Yeah hunting blocks isn't good defense. Blocks in the flow of the defense are good. But hunting them gets you out of position
2022-2023 MBB computer projections thread
- Thread starter Sigmapolis
- Start date
We can't allow it to be or else we're in trouble.
It looks like more of the Bill Russell shot block that can help retain possession.
Swatting into the 3rd row is cool but still just gives the ball back.
The impressive thing is those numbers aren't going to change much.
Roughly 90% of the Big 12's resume relative to other conferences (not relative to other teams within the conference) is already set in stone from the 2022 out-of-conference schedule. Big 12 teams can steal "goodness" from each other on KenPom and Torvik during the conference season, but conferences can no longer steal from each other. It is a zero-sum game where a team like Iowa State winning takes from a team like Oklahoma losing, but that outcome is a net zero for the Big 12 versus other conferences in the rankings.
There might be a slight shift depending on how the Big 12/SEC challenge goes and then of course with the NCAA tournament, but I imagine the Big 12 being miles ahead is not going to change.
As to your last question, I think it is a combination of factors --
(1.) shrewd hiring and retention of some quality coaches
(2.) having some high-quality coaches who would never look to leave their current school, like Huggins
(3.) ADs that, while smaller in budget compared to Big Ten and SEC schools, have made a commitment to winning in football and men's basketball over everything else
(4.) lots of programs with hoary traditions and intimidating home courts
(5.) Kansas -- much as we hate them -- being the conference's lodestar and champion... Kansas has had a strong decade... if Kansas were down, the whole conference would be
(6.) Scott Drew taking a sleepy Baylor program and making them the power in Texas
(7.) something of a feedback loop, too, I think... conference is good, good players want to play in it, makes the conference even better, TJ and the like can sell "come play in the best conference in the country," and then the feedback loop continues this virtuous reinforcement
Yep. If we play their game a la Iowa, we're screwed. If they get sucked into playing our game, I like our chances.
Going to be a really tough game.
TCU has one of the best guards in all of college basketball and he is surrounded by elite athletes. Eddie Lampkin is a nice player inside as well. They just have a really complete, experienced group. Trending toward a top 10 team.
All good points - but its still amazing to have multiple seasons with no "doormats" (like we were 2 years ago). There's some cyclical nature expected and this is two years in a row with basically no down teams
so I think I'd add a one more :
8) COVID and Transfer rules - reloading is much much easier these days - and like you said in #7, players want to come to the conference. There are a TON of 5th year seniors in the conf right now
I agree with your first point -- it isn't all about having a few national-championship caliber teams every year and then having everybody else be good (e.g., everybody in the conference now is at least a bubble team, though somebody like Oklahoma is falling off it with the 0-2 start to the B12 slate).
A lot of it is avoiding having dumpster fire charity cases or, if they do, not having them for long. Yeah, Iowa State had a bad year and a terrible year, but we're back now. There's nobody in the conference like, say, Nebraska who just always seems to be bad no matter what they are trying to do.
I agree with you but you have to feed the beast everyone wants the name conferences in. Hopefully the selection committee does their job and puts in deserving teams not conference affiliated teams. Long ways to go before those decisions are reached though.
Thanks to @bawbie for introducing this site to me.
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Simulating with no manipulations... This league is UNREAL!
1 win could be the difference between playing Wednesday and a 4 seed
