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Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 2990463, member: 837"] Another college hoops season (sadly) in the books and just had a few thoughts I wanted to throw out there: [B]1) Not sure I get the UVA/Bennett hate[/B] I know a lot of people here really respect the program and it drives some posters nuts, but honestly I"m not sure what a college hoops fan would hate about the program. They're not loaded with one-and-dones, Bennett seems like a class guy, they play tough defense without as much clutch and grab as Pitt used, they play an efficient offensive system ... it's really pretty impressive basketball even if it can be a bit boring at times. Maybe I'm just too old and too busy with kids and work and stuff to get as worked up over this stuff as I did for much of my life, but honestly I just thought it was cool to see them scratch, fight and claw their way to a title (and Texas Tech nearly do the same, for that matter) as opposed to duke playing kind of sloppy hoops but just overwhelm you with talent. [B]2) People can say college hoops blows (and the quality of the product can be ugly, no question), but that tournament from the sweet 16 on was really fun to watch[/B] From a pure enjoyment standpoint I wish more teams played up and down like Carolina and I don't think it's a stretch to say that there are factors that really hurt the overall product of college basketball -- AAU culture that seems focused on the individual, the constant media timeouts that ruin any flow of a game, the inconsistent officiating, the prevalence of teams that are primarily defensive minded and seem to basically run roughly one offensive set ... But the last 16 teams in that tournament played so hard for the 40 minutes (or more) of every game they played and the passion was there. You also had some teams come out of nowhere -- Auburn and TTU most notably. The tourney moves quickly and the winner take all, single-game elimination format makes for incredible drama. It's still the best playoff system of any sport in terms of being able to click on basically any game and kind of get into it. The NCAA has its warts and the quality of the play is what it it is, but March is the coolest month of the year for any sport on the planet. [B]3) What can the Cuse take from this tourney?[/B] Syracuse has to get back to a point where it add some diversity to it's offensive game. Those teams last night attacked really strong opposing defenses in a few different ways. They each did the high ball screen thing at times (it's a plague in college hoops) and it worked at times (Jerome getting fouled on that drive to the basket in OT was the result of TTU botching the defense on the high ball screen), but they did a lot of other stuff too. UVA got it's guards inverted with their back to the basket, the did a little drive and kick, they got a couple buckets on quick cuts to the basket. TTU spread the floor and tried to pull Diakite away from the basket and got out in transition where they could. We are a one-note offensive team right now. We don't run, we don't cut, we don't move the ball, we rarely get early shot clock looks ... if we shoot well we look OK (not great) and if we don't we get beat by 15 (each of those teams would have beat us by 15). Not sure if it happens next year or not but we have zero imagination on offense -- probably due to coaching and personnel. Needs to change. [/QUOTE]

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