The Nobracketology movement gains momentum ... and Friday links
posted by LW, Friday, March 19, 2010
If you prefer your NCAA Tournament dish served with a few sides of chaos, yesterday was your kind of day.
On the first day, seven lower-seeded teams won. Included were five double-digit seeds, the most on opening day since 1991.
If your bracket and ego are torn to shreds and you're already considering not even watching the rest of the tournament, remember this feeling next year when you're deciding whether to fill out a bracket.
It was a landmark day for the Nobracketology movement...
Just wish I could've stayed awake for the end of Wake Forest's last-second win over Texas.
The Deacons can look like dog poo when they face teams that play zone, but you can overcome a lot with a point guard like Ish Smith.
Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal was there and chronicles an amazing night for the Deacons.
Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post was captivated by all the first-day upsets.
Murray State plays defense and passes the ball maddeningly yet unselfishly until somebody is open. It didn't look as if the Racers were going to get off a shot on the final possession, down one, when Thomas finally took the jumper. Luckily, it was so loud at HP Pavilion, I doubt anybody could hear me at press row screaming, "Shoot the damn ball, kid!"
I'm sorry; I know I'm not supposed to cheer. But how can you not root, root, root for the underdog?
Sounds like a budding Nobracketologist.
Georgetown ... wow.
Raise your hand if you envisioned last night's result a while back when the Hoyas were destroying Duke.
Sally Jenkins opines about Georgetown's destruction at the hands of Ohio.
If the NCAA tournament sells chaos theory, the Hoyas were gravity. They played the game with thoughtfulness and control, orchestrated from the sideline by Coach John Thompson III, his usual calm and exacting self in a dark suit and a blue pocket kerchief, peeking out neat as an envelope. They passed, they back-cut, they reversed. They ran the Princeton offense as if was a matter of principle, and not just basketball. They treated the game like Latin translation. You keep waiting for them to quote Livy.
They didn't play poorly. But they trailed from the very outset, were down 48-46 at halftime, and lost by 14 points, 97-83.
Now, I'm not Pete Carril, or even his niece. But you don't have to be a student of the game to know that if you're going to be such a purposeful and premeditated team, you'd better be monster defenders. They weren't. The Hoyas gave up 97 points to a team that had a losing record in the Mid-American Conference. To repeat: that's 97 points, to a team that went 7-9 and was seeded ninth in its own league.
Full-court pressure will be on full display today in Buffalo, and Oliver Purnell gives some insight into the evolution of his style of pressure.
Purnell used a style at Dayton much different from his up-tempo play at Clemson.
"We went to a wall, half-court man which is almost like a zone," Purnell said. "We played that way the entire time I was there (nine seasons). With the recruiting base that's what we were going to be able to recruit, a lot of big kids up in Ohio, big farm boys. I try to tailor the system to the kind of players we are going to have."
Before his work at Dayton, Purnell had taken another David to the Goliath-heavy postseason -- Old Dominion. That's where his belief in the press was strengthened, after first learning the defense first under his high school coach Ward Lambert.
"(Old Dominion) had come off a losing season," said Purnell of his first season in 1991-92. "They had lost a first-round draft choice (Chris Gatling). I said 'how can we win in this league?' We had some athletes, but our center was small, 6-4, and so we just resolved to press with that group. And with that group we went to 2 NITs and the NCAA (tournament), averaging 20 wins a season."
OP talks about the benefits of a smaller lineup in an up-tempo game.
In the Greenville News, Ed McGranahan writes about Clemson and Wofford wanting to make some noise in the Big Dance.
In the Independent-Mail, Greg Wallace writes about the battle of wills that will take place between the Tigers and Tigers.
Some blowhard Clemson beat writer answers five questions for the Missouri Rivals site.
And Missouri coach Mike Anderson says two seldom-used reserves will have to be sure to put on their uniforms today.
John Underwood and Tyler Stone - a couple of freshman forwards who have played a collective seven minutes since the start of Big 12 Conference play - may actually have to wear uniforms under those Missouri warmups when the Tigers take on Clemson on Friday.
MU Coach Mike Anderson - and starting forwards Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers - either hinted or just came out and predicted that the 6-9 Underwood and 6-7 Stone would see a few minutes against Clemson.
“John Underwood,” Anderson said, “you’ll see him out there maybe one or two minutes at a time, hopefully to give (relief to) guys like Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers.”
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
If you prefer your NCAA Tournament dish served with a few sides of chaos, yesterday was your kind of day.
On the first day, seven lower-seeded teams won. Included were five double-digit seeds, the most on opening day since 1991.
If your bracket and ego are torn to shreds and you're already considering not even watching the rest of the tournament, remember this feeling next year when you're deciding whether to fill out a bracket.
It was a landmark day for the Nobracketology movement...
Just wish I could've stayed awake for the end of Wake Forest's last-second win over Texas.
The Deacons can look like dog poo when they face teams that play zone, but you can overcome a lot with a point guard like Ish Smith.
Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal was there and chronicles an amazing night for the Deacons.
Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post was captivated by all the first-day upsets.
Murray State plays defense and passes the ball maddeningly yet unselfishly until somebody is open. It didn't look as if the Racers were going to get off a shot on the final possession, down one, when Thomas finally took the jumper. Luckily, it was so loud at HP Pavilion, I doubt anybody could hear me at press row screaming, "Shoot the damn ball, kid!"
I'm sorry; I know I'm not supposed to cheer. But how can you not root, root, root for the underdog?
Sounds like a budding Nobracketologist.
Georgetown ... wow.
Raise your hand if you envisioned last night's result a while back when the Hoyas were destroying Duke.
Sally Jenkins opines about Georgetown's destruction at the hands of Ohio.
If the NCAA tournament sells chaos theory, the Hoyas were gravity. They played the game with thoughtfulness and control, orchestrated from the sideline by Coach John Thompson III, his usual calm and exacting self in a dark suit and a blue pocket kerchief, peeking out neat as an envelope. They passed, they back-cut, they reversed. They ran the Princeton offense as if was a matter of principle, and not just basketball. They treated the game like Latin translation. You keep waiting for them to quote Livy.
They didn't play poorly. But they trailed from the very outset, were down 48-46 at halftime, and lost by 14 points, 97-83.
Now, I'm not Pete Carril, or even his niece. But you don't have to be a student of the game to know that if you're going to be such a purposeful and premeditated team, you'd better be monster defenders. They weren't. The Hoyas gave up 97 points to a team that had a losing record in the Mid-American Conference. To repeat: that's 97 points, to a team that went 7-9 and was seeded ninth in its own league.
Full-court pressure will be on full display today in Buffalo, and Oliver Purnell gives some insight into the evolution of his style of pressure.
Purnell used a style at Dayton much different from his up-tempo play at Clemson.
"We went to a wall, half-court man which is almost like a zone," Purnell said. "We played that way the entire time I was there (nine seasons). With the recruiting base that's what we were going to be able to recruit, a lot of big kids up in Ohio, big farm boys. I try to tailor the system to the kind of players we are going to have."
Before his work at Dayton, Purnell had taken another David to the Goliath-heavy postseason -- Old Dominion. That's where his belief in the press was strengthened, after first learning the defense first under his high school coach Ward Lambert.
"(Old Dominion) had come off a losing season," said Purnell of his first season in 1991-92. "They had lost a first-round draft choice (Chris Gatling). I said 'how can we win in this league?' We had some athletes, but our center was small, 6-4, and so we just resolved to press with that group. And with that group we went to 2 NITs and the NCAA (tournament), averaging 20 wins a season."
OP talks about the benefits of a smaller lineup in an up-tempo game.
In the Greenville News, Ed McGranahan writes about Clemson and Wofford wanting to make some noise in the Big Dance.
In the Independent-Mail, Greg Wallace writes about the battle of wills that will take place between the Tigers and Tigers.
Some blowhard Clemson beat writer answers five questions for the Missouri Rivals site.
And Missouri coach Mike Anderson says two seldom-used reserves will have to be sure to put on their uniforms today.
John Underwood and Tyler Stone - a couple of freshman forwards who have played a collective seven minutes since the start of Big 12 Conference play - may actually have to wear uniforms under those Missouri warmups when the Tigers take on Clemson on Friday.
MU Coach Mike Anderson - and starting forwards Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers - either hinted or just came out and predicted that the 6-9 Underwood and 6-7 Stone would see a few minutes against Clemson.
“John Underwood,” Anderson said, “you’ll see him out there maybe one or two minutes at a time, hopefully to give (relief to) guys like Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers.”
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Donnie Patterson. Donnie Patterson is the founder of Patterson Tax Service, located in Easley, S.C. He has been active in tax preparation since 1970, and offers a full range of tax and bookkeeping services.
Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.