Big12-Pac10 challenge

[Adelpiero]

Kansas vs. Arizona:
Oregon vs. Kansas State:
Oklahoma vs. USC:
Washington State Vs. Baylor
Iowa state vs Oregon State
Washington vs Oklahoma State
Missouri vs. California
ASU vs. Nebraska
stanford vs colorado
Texas vs. UCLA
Texas AM vs Arizona
Stanford Vs. Texas Tech

predictions:

Pac10 goes 8-4 Big12wins(KU,MU,OU,aTm)

[L45B]

UofA sticking with the Jayhawks at Allen FH right now.

[Degenerate]

KU is a 15-20 team masquerading as a Top 5 team.

Save the Sincerely, Football resets, Clones, I ain't reading them!

[Dinsdale]

Oregon dropped a game to St. Mary's last week.

Just sayin'.

OK, it wasn't on this board, but rather in real life...

But I called that shot.


It was a no-brainer.

See, Ernie Kent is a St. Mary's guy. He's been doing so well for himself, that St M's decided to invite Oregon to come play a game there, so they could honor Ernie with "Ernie Kent Night."

When I heard of this, I though to myself... "Let's see... an opposing team wants to honor a different team's coach, by scheduling a game in which they will be the overwhelming underdog. Don't even bother playing this one, just put it down as an 'L'."

Smelled that one coming a mile away.


Maybe Michigan should have had "Jim Tressell Day."

[JayDuck]

Oregon dropped a game to St. Mary's last week.

Just sayin'.

KSU also lost to George Mason, but at least GMU is a pretty solid squad.

Um. Saint Mary's is a legit team. A lot have them picked to be a legitimate threat to knock off Gonzaga for the WCC title this year. Gonzaga lost that game at Saint Mary's last year and SM returns a lot of experience. They were in the tournament a couple years ago and expected to get back there this year.

A lot of the media that pays attention had that Oregon game, at Saint Mary's, picked as a game Oregon would lose.

A loss at Saint Mary's is easily a "better loss" than a home loss to George Mason.

[Shine]

Kansas
Oregon
USC
Washington State
Oregon State
Washington
California
ASU
stanford
UCLA
Texas AM
Stanford

[JayDuck]

My guesses

Kansas
Oregon
Oklahoma
Washington State
Iowa state
Oklahoma State
Missouri
ASU
stanford
UCLA
Texas AM
Texas Tech

Big 12- 7
Pac-10- 5

[King Crimson]

A loss at Saint Mary's is easily a "better loss" than a home loss to George Mason.

saying this with no reference to K-State, i'm not sure about that being "easily" anything. GM was in the Final Four two years ago. if it counts that St. Mary's was "in the tournament a couple years ago" then why doesn't it count that GMU was in the FF?

i haven't seen enough to pick the games by game....but i'd go Pac 10 7-5. i think the Big XII will have a lot of teams in the 35-55 rpi range and a lot of home wins for home teams in conference to keep that balance such that no one really knows how good anyone is. some of these teams (Mizzouri maybe, possibly Oklahoma if things go really well, OSU hasn't sucked as much as i think they will, Tech is always getting the Knight boost, Baylor has a chance to be pretty good IMO--but history is against them, Nebraska has the league's best big guy in Maric, KSU has some talent, but could go foldo just as easily as succeed with a former high school coach and a lot of young talent, egos and injuries) may rotate in and out of the low 5 of the top 25 at times)

KU in the 5-10 range when it all shakes out (pulled that out of my ass, huh) and ATM or maybe Texas could be 15-25 rpi type teams. Texas is not deep at all, but Barnes pretty consistent getting weird and different lineups into the dance. i like what i've seen of ATM under Turgeon, but time will tell. they certainly won't have the guard play they had with Law...who certainly made J. Jones a better player with the entry pass. most importantly Aggie fans are buying in....for now. If they drop a few they shouldn't the Billy G, why have you forsaken us? crowd may cool things at Reed such that Billy G=all things good, Mark Turgeon=not Billy G.

[JayDuck]

saying this with no reference to K-State, i'm not sure about that being "easily" anything. GM was in the Final Four two years ago. if it counts that St. Mary's was "in the tournament a couple years ago" then why doesn't it count that GMU was in the FF?

It doesn't count that St. Mary's was in the tournament a couple years ago. I was simply letting you know, as it appeared you just had never heard of St. Mary's, so were dismissing them over GM because you'd heard of GM doing something recently.

A loss at St Mary's is easily better than a home loss to GM, whether you are sure about it or not. For one thing a road loss is always a whole lot better than a home loss. And St. Mary's and George Mason being equal teams, at best, the road loss is "easily better". Its college basketball, and teams lose on the road quite often. Even good teams.

With that said, St. Mary's is ahead of George Mason in both the coaches poll and the AP, so most people watching out there would say that they are at least equal teams.

[Degenerate]

Unless Kansas State wisely moved their campus to Orlando, FL, their game against George Mason was not a home loss.

[War Wagon]

Normally, I'm well into B-Ball mode by now, but for obvious reasons, I'm not really paying much attention so far this year.

So this caught me totally off gaurd.

KU is a 15-20 team masquerading as a Top 5 team.

[shakes head] I did NOT just read that coming from Jayhawk fan. Nope, that has to be a figment of my imagination. [/shakes head]

Maybe I has better start paying closer attention. Mizzou plays at Arkansas tonite. I reckon I'll give that game a good look and see what the Tigers have this year, because at this point I have no idea.

[King Crimson]

. I was simply letting you know, as it appeared you just had never heard of St. Mary's, so were dismissing them over GM because you'd heard of GM doing something recently.

my post you quote is my first in the thread. the "you" you refer to above is not me. i've seen St. Mary's play in Denver against CU and am familiar with St. Mary's as a quality team. i'd still take issue with your original statement that STM is an "easily better" loss, and i get your point about home-road but it's not a big deal.

[The Seer]

8-4 for Pac 10.

[Dinsdale]

Gotta love the Associated Press...

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Oregon had never, in its 105-year history, been in this position: on the road, facing a ranked opponent outside its conference.

Uhm... Georgetown was #18 when they played exactly one year prior, at Georgetown. Of course at that time, the AP was reporting that Oregon was 0-7 against ranked teams they'd played in the Eastern Time Zone up until that point.


Nice reporting. It's the same AP that reported that Autzen had never hosted a game between two top-ten teams before... even though it had happened already that season. Apparently, AP reporters have some short memories.

[Mook]

KU is a 15-20 team masquerading as a Top 5 team.

I think this is a pretty good Kansas squad. Their FT shooting sucks so far, but shitty FT shooting seems to be a constant at Kansas, maybe someday it will be good. I think when healthy this is a very good team. VERY solid in the backcourt with Robinson, Chalmers, Collins and Rush. Frontcourt a bit more iffy but Jackson plays with a lot of energy and between he and Kaun they are very big bodies who are adequate players, not great but adequate. And of course there is Arthur who seems to be getting better at staying out of foul trouble. He should be good for 15 pts and 8 boards per game. Off the bench Stewart has surprised me. He plays with a ton of energy and as long as he doesn't need to be relied on for more than ten-fifteen minutes a game he'll be a solid addition. The freshman will struggle for minutes as the season progesses but both should see a few minutes each game and don't appear to be the type to hurt the team. I think this is a legit top 5 and will stay there all year. I don't see a lot of weaknesses. They have 8 very solid players and a couple of freshmen who will play. The defense has been marginal, but I like the way they are approaching games against outmatched teams by trying to maximize the number of possessions and shots they have. I thought they played OK versus Arizona. They weren't shooting well, but they were taking good shots.......something they have done all year. They are moving the ball well offensively.

I'd be curious to know which 15 teams you think are better at this point in the season. And that's a genuine question, not trying to be a wiseass.

[JayDuck]

Gotta love the Associated Press...

Yeah, they said that on SportsCenter too. Pretty sloppy journalism. We also played at Illinois 3 years ago when they were #1, at Kansas, ranked #6, a couple years before that and at Cincinatti in like '03.

They obviously got confused on the real "stat", which is far less interesting. Oregon had never played a ranked, non-conference, team on the road while Oregon was also ranked at the same time. All it really shows is that Oregon is rarely ranked in the preseason.

[Mook]

I know this is late, but I would have gone with:

Kansas
Kansas State
USC
Washington St.
Oregon St.
Oklahoma State...............and Ok. State is BAD this year, scary bad.
California
Nebraska
Stanford
UCLA
aTm
Texas Tech

Which gives me a 6-6 split......who knows how it will turn out.

Kansas plays USC this weekend, doesn't that count as part of this "challenge".......if so, I'm going with Kansas.

[Mook]

I reckon I'll give that game a good look and see what the Tigers have this year, because at this point I have no idea.

The thing that impresses me about Mizzou is how hard they play under Anderson.........they remind me a bit of Mangino's football teams at Kansas, not blessed with lots of talent (and in Mizzou hoops case I mean right now) but they play hard and smart and will give everybody they play lots of trouble. If he can get the talented and disciplined players required to play his style of ball Mizzou will be very tough to beat. As fun as his system looks to play it requires very hard-working, talented players to play it well. If he can find these players Mizzou will be tough as hell for years to come......right now he looks like a hell of a hire to me. MU is still a bit deficient from a talent standpoint but make up for it in effort. Should be a fun team to watch this year.

[Dinsdale]

A loss at Saint Mary's is easily a "better loss" than a home loss to George Mason.

Apparently, it's a pretty "bad loss."

The Ducks beat a top-25 team, and slid several spots down the polls.

[JayDuck]

Polls are strange. Oregon dropped 2 spots, but we actually recieved more votes. Votes just got more spread out this week.