Exile on Waveland

I thought this was the worst USC team since 2001. They are still really good though. agreed, there worst offense in many years. Sanchez is just not a great QB. He has great tools, just hasn't put them all together. Sanchez is better than Booty. This team is better than the USC teams of the last two years. It's not even close. No doubt. This USC version is easily the best since the Leinart-Bush halcyon days.

I actually think Ohio State would lose to Utah I seriously doubt that. I bet you it will be a lot closer than you think You have no idea how close I think it would be. Ohio State is much better though.

I actually think Ohio State would lose to Utah I seriously doubt that.

Illinois isn't bowl eligible.

And you're acting like Ohio State fans are in any way rational.

its not our fault greg monroe and patrick patterson didnt want to play for us. black guys hate us i think. The real truth of the reason is Duke does not change their academic standards for anyone athletes or not and they have some of the highest standards in the country. That makes it hard to get the inner city kids that tend to be the really great basketball players and are more often black. This is why Duke will never ever be good at football. You can't find 20 great players who are smart enough to get in let alone the 30-40 you need to compete in football. You can find 7-10 very good basketball players who are smart enough. I applaud Duke for not lowering its standards and its just unfortunate that right now the inner city is predominantly black and that's where most of the great basketball players come from. That's not true.

I also find it odd that an IU team that will win single-digit games has to play on the road against a top-25 team. But that's just me. It's good for the Big Ten, you figure IU was losing their matchup no matter who they played. I guess matching them up with UNC would have been going too far. Ha ha, I suppose that is true. I'd still have preferred IU play the sacrificial lamb against, say, Virginia (who IU could possibly beat at Assembly Hall). Playing UNC would've been payback for the Heels, I suppose. The best IU team in the Challenge era, 2001-02 national runners-up, played the worst UNC team during the stretch, the 8-20 squad. That's pretty much been IU's luck in the Challenge. Their best team two teams have played poor teams, while their worst two teams have played good teams (remember 2003-04 IU which finished 14-15 having to play at Chris Paul's Wake Forest team -- a 100-67 loss). Nevermind IU -- which hasn't been anywhere near the best Big Ten team over the Challenge era -- also getting saddled with a defending national champion, a national champion-to-be and a #1 ranked team. If your going to have a sacrificial lamb (which is what IU is in this Challenge) you don't use one of your home games. IU was going to lose in this Challenge pretty much no matter what so you mine-as-well have them play on the road and give a team that has a real shot the home game. "Your"? "Mine-as-well"? Oh, right, I should be banned. I understand the sacrificial lamb paradigm. However, I care much more about IU than I do the Big Ten.

no, that's not why he had a high era. not at all. Huh?? Marquis 07 12-9, 4.43 era in 33 starts in 191 IP On the last game of the season he pitched out of the pen and gave up 4 ER in 0.2 IP. So total era went up to 4.60 Marquis 08 11-9, 4.43 era in 28 starts in 166.2 IP On the second to last game of the season, Marquis pitched out of the pen and gave up 2 ER in 0.1 IP So total era went up to 4.53. Some GM is gonna look at that and see that Marquis era when starting was much better, and believe that his era was higher because he struggled in meaningless games out of the pen on the final few days of the season. I'd imagine that GMs are smart enough to look past just ERA and w-l record when trying to determine how good a pitcher was Uh, no.

I also find it odd that an IU team that will win single-digit games has to play on the road against a top-25 team. But that's just me. It's good for the Big Ten, you figure IU was losing their matchup no matter who they played. I guess matching them up with UNC would have been going too far. Ha ha, I suppose that is true. I'd still have preferred IU play the sacrificial lamb against, say, Virginia (who IU could possibly beat at Assembly Hall). Playing UNC would've been payback for the Heels, I suppose. The best IU team in the Challenge era, 2001-02 national runners-up, played the worst UNC team during the stretch, the 8-20 squad. That's pretty much been IU's luck in the Challenge. Their best team two teams have played poor teams, while their worst two teams have played good teams (remember 2003-04 IU which finished 14-15 having to play at Chris Paul's Wake Forest team -- a 100-67 loss). Nevermind IU -- which hasn't been anywhere near the best Big Ten team over the Challenge era -- also getting saddled with a defending national champion, a national champion-to-be and a #1 ranked team.

I also find it odd that an IU team that will win single-digit games has to play on the road against a top-25 team. But that's just me. An unwritten component of the sanctions against IU. Also see Maui Tournament. IU shall suffer as many intense beatings as is feasibly possible during their probationary period. IU has two such beatings coming to them this week (at Wake Forest and vs. Gonzaga at Lucas Oil Stadium -- which I've got tickets to, yippee). Strange, those will come in the same week as their best win yet (vs. Cornell).

I also find it odd that an IU team that will win single-digit games has to play on the road against a top-25 team. But that's just me.

Blah blah blah sample size. Is there anything specific about Peavy that makes you think he's inclined to pitch poorly in the playoffs? No, it's almost certainly a fluke because of the blah blah blah. However, he also pitched horribly in last year's play-in game (ostensibly a playoff game).

Mizzou hasn't faced a defense as good as Iowa's all year. You think Iowa's defense is better than Texas'? I don't really think there's much difference between the Alamo and Holiday, and personally I'd rather play a Big 10 team than a Pac 10 team. I certainly thought Mizzou was Holiday Bowl-bound. I also think it's a better bowl.

Wake Forest will beat IU by way more than 16. My goal is the same as it was for the Notre Dame game: less than 30.

+10000 Florida's going to win. Might as well root for the winner.

I said in this thread earlier Dumes is easily my least favorite player on this IU team. The rest of the team may have a plethora of flaws, but they generally always play together and share the ball. Dumes, not so much. I was dubious when he was signed; it turns out he's the exact same player he was in high school. However, Crean needed to add him regardless. Beating Cornell, especially by 15, is actually a very good win for this incarnation of IU.

I had been hoping for Florida-USC for that very reason.

USC's offense is not that impressive. No, it hasn't really been very good (relatively) since Leinart-Bush left. I would be stunned if they could put enough points up to blowout anyone the caliber of Oklahoma.

I could see those teams beating them, but I don't know about obliteration. Especially Alabama. I think Oklahoma would beat Alabama at this point. It would be a tossup with USC, probably. Florida, well, I'm not sold anyone is even close to them. I think UF will cruise by Alabama and the runners-up-to-be, so I might agree with him on a third of his statement. Edit: Well, "cruise" might be too emphatic of a term depending on Harvin's health.

I believe one of the Bookout teams started in the top-10 but promptly dropped out.

Why is the Preseason NIT championship game on in the afternoon this year?

Indiana hung on (barely) to win 81-79 over Chaminade in what will be their only victory away from Bloomington all season.

Calasan is 6'9, 250. Johnson is 6'10, 215. Calasan is a much more physical player. While neither is a great matchup for Griffin, Calasan's a better rebounder than Johnson. While I'll agree that Johnson is a better defensive player, his approach to shot blocking will just get him in foul trouble against a much stronger player like Griffin. It doesn't really matter anyway. They're both going to get a lot of minutes, unless one of them gets in foul trouble early. Isn't Griffin basically there whole team though? Willie Warren was the 10th-ranked recruit in the nation for the 2008 class per rivals. He's also averaging 15.3 ppg.

He should have been t'd up when he swiped at Reed. That was lame. They made a hell of a comeback though. And the KU young guys didn't respond. We really need one more scoring option. Can't wait till Mario Little gets healthy. Cubbies, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we lost in Columbia this year. At this point I'd think Missouri would have to be favored in Columbia. They've played well so far. Long way to go and KU has looked much better than I expected this early.

Also, Johnny Flynn's behavior left a lot to be desired.