Players Era

Has anyone considered that maybe they asked TJ who he wanted to play?

This could be a chess move on TJ's part... cause this game no matter the outcome will play a part leading up to our games against Houston and Kansas. We blow Syracuse out by 25 and that gets in Kelvin's and Bill's head. We lose and that gives us a little extra motivation when it's time to play them. Plus gives us some quality film.
So it's simple, given how late Bama and Maryland, Oregon, and SDSU played, they were never going to get a 10 am game. You can probably throw Auburn in there too.
You cannot play a team from your conference, so no Baylor or Houston. ( Only exception if Houston had beaten the Vols ISU would have played KU) You cannot play St Johns or Creighton again.

4 teams qualified for final 4. So I have now eliminated 13 teams


Now that leaves you with Rutgers, Syracuse, Notre Dame, UNLV.

Houston cannot play Syracuse. So we are down to 3. UNLV is contracted to play Thursday, they were not going to make ISU play then

Down to 2. Rutgers or Cuse. Cuse clearly is the better of the 2. So they gave ISU the best team of what was left.

You start running out of options. And when you throw in things like St Johns has played Bama and or other conference affiliation it really eliminates a lot of match ups
St Johns cannot play Creighton. No Auburn vs Bama. No Oregon vs Rutgers I assume they play. Baylor and Houston cannot play. You see where this is going.


It is what it is..
 
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given all the scrutiny this year, I think the format changes next year.

4 8-team brackets, champ of each bracket plays for the title.
 
given all the scrutiny this year, I think the format changes next year.

4 8-team brackets, champ of each bracket plays for the title.

Problem there is you've added another day. There really isn't a good way to have a 3 day tournament with this many teams.

The money is really the only thing that makes it unjust. All tournaments have a level of unfairness. You've had teams win Maui not playing a ranked team until the final. There's randomness to all of it.
 
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Kind of blows, but on the other hand, we play Purdue soon, so we have our test already scheduled. Wouldn’t hate the extra cash though…
I expect today to be a tough game. No Lipsey, Jefferson will be a little bit hobbled, Heise played 39 minutes yesterday. I don't think TJ will allow them to overlook Syracuse, but I wouldn't be surprised if the team came out flat.

I don't know, Dix and Freeman looked like the same players they were at Iowa, and thats not a good thing. Hopefully we win tomorrow and one of Creighton and Syracuse can put an ok season together so they will be a quad 1 win in March.
I thought Dix looked pretty good. The Big East is down, so I believe Creighton will end up near the top of the league and this win will be a quad 1 come tournament time.
 
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I'm fine with Milan not taking that shot, but it's kind of funny to think the team wasn't trying to run up the score as much as possible, which was reasonable, considering the format. The 5 starters were in the game when it ended, up 18.
 
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I expect today to be a tough game. No Lipsey, Jefferson will be a little bit hobbled, Heise played 39 minutes yesterday. I don't think TJ will allow them to overlook Syracuse, but I wouldn't be surprised if the team came out flat.


I thought Dix looked pretty good. The Big East is down, so I believe Creighton will end up near the top of the league and this win will be a quad 1 come tournament time.

Did Jefferson turn an ankle yesterday? Why will he be hobbled?
 
Did Jefferson turn an ankle yesterday? Why will he be hobbled?
Nothing like that, just rubbing his thigh at one point and limped to the bench for a time out. Was using a massager during the TO, was fine the rest of the game. I just think he'll probably be a little tight after the pounding he's delivered the last 2 days.
 
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It's mostly just annoying to have to hear the upcoming narrative about the "four elite teams who made the championship division".

None of the talking heads will acknowledge we went 2-0 and were 2 pts away from being in the group and arguable had a rougher path with SJU.

Annoying for one day, I'll get over it.
 
Lol, got my wish, let's stomp Syracuse and get out of town.

What an absolute farce of a tournament. Somehow beating St. John's and Creighton is worse than beating Syracuse and Notre Dame?????

This was nothing more than a scam to get the blue blood programs even more NIL money. Honestly if i was Pollard id tell the team to just fly back to Ames this morning, no way I'm playing today.
 
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I thought Dix looked pretty good. The Big East is down, so I believe Creighton will end up near the top of the league and this win will be a quad 1 come tournament time.

I'd disagree with that take, I thought he looked like crap. Other than his 3 point shooting, he was out-played by our freshman in just about every aspect. Had a bunch of turnovers & got blown by on several occasions on D.