College Basketball 06/07

[snuffbox 0]

Badgers ran over poor Penn St today. One week from tomorrow it will be the huge game at Columbus.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I have a feeling Vanderbilt is going to be one of the more dangerous teams in the NCAA tournament this year. However, I still don't know whether I'd put them as the winners of a first round game considering that they are Vanderbilt and have never had success in the past when I picked them to win a few games in the tournament.

 

Kentucky is getting beaten by Alabama right now and seems destined to lose another game and fall to 3rd in the SEC East behind Florida and Vanderbilt. Pretty frustrating considering that the reason we are losing this game is the same as against Tennessee: digging ourselves into a hole early, rallying, and then screwing it up by making dumb turnovers down the stretch. Also, this team gives up WAY too many inside points.

[Bored 0]

Stanford crushed Oregon 88-69 as the Ducks have now lost 6 of their last 8 and are now very much on the bubble.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah baby! U of L gets an amazing last second 3 from Jerry Smith to beat the Evil Marquette 61-59. Good lord, U of L can now possibly end up 12-4 in the conference. How on earth is this possible???

[Guest]

If SC beats the Sun Devils today, they could lose out and probably make the tourney. That's a very unusual feeling.

[nogoodnick 0]

Stanford crushed Oregon 88-69 as the Ducks have now lost 6 of their last 8 and are now very much on the bubble.

It's starting to look like this slide could cost Ernie Kent his job. There have been rumblings for the past few years and they're starting up again. Missing the post season 3 straight years coupled with his inability to recruit some of the best in state talent ever certainly doesn't help him. If it all goes down Oregon suddenly has some new options. The new Athletic Director is great friends with Gonzaga's Mark Few and even flew him down for a Ducks football game. Few is also from Creswell, Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon as well. Mark Few has spurned offers from better schools but perhaps this is his dream job.

[Bored 0]

Found a little site that updates daily the various bracket projections that are out from 30 different websites.

 

The Bracket Project

[2GOLD 0]

Florida State has no chance in hell of making the tournament right now so I don't know what in the world some of those sites are thinking. Without Douglas, they have no one to run the point and set up the offense. Plus he was the second best offensive weapon behind Thornton and the Noles needed both of them to even have a remote shot at the tournament. They really needed Jason Rich to step up his game but instead he has forgot how exactly to shoot a basketball.

 

When Douglas went down, the Noles went down with him.

[Bored 0]

Well a lot of the sites listed haven't update this week. For the ones that look they are updated through yesterday only one of them still had FSU in the tournament.

[snuffbox 0]

Wisco is #1. Never thought I'd see the day.

 

Next Sunday is gonna be big.

[cabbageboy 0]

OSU is #1 in the coaches poll, which is of course a total farce given that Wisconsin has 1 less loss than them and a head to head win to boot. And that OSU is ahead of FL when FL beat them by 26.

 

U of L is ranked in the AP poll! #20 baby! Now we can go out and lose at UConn this week and drop from the rankings next week.

[snuffbox 0]

I've been ignoring the poll with Ohio St ahead of Wisco. I can't begin to imagine how someone could think that. It's very possible that OSU can win on Sunday but until they do they really shouldn't be any higher than 2nd, and probably third behind Florida but their loss is more recent so I guess that remains a viable component of college polling.

[SilverPhoenix 0]

Georgia Tech's improved a lot. They're actually better than Duke right now (not to say they'll beat them in Cameron Indoor) to the point that they're probably the third or fourth best team in the ACC. Also, they're resume's pretty good as they went 12-2 in non-conference play including a neutral-site win over #9 Memphis and a competitive loss to #7 UCLA.

 

If they go 2-3 the rest of the way and win their first game in the ACC tournament, that's 20 wins overall. Can you really justify holding out an ACC team that played a tough non-conference schedule and picked up 20 wins? Also, the Sagarin rankings (the premier computer rankings IMO) currently have Georgia Tech ranked #19.

 

If you're worried about Louisville's spot getting taken (which it won't, they're a lock now unless they totally blow the rest of the season), your enemy isn't the proven 20-win power conference teams. It's the bullshit teams from semi-major conferences like Xavier and UNLV who have the same overall record as a team like Georgia Tech but play a vastly inferior schedule.

 

Oh, and just to clarify, I'm not trying to hold Georgia Tech down to 20 wins either. That's just a conservative threshhold. I think they've got a great shot to knock off either Duke or UNC, and I could see them doing well in the ACC tournament too.

 

One more interesting stat for you:

Record vs. Top 50

Georgia Tech: 7-5

Louisville: 1-6

 

Okay, time to give you some numbers. No Teams, no Conferences. Just numbers.

 

Team A:

 

W-L: 17-9 (7-5)

RPI: 45

SOS: 42

Last 10: 5-5

 

Team B:

 

W-L 21-6 (9-4)

RPI: 12

SOS: 43

Last 10: 8-2

 

 

From this information only, which team deserves the tournament more? And which team is which. (You'd be surprised whose A and B)

 

Now, lets be fair here. There's a lot more to this than these 4 numbers, especially the signature and quality wins the teams have. However, their overall SOS is the same, and Team B has amassed more wins and has a better Last 10 Record. If Team A is to be included, you cannot give Team B a hard time, no matter the conference.

 

As for the other team to be mentioned....They're another issue altogether.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

The RPI is flawed for that conference though when BYU is 20th...

 

Whose best road win is Wyoming, or some team miles away from the NIT.

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah, I don't put much stock in the RPI. Sagarin ratings and SOS/record vs. Top 50 by those ratings are a lot more important as far as I'm concerned.

[cabbageboy 0]

Why would I be worried about U of L's spot being taken? U of L is likely to end up 12-4 or 11-5 in the league, so we're likely to get a bye in the Big East tourney. I like to look at teams in terms of not only what good wins they have but are there any bad losses. U of L has had 2 dubious losses this year, to Dayton and UMass (UMass isn't all that bad really, I think tied for 1st in A-10...still shouldn't lose to them though). Otherwise the losses have been to Zona, UK, ND, Quette, Nova, and G'Town. The only team I'd say of all those that is conclusively better than U of L is Georgetown. They would whoop our asses 9/10.

 

Georgia Tech? They had a bizarre Maui win over Memphis where Memphis blew a huge lead, beat Duke as well (hasn't everyone this year?). But good lord, they lost to freakin Miami (#161) and Wake Forest (#118) in conference play. If GT ends up 7-9 in the ACC and misses the tourney, they have no one to blame but themselves for not beating those dregs.

 

UNLV is pretty good this year, I dunno if they should be #14 in anything though. Couple of nice wins like Nevada (I think without Fazekas though?) and TX Tech on the road to prevent Knight's win. They did lose to Wyoming and UC Santa Barbara though, but UNLV always was good for a loss to someone like UCSB even back in the day when they were amazing.

[LooseCannon25 0]

Georgetown is looking unstoppable right now. Now ranked at #12 baby!!!! I personally think they should be inside the top 10 right now. This team is finally starting to put it all together and I can see them making it to the Final Four, barring any poor performances in the big dance.

[CanadianChris 0]

I can see them making it to the Final Four, barring any poor performances in the big dance.

I know what you were trying to say, but I just found this really funny. "This team should win unless they play poorly and lose."

[cabbageboy 0]

I'd be highly interested to see a G'Town/Florida rematch in the tourney, say in the Elite 8. Georgetown is the one team that gave FL fits last year in the tourney and they will be a better seed this year. Georgetown has all sorts of size (and unlike Pitt, it's QUICK size). G'Town also doesn't have a truly bizarre loss that could be a warning sign, the 5 losses have been to Oregon (#32 RPI), Duke (#10 RPI), Nova (#19 RPI), and Pitt (#4 RPI). The one possibly odd loss was to Old Dominion but ODU is actually #44 in the RPI.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

MSU/Wisconsin tonight, thankfully my fiance made dinner plans for us with some friends so I will be spared from watching the beating State is going to get.

[iggymcfly 0]

In addition to Memphis (#8 Sagarin) and Duke (#11 Sagarin), Georgia Tech has also beaten Clemson (#19), Purdue (#31), Georgia (#37), and Florida State (#39) twice. That's a pretty solid resume. Yeah, they're young and they had a couple of road hiccups early in the year, but they're capable of beating anyone in the country when they're playing well. If they can get three wins down the stretch (including the ACC tournament), at least one of which would have to be over another Top 30 team, I don't see how you could possibly hold them out.

[snuffbox 0]

MSU/Wisconsin tonight, thankfully my fiance made dinner plans for us with some friends so I will be spared from watching the beating State is going to get.

 

You probably should have watched.

 

That Drew Neitzel fellow had an awesome game.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

MSU/Wisconsin tonight, thankfully my fiance made dinner plans for us with some friends so I will be spared from watching the beating State is going to get.

 

You probably should have watched.

 

That Drew Neitzel fellow had an awesome game.

 

 

I wish I could have, saw the end and bits and pieces while at Outback. I'm shocked.

[snuffbox 0]

I had a feeling it could happen...MSU had beaten Wisco the last 5 times, or something, at home.

 

They mentioned after the game it was the first time MSU had beaten a #1 team at home.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Yeah, but that's hardly surprising considering their past history in choking in big games.

 

By the way, that Drew Neitzel fella is pretty darn good eh?

[snuffbox 0]

This was the first MSU game I've watched this season in full...and if this was any indication, he's VERY good.

[cabbageboy 0]

A part of me thinks Wisconsin was looking ahead to OSU tonight, yet MSU is a strong enough team that they really wouldn't be looking past them. Maybe Wisconsin just isn't that amazing of a team? I have to admit I'll be torn about what to do with Wisc. on my bracket come March. My instincts are telling me "2nd round upset" yet Wisconsin usually advances a decent while in the tourney. That's mainly because Wisconsin bores me to tears, so I'd rather they be eliminated.

 

UK managed to eek out a win over a helpless LSU team without Big Baby tonight. LSU did get the back door cover in the last second though, 70-63.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

Mike & Mike are making a ridiculously big deal out of COURT-STORMING! Jay Bilas: "We at ESPN need to treat this like a streaker and just not show it so that nobody will think this is a good idea."

[snuffbox 0]

Golf-claps & business suits at college basketball.

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

"Storming the court actually works against them because it validates how good Wisconsin is."

"Michigan State has no right to storm the court after a win. They won a title in 2000!"

 

Have we talked about any Chief Illiniwek faggotry here yet? I don't keep up with college sports, thus I don't keep up with college sports threads at the board.