College Basketball 2009-10

[illiniguy]

From the illiniboard. Taken from a writer so obviously his seat must be getting a bit warm for this stuff to start showing up. I say about damn time.

 

 

 

"Weber has been out of his league the day he left SIU. He was lucky to have Bill Self bless him with a roster full of ridiculous talent, but since then, his true capability (or lack thereof) is evident.

 

A reporter yesterday used the acronym A.D. for After-Dee. Well, in the 4 years A.D., Weber's win % is 61%, his conference record is even, and he has won 0 tournament (NCAA) games in that span.

 

Instead of the infamous funeral, he ought to send Bill Self thank you letters every month for building his reputation as a capable Big Ten coach"

 

This is a quote from an article, or is this one of the goofs over there like Ryan Christie?

I believe it is a goof, but I think he took the AD thing from an article. Not 100 percent sure. Either way intresting stuff. His seat has to be getting warmer.

 

I agree his seat is getting a little warm. Missing the tournament this year is going to require some serious leaps forward next year. Obviously the tournament is necessary, but I'm not sure he can survive something like an 8 seed and done next year. I'm not sure he should either.

 

Of course I'm a kool-aid swilling homer and think we're making the tourney this year, and have a Final 4 chance next year.

 

I agree, now that the recruiting been fixed, he's running out of excuses, with the addition of Leonard, Richmond and hopefully, a healthy Crandell Head. There's no reason not to expect a elite 8 or more run in 2011-12, the team' going to be loaded with big time talent.

We won't have an experienced point guard at that point. That worries me.

[illiniguy]

Klee's chat was awesome this week. He hit on how wide the gap has become between Illinois and the great teams. He even told the fans feel free to vent away.

[abuck1220]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

so disgusted right now. brackins is just awful. awful. i keep thinking he's going to break out, but nope, just another 12-14 point game against some mediocre team on like 5-13 shooting.

[Andy]

You gotta be kidding me ... freaking NC STATE???

And UNC also lost tonight, to Wake Forest (their third consecutive loss). Not often that Duke and UNC lose the same night.

Seven years since they both lost an ACC game on the same night according to SportsCenter.

[illiniguy]

What will UNC be ranked next week? 24th?

[hawkeyecub]

Lucca Staiger is leaving Iowa State...to turn pro...in Germany...in the middle of the season. WTF? That's like 20 defections in the last 4 years. Looks like 7 scholarship players until Colvin comes off suspension sometime in February.

 

so annoyed with mcdermott right now. very sick of his "we'll play with the guys that want to be here" attitude. go back to the missouri valley to coach scrappy white guys that hustle. you need more than that to win in the B12.

 

sounds like colvin's suspension may end early which is pretty embarrassing.

 

Yikes:

Staiger’s departure, season-ending injuries to Charles Boozer and Jamie Vanderbeken, and L.A. Pomlee’s dismissal from the team left McDermott eight scholarship players available for the game.

 

That included freshman Chris Colvin, whose suspension until February was lifted after Staiger left and Boozer tore an ACL. He played 10 minutes.

 

“When Craig Brackins looks at you and says, ‘Mac, you don’t have a choice,’ I had to play him,” McDermott said.

 

McDermott suspended the freshman after he walked out of a locker room meeting following a loss against Duke. At that time, McDermott said:

 

“I got in this profession because I love to coach basketball, and I love to help young people grow. If winning ever gets in the way of that, then I have to get out of it.

 

“(Colvin) needs to grow up. If it costs me a couple wins along the way, then so be it. He’s going to be better, and I’m going to sleep better because of that.”

McDermott said he played Colvin out of fairness to the rest of the team.

 

“It was a very difficult decision for me,” McDermott said. “It goes against some things that I believe in, but at the end of the day, my responsibility has to be with those guys in the locker room.

 

“It’s not the rest of the team’s fault, and they shouldn’t be punished for it.

 

“We had to have (Colvin). It would not be intelligent on my part to have a situation where we run out of players. I can’t allow that to happen to our program.

 

“I hated to do it, but given the choice I had, it was the only choice.”

 

 

Is Mac going to be gone after this year?

[cubsfan]

Iowa only lost by 7 at MSU tonight which is a clear moral victory. It actually could have been a winnable game. We only shot 7-25 from 3 and missed about 6 wide open looks with no one around. Gatens, a 90% free throw shooter missed the front end of a 1 and 1. May was called for an atrocious goal tend by an official that was 50 feet away and we missed back to back bunnies in the last 5 minutes.

 

Had it down to 3 twice in the last minute. This team is getting better and will have a shot at winning at IU on Sunday. Unfortunately it's at the same time as the NFC Championship.

We up to 6 or 7 moral victories this year?

[hawkeyecub]

Iowa only lost by 7 at MSU tonight which is a clear moral victory. It actually could have been a winnable game. We only shot 7-25 from 3 and missed about 6 wide open looks with no one around. Gatens, a 90% free throw shooter missed the front end of a 1 and 1. May was called for an atrocious goal tend by an official that was 50 feet away and we missed back to back bunnies in the last 5 minutes.

 

Had it down to 3 twice in the last minute. This team is getting better and will have a shot at winning at IU on Sunday. Unfortunately it's at the same time as the NFC Championship.

We up to 6 or 7 moral victories this year?

 

What's MSU's home record this decade? They're a top 10 team. They've beaten some of our NCAA Tournament teams by 30. We haven't won their in 17 years. We were 22 point underdogs. So yes, even if you're pissed about the state of the program that was a moral victory.

[illiniguy]

Iowa only lost by 7 at MSU tonight which is a clear moral victory. It actually could have been a winnable game. We only shot 7-25 from 3 and missed about 6 wide open looks with no one around. Gatens, a 90% free throw shooter missed the front end of a 1 and 1. May was called for an atrocious goal tend by an official that was 50 feet away and we missed back to back bunnies in the last 5 minutes.

 

Had it down to 3 twice in the last minute. This team is getting better and will have a shot at winning at IU on Sunday. Unfortunately it's at the same time as the NFC Championship.

We up to 6 or 7 moral victories this year?

 

What's MSU's home record this decade? They're a top 10 team. They've beaten some of our NCAA Tournament teams by 30. We haven't won their in 17 years. We were 22 point underdogs. So yes, even if you're pissed about the state of the program that was a moral victory.

Yeah definately gotta be happy with that effort. Alfrod basically quit trying for you guys the last year and a hlaf he was there, leaving you with little coming in for talent. It's gonna take a bit to rebound from that.

[snoodmonger]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

[illiniguy]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

You kill me, they are easily one of the top three teams in America without even starting to play well yet. Self will get them where they need to be.

[snoodmonger]

KU won't make the final four. They can't defend.

Pomeroy disagrees.

 

I hate to be "that" guy, but I really don't think the numbers reflect reality in this case. I think our defensive deficiencies are covered up by Aldrich's shot blocking. But we can't defend perimeter penetration, and we REALLY can't defend the pick and roll or slip screens.

 

Maybe I'm being overly hard on them. But compared to our last title contender (08), this team is very bad defensively.

 

As an aside, Aldrich's regression (or lack of development) this year has been very disappointing. Same with Taylor.

[snoodmonger]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

You kill me, they are easily one of the top three teams in America without even starting to play well yet. Self will get them where they need to be.

 

Being in KC, I'm sure you've seen a few games. You don't think this team is pretty flawed?

[SouthSideRyan]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

You kill me, they are easily one of the top three teams in America without even starting to play well yet. Self will get them where they need to be.

 

The game against ISU isn't 3 months from now, it's against the same KU team that hasn't looked anything like a top 3 team all year.

[illiniguy]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

You kill me, they are easily one of the top three teams in America without even starting to play well yet. Self will get them where they need to be.

 

The game against ISU isn't 3 months from now, it's against the same KU team that hasn't looked anything like a top 3 team all year.

The Temple game KU looked very good. Yeah they have struggled some, but I they are going to handle Iowa State.

[illiniguy]

Iowa State has pretty much given up now. Played like complete ass tonight against a bad Texas Tech team. McDermott should probably be gone after this year because there's a ton of correctable things that aren't getting fixed.

 

For a road game, losing by 7 to Tech isn't so bad since I think ISU isn't so much different a team than Tech. Especially for the first game without Staiger. Please give Kansas a battle on Saturday so they're worn down come Monday.

 

 

I will almost guarantee a close game on Saturday. Ames is a tough place to play, and Brackins just destroyed us last year. Plus, we look like crap, AND we're probably looking ahead to Mizzou. I don't have a win penciled in by any means. I don't care how bad ISU is playing.

You kill me, they are easily one of the top three teams in America without even starting to play well yet. Self will get them where they need to be.

 

Being in KC, I'm sure you've seen a few games. You don't think this team is pretty flawed?

I think that they are struggling because Collins is sitting back too much and trying to let the offense flow. Sometimes I don't think he is selfish enough. Aldrich has been the real mystery to me, he's too good to be playing like this, but I think his grandmother might have a lot to do with that. But, the Morris twins have really stepped up a lot this year. I mix them up, but Marcus? has 61 points the last 3 games on like 21 shots. That's freaking amazing. Henry is a great shooter, but not the complete player I would expect from a top 5 recruit. Tyshawn Taylor has fallen off of a cliff. A bit flawed yes, but at the end of the year I'd be suprised if you weren't playing for the title.

[SouthSideRyan]

For Shigs and gittles, a straight Pomeroy rating for the tourney puts:

 

BYU as a 1 seed.

Wisconsin as a 2.

Ohio St. and Mizzou as 3s.

Kentucky and Arizona St. as 4s.

An 11-7 Marquette team as a 6.

Illinois as the last team in.

[illiniguy]

For Shigs and gittles, a straight Pomeroy rating for the tourney puts:

 

BYU as a 1 seed.

Wisconsin as a 2.

Ohio St. and Mizzou as 3s.

Kentucky and Arizona St. as 4s.

An 11-7 Marquette team as a 6.

Illinois as the last team in.

What sucks though is our schedule get really tough from here on out. We gotta start getting some good wins.

[SouthSideRyan]

For Shigs and gittles, a straight Pomeroy rating for the tourney puts:

 

BYU as a 1 seed.

Wisconsin as a 2.

Ohio St. and Mizzou as 3s.

Kentucky and Arizona St. as 4s.

An 11-7 Marquette team as a 6.

Illinois as the last team in.

What sucks though is our schedule get really tough from here on out. We gotta start getting some good wins.

 

What sucks is Pomeroy ratings have little if anything to do with how teams are placed in the tourney. We were a "10 seed" according to Pomeroy when we went 16-19 in '08. (This isn't to say I believe we belonged in the tourney in '08, or that we'd deserve it if the season ended today. It's just something nice to look at to talk me off the ledge a bit regarding this team's potential.)

[illiniguy]

For Shigs and gittles, a straight Pomeroy rating for the tourney puts:

 

BYU as a 1 seed.

Wisconsin as a 2.

Ohio St. and Mizzou as 3s.

Kentucky and Arizona St. as 4s.

An 11-7 Marquette team as a 6.

Illinois as the last team in.

What sucks though is our schedule get really tough from here on out. We gotta start getting some good wins.

 

What sucks is Pomeroy ratings have little if anything to do with how teams are placed in the tourney. We were a "10 seed" according to Pomeroy when we went 16-19 in '08. (This isn't to say I believe we belonged in the tourney in '08, or that we'd deserve it if the season ended today. It's just something nice to look at to talk me off the ledge a bit regarding this team's potential.)

Did you see Ken Pom predicts we finish 0-8? That would be beyond awful.

[SouthSideRyan]

For Shigs and gittles, a straight Pomeroy rating for the tourney puts:

 

BYU as a 1 seed.

Wisconsin as a 2.

Ohio St. and Mizzou as 3s.

Kentucky and Arizona St. as 4s.

An 11-7 Marquette team as a 6.

Illinois as the last team in.

What sucks though is our schedule get really tough from here on out. We gotta start getting some good wins.

 

What sucks is Pomeroy ratings have little if anything to do with how teams are placed in the tourney. We were a "10 seed" according to Pomeroy when we went 16-19 in '08. (This isn't to say I believe we belonged in the tourney in '08, or that we'd deserve it if the season ended today. It's just something nice to look at to talk me off the ledge a bit regarding this team's potential.)

Did you see Ken Pom predicts we finish 0-8? That would be beyond awful.

 

That's not how it works. He's predicts us to finish 5-7 from here on out. A good analogy I saw on Scout was that if you flipped a weighted coin 8 times and it was weighted to come up heads 60% of the time, you wouldn't predict the coin to come up heads 8 times.

 

If we finished 0-8, Bruce is going to be in big trouble.

[ISUCubsFan]

Lucca Staiger is leaving Iowa State...to turn pro...in Germany...in the middle of the season. WTF? That's like 20 defections in the last 4 years. Looks like 7 scholarship players until Colvin comes off suspension sometime in February.

 

so annoyed with mcdermott right now. very sick of his "we'll play with the guys that want to be here" attitude. go back to the missouri valley to coach scrappy white guys that hustle. you need more than that to win in the B12.

 

sounds like colvin's suspension may end early which is pretty embarrassing.

 

Yikes:

Staiger’s departure, season-ending injuries to Charles Boozer and Jamie Vanderbeken, and L.A. Pomlee’s dismissal from the team left McDermott eight scholarship players available for the game.

 

That included freshman Chris Colvin, whose suspension until February was lifted after Staiger left and Boozer tore an ACL. He played 10 minutes.

 

“When Craig Brackins looks at you and says, ‘Mac, you don’t have a choice,’ I had to play him,” McDermott said.

 

McDermott suspended the freshman after he walked out of a locker room meeting following a loss against Duke. At that time, McDermott said:

 

“I got in this profession because I love to coach basketball, and I love to help young people grow. If winning ever gets in the way of that, then I have to get out of it.

 

“(Colvin) needs to grow up. If it costs me a couple wins along the way, then so be it. He’s going to be better, and I’m going to sleep better because of that.”

McDermott said he played Colvin out of fairness to the rest of the team.

 

“It was a very difficult decision for me,” McDermott said. “It goes against some things that I believe in, but at the end of the day, my responsibility has to be with those guys in the locker room.

 

“It’s not the rest of the team’s fault, and they shouldn’t be punished for it.

 

“We had to have (Colvin). It would not be intelligent on my part to have a situation where we run out of players. I can’t allow that to happen to our program.

 

“I hated to do it, but given the choice I had, it was the only choice.”

 

 

Is Mac going to be gone after this year?

 

Unless he turns it around I think he should be. We're just not winning basketball games. You can blame it on players leaving to a point, but after the first 10 guys leave you have to ask if there's a bigger problem here. It's not like he doesn't have talent now, Brackins and Gilstrap are both projected to be drafted this year and the supporting cast isn't completely incompetent. Yet there's still a decent chance they finish with a losing record this season. I don't think it's reasonable for a coach at a major conference school that has any sort of history to have 4 losing seasons in a row, 1 win over a tournament team (Purdue two years ago), and not be on the hot seat. That said, he got an extension at some point, so I'm not sure he can be bought out this year. He'll probably get next year, but I don't know how he'll improve without Brackins (if he declares) and Gilstrap (if he doesn't get an extra year).

[snoodmonger]

I think that they are struggling because Collins is sitting back too much and trying to let the offense flow. Sometimes I don't think he is selfish enough. Aldrich has been the real mystery to me, he's too good to be playing like this, but I think his grandmother might have a lot to do with that. But, the Morris twins have really stepped up a lot this year. I mix them up, but Marcus? has 61 points the last 3 games on like 21 shots. That's freaking amazing. Henry is a great shooter, but not the complete player I would expect from a top 5 recruit. Tyshawn Taylor has fallen off of a cliff. A bit flawed yes, but at the end of the year I'd be suprised if you weren't playing for the title.

 

I think Collins' patience will (hopefully) be a benefit by the end of the season. We won't do squat in the tourney if we turn into the Collins show. We need other guys primed to compete. Marcus is a beast, and honestly, we should run our low post through him, not Cole.

 

Agreed 100% on Henry. I think he's way too in love w the 3pt shot. Taylor has been the biggest disappointment, especially considering his showing this summer with the national team.

 

We'll see about ISU. The fact is, we had to pull away late at Nebraska, looked like crap beating a severely overmatched TTech team, and couldn't stop a decent Baylor team at home. We also lost to Tennessee when they had like 2 scholarship players. I'm at the point where I won't consider anything a gimme, and I'm expecting losses at Mizzou, at KSU, and at Texas. Unless, of course, this team learns to defend like a normal Self team.

 

As for UI, I haven't really watched them play much, but you have to be encouraged with how close they played MSU and Purdue. I had @ MSU penciled in as a blowout loss.

[illiniguy]

I think Collins' patience will (hopefully) be a benefit by the end of the season. We won't do squat in the tourney if we turn into the Collins show. We need other guys primed to compete. Marcus is a beast, and honestly, we should run our low post through him, not Cole.

 

Agreed 100% on Henry. I think he's way too in love w the 3pt shot. Taylor has been the biggest disappointment, especially considering his showing this summer with the national team.

 

We'll see about ISU. The fact is, we had to pull away late at Nebraska, looked like crap beating a severely overmatched TTech team, and couldn't stop a decent Baylor team at home. We also lost to Tennessee when they had like 2 scholarship players. I'm at the point where I won't consider anything a gimme, and I'm expecting losses at Mizzou, at KSU, and at Texas. Unless, of course, this team learns to defend like a normal Self team.

 

As for UI, I haven't really watched them play much, but you have to be encouraged with how close they played MSU and Purdue. I had @ MSU penciled in as a blowout loss.

The Michigan St. game was a blow out loss really, we rallied a bit at the end to get it closer than what the game really was. The Purdue game was bad in that Purdue played as bad as they could for one half and we didn't take advantage of it. I am really discouraged by where we are. Logically I know it is because of the two years we didn't recruit anyone and this should be expected, but still this is painful to watch. It is also difficult to watch how Bruce has handled Brandon Paul. I know he has struggled a lot, but you have to play Mr. Basketball ahead of walk ons and role players if you ever wanna get more Mr. Basketballs. I really think the program is taking a step back and yet most of the fanbase is ok with it.

[snoodmonger]

I guess I just saw the MSU score, which made it look like a close game.