My thoughts on the second week of the NCAA Tournament.

Fryingpan Sports

My thoughts on the second week of the NCAA Tournament.

By Bill Smith

Lots and lots and lots of chalk. The top 3 seeds dominated the play in the second week of the NCAA. Over all, the committee was right about the top dozen teams.

In the tournament, quality depth is critical.

As I said in My thoughts on betting the NCAA Tournament—For entertainment purposes only depth is critical for surviving and moving on. North Carolina’s depth was a major factor in both of their wins. In the critical minutes at the end of games their opponents had their hands on hips searching for a breath of oxygen while the NC starters were rested.

Don’t worry about top seed teams that lost early in their conference tournament. NC moved on while Duke failed to make the final 4.

After the first weekend, beware of the one man team. As good as Blake Griffin is, it is far too easy to stop a single player. Griffin will be the first choice in the NBA draft if he comes out (which he will). Even though he scored 23, NC found ways to keep him down when it counted.

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Kentucky is no longer THE basketball power—GET OVER IT!

Fryingpan Sports

Kentucky is no longer THE basketball power—GET OVER IT!

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By Bill Smith

Wildcat fans are standing outside the Athletic Director’s office at Kentucky waiting for the white smoke from the chimney that indicates coach Billy Gillispie has been fired. No white smoke yet but it is just a matter of time. Kentucky’s years of dominating college basketball are over. The SEC is no longer the conference that super talents flock to. Granted, Ky has one of the greatest histories in all of college BB, but times have changed. To Blue fans—GET OVER IT!

Since the days of Adolph Rupp [42 years 876-190 (82.2%)] and Joe B. Hall [13 years, 297-100 (74.80%)], the Wildcats have gone through coaches like they were paper towels—useful but disposable.

Eddie Sutton [4 years 88-39 (69.3%)] followed Hall and committed two unforgivable sins. First, he had less than a 70% winning percentage. But even worse, he was caught in a tsunami of NCAA rule violations and was run out of town.

Rick Pitino [8 years 219-50 (81.4%)] left the New York Knicks to save the program and he did. He took the team to a great record. But when the NBA came calling, Pitino … Read more at FryingPanSports

Thoughts about the first 2 rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Fryingpan Sports

Thoughts about the first 2 rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

By Bill Smith

College basketball has been hurt by the lack of upper class stars.

The quality of play has degraded over the last few year. Part of that is due to a lack of upper class stars from big schools. One of the reasons that small school teams are competitive with much bigger schools is that small school players tend to be more experienced and older.

College basketball suffers from a lack of fundamentals.

If you follow College BB, you must have noticed the explosion of unforced turnovers and the poor shooting percentage in mid range shots and at the free throw line. This is a lack of fundamentals. Players in todays game are much more athletic and rely on that quality to make up for poor technique.

Many players can not even dribble at full speed, let alone pull up and hit a 12 foot shot consistently. College coaches just don’t have the time to work on fundamentals the way they would like due to restrictions on practice time. As more and more players leave after 1 year, that will only get worse.

The players experience … Read more at FryingPanSports

My thoughts on betting the NCAA Tournament—For entertainment purposes only!

Fryingpan Sports

My thoughts on betting the NCAA Tournament—For entertainment purposes only!

By Bill Smith

There are some basic principles for selecting winners in your office pool. The goal for most guys is to at least be able to place higher than the secretary that makes her picks based on the team colors. Here are 10 thoughts to consider before making your picks.

  1. The committee has watched more college basketball this year than I have and I am willing in most cases to honor their ranking. Picking upsets is a road to last place in the pool. When in doubt, pick the higher seeded teams.
  2. If you are going to pick upsets, check out the 8-9 games. The one place you can statistically find upsets in the 8-9 game. The 9 has won more than 55% of those games over the last 20 years.
  3. Don’t worry about top seed teams that lost early in their conference tournament. Somehow, I don’t let North Carolina falling in the first game of their league tournament worry me. A team’s performance in their league tournament statically has very little to do with how they do in the Dance. Syracuse played their hearts out in
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Colleges are trying to change the only thing the NCAA got right—March Madness!

Fryingpan Sports

Colleges are trying to change the only thing the NCAA got right—March Madness!

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By Bill Smith

Those of you that read this site regularly know that I am not a big fan of the NCAA to say the least. But even I have to admit that the NCAA has one thing right—The College Basketball championship. Now, some college presidents and some basketball expert talking heads are suggesting a change to eliminate the automatic berths to minor conferences. They want to fill all 65 slots with major college teams.

That would eliminate half of the excitement of the tournament. The higher seed big schools are getting tired being beaten by the small schools from non-BCS conferences. The proponents claim that larger schools will bring more people to the games and generate more interest (and of course more money). While it is true that larger schools have a greater number of graduates and fans, none of them are going to get excited about WhataMatta U getting the 15th seed in the tournament.

But when a small school goes to the tournament particularly for the first time, the fans follow. Beside, the tournament was set up to allow the conference … Read more at FryingPanSports