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College Basketball Tourney 2013: 60 down, 4 to go


Rhom

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I do wonder where Howland will land assuming he wants to keep coaching. It's got to suck losing the UCLA job as it's one of the ones where many people who get it genuinely hope to stay for life if possible.

There've been no happy endings for any of the UCLA coaches since Wooden retired. Lavin is doing fair now over ten years later, but I don't know if any of the others had even that much success.

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There's a rumor on ESPN LA that Dan Guerrero (AD for UCLA) is a fan of Shaka Smart and could go after him.

I would agree w/ the upthread that Brad Stevens and Smart are the two most oft-mentioned next big thing type coaching prospects. Heh, it's got to be annoying as one of those coaches to have to always answer questions about where you're going. Although it's a good problem to have.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Smart. He had two pretty good offers from NC State and Illinois last year that he turned down to stay at VCU and VCU rewarded him by signing him to a new contract. But as it has been said above, a program like UCLA hasn't come calling and you have to think that most coaches would jump at the chance. I really hope he doesn't though.

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I can't mention Wojo without my favorite Wojo link!. (I'm sure OJ and Dragonfire love that one just as much as me! ;) )

Ah, memories. :devil:

:bowdown: lmao

In other news, Wichita St. destroyed my other brackets (Zags winning it all, Final 4... you ever have a gut feeling that turns out to be heartburn?). In the Westeros league I only had them in the Elite 8, so I still have some mild hope with my points possible (saying that in 20th place).

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Does anyone else remember examples of them seeing their team seeded in some way that was really hard to make sense of?

Off the top of my head, George Washington won the A-10 with 26-1 record (edit: in 2006), the best in the nation. They'd been ranked in the top 10 in the nation at several points in the season, but drew an 8 seed. I know the A-10 sucks and GW was a program without much history, but all of a sudden dropping them to around 30th in the country for the tourney? And likely having to face a 1 seed immediately?

I'm sure there are more, and better, examples but I remember that one sticking in my craw.

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Off the top of my head, George Washington won the A-10 with 26-1 record (edit: in 2006), the best in the nation. They'd been ranked in the top 10 in the nation at several points in the season, but drew an 8 seed. I know the A-10 sucks and GW was a program without much history, but all of a sudden dropping them to around 30th in the country for the tourney? And likely having to face a 1 seed immediately?

I'm sure there are more, and better, examples but I remember that one sticking in my craw.

I attended GW for undergrad and law school. Did you wear the buff and blue?

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Kentucky was given (presumably) the last 4 seed in 2011 on their way to the Final 4. They had finished with the same record as Florida and had beaten them in the SEC tourney, but UF got a much higher draw. Ask overall number one Ohio State how that worked out for them. ;)

Speaking of tOSU... What about Thad Matta for UCLA? He consistently has Ohio State at the too of the polls, it may be a little much like Howland (they even look a bit alike) but you could certainly do worse.

Or really stepping out a bit; Jim Larranega. Miami is poised to drop precipitously next year (I think they have 6 seniors on the team) and he has shown the desire for upward mobility after leaving George Mason. Perhaps most importantly, the ban hammer is hanging heavily over the Hurricanes. I think he'd take it.

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Kentucky was given (presumably) the last 4 seed in 2011 on their way to the Final 4. They had finished with the same record as Florida and had beaten them in the SEC tourney, but UF got a much higher draw. Ask overall number one Ohio State how that worked out for them. ;)

Speaking of tOSU... What about Thad Matta for UCLA? He consistently has Ohio State at the too of the polls, it may be a little much like Howland (they even look a bit alike) but you could certainly do worse.

Or really stepping out a bit; Jim Larranega. Miami is poised to drop precipitously next year (I think they have 6 seniors on the team) and he has shown the desire for upward mobility after leaving George Mason. Perhaps most importantly, the ban hammer is hanging heavily over the Hurricanes. I think he'd take it.

I think Matta retires at OSU. He's had a really narrow geographic footprint in his coaching career; going from Butler to Xavier to OSU. He's also great at recruiting kids from that area, and I doubt he has one single connection to rely on out on the west coast.

Larranaga is probably too old for UCLA to go after him.

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I think the Pac was underseeded in general and you are seeing that in the results. Double-digit seeds aren't supposed to win at all. Seeds under four aren't supposed to win more than one.

The tournament committee has a good record about treating how a team finishes in the regular season meaning a LOT more than how the Conference Tourneys go and with good reason. Yes, Cal was upset in overtime in the Pac12 tourney, but they were already in the NCAA's and didn't have a huge amount to play for because they'd finished the second half of the regular season so strong. The committees take that in to account. In fact, what Oregon has done is damned rare. They started very strong, then limped through the second half of the conference schedule hovering around (even below if you count eleven games as the second half) .500 They played three solid games in the conference tourney and won that, but that is rarely an indicator of NCAA success.

Now that Cal is out, I will certainly be rooting for the Ducks and Wildcats going forward (along with Syracuse - I would very much like to see them show well to soften the blow of handling Cal). But I am not the least bit shocked that Cal and Oregon got similar seeds - in fact I would normally expect Cal to get the better one.

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Would Billy Donovan ever leave Florida?

I doubt it; at least for another college job, and we've already seen what happens when he leaves for the NBA. He's got a great thing going at Florida, an has an awesome recruiting class coming in next year. The rewards of jumping to UCLA would be much, much less than the downsides. The amount of pressure on him at Florida relative to what there would be at UCLA is laughable.

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Donovan is interesting in that he's an extremely good basketball coach who is not at all bothered by coaching basketball at a football school, if that makes any sense. He doesn't get at all frustrated coaching in half-empty gyms in November for instance. Which is why he's a perfect fit at UF, because we are most certainly a football school and he has to deal with an almost uncaring fanbase for half the season.

Also, he and Foley (our AD) have a great relationship. Not only did Foley hand him the keys to a potential Mercedes when he was barely 30 years old, but he is also given anything he wants. Foley recognizes how important Donovan is to the school and will basically give him anything and everything he asks for. If he ever goes anywhere it will be for the NBA, but I honestly believe (maybe wishful thinking) that he's going to finish his career at UF.

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Can anyone think of other examples like Matta or Donovan? Folks who are a little more established at bigger programs than Smart or Stevens that might be convinced to jump ship for UCLA?

Bielein (sp) is another that I might have thought of were he a bit younger.

I saw some rumor that USC is interested in Jamie Dixon of Pitt. That's another good example.

Dixon just signed a 10 year extension at Pitt yesterday, so he's not going anywhere.

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Dixon just signed a 10 year extension at Pitt yesterday, so he's not going anywhere.

Holy crap. That's some job (er... income at least) security.

I'm to the point my brackets are all pretty much done for... so go Iowa State! Just tuning in to see it's still a game at least.

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Holy crap. That's some job (er... income at least) security.

I'm to the point my brackets are all pretty much done for... so go Iowa State! Just tuning in to see it's still a game at least.

It's becoming quite common - Self and Calipari lead the way. Steve Alford just signed one the day before New Mexico lost in the first round (otherwise I would think UCLA might look at him).

It's too bad that Babb went out with that sprained ankle, because ISU really needs his defense. With him they're bad defensively, without him they're atrocious.

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