Built Ford Tough

Anthony Davis down holding his knee. Calipari shitting himself on the sidelines.

I'm calling it now. PJ3 goes off for 30 points in the 2nd half and leads Baylor to a comeback win. <_<

So Miller gets Davis to bite on his shot fake, and yet Davis still recovers in time to block his jumper. That pretty much summed up this first half. Pure domination.

Baylor's [expletive]ed. When MKG is draining 3's, this team is unbeatable. 13 points for MKG already and Kentucky has 9 baskets on their last 9 possessions. They are getting way too many easy baskets and it doesn't matter if it is in transition or in the half court.

Miller looking fantastic to start the game. 2 blocks on Teague, a very nice assist, 5 boards and just drilled a 3. The only negative for him so far was that push off on MKG to pick up an offensive foul, but other than that he has been great.

Lmao at that flagrant. That was closer to no foul than a flagrant foul. Brutal call.

Oh, I'm not expecting a big game from him by any means. I can see Jackson, Acy and Heslip all having better games than him today. I was just thinking that if there is ever a time to redeem himself in the eyes of scouts/gms, there is never a better time than today.

Damian Lillard is in: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/220047/Damian_Lillard_To_Declare_For_Draft#ixzz1q6wcgzpE Doug McDermott is out and will return to Creighton for his Junior year: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/220022/Doug_McDermott_Returning_For_Junior_Season_At_Creighton#ixzz1q6x5MCxg

I know that people say one game can't really hurt or improve a player's draft stock, but [expletive] it. How much leading Baylor to an upset win and outplaying Anthony Davis do for PJ3's draft stock? If he dominates tomorrow, I can easily see scouts/gms falling right back in love with him and seeing him soar back up the draft rankings. They will point to a dominant performance in this game and use it to convince themselves that they can get that kind of play out PJ3 on a consistent basis. If there is ever a time for him to redeem himself, you have to think this game is that time. Or am I reaching thinking that one great game, regardless of the competition, will make up for all the stinkers he has put out the last two seasons?

Don't get me wrong, I think they have an advantage inside as well. When I said they aren't going to be able to dominate, I meant that we won't see them go off like Zeller did against Ohio. I still think that they have the advantage down low and expect them to get the best of that matchup. I do agree about Bullock and Hairston, but I don't think that they will be the key for UNC. The key is going to be Barnes. I just don't see them pulling out a win if he continues his poor play. Hariston and Bullock are going to need to step up, just like Releford and Johnson will need to step up for KU, but at the end of the day, I think this matchup will be decided by Taylor and Barnes.

I'm not liking their chances, but I can see them winning as well. As bad UNC looked, Kansas has looked equally as dysfunctional in this tournament. I still expect a Kansas win because unlike Ohio, they have the bigs to keep Zeller and Henson in check. Zeller and Henson aren't going to be able to dominate against Robinson and Withey. Barnes is really going to have to step up tomorrow and, honestly, I just don't see it happening with the way he has played over the past month. If he has another stinker like he has had so far in every game this tournament, UNC isn't going to win. White on Taylor is also another huge concern. Taylor has been bad so far, but this is exactly the kind of matchup I can see him breaking out of his slump. Hope I'm wrong, though.

Washington's tanking is so blatantly obvious. What is this, the 3rd double digit 4th quarter lead they've blown in the last week? I'm kind of envious of their tanking to be honest.

Agreed. Also, a nice shout out to Luol Deng as well.

The only team that has a chance to take out Kentucky is Kentucky. A fully healthy UNC squad, not just Marshall, but Strickland as well (could throw in McDonald as well) could because they could match the athleticism, depth and skill that Kentucky has while also having a size advantage, but no team left has a legitimate chance, imo. It will take some hot shooting or Kentucky having a poor game, perhaps a combination of both. As for this game, it honestly feels like Florida should be up big right now. I'm not paying a lot of attention, but it seems like Florida is dominating, yet they are only up by 2. Maybe it only seems like they are dominating because I am not paying much attention, though. Beal (the one player I have actually paid attention to) is continuing his strong tournament. Two early 3's, a nice drive and dish to Boynton for a 3 and is being his usual active self defensively.

Barnes is playing terribly. 2 travels, an offense foul, an airball and two absolute bricks in the first 12 minutes.

Just nitpicking here but: That isn't exactly impressive. It is slightly above average. An average PER is 15. Can't really complain about any of the players listed, though. Maybe throw a mention to Thad Young but that is about it.

If you say so. Talk about getting thrown to the wolves. Not only is Stillman White making his 1st career start, having to fill in for Marshall but he has to defend DJ Cooper, the opposing teams best player as well. Offensively all he really has to do is pass the ball into the paint and get out of the way, so it shouldn't be that bad.

Happens every year, and every year people eat it up. I'm as guilty of it as anybody.

I do. Roy had 3 seasons in his career where he put up a .920 SV% or better, one of which was exactly .920. In seasons where Hasek played 50+ games, he had 1 seasn where he didn't put up .920 SV% over better. The only time he didn't put up .920 or better was his final 2 seasons, his first 2 seasons and 1999-2000 where he only played in 35 games due to injury (and he was still at .919). Hasek also had a better GAA for his career and more shutouts despite playing less seasons. Roy had more cups, but Hasek never had the luxury on playing on stacked teams like Roy did. Give me Hasek over Roy anyday.

You're right. Posey's was worse since he had 30 pounds on Hinrich.

Posey also had about 30 pounds on Hinrich and he still took it like a champ. Smith and Griffin are the same size, with Griffin actually having 10 pounds on him. As for it seeming like he exagerated a bit, the dude nearly did a flip and then layed on the ground like he was dead. How did he not completely exagerate that? I could understand if he was already airborn when the contact was made but he was still on the floor. He had one foot on the ground, yeah, but he was not off balanced enough to do a freaking barrel roll. Like I said, an obvious flagrant foul and a worthy ejection, but I have absolutely no sympathy for Griffin when he continues to embellish these things. Even in this game he was trying to sell shit left and right. If he wants to act like he gets smashed on every foul, sooner or later a player is going to genuinely smash him. Smith fouled him hard today and if he continues to pull this crap, somebody is going to foul him even harder next time.

Beal is quickly moving his way up my draft board. I think he has elevated to 2nd on my draft board after Davis. The guy just has such an impact on the game regardless of whether he is scoring or not. Sure, he had 21 points tonight on 8-10 shooting, but that honestly isn't even what impressed me the most about his game. He was just involved in every facet. He had 2 steals, got his hands on probably another 5 passes, had 2 blocks (one a chase down transition LeBron style and the other a momentum swinging one on Crowder when Marquette was making a run), pulled down 6 boards and handed out 4 assists, which could've easily been 6 if Florida players hit the wide open looks he set them up with. He also does a great job of making the "hockey assist" by making the pass that leads to the assist. He isn't credited with anything but it was his initial pass that set up the play. For instance, early in the game he fed a bounce pass into Patric Young just below the free throw line. After receiving the pass, the defense immediately rotated over to Young who found a cutting Florida player for a layup. Young got the assist, but it was Beal's pass into the middle of the defense that created the entire play. Givony was also very impressed by his play tonight.

Griffin made it look a lot worse than it was with his attempt at a mid-air CP360 and then laying on the ground like he was dead afterwards. I agree it was a flagrant foul and it warranted an ejection, but damn, Griffin makes everything look so much worse than it is with his constant exageration. He is going to get more of this kind of treatment if he keeps up all of this flopping and complaining as well. Players take note of this kind of crap. For those of you who want to see what the play would've looked like had Griffin not made it look so dramatic: Exact same situation and contact from Posey on Hinrich.

Lol. In the OTR Yahoo bracket, my only FInal Four team still alive is UNC. Wichita St. - gone 1st round Wisconsin - gone Sweet Sixteen Marquette - gone Sweet Sixteen My only Elite Eight teams left are: UNC OSU Baylor Kansas If I was serious about that bracket, I'd be embarassed.

Mayo with two huge plays. First he gets the steal and timeout and then he hits a 3 to cut the lead down to 6. Can they make a game of this down the stretch?