A New College Hoops Thread.....

[iggymcfly 0]

Oh, I wasn't arguing that they'd get into the tournament. At least four teams will sneak in, and there will probably be five when it's all said and done. I was just saying the quality of the conference is a little down from years past, and that CUSA wasn't quite at the same level as the other power conferences this year.

[Alro 0]

Yeah I know U of L lost to UK by 2 but anyway who saw that game knows the deal there.

Yeah, they pissed away a 16-point halftime lead.

 

While on the subject of disappointing conferences, the SEC is down this year. There are typically more than two teams in the Top 25 from the SEC. The conference just doesn't seem that impressive this year.

[cabbageboy 0]

Oh joy, now I get to go off on a tirade on the U of L/UK game. Let's review:

 

1. Yes I will admit Sparks went all white boy on fire against us.

2. UK gooned Palacios. I swear all Rajon Rondo can do is steal the ball and eye gouge.

3. Without Palacios we had no inside game and had friggin Ellis and Otis out there handling the ball at the 3 pt. line...not good.

4. Sparks travelled before he was fouled on the last play.

 

Add that all up and it was just a bullshit, tainted win for UK. Be proud of the comeback, not the win itself. I usually hate talk of U of L and UK being in the same bracket, but this year I'll make an exception. I want UK again with a healthy lineup, say a 2/3 game in the Sweet 16.

 

And yes, the SEC sucks all sorts of ass this year. That league might get about the same as CUSA really...4 bids. UK, Bama, FL, and maybe Miss St. if they get their act together. Alro, have you noticed these Bama idiot fans? These people who think that they are going to the FF this year. I mean Jesus people, don't you realize that Elite 8 was a FLUKE last year?

[Alro 0]

Oh joy, now I get to go off on a tirade on the U of L/UK game. Let's review:

 

1. Yes I will admit Sparks went all white boy on fire against us.

2. UK gooned Palacios. I swear all Rajon Rondo can do is steal the ball and eye gouge.

3. Without Palacios we had no inside game and had friggin Ellis and Otis out there handling the ball at the 3 pt. line...not good.

4. Sparks travelled before he was fouled on the last play.

 

Add that all up and it was just a bullshit, tainted win for UK. Be proud of the comeback, not the win itself. I usually hate talk of U of L and UK being in the same bracket, but this year I'll make an exception. I want UK again with a healthy lineup, say a 2/3 game in the Sweet 16.

 

And yes, the SEC sucks all sorts of ass this year. That league might get about the same as CUSA really...4 bids. UK, Bama, FL, and maybe Miss St. if they get their act together. Alro, have you noticed these Bama idiot fans? These people who think that they are going to the FF this year. I mean Jesus people, don't you realize that Elite 8 was a FLUKE last year?

Palicos was not gooned. That kind of shit happens. Chuck Hayes received a broken nose a few games back but I don't think he was gooned. Hands flailing about will sometimes result in a finger to the eye. And so the refs made a bad call on Sparks, but the right call was made on Hayes's "block"?

 

One of my best friends is from Alabama, but he's an Auburn fan and as it stands he's just hoping for wins. I've not heard anything from Bama fans. Any SEC fan saying their team will go further than the third round has high expectations. The whole conference is just weak. Flukes are possible, but don't be expecting anything big.

[cabbageboy 0]

To answer some of this...I have seen Rondo gouge people in the eye in roughly FOUR games this year, so he's either trying to goon people or he's just reckless as hell going for the steal. Either way fouls need to be called.

 

As far as the block on Hayes, that's just a typical iffy charge/block call. Those can go either way. The Sparks play at the end was actually reviewed at length.

 

I'm mainly seeing the Bama goofs in chatrooms. Like last week they beat Ole Miss by 8 and Auburn by 5 and then come in the chat saying "We are awesome, we're going to the Final Four!" Meanwhile I'm thinking "You just beat Auburn by 5...."

[Vern Gagne 0]

Illinois dominates Michigan St. tonight. Michigan St. plays poor defense, leaving Illinois wide open for about 18 3 pointers. Illinois deserves credit for hitting the shots, but man...most of the shots were wide open.

[cabbageboy 0]

Just wondering but why was Michigan St. ranked #10 in one poll? I mean I know they are about 14-4 but doesn't 10 seem ludicrously high for them?

[iggymcfly 0]

Illinois played damn good ball tonight. They were executing their offense great and they were making everything regardless of whether they were guarded or not. Michigan State didn't really have a chance.

[CanadianChris 0]

Just wondering but why was Michigan St. ranked #10 in one poll? I mean I know they are about 14-4 but doesn't 10 seem ludicrously high for them?

Just one more reason why the polls are ridiculous. They haven't beaten anyone of note all season, and anyone who loses to George freaking Washington doesn't really deserve a spot in the top 10.

 

The real question now is, can Illinois run the table and finish with a perfect season? I think they can do it.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I was at the game last night, a few observations:

 

 

1. Is there any doubt that Head, Brown, and Williams are the best backcourt in the country? Those guys shot the lights out in a VERY hostile environment. Calm, cold, killers.

 

2. The Big Ten has the worst officiating in college basketball. Just horrible both ways. Somehow they managed to only call 13 fouls per team.

 

3. Illinois > MSU. The game went about as I expected. I can't say that I am upset that MSU lost, clearly they lost to a better team. I do however, say that I'm upset with HOW they lost. People saying they never had a chance were watching a different game than I was. That was definitly NOT MSU's best game last night. State shot very poorly, missing several open threes that they usually hit. It's too bad these two teams don't play again in Champaign, I'd love to see the Spartans get another crack at it.

 

4. Being ranked 10th was WAAAAY to high. Good team, not great, definitely not top 10. MSU will be there come tournament time, depending on seeding I'd expect 1, maybe 2 wins.

[iggymcfly 0]

It seems like these undefeated teams always pick up a loss late in the season, but I could really see Illinois being the exception to the rule. The thing is that all the games on their schedule where it looks like they might have a chance to lose, they play about ten times better ball and end up winning by double digits.

 

If I were going to guess, I'd say they do pick up a loss, maybe in the semis of the Big Ten tournament. Iowa looks like theyll be about a 4 seed, and they matched up pretty well with Illinois earlier in the year. The fact that they took them to OT in Champlaign will be plenty motivation to make sure the Illini beat them the second time around, even at Iowa.

 

However, after already getting by them twice, and being only a couple weeks away from the NCAAs, I could see Illinois finally letting up enough to let Iowa get a 12 or 15 point lead, and then not quite being able to make the comeback.

 

I will say though that Illinois (to this point) looks like the best team in college basketball since Coach K's dominant Duke teams of the early 90s.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Illinois already beat Wisconsin @ Madison, I really don't see them losing until the Big Ten Tournament, if then.

[cabbageboy 0]

Okay hang on dude. I like this Illinois team a lot but there is no way in hell they are even within 10 points of the 1996 UK team. My god that team had Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, etc. That's like 5 guys who went pro. I dare say that was the best team of my lifetime, and yes that includes early 90s Duke (hell they needed a miracle to get past a much lesser UK team in 92) and UNLV (in 90 they lost 5 games).

 

That said I do think Illinois is the best team I have seen this year, not sure why people are still on UNC's nuts. Isn't the RPI kind of a joke when Illinois isn't even #1 in it and yet BC is #2, despite the fact that the Illini have beat down Gonzaga, Cincy, Wake, Michigan St., Wisconsin, and escaped against Iowa?

[iggymcfly 0]

All right, let me modify that a little bit. With the pure talent, looking at the fact that great players don't stick around for college anymore, Illinois might not be the best. If they had to deal with a Georgia Tech team that still had Chris Bosh, a Syracuse team that still had Carmelo Anthony, or a North Carolina team that had LeBron James, they probably wouldn't even be the best in the country.

 

However, they have been the most dominant relative to the landscape around them. They play so well together that it seems like when they're really trying, no one can even keep within single digits. They held 30 point leads on Gonzaga and Wake Forest, and they haven't come close to being defeated. Their absolute superiority over the rest of the landscape is something that hasn't been seen since the UNLV and Duke teams of the early '90s.

 

(I could say it hasn't been seen in even longer if you want to talk about how Kentucky should have beaten Duke, but we still don't know what will happen in the tournament. Duke and UNLV did the same things in the regular season that Illinois is doing right now.)

 

As for a game between this Illinois team and the '96 Kentucky squad though? I think it would have been a really close game. Yes, Walker, Mercer, and McCarty were better pure scorers than anyone Illinois has, but UI shoots the ball and plays defense so well that they definitely would have kept it close. I say if they play ten games, Kentucky wins maybe six or seven times.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah that actually sounds about right. It is a bit ironic that UK in 1996 wasn't even ranked #1 most of the year (that was UMass, who beat UK in the 2nd game). Once they finally got to #1 again they lost to Miss St. in the SEC finals, heh. Both of those teams made the FF however.

 

It's funny but you never hear anyone talk about that UMass team from 96. Camby, the Puerto Rican connection of Padilla and Travieso, Dingle, Bright....one hell of a team, they had wins over UK, G'Town with Iverson, Wake with Duncan, etc.

 

Iowa is really the only team that has gotten close to Illinois this year, mainly because I think they have a nice mix of inside game and outside shooting.

 

I will say this about Illinois, they certainly own Cincy. Killed them in the 2nd round last year, killed them this year. Makes them aces in my book.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Who does Iowa have inside this year? I haven't had a chance to see them play yet. It seems like they always have one or two nice big guys and a couple of decent shooters. MSU plays @ Iowa on Saturday in what could be a second straight loss for the Spartans if they don't get their heads on straight after not getting it together last night.

[cabbageboy 0]

I kinda like Brunner for Iowa, good power forward if not outright center. I wouldn't worry about Iowa now though, Pierre Pierce got thrown off the team.

 

U of L beat Cincy tonight 77-70, real tough game. I swear this is the first time we've swept Cincy since the old school METRO day, haha.

 

It's funny watching that Duke/Wake game afterwards....it's a much more aesthetically pleasing game but I swear the ACC doesn't play any defense. I watched time after time as both teams went baseline, went into the lane, and I couldn't help but think "Gee, I didn't see either U of L or Cincy do that shit successfully tonight."

[Damaramu 0]

Well OU had a little bit of trouble with A&M at home b/c A&M figured out how to take Kevin Bookout away. Luckily Taj Gray decided to go nuts and The Sooners protect home court yet again.

I'm optimistic now about when Kansas comes to town.

[cabbageboy 0]

A & M isn't all that bad this year, so it wasn't shocking to see them play tough at OU.

 

I'm moderately worried about Sat.'s game vs. UAB down in Birmingham. They don't have a huge home court advantage but they are something like 16-4 and are probably headed for the tourney again. That said, their run and gun style plays right into our hands (U of L WANTS uptempo games), whereas with UK last year it gave them all sorts of trouble.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Gophers beat lousy Michigan to do too 5-3 in conf.play. A win Saturday vs Wisconsin would really improve their tournament chances, and give them a win over a Top 25 team.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

My 2 spotlight games for tonight...

 

Tennessee Tech(7-1 conference) vs Samford(6-2 conference). If Samford can win this game, they'll tie TT with a 7-2 conference record. Both teams defeated Eastern Kentucky who have a 14-6 overall record. TT is 12-7, Samford is 11-8.

 

Gonzaga(5-2) vs St. Mary's(6-1) pits the two best teams in the WCC in terms of overall record. St. Mary's won their last matchup 89-81.

[cabbageboy 0]

Heh, it must be a bad night of action when the best game is for 1st in the OVC. That league is way down this year. Besides, since only the tourney winner gets in the NCAA tourney these sort of games are moot.

[iggymcfly 0]

If you really want to see how weak of a game that is, all you need is to do some quick math.

 

(12-7) minus (7-1) equals (5-6)

(11-8) minus (6-2) equals (5-6)

 

Neither one of those teams had a winning record in non-conference games. They don't even deserve to go the NIT if they don't win their conference tournament.

[Vern Gagne 0]

This Grinnell-Beloit game could of been really good if Grinnell wasn't laying an egg. They average well over 100 points, make like 17 3pters a game, and only keep the 5 guys on the court for like 40 seconds.

[Mik 0]

Wow - a nice blowout over State tonight. I wasn't able to score any more tickets for this season so I'll be watching the rest of the games on TV like everyone else. Tarheels are looking damn good.

[cabbageboy 0]

The Tarheels are basically invincible at home this year. I still would put Illinois ahead of them due to beating a variety of good opponents and having some good road wins. UNC has yet to really win a tough road game.

[iggymcfly 0]

Fuck Carolina. When BJ Elder gets healthy, they'll be the fourth best team in the ACC.

[Mik 0]

Fuck Carolina. When BJ Elder gets healthy, they'll be the fourth best team in the ACC.

Quoted for posterity.

 

What a preposterous thing to say.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Huge win for Minnesota today. It gives them a win against a Top 25 opponent, and likely moves them into the Top 25 in the RPI.

[Damaramu 0]

OU loses at home to Texas Tech. So let me get this straight. We beat up on OSU, UConn, and Texas at home but lose to Iowa State and Texas Tech? I just don't get it.

 

But Texas got their asses whipped at home by ISU. And I laughed..and laughed hard. I hate Klotz and Buckman so much.