MBB OGT: NCAA Tournament FINAL FOUR -- (1) Auburn vs (1) FLORIDA --April 5, 2025 -- 6:09 PM [CBS]

This photo makes a superb desktop wallpaper for those of us living in the heart of Vol Country.

 

What’s for dinner? Cougar Caserol! Go gators, national champions!

 

Re-watched this game last night. We really shut Broome down in the 2d half. AMart's two slam-dunks...amazing.

 

The guys that shut Broome down are all back, and each will be a little bit stronger and a lot more experienced. And if one of them goes down, I hear Mikic is ready to step up. From brief practice clips, I can see he's got potential.
We're going to miss Martin's top-flight athleticism, strength, and competitiveness. If he's not our best perimeter defender ever, he's gotta be in the top five. Right there with Brewer, Wilbekin, and Slap Maxwell.

 

Noteworthy: Broome asserted some level of "big-boy-basketball" in his pre-halftime interview, implying whomever was on him wasn't up to the task. Woops.

Also, on AMart's first breakaway dunk, you can see Broome looking back over his shoulder as he ran down the court already blaming a teammate that Broome must have felt made the mistake. Seriously, dude, focus on stopping our guy unless...you can't keep up with big-boy-basketball.

 

Chinyelu was phenomenal that second half. IIRC, we didn't give much help (maybe late help, if Broome was going left?), but he was insanely physical with Broome. Reminded me of Pat Young at times. Impossible to dislodge.

 

I look forward to Chiny developing even more than he did over the course of last season.

And improving his FT %. :-D

 

He almost certainly dropped a half-dozen spots in the NBA draft after that game. EXPOSED!

 

Chinny Chin Chins has a soft shooting touch. I think he'll improve his free throws by 10% this season.
Handlogten (18%) needs to improve by 40% just to reach sub-respectable. I think we'll see some hard work begin to pay off.

 

Handlogten only took 11 free throws last year, so he is hardly a 18% shooter. Was 38% on 34 attempts the previous year, and 54% on 70 attempts as a freshman at Marshall. Hardly a good shooter, but also not 18%.

 

2 for 11 = 18.2%. Forgive me for rounding to the nearest whole number. The 2 he made were all over the place before falling in. Not a pretty sight.
Don't get me wrong, I love Micah and hope he gets a lot more minutes this season. He's a great rebounder and a shot-alterer. He might even beat out Chins for the starting center spot. But that FT %... ugh.

 

Uh, that wasn’t even remotely the point. I was talking about sample size.

 

Broome was protected by the refs and should've fouled out in the first half! I think he is going to be a bust in the NBA. He's rigid, and only has one or two low post moves. He doesn't rebound well. He doesn't run the floor well at all. Also likes to talk shite that can't be backed up and then is quick to blame his teammates for making a mistake. He'll be toxic to established team chemistry.

 

Sadly, that's my read as well. He has a remarkable opportunity before him. Maybe he will appreciate it and take advantage.

 

About Broome and Clayton- what a travesty that Broome was SEC POY when Clayton was clearly the better leader, teammate, and overall player.
Exhibit A was this game! Clayton dominating, and Broome being left astounded like he didn't know what hit him.

 

Not sure where the Broome hate is coming from. Our staff loved him and recruited him hard. Just couldn't sell him on playing alongside Castleton and Jitoboh.

Kid is terrific passer for a big, high level scorer in the paint and facing up, elite rebounder and rim protector. He definitely knew how to sell foul calls, but he was a great college player who probably doesn't have the size, athleticism, or shot to excel at either the 4 or the 5 in the league. His season last year was phenomenal, though. Led the best conference in recent memory in efficiency, defensive win shares, win shares, win shares per 40m, offensive plus minus, and overall plus minus (and, frankly, he may have been better the year before, when he shot better everywhere on the court and had better per possession stats on both ends).

 

Speaking for myself, it's not "hate". Good grief. I don't "hate" anyone...almost. It's a specific criticism based upon what I saw., and heard. I would be as critical of one of our guys if he demonstrated behavior that said "Who's fault is this - cuz it's not mine!" right in the middle of a breakaway situation. I have learned most about myself when others confronted me with uncomfortable impressions I have made on them/others. I don't consider those people "haters."

Maybe our staff would have coached him to be more selfless in a situation, and not look for blame in a team game. I think I saw that from our coaches and players, Chinny's Technical in the NC game, e.g..

 

"Hate" is such a strong word. It's not so much "hate" as it is "intense, all-consuming dislike."

 

One has a tropjy; the other one has a ring, more money, a Final Four MVP, and will get a statue in his honor.

Broome got what he did due to Pearl’s gaslighting of the media. It is Pearl who was exposed this past year.