Random thoughts

[Shine]

- I've seen a ton more fouls on guys shooting 3 pointers this year than I can ever recall. I'm thinking that moving the line back, even though not by much, has led to more defenders leaping out by being off that extra step leading to the increase in fouls. Other than that, I've not seen much difference with the longer line.

- Forget RPI or any other number out there, the Big East is the best conference this year and there is no debating it. Being oversized does lead to some dreck at the bottom but their top 10 is the best 10 teams in one league I've ever seen. ACC is a solid 2nd and I give the Big 10 the nod for 3rd.

- If I had to name a POY right now I'd give it to Blake Griffin.

- Both the Big East and the ACC have a legit shot at putting 3 teams in the FF this year.

- I'm sure Dins or JayDuck have some insight on this but my guess is Ernie Kent will not be coaching the Ducks next year.

[King Crimson]

watching the Big XII conference season, it's amazing how the Big XII has become (in a very short time) a vastly more up tempo league than just 5 years ago. Right now, the XII has 4 teams in the NCAA top 25 in scoring ppg: Baylor, Missouri, OU, and OSU (not in order, here). looking at OU and OSU alone, under Sampson and Eddie Sutton would have been unthinkable--.

also, you see nearly every team (except maybe NU and ISU) run some kind of semi-legit 3/4 court pressure. not just token pressure, it's after the made hoop and they are actually guarding people in a 2-2-1 or what my HS coach called a diamond press: 1-2-1-1 that sags back into a 1-2-2 and trap against the sideline. you *never* saw that in the Sampson/Sutton/RMK/Barnes Big XII....unless teams were behind late. it was a half-court game by design.

[Terry in Crapchester]

My Domers have lost 5 in a row. Granted, that came against a Murderers' Row of opponents, but there were extended breaks for us in that stretch -- one 7-day break, and 2 other 5-day breaks. Plus, two of those losses came at home. We should have done better . . .

The upshot is that tomorrow night's game at Cincinnati has become a must-win, or else the season threatens to go south in short order. And in all likelihood, it'll get worse before it gets better. For all intensive purposes (Shoalzie reset intentional), we have only a 7-man rotation this season, out of which four are seniors and Harangody may leave early for the NBA (imho, his game doesn't translate well to the NBA, but first-round money, even late first-round money, may be too good to pass up). Yes, we have two transfers -- Hansbrough (no, not that one) and Martin -- who will be eligible next year, and both figure to get extended playing time. But we have a lot of talent, and minutes, to replace. Beyond the 7-man rotation, the guy with the most minutes on this year's team is Nash, who's only averaging slightly less than eight minutes a game.

Time to thank the mock turtleneck for his contributions to the program and look for a successor.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Seth Davis, the doofus he is, has got ND ranked in the top 20 this week. His rationale was because they just went through a brutal stretch of games.

Wow. That's great. You don't even have to win any of your big games, you merely need to get off the plane and step out onto the hardwood, and BAM -- you're automatically top 20 material.

Brilliant.

Simply being associated with a good conference automatically makes you a top 20 team, apparently. They were forced to play these games, it's not as if Brey went out and willingly scheduled these beatdowns (they did play some good teams OOC, but that's beside the point), which, by the way, wouldn't give them much more of a case BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO WIN ONE OR TWO.

ND needs, among other things, a PG that can play both sides of the ball. Yeah, yeah, Nash gets the "little things" done on the court, but they really need a ball handler that can penetrate and make things happen. As much as I liked Drew Neitzel, his lack of offensive ability beyond being able to hit a wide open three really hurt MSU on the big stage.

[Terry in Crapchester]

ND needs, among other things, a PG that can play both sides of the ball. Yeah, yeah, Nash gets the "little things" done on the court, but they really need a ball handler that can penetrate and make things happen.

ND's point guard is Tory Jackson, not Tyrone Nash. Jackson is an adequate PG, although not a superstar by any means.

What ND really needs are as follows:

A third scoring option.

1-2 shutdown defenders, especially one in the post.

One or two more players capable of handling 12-20 minutes per game.

A coach who doesn't live and die with the 3, and who can find a way to win against a quality opponent on a day when the shots aren't falling.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Could've sworn I saw Nash running the point on several occassions. If Jackson is the full-time PG, my bad.

It seems to me though they need a guard that has take-over ability. From a scoring standpoint, Harongody's inside game is a given, and Macalarney doesn't seem to get involved until ND is down by 15, and obviously his game is one dimensional.

[Dinsdale]

- I'm sure Dins or JayDuck have some insight on this but my guess is Ernie Kent will not be coaching the Ducks next year.

Mixed feelings...

But not about Ernie's tenure ending.

But as the O started pumping resources (read: $$) into hoops, it was Ernie who started the building process. And he's had some hellacious recruiting classes...

And therein lies the problem -- rampant underachievement with above-average talent. His teams perform so inconsistantly, it's hard to watch sometimes.

Aaron Brooks was arguably the best HS player that didn't go pro... and Ernie let him sit back and suck donkey dick for 3 years, before his brilliant senior year.

Ditto for Malik Hairston.

How you can pull McD's AA's and not do better, or at least be consistant, is troubling.


So, while I'm a big fan of Ernie's, I think it's time to move on.


New building next year... seems like a good time for a regime change.


I'll go out on a limb, and say there's maybe a 50/50 chance that The Chosen One quits fucking around with the small time, and returns home to roost...


Don't be the slightest bit suprised when Mark Few is roaming the sidelines of Matt Court next season. (From Creswell, right up the road from Eugene, played for O, etc... U of O legacy guy).


If he can recruit and win at Gone-To-Hella, he can surely win consistantly at Checkbook U...

The ORIGINAL NCAA Champ.


If for some unfathomable reason Few decides to stay in Hell, look for Oregon to go pluck Ken Bone away from Portland State (who has done an amazing job putting that program back together).

[Mr T]

Both the Big East and the ACC have a legit shot at putting 3 teams in the FF this year.

FSU is tied for 2nd in the ACC at the moment. So I am down with the ACC putting 3 in the FF.

A buzzer-beater away from being at the #1 spot.

If FSU wins at least 3 of their last 7, I am gonna be pissed if they get snubbed again.