College Basketball 06/07

[CanadianChris 0]

The CAA is facing their worst-case scenario, as none of the three teams pegged as at-large hopefuls (Drexel, Hofstra and Old Dominion) even made it to the tournament final. They might only get one bid now, when they were looking at two and possibly even three.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I have a feeling that situation in the CAA is one reason we won't have to hear Billy Packer complain about mid-majors this year. The major conference bubble teams seem to be doing things right, while the mid-majors are stumbling or winning the auto bids (i.e. Winthrop).

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm surprised to see George Mason making this kind of run again. It's just the CAA tourney, but still. I'm not sure exactly how much that loss hurt ODU since they are still 34 in the RPI. Drexel is the team that might be totally screwed though, since they dropped to 46 in the RPI and that's certainly no sure thing.

 

If GMU wins that game tomorrow against VCU, is there a team in the tourney that would want to face them? I hope they win, since I still harbor ill will towards VCU from the old Metro days.

[CanadianChris 0]

If GMU wins that game tomorrow against VCU, is there a team in the tourney that would want to face them?

I think pretty much every team would, considering they'll be a 15 seed at best and lost three starters from last year's team. Let's not get carried away.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

ODU better get in. Drexel might. Both of them have better resumes than George Mason had last year...

[Black Lushus 0]

Drexel holds a very recent win over the Mo Valley champion at said champion's court, that should count for something, no?

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Drexel also won at a bunch of decent Big East teams places.

 

Their weakness is they finished 4th in the Colonial...

[Black Lushus 0]

ah...ouch

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

The only good thing about being a UK fan right now is that Florida is on the opposite side of the bracket in the SEC tournament. However, we have to play Alabama in round one and then matchup against a determined Mississippi State team in the quarter-finals. However, I still hold out hope that we can at least make a run to the conference title game.

[bob_barron 0]

Is anyone NOT going to have Memphis out in the 2nd round? Honestly, aside from a lame consolation Maui win over UK and an OT struggle against a depleted Gonzaga, has Memphis beaten anyone this year? Oh, they also beat that amazing co-champ of the SEC West: Ole Miss~!

 

Don't sleep on Memphis. They scheduled a tough schedule and swept their conference, ranked #11th.

 

I have them going sweet 16

[EricMM 0]

BTW Go UMD!

[Above Average 0]

The CAA is quickly becoming a fairly strong conference, fourth isn't as weak a finish as you'd think. The three big wins out of conference would be enough if Drexel hadn't had two equally weak loses (Rider and somebody else), although being behind ODU and getting swept by VCU won't help matters, they beat Cuse and Nova. That's huge. While they are the definition of on the bubble, three teams should come out of the CAA. I really hope they get one of those bids.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Oh, I know it's not. The top 4 teams in the CAA are quality. But, we're looking at what gets these teams into the tourney, and the mid-majors will always be at a disadvantage.

[CanadianChris 0]

I would love to see the CAA get three bids. Anything that causes Billy Packer to throw another hissyfit on national television is OK by me.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Packer is already guaranteed to throw another old man hissyfit with S. Illinois likely getting a 3 seed, and a handful of other mid-majors in the 4-7 range.

 

The best part is he's always proven wrong.

[cabbageboy 0]

He might be proven right with SIU. If they are a 3 seed I can see them losing in the first round to someone like Western Kentucky or whomever. That said, they do deserve the 3 seed based on record and all that.

 

In regards to George Mason, I mostly meant that teams would be slightly alarmed at seeing them in the first round if nothing else due to last year.

 

Memphis played the worst schedule of anyone in the top 25, with Kansas a close 2nd (Kansas was worse until beating Texas, which boosted their SOS). Memphis literally hasn't played anyone worth a damn since losing at Arizona. The only other C-USA team in the top 100 is Houston, and they are in the 90-100 range.

 

Truth be told, I don't trust Nevada for similar reasons.

[Mik 0]

Sports Guy on Coach K and yesterday's foul:

 

Congrats to Coach K for questioning why Hansbrough was still in the game and inadvertently using Isiah Thomas' "he was asking for it" defense. And the Duke fans wonder why everyone hates Duke. If the roles were reversed, and this had happened to McRoberts, Coach K would have shown up for the press conference covered in McRoberts's blood, fighting back tears, urging for the offending UNC player to be suspended for the entire ACC tournament and basically looking like Jackie Kennedy in Dallas after the JFK shooting. God, I hate Duke.

 

I'm in the library writing a grant on my laptop and this caused me to laugh a little too loud for my surroundings. But I couldn't hold it in. Hilarious.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Oh, please. We know the real reason most fans hate on Duke and Krzyzewski. Enjoy this rare off year while it lasts.

[Mik 0]

If you are referring to it being the fact that they win all the time...well, that doesn't include me. I went to UNC (only for a year, but still...) I would hate Duke whatever their record is.

 

And Coach K truly is the worst (or best depending on perspective) at milking the officials and media and making himself and Duke appear better than reality. Rat-face is always pumping up the officials on the sidelines and saying the right things to the media but every indication is that he is the biggest, self righteous asshole in the world away from the cameras.

 

I never knew until recently but in one of his first years at Duke he yelled at Dean Smith to "go fuck himself" at the top of his lungs during the middle of a game. I can kind of respect the passion but at the time he was nobody. Show some respect for a legend.

[CanadianChris 0]

Even better was Simmons roasting Billy Packer over his commentary on the Henderson elbow...

 

I don't mean to pile on Billy Packer here -- OK, maybe I do -- but when you're already considered to be one of the biggest apologists on the planet for Duke basketball, is it really a good idea to keep making excuses for a Duke player after he just threw a malicious elbow at Carolina's best player with 15 seconds remaining in an 12-point game? That was one of the strangest sequences I've ever watched in a televised basketball game. Here's a rough transcript (I'm doing it from memory):

 

(We see a replay of Gerald Henderson measuring Hansbrough, flying over from six feet away, then delivering a Macho Man Savage-type elbow into Hansbrough's face one second after Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball.)

 

Packer: "Yeah, he was going for the ball ... that was NOT intentional."

 

(We see another replay of the same thing from a different angle -- this time, it looks like Henderson could potentially be arrested for what just happened.)

 

Packer: "See, from that replay, there's NO QUESTION that Henderson was going for the ball ... that was definitely an accident.)

 

(Jim Nantz thinks about mentioning that Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball before Henderson even raises his elbow, realizes that he has to announce games with Packer for the next four weeks, doesn't want it to be awkward, decides against saying anything at all, starts day-dreaming about the Masters.)

 

Packer: "Nope ... no way. He was going for the ball."

 

(Cut to a replay of Hansbrough walking off the court with his face broken in half.)

 

Packer: "Jim, if anything, that was probably Hansbrough's fault for going after Henderson's elbow with his face ..."

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Nantz doesn't get a pass due to the shit they pulled with Littlepage last March.

 

May they both choke on their vomit.

[Bored 0]

From Deadspin, thru Style.com, Syraucse, Florida, Ohio State, and Arizona are supposedly going to be wearing these uniforms during the conference championships.

 

Um, yeah.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

I like them. Very stylish.

[cabbageboy 0]

That looks like those baseball futuristic jerseys that teams wear from time to time.

 

Duke is at the point where they are much like UK. This isn't an off year, it's the culmination of years of dubious decline and now someone else is clearly the team to beat in the conference (UNC in the ACC, Florida in the SEC).

[Guest Oedipus Rex]

Spandex and culottes: better together!

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Those unis are so hideous. What was Nike thinking?

[BruiserKC 0]

Even better was Simmons roasting Billy Packer over his commentary on the Henderson elbow...

 

I don't mean to pile on Billy Packer here -- OK, maybe I do -- but when you're already considered to be one of the biggest apologists on the planet for Duke basketball, is it really a good idea to keep making excuses for a Duke player after he just threw a malicious elbow at Carolina's best player with 15 seconds remaining in an 12-point game? That was one of the strangest sequences I've ever watched in a televised basketball game. Here's a rough transcript (I'm doing it from memory):

 

(We see a replay of Gerald Henderson measuring Hansbrough, flying over from six feet away, then delivering a Macho Man Savage-type elbow into Hansbrough's face one second after Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball.)

 

Packer: "Yeah, he was going for the ball ... that was NOT intentional."

 

(We see another replay of the same thing from a different angle -- this time, it looks like Henderson could potentially be arrested for what just happened.)

 

Packer: "See, from that replay, there's NO QUESTION that Henderson was going for the ball ... that was definitely an accident.)

 

(Jim Nantz thinks about mentioning that Hansbrough had already been stripped of the ball before Henderson even raises his elbow, realizes that he has to announce games with Packer for the next four weeks, doesn't want it to be awkward, decides against saying anything at all, starts day-dreaming about the Masters.)

 

Packer: "Nope ... no way. He was going for the ball."

 

(Cut to a replay of Hansbrough walking off the court with his face broken in half.)

 

Packer: "Jim, if anything, that was probably Hansbrough's fault for going after Henderson's elbow with his face ..."

 

 

It was obvious Henderson was going to clobber Hansbrough. Stevie Wonder could have seen that. As for the ACC lovefest...Billy Packer and Duke Vitale both probably secretly long for being gang-banged by all the ACC coaches, especially Coach K and Roy.

 

Then again, I better qualify it as I'm a diehard Jayhawks fan and still bitter of the way Roy left a few years ago. He is still a traitor in my eyes and in the eyes of many in Jayhawk nation. But I don't think Roy really did anything wrong keeping Hansbrough in the game. It was like when Billy Tubbs used to say, "If I called off the dogs, then I'm accused of shaving points."

[Guest]

I don't mean to pile on Dick Vitale here -- OK, maybe I do -- but when you're already considered to be one of the biggest apologists on the planet for Duke basketball, is it really a good idea to keep making excuses for a Duke player after he just threw a malicious elbow at Carolina's best player with 15 seconds remaining in an 12-point game? That was one of the strangest sequences I've ever watched in a televised basketball game.

[Gert T 0]

VCU looks like they have this game locked up. And the major bubble teams breath a sign of relief.

 

They can go to sleep tonight and root for Butler to win on the road against Wright State tomorrow (Go Raiders!)

 

I would have no problem with 3 CAA teams getting in but it will be tough.

[Hawk 34 0]

Same old song and dance, Gonzaga is in.