College Basketball 06/07

[Guest]

And Oregon too!

[Mik 0]

UNC made some poor decisions down the stretch. The two main culprits were Brandan Wright and Wayne Ellington so hopefully this loss will be a positive and teach these freshmen some better shot selection - especially down the stretch.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Nova beat U of L today. Looked like total crap at times though, but we needed that one after the close loss to Pitt and the ref screwjob at ND.

 

Now comes the jackasses from City Avenue in what is their Final Four, Super Bowl, World Series, and Armageddon all wrapped into one, the Holy War on Tuesday night. I can't wait to be in the student section chanting "Nova rejects" at the SJU section for what should be a nice win.

[cabbageboy 0]

Games like that U of L vs. Nova game need to be outlawed. I'm a U of L fan and alum and I could hardly stand to watch that dreck. I wonder if Pitino ever watches tapes of his 1996 UK team that averaged 91 points a game and then wonders what happened to his career when U of L goes out and is lucky to score 53. It's maddening really since this is the best D U of L has played in about 25 years. What's more frustrating is that a lot of the time the half court execution is actually there, but the Cards just can't make any fucking shots! Good passing, ball movement, wide open shot...clank. I swear it happens about 15 times a game.

 

Ah, fuck it. At least Sosa hit that 3 at the end there to give U of L the backdoor cover of that 5 1/2.

 

UK did beat Arkansas on the road today, probably their best win this year so far. I'll go ahead and say it now: UK will beat Florida next week at Rupp. FL is on a 14 or so game win streak and is due for a loss.

[therealworldschampion 0]

At least you didn't have to be there in person. Wachovia Center was absolutely dead today compared to the Texas and Pitt games, and there was that 7 minute stretch where Nova couldn't hit anything. That was back-to-back bad games by Reynolds, hopefully it's just him being a freshman.

 

The next 3 games are a bit easier with St. Joe's at home, Seton Hall on the road, and Cincy at home. We absolutely need to win all 3 and get to 18-7 with the stretch of Georgetown, @Marquette, Rutgers, @UConn, and Syracuse as the last 5 games. They should beat Rutgers, probably lose at Marquette, and probably need to get 2 against the other 3 teams, which would put them at 21-9 and probably only needing one win in MSG to nail down an at-large. I think we can pull a win out in Storrs possibly because UConn isn't too great this year.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

Virginia continues its ACC dominance beating Miami tonight. Dull game though, with some shitty ref calls and the highlight being the guy in front of me shouting "I'm fucking your daughter!" to the referee.

[cabbageboy 0]

You know, Nova isn't exactly a slow down team and you saw that game with U of L today. What will happen when U of L plays PITT?? Hide the women and children!

 

Oh and Kansas choked away a 10 point lead tonight against A & M. I don't think it's a huge stretch to go ahead and an early call on KU losing in the first 2 rounds.

[2GOLD 0]

Florida State scored a huge win over a ranked opponent, FINALLY dropping Duke at Duke. Moves FSU to 17-6 with a 5-4 ACC record, so about the same damn spot they were in last year. Course they also have a win over Florida so they are probably in better shape this season than last season if they can keep on it and score a couple more wins. I'd say 4 wins gets them into the tournament with 21-10. That would make them 9-7 in the ACC with a few key quality wins.

[cabbageboy 0]

Good win for FSU there to go along with the FL win earlier, but I have to pose one obvious question. Is there anyone who won't have Duke going down in the 1st or 2nd round this year?

[2GOLD 0]

Good win for FSU there to go along with the FL win earlier, but I have to pose one obvious question. Is there anyone who won't have Duke going down in the 1st or 2nd round this year?

 

I really don't know, it all depends on who they get in the tournament. I think they are the weakest of the top ACC teams but that really wasn't that much of a shock considering who they lost. If Paulus grows up really quickly, they might have a shot at the Sweet 16. If they get a tough bracket with Paulus playing this way, I cannot see them getting past the second round.

[cabbageboy 0]

For the hell of it I hope they put Duke in that Lexington bracket for the first 2 rounds. They won't make it out alive.

[MFer 0]

I would love to see it happen but it probably won't because they're Duke. They're one of those teams that "you know will always be there in the end." Kinda like the Patriots, Colts, Spurs, Yankees, USC football and a few others recently. Those type of teams may not win it all(or even make it to the title game like Indy before now), but they'll always be in a position to do so.

[lomasmoney 0]

I am amazed that Michigan is actually somewhat in the game against Ohio State. The team needs this win since they get like negative fan support on campus and from the administration. They play in a dump, they can't even get the school to build a practice facility, and the fans could care less since they were so awful when they were under NCAA sanctions. Maybe a win over our biggest rival will wake the people here in Ann Arbor up.

[MFer 0]

Well it was a good effort but it didn't happen for Michigan. I was actually more concerned about Conley than Oden and it turns out I was right. Michigan can still get in they finish strong against some quality opponents but the fans aren't confident at all about that happening. I would imagine Amaker would be gone if he doesn't make the NCAA tournament seeing as this is his 6th season at UM and hasn't made it there yet.

[Gert T 0]

Good games tonight, UCLA v. USC, Duke v. UNC & Florida v. Georgia

 

Plus some other good conference games in lesser conferences.

[Mik 0]

Nice win for the Heels.

 

God, I hate Josh McRoberts.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I dislike Hansbrough more, but that's probably just for the mouth-breathing. McRoberts looks like a really big 8th grader.

[cabbageboy 0]

You know, I have to wonder if Duke is in jeopardy of not making the tourney at this point. They are now 5-5 in the league and check out this remaining schedule:

 

2-11 at Maryland

2-14 at BC

2-18 Georgia Tech

2-22 at Clemson

2-25 at St. John's

2-28 Maryland

3-04 at UNC

 

I mean good grief. I'll say they split those Maryland games, so that puts them at 6-6 in the ACC. I think they'll beat GT at home, so that's 7-6. BC and Clemson will both pay them back most likely, so that's 7-8. I wouldn't advise Duke to need to win at Chapel Hill to reach .500 in conf. They would need to steal that Maryland game on the road most likely.

[Guest]

So close to beating UCLA tonight, and now to Arizona, where it seems as if the Trojans haven't won there in years.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

You know, I have to wonder if Duke is in jeopardy of not making the tourney at this point. They are now 5-5 in the league and check out this remaining schedule:

I imagine Duke would get in even at 7-9, which seems absurd but might not be. They beat Air Force, Georgetown, Indiana, and Gonzaga before conference play, which has their RPI currently sitting up at #13. They'd still be 21-12 overall. Plus, they're Duke; the name recognition and respectable overall record would probably make them one of the first "bubble" teams selected.

[cabbageboy 0]

Personally I think that it should be almost a rule that if you don't finish .500 in conf. play that you don't make the tourney. The ACC isn't too amazing this year anyway, so 7-9 shouldn't get someone in. The Big East last year was an insanely tough league and nobody under .500 got a sniff. This ACC? Friggin VA Tech, UVA, and BC are atop the league. Not exactly Murderer's Row there.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I generally agree, but there are a few arguments against there. Take a team like Virginia Tech, who has a very weak out of conference schedule, lacking the marquee opponents that Duke had. If they finish 10-6 in the ACC with no big wins out of conference, why is that better than Duke finishing 7-9 in conference plus the wins over 4 tournament teams? No one would argue that a 10-6 ACC team should be left out this year.

 

As for the Big East last year, the main reason nobody under .500 got a look was because 8 teams were already dancing. Considering the amount of good mid-major/high-major teams last year, it would have been hard to take a Cincinnati over, say, a Bradley. Plus, didn't most of the .500/sub-.500 bubble teams drop out in the first round of the conference tourney?

[CanadianChris 0]

Gonzaga's leading rebounder and second-leading scorer was indefinitely suspended after being arrested for drug possession. Looks like we don't need to worry about them making any noise in the tournament this year (not that they would have anyway).

[Mik 0]

And those fuckers beat the Tarheels back in December. They looked great that game; but haven't since.

 

They won't even make the tournament, I'm thinking.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I love that they had shrooms in the car too. They do it big in the pacific northwest.

 

Not a whole lot of big games going on today, though Georgetown over Marquette was pretty impressive. All the commentators are making a big deal out of UCLA losing to West Virginia, but didn't just about every major site call that upset? Ultimately does no harm to UCLA and a whole lot for WVU's tournament chances. Also, Virginia's finally going down, getting hammered by Virginia Tech. Kind of expected to drop this one anyway, but it's been an ugly loss.

[MFer 0]

Florida/Kentucky was a damn good game. Kentucky lost by 3 but killed themselves by going 3-22 from beyond the arc and 12-21 from the foul line.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah, that FL vs. UK game is one that all but screamed out loud that Florida has zero shot at a repeat. I mean wow. UK was complete dogshit in that game aside from getting Noah and Horford in foul trouble. Ramel Bradley is a maddening player...he at once cost UK that game and kept them in it as well. I was hoping for a Tubby meltdown in the press conference: "The Gators are who we thought they were!"

 

I thought WVU had a good shot at beating UCLA today as well, west coast team travelling OOC this late to the east. I'm not sure why people think WVU needed that win desperately though. They are doing very well in the Big East and are likely in the tourney regardless.

 

Why is it on AOL Sports they say G'Town over Marquette is an upset? I mean G'Town was kinda favored to win that by 7 1/2 today.

[Bored 0]

You can already start signing up for March Madness on Demand so you can watch all the games. I'm shocked CBS is still doing this for free as I thought for sure after doing it last year for free they'd start charging a fee.

[CanadianChris 0]

Watching the Georgia Tech/UConn game today, they put up a graphic breaking down the top 25 by conference. I was stunned to find out that the Pac-10 has SIX ranked teams. Wasn't it just a year or two ago that we were all saying the Pac-10 might not even get three teams in the tournament? Times sure do change in a hurry.

[Mik 0]

You can already start signing up for March Madness on Demand so you can watch all the games. I'm shocked CBS is still doing this for free as I thought for sure after doing it last year for free they'd start charging a fee.

 

Thanks for the heads up.