2024 NCAA Tournament Discussion

[stevemaz]

hitting 3 pt shots is a great equalizer.. If Northwestern beats FAU today, beware Uconn

[Floyd]

Wow, the look on Cal's face walking off the court last night. Had the look like he knew this won't be good, straight to the locker room. Give Oakland credit, they played with lots of passion, but no way Kentucky should have given up so many offensive rebounds.

Can't imagine the heat Kentucky fans will be spewing today

[Steve81]

https://theathletic.com/5360743/2024/03 ... d=14778885
Time for a good story.

Tired legs be damned, the private Catholic school in Pittsburgh had won its first game in the tournament since 1969. Duquesne’s head coach, Keith Dambrot, announced Monday he will retire after the season. They weren’t going to waste a minute of this celebration.

“This was a great gift for the fans,” Necas said. “We wanted to celebrate with them and enjoy the moment. … I am tired. Later, I’ll celebrate by going to bed.”

The Dukes are a roster with players looking for second chances led by Dambrot, who has spent years working toward and hoping to have found his own career redemption. Dambrot was fired from Central Michigan in the early 1990s when he asked his team if he could, and then did, use a racial slur while addressing his team. His players at the time had backed him in a lawsuit against the school and supported him after the university terminated him. But at 34 years old, he was out of coaching.
...
On Thursday, Joyce stood across the locker room, his arms crossed as he watched these players — who could become his players should he be named the team’s next head coach. He’s as close to Dambrot as anyone. Dambrot would coach Joyce as a high schooler at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he was joined by teammate LeBron James. Dambrot credits Joyce and James for helping give him and his career another chance.

The NBA superstar is close with his former coach too and is even enjoying the ride with the Dukes, often tweeting about them and even gifting them his signature shoes — colored white and light blue, the same color scheme as the NCAA Tournament.

“Coach is big on second chances,” Joyce said. “Since I was 12 years old he was never shy of giving a guy another chance. It really speaks to him and how much he cares about his guys.”
..
LeBron James
@KingJames
AYYYYYYYEEEEE!!! First tournament win in 55 years!
@CoachDambrot

@DuqMBB
. Keep it going

Footnote: Now Tony Barbee is at CMU. Hope to see him on the sidelines in 2026.

[Quann]

I've always liked Cal but his edge has always been recruiting, his x's and o's were never his strong suit, probably even less so in recent years. I wonder if NIL really hurts these big time guys that could just show up to the biggest recruits houses in the past and those guys would sign right away. Now you can sway these guys to go to all different kinds of schools if the money is right.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

I think the bigger issue for Cal last night was his inability to reign in the young guys... lots of hero ball late in the game. They were much better when running their offense.


Cal has always been knocked for his Xs and Os, and I won't dispute that. ...but last night was more about him seeming to lack any control over the guys on the court, which was really weird to see.

[69MG]

^ Maybe it's because the era was different, but when he was here, his players did exactly what they were expected to do.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

Yep, and even with Memphis and UK. Seemed so odd to see that last night.

[bobolink]

great win for Colorado over Florida today. In this era of so much movement, surprising to recognize 5 of Colorado's players (of the 8 that played, and 4 starters) were there when UMass beat them in Myrtle Beach last season.

[kd68]

Alabama 109, Charleston 96. Imagine losing with 96 points.

[Sheck]

James Madison beats Wisconsin. G5 FBS team pulls off the upset!

[inthescoop]

Alabama 109, Charleston 96. Imagine losing with 96 points.

Florida lost with 100 points.

[Floyd]

I think the bigger issue for Cal last night was his inability to reign in the young guys... lots of hero ball late in the game. They were much better when running their offense.


Cal has always been knocked for his Xs and Os, and I won't dispute that. ...but last night was more about him seeming to lack any control over the guys on the court, which was really weird to see.

Yup. I think the NIL Era will make it much harder on coaching as you don't have guys in your program for 3-4 yrs anymore to develop. You have a shorter window to figure it all out and mold your team, and less familiarity with how players will react in situations. Continuity and cohesion could play a bigger part than just talent. Pressure to win while dealing with all this movement is going to add to the coaching burden. It's going to affect coaching

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Assuming Cal sticks with coaching there, he'll figure it out quickly. The success Tre had there will be his new blueprint, and I'm sure he'll figure out how to mix in the 5 star freshman with a few 5 star transfers. It's not like UK is lacking resources to make it work, both from the school and their fanbase/NIL.

[bobolink]

just noticed this post from just before the tourney started, and imagine many agreed with you then. But today, the ACC has 4 in the sweet 16, and only 1 team they sent lost so far, although Virginia looked awful and probably shouldn't have made it (obviously just squeaked in to the first 4). The ACC's 8-1 record is way ahead of any other conference. The highly touted conferences (Big 12 and SEC) each sent 8 but only have 2 in the sweet 16.

[Quann]

This thread has aged like a spoiled bag of milk.