Useless Hoops Post

So Florida beat UCLA for the title last night, and looked pretty much unstoppable in doing so. I think in this case, the best team in the nation won the title, but for further discussion, see Dawg Sports.

As for my theory on shooting in Domes, I'm not sure how much it held water. Florida clearly had the best frontcourt in the final four, but I think I may want to tweak things a little. It seemed like the better defensive teams won, and I think that may be because good defenses alter shots. Altering shots in an environment like a dome has a significant effect on opponent's field goal percentage. The reason, I think, is that the dome already places a stress on shooting, so good defense exponentially troubles shooters. It's just a theory, but I think there is anecdotal evidence. And that also reminds me...

Yesterday morning on 790 The Zone, the mayhem crew interviewed George Mason coach Jim Larranaga. They asked him if he was disappointed with play or why he thought they didn't play as well as they could've. The very first reason he gave was "the atmosphere in the dome". While he didn't reference shooting background specifically (though Mike Bell did refer to that in a later discussion), he did mention that they hadn't played in an environment like that all year (while Florida had the previous weekend). He also talked about how the crowd in a dome isn't as excited and active. I hadn't really considered that, and I can see it. Before anyone imputes sour grapes or excuses in Larranaga, he really said the main thing was that Florida was really good (which I think was the main reason they lost). Talent should show through in the end, but I still think the dome thing might have some effect. I'll look for that next year.

Finally, something totally useless...

I was thinking the other day about how odd it would be, if Florida won, that the SEC would have the only two teams in the country to end the season with a win. The thought is that every team either loses in the NCAA Tournament, the NIT, or they didn't get into either post season tournament and lost in their conference tournament (if they didn't lose in their conference tournament, they would've gotten into the NCAA and lost there). But the more I thought I about it, I remembered that the Ivy League doesn't have a tournament (the Pac-10 didn't a few years ago, either). Plus, not every conference includes every team in its conference (the Big East, most notably), which is something I'm not all that crazy about. Plus, there are still some independent teams.

So it turns out that there are 11 teams which have a current winning streak though the SEC teams have the longest:

Florida: 11 games (last loss at Alabama Feb. 26th)
South Carolina: 5 games (last loss to Florida March 12th)
Texas A & M - Corpus Christi: 5 games (Independent, last loss at Houston Feb. 7th)
Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne: 3 games (Independent, last loss at North Dakota State Feb.20th)
Nicholls State: 1 game (Southland Conference, last loss at Lamar March 1st)
Utah Valley State: 2 games (Independent, last loss to Idaho State Feb. 21st)
Princeton: 2 games (Ivy League, last loss at Brown March 3rd)
Cornell: 2 games (Ivy League, last loss to Brown Feb. 25th)
South Florida: 1 game, which broke a 17 game losing streak! (Big East, last loss to UConn March 1st)
Harvard: 1 game (Ivy League, last loss to Cornell March 3rd)
Wagner: 1 game (Northeast Conference, last loss to LIU-Brooklyn Feb. 24th)

And that I'm certain intrigued exactly none of you.