UNC and Duke Basketball, 2015-16

#401
#401
volfanbill said:
As mentioned all season, Carolina can play like the best team in CBB, but they can also play like the 20th best team. I don't think it matters what kind of draw y'all get, you can go all the way. Roy could Roy though and both Duke and Carolina will be chilling at home for week two.

Honestly, I don't think there's an between for Carolina: Final Four or first week exit. Unfortunately, I'm going to predict a Final Four.
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Ready, willing and able to send Duke packing. I would like another shot at Oregon...on a neutral court this time. The last game, at Oregon, was an outstanding game.
 
#402
#402
bowlinggreenvol said:
Oregon played the 3rd toughest schedule and has more top 50 wins than any team in the country except for Kansas and has 12 wins over teams in the field of 68. They may fizzle out but their resume and #2 RPI speak for themselves.
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Thank you for providing clarification in the wake of my laziness, but I'll believe a Pac 12 strength of schedule when I have reason to believe in it. Until then, I'll think of it about like I think of the new Big East, the SEC, the AAC, and the old Conference USA slate.

I saw a statistic today about how the Pac 12 has only produced two national titles (UCLA in '95 and Arizona in '97) in the past thirty years or more. I can't remember the exact timeline. Granted, the Big Ten, who we often think of as a good bball conference, has hardly done any better during that stretch. In fact, it may be even worse in this statistical category.
 
#403
#403
Speaking of title statistics, I just saw where Bilas brought up the relationship (or at least the correlation; certainly not causality) between geography and filling out your brackets. Only three states have produced nearly half of all NCAA Tournament titles: California, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

That's pretty incredible that you can get that volume of championships from such a small pool, relative to the rest of the nation.
 
#406
#406
VKAman said:
I wouldn't overlook Yale
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I'm hoping Drew has the team ready. Our strength (down low) is Yale's weakness....pound it down low. Extend the zone on D and force them to make NBA 3s. Turn the athletes loose on the break at every opportunity.
 
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#407
#407
It's funny that the UK fans on here didn't deem it necessary to start a thread this year lol
 
#408
#408
volprof said:
I'm surprised MSU didn't get the one nod. I thought they'd get the second overall one seed with a Big Ten tournament win, knocking UNC down to the third in the process. Virginia, who is a somewhat questionable one nod as well (although statistical examination of their record reveals them to be much better than their overall win-loss record), will definitely have a lot on its hands with a 2-seeded MSU to face.

Oregon is fool's gold. I don't trust any team that comes out of the Pac 12 or the new Big East, even the ones with great records. I probably shouldn't say this without first consulting their schedule this season, but I wager that Oregon played virtually no one in the pre-conference slate as well. It wouldn't surprise me if the 8 or 9 seed tosses them. Now, Oklahoma may be a handful in that region though.
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Oregon's RPI is #2 in the nation. It's pretty obvious you haven't watched the Ducks this year.

If I'd been on the selection committee, I'd have had Kansas, Michigan St. NC and Oregon. Betting against the Ducks this year is a mistake.
 
#410
#410
Yeah, Oregon is good. I'm not a big believer in Altman, but they're definitely better than Duke/Baylor to me.
 
#412
#412
GoDucks349 said:
Oregon's RPI is #2 in the nation. It's pretty obvious you haven't watched the Ducks this year.

If I'd been on the selection committee, I'd have had Kansas, Michigan St. NC and Oregon. Betting against the Ducks this year is a mistake.
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I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I'll assume you all are just like most other Pac 12 champs.
 
#415
#415
RDU VOL#14 said:
Already set to print 40-0 tshirts. Not even pumping the brakes.
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Haha i hear ya. I think Flop Allen goes pro.... They will be good though. Better than the Heels, but I think the lineup below will be decent.

Berry
Theo
Jackson
Hicks
Meeks/7 ft Turkish stud (doubtful but fingers crossed)
 
#416
#416
LittleCat said:
Same here. 5 wins against Cal, Utah, and Baylor? Eh...They are definitely a good team but not #2 in nation.
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Plus, the thing about the RPI is this:

You could theoretically play teams nearly all ranked somewhere between 20-50 (and none any higher) and have a higher strength of schedule than a team who played, say, 5 teams in the 1-10 range, another 5 teams in the 10-20 range, and then all remaining opponents in the 100-300 range.

Did first team really play a more difficult schedule than the second team? Statistically, yes, but not in reality.

I'm not saying this is necessarily the case with Oregon this year. I'm just using the above as an example as to why I don't always put a whole lot of stock in the RPI. My subjective volprof eye test index often proves much more effective than any RPI rankings.
 
#417
#417
LittleCat said:
Same here. 5 wins against Cal, Utah, and Baylor? Eh...They are definitely a good team but not #2 in nation.
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The only thing we really have to go on at this point is a paper resume. There's lines up better than just about anyone save for KU and OU in terms of quality wins. If the Pac 12 flops in the first weekend that'll tell the story.
 
#418
#418
volprof said:
Plus, the thing about the RPI is this:

You could theoretically play teams nearly all ranked somewhere between 20-50 (and none any higher) and have a higher strength of schedule than a team who played, say, 5 teams in the 1-10 range, another 5 teams in the 10-20 range, and then all remaining opponents in the 100-300 range.

Did first team really play a more difficult schedule than the second team? Statistically, yes, but not in reality.

I'm not saying this is necessarily the case with Oregon this year. I'm just using the above as an example as to why I don't always put a whole lot of stock in the RPI. My subjective volprof eye test index often proves much more effective than any RPI rankings.
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How is that not a tougher schedule? There's more party in the former case and theoretically more potential for losses. In the latter case you're assured of victories and can likely rest guys as well, leaving you with a fresher team.

This is the very argument in SEC football vs everyone else, specifically the B1G. This past season, UM, MSU and OSU were all top 10 teams at the same time for a few polls. Since they all played each other, 20% of their schedule was vs top 10 teams, the remaining portion was vs unranked teams.

Would anyone argue that's tougher than Bama, UGA etc playing 6-7 games vs teams ranked 10-20? Bama played 7 teams that were ranked at the time of the game; most in the 10-20 range. Consistently being pushed, is tougher IMO than having a handful of elite games and coasting for the other 2/3 of a season.
 
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#419
#419
bowlinggreenvol said:
How is that not a tougher schedule? There's more party in the former case and theoretically more potential for losses. In the latter case you're assured of victories and can likely rest guys as well, leaving you with a fresher team. This is the very argument in SEC football vs everyone else, specifically the B1G. This past season, UM, MSU and OSU were all top 10 teams at the same time for a few polls. Since they all played each other, 20% of their schedule was vs top 10 teams, the remaining portion was vs unranked teams. Would anyone argue that's tougher than Bama, UGA etc playing 6-7 games vs teams ranked 10-20? Bama played 7 teams that were ranked at the time of the game; most in the 10-20 range. Consistently being pushed, is tougher IMO than having a handful of elite games and coasting for the other 2/3 of a season.
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The statistics agree with you. Me, however, I'd rather play my entire schedule against teams ranked 20-50 (and no teams ranked 1-20) then I would against 10 teams ranked 1-20, as per my scenario above. Heck, I'd rather play 5 teams ranked 35, say, then I would just 1 team ranked number 1 overall. If I'm truly a good team, I should be able to manage 20-50, minus perhaps a couple of slips here and there. I can still be a good team and still have a substantial amount of losses to 1-20, however. Just my opinion. If you feel differently, that's fine.

Again, I'm not saying this is what Oregon did this year. I'm sure they're a fine team. I'm just saying that the Pac 12 has hardly ever given me any reason to believe in them or the strength of their teams collectively. If Oregon wins big in this tournament, then I'll gladly admit they have done well in the tournament. It still probably won't change my mind much about the Pac 12's basketball strength though. That would require a trend and not just a one year success story.
 
#420
#420
But again, if we're just talking about the conference champion, it already is a trend because Arizona has been elite.
 
#422
#422
volprof said:
Thank you for providing clarification in the wake of my laziness, but I'll believe a Pac 12 strength of schedule when I have reason to believe in it. Until then, I'll think of it about like I think of the new Big East, the SEC, the AAC, and the old Conference USA slate.

I saw a statistic today about how the Pac 12 has only produced two national titles (UCLA in '95 and Arizona in '97) in the past thirty years or more. I can't remember the exact timeline. Granted, the Big Ten, who we often think of as a good bball conference, has hardly done any better during that stretch. In fact, it may be even worse in this statistical category.
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I'm not going to get into defending the quality of the PAC-12 as that's just subjective "fan" opinions.

However, I will say that for those who love basketball for basketball's sake and if you love TEAM basketball with offense, defense, rebounding, steals, blocked shots, guts and determination, then those basketball fans should enjoy watching this years Oregon Ducks.
 
#423
#423
GoDucks349 said:
I'm not going to get into defending the quality of the PAC-12 as that's just subjective "fan" opinions.

However, I will say that for those who love basketball for basketball's sake and if you love TEAM basketball with offense, defense, rebounding, steals, blocked shots, guts and determination, then those basketball fans should enjoy watching this years Oregon Ducks.
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I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm being unfair to Oregon. That's not my intention, although, admittedly, that's probably the effect. Since I've moved out west, I've taken up pulling for Cal and Oregon, in both football and basketball, provided they're not playing UT, UNC, or another team I have more fondness for, for one reason or another (very few). I admit that I don't watch Oregon's games religiously, however. I've probably only seen a handful.

By the way, my wife and I have now visited Oregon, and we love it. We went to Crater Lake/Theilsen Wilderness this past Thanksgiving. That's a very beautiful part of the country!
 
#424
#424
volprof said:
I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm being unfair to Oregon. That's not my intention, although, admittedly, that's probably the effect. Since I've moved out west, I've taken up pulling for Cal and Oregon, in both football and basketball, provided they're not playing UT, UNC, or another team I have more fondness for, for one reason or another (very few). I admit that I don't watch Oregon's games religiously, however. I've probably only seen a handful.

By the way, my wife and I have now visited Oregon, and we love it. We went to Crater Lake/Theilsen Wilderness this past Thanksgiving. That's a very beautiful part of the country!
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Yes it's beautiful up here. I retired to a small community that's basically surrounded by national forest. We're at 1000 feet elevation below the typical snow line and above the valley fog. We've got a little over an acre with 120 feet of river front on a wild and scenic river.

Ever since my great experience with the UT fans on this board a few years ago (UT vs Oregon football) I've continued to frequent Volnation, simply because of the quality of the fans. So yes I pull for UT when they aren't playing the Ducks. Also, UT is a former client of mine and it's located in a beautiful area, very nice country.

Crater Lake is beautiful, just an amazing place. What I've learned since "moving to the woods" is that Oregon is packed with tons of places totally off the tourist lists. Places that when you hike into them, you rarely see anyone else, places where the typical visitor has 4 legs instead of 2. Some of the lakes, waterfalls and canyons I've seen are just amazing.

One comical thing I've discovered is that on top of mountains many times phone service is available even tho you're 25 miles from the nearest tower. LOL
 
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#425
#425
GoDucks349 said:
Yes it's beautiful up here. I retired to a small community that's basically surrounded by national forest. We're at 1000 feet elevation below the typical snow line and above the valley fog. We've got a little over an acre with 120 feet of river front on a wild and scenic river.

Ever since my great experience with the UT fans on this board a few years ago (UT vs Oregon football) I've continued to frequent Volnation, simply because of the quality of the fans. So yes I pull for UT when they aren't playing the Ducks. Also, UT is a former client of mine and it's located in a beautiful area, very nice country.

Crater Lake is beautiful, just an amazing place. What I've learned since "moving to the woods" is that Oregon is packed with tons of places totally off the tourist lists. Places that when you hike into them, you rarely see anyone else, places where the typical visitor has 4 legs instead of 2. Some of the lakes, waterfalls and canyons I've seen are just amazing.

One comical thing I've discovered is that on top of mountains many times phone service is available even tho you're 25 miles from the nearest tower. LOL
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Sounds like a nice spot you've carved out for yourself. We stayed in Prospect, and there were two high waterfalls near the hotel that hardly any outsiders know about. They were so close, we could walk over. We really liked Crater Lake, although we had a better time at Diamond Lake and Theilsen Wilderness, because there were basically no people at either, with the exception of the occasional snow boarder coming down Theilsen. We'll definitely have to head back sometime.

My wife and I have now decided that we're never moving back east, unless it's back to Appalachia or to northern New England. The landscape east of the Mississippi - even the Great Plains, which most people hardly look twice at while riding through - is just so much more impressive than anything east of that river, with the exception of the two spots I mentioned.
 
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