Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thursday Night Open Thread

Only about an hour until the Sweet 16 tips off. I plan on being here all night to chat with you guys in the comments. Join me there! I've had fun chatting with you guys thus far, so let's keep it up.

Please note that I previewed these games here.

Finally, if you are here before the games start, feel free to pass along pre-game idiocy. I just turned on ESPN and caught a great one. The ESPN Bottom Line says as a lead story: "(8) Butler hopes to overcome (4) Wisconsin's stingy defense". In raw per-possession numbers, Wisconsin is #2 in offense and #174 in defense. Even if we take Pomeroy's stats, which take into account schedule strength, Wisconsin is still #2 in offense and #59 in defense. Wisconsin's offense is great and will be great tonight - if they lose it's going to be because their defense fails again, particularly behind the arc, where they've been awful this year.

The day television analysts understand the concept of tempo-free stats is the day I can declare victory and quit doing this blog...

10 comments:

Kemba said...

Disappointed you didn't go with Kentucky over Ohio State, Jeff...I put my faith into your picks and now I can't watch that game tomorrow with any confidence the Wildcats can pull off the upset.

Jeff said...

Haha, thanks for the compliment. I'm glad I'm not one of the ESPN talking heads getting those "Please pick against us since you're always wrong" e-mails.

Kentucky definitely can win. And I'm wrong on spreads more than 1/4 of the time, so maybe I'll be wrong on Kentucky.

If they win it will be because Josh Harrellson does a great job one-on-one defensively on Sullinger, and they'll have to put up a lot of points on threes. OSU's offense is ridiculous this season - they score on everybody.

Jeff said...

Two fouls on Kawhi Leonard in less than 4 minutes - that's a big problem. He was dominating for those four minutes, too.

Jeff said...

BYU's complementary players are hitting shots now. But if Jimmer doesn't get going they have no chance.

I am a little surprised by how little Florida is crashing the boards, though.

Jeff said...

SDSU looks very tight and UConn can't miss. Bad combination for the Aztecs.

Jeff said...

I can't believe Kemba Walker just flopped during a timeout and drew a technical foul. I've never seen a player so savvy that they can flop and draw fouls even when tv is in a commercial break...

Jeff said...

Wouldn't want to be in SDSU's locker room right now. They let that game get away against an inferior opponent.

I knew SDSU was in trouble as soon as Kemba Walker was diving on the ground for a loose ball while SDSU players were just leaning over. With equal intensity and effort, SDSU wins that game easily.

Jeff said...

I think Derrick Williams just had the dunk of the Tournament. Unreal...

Jeff said...

Wisconsin is 4-for-8 at the free throw line and has 8 turnovers at halftime. Yikes. They're giving this game away.

Meanwhile, Derrick Williams is getting his opponent's whole front line in foul trouble and is white hot beyond the arc... which is kind of how he's played all season long. He's the most underrated player in the nation. Give me him over Kemba Walker any day.

camtron said...

I loved watching singler get dunked on last night! And that Derek Williams dunk was insanely amazing!