DragonFire

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.

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

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

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

If Noah hit 6/8 threes and dropped 35, I don’t know that they’d have done anything different. That’s basically what Kade did to them in the region final plus some.

He’s going to go. Unless all these analysts are just flat wrong about where he’s projected.

There were quite a few times this year where Reed looked like the freshman he is. He is a defensive liability. He made mind boggling turnovers. I see the talent. And I know what he's projected to be - he'll go onto the NBA. But man, he sure doesn't look ready to me.

They won a national title under Cal. You can ignore anything else you want, but if that's not a positive for you, then there's no point in talking to you.

It's just apparent something is broken with them. Grateful for the positives that Cal brought, but nothing lasts forever. They could do a lot less, but it's just clear that something has to change. You just can't have this.

I'm infuriated by Reed's play. This is the #1 pick?

Oakland was able to shrewdly bleed 10 seconds off the clock without the shot clock even starting because no one made them touch the ball for several seconds after Kentucky's make.

Reed is killing Kentucky.

Better hope they keep missing free throws.

If Kentucky keeps jacking up the threes, they're in trouble.

GO. INSIDE.

Only four guys have ever made 10+ threes in an NCAA tournament game. No one has made more than 11. He might push this record, but I don't think he gets 14. Most in a single NCAA game ever is 15.

I get that Kentucky is the common denominator, so it's their defense that is the cause of these issues, but I've watched guys miss plenty of open shots over the years. These guys do NOT miss when they are going against this Kentucky team.

Call me naive, but this guy can't duplicate that effort in my opinion. They barely lead with him being prime Steph Curry.

I would like this guy to stop, please.

Twitter comment said it best - if you don’t know who the fall guy is, you are the fall guy.

No doubt he’s used to scoring, I just know situationally, a lot of times you’re not exactly encouraged to take that three in that situation. He has ice in his veins!

I knew Noah was good, and frankly I knew he was that good. But I HOPED maybe not today lol Every time they needed a big shot, he was there. That three he made when they were up three late, I was surprised he even shot it. I like the confidence but I was still surprised. And he nailed it - pretty much ended it. They’ll be very easy for me to root for moving forward. I usually throw my support to the team that knocks us out at state, I’d love to see Harlan County succeed!

Noah called game!

For sure. I knew they’d have issues with Harlan County’s perimeter play. Looks like they saved all the fouls for the fourth quarter.

Well, if you’ve followed what I’ve said all year, Central dares you to beat them from three. And, well, Harlan County is going to!