Well Well - Those Tony Bennett Love Threads

[K OKeefe]

I don't care about uva basketball. Or Bennett. Basketball with scores in the low 50s is boring as hell and I don't watch it.
I can virtually guarantee you that 5 years from now if someone brought up their program the one thing I would remember is this incredible first round flame out as a 1 seed against a 16.

I can can guarantee that 5 years from now virtually no one will want to remember this past season for Iowa. In fact, I really do not want to remember last year either. When was the last time Iowa basketball was even relevant? I would suggest Dr. Tom's last year and the last Sweet 16 run. It takes real discipline to play defense like Virginia or Nova and I guess that is why they were both #1 seeds.

 

[Carlton]

I don't care about uva basketball. Or Bennett. Basketball with scores in the low 50s is boring as hell and I don't watch it.
I can virtually guarantee you that 5 years from now if someone brought up their program the one thing I would remember is this incredible first round flame out as a 1 seed against a 16.

Winning is always entertaining to me. Beating the burger boys is particularly gratifying.

 

[Uwe.Blab]

You don’t get it but that’s ok. Bennett seems to be a great guy, classy coach. It’s not as much reveling but enjoying the irony.

There were multiple threads touting Bennett’s ‘boring ball’ quoting another poster as the miracle cure for our program. Well when it mattered the most on the biggest stage it failed too.

Go check the UVA board and let us know how they feel about this season now.

bennett ball is not the cure for our program. Watching last night reminded me eerily of Likliter. Butler and Bennet have been trying to set college basketball back 75 years. When i was filling out my bracket, and i am no expert on this years field, i knew that rigid style would not last 6 games even though they were overall top seed. Sad!!

 

[SDHawkDoc]

I can can guarantee that 5 years from now virtually no one will want to remember this past season for Iowa. In fact, I really do not want to remember last year either. When was the last time Iowa basketball was even relevant? I would suggest Dr. Tom's last year and the last Sweet 16 run. It takes real discipline to play defense like Virginia or Nova and I guess that is why they were both #1 seeds.

It depends on how you weight importance of the events of the season. For me, it has always been NCAA tourney results. Everything else pales in comparison.
Give me NC state '83, or 'nova '85 any day of the week over uva this year. Being a #1 seed in the tourney is only relevant in that it theoretically lays out an easier path to the title.
Here's an example. If you could get Iowa an NCAA title in a year when they finished say 5th in the league and then told me they'd never do better than 3rd in the B1G for the rest of my lifetime, but they would make it back to the final 4 twice more and win another title at least once I'd say do it now. No #1 seeds. No B1G titles. No BTT titles. My response is, so what. Winning the big prize, the NCAA tourney title, is superior to all else.

 

[DodgerHawki]

bennett ball is not the cure for our program. Watching last night reminded me eerily of Likliter. Butler and Bennet have been trying to set college basketball back 75 years. When i was filling out my bracket, and i am no expert on this years field, i knew that rigid style would not last 6 games even though they were overall top seed. Sad!!

Good grief people. Separate a one-game event from the body of work. Virginia, a place with some tradition but not exactly a hotbed, just finished a year where it went 31-3 and won the regular season and conference tournament, and was the No. 1 overall seed. And they played like crap and lost to a team they beat 99 times out of a 100 at least. Such is sports. It has very little to do with the style of ball. Lickliter played slow at Iowa with crappy players. That combination is hard to watch. Iowa this year under Fran was just as hard to watch for me, due to the level of indifference showed playing defense. Even more infuriating than the Lickliter years as during those years I could see many of the people playing were just not up to Big Ten caliber. This Iowa team could score but couldn't be bothered to try on defense. No thanks.

 

[papabeef]

They go 31-3 and dance annually and you are bragging about Fran beating past umbc teams as your “in your face” line? How sad is your life?

how sad is YOUR life that you commented on his opinion ?

 

[spbc7]

Hilariously terrible OP. The UVA offense was 31st in offensive efficiency. They had got it done on both ends of the floor all year. You don't run through the ACC like they did purely with defense.

The only problem with Bennett ball is the lower number of possessions presents a smaller margin for error.

 

[And1Hawk]

Hilariously terrible OP. The UVA offense was 31st in offensive efficiency. They had got it done on both ends of the floor all year. You don't run through the ACC like they did purely with defense.

The only problem with Bennett ball is the lower number of possessions presents a smaller margin for error.

Well it all nets to nothing with the worst loss in tourney history. The tourney defines the season.

 

[spbc7]

Well it all nets to nothing with the worst loss in tourney history. The tourney defines the season.

No doubt it puts an extremely sour taste on the season for UVA. Congrats on deciding a style of play doesn't work because of one game though. Genius.

 

[Uwe.Blab]

Hilariously terrible OP. The UVA offense was 31st in offensive efficiency. They had got it done on both ends of the floor all year. You don't run through the ACC like they did purely with defense.

The only problem with Bennett ball is the lower number of possessions presents a smaller margin for error.

which is why they were never going to win this tournament. oh, sure, I thought they would get out of round 1, but there are too many good teams to get through for this style of play.

 

[And1Hawk]

No doubt it puts an extremely sour taste on the season for UVA. Congrats on deciding a style of play doesn't work because of one game though. Genius.

Glad I could help you out.

 

[TampaHawkfan]

This thread can't be serious.. One game doesn't define a program or coach's entire existence.

Yeah, Fran and this year's 19 losses are sooooo superior to UVA. Some of you guys are hopelessly mired in homerism...

Get back to me the next time Iowa has a realistic chance of even getting past the second round. When was the last time that was a real possibility.. 2006?

 

[And1Hawk]

This thread can't be serious.. One game doesn't define a program or coach's entire existence.

Yeah, Fran and this year's 19 losses are sooooo superior to UVA. Some of you guys are hopelessly mired in homerism...

Get back to me the next time Iowa has a realistic chance of even getting past the second round. When was the last time that was a real possibility.. 2006?

Think about what you said here in the first paragraph and then the last. So if Fran is able to get an Iowa team to the second round that one game is going to change your view? That’s really what you are alluding too or why write the third paragraph? You are saying the NCAA tourney and the results in it matters most.

Read the opening monologue of this thread as this said nothing about a 19 loss season being better than UVA’s season. The only mention of Fran was noting that UMBC is the type of 250+ RPI team Fran loves to schedule and has blown out several times. That’s to give you a feel for the true depth of the gravity of that historic loss. Nothing said about applauding a 19 loss season. That’s a you narrative.

This was all about looking back at the love fest for Bennett ball by some of our fans regarding his defense first approach and pointing out the infallibility of any program. The irony is they just had the most horrific loss in NCAA tourney history and it was not even close —- 20 point blow out to the lowest ranked tourney team.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Think about what you said here in the first paragraph and then the last. So if Fran is able to get an Iowa team to the second round that one game is going to change your view? That’s really what you are alluding too or why write the third paragraph? You are saying the NCAA tourney and the results in it matters most.

Read the opening monologue of this thread as this said nothing about a 19 loss season being better than UVA’s season. The only mention of Fran was noting that UMBC is the type of 250+ RPI team Fran loves to schedule and has blown out several times. That’s to give you a feel for the true depth of the gravity of that historic loss. Nothing said about applauding a 19 loss season. That’s a you narrative.

This was all about looking back at the love fest for Bennett ball by some of our fans regarding his defense first approach and pointing out the infallibility of any program. The irony is they just had the most horrific loss in NCAA tourney history and it was not even close —- 20 point blow out to the lowest ranked tourney team.

Exactly.

This is not about Iowa's season somehow being preferable to uva's. Iowa stunk it up all year long. No signature wins. They were basically dreck the entire year. Just like a whole bunch of other teams. They weren't historically bad either. They didn't go 0 for the season, or even 0 for the conference slate. They were simply a garden variety bad team. Entirely forgettable.

uva's loss, on the other hand, is historic. It will be brought up as long as college basketball is talked about. It doesn't vacate what they did on the year. But it overshadows a regular season ACC title. And it's not really close as to which thing has more weight. The NCAA tourney is the pinnacle of the season. The ultimate goal of every team is to get into the tourney and go as far as possible. Sure a conference championship is nice. Getting to the final four, worth a lot more. Flaming out early in the tourney. Well, that's the narrative that carries forward to the next season. In uva's case, it's going to last a lot longer than the next year.

I find the style of Bennett's teams, just like Bo Ryan's, generally tedious. It's not what I want to watch. That doesn't mean it's a failure. Limiting possessions and keeping the scores low has won a lot of games for the right teams. But it's not the be all, end all. It's not the only winning way to play the game. This one loss doesn't prove that it won't work. But, it won't bother me at all if it puts a damper on the enthusiasm for low scoring, limited possession basketball.

 

[brokenarrow73]

They go 31-3 and dance annually and you are bragging about Fran beating past umbc teams as your “in your face” line? How sad is your life?

Not sad at all. 31-3 counts for exactly nothing but living in history as the first team ever to fall to the worst seeded 16. Try that on for size. UVA basketball will wear that badge of honor forever.

I wish we were 31 and 3

 

[Rudolph]

OP fail.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Fans get to appreciate whatever they want, but anyone, who doesn't think Bennett is one of the best coaches in college BB, knows almost nothing about basketball.

There are different ways to win, but it easier to win consistently if you play tough defense. Preferably, you are efficient on both ends. If you actually look at the statistics, Virginia was also very efficient offensively. I don't think it determined the game, but they also had just lost one of their better players a few days before the game.

If you don't like Bennett, which coach is better?

 

[iowa12]

Think about what you said here in the first paragraph and then the last. So if Fran is able to get an Iowa team to the second round that one game is going to change your view? That’s really what you are alluding too or why write the third paragraph? You are saying the NCAA tourney and the results in it matters most.

Read the opening monologue of this thread as this said nothing about a 19 loss season being better than UVA’s season. The only mention of Fran was noting that UMBC is the type of 250+ RPI team Fran loves to schedule and has blown out several times. That’s to give you a feel for the true depth of the gravity of that historic loss. Nothing said about applauding a 19 loss season. That’s a you narrative.

This was all about looking back at the love fest for Bennett ball by some of our fans regarding his defense first approach and pointing out the infallibility of any program. The irony is they just had the most horrific loss in NCAA tourney history and it was not even close —- 20 point blow out to the lowest ranked tourney team.

Syracuse has given up 49 to mich st. Both are known as great defensive teams like Virginia. We writing them off too? Any successful team in any sport...99% of them are great defensive teams. Hell, many of you think ferentz is some genius. He focuses exclusively on defense and fields some of the most boring gameplans annually. I’m not sure what to tell you

 

[HawkLogic]

Well it all nets to nothing with the worst loss in tourney history. The tourney defines the season.

So they lose 1st game in NCAA and that makes conference title not meaningful? The last time Iowa shared a regular season B1G title is around 1981.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Virginia went through a very strong ACC regular season schedule with only one loss and then won the ACC tourney. I think that is pretty strong evidence that Bennett has a winning formula.

This year's dance is crazy.

 

[Run&Blade]

It’s better to completely stink and never make tournament.

I guess some people feel that way.