National Championship: Who You Got?
by CasualHoya on Apr 4, 2011 9:34 AM EDT
in Post Season Glory
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The 2011 College Hoops season ends tonight.
This is it! Tonight is the 2011 NCAA Tournament National Championship, the final night of a dramatic and absurd (men's) college hoops season. The Big East's own UConn Huskies, unranked to start the season, the 9th place finisher in the Big East, and currently riding an insane 10 game winning streak in a span of 21 days take on the Butler Bulldogs, the Horizon League's darlings, appearing in an unfathomable second straight national championship game. Jim Calhoun, possibly coaching in his last game, against the young wizard Brad Stevens. Kemba Walker, the clear Big East Player of the Year to everyone except those who actually voted for the award, against the smart hustle of Butler's Shelvin Mack. UConn's Alex Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu against the white shadows Matt Howard and Andrew Smith. UConn's fearsome freshmen Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Roscoe Smith against Butler's senior leadership of Howard, Shawn Vanzant and Zach Hahn.
With so much drama in the LBC I'm going to kick back tonight, whip out some nice chips and salsa, and hope for a good game that comes down to the final buzzer. My lean is towards the underdog Bulldogs though I can certainly respect those whose Big East loyalty weds them to UConn.
Who you got?
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Excellent hashtag timing
Merely one minute ago;
JT5ive Yooo I’m messed up yo, I just seen a REAL midget in person that’s my first time – its amusing to me smh #forgivemeplease . . . .
I see nothing bad about Trawick continuing to tweet
by itsallthatmatters on Apr 4, 2011 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Hopefully his tweets
don’t get him jammed up when things don’t go his way and this would force JT3 to pull those twitter accounts off!
Butler
Because rooting for UCon means you hate America.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
by HoyaGoon on Apr 4, 2011 10:13 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Interesting quandry for me...
I really want Butler to win because I hate UConn so much (I’m just not a rah rah ‘go Big East!’ guy when it comes to those cheaters). And I really like Brad Stevens and the whole Butler thing (actually kind of surprised I haven’t tired of it yet. Usually I hate hokie stories like that). But, I own UConn in a Calcutta at work and them winning would REALLY help out my getting smoked in Vegas this weekend.
The real question is whether or not I settle with the guy who owns Butler and split the pot in some way. Since I suck at math, what is a legitimate payout that would make sense for me? UConn is -4 and the money line is UConn -175…what percentage of the pot would make sense for me to just go ahead and take the deal and be asleep at 9:15 tonight instead of having to watch this game? Or is UConn just going to roll, so I should press it? Questions, questions.
"Before the answer was a 3, I was down in Georgetown with a Hoya chick, lawyer chick....."
by brandonbowmansfootistoobig on Apr 4, 2011 10:18 AM EDT reply actions
final $$ would be enough to pay for half a semester at G'town....
So a theoretical brandonbowmansfootistoobig Jr. would have Problem of God and Micro already paid for. But I’ve made some cashish along the way, so I’m playing with house money already. I think I’m just going to press it.
Not a ton of great stories away from having Bill Raftery’s son there (buddy of the bachelor) and talking to him a bit. Really nice guy, says his dad is ridiculed all of the time for being a Georgetown homer on the air, which I thought was funny.
"Before the answer was a 3, I was down in Georgetown with a Hoya chick, lawyer chick....."
by brandonbowmansfootistoobig on Apr 4, 2011 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions
and just like that, brandonbowmansfootistoobig has been tasked with securing raftery for a casual q&a
regarding the calcutta pool, you own the favorite in the national championship. if anything, the butler dude should be approaching you and asking for splitsies, and at worst you should hold out for a 70/30 split. if i’m him i take that offer.
Casually.
UConn
The only thing at stake for the Hoyas is the possible retirement of Calhoun. With that comes the prospect that their program slides into a long-term funk once he leaves. His capos are good but a lot revolves around who is steering the ship. I’ll take the decent chance that UConn reverts to semi-relevance (until they hire another big-money rule-dodger) If it means stomaching one more win by the Huskies.
Also, Indiana is terrible.
Indiana is terrible
But right now, IU is at most the 4th best program in the state. That’s a nice side bennie of a Butler win.
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/kemba-walker-wants-to-be-the-one-to-throw-ball-up,19879/
Let's settle this with a poll.
I would never encourage anyone to root for Uconn
Reasons to root against Butler:
1) Uconn winning puts money in Georgetown’s pockets
2) The title has a chance of getting vacated making this entire season pointless
3) Butler is just duke in disguise. Flopping media darlings who the refs keep in the game.
4) Calhoun might retire if he wins.
5) Some Uconn players might get a big head and declare for the draft.
6) Do you really want Butler to be considered as good of a program as Georgetown?
Don’t root for Uconn, just root against Butler.
i was gonna say. good calls all around. #3 a particularly interesting new insight. must ruminate further upon this point.
by eatthatbox09 on Apr 4, 2011 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Excellent analysis
…as always. But if Butler wins, I win my office pool and a casual $200, so…gonna have to root for Butler.
by RoyIsTheTallest on Apr 4, 2011 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions
Counterpoint
1. Always a good idea to root for teams with weak I-AA football programs that have no hope, ever, of I-A money.
2. The title has a chance of getting vacated making this entire season pointless.
3. UConn is UConn in no disguise. And Butler is no Duke – they don’t have the money that football gives them to be as insufferable as the Dookies, and they don’t play every single nonconference game at home.
4. Calhoun might retire if he wins. And the replacement might be better. Rooting to write a vile school’s storybook ending seems to be toying with the fates.
5. Some UConn players might get a big head and declare for the draft, and some moron GM may select some of them after Kemba’s gone. This will lead to UConn selling itself as even more successful than GU to potential recruits, and it will mean that they’ll have a chance to bring in even more highly-rated recruits.
6. Butler has made two straight national championship games and is doing better than GU by that metric. A win isn’t going to change that. The bigger question is do you really want UConn, a team in our conference with whom we compete for recruits, to have as many national titles as Kansas and be one behind Duke?
Re # 6
Be that as it may, Jack > Blue II. That thing is disgustingly obese…
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Apr 4, 2011 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm rooting for #2
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Apr 4, 2011 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
Even if it gets vacated
Except for the brilliant mofo who asked Calipari what it was like being to his first Final Four the other day, the sports media has clearly shown that it’s not like they’ll stop reminding us that UConn made it this far.
Why so Syracuse?
Hard to say
If a UCONN title silences the naysayers. You don’t think they’ll just say “Sure, UCONN won the title, but look at all these early exits from highly touted teams?”
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Apr 4, 2011 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, if the BE naysayers gave it up because of the national championship
I’d question their commitment to saying nay.
It’s not like we don’t continually question the ACC despite the success of Duke and sometimes UNC.
Why so Syracuse?
It's the media
who question the BE b/c of such a large conference, and also add this year of how overrated the conference is….
Your logic
It has no place in the arguments of ESPN analysts and talking heads.
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Apr 4, 2011 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions
if that's the case all blogs
should be terminated then b/c of the lack of logic that goes from all areas
not enough documentation
#worstblogever
by DownTheHallFromHollis on Apr 4, 2011 11:59 AM EDT reply actions
BUTLER!!!!!!!!!!!
Brad Stevens did a brilliant job preparing his team for VCU and won that game because of it………………….despite shooting 35%. Defense and rebounding can win games!!
The Big East’s rep will not be impacted much by whether CONN beats the Horizon League champ……….or loses. I like the BIg East but I hate CONN. So go BULLDOGS!!
Butler COMING BACK to the Championship Game is probably a bigger cinderella story than getting there last year. KUDOS to a coach that made a mid year adjustment and got his team on a roll after staring 14-9. Yes…..they are becoming media darlings but they are no DUKE.
With paranoia,
Agreed on all points
If VCU was the George Mason ala 2006 of the tournament then Butler is the NC State ala 1983. And how can you not root for the cardiac pack!!
Bring back Don Reid
by Insidious Rex on Apr 4, 2011 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions
College Dunk champ
Have people seen this kid who just won the dunk contest. Incredible, 5’11" from Illinios College, Division III.
Here is the dunk contest video
And here is the youtube video he made to get into the dunk contest
One more possible reason to cheer for Butler tonight
Which team is responsible for the biggest choke in NCAA national championship history?
I mean, who’s the only team in NCAA history to lose to an 8 seed in the title game?
I desperately wish there were two answers to that trivia question. Tomorrow morning there might be.
Butler seems like they'd prefer to get amped up on 4Loko rather than cocaine
Let’s see how that plays out.
I heard on the news that 4Loko is actually more potent than cocaine
because if you mix caffeine and alcohol it will kill you.
yeah in reality this is a no win situation
no matter who wins i’ll be annoyed and upset. Ugh.
Really not sure who i want to lose more.
Come on Meteor!
As much as I hate Matt Howard, maybe Butler is the play
I don’t see Calhoun leaving if UConn wins it this year. If he adds Andre Drummond in 2012 and these freshmen stick around another two years, that’s going to be a tough team to beat. Depressing.
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