OT: D1

[IUP24]

But his game last night is all the explanation we'll ever need the next time someone (myself included) asks, why would you leave a perennial D2 power with National Championship hopes to play for a middling D1 team in a one-bid league. The answer to that question is Jack Gohlke.

It only takes one night on this stage to change your life. And these kids at least want a shot at it.

Ethan Porterfield, Dustin Sleva, Seger Bonifant, etc. can have 17 of those nights in a D2 career and 14 people on a message board are the only ones who know the name. Jack Gohlke has one single night like that on that stage, and millions of people know who he is. He'll be in the tourney's opening montage every year for the rest of his days. Good for him.

Maybe tonight Bryce Butler will follow suit.

Jack Gohlke will have a story to talk about on virtual meetings when he is working some corporate job very soon. But his life has not been changed forever outside of his own perspective of it. He'll be in the One Shining Moment montage this year. He'll be soon forgotten afterwards. We romanticize things like that far too much. In a month, nobody will know who he is.

I don't mean to sound cruel or harsh, or that I'm downplaying his moment, but he's not the first guy to have a big night for a small school in a big NCAA Tournament upset.

[Scrub]

Small world. IUP held him to 2-10 shooting from deep in the Crimson Hawks' Elite 8 win two years ago.

Tonight he's the biggest star in college basketball. What a game he just had.

Just checked the stats. WLU held Gohlke to 0-1 shooting from 3 in just 6 minutes of action. Perhaps injured that year? Or just hadn't broken into the rotation yet.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

But his game last night is all the explanation we'll ever need the next time someone (myself included) asks, why would you leave a perennial D2 power with National Championship hopes to play for a middling D1 team in a one-bid league. The answer to that question is Jack Gohlke.

It only takes one night on this stage to change your life. And these kids at least want a shot at it.

Ethan Porterfield, Dustin Sleva, Seger Bonifant, etc. can have 17 of those nights in a D2 career and 14 people on a message board are the only ones who know the name. Jack Gohlke has one single night like that on that stage, and millions of people know who he is. He'll be in the tourney's opening montage every year for the rest of his days. Good for him.

Maybe tonight Bryce Butler will follow suit.

And ... he'll now be the poster boy for future D2 stars to leave D2.

[Scrub]

Small world. IUP held him to 2-10 shooting from deep in the Crimson Hawks' Elite 8 win two years ago.

Tonight he's the biggest star in college basketball. What a game he just had.

But his game last night is all the explanation we'll ever need the next time someone (myself included) asks, why would you leave a perennial D2 power with National Championship hopes to play for a middling D1 team in a one-bid league. The answer to that question is Jack Gohlke.

It only takes one night on this stage to change your life. And these kids at least want a shot at it.

Ethan Porterfield, Dustin Sleva, Seger Bonifant, etc. can have 17 of those nights in a D2 career and 14 people on a message board are the only ones who know the name. Jack Gohlke has one single night like that on that stage, and millions of people know who he is. He'll be in the tourney's opening montage every year for the rest of his days. Good for him.

Maybe tonight Bryce Butler will follow suit.

[Chuck Norris]

Samford got hosed so bad. That block couldn’t have been any cleaner.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Small world. IUP held him to 2-10 shooting from deep in the Crimson Hawks' Elite 8 win two years ago.

Tonight he's the biggest star in college basketball. What a game he just had.

Huh…I remember that now. The entire time I kept thinking that kid looked familiar but I had only watched part of one Oakland game this year so I couldn’t place him. Now I know.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

From playing at Hillsdale College in one year to beating Kentucky in the next.

Small world. IUP held him to 2-10 shooting from deep in the Crimson Hawks' Elite 8 win two years ago.

Tonight he's the biggest star in college basketball. What a game he just had.

[JDonAB92]

From playing at Hillsdale College in one year to beating Kentucky in the next.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Kentucky got smoked by a former D2 player (who drained 10 treys).

I love Calipari but he won't survive this loss.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Calipari gonna be at Clarion next year if he loses this game. Wow

[Chuck Norris]

They'll win and the drive-home radio will be 90 percent Steelers, 9 percent Pitt Snub and 1 percent Dukes.

I still have my Sirius radio subscription from when I bought my car so I’ll be listening to the games, lol.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Duquesne up 8 at halftime

They'll win and the drive-home radio will be 90 percent Steelers, 9 percent Pitt Snub and 1 percent Dukes.

[Chuck Norris]

Duquesne up 8 at halftime

[IUP24]

On the D1 topic, I've long felt that Tony Bennett was way overrated as a head coach. I've also long felt that UVA is way overrated as a basketball program in general. Let's look at their tournament history that surrounds their 2019 run.

2017 - Lost to Florida 65-39 in the round of 32
2018 - Blown out of the building by 16-seed UMBC in the round of 64
2019 - Won the national championship after legitimately losing twice in the NCAA tournament. Perhaps the luckiest stretch to end games in NCAA Tournament history
2021 - Lost to 13-seed Ohio in round of 64
2023 - Lost to 13-seed Furman in round of 64
2024 - Lost to Colorado State 67-42 in the First Four

Oof..

People talk about Purdue and Matt Painter. There is no coach who's perception and reputation is inflated more than Tony Bennett for no reason. His style of basketball is atrocious to watch and it simply does not win in one game elimination settings. Had he not walked out of the locker room for that game against UMBC and his team, which was 10x more talented than UMBC, just been allowed to play, UVA wins that game easily. Over coaching and trying to grind games out, limit possessions, and play offense deep into the shot clock has been proven time and time again to win over the long haul of the regular season, but lose in March.

[IUP24]

Embarrassing

It's almost like people should simply watch basketball and not pick teams on metrics.

I'm not trying to sound like a salty Pitt fan, but UVA was playing horrific basketball down the stretch. At some point, how a team just simply looks watching them play should be a real evaluator. Pitt was better than UVA. Beat them head to head. Had more Quad 1 wins (which we were told meant something). Had a higher NET ranking (which we were told meant something). Had more road wins and had better wins on their resume overall (i.e. @ Duke).

There were other teams who you could justifiably given UVA's spot to as well other than Pitt. They should all have had a case to have been upset watching that last night. Virgina was not playing good basketball.