DragonFire

1997 Kentucky is only defending champ to make it back and lose the final since 1963 (when Cincy lost in their attempt to three peat). History and current play are definitely on UConn’s side. 

It’s crazy that both teams that have lost to a 16 seed went on to reach finals the next year. We’ll see if Purdue can win it all like Virginia did. 

Watching the wider angle replays, she pretty much never stopped moving, shuffling her feet, leans into it. It’s pretty much textbook. 

A lot of us struggle with the “let the players decide the game” bit if we have a specific rooting interest, but this is one of those times where the response is that they did decide the game - she committed a foul. That’s a player action deciding the game.

32 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Arnold had two of those bad illegal screens called same player for Iowa ran in the screen and screams and falls down and the refs call it. I think except for two or three fouls were fouls, but I saw at least 3 or 4 UConn players fouled on shots that was not called.

That would make me think even less that it is correct to make the statement of “the refs were making sure Clark advanced.”  What you just demonstrated is that they called it consistently on that screen - she did the same thing twice and they called it. Is it correct? Eye of the beholder. 
 

I’ve got no dog in the fight but from what I watched, I did not see Iowa getting some super favorable whistle. In fact, for the most part, they seemed to let quite a bit go. 
 

Just now, 16thBBall Fan said:

Refs taking care to make sure Clark is in the final game!

I mean, I’m sure they could have found any other number of other calls to do something if they wanted to. I’m not gonna buy into the conspiracy theory. 
 

But I do think they fell for “it looked violent”. The Iowa player definitely embellished. 

Wow big call. 
 

And I thought Iowa was going to screw up by not using their foul to give. 

Iowa fumbling this badly. 

2 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

I’ve shared this “hot take” several times in several places, sometimes it’s not well received, but oh well…

The WNBA, and women’s sports in general, will never be popular until women start supporting them. 

Bill Burr has a hilarious bit on women not supporting the WNBA, and I think of that whenever this topic comes up. 

Probably depends on what your goal is. Win a district title, generally have a solid team that can string winning seasons together? I’d say you can accomplish those at Glasgow. Win a region title? Nope. 
 

And it doesn’t sit right with me firing a coach after just two years who just had your best finish in 12 years. So I’d have at least some minor concern about support. 

https://104thescore.com/2024/03/30/buford-out-as-glasgow-boys-basketball-coach/

Some more details shed on it, but long and short of it is that Buford was fired. Feels a bit egregious after only two years. 

4th Region Off-Season Discussion Hub

The 2023-24 season began with a legitimate title contender out of the region, but in the end it was Warren Central making their third consecutive state tournament appearance, falling in the first round to close out their state title defense.  We turn our attention to next year...

• Already seeing early rankings for next year - what say you?

https://x.com/4thRegionHoops/status/1773740794211

• 438747?s=20Bowling Green definitely has the look of a favorite again, returning the likely frontrunner for POY in Deuce Bailey, and strong contributors in Braylon Banks (8.4 PPG) and Jace Wardlow (7.9 PPG).  The Purples were deceptively young a year ago, with only four seniors, only two of which who played much.
• No one from the all-region 1st team returns, while the second team returns Bailey, Warren East's Kaleb Prince, and Cumberland County's Ray Harwood.
• Glasgow returns a good group, but will be replacing their head coach, as William Buford was relieved of his position.  How will this affect a team that looked to be ascending to make a run?
• South Warren really only loses one player of note - is this the year they break through to region for the first time?
• Greenwood returns their top four scorers - are the Gators ready to push Bowling Green and Warren Central?
• Can ANYONE stop the reign of terror that has been Bowling Green and Warren Central?
• Will the 16th District continue to be the most fun and crazy district to follow, where seemingly anything can happen? Sources say yes.....

19 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Super may not have received a favorable recommendation from search committee 10 years ago, due to issues that led to him being pulled out of the school he was in and move to bus garage to run transportation. 

If half the stuff I've heard is true, he is just a vindictive little creep, that doesn't like being told no.

 

That makes you wonder how in the world he managed to still become superintendent. In that deep with the three board members? Did those three recognize the heat they’d bring on themselves?

Not sure why it took them so long to announce, given that I'm pretty sure they've known for quite some time. But it's Harness.

This is basically one of my greatest “irrational” fears - that I’ll be on a bridge that collapses. Just horrific and yes, thankful this happened at the time of night it did to limit casualties. 

30 minutes ago, okie1 said:

He should have called TO after the Dillingham 3 pointer to cut to 1 with 1:08 left.  Precious time and a poorer defensive squad were left on the court.

We hit a point mid way through 2nd half when we panicked and jacked up quick 3's with no ball movement or penetration.  

We allowed them to walk the ball up the court and dictate tempo with never going to any kind of pressure.

He never tried Edwards (Thierro got hurt) on the shooter to see if added length affected him.

He didn't hedge out/double the shooter and make the screener roll and beat them.

 

I only watched the game once, but these stick out with me.

No doubt.  Kentucky had three timeouts at the time.  That's the maximum they even could have because there's the one use it or lose it in the first half.  So Cal at no point in the half thought it was necessary to call a timeout to talk things over. The first timeout he called in the second half was with 4 seconds left.  So yes, absolutely should have called a timeout there.

It was closer to 1:05 when the shot was made.  Ball bounced straight to Mitchell, who chose to let it bounce off him and then lay there on the floor.  Multiple other Kentucky players were around it and chose to let it sit there.  The official made no move to the ball.  At 58 seconds left, Gohlke flipped it to the official.  At 56 seconds left, the Oakland inbounder touched the ball for the first time.  Nine seconds gone for almost no reason at all.  Kentucky had used the time to set their defense, but a timeout could have done that much better and with no time elapsed.  At the 53 second mark the ball is inbounded, and shot clock starts.  12 seconds gone without the shot clock having to run.  Oakland bled a tremendous amount of time right there. Gone was any hope of a stop and then a 2 for 1 or something of that nature, which became a pretty big deal when Oakland hit a three with less than 30 seconds left in the game, meaning Kentucky's only option became hit a shot and foul.  That whole sequence really can't go anywhere but Cal.

Do you know what Oakland did when the ball went through the net to put them up four? THEY CALLED TIMEOUT.

(Not related to 2024-25 Kentucky, but since I rewatched the end sequence for this post, I still can't believe the shot Sheppard took on that next possession.  Down 4, coming out of a timeout, they inbounded to him, he dribbled right up court, and jacked up the first deep three he got, front rimming it.  No one near the basket to get a rebound or anything. Man thinking about him in that game just makes me furious.)

4 hours ago, AirYardGo said:

Has a team ever not won the All “A” state and then go on to win the big state?

I’m fairly certain Lyon County is the third to do this. Several already noted UHA in 1992. Paintsville also did this in 1996. They fell in the first round of the All A state tourney that year. UHA lost to Lexington Catholic in the semifinals of the All A state tourney in 1992 only to beat them in the actual state finals of the Sweet 16. 
 

Shelby Valley is the only team to have won both in the same year, doing so in 2010. 

I’m pulling for Harlan County but I had to pick Lyon. I think the rest advantage will come into play. And Noah has had to do an awful lot of heavy lifting. I felt there were signs of fatigue from the team down the stretch earlier today. 
 

They really need to get the game times back to where they were in 2012. 

Forty eight points.  FORTY.  EIGHT.  Wow!

This is just legendary.

I’m feeling a lot of the same vibes from the Warren Central game yesterday, just roles reversed. Every time Harlan County puts in a run, Campbell County has the answer. 

1 minute ago, TheBallCoach said:

SEC 1-3 in tourney play as of now (barring the Vols blow a 30pt lead), pretty wild considering how strong I believed the conference to be. Guess it was just a bunch of average teams beating average teams on random nights. I thought this team was talented enough to make a run but showed inconsistency all year and that’s what we got tonight. However you won’t show me many teams who have been able to overcome a team shooting 15-30 from the arc either, tough loss for sure. Maybe we will see Sheppard in the Blue & White next year after all.

Cleaning up the language for the rules, I’m reminded of the phrase “If you are walking down the street and you run into a jerk, you just ran into a jerk. If the whole day all you meet are jerks, maybe you’re the jerk.”

Well this Kentucky team did nothing but run into teams that put up out of the ordinary numbers against them. So it’s them. Not many teams would overcome 15/30 from beyond the arc. But that has happened to them so many times this year, and one can only assume it’s because they repeatedly did something on defense that made that possible. 

3 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I hate how close I am to agreeing. Been a fun right that brought me a ton of enjoyment. Couple bounces or calls (e.g. Wisconsin shot clock violation not called in 2105, Maye bucket for UNC) and man it would've been legendary. Sucks.

I find myself thinking of Tony’s “retirement” speech in Any Given Sunday:

5 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Does it only mean more in football? 

I’ll hang up and listen.

I despise that tagline. Of course, I don’t root for a conference in the first place. 

2 minutes ago, bugatti said:

Correct. And as I’ve said, he and Dillingham being projected as high as they are is not about how great they are, but how terrible this draft is. Especially for American born players. It’s real bad, people.

No doubt. All the more reason to go get paid. Strike while iron is hot.