holy shit, what a cakewalk!

You still have to be one of the best teams in the country to take advantage of breaks that happen in the bracket when it takes 6 games to win the national title. It's not an either/or. The best team in the nation rarely wins the title.

Besides, the notion that a 4 seed today is the same as a 4 seed from 20+ years ago is wildly stupid. Getting hung up on the numbers of the seeds in just getting duped by stats.

[randylahey]

The 8 seed in the final is what makes it pretty unique...but yes, UNC just clicked at the right time.

And then they returned nearly their entire team back, with a preseason #1 ranking, only to... miss the tournament entirely? Still don't understand that one

[DeletedUser]

I knew UNLV had an easy path back then - I think from watching a documentary about Tark.

UNLV 90
16, 8, 12, 11, 4, 3
Average 9.

vs

KU 22
16, 9, 4, 10, 2, 8
Average 8.1.

Side note: doing the average sort of punishes the 1 seeds since numerically their path is supposed to be easier.

It'd be interesting to see (although it'd take more time) the Average seed differential between what numerically it should have been if everything played out to seed vs what it actually was.


With all the high or double digit seeds that have made the elite 8s and final 4s recently there are probably some strange paths teams have taken.