13th&Jackson

Bump

Yeah, but Bradshaw is actually the better NBA prospect

“Two years ago, believing his program had reached the verge of a breakthrough, Hurley overhauled UConn’s offense. Hurley barricaded himself in an office with assistants Luke Murray and Kimani Young, studying offensive sets from all corners of the basketball world, particularly European leagues. They melded concepts from FIBA and the Golden State Warriors to create an offense based on side-to-side movement, intricate off-ball screens, quick passing and open space.” “I’ve been studying the top offenses in the country in-depth for the past five years, and UConn’s combination of off-ball screening and ball movement within their sets and the number of sets that they run makes it the most complex offense that I’ve seen in that time,” according to Jordan Sperber, a former video coordinator at New Mexico State (h/t CJ Moore of The Athletic). “It's not an accident that, according to CBB Analytics, “more than 76 percent of UConn's total field goal attempts during the regular season came from either three-point range or the restricted area.” https://clutchpoints.com/why-uconn-will-beat-purdue-in-the-2024-national-championship-game

Don’t disagree. Bradshaw is a project. Doesn’t like contact or rebound well. Ballo is a dude.

Furst is gone

If the roles were reversed, there isn't a single Purdue fan who would be pulling for IU

'Bradshaw entered Kentucky as the No. 5 overall player in the Class of 2023, per 247Sports. Though he struggled to carve out a consistent role with the Wildcats, his upside remains clear and he should be heavily pursued. As a towering athlete, he could be like this year's version of Kel'El Ware. After playing off the bench as a touted freshman at Oregon, Ware transferred to Indiana and shined as a sophomore." https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-transfer-portal-2024-ranking-top-60-players-as-aaron-bradshaw-oumar-ballo-test-waters/

Perfect fit: Ballo's size at 7-feet and 260 pounds makes him a difficult player for opponents to manage. He averaged 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in 2023-24 for Arizona on 65.8% shooting. There isn't much versatility to his game, and Ballo's free-throw shooting dipped to a career-worst 49.5% this past season. But he's a productive bruiser with a proven track record at an elite program.

My limited experience with people from Connecticut is that they are insufferable snobs. They won't get any worse if they win a 6th title. Purdue fans, on the other hand, will become obnoxious on another level if they win one.

They're overrated, like Calipari

I actually suggested moving the conversation to the Mike Woodson megathread since he isn't being fired. There can be a lot of pro and con conversation that doesn't involve firing.

It's interesting. Checked out Rupp Rafters. There were some longtime posters who had signed off and were basically done with KY basketball until Cal was gone. They are back this AM and celebrating. The overall tone on RR, at least, is relief and excitement, it seems. We'll see how long that lasts based on who they hire.

No, I get it. It's just frustrating that teams used to lose a game at AH before it was even played. Now teams come in and rain threes at AH (didn't start with CMW as we all know). There's no intimidation factor anymore. And speaking of the Rutgers punks, look at how Harper Jr, trolled IU during his on-campus visit. That's total disrespect. The whole program needs to look at how to get back to being feared. And by the way, it isn't a hobby for me. Unlike some who are fans of IU basketball, I graduated from there, so I have more invested than others. When I was in my 20s, I used to be able to recite stats on the team and players verbatim. Lived and breathed it. Don't tell me I shouldn't care about IU basketball and do something else.

Yeah, that’s what did it Geo Baker: “Nobody is looking at Indiana like ‘oh man, we got to get ready to play Indiana.’ “Indiana, for me, at Rutgers, when we were playing Indiana, we knew we were going in with a win. That was our mindset.”

Talking to Isiah about him becoming GM

I think Smith and Loyer fold under the pressure. Bama’s guards are better, but they couldn’t pull it off. Shot really well in first half and were still down 4. At half, Hurley said they just needed to get Bama to crack. They know they can impose their will. Love that attitude

UConn -6.5

NCST has totally outplayed Purdue. They just can’t make shots

NC ST has missed so many wide open shots

If Purdue survives NC ST, they’ll get destroyed by UConn. Their guards have been exposed again

I could see these coaches kids being told by Dad to go out and see how much you can get paid. There’s probably some political pressure around maxing out the coach’s kid

And this is so important from an overall program perspective: Moren has had 20+ win seasons since year 2. But she raised it to another level in year 6 at the age of 49. She’s still only 54, so the program can look forward to another decade of success and stability

I was going to say the same. Consistently ranked in the top 20 or better. Single digit loss seasons. Competing for top three in conference. Make NCAAT every year, with S16 appearances and teams that could go deeper

Think about this: McNeely at MI, Queen at MD and Harper at Rutgers