The Confidential

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Archive for the category “Basketball”

18 Mar 2014
7 Comments

Louisville a #4 Seed? The Top 10 Reasons It Makes Sense

One would think that seeding Louisville a #4 was a crime against humanity.   But before digging out your copy of the Geneva Convention or looking up travel information to the Hague, consider that the NCAA committee has long used RPI as a guide.  This is not a secret.  Just like the committee stopped looking at recency, it is what the committee is supposed to do.  The RPI helps gauge schedule strength.  In any event, here are the top 10 reasons the Committee got it right in deeming the Cards a 4 seed:

Read more…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , ,
18 Mar 2014

The Tigers Aren’t Finished Yet

Picked to finish 14th in the ACC, Coach Brad Brownell’s Clemson Tigers surprised everyone when they ended the regular season 6th in the conference. Not to mention a season long, star performance by junior forward, K.J. McDaniels who was voted an ACC first team All-American and defensive player of the year.

The Tigers take on Georgia State in Littlejohn Coliseum tonight at 9pm on ESPNU in the first round of the NIT, a postseason honor not all ACC schools can boast about. The ACC is one of the toughest basketball conferences in the nation and you must give credit where credit is due to Brad Brownell. He took the underdogs and made them into competitors that demanded to be taken seriously.

With a heartbreaking overtime loss to Pitt at the end of the regular season, Clemson started the ACC Tournament right with a thrilling overtime win against Georgia Tech, just to be fortunate enough to move on to play Duke in the quarterfinals. What at one point looked like it would be a Blue Devils blowout, the Tigers fought back to bring the game back to within a few points, only to lose by 1 on a controversial call that sent Duke to the next round.

While Clemson won’t be entering “The Big Dance” this March Madness season, they do have a lot to be proud of. Players like Landry Nnoko, Demarcus Harrison, and Jaron Blossomgame improved to become vital assets to the team. Consistent players like K.J. McDaniels and Rod Hall gave another tremendous effort to show that at least one school in South Carolina knows how to play basketball.

This young team should be coming back in full force next season, but might be one short. K.J. McDaniels, while only a junior, is likely to enter the NBA Draft after this season concludes. While I can’t say I blame him, I do hope he’ll consider finishing out his career as a Clemson Tiger and seeing how far he can lead this team next season.

If you haven’t had the chance to watch the Tigers play this season, catch them on ESPNU tonight at 9pm in the first round of the NIT!

clemson

Posted by marystewartb in ACC Network, ACC only, Basketball, Clemson correspondent, Conference News, Correspondents, ESPN, Game Review, March Madness, News, Opinion, Results, Schedule, Something Positive, This Day in ACC and tagged , , , , , ,
18 Mar 2014
5 Comments

Quick Thoughts on the Bracket

With 24-hours to digest it, and less than that until play-in games start, here are the Confidential’s quick thoughts on the bracket:

The NCAA did Wichita State a favor.  Suppose that the Midwest bracket was changed to make Louisville the 2-seed, and UCLA the 4-seed, with Kentucky swapping with UMass as the 6th/8th seeds.  With Louisville a 2-seed and Kentucky a 6-seed, everyone could step in off the ledge and stop looking for further signs of the apocalypse.  Not suppose Wichita State runs that table to get to the Final Four: (a) Game 1, a victory over a 16th seed; (b) Game 2… win over the winner of Kansas State/UMass…yawn; (c) Game 3… win over the winner of UCLA/St. Louis/Cinderella…still not impressing anyone; and (d) Game 4… win over Louisville or Duke.  With one win over an impressive, name opponent… Wichita State would still be somewhat of an question mark heading into the Final Four.  NOW, if Wichita State gets to the Final Four, it will have beaten good names AND good teams.  This is much better than if Louisville was a #2, Duke was a #3, and Creighton was a #4.  The casual fan will want to see Wichita State up against the best before deeming the season historical.  Mission accomplished.

As for Louisville, chillax.  The committee was instructed to look at the whole season.  If the committee was to look at just the last 6 weeks, it would be violating that directive.  In the not-so-distant past, momentum heading into the tournament was relevant.  Now, it is has been formally deemed a lesser variable.  Maybe it should be changed back.  Fair enough.  But to do so in this bracket would have been to violate the current rules.  Moreover, imagine if the bracket was this: 1. Michigan, 2. Wichita State, 3. Louisville, 4. Duke.  Would moving up one seed have mattered?  No!  Same basic opponents.  OK, just switch Louisville and Duke, without switching Wichita State and Michigan–still have to beat two of the three anyway.  The order is insignificant.  Just go win the darn games.

While the Midwest bracket is tough at the seeded level, are St. Louis, UMass, and Texas scaring anyone more than Kentucky?  No.  And is Kentucky really scaring anyone?  It is a perfect matchup for Wichita State–let the country root for the #1 seed against the collection of one-and-dones.  Great way to get fans rooting for a #1 seed for a change.

The East bracket is sneaky tough, with Virginia, Villanova, Iowa State, and Michigan State.  Villanova is a 28-4 team, but seems like the worst of these four teams right now.  Does that make sense?  Actually, it does.  The South is not horrible either.  If Syracuse gets is mojo back, that is three teams that might have been #1’s a month ago.  Throw in UCLA, VCU, Ohio State, and New Mexico… and that is a deep region.  The West.  Sigh.

What do you think?

P.S. Still time to get into the Confidential’s bracket contest @ https://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/quickenloansbracket/group/9921/invitation?key=8777f32b05a883ef

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , ,
17 Mar 2014
7 Comments

Syracuse Fans: Cut Trevor Cooney Some Slack

Over at TNIIAM, there has been much discussion of Trevor Cooney, who is undoubtedly in a significant slump.  However, this slump has caused Cooney’s three-point average to drop to a still-very-respectable 37.7%.  And this is after a seven game stretch where he has gone 10 for 51, or if you want to use the 10 games since his 33-point explosion against Notre Dame, he is 16 for 72.  After the Notre Dame game, he was 70 for 156 on the season.  That is an insane 44.8%.  Few players are going to keep up that pace.  It’s called law of averages, folks.

Read more…

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball and tagged , , , , ,
16 Mar 2014

ACC FANS: BRACKET CONTEST BEGINS TONIGHT!

Looking forward to picking a hated team–i.e. Duke, UNC, or Syracuse–to flame out early in the Big Dance?  Looking to choose one of those teams to rebound from ACC Tournament losses in a deep March run?  Looking to back up your respect for Pitt and Virginia by selecting them?  Just want to show other ACC fans that you know more than anyone else about hoops?  Here you go…

In what is now an annual tradition, the Confidential will have another bracket contest in 2014.  We will give out a prize (at least one) to the winner!   The prize(s) will be announced later.  The more people that fill out brackets, the bigger the prize!

If you think you know basketball, and as a fan of the ACC you SHOULD know basketball, let’s see how well you can do against other fans of ACC schools.  Go here:

Oh, and good luck.  You’ll need it.

The Confidential’s latest Bracketology post.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Bracket Contest and tagged , , ,
16 Mar 2014

Dr. Syracuse and Mr. Orange

What is Syracuse?  Who knows anymore.  This is a team that was 25-0 and the #1 team in the country without much debate.  In February.  It had a senior in CJ Fair who was great against Duke in the Carrier Dome and against Pittsburgh down the stretch.  It had a sophomore duo in Jerami Grant and Trevor Cooney that were offensive threats.  It had a freshman in Tyler Ennis that seemed to be more Benjamin Button than a teenager.  Dr. Syracuse looked like a national championship contender capable of beating anyone and everyone.  And then it turned into Mr. Orange–a team capable of losing to anyone and then proving it by losing at home to Boston College and Georgia Tech.  These losses–rather than the other three–are what will keep Syracuse from being a #1 seed.  The bigger question for Syracuse fans is not #1 seed, but whether it will win one game in the Big Dance.

Read more…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , ,
15 Mar 2014

Confidential Bracketology: March 15, 2014

Let’s have some fun projecting the NCAA’s top 4 seeds for the Big Dance.  This is based on what the Confidential thinks will happen tomorrow.  We limit it to the seeded teams.

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Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Bracket Contest, Predictions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
13 Mar 2014

The Confidential’s Bracket Contest: 2014 (ENTER TODAY!)

In what is now an annual tradition, the Confidential will have another bracket contest in 2014.  We will give out a prize (at least one) to the winner!   The prize(s) will be announced later.  The more people that fill out brackets, the bigger the prize!

If you think you know basketball, and as a fan of the ACC you SHOULD know basketball, let’s see how well you can do against other fans of ACC schools.  Go here:

Oh, and good luck.  You’ll need it.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Bracket Contest and tagged , , ,
12 Mar 2014

Syracuse Basketball: Grading the Orange

The Syracuse Orange closed out the regular season on Sunday with 74-58 win over the Florida State Seminoles.  The win earned the Orange a 27-4 mark for the regular season, a record that, any other year, would have SU fans jumping for joy.  This season, though, the fact that Jim Boeheim’s squad went only 2-4 over their last six has many of the Orange faithful’s panic-o-meter cranked up to 44.

Relax.

Yes, the Orange had their seasonal slide a bit later than usual.  True, that slide included a couple of really bad losses to Boston College and Georgia Tech.  And, of course, one fairly dominant win over the ‘Noles doesn’t erase the flaws shown by Syracuse late in the season.  So, let’s take a moment to take the long view and grade the Orange as they prepare for the post season.

Read more…

Posted by cuseorangeblood in ACC only, Basketball, Syracuse correspondent and tagged , , , , , , ,
11 Mar 2014

TJ Warren is ACC Player of the Year

TJ Warren has won the ACC Player of the Year award, a very bright spot in what has been a so-so season, though IMHO a much better one than last year.

Warren led the league in scoring at 24.8 ppg and while many fans and media thought the award would go to Duke’s Jabari Parker, Warren’s win is justifiable.  It is pretty clear that without the sophomore’s nearly automatic scoring touch the Pack could not have achieved 19 wins and a .500 conference record.  He scored 81 points in his last two games, so he is peaking at the right time. Read more…

Posted by mikemab2000 in ACC only, Basketball, March Madness, NC State Correspondent and tagged , , , ,

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