The Big 5 College Basketball Thread

Last post here and then I will stop annoying you people--

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2016/3/24/11302698/villanova-miami-ncaa-tournament-2016-sweet-16

Villanova’s Sweet 16 win was the best offensive performance by any team all season


Miami played a quality offensive game on Thursday, but the Wildcats still blew them out with an incredibly hot shooting night.

You could say that Villanova is playing better than any team in college basketball right now, but that might be doing them a disservice. Villanova's 92-69 beatdown of Miami to book a spot in the Elite Eight was the best offensive performance by any team in any game all season:

1.60 points per possession for Villanova. The best offensive game for any team the ENTIRE SEASON
— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) March 25, 2016

The game between the Wildcats and Hurricanes only had 57 possessions, which is 12 slower than the average Division I basketball game and the second-slowest game of the tournament. But the Wildcats were so hot, they managed 92 points.

Kris Jenkins hit 5-of-6 threes, Ryan Arcidiacono hit 4-of-5 threes, and as a team the Wildcats went 18-for-19 from the free throw line. I mean, they hit shots like this:

The result is that even though Miami played a legitimately good offensive game -- their 1.21 points per possession would be top 5 in basketball if they kept it up the course of a season -- they got blown off the dang court, losing by 23. Miami entered the game 31st in the nation in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defense ratings, and left the game 51st. The fact that a single game caused a team to drop 20 spots after a 35-game season should tell you a lot.

Combine this with a 10-for-19 shooting performance from deep in a 87-68 win over Iowa and a 13-for-28 outing in a 29-point in over UNC-Asheville, and it's safe to say the Wildcats are playing the best offensive basketball of anybody in the NCAA Tournament.

The story of Villanova the past few seasons is one of unfortunately timed poor performances. The Wildcats have generally been in the best 10 or 15 teams in the college basketball regular season, and yet they lost in the first or second round of six straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Sometimes they played badly, sometimes an unlikely opponent had a great game, sometimes both happened. Perhaps it was bad luck, perhaps it was lack of "clutchness," perhaps it was some angry ghost cackling at Villanova basketball from the basketball heavens.

Whatever it was, Villanova has shaken it, and shaken it violently. Not only have they avoided an unfortunate crash, they're playing their best basketball of the year. And not only are they playing their best basketball of the year, they're arguably playing the best basketball anybody has played all year.

The Juggler said:

Last post here and then I will stop annoying you people--

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2016/3/24/11302698/villanova-miami-ncaa-tournament-2016-sweet-16

Villanova’s Sweet 16 win was the best offensive performance by any team all season


Miami played a quality offensive game on Thursday, but the Wildcats still blew them out with an incredibly hot shooting night.

You could say that Villanova is playing better than any team in college basketball right now, but that might be doing them a disservice. Villanova's 92-69 beatdown of Miami to book a spot in the Elite Eight was the best offensive performance by any team in any game all season:

1.60 points per possession for Villanova. The best offensive game for any team the ENTIRE SEASON
— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) March 25, 2016

The game between the Wildcats and Hurricanes only had 57 possessions, which is 12 slower than the average Division I basketball game and the second-slowest game of the tournament. But the Wildcats were so hot, they managed 92 points.

Kris Jenkins hit 5-of-6 threes, Ryan Arcidiacono hit 4-of-5 threes, and as a team the Wildcats went 18-for-19 from the free throw line. I mean, they hit shots like this:

The result is that even though Miami played a legitimately good offensive game -- their 1.21 points per possession would be top 5 in basketball if they kept it up the course of a season -- they got blown off the dang court, losing by 23. Miami entered the game 31st in the nation in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defense ratings, and left the game 51st. The fact that a single game caused a team to drop 20 spots after a 35-game season should tell you a lot.

Combine this with a 10-for-19 shooting performance from deep in a 87-68 win over Iowa and a 13-for-28 outing in a 29-point in over UNC-Asheville, and it's safe to say the Wildcats are playing the best offensive basketball of anybody in the NCAA Tournament.

The story of Villanova the past few seasons is one of unfortunately timed poor performances. The Wildcats have generally been in the best 10 or 15 teams in the college basketball regular season, and yet they lost in the first or second round of six straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Sometimes they played badly, sometimes an unlikely opponent had a great game, sometimes both happened. Perhaps it was bad luck, perhaps it was lack of "clutchness," perhaps it was some angry ghost cackling at Villanova basketball from the basketball heavens.

Whatever it was, Villanova has shaken it, and shaken it violently. Not only have they avoided an unfortunate crash, they're playing their best basketball of the year. And not only are they playing their best basketball of the year, they're arguably playing the best basketball anybody has played all year.

some really favorable matchups so far but they are playing great ball for sure. not surprised they have made it this far. gets exponentially tougher now though. They could be looking at a 3 game run of Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina (if UNC gets by Indiana tonight) to win it all. do that and that is as an impressive run as anyone has had in a long time.

Cliffy6745 said:

I can't stand Villanova

You're not alone. Makes these runs all the more sweet though.

Cliffy6745 said:

The Juggler said:

Cliffy6745 said:

I can't stand Villanova

You're not alone. Makes these runs all the more sweet though.

Cuse tonight!

Cannot believe their luck so far.

The Corestates Center looks pretty good tonight...

The Fixer said:

saw nova was down by 10+ late in the game. had to check my calendar...thought it was march already.

love it...

Quick double check of the calendar....yeeeup, it's March now.

FINAL FOUR!!!

I'm so happy they won when they were not playing their best ball. Been trying to tell people they are not the same "live by the 3, die by the 3" team they were in the past.

The Juggler said:

FINAL FOUR!!!

I'm so happy they won when they were not playing their best ball. Been trying to tell people they are not the same "live by the 3, die by the 3" team they were in the past.

I'm not sure why people only equate good ball with offense but both teams in that game played great defense. I haven't seen anyone defend nova that well in about 5 years and nova did a fantastic job on Kansas. Kansas loves to get the ball in the post and nova just wouldn't allow it. I thought nova played a damn good game and have to give Jay a ton of credit for playing a lot of zone. Not something nova usually does but it was the right move against the Kansas team. nova-oklahoma should be a fantastic game. going into the tourney i thought nova could get to the final 4 but didn't think they could win it but the way they have played and they way they took kansas out of what they wanted to do i now think they have a shot to beat oklahoma and unc back to back. they are playing so well and so well together. this team just has a look to it that it is going to be very very hard to beat at this point. and yes if they win it i will be physically ill