Wisconsin beat St. Mary's 61-55. But the way some are talking I would expect this St. Marys team to make the final four!! But like you stated they they lost to the above teams and barely beat Notre Dame. We simply cannot hit three pointers and you are going to have to knock down outside shots to beat them. I will not be shocked if UCLA beats them but the talk of this machine team would make me think some of you think it is a final four team.
Vegas has the line at 3. Bet it's a one or two possession game either way. UCLA going to have to hit some perimeter shots.
I don't remember St Mary's doing that weave at the top of the key. Every time I see IU or any other team do it I can hear the Harlem Globetrotters theme.
I don't even know what I'm searching for here...ha ha. But I'm also not buying the fatigue angle. These are college athletes. Playing a sport where in middle school and high school, they spend all their summers traveling all across the country, playing 2,3.4 games a day, 7-10 over a weekend usually. All usually at a much more frenetic pace than what we see in college games. And they do so, without the benefit of nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches, chartered flights. And that's not even taking into account the adrenaline and excitement of playing in the NCAA tournament, on national TV, etc...
Great point. They play that packline (a lot better than Coach Miller's) defense which forces teams to shoot outside. IU just didn't have the outside guys to do it well.
Absolutely no reason to think St. Mary's can't make the F4. With the way they defend they will be in every game. They make shots like they did last night they are going to be a tough out for anyone.
They are not 30 points better than IU. 10 points? Maybe. Probably. I believe that was Norths point with the good not great comment. Semantics I guess.
Agree about Saint Mary's! I was already becoming a believer in watching replays of their games. I think they were already good, but improved greatly as the season went on. This is not a strong season for college hoops, so I'm going to bet Saint Mary's the rest of the way. They destroyed us yesterday the way we did Maryland back in 81. Baylor's perimeter defense might get them, if not I think they'll get to the Final Four. Which is probably the kiss of death and UCLA gives them a beat down... lol
I know it lies with IU...which is my point. St Mary's isn't good enough to put a 50-12 run on us. They did it last night. It happened. So obviously its possible. But I never would have dreamed it was possible. And while I don't particularly enjoy the slower, methodical, St Mary's/Wisconsin style, I do respect it. And I do respect what Bennett has built and done at St Mary's.
I dont like bad mouthing players. I'd thank Kopp and Stewart for their hard work. They will always be Hoosiers. Appreciate everything but their playing days at IU have come to a close. And they both got to play in a NCAA tournament. Pretty cool! Tamar, Galloway and JHS will absorb their minutes.
Just silly.
aside from early season games pairing University of Blue Blood vs SW Cupcake state, you never see a 50-12 run. Never. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I started punching numbers on my calculator app...and felt even worse. 50-12, yep the math was correct.
agreed, I know they work hard and they wanted to succeed. But I've been in some form of a 'sales' career for 25 yrs, and at the end of the year, it's not the effort that pays everyone's salary, it's the results. The math doesn't lie. Math never lies.
From what I've heard and read, RMK himself got a little lazy in recruiting during the final 5-7 yrs at IU (or maybe just sick of it?). And the results started to show.
I hear the word “talent” frequently. Seems that people skew towards athleticism.
in reply to the culture:
No, I'm not saying they'll beat both, I'm saying their system gives them a chance at both. Personally, I do kind of think they'll beat UCLA, just because you know these kids have been dying for a shot at them. Beyond that, who knows? UNC has really started to play well, if they can stay out of foul trouble, they may take care of Baylor. They just don't have much of a bench.
Yep, college game has grown to mimic NBA. Steph Curry has probably changed the game more than any player in recent memory. I couldn't help but wonder, many times this season, with 2 guards at 6'5, ever think of posting them up? Posting guards up in college seems to be a lost art. I know they probably have never really worked on that aspect of their game, but if they aren't being productive from the outside, can we take advantage of their size in other ways against smaller guards, when applicable? But, alas, that was a pipedream.No, I'm saying they play a style similar to NBA teams, and have tweaked it to their benefit, specifically because they don't have the best talent. The results are the same: they get good looks from 3 or layups. And you can suggest they aren't good enough to do what they did and I could buy that, except that the score says they were. Do they play as well as they did last night, every game? Obviously no, but they are playing a smart and disciplined system that allows them to have greater success than what their recruiting or athletic talent would suggest.
Good article on the changes to the NBA game over the years:
NBA's 3-point revolution: How 1 shot is changing the game | NBA.com
As it celebrates its 75th anniversary season, the rise of the 3-pointer has launched the NBA into a new era.www.nba.com
Yeah that is simply amazing. You would usually only see that kind of run if it was like Kansas vs some low low level Division one school. I remember last week people saying they loved this draw and now St. Mary's a is a machine I guess. The bottom line is we basically quit in the second half. There is no way that team is 30 points better than us. No way.
Yeah, we quit. Maybe the team was just happy to be there?
I hate to admit it, but this IU team laid down and quit in the second half. Many fans don't have the stomach to admit it, but it's the truth. I don't like it any more than anyone else, but it needs to be said. It's one thing to play hard with effort and lose to a better team (which I believe Saint Mary's is) by a respectable score, but it's another to simply go through the motions and have your ass handed to you.
Nah. Not buying it. Their practices are harder on their bodies than the games are. Especially for all the kids that don’t play more than 15 minutes in a game.
If you don't know, you don't know.
Probably arguing over semantics here. I don't think mental fatigue and physical fatigue are any where close to the same thing.
I think we may have even quit at the half or shortly before . You usually come out with some big urgency down that much with the season on the line. Insead St. Mary's opened up the half running the lead out to 20 in a matter of minutes. People can blame it on travel or whatever but the fact of the matter is we did quit. You could see it in their body language and lack of hustle. Honesltly Woodson should have just put in Leal and those guys for the last 15 mintues they were fresh and probably would have given a better effort. We were down 21 points with 15 miunutes to go so put in the fresh legs.
They did.
Physical fatigue is the precursor to mental fatigue. I mean seriously, what are you talking about? Teams that are tired are more prone to making mistakes.
I was yelling at my TV begging Woodson to play Leal, Lander, Bates and even Duncomb. You're already down an insurmountable lead, so what's the harm in giving the young guys some run on the big stage?
It was obvious we were not going to win at least with the lineup we had on the court. I mean he finally put them in but with only 5 minutes left. I was dumb enough to keep watching instead of flipping over to the Kentucky game. Lol.
Good point I almost forgot about Minnesota werent we up by like 30 at one point and they cut it to 3? I would have thought we would have seen some fight in the beginning of the second half but nothing. St. Mays is good but we made them look way better than they actually are. I would be stunned if they get past the sweet sixeteen.
St. Mary's is a good three-point-shooting team, but had a good inside game too.
Tass was surprising good...in part because TJD looks spent. There were a few times where Tass did the spin/pump fake/spin again/duck under for layups against TJD and Trayce looked like he was dizzy and tired.
And, when the entire team plays like that, it makes sense to look for a reason that affected the entire team's performance.
Yep I said before the game we needed to hit in the 7-9 three pointer range to have a good shot. Instead we hit 2. In fact we only attempted 5 in the second half even though we were down big. Crean had all kinds of three point shooters. Archie had none. So here we are. I do think UCLA will give them a much tougher game they can knock down the three ball.
I think a bigger factor than fatigue was preparation. Saint Mary's is not a team that you can prepare to play in short order the way IU did. Early Sunday evening the players and staff find out that Saint Mary's is looming on Thursday, but on the way to Portland we have to stop off in Dayton and beat a Wyoming team that set basketball offense back 100 years.
Don’t forget the emotional aspect of the Wyoming game.
