March Madness picks thread

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Wake Forest -3 1/2
110/100

Clowns.

-70
3-2

Tennessee -12
55/50

[ateamstupid]

Should've taken a team with some guts like Marquette instead of screwing around with these ACC frauds. Lesson learned.

[ddthetide]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I dont think that is true. The main reason is that there is a breakdown in the traditional high school/college development years. AAU is a complete cluster **** which has not only further corrupted the recruiting process but lessened the importance of high school coaches. Many of the AAU coaches are strictly hustlers who are looking to make a buck off the players by packaging them to a school or riding their coattails. The residual issue is that the recruiting process that AAU teams use starts early and many of these kids become deluded into thinking that they are better than they already are and they dont work on things that will make them better team players.

That and the fact that the NBA allows players in after 1 year after years of having no age restriction has thinned out the talent at the higher levels. You see the list of guys every year that declare for the draft that either dont get drafted or wind up in the D league or overseas because they thought they were much better players than they really are. Those players would be polished players if they stayed the 4 years. But very few of the better teams have seniors or even many juniors as key players which leads to mistakes via inexperience or the fact that these guys in many examples have just been so much more talented than the competition that they never really learned how to play.

i won't disagree but their skills are poor and the play is poor overall. the old unc, duke, umd, unlv, ucla teams would crush these teams.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by ddthetide

i won't disagree but their skills are poor and the play is poor overall. the old unc, duke, umd, unlv, ucla teams would crush these teams.

College football sucks worse.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Clowns.

-70
3-2

Tennessee -12
55/50

Lazy ass team. 17 turnovers against that D-3 team. Well done.

-125
3-3

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by ddthetide

i won't disagree but their skills are poor and the play is poor overall. the old unc, duke, umd, unlv, ucla teams would crush these teams.

Of course they would. They all had NBA bound juniors and seniors leading them for the most part. It used to be coaches would have an established team and every year add a top recruit or two and work them in as the others left. Now coaches recruit the very best players knowing that they are one and done and wont give a damn about anything outside of getting their numbers and increasing their draft stock.

Look at the all decade team for the 2000's as chosen by SI
SF- Shane Battier
PF- Tyler Hansbrough
C- Emaka Okafor
SG - JJ Redick
PG- Jay Williams

Obviously they didnt pick one and done guys but guys who had close to complete careers. These guys were all good college players but none of them of them are better than average NBA starters and Hansbrough and Redick arent even that. (Williams never got a chance so who knows)

But...lets look at some of the best basketball players who were of college age in the 2000's.

SF- LeBron James (0)
PF- Chris Bosh (1)
C- Dwight howard (0)
SF- Carmello Anthony (1 year)
SG - Kevin Durant (1 year)
PG - Chris Paul (2 years)
SG- Dwayne Wade (2 years)*sat out Fr year when not eligible
PG- Deron Williams (3 years)
SG- Joe Johnson (2 years)
PF - Amar'e Stoudamire (0)
C- Andrew Bynum (0)

Compared to the 80's and even the 90's when Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant were the only top players not to attend college, it has stripped the college game of the very best players. Sure we got a year of Durant and Anthony but can you imagine what kind of careers they would have had as 3 or 4 year players? Think they would be on the All Decade team? Imagine LeBron at UCLA? Think of building a college team at kentucky around Howard? Kobe said he would have gone to Duke if he went to college.

You cant compare NCAA basketball now to the teams that you remember as being great. The original dream team in 1992 versus last years is the best example

Jordan (2 years)
Barkley (3 years)
Magic (2 years)
Bird (4 years)*sat out 2 years
Mullin (4 years)
Ewing (4 years)
Malone (3 years)
Stockton (4 years)
Robinson (4 years)
Pippen (4 years)
Drexler (3 years)
Laettner (4 years)

2008 Dream team
LeBron (0)
Kobe (0)
Bosh (1)
Howard(0)
Anthony (1)
Kidd (2)
Paul (2)
Williams (3)
Wade (2)
Boozer (3)
Prince (4)
Redd (3)

[philcski]

action this evening. played South Carolina +2 and Indiana +8.5 earlier. So far two games in the books and two brutal 2nd halfs. Let's see if Indiana can hang on for me.

UNC +4 55/50
NCST +7.5 110/100
STAN +7.5 110/100
Baylor PK 165/150
Pitt -2.5 55/50

[philcski]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Stanford +250 ml

I like this play a lot.
AZ missing the tournament for the first time in what feels like forever! Wouldn't be right if the Suck Devils made it.

[ateamstupid]

Kent State -5
110/100

Florida -5 1/2
110/100

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by philcski

I like this play a lot.
AZ missing the tournament for the first time in what feels like forever! Wouldn't be right if the Suck Devils made it.

Scum Devils

[ateamstupid]

By the way, as far as shooting goes, the league-wide average in the NBA (35.2%) is only marginally better than the nationwide average in Division I (34.2%) this year.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by philcski

I like this play a lot.
AZ missing the tournament for the first time in what feels like forever! Wouldn't be right if the Suck Devils made it.

honestly for as much trouble as ASU has scoring should probably just take the points

I'm still a little scarred after watching the garbage Quinnipac game, Louisville choke, the dreadfest between oregon and WSU, the Wake Forest mail it in job and the South Carolina suckfest. At least the big East games look like bigtime basketball.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

By the way, as far as shooting goes, the league-wide average in the NBA (35.2%) is only marginally better than the nationwide average in Division I (34.2%) this year.

If NBA teams played 30 game schedules and 2 games a week with 40 minute games and a 35 second shot clock using the college 3 point line that number would be quite a bit higher. While there are some awful NBA teams the top tier teams play at a very high level.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

If NBA teams played 30 game schedules and 2 games a week with 40 minute games and a 35 second shot clock using the college 3 point line that number would be quite a bit higher. While there are some awful NBA teams the top tier teams play at a very high level.

Obviously, I just tire of this "these young whippersnappers have no fundamentals!" attitude pretty quickly.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Obviously, I just tire of this "these young whippersnappers have no fundamentals!" attitude pretty quickly.

You only know what you've seen. I get that. But Joey the quality of the college game has eroded because teams are constantly turning over, almost completely. It is the only level of basketball where this is so. The tourney is still a great event. The better teams are still interesting to watch. But the world is different and the college game has been hurt by decisions that the NBA made. The fact is that the NBA hurts its own popularity with the one and done guys. When guys regularly played 3 or 4 years in college the general public knew and could identify with them when they went pro. But how many one and done guys get regular minutes with teams that are any good? Hardly any. They wind up taking a few years to develop and people move on. Dwight Howard is a guy that the whole country would have known if he had a 3 year college career like Ewing or Hakeem. It has taken years for him to become established as a star and a lot of that is due to the dunk contest. Admittedly I dont follow college as close as I used to especially during the regular season. And what i have seen this week validates to me why I dont.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Admittedly I dont follow college as close as I used to especially during the regular season. And what i have seen this week validates to me why I dont.

I feel the same way about the NBA. I remember the Bulls and the Knicks and the Rockets and Magic and Pacers from the mid '90s. You're telling me those guys weren't better shooters and stronger fundamentally than today's NBA players?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

I feel the same way about the NBA. I remember the Bulls and the Knicks and the Rockets and Magic and Pacers from the mid '90s. You're telling me those guys weren't better shooters and stronger fundamentally than today's NBA players?

The NBA back then was overly physical. There isnt nearly as much pounding as there used to be. The truth is that the salary cap rules have made it tougher to keep teams together and because owners simply let salaries spiral out of control for non superstar players. The real stars have such big egos that they will still play their asses off even after they hit the lottery. Too many teams gave the B level guys big money and then had to depend on them without being able to get rid of them when they got fat and didnt give a ****. Which turned many fans off. I have always been a knicks fan but honestly I only bother watching them when there isnt a better option. But LA, Clev, Denver, Utah, Okla city, Boston, Miami on occasion, Atl, orlando, Dallas and Sa are good teams and matchups between them are very good basketball. Plus there are a lot of younger, up and coming stars to watch. A lot of people who knock the NBA dont even watch it.

[ateamstupid]

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Kent State -5
110/100

Florida -5 1/2
110/100

-135
4-4

Baylor PK
55/50

[philcski]

Originally Posted by philcski

action this evening. played South Carolina +2 and Indiana +8.5 earlier. So far two games in the books and two brutal 2nd halfs. Let's see if Indiana can hang on for me.

UNC +4 55/50 P
NCST +7.5 110/100
STAN +7.5 110/100
Baylor PK 165/150
Pitt -2.5 55/50 L

0-2-1 for -165 so far on posted... bigguns now and later

[philcski]

Kicking myself for missing a play- I meant to play all the SEC East teams against their West counterparts, and UGA was +1 against ARK. Maybe I can snipe a juicy 2nd half line with the way the game is going.