bukie

Lot of early layups for NIU. Defense isn't there yet for the Illini, but they still have a couple games to get it all figured out.

No, but media are actually starting to come around on per-possession stats. You'll still get the majority of pundits seeing a 46-45 game and automatically assume poor offense/stellar defense/combination of the two, but despite the poor pace of the Big Ten last year (MSU at 162nd was the fastest team), there were some efficient offenses in the conference (MSU was 20th overall in adjusted offensive efficiency). Oddly enough, there were 7 Big Ten teams among the top 54 in offensive efficiency, while only 5 were in that range defensively.

But, they scored in the 40s thus the whole Big East sucks. Or will that not apply this year? Georgetown runs the Princeton offense and almost never gets more than the low 70s. They're also young and not that good (yet). A lot of that apllied to us last year and it didn't stop us from getting the whole conference branded. The Big Ten was the slowest big 6 conference last year by a wide margin. Not a single team in the conference played at even an average pace. This year, at least, Indiana is stressing a pace push.

He's ignorant. Making crap up to defend Sampson last year. During Deron's junior year he said that Williams wouldn't be a top ten guard in the ACC. Good call Jay, it's hard to be better than Redick and Paulus. Actually, he's one of the more insightful and unbiased personalities on ESPN. Doesn't mean he's never wrong, but he's one of the best out there in mainstream media.

Football-rankings did another run on seeding numbers, and a random draw based on the likely pod scenario: Group A: South Africa, Netherlands, Korea DPR, Chile Group B: England, Portugal, Honduras, Paraguay Group C: France, Slovakia, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire Group D: Germany, Greece, Australia, Cameroon Group E: Brazil, Denmark, Korea Republic, Nigeria Group F: Italy, Switzerland, USA, Uruguay Group G: Argentina, Serbia, Japan, Egypt Group H: Spain, Russia, New Zealand, Ghana That, to me, actually looks pretty evenly distributed, and I wouldn't hate if the USA got that group.

I'm sure it's all intended in an endearing way.

Can't wait to see Illinois get murdered in a couple weeks, though.

If you cap margin of victory pretty low, I think it should come back. It's not a reliable factor, though, if Florida shoots for 100 against Coastal Carolina or something. Or if Texas doesn't let off the pedal yesterday against Baylor. There are still ways to account for that, though. Put a cap of 30 points in the second half/fourth quarter or something. Something well beyond the reasonable range of comebacks.

Yeah, the best shot now is that FIFA decides to pair Africa and North America in the same pool, just because they didn't do that last time. I still think it's likelier that Africa and South America get paired because of competitive balance, but it's all up to FIFA. South Africa's group will be: South Africa Slovakia North Korea Chile or something like that. Book it. FIFA will keep the pot balance with CAF and CONMEMBOL together. We are going to get Ivory Coast, Netherlands and Argie. And I'm lunatic enough to think that we can find 4 points out of that group. Another scary thought: FIFA pairs CAF and CONCACAF in an effort to help South Africa through, and their group ends up being: South Africa Slovakia Mexico New Zealand Mexico wins the group, advances yet again to the round of 16 and earns a seed in the next World Cup.

Yeah, the best shot now is that FIFA decides to pair Africa and North America in the same pool, just because they didn't do that last time. I still think it's likelier that Africa and South America get paired because of competitive balance, but it's all up to FIFA. EDIT: Also, France won at Ireland, so the chances of landing an unseeded Netherlands in the group just went up too.

Asking the defense to get 3 is a bit unfair.

#19 Mississippi State trailing Rider at home by 12 with 6 to play. That's not going to reflect well on the SEC.

I'm not going to be too concerned with the D after they took a 30 point lead and basically coasted from there. There was no need to beat this team 100-40.

Brandon Paul has a decent shot at the Illinois first-game scoring record with 19 points 3 minutes into the second half. The record is 21 by Deon Thomas.

I saw what Wahl wrote, and I disagree. I know what he's saying, that getting in the same pod with African teams gives those teams a 33% shot at the South Africa group. However, Uruguay winning will essentially make two federations of 5 teams and two of three, just like four years ago. I think FIFA is more likely to pair Africa and South America into the same pod, because (and they're right) Asia and North America are weaker, and they want to try to avoid a group of death as much as possible. Costa Rica winning makes it so the numbers can't possibly matchup perfectly to separate pods by federation. Then FIFA is going to have to break up one of the federations into two pods, and putting the USA with Africa and South America makes the most sense for competitive balance. But who really knows. Maybe FIFA won't set up pods according to geographical location at all this year, just to make things interesting.

A Team USA fan guide to the World Cup playoffs and seeding: Starting tonight and ending Wednesday, the last of the World Cup qualifying matches will be played, and the field of 32 teams will be filled out. Here's a brief primer of what's on tap, and who to root for as a USA fan to get the best-case placement scenario for them. I'm going to list each squad's SPI rating to give a general idea of how strong each squad is. For the World Cup Finals, FIFA arranges the 32 squads into 8 groups of 4. They use a method to spread squads out geographically as much as possible. Other than Europe, no 2 squads from the same continent can be in the same group (there are 13 European squads, so 5 groups will have 2 European squads). Squads are split into 4 pods according to geography, with a pod for the seeded squads and the host. Seeded squads Seeding is determined by a combination of a squad's World FIFA rating and their performance in the prior two World Cup Finals. The host squad will always be one of the 8 seeds. This World Cup, that is #65 South Africa. Of the remaining seven seeds, six are already clinched for qualified teams: #1 Brazil, #2 Spain, #3 England, #5 Argentina, #6 Germany and #12 Italy. #14 USA is not going to get the last seed. That will go to one of three European squads: #7 Portugal, who would have to win a playoff against #29 Bosnia-Herzegovina to qualify, #9 France, who would have to win a playoff against #38 Ireland to advance, or #4 Holland, who has already qualified but is behind the others. If both #7 Portugal and #9 France, the squad that gets the last seed will come down to the final FIFA November ranking. Portugal would need to finish 5 spots ahead of France in the FIFA rankings to get the last seed. Europe Since five seeds will be European squads, the remaining 8 squads in Europe will form a second pod. Nine European squads have already clinched qualification: #2 Spain, #3 England, #4 Holland, #6 Germany, #12 Italy, #15 Serbia, #21 Denmark, #33 Switzerland and #50 Slovakia. The remaining four spots will be decided by four two-leg playoffs played Saturday and Wednesday: #7 Portugal v. #29 Bosnia-Herzegovina, #9 France v. #38 Ireland, #13 Russia v. #40 Slovenia, and #37 Greece v. #20 Ukraine. Despite #37 Greece having a lower SPI than #20 Ukraine, they have the home field advantage for the second leg due to a higher FIFA ranking. Africa Besides #65 South Africa, five other African squads qualify for the World Cup finals. Two squads have already clinched a spot with a match yet to be played Saturday: #11 Ivory Coast and #32 Ghana One spot will go to the winner of Group A. With one match to play Saturday, #16 Cameroon has 10 points, while #54 Gabon has 9 points. Cameroon visits Morocco while Gabon visits Togo. One spot will go to the winner of Group B. With one match to play Saturday, #41 Tunisia has 11 points, while #27 Nigeria has 9 points. Tunisia visits Mozambique while Nigeria visits Kenya. The final spot will go to the winner of Group C. #45 Algeria leads the group with 13 points, while #30 Egypt has 10 points. Algeria visits Egypt Saturday, with Egypt needing to win by 2 goals to force a tiebreaker, or 3 goals to qualify outright. Asia and Oceania Four squads have qualified for the World Cup finals out of Asia: #24 Australia, #35 Japan, #43 South Korea and #89 North Korea. One additional spot will go to the winner of the playoff between #86 Bahrain and #90 New Zealand. The first leg of the playoff finished 0-0 at Bahrain. The second leg at New Zealand is Saturday at 2:00 AM ET. As Australia counts as an Asian squad, New Zealand counts as an Oceanic squad. Therefore, if Bahrain wins, there are 5 Asian squads, while if New Zealand wins, there are 4 Asian squads and an Oceanic squad. This is significant for the purpose of pod selection, as potentially New Zealand could be placed with an Asian squad if they qualify. South and North America Four squads have qualified from South America: #1 Brazil, #5 Argentina, #8 Chile and #17 Paraguay. Three squads have qualified from North America: #14 USA, #18 Mexico and #22 Honduras. One final spot will go to the winner of the playoff between #10 Uruguay and #36 Costa Rica, played Saturday and Wednesday. South America has two seeded squads, and either two or three unseeded squads. North America has three or four unseeded squads. Pod Selection As mentioned earlier, Pod A will be the eight seeds: #1 Brazil, #2 Spain, #3 England, #5 Argentina, #6 Germany, #12 Italy, #65 South Africa, and #7 Portugal/#9 France/#4 Holland. Pod B will be the eight unseeded European squads. Six will be #15 Serbia, #21 Denmark, #33 Switzerland, #50 Slovakia, the #13 Russia/#40 Slovenia winner, and the #37 Greece/#20 Ukraine winner. The remaining two will be the two unseeded squads of #4 Holland, the #7 Portugal/#29 Bosnia winner, and the #9 France/#38 Ireland winner. The remaining two pods will be combinations of federations, determined among 5 African squads, 4 or 5 Asian squads, 0 or 1 Oceanic squads, 2 or 3 South American squads, and 3 or 4 North American squads. Playoff possibilities Favorites prevail: #86 Bahrain and #10 Uruguay qualify. This results in 3 North and South American squads, and 5 African and Asian squads. For competitive balance, South America and Africa are generally considered at a higher level than North America and Asia, respectively, so FIFA will likely put South America and Africa in Pod C, with North America and Asia in Pod D. #10 Uruguay and #90 New Zealand qualify. This results in 3 North and South American squads, 5 African squads, 4 Asian squads and one Oceanic squad. FIFA again puts the strong African and South American squads in one pod, with the relatively weaker North American, Asian and Oceanic squads filling the other pod. #36 Costa Rica and #90 New Zealand qualify. This results in 5 African squads, 4 North American and Asian squads, 2 South American squad and an Oceanic squad. FIFA's likely action will be to pair North America and Asia since the numbers work out, with Africa, South America and Oceania in the other pod. #36 Costa Rica and #86 Bahrain qualify. This results in 5 African and Asian squads, 4 North American squads and 2 South American squads. This is the worst case scenario for FIFA, as they'll have to split a confederation into two pods, but likely the best case scenario for the #14 USA. Why the last scenario? Reason being that without a clean geographical split, FIFA will likely have to divide by a talent split, pairing Africa and South America to make 7 squads in a pod, with North America and Asia making 9 in the other pod. To even out the numbers and maintain competitive balance, FIFA may choose to pull the highest ranked team from the Asia/North America pod, that being the #14 USA, and put it in the Africa/South America pod. If that happens, this is the good news: #14 USA can't be grouped with another North American team, meaning they'll get a weaker Asian team in their group. Also, paired with the African squads that can't be in #65 South Africa's group, they'll have a 33% chance of landing in South Africa's group as well. So, to recap: Worst-case group scenarios for the USA: #1 Brazil, #4 Holland, #11 Ivory Coast, #14 USA or #2 Spain, #4 Holland, #8 Chile, #14 USA. Best-case group scenario for the USA: #14 USA, #50 Slovakia, #65 South Africa, #89 North Korea So, go Bahrain, Costa Rica, Ireland and Bosnia!

This is a message board and I can't state my opinion? When you disappear when things go well and your first post is about as inciteful as you can make it, you are either trolling, devoid of logic, or devoid of tact. Which do you prefer to call it? My posts are not devoid of logic. Cutler was terrible. I live in Atlanta and I only watch the national games. It just so happens the Bears have been terrible during those. I try not to post during games I don't see. I'm sorry if you can't take criticism of your team when they are bad. I thought as Cubs fans we would be used to it. Cutler has more talent obviously, but I think it is probable that with Orton the Bears win the GB game and tonight's. Your first post post game was, and I quote: That has nothing to do with the team or your opinion. That was a straight smug call out statement right after a last-second loss.

This is a message board and I can't state my opinion? When you disappear when things go well and your first post is about as inciteful as you can make it, you are either trolling, devoid of logic, or devoid of tact. Which do you prefer to call it?

Really, the only thing that pisses me off about this game is they wasted what was actually a decent defensive effort.

Who is saying Cutler is blameless?

Okay, maybe not indefensible, but I'm just really beside myself about losing that game in that fashion. That said, Olsen didn't seem to be looking for the ball at all and hence I thought it was indefensible. Indefensible may have been a bit of an over-reaction. All I'm saying is you really can't just take a sack there. Even if Olsen isn't looking, there were 2 defenders about to tackle Cutler, so he pretty much had to try something. Cutler has struggled in 3 games this year, yes, but the line is just as much a part of it as anything, with their inability to block rushers or open running lanes. With no rushing game, the Bears are basically one-dimensional from the start of the game.

It was a bad throw, but indefensible to force one on the last play of the game, really?

Yeah, that last pick was all on Cutler...

No. Just not the case. Cutler is playing poorly today, for sure, as well as against GB, but generally the problem is the line. Cutler won two games Kyle wouldn't have, but lost two Kyle wouldn't have. Hard to say that with Kyle's last outing, isn't it? Whatever do you mean, Orton doesn't make mistakes, he's a game manager, he just knows how to win. Despite any evidence to the contrary.

No. Just not the case. Cutler is playing poorly today, for sure, as well as against GB, but generally the problem is the line. Cutler won two games Kyle wouldn't have, but lost two Kyle wouldn't have. Lost two, the Green bay game and which? The Atlanta game where Cutler was the only reason the Bears were close? Or was it one of the 40+ to 10 games?