The Official 2025 March Madness Discussion Thread

#1,052
#1,052
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Not if they did happen to shoot 50% from 3 and 50% from the floor again. Them doing that again is highly unlikely. If they do, then we might just be some unlucky SOB's
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I'd see it more likely that they just have us figured out, well-scouted, and just a bad personnel matchup. 3x and I think that removes luck from the equation.
 
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#1,053
#1,053
I would assume using half of Lucas Oil as the Sweet 16 venue will hurt 3-point shooting percentage, no? Odd layout not seen this early in the tournament for almost a decade
 
#1,055
#1,055
Vols919 said:
I would assume using half of Lucas Oil as the Sweet 16 venue will hurt 3-point shooting percentage, no? Odd layout not seen this early in the tournament for almost a decade
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Maybe....but hitting 50% from 3 is hard to do if when you getting great looks. Then combine that with hitting 50 from the floor with some great contested 2's and luck is a bit of a factor IMO. They just miss one of those 3's and maybe a 2 and we win both games.
Their bench has not shot like that all year except in those two games. Maybe even their starters.

Edit: I checked out their stats for all games. Kentucky only shot 50%+ from 3 times all year and 2 of those games were against us.
They only shot 50+ from the floor and 50% from 3 twice. Both times against us.

We definitely weren't the worst defense team they saw and definitely not the best match-up for them. Even against really bad teams they didn't shoot like they did against us.

The only conclusion that can really be made is they just happened to have two really fortunate nights shooting when they played us
Being that fortunate.....twice, is the definition of being lucky, IMO.
 
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#1,064
#1,064
cncchris33 said:
Yeah, lots of chalk. St. John's the only real upset. Excluding 8-9 matchups, there's only been 5 lower seeded wins, so far, and 2 of those were 10s over 7s, which isn't even really much of an upset. Colorado St., McNeese St., and Arky over St. John's...pretty meh in terms of entertainment value.
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I asked a week ago if we’re likely to not see many upsets due to the transfer portal and the mid-majors no longer having that one superstar who can carry a team to 1-2 wins over the big boys. Looks like that may well be the case.

Unless something changes, the upset possibilities will now reside mostly with lower seeded major programs (like Arkansas) beating higher seeded major programs.
 
#1,066
#1,066
Man I really hope we show up because this KY team is definitely beatable.
All year long they have followed big games like this with a loss. They didn't put 3 in a row together all conference play.
Going into tournament play, they would have to beat us for that to change.
I think they due a bad game.
🤞
We just don't need to make the game easy for them by getting into a shoot out with them
 
#1,068
#1,068
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Yeah, but KY fans were most likely waiting to see if they won this game to buy tickets.
Any remaining at this point, they will gobble all up.
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Yeah, KY fans will fill up Lucas Oil Stadium. Fan attendance in order 1. Ky (not even close). 2. Purdue. 3. Tennessee. 4. Houston. Deep pockets to grab a ticket to this regional. It’s either man up defensively for 40 minutes or will exit tourney. Most people said sweet 16 was our ceiling. Just imagine the thought of getting knocked out by them and going 0-3 to our bitter rival. The stakes couldn’t be any higher for Barnes and company. All the pressure is on us. Ky is playing with house money. Our defensive game plan and effort better be on high alert. If they hit 8 or more 3s I don’t like our chances. Hope they prove me wrong.
 
#1,070
#1,070
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Man I really hope we show up because this KY team is definitely beatable.
All year long they have followed big games like this with a loss. They didn't put 3 in a row together all conference play.
Going into tournament play, they would have to beat us for that to happen.
I think they do a bad game.
🤞
We just don't need to make the game easy for them by getting into a shooting out with them
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Yeah, no chance we win a shootout with this team. If they’re hot from three, it’s hard to see us winning.

Ball security will be key #2. If Illinois took better control of the ball, this is a much different game. If we can just hold onto it and get our rebounds, that’ll make a whole world of difference.

I’ll be ready to throw up either way. This is going to be the most stressful game of the year.
 
#1,073
#1,073
Anti-shunshinepumper said:
Man I really hope we show up because this KY team is definitely beatable.
All year long they have followed big games like this with a loss. They didn't put 3 in a row together all conference play.
Going into tournament play, they would have to beat us for that to change.
I think they due a bad game.
🤞
We just don't need to make the game easy for them by getting into a shooting out with them
Click to expand...
They are absolutely beatable. Illinois played nowhere close to capability- offensively or defensively. Pretty sure we’ll be ready.
 
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#1,074
#1,074
Orangeslide said:
Yeah, KY fans will fill up Lucas Oil Stadium. Fan attendance in order 1. Ky (not even close). 2. Purdue. 3. Tennessee. 4. Houston. Deep pockets to grab a ticket to this regional. It’s either man up defensively for 40 minutes or will exit tourney. Most people said sweet 16 was our ceiling. Just imagine the thought of getting knocked out by them and going 0-3 to our bitter rival. The stakes couldn’t be any higher for Barnes and company. All the pressure is on us. Ky is playing with house money. Our defensive game plan and effort better be on high alert. If they hit 8 or more 3s I don’t like our chances. Hope they prove me wrong.
Click to expand...
I guess we'll see. KY fans said this before this game they would be outnumbered because of what I explained. They were right.
They feel the same way for our match-up with them in Indy. Hopefully they are right again.
 
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