2023 Men's Basketball Atlantic Regional Tournament THREAD

[Columbuseer]

I don't like the general vibe that WLU fans seem to imply that WLU's side of the bracket is somehow a cakewalk...

If one says nova has a difficult bracket matchup, then it does not logically follow that wlu must have a cakewalk. Implying such is a fallacious argument.
This is an example of the logical fallacy of the undistributed middle, commonly found in journalism and social media ( for us or against us type argument).

Black Hills State could easily win it all.
But now that one has watched new haven and Mo st. Louis, who had the harder matchup - Nova or wlu?
Final 4 is a toss up imho.
Cal state San Bernardino destroyed Lincoln Memorial, which shocked me. But they have 4 or 5 ex d1 players.
Bhsu has at least 2 mid major level d1 players and a great coach. Their fans say they are better than last year when they beat #1 seed Nova by 10.

[Columbuseer]

It was clear even before the game what New Haven would be up against. WL goes 10-deep, runs everywhere, and has all kinds of offense and a pretty good defense too. WL had New Haven, a team that starts four seniors, indecisive and confused for a good part of the game. You guys are damn good and it isn’t just your system, you’re a legit 10-deep team. There’s no letup in that lineup.

New Haven has never made it this far before, and the 23 wins I think is the third-most they ever had. Great season, but WL is just at a different level.

Several new haven coaching decisions puzzled me. Do you know why?
1) why did new haven not substitute more? They had to have seen prior games where teams that play 7 collapse from fatigue and throw ball away, result in 40 pt defeats.
2) down by 40, why did the coach not empty his bench so subs could experience playing in an elite 8? The big man played 40 mins and he could not even jump anymore.
3) they ran no plays to get the big in scoring situations.

i have to share one story. My friend sat near floor in warmups. He could hear everything. Unh players were looking at wlu players, making comments and laughing. I surmise it is because they are not imposing physical specimens. They learned the hard way that wlu has not won a pre game warmup yet.

[Ship69]

Several new haven coaching decisions puzzled me. Do you know why?
1) why did new haven not substitute more? They had to have seen prior games where teams that play 7 collapse from fatigue and throw ball away, result in 40 pt defeats.
2) down by 40, why did the coach not empty his bench so subs could experience playing in an elite 8? The big man played 40 mins and he could not even jump anymore.
3) they ran no plays to get the big in scoring situations.

i have to share one story. My friend sat near floor in warmups. He could hear everything. Unh players were looking at wlu players, making comments and laughing. I surmise it is because they are not imposing physical specimens. They learned the hard way that wlu has not won a pre game warmup yet.

If they were laughing at the WL players they were rather foolish considering WL had taken down an IUP team that beat New Haven earlier in the season.

[Layton]

I watched some pre game warmups last year and we might have won a few lol. Had some impressive athletes

[Chuck Norris]

How ironic would it be if WL beat Crutch in the final by slowing the game into more of a half court affair? Because I think they would smoke Nova if they did that

Both teams will certainly have their hands full tomorrow so it may wind up a moot point, but it’s just a thought I had.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

If they were laughing at the WL players they were rather foolish considering WL had taken down an IUP team that beat New Haven earlier in the season.

You don't score any points in warmups. New Haven just took the worst E8 loss by any D2 team since the mid-80s.

I can say one thing ... If WL and Nova do play on Saturday, that will be the most white final maybe in history.

[Scrub]

If one says nova has a difficult bracket matchup, then it does not logically follow that wlu must have a cakewalk. Implying such is a fallacious argument.
This is an example of the logical fallacy of the undistributed middle, commonly found in journalism and social media ( for us or against us type argument).

Black Hills State could easily win it all.
But now that one has watched new haven and Mo st. Louis, who had the harder matchup - Nova or wlu?
Final 4 is a toss up imho.
Cal state San Bernardino destroyed Lincoln Memorial, which shocked me. But they have 4 or 5 ex d1 players.
Bhsu has at least 2 mid major level d1 players and a great coach. Their fans say they are better than last year when they beat #1 seed Nova by 10.

(My comment wasn't solely directed at you, Columbus. There was just a lot talk from WLU fans on the board about the finals match-up with Crutch. A lot of folks seemed too overconfident and seemed to be overlooking the two games leading up to Saturday. And granted, WLU handled New Haven just fine. But Black Hills is a scary team. I'm not even peeking at Saturday until I see whether we can hang with Joel Scott & company. And you're right--the way CSUSB handled Lincoln means they're a pretty scary bunch as well. This will be a very high quality Final 4.)

[TopperNation]

If they were laughing at the WL players they were rather foolish considering WL had taken down an IUP team that beat New Haven earlier in the season.

I was at the game and had first row seats and can tell you that New Haven did look over and smirk a few times at WL as they were warming up. I don't think other teams don't think WL can play, they just don't think that they can press, shoot, and play down right in your face basketball because of the way the players on WL look lol. Once you are in the game you realize "we got our hands full tonight", then you look up and you're down 20 with only 8 minutes gone off the clock in the 1st half lol.

[TopperNation]

I'm going to also say that the attendance last night was beyond cringe worthy. They may have to put these games later in the week, maybe even going into the weekend so that fan bases can at least have the chance to go. No offense to my WL fans, but 80 percent of the fans that came out were over 70 (probably retirees) lol. I felt like I was the youngest person there.

[Layton]

I’m hoping to go to the championship if we make it

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I'm going to also say that the attendance last night was beyond cringe worthy. They may have to put these games later in the week, maybe even going into the weekend so that fan bases can at least have the chance to go. No offense to my WL fans, but 80 percent of the fans that came out were over 70 (probably retirees) lol. I felt like I was the youngest person there.

Tuesday makes it tough. Basically taking a week vacation to go out there plus 5-6 days hotel, food, gas, etc.

If you stay Tuesday to Sunday (travel Monday) ... That's not a cheap week.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I’m hoping to go to the championship if we make it

Do it. Never know if you'll get the chance again.

[Scrub]

I'm going to also say that the attendance last night was beyond cringe worthy. They may have to put these games later in the week, maybe even going into the weekend so that fan bases can at least have the chance to go. No offense to my WL fans, but 80 percent of the fans that came out were over 70 (probably retirees) lol. I felt like I was the youngest person there.

Yup. They're trying so hard not to conflict with the D1 tournament, but they have to realize at this point that D1 & D2 have (I would guess) vastly different audiences. The result of their trying not to play when marquee D1 games are on is basically to create a Siberia atmosphere for D2. Instead, they should be doing everything they can to maximize D2 attendance because D1 games will never lack for eyes. Seems like a miscalculation to play the Elite 8 Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. Retirees (with good pensions) are about the only people who can afford (in both time and money) to make a week of it.

[IUP Extra Mile]

Agree with the high D2 portals.. No way to sustain your team....Best players on the WL, IUP, etc's of the world will use as stepping stone...So hard to be a coach at D2 level, adding this to it...

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Agree with the high D2 portals.. No way to sustain your team....Best players on the WL, IUP, etc's of the world will use as stepping stone...So hard to be a coach at D2 level, adding this to it...

Or, they go play for Crutch.

You just hope they are making the right decision. Some of these bush league D1 programs get 800 fans a game, etc.