College Basketball 2007-2008

[SouthSideRyan]

We're not as good as I thought we were. Not even close.

 

I've been calling it all year. KU is a real good team, but they aren't special. I have never seen them as a Final 4 team at any point.

 

I dont think there are any "special" teams in college basketball this year. Memphis is the closest one, but them playing in a weak conference could bite them. The tourney this year is very wide open.

 

UCLA is special. They just gotta get their heads out of their asses.

[fromthestretch]

DJ will be key for IU and should have a big game. The Badgers went away from the inside game and didn't get nearly enough touches in the post, although part of that had to do with the fact they were constantly getting fouled and taken out of their offense. The Badgers shot 30 freethrows and just as easily could have shot 60, the refs allowed Purdue to grab and handcheck on the perimeter all night long making it virtually impossible for the Badgers to get into their offense.

 

Purdue had eight more fouls called on them than Wisconsin. We all know how terrible Big Ten officials are, but I'm confident in saying that they aren't favoring Purdue every single game. When you consider Purdue has won 12 of its last 13 games and is 6-4 in road/neutral site games this season, it's obvious that the Boilers are doing something right. Of course there have been fouls that haven't been called, but there is no denying that Purdue is a damn good defensive team.

 

They are a great defensive team, quick as hell. They are so deep, they can afford to play that aggressive in your face pressure defense that disrupts the other team from getting into their offense. I didn't mean to diss Purdue, I think Painter has done a wonderful job of getting this young team to buy into his philosophy and execute - they simply outplayed the Badgers from the get go. I was just pointing out that they could also be called for a foul just about everytime they setup in their half court defense with all of the handchecking and grabbing that goes on. It could come back to hurt them in the tourney though as a lot of that will not be allowed.

 

Didn't mean to sound overly defensive. Just consider it payback for the 1999-2000 season. :D

 

I'm as surprised as anyone that Purdue is playing this well this season. After losing Landry, Teague, and Lutz, I figured Purdue would be maybe a 15 or 16-win team this season. The thing that really surprises me is how well they play on the road. Purdue hasn't been a good road team for several years. The fact that they are winning on the road and at neutral sites with such a young team gives me hope for the tournament. If nothing else, they should win their first-round game...they seem to always do well in the first round.

[wekse]

DJ will be key for IU and should have a big game. The Badgers went away from the inside game and didn't get nearly enough touches in the post, although part of that had to do with the fact they were constantly getting fouled and taken out of their offense. The Badgers shot 30 freethrows and just as easily could have shot 60, the refs allowed Purdue to grab and handcheck on the perimeter all night long making it virtually impossible for the Badgers to get into their offense.

 

Purdue had eight more fouls called on them than Wisconsin. We all know how terrible Big Ten officials are, but I'm confident in saying that they aren't favoring Purdue every single game. When you consider Purdue has won 12 of its last 13 games and is 6-4 in road/neutral site games this season, it's obvious that the Boilers are doing something right. Of course there have been fouls that haven't been called, but there is no denying that Purdue is a damn good defensive team.

 

They are a great defensive team, quick as hell. They are so deep, they can afford to play that aggressive in your face pressure defense that disrupts the other team from getting into their offense. I didn't mean to diss Purdue, I think Painter has done a wonderful job of getting this young team to buy into his philosophy and execute - they simply outplayed the Badgers from the get go. I was just pointing out that they could also be called for a foul just about everytime they setup in their half court defense with all of the handchecking and grabbing that goes on. It could come back to hurt them in the tourney though as a lot of that will not be allowed.

 

i think this happens to just about every big ten team when they get to the tourney...big ten refs let a lot of bumping and grabbing slide in conference play...other conferences officials aren't so kind come tourney time.

[MPrior]

K.C. Rivers shoots the ball with 4 seconds left to win the game, and it hits every part of the rim but does not go in, Carolina is so damn lucky.

 

Yes, we sure are awfully lucky to lose the most important player on our team, when his only reliable backup is out for the season, three days before the most important game of the season thus far, and a week before another very significant game. Oh, and Clemson's out-of-sight 3-point line in regulation sure was lucky for Carolina (admittedly, that had a lot to do with poor perimeter defense, but still).

 

There are a lot of ways you could describe Carolina. "Pretty good," "inconsistent," "fun to watch," "poor on defense," "fast," these are all reasonable things to say. But I sure don't see what makes them so lucky.

 

Also, I cannot wait to get the ball out of Quentin Thomas' hands. Even when the stat line looks okay, as it does in this most recent game, he's still terrible. Ty Lawson can't come back too soon.

 

The Clemson game last night, took two overtimes even though you guys took 35 free throws and Clemson took 7. (i understand the hypocrisy of this statement). Clemson had a whole bunch of shots to win the game that rimmed out.

 

First Clemson game- Clemson gambles and misses on the pass and Ellington makes a shot to win the game in the last 5 seconds in overtime

 

Georgia Tech- They miss two open shots in the last 10 seconds that both would have won the game.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that only looking at the last couple of shots of a game is a very bad way to determine how lucky a team is. You could just as easily say that GT and Clemson were lucky to be in the position to take those shots in the first place.

 

All that said, I think a discussion of luck in college basketball is largely irrelevant anyway. Ken Pomeroy keeps a "luck" statistic, which is basically a measurement of the disparity between a team's true performance (in terms of efficiency) and their actual record, but even he says it's pretty meaningless.

[Exile on Waveland]

We're not as good as I thought we were. Not even close.

 

I've been calling it all year. KU is a real good team, but they aren't special. I have never seen them as a Final 4 team at any point.

 

I dont think there are any "special" teams in college basketball this year. Memphis is the closest one, but them playing in a weak conference could bite them. The tourney this year is very wide open.

 

UCLA is special. They just gotta get their heads out of their asses.

 

I agree. They haven't proved themselves to be special yet, but I think they will.

[Guest]

I hope UCLA is special. It does make me feel better that in both of UCLA's Pac-10 losses, their defense struggled and their glue defensive player (Luc) was out (well, he was out for the second half of the USC game, which was when UCLA lost the game).

[Guest]

 

Help me out, folks. Check out that link and tell me I'm missing something. Snood and Jon (and Wilbon and Kornheiser in the YouTube link) already have chimed in and thought that it was a cheap play. How do Pac-10 officials come up with this? If a Bruin had done that, I would have wanted him suspended multiple games at the very least.

 

"If you look at the play very clearly, he jumps in the air pretty high the first time, then he comes down, and now the ball starts to release and then Aboya jumps to the right and takes the ball in the face," Bill McCabe [supervisor of basketball officials for the Pac-10] said. "If he had jumped straight up again, the ball would probably have gone right by him. Instead, he jumps to the right and the ball hits him in the face."

 

It's Aboya's fault??????

 

If the ball goes right by him, then it goes into the second row of the stands. Morris was aiming for Aboya's head. Not some Husky player who was going to catch a one-handed line drive that close by.

 

Spokesman Dave Hirsch said the Pac-10 would not punish Morris because, "We felt the play was part of the game.

 

"Morris had no other option," Hirsch added. "We don't think he lined up to throw it."

 

He had no other option? What, is Alfred Aboya Floating Head Aboya with no body to throw the ball off of!?!? He didn't line up to throw it? What the hell was the one-armed windup for?

 

This is disgusting. Alfred Aboya's career could be over. He could have lost sight in his eyes. And the Pac-10 doesn't seem to find a problem with this??

[wekse]

i saw the video and it isn't clear, to me, that he wound up intending to throw it off of his face...but whatever, it's still lame that he did it.

[Andy]

ND/UConn will be on ESPNU tomorrow night while St. John's and Cincinnati play on ESPN2 at the exact same time.

 

That makes sense.

[Productive Outs]

i saw the video and it isn't clear, to me, that he wound up intending to throw it off of his face...but whatever, it's still lame that he did it.

 

i disagree. you can see the washington player's eye level go from the other players to the UCLA player's face. looks intentional to me.

[snoodmonger]

We're not as good as I thought we were. Not even close.

 

I've been calling it all year. KU is a real good team, but they aren't special. I have never seen them as a Final 4 team at any point.

 

 

Well, I don't know about that. I still think we're one of the 4 best teams. I was just supremely confident in them early in the season. Now I have a sick feeling about them. I don't think you can identify 4 better teams, though.

[woodchip2153]

i saw the video and it isn't clear, to me, that he wound up intending to throw it off of his face...but whatever, it's still lame that he did it.

 

i disagree. you can see the washington player's eye level go from the other players to the UCLA player's face. looks intentional to me.

 

plus as he's throwing it, he is moving to get out of the way of the ricochet. Obviously that doesn't mean he was aiming for the face, but it does impy he was at least trying to hit him in the body. If that's the case though he has terrible aim.

[wekse]

it's getting tough to even watch a big ten game even with no rooting interest...the officiating is that bad.

[CubColtPacer]

A.J. Ratliff left the Indiana program for good today to deal with some personal things. He may have been frustrating over his four years with Indiana, but he always played hard. I'm sorry to see his senior season be such a waste with the ineligibility first semester, the lack of confidence on the court, and now this. Hopefully his personal issues can be worked out whatever they are and he can live a productive life outside of basketball.

[wekse]

purdue pounding(in more ways than one) msu right now....msu keeps turning the ball over and purdue keeps hitting threes.

[Andy]

These Purdue guys are pretty good.

[illiniguy]

We're not as good as I thought we were. Not even close.

 

I've been calling it all year. KU is a real good team, but they aren't special. I have never seen them as a Final 4 team at any point.

 

 

Well, I don't know about that. I still think we're one of the 4 best teams. I was just supremely confident in them early in the season. Now I have a sick feeling about them. I don't think you can identify 4 better teams, though.

Memphis, Duke, and a healthy UCLA. I would say you are still in the top 4.

[Smack]

Boiler up.

[circlecitycub]

Boiler up.

 

Seconded.

[SouthSideRyan]

These Purdue guys are pretty good.

 

They can win the damn big ten and the BTT and I won't call them the best team in the conference.

[Flames24Rulz]

These Purdue guys are pretty good.

 

They can win the damn big ten and the BTT and I won't call them the best team in the conference.

 

Who is though? I really can't look at one Big 10 team and say that they're the best team in the conference. Purdue, MSU, and Indiana all have some pretty serious faults. They're decent teams, but I don't think the Big 10 has one great/elite team. Save this for tournament time because I'm sure one of those three will prove me wrong.

[SouthSideRyan]

So Illinois up 6 at the half against Minnesota. Any Illinois fan wanna tell me how the next 20 minutes will go?

[XZero771679666304]

So Illinois up 6 at the half against Minnesota. Any Illinois fan wanna tell me how the next 20 minutes will go?

 

I am going to go out on a limb and say poorly.

[UK1679666180]

Well, I guess UK's modest winning streak is coming to an end. Down by 31 at the start of the 2nd half will do that.

[XZero771679666304]

So Illinois up 6 at the half against Minnesota. Any Illinois fan wanna tell me how the next 20 minutes will go?

 

I am going to go out on a limb and say poorly.

 

Well, I just turned to BTN and reserve the right to change my answer.