🏀 Final Four Showdowns

[alabama mike]

Virginia- Ralph Sampson's college team
Texas Tech- don't think they have ever been to a final four
Michigan St.-home school of Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Auburn- first time final four and home of Sir Charles Barkley

Who do you want to see in the Final Game and who do you want to win?

 

[UAgrad93]

Michigan State/UVA Final with Izzo and State winning it all.

 

[#80]

Anybody but the barn hope they get embarrassed against UVA.

 

[rollingTide29]

Michigan State/UVA with UVA getting redemption after last years performance

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Not a big bball fan....watched a few games.... played a lot....
Can say this...I dont know if i ever saw a team with so much speed as AU...
And boys can shoot... havent watched VA or TT....
mSU is a tough team.... watched them...
KY shot so poorly from charity stripe...reason they lost....to AU..
It scares me but thatt speed AU has.....ummmm
Pulling for VA over AU...
MSU wins it all

 

[BamaFan334]

Who even cares. Lost my ass this tournament.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Who even cares. Lost my ass this tournament.

This is me. Only team I consistently pull for at tourney time is Alabama. Obviously I haven't had much to pull for in that regard. otherwise I like to see a true Cinderella but that happens so rarely that my interest in the tournament has been nil of late

 

[TUSKtimes]

Where did all the one and done teams go? Duke and Kentucky exit stage right and that leaves only teams who have built from the ground up. I also notice that 3 of the 4 teams left have super strong defensive principles. Should be fun.

I assume it's OK to speak about the barn here and not qualify as a heretic, so here goes. The barn has just about walked through the strongest tourney I can remember. Kansas was a #2 seed, NC a #1 and then Kentucky also a #2. What do they get for their trouble, another #1 seed in Virginia? Win that and they could get Michigan State another #2 seed. To win it all they would have to best 3 #2 seeds and 2 #1 seeds. It's hard to imagine anyone ever having a tougher tourney schedule.

 

[planomateo]

Kentucky didn't impress.

 

[UAgrad93]

Kentucky didn't impress.

True! Also, Kansas was down like 2-3 guys for the season. For all the grief that Bill Self took this season, I thought he did a pretty good job considering his roster being depleted.

 

[alabama mike]

I heard on a radio show yesterday that this is the first tournament since 1985 without a Duke, NC, Indiana, UCLA, Louisville and Kansas in the Final Four (FF). The blue bloods of college basketball all bit the dust this year.

Michigan St and Izzo have been to the FF before so this will be business as usual for them. Never count out an Izzo coached team.
Virginia was a major player during the Ralph Sampson days and I think made the FF last in 84. Can that style of play win a championship?
Texas Tech and Auburn are the newcomers to the party. The guard play by Auburn has been outstanding. Those guys can shoot the ball and they are fast.

As hard as it is for me to say, I would like to see TT and Auburn in the finals with the home state winning.

 

[BamaFan334]

Where did all the one and done teams go? Duke and Kentucky exit stage right and that leaves only teams who have built from the ground up. I also notice that 3 of the 4 teams left have super strong defensive principles. Should be fun.

I assume it's OK to speak about the barn here and not qualify as a heretic, so here goes. The barn has just about walked through the strongest tourney I can remember. Kansas was a #2 seed, NC a #1 and then Kentucky also a #2. What do they get for their trouble, another #1 seed in Virginia? Win that and they could get Michigan State another #2 seed. To win it all they would have to best 3 #2 seeds and 2 #1 seeds. It's hard to imagine anyone ever having a tougher tourney schedule.

I would have to agree with you. No one has ever gone through such a blue blood schedule like that before. Now Kansas was a little down for Kansas, and Kentucky is lacking that one big time star, but North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky are great teams with a lot of big time recruits. Auburn has earned every bit of what they have gotten. If they start cold like they did against Kentucky, I think they lose to Virginia, but if they start hot like they did against North Carolina they can easily beat Virginia. Virginia is as steady as they come and don't really allow scoring runs and do not have scoring droughts, so Auburn will need to be efficient.

 

[rick4bama]

I heard on a radio show yesterday that this is the first tournament since 1985 without a Duke, NC, Indiana, UCLA, Louisville and someone else in the Final Four (FF). The blue bloods of college basketball all bit the dust this year.

Michigan St and Izzo have been to the FF before so this will be business as usual for them. Never count out an Izzo coached team.
Virginia was a major player during the Ralph Sampson days and I think made the FF last in 84. Can that style of play win a championship?
Texas Tech and Auburn are the newcomers to the party. The guard play by Auburn has been outstanding. Those guys can shoot the ball and they are fast.

As hard as it is for me to say, I would like to see TT and Auburn in the finals with the home state winning.

Be careful what you say! Every time those plow boys win those trees looking bad! I have seen that the TP is out now. I guess the football couldn't do it so those fans are getting what was lost. The last time I was those trees this white was when bama lost in the NCG!

 

[TUSKtimes]

So I was wrong. Winning the NIT doesn't make you the 69th best team in America.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

So I was wrong. Winning the NIT doesn't make you the 69th best team in America.

I can still remember a brief period in my youth when the NIT was more "prestigious" than the NCAA. Then I remember when they started giving better coverage to the NCAA and there was a power struggle for whose tourney was better. Mid 70's to late 70's teams started refusing NIT bids and by the 80's the NCAA tourney was considered the pinnacle. Funny how it changed

 

[TUSKtimes]

I can still remember a brief period in my youth when the NIT was more "prestigious" than the NCAA. Then I remember when they started giving better coverage to the NCAA and there was a power struggle for whose tourney was better. Mid 70's to late 70's teams started refusing NIT bids and by the 80's the NCAA tourney was considered the pinnacle. Funny how it changed

Maybe the inclusion from 32 to 68 teams has also had a profound impact. So many good teams who could have won it all weren't given the chance. The NIT has some very good teams in it once upon a time.

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

Maybe the inclusion from 32 to 68 teams has also had a profound impact

Maybe the inclusion from 32 to 68 teams has also had a profound impact

Definitely the expansion of the NCAA and the support of CBS pretty much put the NIT in distant second to stay

 

[UAgrad93]

Looked up some cool tidbits about both the NIT and March Madness.
NIT tourney was established in 1938 and held in Madison Square Garden. It wasn't regionalized or played at schools, only MSG. This was the place to be for media exposure at the time.
NCAA founded basketball tourney in 1939. Original field was 8 teams, 1 from each regional area. Stayed that way until 1950

Years teams fielded
39-50 8
51-52 16
53-68 22-25
69-74 25
75-78 32
79 40
80-82 48
83 52
84 53
85-00 64
01-10 65
11-present 68

NIT started to hit the skids when NBC, who held TV rights to the NCAA tournament, brokered a move from their Saturday afternoon time slot into the Monday night prime time slot we see now.
In 1975, they took another HUGE hit when the NCAA dropped their rule of "one team per conference". This opened the gates to more deserving teams for the NCAA and thus limited the "marquee" teams for the NIT.

CBS took over TV rights starting in 82.

 

[#80]

Oh happy days the barn goes home.

 

[#80]

LMAO .... the refs missed a call and the barn should have won. They will be crying for a month. el OH el !!!!!!!!!!!!!