Top ten for next season

[Original_Irish]

Any news on Timme? If he returns, which I suspect he will, you guys have a very solid case for being preseason #1.

I think most expect Timme to be back.

The team should be very good next year but idk if the flaws that Baylor exposed will be magically fixed next year. The team still doesn’t have elite athletes, and Timme is still a liability defensively. Hopefully Chet is just a star from day one.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

OT, but...

 

[RondoBaller21]

Lots of talk about Nolan Hickman committing to Gonzaga. With the likes of Andrew Nembhard, Rasir Bolton, and Hunter Sallis in the backcourt, I don't think Hickman would start. But, Few could sell to him that he's likely to be the primary ballhandler in 2023.

Apparently the recruitment of Hickman just started according to his dad. Nobody is leading and they’ll hear everyone’s pitch.

 

[bignish]

Also, justified is certainly subjective. There’s a large contingent of mainstream liberals who still don’t think the cop was justified in shooting Bryant after those videos. What a person using common sense considers justified might not be in the eyes of the woke mob.

That MSU Elite 8 game was pretty painful from the Duke perspective. So many little things adding up. RJ took over the final 3 possessions of the game, and only managed a single point. WTH we would defer to him over the NPOY 3 consecutive times is beyond me. We had 0 transition points in the entire game. As it was, you guys were +10 in the turnover category. That was huge. The 13-0 run to close the first half was also pretty substantial. We were certainly beatable, as we barely survived UCF and Virginia Tech. Just wish we could have maximized our opportunities a little better.

Barrett was pretty good in the Elite 8 game. I've rewatched that game a bunch of times and I recall him passing it to Zion who tentatively passed it back to him to initiate the offense.

We saw it with Bagley vs KU too...very good defensive teams with a good game plan can seal off post entry opportunities for elite big men and bother them out on the perimeter.

Its why its so hard to rely on bigs as the games become of greater importance in the tournament.

You need elite guard or wing play to create something out of nothing sometimes.

RJ saved us vs UCF at the end too so its not the ending of the MSU game that bothered me.

We were about to blow the doors of MSU with like 6-7 mins left in the 1st half and we inexplicably turned the ball over a bunch of times in a row and let State hang 13 straight on us.

We were good at not turning the ball over and that was MSU's Achilles heel but the roles were completely reversed in the Elite 8.

 

[dukedevilz]

Barrett was pretty good in the Elite 8 game. I've rewatched that game a bunch of times and I recall him passing it to Zion who tentatively passed it back to him to initiate the offense.

We saw it with Bagley vs KU too...very good defensive teams with a good game plan can seal off post entry opportunities for elite big men and bother them out on the perimeter.

Its why its so hard to rely on bigs as the games become of greater importance in the tournament.

You need elite guard or wing play to create something out of nothing sometimes.

RJ saved us vs UCF at the end too so its not the ending of the MSU game that bothered me.

We were about to blow the doors of MSU with like 6-7 mins left in the 1st half and we inexplicably turned the ball over a bunch of times in a row and let State hang 13 straight on us.

We were good at not turning the ball over and that was MSU's Achilles heel but the roles were completely reversed in the Elite 8.

That 13-0 run was frustrating, no question - and the turnover margin. Wish we could replay it. Cassius Winston took over the game at one point, IIRC. I actually haven't re-watched that game a single time. But yeah, seemed like we were up 30-20 late in the first half. We lost the momentum in a heartbeat. Guards are definitely essential, and that's my biggest holdup about the team going into next season. I don't have complete confidence in Jeremy Roach or Wendell Moore. Good players, but not quite the duo you'd want for a national title contender. Hopefully we'll see improvements from the both of them.

The only two losses I ever re-watch semi-frequently are UConn in 1999 and Indiana and 2002. Still trying to recover.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

That 13-0 run was frustrating, no question - and the turnover margin. Wish we could replay it. Cassius Winston took over the game at one point, IIRC. I actually haven't re-watched that game a single time. But yeah, seemed like we were up 30-20 late in the first half. We lost the momentum in a heartbeat. Guards are definitely essential, and that's my biggest holdup about the team going into next season. I don't have complete confidence in Jeremy Roach or Wendell Moore. Good players, but not quite the duo you'd want for a national title contender. Hopefully we'll see improvements from the both of them.

The only two losses I ever re-watch semi-frequently are UConn in 1999 and Indiana and 2002. Still trying to recover.

I don't know how you rewatch.

 

[dukedevilz]

I don't know how you rewatch.

Bad judgement on my end, mostly. Old, painful memories usually resurface. I guess part of me wants to know what went wrong. I thought we were the better team in 1999 and 2002. There were a few plays that certainly could have changed the outcome of the two games, but the bottom line is UConn and Indiana were both tougher.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

Bad judgement on my end, mostly. Old, painful memories usually resurface. I guess part of me wants to know what went wrong. I thought we were the better team in 1999 and 2002. There were a few plays that certainly could have changed the outcome of the two games, but the bottom line is UConn and Indiana were both tougher.

I honestly get it. I'm a dire hard fan. Have been for years.

It's just too painful, and it don't' change the outcome.

I'll watch a win 3-5 times. Maybe I'm bandwagon.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

I did notice some UK fans chose not to watch some UK games last year. I haven't reached that lvl yet.

 

[SheriffBufordTJustice]

I have said this before about that Duke team.
If the turnovers didn't come they had issues in the half court.
But they did put pressure on the ball extremely well.
I think that Michigan St team would have shocked people last year as well with Winston. But he stepped up his game when needed.

The two games in the season that really stood out were Gonzaga and Texas Tech.
They found a way to win the TT game but even then it was a defense that took risk and could be burn.