Do we want Rutgers or Houston?

[sabach]

Sampson is going to have 2003 nightmares for the next 5 days. He had no clue at all in Albany.

 

[samspann1]

I guess we are going to miss a week of RutgersAl telling us how great they are. They missed some bunnies that would have closed out Houston. Sorry Steve Pikiell. Your team choked.

Hate to see a former UConn Assistant soil his khakis

 

[NineOneSeven]

No Buddy for us

Correct but we point to missing buddy when they were missing a critical player too

 

[CorduroyG]

I think we wanted Rutgers to win. Houston will rebound the snot out of the ball and won’t play as badly as today. Sampson I’m sure learned a few things from 20 years ago. Better to play the lower seed all things being equal.

i agree. i definitely wanted rutgers. oh well

 

[Orangezoo]

i still would have preferred rutgers. we were not gonna lose that game. houston who knows, they look like they got some dudes.

Sasser and Grimes have to be contained.

 

[tino]

Rutgers. Because their fans are stupid. And because we should’ve run them at the RAC. Now, we finish the job.

Choke choke choke coming man rutgers

 

[MadNY3]

Pinkiel killed them taking the air out of the ball. Horrific coaching. Brutal way to lose.

Rutgers had more in them. I like their athletes. Taking the air out took their instincts away. Painful...If I cared!

 

[bpo57]

I could see the Houston line being them favored by 3.5 to 4.

We are going to need to rotate our front line to keep everybody fresh and out of foul trouble. Their outside shooting runs hot and cold but their offensive rebounding tends to show up every night.

 

[kirbivore]

Um...Sampson has seen the zone...there was this tournament in 2003 you might have heard about. He sucked at coaching against it, but he’s seen it.

What Houston player will give us the iconic deer in the headlights photo?

 

[OrangeYaGladi]

Grimes is a terrific terrific shooter. Hopefully Cuse can shade to him and the zone will bother everyone else

 

[Trueblue25]

mountaineers fans must be sick. Illinois out and seeing Houston vs Rutgers

 

[PauliePeppas]

Contain Grimes and its a wrap

 

[jncuse]

ill be shocked if its that high. vegas knows this aint a typical 11 vs 2 game.

For a while the lines open pretty close to as predicted by KenPom. Vegas uses a similar system and this has come through their lines for a number of years now.

Per KP, Houston is an 8 point favourite against Syracuse entering today. It was 7.5 point favourite against Rutgers today when I bet on the game, which pretty much matches with what KP predicts.

I am shaving the predicted opening line down to -5 due to:
- Houston injuries
- Margin per the formula probably closed by 0.5-1 point or so with today's results.
- We are playing better and may be a bigger betting draw.

Taking 3 points off what is expected by KP is quite rare, which is why I would be very surprised if it open lwer than -5.

 

[Orangezoo]

I could see the Houston line being them favored by 3.5 to 4.

We are going to need to rotate our front line to keep everybody fresh and out of foul trouble. Their outside shooting runs hot and cold but their offensive rebounding tends to show up every night.

A lot of that is they hustle their asses off. We have to fight and scrap like crazy to match it.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I think we wanted Rutgers to win. Houston will rebound the snot out of the ball and won’t play as badly as today. Sampson I’m sure learned a few things from 20 years ago. Better to play the lower seed all things being equal.

While I generally agree that you want to draw the lower seed...

Our style of play is such a weapon against teams that are unfamiliar with it and don't have much time to prepare. There's a reason why a lot of our tourney exits come to teams that are conference foes.

So even though Houston is a lot better than Rutgers, I prefer matching up with them because they have to react to us. They're not coming from a place of comfort and familiarity knowing they've already beaten us like Rutgers has. The story is going to be all about how the pressure is on them to respond to what we do.

 

[Libero2]

Well, at least it’s the 2nd or 3rd best so far. But I’m hoping it turns into the best ever.

if Buddy were to drag this team to a Final Four (or heaven willing a title) this would be the most absurd thing any of us have ever seen.

and we’d love every second of it

 

[kirbivore]

2003. E8 vs Oklahoma

Hollis Price and Quannas (sp?) White were totally shell shocked

During the game thread we "jokingly" say JB should bring in Bol Ajak as a goon to rough people up. Well Sampson in 2003 actually did this to Carmelo.

 

[Alsacs]

Pickle knows the zone from Calhoun.
We could lose to either team but our team is used to playing a team like Houston in UNC. Jesse Edwards will be huge in this game.

Both teams are tough defensively but I wanted no part of Pickle having 5 days to prepare.

We didn’t have Buddy but they didn’t have Geo Baker or McConnell.

This was a game I didn’t want the upset.

 

[bpo57]

A lot of that is they hustle their asses off. We have to fight and scrap like crazy to match it.

They play as hard as any team in the country. What surprised me was how RU pretty much matched their intensity.

 

[HyattsCuse]

West Virginia killed us 19-4 on offensive rebounds. Houston will be no different. We got to keep up the hot shooting.

 

[Orangemen]

Playing Rutgers for the right to go to the elite 8 is logically impossible, so there was no way they were winning this game.

Houston looks tough, we’ll need Sampson to drop the ball for us again. I’ll take our chances.

 

[rrlbees]

 

[kirbivore]

View attachment 198546

Is that the fat dude from American History X

 

[Tom W.]

If we can keep up the hot shooting, we beat either of these teams. But just in case, I was hoping to play the eleven loss team rather than the three loss team.

But, it is what it is. Rutgers gunna Rutger. Now time to prepare for Houston. I think the rest will do our team well. Also, as many have said, the zone is new to Houston (which has proven to be a factor time and time again).

Let's Go Orange!

 

[Orangezoo]

View attachment 198546

No but UR