Coach K with his roster of future NBA stars can't make it to the Final Four...LMAO. No ACC teams playing on the last weekend. Go Loyola!!!

I'm neither a Duke, nor an ACC fan but I don't really see how Kansas winning is a big surprise....especially this year. Kansas is proud of their use of the "one and done" rule, and currently includes a player who had previously committed to App. This wasn't even one of Duke's stronger teams and they still make the Elite 8 as a #2 seed. I'm not really seeing the hilarity here....other than the fact that the ACC has NOBODY in the ACC. That part is pretty amusing.

I think it's kind of ironic that Duke, who is known for getting all the calls, was burned by two terrible calls late in the game. I guess what goes around comes around.

Not sure about Kansas' use of the one and done, but that's definitely Duke's M.O. these days. Disappointing year for the Dukies. Preseason #1 in a lot of places and expected to cut down the nets with that much talent.

Not a single freshman on the Kansas squad is likely going to the NBA. They have had players leave after one year but not sure they have ever had 4-5 potential one and doners.

Yosef84 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:05 am

I'm neither a Duke, nor an ACC fan but I don't really see how Kansas winning is a big surprise....especially this year. Kansas is proud of their use of the "one and done" rule, and currently includes a player who had previously committed to App. This wasn't even one of Duke's stronger teams and they still make the Elite 8 as a #2 seed. I'm not really seeing the hilarity here....other than the fact that the ACC has NOBODY in the ACC. That part is pretty amusing.

The fact that it's not one of Duke's stronger teams (again) when they are landing pretty much any recruit they want every year is the point.

appst89 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:43 am

I think it's kind of ironic that Duke, who is known for getting all the calls, was burned by two terrible calls late in the game. I guess what goes around comes around.

Kansas, Duke, UNC and Kentucky all benefit from favorable calls, though some say it's because they routinely have better athletes than their opponent. Had Duke's opponent been anyone other than Kansas, UNC or Kentucky, the calls most definitely would have been made correctly. It will be interesting to see how the Villanova game is called.

Far be it from me to defend Duke basketball! I honestly don't follow them that closely, so I could be wrong about the perceived talent on the team. I just thought this was a lower expectation year. Maybe it was just a lower achievement year. Hey....feel free to enjoy in whatever fashion you wish!

Regardless, Kansas is just another dynasty program, so not all that surprising to see a close loss. I guess that was all I was saying.

Yosef84 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:29 pm

Far be it from me to defend Duke basketball! I honestly don't follow them that closely, so I could be wrong about the perceived talent on the team. I just thought this was a lower expectation year. Maybe it was just a lower achievement year. Hey....feel free to enjoy in whatever fashion you wish!

Regardless, Kansas is just another dynasty program, so not all that surprising to see a close loss. I guess that was all I was saying.

Weren’t they preseason #1?

IMO, the rankings are severely biased towards overall projected talent and don't give enough credit to returning seasoned players on well coached teams. This was fine when most major conference teams didn't lose their stars until they played at least a couple of years and had time to learn how to play as a team and most importantly how to play team defense at the collegiate level. But the dynamic has changed and teams like Duke and Kentucky who rely heavily on one-and-done players are going to have chemistry issues that will supersede the overall talent level some years. It's a double edged sword, you recruit the best talent, but you refresh your roster each season. You don't have time to develop players, so you throw raw talent on the floor and change your system to accommodate the lack of teaching time since you only have the players for one season. Just look at Duke this year, they ran mostly zone as they didn't have time to teach m2m the way Coach K likes to run it.

Maybe it was Kentucky I was thinking of and not Kansas. My bad.