Transmogrified Tiger

How many prospects get each grade? Are there a lot of A's, is it a bell curve, etc.?

Eh, until the Big Ten can beat the ACC in the Big Ten/ACC challenge at least once, I won't give them any credit. (Kidding) Big 10 is solid this year, can't argue that. But I don't see any way that they are better than the Big East. RPI be damned. How many different teams has the Big East had in the top 10 this year? How many in the top 25? Receiving significant votes? The Big Ten is also having a great year, and anyone can win that conference this year, but I still put them behind the Big East. The polls are super subjective and biased. What good is counting Louisville among the teams that were in the top-10 at one point if they aren't even going to make their conference or the NCAA tourney at this point? I don't see how you can just discount RPI then hold up the polls as proof.

It's amazing, Louisville was ranked as high as 4th this season, and they might not even make the conference tournament in the Big East. Conference is STACKED. Final Four last year + get most of your good players back (exception F. Garcia) + C-USA to Big East = no top-12 conference finish. Last week, Seton Hall, a middle of the road Big East team at best, walked into Raleigh, home of the 3rd best team in the ACC (NC State) and crushed them. Georgetown beat Duke, which no one other than Va Tech has even come close to this year. The conference is obscene. When you have 16 teams, you're more likely to get upsets. RPI wise, the Big East still trails the Big 10(FTR, the B10 had a better non-con RPI as well). The Big 10 has 7 teams in the RPI top 20, compared to 3 for the Big East. Avg. RPI is 53 for the B10(17 median), 56 for the Big East(35 median). I understand that it's a deep conference, but it's not as head and shoulders amazing as some claim it to be.

He is averaging over 20 a game in the Big Ten and gets to the line on a consistent basis why wouldn't you classify him as a scorer? As a John Wooden Player of the year candidate I would say he is a scorer. Just because he doesn't translate well to the NBA doesn't mean he isn't a scorer on the college level. Look back in the thread, Tucker isn't very efficient at all. Until he suffered that nasal injury his numbers were pretty good. Even on nights when he has shot poor he has still "scored" Just cause he isn't a pure shooter doesn't mean he isn't a scorer. check the edit

He is averaging over 20 a game in the Big Ten and gets to the line on a consistent basis why wouldn't you classify him as a scorer? As a John Wooden Player of the year candidate I would say he is a scorer. Just because he doesn't translate well to the NBA doesn't mean he isn't a scorer on the college level. Look back in the thread, Tucker isn't very efficient at all. Here's an update: In eFG%, he's now tied with Chappell for 2nd worst on the team, 49th of 61 in the conference. In PPWS, he's now in front of Krabbenhoft at second worst on the team(of players that play regularly), and 56th of 61 in the conference.

my point is that randle matches up very well with him. Has Randle matched up with anyone that plays down low/posts up as much as Tucker? Randle is a fantastic perimeter defender(shutting down Ager and Gardner are two immediate examples, wonder why I thought of them...), but is his lean frame conducive to being able to stop a more experienced, more solidly built player like Tucker? That said, Tucker isn't that great a scorer, like I pointed out earlier in this thread I believe. I think the difference you'll see tonight is heavily dependent on officiating. If Augustine plays a good portion of the game in foul trouble, then U of I is in a lot of trouble. If not, they have a good shot if Brown can find the net.

My logic is undeniable.

Fun stuff here. Enter cb2006 for this year's college basketball season, and let the fun begin. My favorite: 2006-01-10 Missouri 71 @ Oklahoma 69 2006-01-28 @ Oklahoma 82 Texas 72 2005-11-21 Texas 76 West Virginia 75 Kansas City, MO 2006-01-11 @ West Virginia 68 Georgetown 61 2006-01-21 @ Georgetown 87 Duke 84 Transitivity proves that Missouri is better than Duke. This 5 game conquering path predicts: Missouri over Duke by 23 points. and just for Cuse... 2006-01-10 Missouri 71 @ Oklahoma 69 2006-01-28 @ Oklahoma 82 Texas 72 2006-01-14 @ Texas 58 Villanova 55 2006-01-21 @ Villanova 80 Syracuse 65 Transitivity proves that Missouri is better than Syracuse. This 4 game conquering path predicts: Missouri over Syracuse by 30 points. EDIT: hahahaha 2006-01-16 @ Missouri 89 Kansas 86 O1 2006-01-28 Kansas 95 @ Iowa St 85 2005-12-09 @ Iowa St 72 Iowa 60 2006-01-07 @ Iowa 63 Illinois 48 Transitivity proves that Missouri is better than Illinois. This 4 game conquering path predicts: Missouri over Illinois by 40 points.

yes

Lugo also rates as one of the best defensive SS in the game in Baseball Musings' Probabilistic Model of Range.

Uhh? Gordon, Smith, Frazier, McBride, Pruitt, Randle, Semrau, maybe Freemen, Beverly, and Rose. Am I forgetting anyone? I'm sure they'll be ranked at least. Gordon doesn't come in til 2007-2008 class, Beverly has stated that Illinois is out of it now, Rose no one knows about. Hopefully we get Freemen (if he qualifies) or Darquavis Tucker who shortened his list down to I think Mich St. Illinois and Uconn.. It's unusual that Tucker is still high on MSU, because they really don't have a scholarship for him with Summers/Allen/Lucas coming in, unless they get an unexpected academic scholarship.

I've said that I don't like fantasy baseball, I suck at it and I don't really like playing it.

Eric Gordon, Brian Carlwell, Richard Smerau, Billy Cole, and Mike Tisdale are all four or five stars. We are reloading. If we can add either Dar Tucker or Derrek Rose we will be great again. Who's coming in next year? Is it just Carwell and Semrau?

Illinois is hitting Wisconsin at the right time. No Landry or Stiemsma. After the Michigan game, Taylor is Questionable and Flowers and Krabbenhoft are Day to Day. Wow. The road hasn't been too kind to U of I thus far(1-2). They are shooting 38% from the field in their 3 B10 road games, Dee Brown is shooting 28% (19% from 3) in those games. In their 4 B10 home games, 44% from the field, and Dee is shooting 47% (44% from 3).

You can't call all of Walker, Neifi, and Hairston bench players. One of them has to start on the middle infield. That is why I said over $10M in bench players $13M - one of the $2.5 salaries. Math is fun...

Jeez, kU laying the lumber to another team, up 20+ on Texas Tech in Lawrence.

You can't call all of Walker, Neifi, and Hairston bench players. One of them has to start on the middle infield.

FYI, ESPN has CS% Link

Gross, Hill, and Adams are all pretty solid statistically, I don't know what their tools are.

Also, they had a follow up post:

There's a group of guys that do the blog, someone on here discovered it in the middle of last season. It's well worth looking through their archives if you're looking for a funny read.

The buyout was 3.5 million, but I think the option was 8 figures.

FJM's take:

I don't think getting Thomas for 500k was much of an option. They only had until the arby deadline to sign him(since offering arbitration would be suicide), right? I don't think there's any way Thomas would've signed that early for that little. Maybe, hard to say. That said the Sox gave up a lot for a guy who's going to be primarily a DH. Oh yeah, go nuts after KW, I'll be right there with you. :wink:

I don't think getting Thomas for 500k was much of an option. They only had until the arby deadline to sign him(since offering arbitration would be suicide), right? I don't think there's any way Thomas would've signed that early for that little.