Congratulations to therewas47 for being the first coach to win a national Championship in 3.0 with his Utah team in Wooden!

It was definitely a pretty improbable NT run.

Wow. Congrats, therewas47. You mowed through some good opposition.

Congrats to geneferrell and ejectgoose, too.

Thanks Spud. I'm sure you remember that I followed you at Kentucky State. Thanks for helping to turn that program around.

Very notable accomplishment

That's interesting in Smith Utah is rated #10 so is Utah the new 3.0 Mid Major powerhouse?

Posted by bagger288 on 4/13/2017 1:58:00 PM (view original):
That's interesting in Smith Utah is rated #10 so is Utah the new 3.0 Mid Major powerhouse?

Utah may be the best location/baseline prestige combo of any of the mid majors. I think Marquette might be second.

Also brings up something I've said for years. There should be an easier way to compare schools across worlds. I always want to know how successful others are/where their recruits come from at teams I choose but the current process of viewing teams from different worlds is too much of a pain.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but when looking at Utah's tourney run "improbable" doesn't begin to describe it. They were severely out manned in every game past the second round, and inexplicably destroyed knappj's far superior Miami team. This is not a case of a coach building a high rated team at a mid major. It is a case of a team getting really really lucky with the RNG when it mattered most. To me it raises questions about how the engine works as I have never seen a team win 4 consecutive games as a huge underdog against such superior talent. Miami was over 100 team rating higher, especially where it counts. If the sweet 16, elite 8, final four, and final were simmed 100 times, I would expect Utah to lose 95-98 of each. This is just too improbable to make sense.

Maybe game planning plays a lot bigger role now than it used too?

Posted by snafu4u on 4/13/2017 2:51:00 PM (view original):
I'm not trying to be a dick, but when looking at Utah's tourney run "improbable" doesn't begin to describe it. They were severely out manned in every game past the second round, and inexplicably destroyed knappj's far superior Miami team. This is not a case of a coach building a high rated team at a mid major. It is a case of a team getting really really lucky with the RNG when it mattered most. To me it raises questions about how the engine works as I have never seen a team win 4 consecutive games as a huge underdog against such superior talent. Miami was over 100 team rating higher, especially where it counts. If the sweet 16, elite 8, final four, and final were simmed 100 times, I would expect Utah to lose 95-98 of each. This is just too improbable to make sense.

Maybe game planning plays a lot bigger role now than it used too?

I've always felt game planning has a bigger impact in D1. Every team can have some amazing players and having just small correct adjustments can severely change the outcome. Playing in D2 I think it is harder to overcome a 40-50 point team rating difference compared to D1. I can agree some major RNG will happen, I plan for 1-2 games a season where I just drop them for no reason.

Duke shoots .575 against him. he wins on off boards, missed fts and steals.

Michigan St. loses at the line, it would have been enough to get me pretty ******. And, the 100 speed of his guard, seemed to be huge every game.

I don't know. It seems that athleticism value has been dropped.

Utah was already solid at 2.0, it's awesome in 3.0. A state and near states without much competition.

Posted by geneferrell on 4/13/2017 8:32:00 AM (view original):
Thanks Spud. I'm sure you remember that I followed you at Kentucky State. Thanks for helping to turn that program around.

Kentucky State might become known as a breeding ground for old coots who can coach. Glad to see you so successful there.

Therewas' team was not the best team in the country this year (no offense Therewas). However, It was definitely top 7 or 8 at the worst. Last year however, Therewas had a far superior team that I would have ranked 2 or 3rd in the country that got outed in the second round.

Great job Therewas!

Congrats therewas47. Great run and greater coaching.

One of the reasons I walked away 20 or 30 seasons ago was the What If portion of the game wasn't what I wanted to see. I wanted each team in DI to have a legitimate What If scenario. What If Western KY had a coach stay for 20 years and make Final Fours, Elite 8s and in one season go undefeated (only to lose in the 1st round). Why wouldn't that team become a powerhouse rivaling any other team in the World? It is What If, not let's mimic the real world. After doing what I said above, there were changes and I could no longer compete at WKU. That took much of the fun out of it for me. I heard there were some changes and I hope the ability to take a mid-major in DI to a powerhouse is among them. If I'm willing to put in the time and money then I should be able to make any team a annual contender with the right moves.