ESPN2 Eight Man Panel Breaks Down The Game

[TallTitan34]

A panel of 8 guys are discussing each game.  They will begin discussing the bottom half of the East region after the commerical break.

EDIT: RECAP BELOW

[gcreegs]

does anyone know when times are being relased?

[4everwarriors]

Prior to Thursday's games.

[Doris Burkes Thong]

A panel of 8 guys are discussing each game.  They will begin discussing the bottom half of the East region after the commerical break.

Thanks for the heads up TallTitan.

[TallTitan34]

Experts include Jimmy Dykes, Fran Frachilla, Len Elmore, Andy Katz, Adrian Branch, Mark Gotfreid, Mark Welch, and someone from Illinois I didn't catch.

Fran: MU gives max effort all the time. Lost the points of the big 4 last year. All guys he never heard of.  

Len: Undersized but forces the other teams big to get them.  UW has same size as MU. Guard play evenly matched.  Similar styles and something will have to give.  MU is battle tested.  Depends on how officals call it.  If UW needs to adjust if officals allow physical play.  Butler is the key guy.  

Jimmy: UW plays in soft league and hasn't seen anything like the will and blow you up factor MU has.  UW won't have time to adjust to MU's style.

Katz:  UW one of last teams in winning tourny.

U of I guy: Doesn't say alot to win PAC-10 tourny.  Texas tech exposed UW defensively.  MU will eat UW alive. MU toughest team in college bball.

Others:  UW wants to beat you by scoring not defense.  MU's defense can take UW out of their game plan.  Hard to adjust to MU.  MU doesn't have set game plan.

[DawgDentist]

Experts include Jimmy Dykes, Fran Frachilla, Len Elmore, Andy Katz, Adrian Branch, Mark Gotfreid, Mark Welch, and someone from Illinois I didn't catch.

Fran: MU gives max effort all the time. Lost the points of the big 4 last year. All guys he never heard of.  

Len: Undersized but forces the other teams big to get them.  UW has same size as MU. Guard play evenly matched.  Similar styles and something will have to give.  MU is battle tested.  Depends on how officals call it.  If UW needs to adjust if officals allow physical play.  Butler is the key guy.  

Jimmy: UW plays in soft league and hasn't seen anything like the will and blow you up factor MU has.  UW won't have time to adjust to MU's style.

Katz:  UW one of last teams in winning tourny.

U of I guy: Doesn't say alot to win PAC-10 tourny.  Texas tech exposed UW defensively.  MU will eat UW alive. MU toughest team in college bball.

Others:  UW wants to beat you by scoring not defense.  MU's defense can take UW out of their game plan.  Hard to adjust to MU.  MU doesn't have set game plan.

They have no Idea what UW can do. I promise you that. They based everything they said off a loss to Texas Tech several months ago. We are not a finesse team, we are a physical team that thrives on defense creating turnovers. If you are going to believe the scouting report from the TT game then you will all be in for a shock. I'm sure MU is going to be tough, I really can't say, the only games they show here besides Pac 10 games are Tennessee, Duke, NC. Someone at ESPN is a Vol, I'm convinced. Anyway, those guys, as I mentioned have not seen UW play, especially over the past month. I look forward to a good game, and of course, with my purple glasses I have to believe the Huskies will pull out a close one.

[AlumKCof93]

The guy from Illinois is Stephen Bardo and that's Tim Welch, the former Providence coach.

They were very complimentary towards MU as Titan said and as the WU fan above mentioned, they see WU as a soft team but that may be based on just the Texas Tech game.  I'd hate for an analysis on us to be based solely on our DePaul game. 
Its interesting how this team has gone from a team that we'd all have been thankful to get in the tourney to a team that now we see as a sleeper to the Sweet 16.  I see Dickie V just picked us to get there.  As long as MU continues to fight.  I like our chances.  But as Buzz has said, this team needs to focus on every possession b/c our margin for error is so small that despite what I consider a favorable draw, this game will likely come down to the final minutes regardless of the type of team Washington is.

[willie warrior]

The consensus was that MU should win, because washington has not experienced anything like MU defense this year. Their league was soft this year.

This is not me saying this--it was the consensus of the experts. I know very little about Washington.

[chapman]

I already can't wait for the game to be over so the UW trolls go away.  They're more annoying than the UW we're more familiar with.

[HylianHero]

I already can't wait for the game to be over so the UW trolls go away.  They're more annoying than the UW we're more familiar with.

I wouldn't go THAT far.

They're just coming over to defend themselves against all these people saying that they are terrible and soft and they play in the Pac Ten/Twelve. Nothing wrong with that.

[OhioGoldenEagle]

I wouldn't go THAT far.

They're just coming over to defend themselves against all these people saying that they are terrible and soft and they play in the Pac Ten/Twelve. Nothing wrong with that.

I don't mind them defending themselves, but from the way that they are portraying their team, it's as if we're playing a #1 seed.  To paraphrase....."Poindexter = stud, Thomas = stud, we're deep and have 2 of the best on ball defender's in the nation, smothering defense that leads to fast break dunks".  From the UW fan's perspective it's as if MU is playing some sort of crazy a$$ hybrid of Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of hell" Arkansas Razorbacks team and a high scoring and NBA talent-rich UNC team.  I understand they like their team, but come on!  They finished 3rd in a Pac10 that is arguably the weakest it's ever been since the expansion of the NCAA tournament.

[BrewCity83]

But they started out slow.  They have gotten it all together now.

[muwarrior69]

They have no Idea what UW can do. I promise you that. They based everything they said off a loss to Texas Tech several months ago. We are not a finesse team, we are a physical team that thrives on defense creating turnovers. If you are going to believe the scouting report from the TT game then you will all be in for a shock. I'm sure MU is going to be tough, I really can't say, the only games they show here besides Pac 10 games are Tennessee, Duke, NC. Someone at ESPN is a Vol, I'm convinced. Anyway, those guys, as I mentioned have not seen UW play, especially over the past month. I look forward to a good game, and of course, with my purple glasses I have to believe the Huskies will pull out a close one.

DawgDentist,

Have any links to UWashington sites....thanks.

[Big Papi]

Sounds like the key to this game will be turnovers.  A matcup between a team that does not turn the ball over vs a team that forces a lot of turnovers. 

We have been impressive with our ball handling but we do have spurts in games where we do turn it over.  Nova forced us into some. 

If UW does gamble on steals, we should have some very good open looks with our passing.  If we hit our shots anywhere close to our average, we should win.  Probably will be another close game.

[JWags85]

I don't mind them defending themselves, but from the way that they are portraying their team, it's as if we're playing a #1 seed.  To paraphrase....."Poindexter = stud, Thomas = stud, we're deep and have 2 of the best on ball defender's in the nation, smothering defense that leads to fast break dunks".  From the UW fan's perspective it's as if MU is playing some sort of crazy a$$ hybrid of Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of hell" Arkansas Razorbacks team and a high scoring and NBA talent-rich UNC team.  I understand they like their team, but come on!  They finished 3rd in a Pac10 that is arguably the weakest it's ever been since the expansion of the NCAA tournament.

I forgot which guy they mentioned "likes doing those."  I forgot that most players don't enjoy tossing down big dunks.

I personally am looking forward Overton who they keep mentioning that we will be calling him a thug by the end of the first half.  Now while I respect good defense, I am envisioning a really grabby player who does alot of pushing and chest bumping after steals and deflections.  I really don't know what to think of multiple fans of the same team calling one of their own a thug in team previews.

[KipsBayEagle]

That espn 2 program was the best analysis and commentary on the Tournament I have seen so far.  very thorough, very well informed, good tv.

[Big Daddy Z]

Vegas line out today is a Pick....so there you go. Vegas has no horse in the race they just call it like they see it.

[BrewCity83]

Vegas line out today is a Pick....so there you go. Vegas has no horse in the race they just call it like they see it.

No, they call it like they think the betting public will see it.  So there are even number of $$$ bet on each side.

[damuts222]

 I have been searching for UW Husky boards anyone found any?? I found 1, and I doubt its the main one because theres not many posts.

Yet they talk about there defense as if its amazing, from what I get looking at their results they score a lot, but give up a lot of points.