**NCAA Basketball Thread**

[haasem99]

Originally Posted by UNC41

And there goes any concern for having to sit through a full season of Seventh Woods Starting Point Guard™.

Thank god!!!

[kydmb99]

It’s pretty amazing that Will Wade and Sean Miller are still active college basketball coaches

[YouNeverKnow25]

Originally Posted by kydmb99

It’s pretty amazing that Will Wade and Sean Miller are still active college basketball coaches

will wade got caught on a federal wiretap talking about paying recruits, was suspended by his AD, then the school fired the *AD*!!

[kydmb99]

Originally Posted by YouNeverKnow25

will wade got caught on a federal wiretap talking about paying recruits, was suspended by his AD, then the school fired the *AD*!!

Sean Miller’s defense attorney told a judge “Sean Miller is paying players”.

Not sure why you wouldn’t cheat at this point tbh

[thebridge15]

Originally Posted by UNC41

And there goes any concern for having to sit through a full season of Seventh Woods Starting Point Guard™.

I'm pretty shocked, obviously

[YouNeverKnow25]

Originally Posted by UNC41

And there goes any concern for having to sit through a full season of Seventh Woods Starting Point Guard™.

well, apparently we now don't have any concern for having to sit through a season of Seventh Woods, Backup Point Guard™, either

[mposey34]

Originally Posted by YouNeverKnow25

will wade got caught on a federal wiretap talking about paying recruits, was suspended by his AD, then the school fired the *AD*!!

because our AD was trash

[thebridge15]

I will miss seventh's passes directly out of bounds

[SmoothG]

Originally Posted by kydmb99

It’s pretty amazing that Will Wade and Sean Miller are still active college basketball coaches

Originally Posted by kydmb99

Sean Miller’s defense attorney told a judge “Sean Miller is paying players”.

Not sure why you wouldn’t cheat at this point tbh

While I agree it’s crazy Sean Miller still has a job, I think there are a few simple reasons why. Before I go on, I’ll go on record as saying I believe Sean Miller and Arizona are both guilty as sin, and have been at least going back until when I went there in the late 90’s. I haven’t seen that quote from millers defense lawyer, would be interested to read it. All the quotes I can find are of Cristian Dawkins accusing Miller. So far no tapes of Miller himself, just accusations. Dawkins has basically accused every major program of being dirty and paying people off. Maybe all of it is true, maybe some isn’t. Despite all of the evidence (including both his top assistants being charged by the fbi/ncaa for infractions), Miller issued a very strongly (and carefully) worded denial of all charges. The university has stood by him. They/he is either very confident/hopeful/stupid there are no tapes out there or complete lying sack of shit. Which is not unbelievable to think, but that denial was ballsy if there are indeed tapes out there. That leads me to my first reason I think Sean Miller still has a job...

1) Plausible deniability.
2) Recruiting (and some success.) Top 3 class next year. 10 years of elite recruiting. Other than a few years Arizona has been pretty competitive and had quality players go to the nba. Lots of wins and pac12 success and a couple shorts short of a few Final 4’s. If he wasn’t so dirty I think most fans would still support him.
3) Maybe Arizona is just playing a wait and see game to see what other schools/coaches get caught up and see what other programs do.

Best case: vacate some wins and elite 8’s, lose a few scholarships and practice time. Keep good incoming class and make a little run in March.

Worst case: there are tapes. Of Miller. Book. Pasternack. Everyone fired or in jail. Everyone bails in our recruiting class. Finish last in the pac12. Very bad for a very long time.

I don’t know, take that for what it’s worth from an Arizona fan. I have always been a miller fan so it’s a shame it’s all going down in flames like this. Guilty or not, that’s why Sean Miller still has a job.

[BruceW]

It’s possible UNC is now the best team in the ACC

[Foreverford05]

They're looking really good

[BruceW]

UNC adds another grad transfer and Duke loses a commit. I think they are the best in the ACC now

[UNC41]

I am happy with the players Roy has added, but UNC is a pretty big unknown heading into next season. It could very well be that the three guys they rely on most, two grad transfers and a freshman, have absolutely zero experience running Roy's offense.

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by BruceW

UNC adds another grad transfer and Duke loses a commit. I think they are the best in the ACC now

K's unwillingness to play a deep bench comes back to bite him again.

[kydmb99]

Depth is overrated in college basketball imo

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by kydmb99

Depth is overrated in college basketball imo

Eh, I disagree.

[BruceW]

I mean, you're both right, but the last two titles won by my favorite teams, Duke and UVA, consisted of very little depth. UVA had 5 guys that averaged 20 or more minutes this season, and 7 that averaged 10 or more. 2015 Duke had 6 guys on the final roster that averaged 10 or more minutes for the season and were only playing 8 guys that whole title run.

So, while it's important and can certainly lead some teams to a lot of success and titles, it's not necessarily a necessity.

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by BruceW

I mean, you're both right, but the last two titles won by my favorite teams, Duke and UVA, consisted of very little depth. UVA had 5 guys that averaged 20 or more minutes this season, and 7 that averaged 10 or more. 2015 Duke had 6 guys on the final roster that averaged 10 or more minutes for the season and were only playing 8 guys that whole title run.

So, while it's important and can certainly lead some teams to a lot of success and titles, it's not necessarily a necessity.

I think it matters more when heavily recruiting/relying on freshman talent/one and done talent. Cal has the remarkable ability to get his hordes of freshman/one and dones to buy into the concept and accept lesser roles.

A large part of why Boogie Ellis asked out probably has to do with the fact that they added Stanley late and he realized he was going to have lesser of a role, especially given K's history of burying guys.

[UNC41]

Cal has been able to get guys to stick around more recently because he hasn't been getting the true cream of the crop talent that he had been. Townes and Skal are the only top 5 recruits he has the past five years. K has replaced him as the guy reeling in the truly elite guys year after year, which is why Duke has had the same type of roster turnover that Kentucky at the beginning of the decade.

[BruceW]

Originally Posted by Rodey

I think it matters more when heavily recruiting/relying on freshman talent/one and done talent. Cal has the remarkable ability to get his hordes of freshman/one and dones to buy into the concept and accept lesser roles.

A large part of why Boogie Ellis asked out probably has to do with the fact that they added Stanley late and he realized he was going to have lesser of a role, especially given K's history of burying guys.

Yea and I think Ellis is also going to want to have a chance to play some PG in order to prepare for a potential pro career, and at Duke that was probably not going to happen.

[kydmb99]

The 2012 title team had 6 really good players and freshman Kyle Wiltjer. Now that team was exceptionally versatile but I liked having a good, short rotation. I think the team seemed more cohesive. The 2015 team had too much depth. Hurt us in the tournament imo

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by BruceW

Yea and I think Ellis is also going to want to have a chance to play some PG in order to prepare for a potential pro career, and at Duke that was probably not going to happen.

That's the problem. It could happen if K wanted it to. His lack of creativity/willingness to actually coach these days sucks. He has moments, sure, but part of me thinks his sudden shift to one-and-dones is so he doesn't have to do as much coaching anymore.

He's biding his time and waiting for Bronny to come through.

I love K. Best coach ever, IMO, but he's very close to needing to hang it up.

[BruceW]

Originally Posted by Rodey

That's the problem. It could happen if K wanted it to. His lack of creativity/willingness to actually coach these days sucks. He has moments, sure, but part of me thinks his sudden shift to one-and-dones is so he doesn't have to do as much coaching anymore.

He's biding his time and waiting for Bronny to come through.

I love K. Best coach ever, IMO, but he's very close to needing to hang it up.

Well his hours on the recruiting trail, in his office early and late doing things, running practices etc haven’t dipped so I don’t really agree he’s looking to be lazier or do less. I also don’t know why he’d base any of his feelings on retirement around Bronny James, but maybe I’m way off.

I do agree on some of what you said though and definitely wish things weren’t so stale offensively etc, but to give a devils advocate argument to your negative leaning opinion of his recent years, they are 3 regulation points from going to back to back Final Fours, had a good chance in 2017 had USC not had the most efficient half in the history of college basketball, and won the title in 2015.

[Rodey]

Look, I don't think he's stopped working, but he's starting to look like a bump on the bench and I think it's evident sometimes with his coaching, or lack thereof.

As for the Bronny thing, my opinion is that K promised LeBron he'd stick around long enough to coach Bronny. Wouldn't surprise me to see that happen, then see K retire.

[YouNeverKnow25]

it would be hilarious for coach k to have promised to stick around long enough to coach LBJjr and then the kid skip straight to the pros anyway


(by the way I think if there were a percent chance less than zero, that would be the percent I'd put on that actually being true)

[Rodey]

I agree. That would be humorous.

[BruceW]

Ellis confirms he wanted to start at PG and knew he couldn’t with Jones returning.

Kinda what I was thinking.

[SmoothD41]

Wow, Belein to the Cavs. That’s....unexpected. Big loss for the Big 10 and college basketball, but I think Michigan will get someone great.

[SmoothD41]

Wow, Beilein to the Cavs. That’s....unexpected. Big loss for the Big 10 and college basketball, but I think Michigan will get someone great.

[SmoothG]

Penny killing it recruiting at Memphis. Lots of talent.