College Basketball 2008-2009

[Rhom]

[quote name='Brudewollen' post='1602222' date='Nov 28 2008, 06.31']Wow, so my Terps just beat #5 Michigan State 80-62...might be fun to watch them again this season. They got Gonzaga next, so that's one more test before a long succession of non-ranked teams.[/quote]

I heard that this morning on my way into work. Pretty impressive. I'd like to see Williams get Maryland back in shape. The only thing worse than ESPN's love for the ACC is when they lavish it all over them with only two teams in the league. I'd enjoy watching some of the games this year if Wake, Miami, and Maryland turn out to be for real.

(Okay... who am I kidding... I'll still hate the ACC.) :rofl:

[quote name='Frank Stark' post='1601347' date='Nov 26 2008, 17.09']I've been debating about posting here, wondering if you big-timers would have space for a mid-major fan. Is that my answer? :)[/quote]

There's always room for any fan of basketball! And besides, if you go back to our last college bball thread, you'll see where I got irrationally excited over Murray State being ranked in the top 30 programs by ESPN.com early in the summer! :smug:

As to Curry, I think he's a great college player and deserves to be in the discussion for best player in the country this year. His body reminds me of Reggie Miller, but I just don't forsee him having a lasting pro career.

[Rhom]

Well crap... none of that went as planned.

Kentucky played at midnight last night on ESPNU. Comcast doesn’t carry ESPNU. But the other cable provider around here does. My girlfriend has the other cable provider. A couple months ago we watched Kentucky/Arkansas on ESPNU at her place.

Well, about a month ago she changed her cable package so she could get regular ESPN and get the Kentucky games. She dropped the “Kids Pack” that she had… apparently ESPNU is on the kids pack. (Don't ask me why... best I can figure is that it is in the same "channel range" as Nick Jr et al.) I didn’t find that out until I woke up on the couch at 11:50 last night and turned to that channel… :tantrum:

The good news is... Kentucky beat Kansas State to advance to play West Virginia tonight at 10:30. (You hear that S.John?!!? I'm calling you out!)

The bad news is... [url="http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/dawson/blog.html?GID=oEj1MrTrGRDdwm2AVwA6L1dXA47t"]DeAndre Liggins refused to play in the second half.[/url]

Honestly, do we not give these kids thorough psych exams before we offer scholarships????? :huh: :angry: :tantrum: :( :cry: :spank: :bawl:

In other news, there were some really good ball games last night. Oklahoma and Purdue played a tough one. Gonzaga made Maryland look ordinary again. Tennessee looked scary good against Georgetown.

[WarGalley]

I got to watch parts of the ND-Texas game mostly because I was curious about ND's high ranking. I thought they looked pretty solid...and then they got destroyed by UNC. Still haven't seen the Heels play yet..

[Mack Kilimaro]

[quote name='Billy Clyde' post='1602950' date='Nov 29 2008, 09.48']In other news, there were some really good ball games last night. Oklahoma and Purdue played a tough one. Gonzaga made Maryland look ordinary again. Tennessee looked scary good against Georgetown.[/quote]

If I've learned one thing in my lifetime of being a Maryland Terrapins basketball fan, it's that at any given time they are capable of beating, and losing to, any given team. There's no one out of Maryland's league, even in the most disappointing, underachieving season.

That will probably be even more true this season as the team really has no big man and is kind of built for perimeter shooting. When the guys are hitting from the outside, there will be good results. If they go cold, it's ugly.

[WarGalley]

[quote name='Mack Kilimaro' post='1602960' date='Nov 29 2008, 10.06']If I've learned one thing in my lifetime of being a Maryland Terrapins basketball fan, it's that at any given time they are capable of beating, and losing to, any given team. There's no one out of Maryland's league, even in the most disappointing, underachieving season.[/quote]

This is exactly how I feel about Terrapins BBall and to a lesser extent the football team as well.

[Rhom]

[quote name='WarGalley' post='1602958' date='Nov 29 2008, 10.02']I got to watch parts of the ND-Texas game mostly because I was curious about ND's high ranking. I thought they looked pretty solid...and then they got destroyed by UNC. Still haven't seen the Heels play yet..[/quote]

I don't know if I've seen UNC play or not. I know that I tuned into ESPN when they said Kentucky was playing Carolina... but all I saw was a light blue blur out there... :stunned:

Harangody has looked good as usual this year for ND, but the kid that impressed me was McAlarney. He was absolutely hitting everything he threw up there against UNC. If he can stay hot, there will be a lot of teams that won't know what to do on defense when given the option of him or Harangody. Jesus the Big East is good.

[S John]

[quote name='Billy Clyde' post='1602950' date='Nov 29 2008, 09.48']The good news is... Kentucky beat Kansas State to advance to play West Virginia tonight at 10:30. (You hear that S.John?!!? I'm calling you out!)[/quote]

:lol:

I'm looking forward to it. You know if its on tv? I havnt got a chance to watch this years crew yet, its been all radio for me.

ETA: Answered my own question, its on espn2.

[Rhom]

WVU was really giving it to the Cats until about 7 minutes into the second half. Both teams showed detrimental effects of having to play twice inside of 24 hours. Ridiculous scheduling in an obvious effort to try and get the game on ESPN.

I have two main observations about Kentucky this year: 1) Turnovers are going to keep being a thorn in our side. 2) Patrick Patterson needs to familiarize himself with a two handed slam. Too many times he's getting the ball close to the basket and missing a soft baby jumper instead of taking it in hard.

WVU has a good team this year I think SJohn. The shots just stopped falling for you guys and my guys were able to hit foul shots in the late second half. Congrats on a game effort. The announcers kept mentioning that WVU was picked 9th in the Big East, but I think they'll finish around 5th or higher.

Were you watching during that three minute stretch of the first half when they completely ignored that there was a ball game going on in favor of talking to Tark the Shark about his favorite flavor of fabric softener for his towel? Ridiculous. Lavin's not bad for color commentary, but I thought they should at least acknowledge what was going on down there on the floor.

During the KState game the other night, they were interviewing Huggins and he commented that Kentucky somehow managed to get a home game in the Vegas tournament. :lol: From some reports I've read online, there were 7,000 seats in the arena and it was estimated that 5,000 of them were wearing the blue and white. :stunned: Its one thing to hear that Kentucky travels well... its another to witness it.

[S John]

[quote name='Billy Clyde' post='1603769' date='Nov 30 2008, 12.22']WVU was really giving it to the Cats until about 7 minutes into the second half. Both teams showed detrimental effects of having to play twice inside of 24 hours. Ridiculous scheduling in an obvious effort to try and get the game on ESPN.

I have two main observations about Kentucky this year: 1) Turnovers are going to keep being a thorn in our side. 2) Patrick Patterson needs to familiarize himself with a two handed slam. Too many times he's getting the ball close to the basket and missing a soft baby jumper instead of taking it in hard.

WVU has a good team this year I think SJohn. The shots just stopped falling for you guys and my guys were able to hit foul shots in the late second half. Congrats on a game effort. The announcers kept mentioning that WVU was picked 9th in the Big East, but I think they'll finish around 5th or higher.

Were you watching during that three minute stretch of the first half when they completely ignored that there was a ball game going on in favor of talking to Tark the Shark about his favorite flavor of fabric softener for his towel? Ridiculous. Lavin's not bad for color commentary, but I thought they should at least acknowledge what was going on down there on the floor.

During the KState game the other night, they were interviewing Huggins and he commented that Kentucky somehow managed to get a home game in the Vegas tournament. :lol: From some reports I've read online, there were 7,000 seats in the arena and it was estimated that 5,000 of them were wearing the blue and white. :stunned: Its one thing to hear that Kentucky travels well... its another to witness it.[/quote]


Yea, I watched the whole thing. Pretty much agree with everything you said. I think Kentucky will be a lot stronger once they can curb the turnovers a little bit. They are definitely a scrappy, physical team. I think WVU is too, which made this matchup pretty interesting to watch. We just ran outta gas in the second half. I gotta say though, blowing a double digit lead like that is frustrating to watch to say the least. At least we didnt roll over, Kentucky just turned it up and our shots stopped falling. Foul shots defintely helped bury us, both the ones that you all made and the ones that our guys didnt make.

On a positive note, I do like what Huggins is doing at WVU. I loved Beilein's system, however during those years we couldnt rebound to save our lives and didnt have much of an inside game. In only his second season Huggins has us in there battling constantly, taking it inside, etc. We're just an all around more physical team than in previous years.

And damn, there were a lot of Kentucky fans there. Either a lot of Cats fans in that state or a whole bunch of gamblers. :lol:

[RedEyedGhost]

BC,

Has anything else come out about Liggins not playing Friday night? He played Saturday so he's not going to transfer :dunno: My theory is that Gillispie really, really wants to be like Bill Self - as a freshman Russell Robinson refused to enter a game, he then started virtually every game after the start of his sophomore season, and we know what he led our team to as a senior :P

Did you ever think your team would win a game when they attempted 32 fgs and your opponent put up 66? That discrepancy just blows my mind. K-state is going to be brutal this year. It sucks that Huggins left (good for S John though), because he would have made them legitimate competition in the Big 12 North.

[quote name='Billy Clyde' post='1603769' date='Nov 30 2008, 10.22']During the KState game the other night, they were interviewing Huggins and he commented that Kentucky somehow managed to get a home game in the Vegas tournament. :lol: From some reports I've read online, there were 7,000 seats in the arena and it was estimated that 5,000 of them were wearing the blue and white. :stunned: Its one thing to hear that Kentucky travels well... its another to witness it.[/quote]

We [s]played[/s] beat Florida in that tournament two years ago, and the capacity is 8500. During the two games the announcers would not stop talking about how pro-KU the crowd was; I remember them saying we had at least 7500. But the highest I can find in an [url="http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/nov/26/later_gators/"]internet article[/url] is 5000 like they were saying you guys had.

Isn't it great loving a team whose fans travel so well? :D

[Rhom]

[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1604217' date='Nov 30 2008, 23.48']Has anything else come out about Liggins not playing Friday night? He played Saturday so he's not going to transfer :dunno: My theory is that Gillispie really, really wants to be like Bill Self - as a freshman Russell Robinson refused to enter a game, he then started virtually every game after the start of his sophomore season, and we know what he led our team to as a senior :P[/quote]

Not a lot yet. I'll see what comes out in the next few days. Early yesterday Pitino was asked what he would do if a player refused to go into a game and he responded that they'd never play for him again. (Many people on teh intrawebs have blasted him for this in view of the Derrick Caracter fiasco.)

But hey... Louisville lost to WKU by 12 last night. So who cares what Pitino has to say?!!? And heck, WKU lost to Murray State by 30 a week ago... so I am just going to work on the assumption that my alma mater could beat the number three team in the country by 40!!!! :rofl:

If Tennessee looked scary good against Georgetown like I said earlier... I don't even know if I have an adjective to describe what Gonzaga did to UT last night. :stunned: I've always been a reluctant believer in the Zags national prominence, but when they do have this short of showing against a legit team on a neutral site... its hard to deny.


[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1604217' date='Nov 30 2008, 23.48']Isn't it great loving a team whose fans travel so well? :D[/quote]

Yes. Yes it is.

[Frank Stark]

Great showing by the Zags last night. They returned most of their important pieces, and hopefully Heytvelt will be better having put another year between him and his shroom bust. If they don't crack into the Final Four this year, maybe they never will.

[Rhom]

[quote name='Frank Stark' post='1604607' date='Dec 1 2008, 11.10']Great showing by the Zags last night. They returned most of their important pieces, and hopefully Heytvelt will be better having put another year between him and his shroom bust. If they don't crack into the Final Four this year, maybe they never will.[/quote]

I'm gradually coming around to the opinion that as long as Few is there, they'll be a contender.

[Rhom]

Anyone else catch the VaTech/Wisconsin game last night?

I tuned in without 3 minutes to go and it was fantastic. Wisconsin was up by about 10 at that point, but eventually VaTech hit a three to tie it with about 7 seconds to play and then Wisconsin dribbles down the court and hits a runner in the lane with .9 to break their hearts. The fans all looked absolutely crushed.

It was the kind of game I expect to see in March and just another reason why I love college BBall wherever it is played.

[chionophile]

Yeah, I watched the Badgers play. Thought about posting about it, but I didn't think anyone else had seen the game. VT's Vassallo was unstoppable from the 3pt line in the second half, which is the only reason it was that close. I think they went something like 7 for 7 from three to close out the game. Ridiculous amount of offense in the game from both teams, which is somewhat unusual for a Wisconsin game.

On a related note, it looks like the Big Ten\ACC challenge will be tied at 3-3 after tonight, assuming Minnesota hangs on. Not too bad, considering the Big Ten usually gets their asses whupped. We'll be lucky to win any tomorrow, though.

[Frank Stark]

ANyone watch the Duke/Purdue game last night? It was on in the background at the bar I was in, and I checked the boxscore later. Besides Duke controlling the whole game, what struck me was that they CRUSHED Purdue on the boards. What happened? Which is it: Duke's frontcourt has the backbone they've been missing for years, or is Purdue's really less than advertised?

I'm sure it's a little of both. There's something to be said for Singler having a year of experience under his belt. But 12 boards for that guy? 8 for Zoubek in 11 mins. I expected more from Purdue's big men. Maybe I'm just mis-understanding their reptutation; maybe they're more scorers than rebounders.

[Rhom]

[quote name='Frank Stark' post='1607690' date='Dec 3 2008, 12.38']ANyone watch the Duke/Purdue game last night? It was on in the background at the bar I was in, and I checked the boxscore later. Besides Duke controlling the whole game, what struck me was that they CRUSHED Purdue on the boards. What happened? Which is it: Duke's frontcourt has the backbone they've been missing for years, or is Purdue's really less than advertised?

I'm sure it's a little of both. There's something to be said for Singler having a year of experience under his belt. But 12 boards for that guy? 8 for Zoubek in 11 mins. I expected more from Purdue's big men. Maybe I'm just mis-understanding their reptutation; maybe they're more scorers than rebounders.[/quote]

I watched the beginning of the game and Duke was pretty much running every set cleanly with very little interference from Purdue's defense. It was pretty to watch and made me want to retch in frustration.

WKU knocked off Georgia last night giving them wins against the Big East and the SEC already. They have a game coming up with a lesser C-USA foe in a couple weeks. That would be quite the trifecta for a Sun Belt team. I look forward to seeing what Ken McDonald can do with the team. I figure he's there for 2-3 years tops before a Big 12 team comes a'callin. (He was an assistant at Texas last year.)

[Fez]

Ouch, just saw that we're playing Connecticut tonight (been paying more attention to football), this could be ugly. On the other hand we very nearly beat a #2 ranked Pitt team just a couple years ago, and even though we've really fallen off recently our non-conference record is pretty impressive, too bad everyone in the MAC knows exactly what sort of game Witherspoon coaches. So it could be a good game, shame that i'm 3000 miles away.

[Fez]

Well damn.

Once again we get [i]this[/i] close to finally winning the big game, only to fail in the end.


Still, Rodney Pierce is a beast.

[Rhom]

[quote name='FezRock' post='1609774' date='Dec 4 2008, 21.25']Well damn.

Once again we get [i]this[/i] close to finally winning the big game, only to fail in the end.

Still, Rodney Pierce is a beast.[/quote]

I was watching that score along the bottom line with real interest last night. I thought of you when I saw it first pop up! Ha! I really thought you guys had 'em there for a while. Ah well... such is life with the roundball.

I watched USC v. Oklahoma last night and I came away feeling dirty for having watched Tim Floyd's team in action. Something about them just screamed dirty play. And I'm not just talking about [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu1yzliqlVw"]taking a shot to Blake Griffin's balls.[/url] Over and over they kept making dirty plays. Derozan really didn't impress me either.

You know what does impress me though... Blake Griffin. The guy is averaging 26 pts and 15 boards a game. :stunned: He's a manchild. Oklahoma will be a tough out this year.

I also watched some of the Texas v. UCLA game last night. That was another good one. I was disappointed in UCLA's inability to get a decent play off at the end. At one point they had the ball for over a minute and a half while down four and never really did anything with it.