Minnesota Sports Forum

Tonight is the first men's college basketball games I have seen this season.

The way that FDU team closed out that game against Purdue was terrific.

Kevin Carter for Providence does look a lot like his dad. I liked watching him before I know who he was.

Oscar O with a heck of a game and Coach Cal dogged his defense in the interview after the game with him standing right there. Lol That was cold but I couldn't disagree.

I haven't been able to watch much of this tournament, but I did see a replay of Marquis Nowell's terrific trick play in OT against MSU. For those who didn't see it, Nowell pretended he was having an argument with his coach (who was playing along). When the MSU defense relaxed, he threw a perfect alley oop pass to an open teammate for a critical bucket.

I chuckled because it reminded me of a similar trick play we ran back in high school. We had an out of bounds possession under our opponents basket. As our PG got ready to inbound the ball, I shouted to him from the top of the key "Hey, I'm the trigger man on this play". The defense relaxed as I slowly strolled toward my teammate, who then casually underhanded the ball to me for an uncontested layup. An outraged opponent yelled at the ref "They can't do that!", and the ref said "Why not?". It was fun, but my recollection is we didn't win the game.

I'm celebrating San Diego State's win today. My daughter played there so I have a natural connection. I'm thinking about going to Houston for the game Saturday.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I'm celebrating San Diego State's win today. My daughter played there so I have a natural connection. I'm thinking about going to Houston for the game Saturday.

I haven't watched much of Creighton this year but I watched the 2nd half of that game. I should have been cheering for Creighton but I found myself cheering for SanDiego state more. It was a fun game.

FNG wrote:I haven't been able to watch much of this tournament, but I did see a replay of Marquis Nowell's terrific trick play in OT against MSU. For those who didn't see it, Nowell pretended he was having an argument with his coach (who was playing along). When the MSU defense relaxed, he threw a perfect alley oop pass to an open teammate for a critical bucket.

I chuckled because it reminded me of a similar trick play we ran back in high school. We had an out of bounds possession under our opponents basket. As our PG got ready to inbound the ball, I shouted to him from the top of the key "Hey, I'm the trigger man on this play". The defense relaxed as I slowly strolled toward my teammate, who then casually underhanded the ball to me for an uncontested layup. An outraged opponent yelled at the ref "They can't do that!", and the ref said "Why not?". It was fun, but my recollection is we didn't win the game.

Nowell is a fun player to watch. I'll have to look up that play.

monsterpile wrote:

FNG wrote:I haven't been able to watch much of this tournament, but I did see a replay of Marquis Nowell's terrific trick play in OT against MSU. For those who didn't see it, Nowell pretended he was having an argument with his coach (who was playing along). When the MSU defense relaxed, he threw a perfect alley oop pass to an open teammate for a critical bucket.

I chuckled because it reminded me of a similar trick play we ran back in high school. We had an out of bounds possession under our opponents basket. As our PG got ready to inbound the ball, I shouted to him from the top of the key "Hey, I'm the trigger man on this play". The defense relaxed as I slowly strolled toward my teammate, who then casually underhanded the ball to me for an uncontested layup. An outraged opponent yelled at the ref "They can't do that!", and the ref said "Why not?". It was fun, but my recollection is we didn't win the game.

Nowell is a fun player to watch. I'll have to look up that play.

After his first assist in that game... I casually mentioned to everybody in the room... "that kid is incredible and Kansas State is winning this game because of him."

I'm not a huge college hoops guy, and that's waning even more with players being bought in NIL deals, so many transfers, and the local university's ineptitude. But every once in awhile, I get the "FEELS" watching college hoops that I don't get with the pros.

3 of the top of my head:

- Nowell this weekend. Those passes he was making are not normal for a college kid. Maybe the average PG would have one or two a month. And he was making 5 or 6 per game! His vision was spectacular.

- The first time I watched Tyus Jones in college. It was vs. Wisconsin. He had a nice line... 22 points, 6 assists and 1 TO. But it was HOW he did it that was amazing. I'd never seen a freshmen so composed with the ball. Not flashy. Not dominant. Just completely in command every way, every play.

- 2013 National Final. Michigan had FOUR legit NBA players among its top 4. And it had other NBA guys on the bench. Yet it was some random backup-to-the-backup undersized PG that gave me all the feels. I had never heard of Spike Albrecht, who came into the championship game averaging 1.8 ppg. The kid went for 17 points in the 1st half.