National championship game thread

[88Pitt88]

Kevin McHale, Dennis Rodman, Bobby Jones, Michael Cooper -- plenty of players came off the bench that were their teams 2nd-4th best player. Not comparing him to them as a player, maybe he's a borderline NBA role player at best, but I meant in terms of role for his team Jay Wright again went with one of his best players coming off the bench, like he did with Josh Hart.

DiVincenzo shot 48% from the field, 40%! from three, and had a 21 PER this year. He was their third best player below Bridges and Brunson (third on the team in win shares, win shares per minute, and PER.)

He played 29 minutes a game, including sitting in blow outs, so it's not like he came out of no where.

Agree with everything you said. My point was simply that even tho he is regarded as instant offense off the bench, he played considerably better than he really is. He was in a groove that entire tournament. I wonder when he is a starter next season, if we can expect to see that type of performance regularly? I doubt that he will dominate and become Nova's next Naismith award winner.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Fair enough!

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

The best team won, but the refs helped, and they happened to have a guy play way over his head. He is a great talent, but there is a reason he doesn't start.

Well, I've already made it clear that I hate them, so I'm not willing to give them credit for anything . . . but there are maybe 300 college teams that he would start for.

 

[below0w]

Agree with everything you said. My point was simply that even tho he is regarded as instant offense off the bench, he played considerably better than he really is. He was in a groove that entire tournament. I wonder when he is a starter next season, if we can expect to see that type of performance regularly? I doubt that he will dominate and become Nova's next Naismith award winner.

Given that nobody in the country averages 31 points per game, you could make that argument for any player. When I hear someone say that a player overperformed, I expect them to be referring to a bit player who had the game of his life. That doesn't describe DiVincenzo at all. He's still only a sophomore who averaged 13.4 PPG, shot 48% overall and 40% from 3. He also rebounds extremely well for a guard and is very good defensively. Even though he wasn't a starter, he played starter minutes all season. I really don't see any reason to expect him not to be great next season.

 

[DiehardPanther]

DiVincenzo is a future NBA player. Very talented.

 

[88Pitt88]

Given that nobody in the country averages 31 points per game, you could make that argument for any player. When I hear someone say that a player overperformed, I expect them to be referring to a bit player who had the game of his life. That doesn't describe DiVincenzo at all. He's still only a sophomore who averaged 13.4 PPG, shot 48% overall and 40% from 3. He also rebounds extremely well for a guard and is very good defensively. Even though he wasn't a starter, he played starter minutes all season. I really don't see any reason to expect him not to be great next season.

He is a great player and obviously a capable starter. That said, I think he did play the game of his life. He was chucking up 3's from 5 and 6 feet beyond the arc at times and wasn't even touching the rim. He had that unbelievable block on Matthews dunk attempt. He is a really good player, but I don't think anyone that follows college basketball, expected that from him. I would argue that through the rest of his college career and NBA career, he will probably never have another game like that.

 

[below0w]

He is a great player and obviously a capable starter. That said, I think he did play the game of his life. He was chucking up 3's from 5 and 6 feet beyond the arc at times and wasn't even touching the rim. He had that unbelievable block on Matthews dunk attempt. He is a really good player, but I don't think anyone that follows college basketball, expected that from him. I would argue that through the rest of his college career and NBA career, he will probably never have another game like that.

He's had similarly monster performances in much tighter games. Dropped 30 on Butler in an 11 point win. Dropped 25 on St. John's in a 7 point win. Was 1 rebound and 1 assist shy of a triple double against Xavier. He's an extremely explosive player and there's no doubt he'll have more games like that in his career.

 

[88Pitt88]

He's had similarly monster performances in much tighter games. Dropped 30 on Butler in an 11 point win. Dropped 25 on St. John's in a 7 point win. Was 1 rebound and 1 assist shy of a triple double against Xavier. He's an extremely explosive player and there's no doubt he'll have more games like that in his career.

Maybe he is the next Larry Bird and will dominate the NBA in a few years. I can't wait to see what next year is like for him.

 

[thebadby2]

Mo Wagner is the next Dirk Nowitzki

Not even close to that level of player.

 

[thebadby2]

This should have been a closer game. The superior team won, but the refs and Michigan's poor shooting coupled with DeVincenzo's going off, made this a 17 point game when it should have been alot closer. If Michigan shoots their normal 3 point %, and they missed a bunch of open 3's, and had the refs not called touch fouls on Michigan only, we could have had a good one.

The best team won, but the refs helped, and they happened to have a guy play way over his head. He is a great talent, but there is a reason he doesn't start.

You just described just about every loss by every team in every game ever played with your meaningless “if-come/but-for” analysis.

The much better team with the much better better players and a HOF coach won by a large margin. News flash-it wasn’t the refs.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Not even close to that level of player.

Yeah, Luka Doncic will be ten times the player Mo Wagner is. Nothing against Wagner, he just doesn't have the lateral quickness, explosiveness, etc. it takes to be a defender (neither does Dirk but he's an all time great offensive player based on his skills, something almost once in a generation you can replicate.)

My guess is Wagner goes #49 to the Jazz.

 

[thebadby2]

Yeah, Luka Doncic will be ten times the player Mo Wagner is. Nothing against Wagner, he just doesn't have the lateral quickness, explosiveness, etc. it takes to be a defender (neither does Dirk but he's an all time great offensive player based on his skills, something almost once in a generation you can replicate.)

My guess is Wagner goes #49 to the Jazz.

Correct. Not to mention Mo is only 6’10, which is an average to below average size 4 man in the league. And he doesn’t have a great handle. Decent for a college big man, but nothing close to what it would have to be for him to play on the perimeter in the NBA.

Very good college player, let’s leave it at that.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

They do these late games in all sports so that the West Coast can get home from work before the games start but you have a massive population in the East that can't watch due to it starting/ending too late. Look at MLB? How many American kids living in the Eastern time zone can watch the end of a MLB playoff game? The end of the CFP Championship which ends at midnight?

 

[88Pitt88]

You just described just about every loss by every team in every game ever played with your meaningless “if-come/but-for” analysis.

The much better team with the much better better players and a HOF coach won by a large margin. News flash-it wasn’t the refs.

If you were any more stuck up on yourself you would have to extract your head from your a$$. As for meaningless, that would be your opinion concerning most things.

 

[below0w]

Yeah, Luka Doncic will be ten times the player Mo Wagner is. Nothing against Wagner, he just doesn't have the lateral quickness, explosiveness, etc. it takes to be a defender (neither does Dirk but he's an all time great offensive player based on his skills, something almost once in a generation you can replicate.)

My guess is Wagner goes #49 to the Jazz.

Dirk may not be outstanding defensively, but he's certainly not terrible either.

http://www.nba.com/hoop/lowpost/dirk_nowitzki_is__great_defen_2011_05_10.html

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4698949/believe-it-or-not-dirk-plays-good-d

Mo Wagner gets exposed defensively on the regular in college. Mo Wagner is like an expired bottle of Great Value brand Dirk Nowitzki at best.

 

[TD_6082]

Kentucky also won a title in 1998, so they have 4. They played in the Championship game in 1997 & 2014 and came up short.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Dirk may not be outstanding defensively, but he's certainly not terrible either.

http://www.nba.com/hoop/lowpost/dirk_nowitzki_is__great_defen_2011_05_10.html

http://www.espn.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4698949/believe-it-or-not-dirk-plays-good-d

Mo Wagner gets exposed defensively on the regular in college. Mo Wagner is like an expired bottle of Great Value brand Dirk Nowitzki at best.

Dirk 2010-2015 or so was at least decent in terms of defensive box score numbers, that is true. Good links. My bigger point was more that calling any German player who comes along the next Dirk is like calling any white player who comes along the next Bird. These are some of the top players in basketball history. Wagner is a second round risk. It's silly.

 

[below0w]

Dirk 2010-2015 or so was at least decent in terms of defensive box score numbers, that is true. Good links. My bigger point was more that calling any German player who comes along the next Dirk is like calling any white player who comes along the next Bird. These are some of the top players in basketball history. Wagner is a second round risk. It's silly.

I agree with you. I wasn't nitpicking your comments on Dirk, I was further illustrating how absurd the comparison to Dirk was. Mo Wagner will be lucky to be the German Steve Novak.