[Old School Hound]

If you could pick five teams to take against the rest of the field in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, which five teams would you choose?

[Van Hagar]

I would take Houston, UConn, North Carolina, Kentucky and, hell, Morehead St. They are just as likely to win it all as Purdue or Tennessee.

[jetpilot]

Houston, UConn, Arizona, Marquette, Creighton.
Will put Kentucky in for one of the last two if they make it to the SEC championship game.

[Old School Hound]

Also, are there five teams that are are on your $hit list? By that, I mean pretty high profile teams, ranked in and around the top 15 , that you are not very high on them advancing very far in the tourney.


What about five that make your Cinderella list? Teams belong on this list if they don't receive a lot of mention when talking about the best of the best but you feel like they could surprise and advance and maybe make a run.

---

Houston, UConn, Arizona, Marquette, Creighton.
Will put Kentucky in for one of the last two if they make it to the SEC championship game.

I don't watch a lot of CBB , other than Kentucky,  but I don't know about Marquette or Creighton.

Anyone doubting North Carolina, Purdue or Tennessee?

[jetpilot]

sh$t list Duke, N Carolina, Kansas, Illinois, Purdue

Cinderella Creighton, Northwestern, South Florida, Washington State, Nevada

[Van Hagar]

Oh I doubt Purdue. They will be very lucky to make the Elite 8. Same for Tennessee. Now I think Carolina could make a Final Four run.
Take UK out of the equation. Which other SEC team do you think makes the deepest run? So much depends on the bracket, of course, but I think Alabama and South Carolina are definitely out the first weekend. I could see Auburn and/or Florida surviving the first weekend. And Tennessee should unless they get a bad matchup in their second game.


By the way, watching Indiana St.-Drake in Missouri Valley title game as I type this. Both are solid, could win at least one in the tourney. Indiana St. has a big, slow white kid, wearing black-rimmed, coke bottle thick glasses. But he’s got plenty of game. And he’s got one of my all-time favorite nicknames. At Indiana St. they call him Larry Blurred.?????

[jetpilot]

Also, are there five teams that are are on your $hit list?  By that,  I mean  pretty high profile teams, ranked in and  around the top 15 , that you are not very high on them advancing very far in the tourney.


What about five that make your Cinderella list?  Teams belong on this list if they don't receive a lot of mention when talking about the best of the best but you feel like they could surprise and advance and maybe make a  run.

---

Houston, UConn, Arizona, Marquette, Creighton.
Will put Kentucky in for one of the last two if they make it to the SEC championship game.

I don't watch a lot of CBB , other than Kentucky,  but I don't know about Marquette or Creighton.

Anyone doubting North Carolina, Purdue or Tennessee?

Big East is probably best conference top to bottom. Creighton beat Houston by 19 then lost their next game to the St. Johns Fighting Pitinos.

[jetpilot]

Oh I doubt Purdue. They will be very lucky to make the Elite 8. Same for Tennessee. Now I think Carolina could make a Final Four run.
  Take UK out of the equation. Which other SEC team do you think makes the deepest run? So much depends on the bracket, of course, but I think Alabama and South Carolina are definitely out the first weekend. I could see Auburn and/or Florida surviving the first weekend. And Tennessee should unless they get a bad matchup in their second game.


  By the way, watching Indiana St.-Drake in Missouri Valley title game as I type this. Both are solid, could win at least one in the tourney. Indiana St. has a big, slow white kid, wearing black-rimmed, coke bottle thick glasses. But he’s got plenty of game. And he’s got one of my all-time favorite nicknames.  At Indiana St. they call him Larry Blurred.?????

Cream Abdul-Jabbar lol.

[Old School Hound]

sh$t list Duke, N Carolina, Kansas, Illinois, Purdue

Cinderella Creighton, Northwestern, South Florida, Washington State,  Nevada

lol   Duke is always on my sh!t list, regardless of how good they are.

Will Purdue flop again?

---

Oh I doubt Purdue. They will be very lucky to make the Elite 8. Same for Tennessee. Now I think Carolina could make a Final Four run.
  Take UK out of the equation. Which other SEC team do you think makes the deepest run? So much depends on the bracket, of course, but I think Alabama and South Carolina are definitely out the first weekend. I could see Auburn and/or Florida surviving the first weekend. And Tennessee should unless they get a bad matchup in their second game.


  By the way, watching Indiana St.-Drake in Missouri Valley title game as I type this. Both are solid, could win at least one in the tourney. Indiana St. has a big, slow white kid, wearing black-rimmed, coke bottle thick glasses. But he’s got plenty of game. And he’s got one of my all-time favorite nicknames.  At Indiana St. they call him Larry Blurred.?????

That's hilarious!!!


I hope it doesn't happen, but the Vols could make a run.  Without the Kenecht kid(did I spell it right?) , however,  I doubt they are a trop 20 team

[Granny Bear]

Oh, I think Tennessee is a top 20 team! "Connect" had 40 points against us, and can really shoot the 3s.

Houston, Arizona, Duke, UConn and Marquette would be my top 5

Bottom 5 I can't even go there. Upsets happen all the time in this tournament. So who knows? UK might even get to the sweet 16.

[Old School Hound]

I would take Houston, UConn, North Carolina, Kentucky and, hell, Morehead St. They are just as likely to win it all as Purdue or Tennessee.

Ouch!!! That's a burn ! (But, in the end, probably true).

---

Oh, I think Tennessee is a top 20 team!  "Connect" had 40 points against us, and can really shoot the 3s.

Houston, Arizona, Duke, UConn and Marquette would be my top 5

Bottom 5 I can't even go there.  Upsets happen all the time in this tournament.  So who knows?  UK might even get to the sweet 16.

Oh, UT is a legitimate top 15 team, but I was saying without Knecht , they are probably not top 20.

[Cactus Jack]

Houston, UConn, Kentucky, North Carolina and Marquette.

[jetpilot]

Adding Stetson to Cinderella list. They won their conference tournament yesterday. Jalen Blackmon, son of former UK great James Blackmon, scored 43 points in the championship game. Stetson is coached by Donnie Jones, Pikeville College (now UPike) alum and former player who was assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida when they won back to back national championships.

[Granny Bear]

Remember when Billy Donovan was recruited big time by UK?? He wouldn't even give them the time of day.

[Old School Hound]

Adding Stetson to Cinderella list. They won their conference tournament yesterday. Jalen Blackmon, son of former UK great James Blackmon, scored 43 points in the championship game. Stetson is coached by Donnie Jones, Pikeville College (now UPike) alum and former player who was assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida when they won back to back national championships.

Interesting. I hope they do well !!!

[Cactus Jack]

Houston will do well in the tournament, but they are a different team now that they are down three players. They lose their best defender (Tugler) in the Big XII semi and another key player (Roberts) is banged up and couldn't make it through much of the same semi & only played 13 minutes in today's final (and was well under his averages). They'll beat the 16 seed going away, but those types of injuries are just tough for anyone to overcome and I think they're vulnerable as soon as the 8/9 game.

Marquette's second-leading scorer will be back for the tournament, but they have another important player (averages over 8 and 4 in over 25 minutes per game) that was also not at 100% today (shoulder) after getting folded on a screen in the Providence game.

Just something to keep an eye on for two of the teams that we all picked when most of this information wasn't known.

[Old School Hound]

Houston will do well in the tournament, but they are a different team now that they are down three players. They lose their best defender (Tugler) in the Big XII semi and another key player (Roberts) is banged up and couldn't make it through much of the same semi & only played 13 minutes in today's final (and was well under his averages). They'll beat the 16 seed going away, but those types of injuries are just tough for anyone to overcome and I think they're vulnerable as soon as the 8/9 game.

Marquette's second-leading scorer will be back for the tournament, but they have another important player (averages over 8 and 4 in over 25 minutes per game) that was also not at 100% today (shoulder) after getting folded on a screen in the Providence game.

Just something to keep an eye on for two of the teams that we all picked when most of this information wasn't known.

Jack, I'm just curious as to how much basketball you watch in an average week around this time of year. You seem to be an acute observer of basketball. I am very impressed with your knowledge and analyses. When I want some roundball knowledge, I go looking for me some Cactus. BANG! BANG!

As I have made it clear from time to time, I don't watch a whole lot of sports anymore. I am down on the direction that sport has taken. Baseball has always been my first love but the rule changes have soured me on MLB. I watch only some Reds' games. The NFL is crooked as hell and games are influenced by the league. I watch only Bengals games. I watch no NBA. Remember the Lakers/ Kings series a couple of decades ago that indicated the league was competing with the NFL for league-influenced results. Like Granny Bear, I am also not a big fan with the college basketball game today. Really poor fundamental basketball, along with transfer portal, one and done, and NIL, has drained my interest. John Wooden is rolling over in his grave. I watch no other games but UK.  That's it for me.--- UK, the Bengals and the Reds. And, of course, I watch the Redhounds.

[Cactus Jack]

Jack, I'm just curious as to how much basketball you watch in an average week around this time of year. You seem to be an acute observer of basketball. I am very impressed with your knowledge and analyses. When I want some roundball knowledge, I go looking for me some Cactus. BANG! BANG!

As I have made it clear from time to time, I don't watch a whole lot of sports anymore. I am down on the direction that sport has taken. Baseball has always been my first love but the rule changes have soured me on MLB. I watch only some Reds' games. The NFL is crooked as hell and games are influenced by the league. I watch only Bengals games. I watch no NBA. Remember the Lakers/ Kings series a couple of decades ago that indicated the league was competing with the NFL for league-influenced results. Like Granny Bear, I am also not a big fan with the college basketball game today. Really poor fundamental basketball, along with transfer portal, one and done, and NIL, has drained my interest. John Wooden is rolling over in his grave. I watch no other games but UK.  That's it for me.--- UK, the Bengals and the Reds. And, of course, I watch the Redhounds.

At this time in the season, I'd say I watch about 3-4 hours per day on the weekends and a couple hours per day during the workweek. Have some extra consumption from podcasts and talk radio during my work commute as well. If I'm ever flying (used to have to fly a lot for work), I'll usually pass the time by watching games while waiting at the airport or in the air.

For a day like yesterday were there were multiple simultaneous games, I watch a whole lot on DVR and that lets me skip through commercials, timeouts, things like that. I also have YouTube TV and they have a "Catch Up Through Key Plays" feature that lets you work you way to the "live" point in the game by showing you the majority of the scoring plays only.