Yeah, we are good without him but we are nothing special without him. Teams that are nothing special max out at the S16.

Current 8/9 seed projected teams: Butler, Dayton, Utah, B.C., Okla St., Wisconsin, B.Y.U., and TAMU. Without Lawson we are in a dog fight against these teams imo.

Even without Lawson, the team is still damn good, and this is coming from a Dukie. No question he is the MVP of the team and gives the team a legit national title shot, but they're still a Final 4 contender without him.

I guess. The biggest difference between Duke and UNC this last 3 years has been Lawson. I think you overestimate how good LDII and Frasor are. Now don't get me wrong I like them both but they aren't on the same plane as Ty. It's an issue on the team. I don't think without being 100% are we that much of a favorite to goto the F4. Last year without Lawson we couldn't beat Duke at home.

If Ginyard was healthy and Zeller never got hurt on top of LDII getting more minutes--maybe. But at this moment, I don't think we can handle Lawson going down.

I'll just say this and then stop cluttering up the thread with UNC stuff:

If Ginyard was healthy, I think we'd be okay for a while* without Lawson. The problem is that Frasor is now the primary backup for Green and Ellington and if he's running point those two literally have no backup unless you want Justin Watts to play.

* - A while = ACC tournament and first round.

Basically, I think he sits out Friday's game and if we win he plays Saturday and Sunday. Who knows though. Either way I think he needs to play the entire NCAA tournament.

This...

Without Lawson they go from the favorite, to a team still worthy of a 1 or 2 seed.

Now if you take away Thabeet or Price from UConn, I think they go from a team worthy of a 1 or 2 seed, to a virtual non-contender...

I don't think you've watch enough UNC games this year (watched 25 probally). This team isn't that good sans Lawson. Lawson is the most efficient player in the country. He's more efficient than Blake Griffin, etc. He's more efficient than Tyler this year. He also leads the ACC in A/To as well as being our most clutch player.

I don't think UNC can win a national title without him, but still make a run. Apples to oranges though. Hopefully he's healthy for the tournament.

Sorry, I thought I clicked on the NCAA basketball thread. Carry on.

Air Force up 8 with 17 seconds left, about to pull another DePaul

LET'S GO MOUNTAINEERS

iowa st / ok st seems like it's gonna be a good game although most of you probably can't watch it. iowa st up 5 still early but is ok st a lock or do they need this win?

WVU is just playing outstanding defense, attacking every offensive rebound with length and force, and attacking the basket and shooting well right now.

Sometimes the shooting isn't there like it is tonight, but this WVU team defends and rebounds offensively better than any team I've ever rooted for by an incredible margin.

It's getting close to halftime and ND has had exactly 1 nice, easy look (and they missed it). WVU looks a lot like Memphis at times, with a lot of length and athleticism, but they can shoot a lot better.

(But obv probably not quite as long/athletic)

brackens has 15/10 in first half. he's a stud

how does louisville lose to nd by 30

god they look so bad

best player that noone knows.

Why is ND so bad this year? IIRC they didn't lose anyone significant from last year's team did they?

Also, which team(s) in the first eight out do you think deserves to be in?

No explanation. They got everyone back, but are like nearly last in the country in creating turnovers and got worse on both offense and defense.

Played an insanely hard schedule, fwiw.

They've completely mailed it in the second half of the season. Just lazy on defense, zero defensive fundamentals, can't rebound to save their life.

ND is one example of many on why I cringe when I hear announcers harp on experience. Jackson looked like he'd be a stud as a freshman two years ago. Not a bad player but hasn't improved a lick.

it got semi close there for a minute, but ND just shot themselves in the foot a bunch fo times and it's back up to 18...

as much as i march madness, it can be as stupefying as the Super Bowl.

its alot more fun reading GoldenBears posts when I have futures on both of his teams.

Can I get a quick synopsis on why WVU has been ranked so high in Kenpom all year?

Mac I want to kindly say...**** 'cuse tonight, . I'm off to the bar to watch the game but Hazell is gonna be out of his mind tonight, haha.

FWIW I went to watch a ND practice while I was in HS (~5 years ago) and Mike Brey does absolutely 0 defense. None. They don't practice it. When there was a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT situation to stop practice, and tell a guard that he didn't close out good (because he didn't), that he wasn't forcing him baseline (because he was playing him straight up), that he wasn't low enough (he wasn't)-- Brey stood right next to the guy, said absolutely nothing. Never made a single defensive adjustment all practice. I think it was pretty safe to say that even in a 90 minute sample size I could have told you that he was a very poor D1 coach, because holes that he's got on defense are completely unforgivable. He just doesn't give a **** about that side of the ball.