College Basketball

[aeu]

Doesn't matter. The game was practically over in the first 4 minutes.

[RedEyedGhost]

Doesn't matter. The game was practically over in the first 4 minutes.

Game was over before it started. KSU is a horrible, horrible road team. Beasley gets two fouls called on him in the first few minutes, and one the rest of the game. Total star treatment.

[aeu]

Red, you are just biased here. Stars don't get 2 cheap fouls called against them in the first 2 minutes. As I said, the rest of the game was pretty much irrelevant, especially considering the talent difference between the two teams.

Maybe the game was over before it started. Kansas is a tremendous team, maybe the most talented team in the country. KSU is just not that good, they lost what, 4 in a row now?

Still, KSU has 2 guys that can potentially go off at any game and there's the rivalry factor. I don't watch too many games other than Pac-10, but I was waiting for this game thinking "Hopefully Beasley and Walker will be on their game, so I can see what they are capable of. Maybe I can watch a good, completive game and see how this year's Kansas team responds in a tight situation."

Refs killed any chance of that happening right of the bat. 4 calls in the first couple of minutes, 3 are questionable, 1 is definitely wrong (Walker's 2nd)...They go out, KU jumps ahead, we end up with a horrible game with no suspense whatsoever.

I understand you are happy as a KU fan, but as an impartial observer, this was just a waste of time.

[RedEyedGhost]

Red, you are just biased here. Stars don't get 2 cheap fouls called against them in the first 2 minutes. As I said, the rest of the game was pretty much irrelevant, especially considering the talent difference between the two teams.

Maybe the game was over before it started. Kansas is a tremendous team, maybe the most talented team in the country. KSU is just not that good, they lost what, 4 in a row now?

Still, KSU has 2 guys that can potentially go off at any game and there's the rivalry factor. I don't watch too many games other than Pac-10, but I was waiting for this game thinking "Hopefully Beasley and Walker will be on their game, so I can see what they are capable of. Maybe I can watch a good, completive game and see how this year's Kansas team responds in a tight situation."

Refs killed any chance of that happening right of the bat. 4 calls in the first couple of minutes, 3 are questionable, 1 is definitely wrong (Walker's 2nd)...They go out, KU jumps ahead, we end up with a horrible game with no suspense whatsoever.

I understand you are happy as a KU fan, but as an impartial observer, this was just a waste of time.

The refs didn't do that, Beasley did. His fouls were fouls, and they should have been called. Walker did get screwed on his "push" that was actually a push by another KSU player.

We got taken out of our game as well with two fouls on Darnell Jackson in the first five minutes. If we would have had him, then the game is not even close in the first half (based on his 2nd half performance).

Unfortunately there's not much chance of seeing KU in a tight game until the semis/finals of the Big 12 tournament. Our last two regular season games are T. Tech at home for senior night, and then at an aTm team that is falling apart.

Oh, and Bill Walker is nowhere near as good as advertised - I haven't seen him play a good game in the 8+ games I've watched of his this year. I guess two blown out knees in two years will do that to you. Even as poorly as he's playing I still think he tries his hand at the draft.

[aeu]

The refs didn't do that, Beasley did. His fouls were fouls, and they should have been called.

I guess I would say that as well if I were a KU fan.

All 4 were cheap fouls from what I've seen. We'll have to agree to disagree, I have no intention of debating the KU-KSU game with a KU fan, I have no horse in this race. I'm just upset that I didn't get to see a good game.

[RedEyedGhost]

I guess I would say that as well if I were a KU fan.

All 4 were cheap fouls from what I've seen. We'll have to agree to disagree, I have no intention of debating the KU-KSU game with a KU fan, I have no horse in this race. I'm just upset that I didn't get to see a good game.

How's your team doing health wise? Is everybody back to 95%+?

[RedEyedGhost]

In my opinion, the math still stays the same for Kentucky. They need to win 2/3 of the remaining games and pick up a win or two in the SEC tourney. My main concern is the precedent set by Cincy a few years back. They were number one pretty much all year and just absolutely beastly. Then Fortson breaks his leg and is unavailable for the tourney... Cincy gets a 2 seed instead of a 1. I'm worried that Kentucky could go from a bubble team leaning in to a bubble team leaning out because of the injury.

unfortunately the math doesn't stay the same. The committee will only look at your remaining games. You probably need 4 more wins to feel safe, and that's a tough task with only three regular season games left, but with a good draw in the SEC tourney you may be able to get to 4.

What's the pulse in KY on Gillispie at this point in the season? Anybody still calling for his head?

I think you're thinking of Kenyon Martin not Fortson.

Good Luck tomorrow!! I hope you didn't drink all of that Maker's Mark last night I'll get to watch the first 1:30 of the game before I'm off to work

Oh, and Digger's like Boeheim - "everybody should be in the tourney"

[RedEyedGhost]

I guess I would say that as well if I were a KU fan.

All 4 were cheap fouls from what I've seen. We'll have to agree to disagree, I have no intention of debating the KU-KSU game with a KU fan, I have no horse in this race. I'm just upset that I didn't get to see a good game.

I just watched the first 5 min on the late night replay. And both were definite fouls on Beasley. For his first foul he climbed over Arthur's back to go for a steal and then held Arthur as the ball was fed into the post. His second foul was him lowering his shoulder into Jackson and sending him sliding on his backside about 12ft.

Sorry about rehashing this, but I'm bored and can't sleep because my knee is killing me (tore my MCL skiing last week) and right now I'm waiting for the pain pills to kick in - this ezplains my triple posting... that pain pill is starting to get hte job done.

[aeu]

How's your team doing health wise? Is everybody back to 95%+?

Roll is still out. It seems like he's not coming back this season. He's not that important if everything is going relatively well, but we might be in trouble if we need outside shooting, especially against zones. We have literally no shooting off the bench.

If teams decide to crowd Love inside, we will need people to make shots from outside to keep them honest. All that burden is on Shipp and Collison right now, no one else one the roster has even attempted to shoot from outside all season long, even Westbrook makes only 1 or 2 attempts per game. Ship was doing OK, but in a horrible slump lately, went 0 for 20 on 3 pointers over in 5 games. (He was better last game.) If he cannot find his touch, we will be in trouble against a team with good inside defense.

[Rhom]

unfortunately the math doesn't stay the same. The committee will only look at your remaining games. You probably need 4 more wins to feel safe, and that's a tough task with only three regular season games left, but with a good draw in the SEC tourney you may be able to get to 4.

What's the pulse in KY on Gillispie at this point in the season? Anybody still calling for his head?

I think you're thinking of Kenyon Martin not Fortson.

Good Luck tomorrow!! I hope you didn't drink all of that Maker's Mark last night I'll get to watch the first 1:30 of the game before I'm off to work

Oh, and Digger's like Boeheim - "everybody should be in the tourney"

If all you got to see was the first 1:30... then you missed a hell of a ballgame.

I've never thought there was such a thing as a "good loss"... but if there was such a thing, that would have been it today. Falling behind 20-5 early against the number one team in the country, at their home, with your best player out for the season... then coming back to take the lead and then having a chance to tie it at the buzzer. This team is playing with a lot of heart. Whether they get the job done and get into the tourney, they have completely turned around their season and have become one of my favorite Kentucky teams of the last 20 years just because of the huge amount of effort and heart they are showing.

I felt truly bad for PP2 today. Seeing him there on the sideline, you could just tell that he was miserable and wanted to be on the floor.

You're right, I was thinking of Martin. Wrong Thuggins thug. My mistake.

The crowd calling for Gillispie's head is still out there... but noticeably quieter. If he can get this team to win out and finish at 12-4 in the league, I honestly think he deserves some consideration as SEC coach of the year. I think there have been two major changes that have made him start to "work" in Lexington. 1) The players have finally "bought in" to his system and are playing with the kind of effort we havn't seen in half a decade. 2) Gillispie has (reluctantly) accepted his role as statesman. He never had to be an ambassador for the school at his other coaching stops and it was obvious early in the season that he wasn't comfortable meeting with alumni, schmoozing politicians, and dealing with constant media scrutiny. He has now begun to grow into that roll and it is making his life a lot easier. Feel good pieces in the national media like the one I linked earlier don't hurt either.

Much props to Cornell for punching the first ticket to the big dance of the year.

[RedEyedGhost]

When I first turned it on it was 20-5, and I thought it was over. Your guys really turned it on though, and I made it to a little bit after half time before I had to leave. At that point you were down only three. So, I HAD to DVR it. I just finished watching, and it was one hell of a game. Tenn had some nasty defense in the final five minutes. Your guys couldn't even get close to the basket.

I would call that a good loss, and I don't think it will hurt your NCAA hopes.

[RedEyedGhost]

Let's talk about Arizona for a bit:

Apparently during the IU-MSU game's half time Seth Davis reported that Lute is planning to come back next season to coach one more year. Kevin O'Neil doesn't like this and will not be coming back next year, and that Lute and O'Neill are not on speaking terms.

Here's a couple links to message boards talking about what Davis said. (I didn't see it)

CBS message board

phog.net

This AP article refutes most of what was said. Most of it could be read as spin by O'Neill though.

No matter how this turns out - AZ is a program in serious turmoil.

But the bigger question is will AZ make the tournament this year? After today's loss... I don't think they will. Right now they have a 16-12 record (in D1 games), 7-8 in conference. They do have a couple things going for them: RPI 22, five wins against RPI top 50 teams, #1 SOS, and only two losses to teams with an RPI <100 (Virgina @ 123, and Washington @102).

So in summary they have no bad losses (their only beatdown was at UCLA 82-60), they got a nice RPI, and the PAC 10 is a wicked tough conference this year. But it's those twelve losses that I keep coming back to, and if they lose either of their last two games before the PAC 10 tournament (@ OSU, and @OU) I think they're out.

Currently they have the longest NCAA tourney streak, and I personally would love to see them not make it this year (KU is second ). Do they get the benefit of the doubt because of their tumultuous year and the level of competition in the PAC 10, or does the 12+ loss team not make the tournament (I don't think a 14 loss team should ever get an at large, and 13 loss team is iffy)?

So what does everybody else think?

[Rhom]

I heard Seth talk about that today. I'd take it with a grain of salt... Davis is definitely a "sources tell me" kind of guy; and by "sources" he means he was sitting around backstage trying to think up stuff that will sound good on tv. However... like you said, regardless of what the truth is, I do think Arizona is in for some serious turmoil in the transition process. I'd also agree with you on Zona's NCAA chances. I think they probably need to win at least one of those final two games. (The Pac 10 still doesn't play a tourney do they?) 22 is an awfully strong RPI to be left out and the Pac-10 is a toss up with the Big East for best conference.

Kentucky's RPI seems to have gone from 60 to 52 after the loss at Tennessee. (Ah... if only we knew what a win would have done!!!)

[RedEyedGhost]

(The Pac 10 still doesn't play a tourney do they?)

They do

It's a Wed-Sat tournament.

I'm excited that this year will be the last year of the Big 12 being Thurs-Sun. Next year we're going to Wed-Sat, and our championship game will mean something for NCAA seeding.

[aeu]

Arizona played a tough schedule, true. But they lost practically all their big games. Kansas, Memphis, twice to UCLA, twice to Stanford...I guess their "signiture" wins are 2 games against Washington State.

I do like their team, they have potential and can be dangerous (as they should be with 2 potential top-10 picks in this years draft), but what good is all that if they end up losing any time they play the big guys? I wouldn't be sorry if they end up not making the field.

Also, do we know what's wrong with Lute Olson yet?

[Celtigo]

The bubble is so soft this year I think Arizona has a good chance of getting in if they sweep the Oregon schools next weekend. When you look through various bubble watches there aren't too many teams around the country that stand out. Arizona's wins over fellow bubblers Texas A&M, Houston, and UNLV should help in direct comparisons.

[RedEyedGhost]

Also, do we know what's wrong with Lute Olson yet?

As far as I know the official reason for the LOA is his divorce. But, damn! Who takes 8 months off for a divorce...

The bubble is so soft this year I think Arizona has a good chance of getting in if they sweep the Oregon schools next weekend. When you look through various bubble watches there aren't too many teams around the country that stand out. Arizona's wins over fellow bubblers Texas A&M, Houston, and UNLV should help in direct comparisons.

aTm does not deserve to even be in the bubble conversation after their pathetic performance this weekend.

Does anybody here think they can sweep the Oregon schools? I know Hear Me Roar doesn't! (I'm not going to try and spell your new name from memory because I would completely butcher it) OSU should be a cake walk, but they already lost to Oregon at home. I don't see an reason to think they can beat Oregon in Eugene.

Anybody know what the highest RPI rated team to not get an at large is? Because 22 would be very high to not make the tourney.