Final Four

[CameronBornAndBred]

WVU's Unlikely to Play.....http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_ba ... y/7345904/

After watching Roy's bullshit with Ty Lawson last year and whoever else he said wouldn't play this year, I'll believe this one in the 40th minute Saturday. I wonder if "Truck" was wearing some of those specialty unc shoes?

It may make no difference whatsoever whether he plays or not. West Virginia's going to be tough to play.

Nope...they won two without him. I totally missed this part of the article...how bizarre.

Bryant broke his foot in practice on March 23 and missed the Mountaineers' next NCAA two tournament games. He flew to Durham, N.C., on Sunday and received a special insert for his shoe from a Duke sports medicine doctor but hasn't been able to practice.

By the way...who pays for things like this? Does the university cover the cost? Parent's insurance? They actually flew this guy to Durham for an insert?!!! That is now the most expensive foot in the tourney, and it won't see any action.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I would guess that since the guy suffered this injury playing basketball for the university that the athletic department would be responsible for seeing to his treatment. At least these mountain folk recognize the best in sports medicine!

[bjornolf]

WVU's Unlikely to Play.....http://www.wralsportsfan.com/college_ba ... y/7345904/

After watching Roy's bullshit with Ty Lawson last year and whoever else he said wouldn't play this year, I'll believe this one in the 40th minute Saturday. I wonder if "Truck" was wearing some of those specialty unc shoes?

It may make no difference whatsoever whether he plays or not. West Virginia's going to be tough to play.

Nope...they won two without him. I totally missed this part of the article...how bizarre.

Bryant broke his foot in practice on March 23 and missed the Mountaineers' next NCAA two tournament games. He flew to Durham, N.C., on Sunday and received a special insert for his shoe from a Duke sports medicine doctor but hasn't been able to practice.

You must have missed my vulgarity laced diatribe on the LTE from a few days ago. ;) I told Tilly to slip a pebble in the mold.

[CameronBornAndBred]

You must have missed my vulgarity laced diatribe on the LTE from a few days ago. ;)

I have no idea how that could have happened..I only skipped about 30 pages.

[colchar]

Just out of curiosity (and because I am too lazy to look it up), when was our last Final Four appearance? Was 2001 our last visit?

I looked it up.

[devildeac]

It may make no difference whatsoever whether he plays or not. West Virginia's going to be tough to play.

Nope...they won two without him. I totally missed this part of the article...how bizarre.

Bryant broke his foot in practice on March 23 and missed the Mountaineers' next NCAA two tournament games. He flew to Durham, N.C., on Sunday and received a special insert for his shoe from a Duke sports medicine doctor but hasn't been able to practice.

By the way...who pays for things like this? Does the university cover the cost? Parent's insurance? They actually flew this guy to Durham for an insert?!!! That is now the most expensive foot in the tourney, and it won't see any action.

When our daughter broke her foot during a tumbling pass at a woman's game last year, our primary insurance was billed 1st and then the athletic department paid all the remainder of the bills. Every penny.

[devildeac]

Just out of curiosity (and because I am too lazy to look it up), when was our last Final Four appearance? Was 2001 our last visit?

I looked it up.

2004
lost to the uconvicts in the semi-finals
worst officiated game I have ever seen.
ever.

[ArkieDukie]

Just out of curiosity (and because I am too lazy to look it up), when was our last Final Four appearance? Was 2001 our last visit?

I looked it up.

2004
lost to the uconvicts in the semi-finals
worst officiated game I have ever seen.
ever.

But devildeac, how can that be? Everyone knows that Duke gets all the calls.

[devildeac]

Just out of curiosity (and because I am too lazy to look it up), when was our last Final Four appearance? Was 2001 our last visit?

I looked it up.

2004
lost to the uconvicts in the semi-finals
worst officiated game I have ever seen.
ever.

But devildeac, how can that be? Everyone knows that Duke gets all the calls.

Oh, but this one was special. Even the folks on dbr who chastise folks who complain about the refs felt that the ass :o)s who called this game were exceptionally awful.

[CameronBornAndBred]

2004
lost to the uconvicts in the semi-finals
worst officiated game I have ever seen.
ever.

But devildeac, how can that be? Everyone knows that Duke gets all the calls.

Oh, but this one was special. Even the folks on dbr who chastise folks who complain about the refs felt that the ass :o)s who called this game were exceptionally awful.

With the Connecticut Huskies trailing by 8 points with less than 3 minutes to go, it looked as if the Duke Blue Devils were going to spoil Jim Calhoun's chance at a second national title. Connecticut's All-American center Emeka Okafor was limited to just 22 minutes because of early foul trouble, but he came up clutch with several big plays down the stretch and finished with 18 points and only 3 fouls. By contrast, all three of Duke's centers fouled out, including Shelden Williams, who committed his fifth foul with 3:04 to play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_NCAA_ ... Tournament

[CameronBornAndBred]

Oh, but this one was special. Even the folks on dbr who chastise folks who complain about the refs felt that the ass :o)s who called this game were exceptionally awful.

And another article for your reading pleasure, titled "Officials take away game everyone came to see"
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ry/7230083

The story was David Hall. And Olandis Poole. And Ted Hillary.
UConn's Emeka Okafor dislikes the call and goes to the bench early with foul trouble.(AP)
Know their names, because they officiated the Final Four game everyone wanted to see, Connecticut against Duke, and turned it into an officiating clinic.

[captmojo]

Is this the end? I'm in agreement with Doug Gotlieb.
He picks Duke to win. I guess it's so obvious that even he can't ignore it.

This team is TOUGH! Other analysts have made much mention of 'mental toughness'. Yes, these guys are mentally tough but the Devils are also quite physically tough. As examples, look at the last few defenses they've had to face. Purdue...every player on the floor had a defender in their face in every moment of the game. Only an extremely tough team could take the physical pounding, game in and game out, that this group has had to face, from every opponent, all season, right through the rough-house style they took from Baylor last weekend. I have feared for the safety of this team all year, what with the rough play that has been allowed as normal from their opponents and, as it turns out, each other in practices, even though basketball is supposed to be considered a 'non-contact' sport.

I no longer feel I have anything to fear for the remainder of the season, especially from an undersized group of West 'By God' Virginians.

Butler U is a nice story and will be an even better story if this hometown bunch can knock off Sparty. It could happen but I wouldn't count on it. They'll have to be more than deadly accurate from outside the arc for this to happen. They aren't going to out-rebound MSU, sooooo, their best strategy should be that there aren't any rebounds to be had.

Duke vs Butler?- Butler gets lost in the bright lights seeing DUKE across the jerseys and the realization of their accompishments to get here. They will fall and fail.

Duke vs MSU?- MSU gets blistered from 3-point land as the Blue Devils are much more relaxed by their surroundings in this gym. A bit of a more difficult challenge than would be Butler, yet the same result. Blue Devils have rebounding edge on both ends of the floor. A lot of people talk about the coaching match-up. Funny, but neither K or Izzo will so much as shoot a free-throw. Duke wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...in either situation.

[Jesus_hurley]

I've got a username that can post on IC. It can be fun at times and it's always good for a laugh (though I have trouble not being 'outed' and therefore banned). One of the threads is talking about the potential for us to win back-to-back and of course a response was:

let's keep in mind DUKE has had the easiest bracket in 25 years. They did not play a top 5 team all year and none are left. They scheduled easy and avoided true road games if at all possible.

DUKE would have already lost had Baylro not been the toughest team they played so far. Baylor had one decent year and had success against Texas. Villanova had lost several games at the end and prob should be a 3 seed just for that fact.

I hope West Virginia takes DUKE to the woodshed (without their starting PG).

DUKE sux and I hope gets embarrassed.

No way DUKE wins next year.

To which my response was:

While it's fun to make fun of the bracket it's not 100% accurate. Looking at brackets from a top 25 perspective is extremely short-sighted. Look at their tourney schedule from the RPI and Sagarin:
APB: 183,221
Cal: 20, 26
Purdue: 16,9
Baylor: 12,7
WVU: 4,4

Based on this, they pretty much faced the teams they should have. Not that the RPI isn't flawed, but it is one of the tools the committee uses (I'm sure moreso then the AP and coaches polls that the fans use to judge 'strength'). And based on RPI and Sagarin, there really isn't a lot of water to the easiest path argument.

They were 5-5 in true road games in the regular season. Carolina was 2-9 IF you count the Texas game as a road game (as it really was). So it's not like Carolina really went out and scheduled all sorts of away games this year. Don't let hatred blind you to the fact that for the first time in 6 years a duke team improved late in the year.

Cool points awarded to anyone who can tell me what my username over there is.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Cool points awarded to anyone who can tell me what my username over there is.

I hope your aunt sees a doctor.

[CathyCA]

Vitale just picked Duke to win it all.

I hope he's right.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Coach K talks WVU -- video
http://crazietalk.net/blog1.php

[devildeac]

I've got a username that can post on IC. It can be fun at times and it's always good for a laugh (though I have trouble not being 'outed' and therefore banned). One of the threads is talking about the potential for us to win back-to-back and of course a response was:

let's keep in mind DUKE has had the easiest bracket in 25 years. They did not play a top 5 team all year and none are left. They scheduled easy and avoided true road games if at all possible.

DUKE would have already lost had Baylro not been the toughest team they played so far. Baylor had one decent year and had success against Texas. Villanova had lost several games at the end and prob should be a 3 seed just for that fact.

I hope West Virginia takes DUKE to the woodshed (without their starting PG).

DUKE sux and I hope gets embarrassed.

No way DUKE wins next year.

To which my response was:

While it's fun to make fun of the bracket it's not 100% accurate. Looking at brackets from a top 25 perspective is extremely short-sighted. Look at their tourney schedule from the RPI and Sagarin:
APB: 183,221
Cal: 20, 26
Purdue: 16,9
Baylor: 12,7
WVU: 4,4

Based on this, they pretty much faced the teams they should have. Not that the RPI isn't flawed, but it is one of the tools the committee uses (I'm sure moreso then the AP and coaches polls that the fans use to judge 'strength'). And based on RPI and Sagarin, there really isn't a lot of water to the easiest path argument.

They were 5-5 in true road games in the regular season. Carolina was 2-9 IF you count the Texas game as a road game (as it really was). So it's not like Carolina really went out and scheduled all sorts of away games this year. Don't let hatred blind you to the fact that for the first time in 6 years a duke team improved late in the year.

Cool points awarded to anyone who can tell me what my username over there is.

9F?
GTHCGTH?
carolina blue is the past tense...

[devildeac]

Oh, but this one was special. Even the folks on dbr who chastise folks who complain about the refs felt that the ass :o)s who called this game were exceptionally awful.

And another article for your reading pleasure, titled "Officials take away game everyone came to see"
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... ry/7230083

The story was David Hall. And Olandis Poole. And Ted Hillary.
UConn's Emeka Okafor dislikes the call and goes to the bench early with foul trouble.(AP)
Know their names, because they officiated the Final Four game everyone wanted to see, Connecticut against Duke, and turned it into an officiating clinic.

AARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

[devildeac]

I've got a username that can post on IC. It can be fun at times and it's always good for a laugh (though I have trouble not being 'outed' and therefore banned). One of the threads is talking about the potential for us to win back-to-back and of course a response was:

let's keep in mind DUKE has had the easiest bracket in 25 years. They did not play a top 5 team all year and none are left. They scheduled easy and avoided true road games if at all possible.

DUKE would have already lost had Baylro not been the toughest team they played so far. Baylor had one decent year and had success against Texas. Villanova had lost several games at the end and prob should be a 3 seed just for that fact.

I hope West Virginia takes DUKE to the woodshed (without their starting PG).

DUKE sux and I hope gets embarrassed.

No way DUKE wins next year.

To which my response was:

While it's fun to make fun of the bracket it's not 100% accurate. Looking at brackets from a top 25 perspective is extremely short-sighted. Look at their tourney schedule from the RPI and Sagarin:
APB: 183,221
Cal: 20, 26
Purdue: 16,9
Baylor: 12,7
WVU: 4,4

Based on this, they pretty much faced the teams they should have. Not that the RPI isn't flawed, but it is one of the tools the committee uses (I'm sure moreso then the AP and coaches polls that the fans use to judge 'strength'). And based on RPI and Sagarin, there really isn't a lot of water to the easiest path argument.

They were 5-5 in true road games in the regular season. Carolina was 2-9 IF you count the Texas game as a road game (as it really was). So it's not like Carolina really went out and scheduled all sorts of away games this year. Don't let hatred blind you to the fact that for the first time in 6 years a duke team improved late in the year.

Cool points awarded to anyone who can tell me what my username over there is.

Reason and facts. They hate both at IC and don't know the definition of either.

[CameronBornAndBred]

GO DUKE!!!!!!!