NCAA National Championship: Monday April 5 | Page 18 | Syracusefan.com

NCAA National Championship: Monday April 5

Shall we forget that we played Baylor in the 2019 tournament. We were the 8 seed and they were the 9. They won.

We’ve been on slightly divergent paths over the past two years.
 
Shall we forget that we played Baylor in the 2019 tournament. We were the 8 seed and they were the 9. They won.

We’ve been on slightly divergent paths over the past two years.
They were ranked in top 25 and the selection committee gave them 9th seed. We are set up not to pass the first round.
 
Drew is just as scummy as the rest of that program over the years. It's nothing to do with those phone calls. A current colleague of mine worked at the University from 99 through 2013 and some of the crap in general that goes on or has around the hoops program on top of others - well let's just say we wouldn't have glasses orange enough to let it ride.
 
That was like watching a game between an uber-Houston team and an uber-Syracuse team.
 
Baylor had a really good system 3-4 centers for and one's, and at least 4 guys who can really shoot the three, a little week on the drive but not bad. High opportunity for 3 point plays per possession inside and out. They rebound they get turnovers.

Instead of adding a 4 point shot, Basketball should look to making 3 pointers worth 4 and 2 pointers worth 3. I know the math would suck but it would really cut the gap between 2 and 3 point plays in half, and reward defense, turnovers, hustle, and rebounding more. Instead of shooting 3-4 Give a free point for the first free throw.
 
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Baylor had a really good system 3-4 centers for and one's, and at least 4 guys who can really shoot the three, a little week on the drive but not bad. High opportunity for 3 point plays per possession inside and out. They rebound they get turnovers.

Instead of adding a 4 point shot, Basketball should look to making 3 pointers worth 4 and 2 pointers worth 3. I know the math would suck but it would really cut the gap between 2 and 3 point plays in half, and reward defense, turnovers, hustle, and rebounding more. Instead of shooting 3-4 Give a free point for the first free throw.
Sometimes internal thoughts should remain internal thoughts......
 
Gonzaga, filled with nba draft picks and all Americans, doesnt lose a single game all year until the title game against the best shooting team in the country, and a team that was top 3 all season whose only slight downturn was after a Covid pause...

Gonzaga are frauds

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Exactly. It's just bad analysis.
 
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Suppose Gonzaga had won that game? Certainly could have happened. Just because Baylor smoked them tonight doesn't mean the same results earlier.
That is certainly something that could have happened.
 
it isn't like there is a store you can go to and you get to pick the center you want. Those guys that are cut, everyone wants them.
True but these guys on Baylor like Jon T, werent elite Bluechip McDonalds AAs, sure Vital and Thamba were top 100 but it was a great evaluation and strength and development program
 
How about when Timme busted out that stupid celebration after a dunk when they were down 15? What timing lol.
I watched Baylor play a ton this year and never once saw any of their players act the fool or in any way promote themselves. It was always about the team. Probably the most unselfish team I've ever seen. That's a credit to the coach and his players. And not that they needed motivation in a title game but I'm sure they were sick and tired of hearing how Gonzaga was one of the all-time great teams in college hoops history.
 
Our eyes didn't deceive us- Baylor looked like the better team on Saturday and they were the better team tonight. Gonzaga won some big 'confrontation games' early in the season against Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Iowa and Virginia and had the best resume at that time. They may have been the best team but they averaged 95 points in those games and gave up 80 points a game. Those five teams wound up with 49 losses. The West Coast Conference offered no real challenges. They beat Norfolk State, a 16 seed, Oklahoma (8), Creighton (5), Southern California (6) and UCLA (11) in the Big Dance. Those teams lost 46 games this year. The Zags were legit but they weren't the best.

They fell behind 0-9 early and the Bear stretched that to 14-33. After that, the Zags made mini-runs but never really turned the game around. Comebacks are about defense and they'd spent the season out-scoring people and couldn't get the stops they needed to overcome the big deficit. Baylor may have been the best team all along. they were certainly the best team tonight and a very deserving champion.
Until last Saturday Gonzaga had won 27 games in a row by double digits. I believe 22 of those opponents were ranked outside the kenpom top 70. Ideally you want to be more battle tested than that in order to beat the best of the best. Even their run to the F4 was not filled with much competition.
 
Until last Saturday Gonzaga had won 27 games in a row by double digits. I believe 22 of those opponents were ranked outside the kenpom top 70. Ideally you want to be more battle tested than that in order to beat the best of the best. Even their run to the F4 was not filled with much competition.

The Big 10 did so great playing all those competitive games!
 
Irrelevant asides:

Mark Few...22 years as head coach.
Scott Drew...19 years (18 at Baylor).
41 years combined...still fewer than James Boeheim.

When was the last time an NCAA Final team shot above 50% from the floor (Gonzaga 51%) and lost so badly?

Today is one of the worst days of the year. We're as far as can be from the next college basketball season as can be. Bring on "The Basketball Tournament!"
 
The Big 10 did so great playing all those competitive games!
Well it was pretty obvious that Gonzaga was shocked by the athleticism and physicality they saw last night. Not likely to see that when facing Pepperdine and University of San Francisco.

The weak schedule also led some folks to get out over their skiis when it came to evaluating Gonzaga's greatness.
 
Until last Saturday Gonzaga had won 27 games in a row by double digits. I believe 22 of those opponents were ranked outside the kenpom top 70. Ideally you want to be more battle tested than that in order to beat the best of the best. Even their run to the F4 was not filled with much competition.
Heard this morning that Baylor had beat teams ranked at the end of the reg season #1,2,6,9,10,11,12,13,18, and 21.

There was definitely an elite team in the game last night, the general consensus just picked the wrong one.

Would Gonzaga be undefeated against that sched? Last night says probably not.

There is probably gonna be a backlash against Gonzaga now. They were doubted for years, then this year it was accepted fact that they were elite and playing for a place in the all time pantheon.

Turns out they were just really good, like they are a lot of years.

It will always be tough for Gonzaga. They play good teams in Nov/Dec, then they take two and half months off ahead of the tourney.

they’ll probably get it done someday, but the tourney can be a shock to the system when you’ve spent two and half months playing a WCC sched.
 
Well it was pretty obvious that Gonzaga was shocked by the athleticism and physicality they saw last night. Not likely to see that when facing Pepperdine and University of San Francisco.

The weak schedule also led some folks to get out over their skiis when it came to evaluating Gonzaga's greatness.

They went 31-1. They were better than everyone, but Baylor. There’s no shame in that. I think fans get too caught up in conference strength when it comes to the tournament. They barely lost in the final 4 years ago too. You win 5 straight games that’s a pretty good run.
 

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