random thoughts thread

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:45 am

War Wagon wrote:
IndyFrisco wrote:Well, 71-48 over Okie State last night tells me that we are for realz maybe. The next test for me is to have success on the road against a quality team. We're @ t.u. next week after Misery this weekend. We go 2-0 in the next 2, and we should be top 8.
Mizzou lost the game today from the free throw line. 9-19, are you kidding me? Poor decision making at the end of regulation and OT cost them a big road win. That, and ATM getting to the line twice as much and actually making most of theirs.

Helluva game though. Back and forth, up and down, for 45 minutes.

Hope you are not complaining about the refs. misery's style of defense leads to more steals/turnovers, but it also leads to more fouls. I do agree though had Pressey not attacked after the offensive rebound at the end and instead reset with a new clock, the game was yours. Thanks for that, as well as the bad pass by whoever it was on an open breakaway. Wasn't a bad pass so much as the trailer wasn't ready for it. Worked out well for us. Hope we can meet up in the conference tourney...then again, maybe not.

War Wagon · Post by **War Wagon** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:57 am

IndyFrisco wrote: Hope you are not complaining about the refs.

No, I'm not.

Mizzou had every opportunity to win that game, despite the home cooking. They blew it.

Still scratching my head why Pressey had the ball in his hands at the end, twice, rather than Denman.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:20 pm

anybody see the end of the Louisville-Marquette game? L finishes the game on 25-4 run to win by 1, scores the game-winner with 10 secs left. that's the only part i saw. pretty amazing.

ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2 · Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:58 pm

Terry in Crapchester wrote:BET.

I bet your wife doesn't let you watch any other channel.

War Wagon · Post by **War Wagon** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 3:10 am

Mizzou bitch slapped K-State today and put Frankenstein in his place - all is right with the world.

Tigers really do have a shitload of talent 10 deep. That Phil Pressey kid, wow. Mike Anderson is assembling one helluva team, year after year.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:28 pm

somewhat relieved OU managed to beat Tech in Norman. the idea of going winless in conference DID cross my mind. Now, Saturday, CU is in town looking for their first win at the Lloyd Noble since 1981.

CU should win, and needs the game badly with a tough stretch coming up as per NCAA chances....but, I'd be delighted to have that streak intact when CU leaves the conference.

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:37 pm

IndyFrisco wrote:Well, 71-48 over Okie State last night tells me that we are for realz maybe. The next test for me is to have success on the road against a quality team. We're @ t.u. next week after Misery this weekend. We go 2-0 in the next 2, and we should be top 8.

And we didn't and we won't. Like I said, I have no confidence A&M can walk into someone else's house (a legit team, that is) and win. I'm not saying it isn't possible. I'm just saying I don't expect them to win. 9 seed, here we come.

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:46 am

Not making the dance this season: Maryland. Nice blowout loss to VT at home. That meltdown against Villanova last weekend has BODE in the Terps' dome. Gary even said last week that these freshman guards are gonna kill him. He's right. The ACC is weaker than shit and MD is gonna be a few teams behind having their bubble burst.

The DC bball teams are really shitting the bed right now. Things are looking bleak for Gtown as well. Christ, GW has a better chance of making the tournament than Gtown and MD.

Degenerate · Post by **Degenerate** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:50 pm

Screw_Michigan wrote: The DC bball teams are really shitting the bed right now. Things are looking bleak for Gtown as well. Christ, GW has a better chance of making the tournament than Gtown and MD.

American U. is second place in the Patriot League, baby.

SunCoastSooner · Post by **SunCoastSooner** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:33 pm

Despite the first conference win we still really really suck.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:06 pm

bwaaahahahaaaaaa Colorado.

back into the shadows for that endangered species "CU Hoops Fan" unless they beat Kansas in Boulder on Tues. works for me, i'm jealously wanting back my 10$ GA row of seats to myself.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:13 pm

Some GREAT match ups today. Good day of bball. Fuck you Illannoy!!!

buckeye_in_sc · Post by **buckeye_in_sc** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:27 pm

nice to be the only one in the pick em with Nova... :bode:

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:59 pm

Went to the St. Bonaventure-GW game today. Bonnies win in DC for the first time in 22 years, and last time I checked, the Bonnies weren't very good. Close game at the half but GW went ice cold the entire second half.

Degenerate: You're right about AU. I should get up there and check out a game.

FLW Buckeye · Post by **FLW Buckeye** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:06 am

Damn, the Buckeyes looked good tonight.

Best game thus far...

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:08 pm

I tuned in last night hoping for a good game. Egads. Purdue coming out flat + OSU making everything they shot = over before it started.

Just give the conf trophy to the Bucks already. Everybody is playing for 2nd place now. That team is stupid good.

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:14 pm

I watched the the first 30 min of the Seton Hall-Syracuse game and the last 10 min of the Dayton-Richmond game (for 3rd place in the A-10). Let's just say Seton Hall is not very good, but Syracuse is absolutely flatlining right now. They never recovered from the tough loss to Pitt and the buttfucking in the mouth they took from Villanova in front of a record crowd at the Dome last weekend. No defense, horrible offensive sets, horrible shots, just no effort once they got down 20 in the first half. Did I mention how Seton Hall is not very good? Well, they have some talent and some pieces. Jeremy Hazell is a beast, I wonder how much better he would have been this season without getting shot over Christmas. Despite the record, the Pirates seem to play with heart once in a while, which is a lot more heart than they showed under that piece of shit Bobby Gonzalez.

I am going to the St. John's-Georgetown game tonight and then I will come home to watch the SD ST-BYU game (on CBS College Sports, which I have). Rack me and rack college basketball in the District.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:19 pm

I watched some of the ND-Pitt game the other night. ND is starting to look like a force to be reckoned with.

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:24 pm

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:I watched some of the ND-Pitt game the other night. ND is starting to look like a force to be reckoned with.

I haven't watched any ND games this year, but having watched ND teams in the past, I'll believe it when I see it. Although you have to give them props for the big win at Pitt.

L45B · Post by **L45B** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:47 am

Screw_Michigan wrote:rack college basketball in the District.

No doubt, don't forget about VCU hosting Hofstra tonight for the top spot in the Colonial league. One of my good buddies is on VCU's staff, they've had some nice wins this season.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:33 am

so this is what rock bottom feels like? there was still a modicum of confidence in this team after the Purdue loss, and the Lucious thing, but that all went out the window after tonight. Just pitiful.

NIT, here we come!!!

buckeye_in_sc · Post by **buckeye_in_sc** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:32 pm

so much for me sticking MSU in my Elite Eight

Terry in Crapchester · Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:33 pm

The Big East is a true meatgrinder this year. As many as 11 teams could get into the dance. Yeah, I know they added three at-large bids to the field from last year. Thing is, of the Big East teams that figure to get in at this juncture, only one (Marquette) is anywhere near the last four in.

Even the conference bottom-feeders are turning into tough outs. Screwy's comments about Seton Hall-Syracuse notwithstanding, Providence did the same thing to Villanova a night later.

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:54 pm

St. John's is blowing out Duke right now at the Garden and it's only the end of the first half. 43-24 at the moment. This is certainly not the same Johnnies squad I saw Wednesday against G'town.

I also went to the Saint Louis-GW game yesterday, which GW didn't get its first lead of the game until with eight minutes left, but they made it stick for the win. GW games are rarely pretty, but you'll take the win. In about 10 close calls down the stretch, GW got the break on eight calls, which was really huge.

Rick Majerus is still fucking fat. I wonder if he still grabs his players by their balls.

Terry in Crapchester · Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:36 pm

Screw_Michigan wrote:St. John's is blowing out Duke right now at the Garden and it's only the end of the first half. 43-24 at the moment. This is certainly not the same Johnnies squad I saw Wednesday against G'town.

93-78 was the final. Cue what I said earlier . . .

Terry in Crapchester wrote:The Big East is a true meatgrinder this year.

Yeah, I know, that was a road game for Dook, and it's hard to win those. Thing is, St. John's is maybe the 10th or 11th best team in the Big East. And they convincingly beat a team from a power conference that figures to get no less than a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

I'm pretty sure that no conference has ever gotten more than eight bids in the NCAA tournament, ever. I'd be shocked if the Big East doesn't get more than eight this year.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:02 pm

Terry in Crapchester wrote:I'm pretty sure that no conference has ever gotten more than eight bids in the NCAA tournament, ever. I'd be shocked if the Big East doesn't get more than eight this year.

I'm also pretty sure that no other major conference has 16 teams, which would make that feat much more easy to accomplish.

Although even on a % basis it looks like the Big East might still get the most in.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:12 pm

on a % basis, in the 64 team era the Big 8 sent 5 teams at least 2 or 3 times from the late 80's to mid 90's. it's the same 60% that 10 is from the BE.

I'd guess the ACC has gone over 50% of membership over the last 25-30 years as well. must have, before expansion....in a Valvano/Smith/Crimmins/K/UVA was still pretty good/Wake year.

Terry in Crapchester · Thu Feb 03, 2011 2:40 pm

Only limited time now, so I'll address the issue of relative conference strength later.

But I wanted to point out that ND today is coming off its longest layoff of the season, 10 days since its last game. Doubtless that layoff has helped ND in the polls under the circumstances -- ND's last win was against then-#2 Pitt, while many teams that had been ranked higher than ND have lost since that time. It'll be interesting to see what impact, if any, the layoff has on the court. Fortunately for ND, tonight's opponent is DePaul. It'll also be interesting to see what impact, if any, that changed travel arrangements in response to the storm have had against ND. Ordinarily, Chicago is only about a 90-minute drive from ND, and the players wouldn't be departing campus until today. In light of the storm, however, the team has been in Chicago since Tuesday.

ND also has another long layoff later in the season. That one isn't as long (7 days), but the first post-layoff opponent that time will be West Virginia, also on the road.

Mace · Post by **Mace** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:53 pm

Props to Iowa for totally dominating Michigan State last night at Carver-Hawkeye. Iowa's best game of the year...nearly 60% shooting and a great hustling defensive performance. They showed a lot more energy than in some of their past performances and I hope it's a sign that McCaffery has things headed in the right direction. Indiana is up next on Saturday and they're much improved since Iowa throttled them in Iowa City. It will be a tough road game (aren't they all?). I think it's a sign of good things to come for Iowa and hope that they can land a couple of big guys for next year to improve the inside game. Basabe and Marble will be good players in the future but need to bulk up before next season and get Big Ten bodies.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:05 pm

how can you have a 10 and 7 day layoff in a 16 team league?

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:22 pm

Iowa beat an MSU team on the verge of quitting. Really not THAT impressive.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:27 pm

Screw_Michigan wrote:Iowa beat an MSU team on the verge of quitting. Really not THAT impressive.

Although MSU sucks this year, I thought they were giving full effort up until last night. They just completely stopped guarding people. And I don't care if it's just Iowa - if you leave D1 caliber players wide open, they're going to knock them down.

I fully expected a close game, but never in my wildest dreams did I think MSU would get blown out by a 1-8 (in conference) Iowa team. They were never in the game, even early on. Iowa jumped out to like a 9-2 lead, and never looked back. It was pathetic.

Now there are underclassmen calling out upperclassmen, saying there's no senior leadership. Things are only going to get worse.

Terry in Crapchester · Fri Feb 04, 2011 1:48 pm

King Crimson wrote:how can you have a 10 and 7 day layoff in a 16 team league?

The Big East's conference season isn't that much longer than most other conferences. The Big East plays an 18-game conference schedule. You play a home-and-home against 3 teams on a rotating basis (this year, ND drew Marquette, St. John's and UConn), and one game against every other team.

As a parenthetical comment, I would note that much of the criticism of the Big East comes from the conference scheduling, in that the in-conference SOS as compared between any two members can differ substantially. For the first 2 or 3 seasons of the current conference format, though, the Big East played a 16-game conference schedule including three home-and-homes, which meant that each team skipped two conference opponents for each season. In that regard, the 18-game conference schedule is an improvement, in that it evens out in-conference SOS somewhat. Now, the maximum variation in conference schedule between any two teams is 3/17 games (excluding head-to-head). Before, the variation in conference schedule between any two teams could've been, at least in theory, as high as 10/15 games (again excluding head-to-head).

As for the duration of the in-season layoffs, starting the conference schedule before New Year's Day probably has a little to do with that.

I suppose ND could have mixed in an OOC game or two during the layoff periods. During the 10-day stretch, it probably would've had to be against a nationally-prominent opponent on a weekend. The 7-day layoff is between consecutive Saturdays, though, so the only realistic OOC opponents would've come from either the Big 10, the MAC or maybe Kentucky (who ND already played earlier in the season, so probably out).

Mace · Post by **Mace** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:30 pm

Screw_Michigan wrote:Iowa beat an MSU team on the verge of quitting. Really not THAT impressive.

Maybe not "THAT impressive" but, realistically, any conference win by Iowa is impressive at this point. Yeah, MSU didn't play much defense but Iowa's defense out hustled and outplayed the Spartans the entire game and, as a result, MSU had no offense either. THAT was impressive....at least for Iowa fans who are looking for some signs of progress this year.

Mace · Post by **Mace** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:22 pm

Props again to the Hawkeyes for the road win today at Indiana. Yeah, it was two conference bottom feeders but the Hoosiers had knocked off Illinois and Minnesota at home and Iowa was able to overcome the home court advantage. Cartwright was nails for Iowa and has turned in to a pretty good point guard, and no longer playing out of control like he was earlier in the season. Props to Fran McCaffery for getting him under control and understanding he is no longer playing JUCO ball. Basabe is showing that he has all of the tools to be a star and will be an absolute force when he puts on a few pounds of muscle.

As I said after the MSU game, it looks like McCaffery is getting the program headed in the right direction even though there are a number of glaring needs to be filled before they can become contenders in the Big Ten. It may happen sooner than I ever imagined. Back to back conference wins has not happened for a few years at Iowa, so bring on the Badgers and a 3 game winning streak.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 8:40 pm

This Saturday would probably be an opportune time for tOSU to drop their first game. Don’t want to be headed into the NCAA tournament unbeaten. Way too much pressure.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Wed Feb 09, 2011 10:29 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:This Saturday would probably be an opportune time for tOSU to drop their first game. Don’t want to be headed into the NCAA tournament unbeaten. Way too much pressure.

Their next 4 games are:

@ Wisconsin
vs MSU
@ Purdue
vs Illinois

I think they'll drop one of those. Probably Purdue.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:24 pm

Colorado is out of any NCAA contention with last night's gag job at home to ATM.

Terry in Crapchester · Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:30 am

Work still left to do, of course, but if the season ended today, I think the tournament selection committee would be hard-pressed to leave St. John's out of the field of 68. 14-9 record, 6-5 in conference and a relatively impressive 5-7 vs. RPI Top 50 (one of those losses was a 5-point loss on the West Coast to St. Mary's in the season opener). Marquette is in a similar boat -- 15-9 overall, 6-5 in the Big East and 3-8 vs. RPI Top 50. A lot of hard-luck losses in the latter category -- Duke, Vandy, Wisconsin, Louisville, ND, and Villanova all by 5 points or less, with all of those games save Wisconsin on the road.

Screw_Michigan · Post by **Screw_Michigan** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:38 pm

St. John's is a lock, Terry. I still think Marquette is on the outside looking in.