Benny Be Proud Today............

spacehayduke

Rrrrip City!.................

I never saw this coming. Proud to be a Beaver alumni, dem Beavs!

perkdog

Great logo 👍👍

doubledragon

Congrats on the win!

Goldenage

Leave it to the beaver.

Justacommeman

@spacehayduke Congrats! One doesn't often when by ten with a 20-8 deficit in turnovers

Welcome to the Sweet 16

m

spacehayduke

Gracias Mark! Pac-12 is doing just fine despite being dissed in the rankings and seedings. Beavs may get to the Elite 8, where, oh my, they might play my employer. Whom should I root for. Well, Beavs of course.

And look at the Ducks! Oregon (state of) proud all the way!!!

spacehayduke

Underdogs, 3 games in Pac 12 tourney, now 3 games as underdogs in NCAAM, and off to the Elite 8. Wow! Man Loyola plays ferocious defense, but Beavs just kept pushing. History for OSU!

spacehayduke

And now rooting for my employer to win so the Beavs can beat them on their way to the Final 4!

Goldenage

Congrats on a great run. Sadly it will be over after their next game. One of their best seasons for sure.

spacehayduke

Not sure I agree with you, because the Beavs will be playing my employer, I have strong familiarity with the pos and neg aspects of each team. Beavs just won 6 straight the elimination games, each time with a ≥ 6 point spread against them, each time against a team with a better record than the Beavs, and won. Every game like that makes them better and alot of success in sports is in the head. My employer's team, plays in a weaker league than the Pac 12, and they have not faced the level of demonstrated quality (Pac 12 - 4 teams sweet 16, ≥ 2 teams elite 8) of what the Beavs had had to play in their reg season and in the big dance, and thus progressively become a better team for it. I give the Beavs even chance against Phi Slama Jama reborn. In fact, if they beat UH, I would not count them out against Gonzaga - Gonzaga squeaked by Iowa during the season, Iowa just got slammed by Oregon, Beavs beat Oregon 2 of 3 this year. So..............

spacehayduke

For the record:

Beavers beat 4, 5, and 8 seeds in big dance.

Cougs beat 10, 11 and 15 seeds in big dance. Ain't no Drexler, ain't no Olajuwon, ain't no Young. Not sure there is a Slama Jama with the Phi here.

Tinkel can coach as good as anyone it seems. Sampson? Well at least he accepted a 10% cut in salary this year since we are fiscally challenged, but this is going to be a nice test for him on Monday. Experts are raving about Beavs defensive scheme, and saying it is going to be hard to adjust to it on short notice. So as I said, even chance for the Beavs...........

Goldenage

Well you certainly are confident and excited. That's a good thing. I'm just a neutral. While I don't agree with your assessment on how things will turn out for the Beavers going forward, I certainly can appreciate your enthusiasm.

Goldenage

My favorite going in was Gonzaga and my dark horse (to beat Gonzaga) was Houston.

Houston is 26-3 this year. They do not blow anyone away. They have a very good defense and make it very difficult
for an opponent to score. They had many close wins this year against some good teams. They rarely lose because they play great team defense. I expect the Beavers to keep it close, but I see Houston winning by 4.

I actually don't think Houston or Oregon State could beat Gonzaga. I'm not sure if they had 6 against 5 they could. Lol.

spacehayduke

'Well you certainly are confident and excited'. Excited of course, as anyone that is an alumni of any institution that has something doing well. Confident, I never stated that, I analyzed the problem and see it is possible for the Beavs to keep winning, will they? Well that is why they play.

According to Sagarin, Houston is #5 for 'Recent', Oregon State is #4, but it does not take into account the Beavs win (making them 20-12, listed on Sagarin page as 19-12) against Loyola apparently unless that is a typo.

The RECENT, is score-based and weights RECENT play more heavily than earlier games. Its effect will become
more pronounced the longer a season goes if a given team happens to have an upward or downward trend.

So on one of the most respected computer algorithms it puts the Beavs ahead of Houston hmm... I think they are going to hold their own with my employer. I think playing in a better league pays off. Houston has an SOS of 76.6 (rank 91), Beavs have an SOS of 80.5 (rank 41), Pac-12 clearly has shown that most 'experts' have heavily under-rated their quality. It would not surprise me to see 3 teams from the Pac-12 in the elite 8 and final 4. Will they? No idea that is why they play, but the take home is the Pac-12 has been dissed by the polls and rankings, they have a chip on their shoulder and are doing quite fine at the big dance.

I do believe that Gonzaga is overrated with an SOS of 76.31 (rank 95th) as a result of playing in a weak league. Whether they can win it all remains to be seen. There is a reason why the NCAAM champion more often comes from leagues with stronger SOS......... If you take Gonzaga and my employer out of their leagues there is nothing left. In the Pac-12, 5 teams are clearly super strong. I think that might pay off over the next 3 days...... We will see how the games turn out.

BTW, Sagrin's algorithm also places the Beavs as the favorite against my employer with an 82% chance to win............

Tabe

@spacehayduke said:

I do believe that Gonzaga is overrated with an SOS of 76.31 (rank 95th) as a result of playing in a weak league. Whether they can win it all remains to be seen. There is a reason why the NCAAM champion more often comes from leagues with stronger SOS......... If you take Gonzaga and my employer out of their leagues there is nothing left. In the Pac-12, 5 teams are clearly super strong. I think that might pay off over the next 3 days...... We will see how the games turn out.

St Mary's & BYU play in Gonzaga's conference. BYU was a 6-seed this year in the NCAA tourney. St Mary's is top 5 in the NCAA - that's everyone - over the last decade in winning percentage. They've done that while sometimes getting 3 losses to Gonzaga in a season. No question, the WCC
is not a great conference but its weakness is much overstated. But it's also why Gonzaga loads up in the non-conference - Iowa, Kansas, Virginia (all of whom got blown out by Gonzaga) and West Virginia. They had Baylor on the schedule, too. They played North Carolina last year and have Duke coming up.

Justacommeman

@Tabe said:

@spacehayduke said:

I do believe that Gonzaga is overrated with an SOS of 76.31 (rank 95th) as a result of playing in a weak league. Whether they can win it all remains to be seen. There is a reason why the NCAAM champion more often comes from leagues with stronger SOS......... If you take Gonzaga and my employer out of their leagues there is nothing left. In the Pac-12, 5 teams are clearly super strong. I think that might pay off over the next 3 days...... We will see how the games turn out.

St Mary's & BYU play in Gonzaga's conference. BYU was a 6-seed this year in the NCAA tourney. St Mary's is top 5 in the NCAA - that's everyone - over the last decade in winning percentage. They've done that while sometimes getting 3 losses to Gonzaga in a season. No question, the WCC
is not a great conference but its weakness is much overstated. But it's also why Gonzaga loads up in the non-conference - Iowa, Kansas, Virginia (all of whom got blown out by Gonzaga) and West Virginia. They had Baylor on the schedule, too. They played North Carolina last year and have Duke coming up.

They played Michigan last year also.......and lost by 18 ; )

They do schedule non-conference hard and play in preseason tourneys. They are the best team this year but still have 3 games to go.

mark

Tabe

@Justacommeman said:

They played Michigan last year also.......and lost by 18 ; )

Yep. I think a rematch last year turns out different but they got thumped that game, no doubt.

They do schedule non-conference hard and play in preseason tourneys. They are the best team this year but still have 3 games to go.

Which is why you don't see me making predictions.

Justacommeman

@Tabe said:

@Justacommeman said:

They played Michigan last year also.......and lost by 18 ; )

Yep. I think a rematch last year turns out different but they got thumped that game, no doubt.

They do schedule non-conference hard and play in preseason tourneys. They are the best team this year but still have 3 games to go.

Which is why you don't see me making predictions.

Same but I would love to play them again just the same. UCLA and USC stand in the way. On a side note Livers had 21 points on 8 shots last year against Gonzaga. He has been ruled out for the rest of the season and his college career is over. Tough break for him. Great kid

If we don't win I would like to see the Zags cut down the nets. ( or the Beavers, since this is their thread ; )

mark

spacehayduke

@Tabe said:

@spacehayduke said:

I do believe that Gonzaga is overrated with an SOS of 76.31 (rank 95th) as a result of playing in a weak league. Whether they can win it all remains to be seen. There is a reason why the NCAAM champion more often comes from leagues with stronger SOS......... If you take Gonzaga and my employer out of their leagues there is nothing left. In the Pac-12, 5 teams are clearly super strong. I think that might pay off over the next 3 days...... We will see how the games turn out.

St Mary's & BYU play in Gonzaga's conference. BYU was a 6-seed this year in the NCAA tourney. St Mary's is top 5 in the NCAA - that's everyone - over the last decade in winning percentage. They've done that while sometimes getting 3 losses to Gonzaga in a season. No question, the WCC
is not a great conference but its weakness is much overstated. But it's also why Gonzaga loads up in the non-conference - Iowa, Kansas, Virginia (all of whom got blown out by Gonzaga) and West Virginia. They had Baylor on the schedule, too. They played North Carolina last year and have Duke coming up.

Uh, where are those teams? Elite 8? No........

Gonzaga is a good team. Great? Not sure, weak competition, stats don't lie.

Goldenage

@spacehayduke said:

@Tabe said:

@spacehayduke said:

I do believe that Gonzaga is overrated with an SOS of 76.31 (rank 95th) as a result of playing in a weak league. Whether they can win it all remains to be seen. There is a reason why the NCAAM champion more often comes from leagues with stronger SOS......... If you take Gonzaga and my employer out of their leagues there is nothing left. In the Pac-12, 5 teams are clearly super strong. I think that might pay off over the next 3 days...... We will see how the games turn out.

St Mary's & BYU play in Gonzaga's conference. BYU was a 6-seed this year in the NCAA tourney. St Mary's is top 5 in the NCAA - that's everyone - over the last decade in winning percentage. They've done that while sometimes getting 3 losses to Gonzaga in a season. No question, the WCC
is not a great conference but its weakness is much overstated. But it's also why Gonzaga loads up in the non-conference - Iowa, Kansas, Virginia (all of whom got blown out by Gonzaga) and West Virginia. They had Baylor on the schedule, too. They played North Carolina last year and have Duke coming up.

Gonzaga is a good team. Great? Not sure, weak competition, stats don't lie.

If Gonzaga only had their starting five with no bench, then I'd agree with you and say they're just a very good team.
But with those starting 5 you have two first round draft picks in the future.
But because of their bench strength, I would say they are above the rest of the remaining field.

I will say this, and not to rain on your parade, if Gonzaga is on their game, you'll lose by 20, unless they take the foot
off the gas in the last 10 minutes, then it may be by 12 or 10.

spacehayduke

Here is my sum, anything can happen, but what likely will happen is Baylor, Mich, Gonzo, will be in the final 4. I hope I am wrong and the Pac-12 continues their run.

With respect to Gonzo - they squeaked by Iowa this year, Oregon pummeled Iowa in dance, USC pummeled Oregon in dance. USC beating Gonzo? Possible. Quite possible, they were sharp last nite against the Ducks. And the Ducks are full of elite talent. So USC?

So here we go for the Elite 8.

3 Pac-12 teams, of which were poorly seeded bc of clear bias against the Pac-12. Even so, Pac-12 knocked out 2 #2 seeds,
#12 OSU - 3 wins, no losses, beat #4 ,5, and 8
#6 USC - 3 wins, no losses, beat #11, 3, and 7
#11 UCLA - 4 wins, no losses, beat #11, 6, 14, and 2
# 5 Colorado, 1 win, 1 loss (only Pac-12 loss to non Pac-12 team), wiped out by #4 FSU
# 7 Oregon, 1 win, 1 loss, beat #2, lost to USC #7

So Pac-12:
All 5 into the round of 32
4 Sweet 16
3 Elite 8
2?
1?

Who knows how far they are going to go. They are all underdogs but we know anything can happen at this time. If there is a true dominant team out there it is Mich or Baylor, tried and true tested but any team can have a bad game or half. I just don't see a team from such a weak league (West Coast) having the battle experience if things don't quite go their way. Pac-12 is gonna put up a fight so I am not going to count them out. Anything can happen here.

1 American team, from an overall weak league.
1 Big 10 team despite all of the favorable seedings.
1 Big 12 team despite all of the favorable seedings.
1 Southeastern team.
1 West Coast team that Gonzo was able to run through give how weak it is:
25 BYU
65 Saint Mary's-Cal.
98 Pepperdine
105 San Francisco
113 Loyola Marymount
132 Pacific
148 Santa Clara
218 San Diego
326 Portland

No Big East team
No ACC team

And with that said, in terms of academics and research, no college sports league (okay except Ivy league which is the best), can match the overall quality of the Pac-12. And that matters more that sports entertainment after all.....

Best, SH

spacehayduke

This is quite an interesting read on ESPN. Anyone left has to win 3 more games to win it all. Gonzo should be very worried about USC.........

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/31155500/reseeding-men-march-madness-2021-field-elite-eight

bronco2078

I assumed this thread was about Benny Hill and it was to say his stupid family was finally allowing his shows to be on TV again

Goldenage

Congrats on a great season. Everyone should be proud of them.

spacehayduke

Well one Final 4 breakthrough for the Pac-12. OSU completely imploded in the last 2 minutes of their game against my employer. Funny we only have had one bragging email so far and warning us to 'not group together to watch bc of covid but cheer on the Cougars!' (LOL), and that was before the Beaver game, I am assuming more to come given how much money they pour into this and they have to justify taking it away from academics and research. Beavs were so close - didn't rebound through the whole game, missed alot of free throws, both of which are basic execution issues and just not acceptable and astounding to me that semi-elite athletes lack fundamentals like this. And then becoming literally bumbling idiots in a tied game and handing it to the other team in the last 2 minutes. So happy for them to go beyond expectations, but simply amazed when teams fold like this. I would have rather they lose in a tight game at the end when both teams performed well..... Nevertheless, better than the painful early (mostly 1rst) round losses when I was a student in the late 70's early 80's when they were going in as #1 and #2 seeds.

Good for UCLA, disappointed in both USC and Oregon. Looking back at the past 4 years of class rankings, USC and Oregon both have elite talent, full of 5* and 4* players and rarely a 3* with mostly top 10 classes nationally. OTH, Beavs had one 4* on the team a few 3*, then I think they pulled a couple from their engineering classes to make up the bench. Ducks may have had their wings clipped by the big gaps in time between games 2 times over the season bc of covid protocols with other teams they were playing. But they played great some games, then stank in others so.......

Gonzaga, well despite my skepticism bc of being in such a weak league, they look really good - executing the fundamentals meaning well coached, smart players, but talented as well. Reminds me of the peak Golden State Warriors. I think UCLA and UH (against Baylor) have their hands full. Which reminds me, I need to make a bet with my collaborators at Baylor.....

Best, SH