NCAA Bracket 2024 and Games

The women's bracket it the epitome of chalk. Hopefully some more intriguing outcomes will play out in the 2nd round.
First two rounds top seeds play at home which helps for the chalk. Think it is time for neutral sites for the women's tourney as well!
 


Bueckers looks special again. She's better than Brink. If she was going into the draft this year, I'd take her #2. Brink is too thin, foul prone, and lacks an offensive game that translates to the pros, although it has improved somewhat.

I can't imagine anyone goes #1 ahead of Bueckers next year, as long as she stays healthy.
 

The first time I saw Bueckers play for UConn I thought "Larry Bird". Last night when I watched her I saw the same thing. Smooth, always in the right place, doesn’t seem to really move that fast, but gets there before you do. Has an innate sense of finding the seam. Very efficient player!
 

Wow Minnesota State gets a buzzer beating layup off a side out of bounds play to advance to the D2 championship. Same time Friday night as the Gophers WNIT game on CBS Sports Network.
 



Iowa has a very tough matchup tomorrow night in the hardest of the four brackets. West Virginia is by far the best # 8 seed this year (ESPN and CBS had them as a 6 seed; 21 NET, highest NET for an 8 seed in the 4-year NET era). West Virginia is also stylistic trouble for Iowa, which Iowa can't rightly complain about.
only one BIG10 WBB team left - The Iowa Hawkeyes - Go Hawks!
 

Just got home and turned on the Duke and UCon. Game. Good Lord, , Duke is on Pace to finish below 40. Anyone watch this? Has Duke just been missing shots or is UConns defense just been that good?
 





Just got home and turned on the Duke and UCon. Game. Good Lord, , Duke is on Pace to finish below 40. Anyone watch this? Has Duke just been missing shots or is UConns defense just been that good?
Turned it on to show my hockey loving son in law how good women’s BB has become! Not a good choice. Cherry HS would have ate them up, including UConn in the first half!
 

Oregon State hanging in with South Carolina but I imagine SC will wear them down in the second.

Insanely bad call to get Beers her third before have. The SC player bodied in hard and they went down. I have no idea what the ref could be thinking in that case.
 

Just got home and turned on the Duke and UCon. Game. Good Lord, , Duke is on Pace to finish below 40. Anyone watch this? Has Duke just been missing shots or is UConns defense just been that good?
Uconn defense is that good. Bueckers put on a show.
Big East is tough - men and women.
 



Am I remembering correctly that Dominika Paurova is the overseas player who decommitted when Whalen was canned? She was incredible for Oregon State in their win tonight.




 


Strange story of the day (I'm still waiting for an explanation . It was entertaining seeing guys with tape measures confirming the obvious)

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The NC State Wolfpack and Texas Longhorns played Sunday's Region 4 final on a court with 3-point lines of different distances at the top of the key.

"The NCAA was notified today that the 3-point lines on the court at Moda Center in Portland are not the same distance," the association said in a statement.

The error in the court, which had been used for four women's regional semifinals Friday and Saturday, was discovered prior to Sunday's game. After consulting with officials, Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer and Wolfpack coach Wes Moore agreed to continue with the game rather than delaying it for a remeasurement.
 


The NCAA said Monday one of the 3-point lines on the court used for the women’s basketball regionals at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, was about 9 inches short of regulation, a mistake by the contractor that makes the courts used throughout March Madness.

The line was corrected, the NCAA said. UConn and USC were scheduled to play the last Elite Eight game to determine next week’s Final Four later Monday on that court.

The NCAA uses Connor Sports to supply and install the courts. The NCAA said the marking used to draw the line at the top of the arc in the center of the court was marked too short. It did not identify the contractor that made the mistake.


“For all NCAA courts, a small hole is punched in the floor at each end of the court that indicates ‘center-of-basket’ during the finishing process. A calibrated vinyl-tape device is then placed in the hole, which lays the 2-inch game line to be painted,” Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, said in an email update that went out to members.

After reviewing the Portland court, it was found that the center hole was punched about 9 inches short of where it needed to be at the apex of the 3-point arc.

“Connor Sports and the NCAA found the inaccurate line was the result of human error by the finisher contracted by Connor Sports,” Holzman said. “The review also found the sides of the 3-point line were accurately painted, as were all other court markings.”


The discrepancy in distance was discovered Sunday before Texas and North Carolina State played their Elite Eight game. Four games already had been been played over two days with the mismatched 3-point lines.


Coaches for Texas and N.C. State agreed to play Sunday’s game as scheduled with one line shorter than the other rather than delay it. N.C. State beat Texas 76-66 to advance to the Final Four.
The NCAA 3-point line is 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches at the top of the arc for both women and men.

“We apologize for this error and the length of time for which it went unnoticed,” Holzman said. “Simply put, this court did not meet our expectations, and the NCAA should have caught the error sooner.

“We will work with all of the NCAA’s suppliers and vendors to establish additional quality control measures to ensure this does not happen in future tournaments.”

Teams switch baskets that they shoot at at halftime, so for each game, each team played one half shooting from the short 3-point arc.

According to the NCAA’s statistics, teams shooting from the 3-point line in Portland that was 9 inches short at the top over five games were 23 for 89 (25.8%). Teams shooting on the accurate line were 29 for 87 (33.3%).

“I think we shot the ball better on the other end both games, because that’s the normal line,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said. “But I’m not going to blame it on that. I mean, these kids, like I said, they shoot so far behind it sometimes nowadays, who knows where the line is?”

The Wolfpack were 11 for 19 shooting 3s from the correctly measured line in two games and 5 for 16 with the incorrect line.

“You know, it is an unusual situation,” Moore said. “But, like I said, I don’t know that it was an advantage or disadvantage, either way. We both played a half on each end.”

Connor Sports is a hardwood sports flooring company that provides more than a dozen NBA and WNBA teams floors for their practice venues and game arenas, according to the company’s website.

“We apologize for the error that was found and have technicians on site at the Moda Center in Portland who were instructed to make the necessary corrections immediately following (Sunday’s) game,” the company said Sunday in a statement.

At arenas that host multiple types of basketball events, multiple courts are often used. For example, at Madison Square Garden in New York, there is a court used for Knicks games, and when the Big East Tournament is played there, the conference brings a court. That court comes premarked with logos, signage and lines drawn to college basketball dimensions.

The main difference between an NBA court and a college court is the distance between the 3-point line and the basket. The NCAA 3-point line is at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches for both women and men at its farthest point at the top of the arc. The NBA line is out a foot farther.

 

Huge showdowns on Friday:

Iowa vs UConn: Huge. Clark vs Bueckers.

South Carolina vs North Carolina State. Can anyone beat SC?


Iowa coach Lisa Bluder has earned my respect.
 


Tonight!

Iowa and Caitlin Clark (from Iowa) are favored by 2.5 over UConn and Paige Bueckers (from Minnesota). If Bueckers is healthy, and she is, this is two superstars battling, like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

The "undefeatable" power South Carolina (36-0) is favored by 11.5 over the surprise team North Carolina State. The two Carolinas go at it, basketball country (except did you see Clark and Bueckers are from upper Midwest?)

-Big Ten vs Big East, 8:30 PM

-SEC vs ACC, 6 PM



 
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At the half, North Carolina State trails South Carolina by only 1 point.
 



At the half, UConn leads 32-26.

Caitlin Clark with 3 turnovers, 6 points, 0-6 on 3's including 0-4 on showboat longer shots.

 

Nika Mühl is an excellent PG. She would be a good backup in the WNBA. She has good height, can defend, pass, and hit open 3s.

Caitlin Clark played very poorly, partly due to UCONN's defense. Mühl is exponentially better than Van Lith. But, Clark was also lazy. Lazy defense, some lazy passes, and really poor shot selection. She's always had shot selection issues, but they're really showing up in this game. UCONN's defense is too good for her to make bad shooting decisions.

Clark has never been a great defender, and it stands out in a game when she cannot get her offense going versus a phenomenal defensive player.
 


Shade is really hurting UCONN on both sides of the ball. This game is too much for her at this point of her development.
 



UConn would've won this game if not for all those missed shots.
 

Brutal failure to box out on the missed free throw.

UCONN played great against Clark.

Bueckers was mediocre. If she played well, UCONN wins. Both Clark and Bueckers were disappointing.

The game was good, but the Bueckers vs. Clark hype was a dud.
 




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