College Basketball

[Rhom]

Bobby Cremins team pulls it out. Carolina hit 24-34 free throws and CoC was 3-6 (and only 1-3 before the closing seconds of OT). Ridiculous. UNC is down Graves and Ginyard, but still could have had this game.

The fans are wearing floppy white wigs to look like Cremins. :lol:

[Piper]

. . . wow

[RedEyedGhost]

Wow, indeed.

I did not need that much stress on a Wednesday night!

That was some great defense by Cornell, and they shot lights out in the first half. That was Xavier's worst game at KU by far - he couldn't make anything. Between him and Marcus Morris sucking ass, I don't think I seen us miss that many layups/dunks/bunnies since our elite eight loss AT UCLA in '07.

That was the worst officiated game I've watched this year - leading to Coach Self's first technical foul that I can remember in quite awhile. And I'm not just talking about calls against KU, because Cornell had just as many bad calls go against them if not more than we did.

I called it a trap game earlier in the thread, and while I think that may have played some part in our poor play the majority of our shittiness was because Cornell is a very good and extremely intelligent team.

Bah. I don't know who this Lunardi is, but if he thinks Harvard is making it over Cornell, he's a nutjob :P

Lunardi's a douche, but I'm sure he will have that error rectified next week. Cornell is going to absolutely storm through the Ivy League.

[Celtigo]

Wow, indeed.

I did not need that much stress on a Wednesday night!

That was some great defense by Cornell, and they shot lights out in the first half. That was Xavier's worst game at KU by far - he couldn't make anything. Between him and Marcus Morris sucking ass, I don't think I seen us miss that many layups/dunks/bunnies since our elite eight loss AT UCLA in '07.

That was the worst officiated game I've watched this year - leading to Coach Self's first technical foul that I can remember in quite awhile. And I'm not just talking about calls against KU, because Cornell had just as many bad calls go against them if not more than we did.

I called it a trap game earlier in the thread, and while I think that may have played some part in our poor play the majority of our shittiness was because Cornell is a very good and extremely intelligent team.

Lunardi's a douche, but I'm sure he will have that error rectified next week. Cornell is going to absolutely storm through the Ivy League.

As a Cornell alum I'm incredibly proud of this team playing for a school that only offers "need" based financial aid. Spent the entire game hoping they would hold out, but they never built a big enough lead to hold off the inevitable late charge. I have some minor quibbles about the officiating, but there was nothing of an imbalance or a particular call(s) that made me think Cornell was robbed.

I saw the Lunardi (and Staples over at Si.com) brackets with Harvard in as the auto-bid and I think that might be just an excuse for them to measure Cornell's shot at an at large bid.

[Rhom]

I'm upset with myself that I missed it. Ah well. Mark Coury had 7 rebounds! I told you to watch out for him! :lol:

I think it'll be interesting to see how Tennessee hangs with Kansas this weekend considering they are down four players. It could very well get ugly.

Kentucky opens SEC play with a surprisingly tough Georgia team fresh off their win over Georgia Tech. A friend of mine who went to school at Western Kentucky University shared with me that the Hilltoppers currently have the best SEC conference record on the season at 2-0 with wins over Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

[RedEyedGhost]

I'm upset with myself that I missed it. Ah well. Mark Coury had 7 rebounds! I told you to watch out for him! :lol:

Wittman was the one that scared me. He was only 5-14 from three, but it seemed like he couldn't miss.

I think it'll be interesting to see how Tennessee hangs with Kansas this weekend considering they are down four players. It could very well get ugly.

Bruce Pearl doesn't seem too worried...

The question is: have the serial numbers been filed off?

The man looks tired, so very tired. He's not taking this well.

Kentucky opens SEC play with a surprisingly tough Georgia team fresh off their win over Georgia Tech. A friend of mine who went to school at Western Kentucky University shared with me that the Hilltoppers currently have the best SEC conference record on the season at 2-0 with wins over Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

Don't be talkin' like Georgia's that good. They just got stomped by a very young Missouri team - you guys are young, but at least you're talented. Missouri's young and not very talented.

[Rhom]

Bruce Pearl doesn't seem too worried...

The question is: have the serial numbers been filed off?

The man looks tired, so very tired. He's not taking this well.

Not only will they play that game short four... but now Tyler Smith has been dismissed from the team. That hurts in the long haul.

Don't be talkin' like Georgia's that good. They just got stomped by a very young Missouri team - you guys are young, but at least you're talented. Missouri's young and not very talented.

Georgia was putrid last year too... but they beat us on Senior Night in a game we absolutely needed if we were going to get into the NCAA tourney. Mark Fox has them playing much tougher basketball now. I still fully expect UK to win, I'm just sayin...

Speaking of "expecting" to win. Its a nice feeling. It feels like its been forever since I really felt like we were going to win every game on the schedule. (Not that I think we'll go undefeated... just that there's not any I look at and say "We probably won't win that one.") Honestly, its probably been since Rondo's freshman year in 04-05 when I had any real confidence in the game. As bad as we've played in some spots, and as hard as UConn, UNC, IU, and UofL charged back at us; I can honestly say there's not been a time this year where I felt the game was out of reach for us.

[RedEyedGhost]

I can't believe I forgot to set my DVR to record some games today :bang:

4 top ten teams going down, and 3 more in the top 20 with all of those games being competitive (and several other competitive top 25 teams).

I just read that Tennessee will only have 6 scholarship players tomorrow with the dismissal of Tyler Smith and suspension of the other three... I'm sure they'll come out with guns blazing, but I really doubt they'll be able to hang with us for very long. The game should be interesting though, hopefully.

[davos]

Impressive win for Wisconsin over Purdue yesterday. This is a badger team that is deep, balanced, and disciplined on both ends of the floor. If not for only having limited success in March Wisconsin would have to be regarded as one of the nations top programs and Ryan as one of the top coaches. This team has all the pieces in place to correct that one fault and finally earn the program the respect it deserves.

[Rhom]

UT can't possibly keep this up... Can they?!!?

:stunned:

[RedEyedGhost]

Naw, we're playing absolutely shitty and they'll get wore down before too long.

[RedEyedGhost]

Of course it would help if they actually would miss some 3s (and we'd make a few FTs) :bang:

[Rhom]

They're 8/17 from both the 3 and the FT line!

I've never seen Scotty Hopson play like this.

[RedEyedGhost]

That might be the ballgame right there. Taylor and the Morris twins decided to stay on the plane apparently.

Oh well, I didn't think we'd go undefeated. And this was one of those no win situations (as Clark Kellogg articulated it well). Teams usually step up their game immediately after losing players, especially with a high ranked opponent coming into their house.

[Larry.]

Considering that I'm a UT alum and I remember the dark days of Wade Houston (when less than 4000 fans would fill up Thompson-Boling Arena, which seats well over 20,000), this has to be one of the most exciting things I've ever seen on TV broadcast from that arena. If only I were 14 years younger, I would have been at that game yelling my lungs out with the rest of them. Amazing that they did it with all those walk-ons.

[Rhom]

Tough loss in a rough game. The atmosphere was certainly electric. I wonder if they'll be able to duplicate this effort again?

I suppose this will move UK up to No 2 for their date at Florida on Tuesday night. Fresh off a loss to Vandy, the Gators will be a real challenge. Kentucky didn't look sharp against Georgia on Saturday, so I'm anxious to see how this week plays out.

[RedEyedGhost]

Tough loss in a rough game. The atmosphere was certainly electric. I wonder if they'll be able to duplicate this effort again?

I suppose this will move UK up to No 2 for their date at Florida on Tuesday night. Fresh off a loss to Vandy, the Gators will be a real challenge. Kentucky didn't look sharp against Georgia on Saturday, so I'm anxious to see how this week plays out.

It will be interesting to see if Tennessee can keep this up, and what will happen to the three suspended players. If they all come back they still have a chance to be a very good team.

Xavier's really hit the freshman wall, and that's been effecting our team play quite a bit the past two weeks. Hopefully he can bust through it before we have to go to Austin.

@Florida will probably be your biggest test of the season thus far, should be a fun game to watch.

[Rhom]

Impressive win for Wisconsin over Purdue yesterday. This is a badger team that is deep, balanced, and disciplined on both ends of the floor. If not for only having limited success in March Wisconsin would have to be regarded as one of the nations top programs and Ryan as one of the top coaches. This team has all the pieces in place to correct that one fault and finally earn the program the respect it deserves.

UW had some great teams early in the decade. I remember when I was in school in Iowa, a lot of my friends from Wisconsin were pretty pumped about it. It was just tough to watch a game because the style of ball was such a slow it down and grind it out kind of thing. It worked though and they rode it to some great seasons. I have to think he'll be able to get some more of those teams together if the chips fall just right. They've already shown that they can knock off Purdue, if they can hang with MSU and Minnesota; they should be a real threat to win the Big 10.

That might be the ballgame right there. Taylor and the Morris twins decided to stay on the plane apparently.

Oh well, I didn't think we'd go undefeated. And this was one of those no win situations (as Clark Kellogg articulated it well). Teams usually step up their game immediately after losing players, especially with a high ranked opponent coming into their house.

Its one of those no-win situation games that could really help later in the year IMO. It doesn't hurt you in the conference standings, and as you said you never thought you'd go undefeated anyways. It always sucks to lose, but there are some losses that suck less IMO.

Considering that I'm a UT alum and I remember the dark days of Wade Houston (when less than 4000 fans would fill up Thompson-Boling Arena, which seats well over 20,000), this has to be one of the most exciting things I've ever seen on TV broadcast from that arena. If only I were 14 years younger, I would have been at that game yelling my lungs out with the rest of them. Amazing that they did it with all those walk-ons.

I'm certainly no fan of The Sweaty One, but he has certainly brought new life to Tennessee's basketball program. An exciting style of ball and an obviously charismatic coach is a great combination for the program. Throw in the fact that he and Calipari already seem to dislike each other from Cal's time at Memphis, the fact that Tennessee gets some great kids from Kentucky like Hopson and Chris Lofton, and there's a great foundation for a Kentucky/Tennessee rivalry over the next few years.

:box:

Bring on conference season!!!!

[Rhom]

God, J Williams is a worthless douchebag of an analyst.

Pregame

Random dude: What does Florida need to do?

JWill: "they need to speed the game up and force turnovers."

Halftime

Random dude: What did Florida do wrong?

JWill: "They're trying to run with Kentucky and they don't have the horses to do that"

:stunned:

So far, so good on the game.

[Rhom]

Pulled this one out after a game effort from the Gators. Eric Bledsoe would be a leading candidate for freshman of the year if he didn't play with John Wall.

I don't like games at Florida, they pump in dance music and have an over the top PA announcer to feel like a NBA game. Not a college atmosphere IMO.

17-0