23-24 Season

Last night was a huge game. Didn't feel like we even played that well and still won. DK was off, both our bigs were out most of the first half but we managed that well. Aidoo only played a little over half the game and still ended up with 12 points and 7 boards. ZZ though just continues to be the glue for this team. Steady every night. Some nights he does things that are more noticeable, but he goes out and quietly has 18 points last night and is always a pest. James with 13 rebounds, some huge shots from 3...Mashack with a couple 3s and an elite defensive game. Gainey kept us going on offense early. If he's able to hit a few open 3s in this game it's an easy double digit win. Vescovi played last night too.

 

Vescovi had some wild steals that definitely kept Alabama from getting into a flow.

 

Bama’s two lowest scoring games of the year have been the two games against us.

 

I think our staff has a handle on how to slow them down but mainly the horses to do it

 

Let's see if it is true for Kentucky too. There are similarities.

 

Just a really tough and damn impressive win.

 

A little disappointed in the ratings. I guess they just aren't very sensitive at this point in the season to a single result.

 

This makes me laugh more than it should

 

We also beat the spread by ten points. Ratings probably moved more when we beat A&M by 35 instead of 13

 

Lunardi just said we aren't getting a 1 unless Arizona loses.

 

If some of these brackets are accurate, we may be better off as the top 2 anyway.

 

His reasoning?:

1. "They're the incumbent on that [1] line."

Uhhh, okay? I'm not sure why that matters. Records are the exact same, so the fact that they're the incumbent suggests that they have better wins or a tougher schedule as of right now. Well, they finish the season against a 14-15 UCLA team and a 12-17 USC team, while we finish out against two teams who might be in the Top 15 of the AP poll tomorrow.

If we beat USCjr and UK, and those two wins make our schedule/resume more impressive than Arizona's, then why in the [uck fay] would it matter that they are the incumbent on the 1 line? They don't have to lose in order for our resume to become more impressive. What if we were to beat Houston and UConn in our last two games? Would Arizona still need to lose for us to jump them? [uck fay]ing idiot.

2. "I think the committee over the years has shown that, all things being equal, it likes a team from out West to lead the West region bracket."

LOL. Don't even really have anything to say to that one. Just laughing.

By the end of the night Saturday, we may be looking at 4-0 against 4 ranked (AP poll) teams over the previous 2 week period. Arizona has 4 wins over ranked teams (AP poll) on the ENTIRE [uck fay]ING season. And that's being generous by counting teams who are ranked now AS WELL AS teams who were ranked at the time they played them (2 of the wins were Michigan State and Wisconsin, neither of whom are currently ranked at this moment). They haven't beaten a team who was ranked at the time or is ranked now since they beat Alabama on DECEMBER 20th. Oh, and the icing on that cake is that NET counts that as a "neutral site game," despite the fact that it was played in [uck fay]ing Phoenix... you know... the largest city in ARIZONA.

You can't make this shit up. Committee might as well go on vacation next week. The games clearly just don't matter.

 

Lunardi sucks

 

Luck Funardi.

 

That being said the only thing I expect the committee to do is whatever the hell they want to, with whatever dumb justification they choose

 

Lundardi just writes whatever the committee tells him to write.

 

Yes, thank you for reminding me. I truly believe this. They leak it to him to socialize the results and make it seem totally reasonable even when it isn't.

 

It would be nice to get the 1 seed monkey off our back but being forced to go to LA isn't ideal. But Boston/Dallas aren't much better. Regional locations are not friendly to the southeastern schools. Either the Texas schools or the southeast gets the shaft.

Feel like Texas should get the West regional every few years. Not enough good schools out west in the current climate.

 

Also that Jerry Palm bracket has to be a deliberate troll. Has us playing Texas or FAU in the 2nd round. Then Kentucky/Illinois in the Sweet 16.

 

I missed one more team on the bubble Q1A bubble--I thought all the opponents were pretty locked in (I don't think Kentucky will jump 5 spots in a week, for instance), but I missed one: Illinois has moved to #15 in NET and we are now 6-4 in Q1A games. We are tied with UConn for 2nd most Q1A wins in the country (Purdue has seven). But that could drop back to five if Illinois loses this week.

(Q1A is explicitly split out on the teamsheets and refers to home games against the top 15, neutral against the top 25, and road games against the top 40).