Your Observations about NCAA D1 Basketball

eyekwah

eyekwah

Well-Known Member
What have you observed about the 2016/2017 season?

For myself, since I watched a lot of games, I would say the officiating has been very inconsistent. Physical play is allowed by some crews and others do a better job of controlling it. Within a game one official of a crew will call fouls differently than another member of the crew. I believe the review system could be modified to give a coach the option to throw a red flag in the last three minutes of a game to ask for a review. If the coach is wrong he loses a timeout.

The systems being used to rank teams are imperfect. I do not think you can ever create a perfect one. A study of which rating systems are more reliable probably is needed. The Big Ten had no team ranked higher than a 4 seed and just two ranked teams in the top 25, yet had three teams make it to the sweet 16 and were only one made shot and one missed shot from having two teams in the elite 8.
 
While one might be able to watch a poorly officiated college football game every once in a while, it is flipped with college basketball. One might be able to watch a well officiated college basketball game every once in a while. I'm sure that prdatr40 guy will disagree, but college basketball officiating is a joke. It's been a joke for a long time now and I don't foresee it getting better in the near future.
 
1. I think college basketball is difficult to officiate. The speed of the game and the human brain are getting pushed. I also think we would be naive to think that bias doesn't get in the way (which could be outright changing outcomes due to the money involved). When officiating, when you take the time to replay in your mind what happened, the next happening is happening.

2. People are tired of the excess of sports period. Everyday people are working more hours for less pay while immature coaches, AD's, et al including pampered players...nuff said.

3. College basketball is much more about team play than it was 10 to 15 years ago. It is more 1980ish in that respect.

4. There are more really good teams. But those not in the top 16 or so programs are weaker in comparison. Iowa is below the that level and the past few years between 40 to 70th.

5. The Big Ten is no longer a premier conference. MSU is the only team even comparable athletically and they were way down due to youth. My guess is that coaching is a major part of this. Iowa and Illinois and their demise is a contributor. The more good teams one plays the better one gets. Those are 2 teams that are missing as top 16 to 32 programs.. Michigan is in that category too maybe.

6. Iowa is further away from a major breakthrough than I thought. At least 2 to 3 years away.

7. Lock down D and PG that can play D is imperative.

8. Having multiple players that can take it to the rim or pull up and shoot is important.

9. Fundamentals and defense.....wide disparity between top teams and also rans.

10. Charles Barkley is very funny.
 
The top 8-16 teams look very athletic

To get to the top you need a high level PG athlete (I like JB a lot)

The pre-game analysis of the NCAA broadcast isn't very diverse

Some of the winning player interviews, post game, are, well, embarrassing

I think Iowa can move up to a top 8-16 program with Fran

Wisconsin losing in such a painful way was, well, splendid

I don't watch much of March Madness unless Iowa is involved
 
* Tired of 2 minutes at the end of many games taking 15 or more minutes in real time mixed with 6 timeouts and an equal amount of commercials.

* Barkley commenting prior to 1st round tourney game between Kentucky / N. Kentucky............."one team has a lineup with 5 McDonald's All Americans starting and the other team has 5 guys that ate at McDonalds."
 
I still enjoy watching NCAA basketball but the overall quality has plummeted over the last 20 years so it's not appointment tv for me like it used to be.

I think they should start letting high school kids jump straight to the NBA but adopt baseball rules that once a kid goes to college he's not eligible to be drafted for 3 years. I believe that would improve the game quite a bit.

It seems as if every year it becomes more & more of a perimeter game where guards rule. Even big guys need to be able to play on the perimeter and few have effective post moves.

It will be interesting to see Cook and CP going forward. They both have solid post game for FR. It's become such a rarity that they could really cause teams trouble because having to defend two good offensive post players is almost unheard off.
 
Xerxes said:
I still enjoy watching NCAA basketball but the overall quality has plummeted over the last 20 years so it's not appointment tv for me like it used to be.

I think they should start letting high school kids jump straight to the NBA but adopt baseball rules that once a kid goes to college he's not eligible to be drafted for 3 years. I believe that would improve the game quite a bit.

It seems as if every year it becomes more & more of a perimeter game where guards rule. Even big guys need to be able to play on the perimeter and few have effective post moves.

It will be interesting to see Cook and CP going forward. They both have solid post game for FR. It's become such a rarity that they could really cause teams trouble because having to defend two good offensive post players is almost unheard off.
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The game has just changed no longer do teams work inside out, they work outside in. There is no need to have a mid range game, the 15-18 ft jump shot is a bad shot now. I realize Pemsl missed that 15 footer against TCU, if Pemsl/Cook never get a mid range jump shot I wouldn't be heart broken about it.

On the flip side, you are correct Pemsl/Cook are solid offensive post players, but on the defensive end they have to learn how to play away from the basket, out in space on the perimeter. Big men now are out on the perimeter, when guarding them Pemsl/Cook have to understand defensive rotation and switches.
 
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revkev73 said:
The top 8-16 teams look very athletic

To get to the top you need a high level PG athlete (I like JB a lot)

The pre-game analysis of the NCAA broadcast isn't very diverse

Some of the winning player interviews, post game, are, well, embarrassing

I think Iowa can move up to a top 8-16 program with Fran

Wisconsin losing in such a painful way was, well, splendid

I don't watch much of March Madness unless Iowa is involved
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Why is that?
 
Observations:
  1. Officiating has been inconsistent all year in the B1G. I can't talk about other conferences because I don't watch a lot of games outside of the B1G. But judging from the Dance, I'd have to say it's true all around.
  2. There are 6 to 10 "haves". They will get most of the blue chip players. Sometimes a team will go on a run or have great coaching and senior leadership. (Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, etc.)
  3. Joe Berry of UNC is the most valuable player of this tournament. If not for him, the Tar Heels wouldn't be where they are.
  4. Based on the Dance alone, guard play .. no .. perimeter play has become the path to any championship. Most, if not all, of the Final Four teams have good to great perimeter players. (Regardless of whethe it's UNC or Kentucky.) The big man (ala Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Greg Stokes, etc .. ) has had his role diminished over the years.
  5. Iowa hit a "speed bump" this year. At the start of the year, Iowa was starting 1 senior 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen. At one point, they started 4 freshman. They finished starting 1 senior, 2 sophs, and 2 fresh. Despite that, they finished in a tie for 5th in the B1G (well above where they were expected to finish) and in the top half (just missing the top third) of defensive efficiency. That says a lot about the good to great coaching job done by Fran and his staff. With the incoming talent it sets up a bright future.
Just my $.02 .. .. GO HAWKS!!!
 
BrueCrew3 said:
Observations:
  1. Officiating has been inconsistent all year in the B1G. I can't talk about other conferences because I don't watch a lot of games outside of the B1G. But judging from the Dance, I'd have to say it's true all around.
  2. There are 6 to 10 "haves". They will get most of the blue chip players. Sometimes a team will go on a run or have great coaching and senior leadership. (Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, etc.)
  3. Joe Berry of UNC is the most valuable player of this tournament. If not for him, the Tar Heels wouldn't be where they are.
  4. Based on the Dance alone, guard play .. no .. perimeter play has become the path to any championship. Most, if not all, of the Final Four teams have good to great perimeter players. (Regardless of whethe it's UNC or Kentucky.) The big man (ala Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Greg Stokes, etc .. ) has had his role diminished over the years.
  5. Iowa hit a "speed bump" this year. At the start of the year, Iowa was starting 1 senior 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen. At one point, they started 4 freshman. They finished starting 1 senior, 2 sophs, and 2 fresh. Despite that, they finished in a tie for 5th in the B1G (well above where they were expected to finish) and in the top half (just missing the top third) of defensive efficiency. That says a lot about the good to great coaching job done by Fran and his staff. With the incoming talent it sets up a bright future.
Just my $.02 .. .. GO HAWKS!!!
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I agree with a lot of what you said but not so much regarding the defense. The young guys have a lot of work to do there.

I don't know what stats go into defensive efficiency but I do know that Iowa's points per possession defensive rank was 200th in the nation. Thats about as accurate of a
defensive stat as you're going to get.
 
trj said:
the ending of kentucky/carolina.......focking incredible.
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Rewatch the final shot. Did the guy catch the ball, take a step back with his left, and then hop back? Would like to see a replay from the front to see when he actually caught it, but I think he walked.
 
Xerxes said:
I agree with a lot of what you said but not so much regarding the defense. The young guys have a lot of work to do there.

I don't know what stats go into defensive efficiency but I do know that Iowa's points per possession defensive rank was 200th in the nation. Thats about as accurate of a
defensive stat as you're going to get.
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Yeah, I saw the 200th in the nation after I posted. But I still believe that this years defensive deficiencies were a result of inexperience. After all, most of the starters were underclassmen with limited playing experience on the B1G stage. The lone senior was on the court for his offensive prowess, not his defensive skills.

Now, adjusted defense is a hot topic around these parts, I know, but KenPom has gotten a lot of resepect for his metrics over the last few years. His model is fairly accurate in predicting basketball games. That's why I used that metric. KenPom's adjusted defense has us at 124, or just about the 65th percentile. In 3 of the last 5 years, Fran's teams have been in the top 35. That's pretty impressive.

My belief is that the young kids on this team will only get better next year. With the addition of Garza and Numge, the Hawkeys will have 2 big men over 6'10" (6'11" depending on what recruiting site you look at) who will help protect the rim. If Kriener can ad some bulk and attitude to his current perimeter skill set, that would be an imposing front court.

Again .. Just my $.02 .. .. GO HAWKS!!!
 
99topdawg said:
Rewatch the final shot. Did the guy catch the ball, take a step back with his left, and then hop back? Would like to see a replay from the front to see when he actually caught it, but I think he walked.
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I watched a couple of replays it looked clean to me took a step back and shot the ball. The missed travel call in the S. Carolina/Florida game was far worse.
 
BrueCrew3 said:
Yeah, I saw the 200th in the nation after I posted. But I still believe that this years defensive deficiencies were a result of inexperience. After all, most of the starters were underclassmen with limited playing experience on the B1G stage. The lone senior was on the court for his offensive prowess, not his defensive skills.

Now, adjusted defense is a hot topic around these parts, I know, but KenPom has gotten a lot of resepect for his metrics over the last few years. His model is fairly accurate in predicting basketball games. That's why I used that metric. KenPom's adjusted defense has us at 124, or just about the 65th percentile. In 3 of the last 5 years, Fran's teams have been in the top 35. That's pretty impressive.

My belief is that the young kids on this team will only get better next year. With the addition of Garza and Numge, the Hawkeys will have 2 big men over 6'10" (6'11" depending on what recruiting site you look at) who will help protect the rim. If Kriener can ad some bulk and attitude to his current perimeter skill set, that would be an imposing front court.

Again .. Just my $.02 .. .. GO HAWKS!!!
Click to expand...

I need to see Garza play before I get a feel for what he can give us defensively but I hope he comes in and concentrates on defense as we need that and rebounding more than his offense. I liked what I saw from Kreiner this season and he strikes me as a kid who will continue to work on his game and do what it takes to help the team. The front court looks promising but we need some help in the back court IMO where again Connor might really help if he plays basketball.
 
1. Officiating hasn't changed as far as consistency. There has always been ticky-tack fouls, phantom fouls, guys getting bulled over no calls, changes in calls from half to half.

I will make Wild guess and say it's because humans -- not robots -- are the referees.

And I am willing to bet the teams on the court make more stupid plays and unforced errors than refs missing a call.

I couldn't ref because I would call carrying and traveling too much and especially the Euro step which looks like traveling every time I see it.

2. The expanding attack of the 3 point shot to spots 3 and 4 has revolutionized the game. In the first generation or two it was basically just the guards taking those shots and/or efficiently taking 3 pointers. Threes and Fours have become as efficient as guards. This has led to some teams putting "postionless" lineups on the floor.

Teams can win games not only without winning the turnover or board stats in a game, but can win while having much lesser numbers in a game.

3. The review rules at the end of games are atrocious and simply unfair. During reviews, Timeouts are given to teams that have burned their timeouts. Reviews are taking far too long.

Solution: during reviews, lineups on the floor must stand within the free throw circle opposite their bench and coaches inside their bench box.

Since timeouts are limited to one minute, reviews are limited to one minute (45 seconds to allow time to set up floor). If a call can't be over-turned in 45 seconds with super slo-mo HD monitors, then I'll give the refs a fist bump: good call. Move on.

4. 8pm Weekday start times for games is ridiculous. Ban the 8pm local starts. Start times no later than 7pm local time. There are all kinds of mountain and west coast universities that can fill up the late night programming of ESPN. Stop it!

5. The HC-hating and the (anti-)"fan" minority of D1 social media is outlandish. These snowflakes are really bitter about how much they sucked at HS or college ball so in order to validate, they eviscerate players and coaches, and themselves of reasoning -- logic incontext.

"Winning Championships" is all that matters and if you disagree then you are not a true fan and have a loser mentality.
 
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