I could see Kansas going on a decent run in the tourney.

I think Mizzou is used to out-hustling and out-working other teams, but will have trouble winning in the postseason when everyone turns it up a notch. Anderson is a good coach and has the team well-conditioned and hustling, but probably doesn't quite have the talent yet.

We need a big guy.. but I think you're wrong about the tourney run. If we shoot like this, yes we'll be one and out.. but I know we are much better than this showing thus far.

Easily the prettiest 1st half by us this season. Man, that was one hell of a showing

SI

fck me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn I hate fckin Kansas... totally beating our ass today.. damn you too SI!!!!! :rant::banghead: :lol:

Dang it. Channelsurfing just kicked me out to the SEC

SI

KU still up by 20, SI. Mizzou on a 10-2 run, but whippe doo~

Just a quick break from the MU-KU commentary.

Just wanted to say, if anyone missed the Cal-UCLA game on ESPN last night, Darren Collison really showed what level of player he is and can be in that game. He was amazing. UCLA's going to miss him big time next year.

Two awful SEC teams, but Arkansas honored the 1994 national championship team complete with welcoming the entire team and coaches (minus Mike Anderson obv) for a halftime ceremony. The pregame was watching the entire 94 championship game on the jumbo. Game is about to start and the place is packed and going nuts for the two SEC teams with the worst record. Bizarre scene, but a lot of nostalgia.

Also, welcome back Nolan.

Well, that was quite a butt whoopin we took there.

Yeah, it was pretty frustrating to see that many wide open shots missed in the first half, but I can't say I expected Mizzou to win at the Bench Barn.

Perspective is always needed at times like this. Mizzou is 24-5, has a first round bye, will be a 4-5 seed in the NCAA tourney, and has a chance to play for 2nd place at home on Senior night. If you would have given me that scenario before the season started, I would have admitted you to an asylum.

Collison is a fantastic penetrator, and he can really take over a game if/when he wants to.

If there's a player that palms/carries the ball more in college basketball than Collison, I'd love to hear who it is. It's easy to see why he can beat people on the dribble.

I'm with you there. Frank Cusamano on channel 5 said last night he was at the game and although he's never been to a Duke home game, that was the most intimidating place to play he's ever been to.

I spoke to several people who went to the game that had been to previous MU/KU games at Allen. They said the crowd yesterday was at a whole new level. Amazing what happens to that crowd when Mizzou actually brings a good team to town.

Nothing quite like a good ol' woodshed beatdown of your arch nemesis to start the week off right. Rock Chalk! Jayhawk! KU! :D

I do have to send a nice big "f*ck you" to CBS though. Unless you were in one of the local markets for the game, it looks like they switched you over to the Tennessee/Florida game halfway through the 2nd half. I was so pissed, I turned my TV off in disgust, so I don't know if they took us back to Lawrence, but I doubt it.

CBS does this all the time during the tournament too. When I see Gumbel's ugly mug on my TV screen, I know I can kiss whatever game I was just watching goodbye.

FWIW.....I have Time Warner Cable and they have 4 HD channels during tournament time that show all 4 of the games that are being played. So I can just switch to whichever feed I want to watch without worry about being switched to a different game.

Also, the internet feeds are available and allow for viewing of all games without any cut-aways.

This game scares me a lot more than it did a few weeks ago - looks like Bennett's crew has really come together in the latter half of the season. I'd give the edge to the Dawgs too since they're at home, but it's going to be a battle.

Well crap. Just mentioned in KC on the radio that the flu bug is going through the Mizzou team right now. Several of the players are sick. That certainly explains the energy level yesterday (or lack thereof). I still think we would have lost yesterday even if we were healthy, but this probably didn't help. Better now than later when we're in tourney play.

DK, they did switch back to the game ..

MBBF,

I heard they turned away 1500 fans that wanted to buy tickets for the game..

On the feed on channelsurfing, they never changed back. Got to see the second half of that SEC suckfest

SI

ever try sportsonpc?

Nope, but I hadn't tried channelsurfing until about 10 minutes before tipoff, when I realized some brain surgeon working for CBS thought regional SEC coverage was a good idea over KU-MU ;)

SI

Looking forward to OU-Mizzou for second place in the conference. I won't forget the hatred toward Eduardo Najera in the Hearnes Center.

I won't forget my hatred for OU. :)

Haha, maybe it's a one sided rivalry or maybe it's just that I didn't live in Oklahoma in the Big 8 days so I just don't know about it...but I don't really share the hatred for Mizzou. Is it because we beat you in the Elite Eight that year? I liked that MIzzou team (And even picked them to the Elite Eight that year because I knew Cincy would lose and I thought you could beat UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen). They were talented and should have been higher than a 12 seed--Quinn Snyder sucked.

I remember reading about Lester Hudson last year, but I don't remember him getting the only quadruple-double in division 1 history:

Rivals.com College Basketball - Hudson making most of decision to stay in school

Wonder what his chances are of making the NBA. Draftexpress has him going late 2nd round. He's played against two top-level teams this season in Tennessee and USC, and struggled with his shot in both games. An intriguing talent though, I'd like my team to take a flyer on him in the 2nd round.

I'm so distracted right now. I can't wait to head down to Columbia for the game tonight. Top 5 team coming into a sold-out Mizzou Arena on Senior Night. It's going to be absolute mayhem. I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Will UGA really offer Jeff Capel $2m a year?
Report: Georgia willing to offer $2 million to Oklahoma basketball coach | Athens Banner-Herald

Possibly. I know you don't want to get into a bidding war with Georgia. HOpefully OU can give Capel a raise and sell him on the classes he's bringing in and the overall better basketball tradition than Georgia. I think he'll stay just because if he wants a top 5 job, it's been proven you can do that from Oklahoma (of course, Tubby did it too at Georgia).

Capel's certainly in line for a raise after the season they've had, assuming they don't fall on their face in the big dance. I would think that a raise, combined with proximity to the juicy recruiting bucket that is Texas would keep him in Oklahoma rather than having him jump ship to Georgia. (And yes, I realize Georgia is close to the basketball mecca that is the state of North Carolina, but it seems like UNC, Duke, and others have pretty much got the entire state on lock-down.)

dear lord. A former Duke basketball player coaching U(sic)GA?? Espicially *this* former Duke basketball player. I think he would immediately become the Antichrist to me.

That was part of it.. :) I'm a huge football fan though and when it comes to football, I dislike OU more than KU. :p

Mizzou is battling tonight though!!!

The Griffin's are fun to watch though.. wow...

The Capel rumors are pretty interesting. I am guessing that Capel and Johnny Dawkins are currently options 1a and 1b for Duke if/when Coach K. ever retires. Leaving Oklahoma, in their current basketball "health," for Georgia would be a pretty big risk. Capel is a pretty young guy (33 years old), so he would probably be better off trying to maintain the high level that Oklahoma is currently at, rather than risking his promising career to rebuild Georgia.

We are not looking good tonight at Texas Tech (refs not doing us any favors, but still, no excuse)

Mizzou looking quite good at Oklahoma

SI

Meanwhile Georgia beats Kentucky in Lexington 90-85 and Tech beats Miami behind a career high 30 points from Lewis Clinch on Senior Night.

Jackets & Dogs both win conference games? On the same night? I expect tomorrow's headlines to include something about human sacrifice, cats & dogs living together and other types of mass hysteria.

I forget if you guys get Texas at home or at Texas. But here's hoping for a share of the big 12 title for the Tigers. (And then watch as KU gets a 2 seed and we get like a 5)

My god, this game is being awfully officiated. 2 T's already for KU. Tons of fouls being called away from the ball.

SI

And now a player fouled out for Tech on a bullcrap foul, defending a free throw

But KU can't play tight defense to try and draw close because everything is a touch foul.

SI

Great. Next thing you'll tell me is that there's a giant marshmallow man lumbering his way through Manhattan. :D

At any rate, kind of a weird night in the ACC tonight. I still don't know how in the world Lunardi, et al, think Miami or Va Tech's in the tournament at this point. As I noted upthread somewhere, I'd be surprised if the league got more than six teams in at this point with five definites in UNC, Duke, Wake, Clemson, and FSU. BC ought to be the sixth team, but then they seem to be in one-step-forward-one-step-back mode right now as they lost tonight to NC State in Raleigh.

Both Miami and VT lost tonight (and in Miami's case, lost badly at the worst possible time to entirely the wrong team), so I have a hard time picturing those teams in, especially if Miami gets beat by State this weekend (giving State a season sweep and a higher position in the final ACC standings). The Hokies may yet finish 8-8, but there just isn't a lot of meat to their record. Yes, there's the Wake win, but they blew a lot of other chances to get more fodder including tonight's game against UNC. I just can't see them getting in with their resume' at the moment. I also still can't really get behind Maryland, even with their wins over MSU and UNC. If any of those three teams do get in based on their current body of work, then it's truly a wretched set of bubble teams they're being measured against (and given the truly spectacular weakness of the SEC and the mid-majors this year, this could very well be true).

It's just not going to happen for us. Crappy loss at Texas Tech for Kansas. Ugh. We're down 12 with 2 and change to go...

SI

Memphis wins its 57th conference game in a row on the road at Houston.

Yeah, I'm still with you here. I don't understand how its possible that the ACC gets 8 teams in. heck, in the game tonight against Virginia Tech they were talking about how Va Tech is #59 in the RPI, but that they deserve to be in. In what world does a 12 loss team that finishes 8-8(at best) in conference play with the #59 RPI have a chance in hell at making it in? Wins at clemson, at wake, and at Miami are nice but they've lost 5 of their last 6, I don't care how hard the schedule has been... and it has been pretty hard to be sure, they've still lost 5 of their last 6 with a road game at FSU coming up.

Eh, we'll see. Let enough of these teams in and maybe one makes a sweet 16 run, go ACC, huh? :P

Also, Miami is out after tonight, no question about it IMO. There are only 3 teams in the ACC with zero chance of making the tournament. Miami has now lost to two of them, without doing anywhere close to well enough against the rest of the league to justify those losses.

Gawd, their conference sucks. ;)

That was an incredible game. Hope you had a great time MBBF!

Incredible atmosphere. It was an absolute blast. REALLY emotional Senior Night ceremony before the game just set the place on fire. Demarre was extremely emotional.

Mizzou is the only team in conference play to beat OU with a healthy Blake Griffin. I still have no clue what Capel was thinking playing Blake Griffin for 39 minutes. He was useless the last 5 minutes of the game when OU needed him mostly due to fatigue. I realize they have a short bench, but playing your star player for 39 minutes against Mizzou is coaching suicide. It just won't work.

In related news, we have a game update.........

Voskul just hit another three pointer in Lubbock.

They're not the only SEC team throwing around the cash. Alabama is offering similar money to try to get Mike Anderson to coach that squad. I'm sure that Coach Anderson will play it up to get a fat contract extension with Mizzou.

Aw, you're so cute, MBBF. Always a bad winner and bad loser.

SI

Lew Perkins called MU a 'second-rate school' after KU lost to Mizzou. With an AD who carries himself with such class after losing, it's hard to second guess just how great KU is............

dola

For those that didn't watch the game last night, the Antlers were in fine form. They held up a 6 foot photocopied picture when Blake Griffin went to the free throw line......

Mizzou Arena: Not A Fun Place To Play

The amusing part was that Blake Griffin bricked both of his free throws on that trip BADLY. Ushers came in and took the sign shortly thereafter.

I'm pretty sure he nailed the first free throw.

But, Missouri plays really hard and I respect that. Blake is maybe the only guy who could go 39 minutes against Missouri and he was a bit worn out at the end. More importantly, the team looked like it didn't feel like coming back or playing smart enough to do so. Missouri out-efforted and out-smarted OU and thus, out-executed OU. They may or may not be a better team than the Sooners, but they could definitely go farther in the NCAA's than OU does because they play like a team and don't make as many mistakes.

But, Missouri could run into trouble if refs call it really tight or they don't hit their outside shots. They did a really good job against OU's zone yesterday, but you have to be hot for 6 games in a row in the NCAA's.

p-b-p online says you're right.

Make & miss in his first two trips, then 0/3 in the final five minutes to go 2/7 from the line for the night.

I'm still hoping OU wins the Big 12 tournament so they can get a 1 seed and I can bet against them some more. They're one of the easiest college hoops teams to handicap I've ever seen.

Now that's crazy.

I remembered that he missed 4 out of 5 during a quick stretch in the second half when the sign went up. You may be right that he did hit the first one. I just remember a brutal stretch after the sign came out. Probably what happened is that he hit the first one while I was gawking at a 6 foot picture of him in a dress being displayed in front of 15K people.

A few observations regarding the Kansas / Texas Tech game last night:

• It is always dangerous being a team's opponent on Senior Night. I can't be bothered to look up statistics right now, but I'd be willing to wager that teams' winning records are substantially higher on Senior Night.
• This was one of those games where Texas Tech was uncharacteristically good, and Kansas was uncharacteristically bad. These happen. No point in getting upset about it.
• As much as I disliked the end result, I have to give props to Alan Voskuil, who was absolutely unconscious from deep (38 points, 9-14 on 3-pointers :eek: ).
• I hate watching games like this, and I don't mean games where KU loses. I mean games where the referees call any and every little bit of contact. I watch basketball to watch good offense and good defense, both of which require rhythm. If I wanted to watch a free-throw shooting contest, I might as well watch golf. Let the kids play, dammit. :mad:
• I'm not that upset, overall. Kansas gets a weak Texas team at Allen Field House (where they've won about 8 million straight), and a win gives them another outright regular season title.

One more thing:

Winning the Big 12 Tournament won't necessarily give OU a #1 seed. The final game of the Big 12 (and some other) tournaments is on Sunday, at which point the selection committee has already completed the bracket. But, being in the conference final may have an impact on seeding.

Don't they often have a couple conditionals left over based on the Sunday results? They have to in some cases when a team is in a conference final that would not be an at-large selection but might win their conference tourney. In many of the years when either Duke or UNC would get a 1 seed but not both, I thought a couple spots were set up conditionally based on the result of the ACC Final Sunday afternoon.

Well, now you know how opposing teams feel when they enter Allen Fieldhouse. ;)


Incorrect. The Big 12 Tournament final is held on Saturday for this very reason. They want to avoid past seeding issues when the final was late Sunday afternoon.

In theory, yes, but realistically, in the past the tourney committee loves to knock Big XII teams down a seed or send them to crappy regions with the excuse of a loss but never rewards them for a win, saying it was too late to change the bracket.

SI

OK...I see they've changed this from years past. I'm glad for the change actually. It always annoyed me that the selection committee's decisions were mostly set in stone before conference tourney finals. Partially diminished the value of the games.

And as far as the conditionals go (like the one they had to use for Georgia last year), those only affect the last 1 or 2 teams to make it in as at-large bids. they don't affect who the #1 seeds are.

The Big 12 final used to be the very last conference final, is it possible that made a difference? The ACC Final is always at noon, the Big 12 final used to start at 2 or 3pm eastern.

Its also possible that I am completely misremembering.


And MBBF is right, the Big 12 final is Saturday this year. Is that a new change or was it like that last season?

Yeah, that's new to this year. I think the Big XII was tired of hearing that silly excuse. Kindof stinks for the host city as that's one less weekend day of business but better for the conference as a whole

SI

Again, that was the excuse they always used but then committee members would give a lot of contradictory interviews that left a lot in Big XII country cold. It has just always gaven the impression that we weren't the ACC or Big East or whatever the conference du jour was during years when we were on par or betters (unlike this year where we're a bit down) and the late conference title game was a convenient excuse.

SI

To be fair, 1988 was a long time ago. :D

*ducks*

I thought we were pretty good last year ;)

SI

Found this to be interesting. A person that is close to the Mizzou staff mentioned how the MU coaching staff altered the double team from what other OU opponents had done when defending Blake Griffin. Previous teams had doubled-down the guard on the wing, leaving an OU guard wide open for a three. MU doubled down the opposite post defender, using the double team to keep the pass from going to the other post and keeping all of the guards well covered. It'll be interesting to see if other OU opponents down the road use this tactic and how well Griffin recognizes the defense........

It is true, but I think the conference is better than what people give it credit for. Winning 57 straight in any league is impressive, especially when times line up and take their best shot at you.

Yeah, I saw that one coming, but clicked submit anyway ;)

http://www.kenpom.com/confrank.php?y=2008 Also,it turns out that the Big 12 was rated higher than the ACC twice in the last decade(2003 and 2000), so I guess 1988 was a bit of a stretch.


Anyway, in all seriousness, its horseshit that "the game was played too late for us to factor it into the bracket" would ever be the case. Its even more horseshit that there is any question at all as to exactly how those Sunday games factor in.

I appreciate the homework. I tried to find Sagarin's conference rankings but gave up after a couple of minutes.

And, yeah, as I've said, realistically I know the "game played too late" should never be the case. But they have used it as excuses in the past a couple of times to keep a Big XII team lower ranked in the brackets. I never saw an official press release about the change but I suspect this is the reason.

SI

As a Big Ten fan, I can echo that the committee has dropped the "too late to adequately factor" stuff on Sunday afternoon conference championship games. It is extremely annoying when your team wins the Sunday game to feel that it has not been reflected in the seeding process.

Tennessee gets the advantage in the SEC East, beating South Carolina on the road by 16. Fun first half, back & forth evenly, both sides just beating the hell out of each other at times. Vols took over in the 2nd half when SC went cold and UT didn't.

Talor Battle hits a shot with .3 left on the clock and Penn State beats Illinois again!

It is pretty frustrating how Penn State has taken it to Illinois over the last few seasons. But I think I'm come to grips with what this team is, and will appreciate any smidgen of success that they have in the postseason.

I think they have a decent future though hoops dont you? I forget what the big guys name down low was but he can shoot and has a nice touch. If he gets bigger and puts the time in I think he could really be a good threat for you guys.

If an Illinois fan is kicking himself in the ass, you need to do the right thing. Don't pick him up. Kick him again while he's down.

I really dont have anything against Illinois. Being a Penn State fan, Illinois has been in the dumps long enough in football (changing now) that when they win in anything im happy for em. Ohio State and Michigan, well now thats a little different story :)

Even though they fell flat at the end of the game last night against Penn State, I have to like the direction Illinois is going. It's taken him some time, but it looks like Webber has finally gotten his recruiting efforts up to snuff. Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, and Demetri McCamey are all only sophomores. If those guys stick around, Illinois could be a serious threat over the next couple of years. I especially like Davis' game...seems like there's tons of untapped potential there.

New bracketology bracket heading into the final week of the regular season for the big conferences.........

Bracketology - ESPN

Illinois football has been better than PSU Basketball! :)

I wasn't thinking muns, I should've asked you to come to the B10 Tourney with me and some of my friends next week! Maybe next year.

ESPN has Michigan in at 18-12 (8-9) with a HUGE game tomorrow @ Minnesota. If we can beat Minnesota, and win our first BTT game we're in. If we lose, we need to win two BTT games I think and probably get some help.

Needless to say this is the most important game in nearly a decade for UM hoops.

The Big 12 has a great slate to finish up the regular season.

-KU has Texas at home. If they win, they clinch the B12 championship.

-Mizzou goes on the road to face bubble team Texas A&M. A win coupled with a KU loss gets MU a piece of the championship.

-OU hosts bubble team OSU in a big rivalry game. A win coupled with a KU loss gets OU a piece of the championship.

MU, KU, and OU are all playing for the championship. Texas, OSU, and A&M are all playing for a NCAA spot. Should be a GREAT Saturday.

I hope the Wolverines get in. Not because I'm a huge U-of-M hoops fan (I was born in Michigan and lived outside of Lansing as a child, so I'm more partial to the Spartans), but because I think they could possibly have a great run. They proved early in the year that they're capable of beating anybody with victories over Duke and UCLA. They're one of those teams that, when they're playing average they are indeed very average, but if they get hot, no one would be safe from them.

Kind of reminds me of Belien's teams at WVU. They can go on a run or just kind of look "meh." It depends on making shots and then getting into the 1-3-1. I don't profess to watch much Big 10 basketball, but I assume he's still running that system.

He runs it a lot but he hs proven not to be married to it. I just can't wait for Darius Morris and Matt Vogrich to get in here next year, and I hope like hell Manny Harris stays one more year.

We're looking really good with some top 2010 and 2011 kids, so JB is building the program but it'd be so nice to see this team play a tournament game.

Congrats to Deschellis(sp?) and Penn State for probably clinching an NCAA berth with their win against Illinois last night. The man can coach with the best of them, and should have PSU competing for the top spot in what should be a very tough conference for the next 3-5 years or so.

Im not gonna go that far, but its nice to think they might make the tourney this year. Reminds me of the year with the crispin brothers.

I couldnt even if I wanted too this year. I gotta go recruit in NJ for a couple of all star games, and ill be holed up in a hotel for a few days. I hate driving back and forth. Seriously Keep me in mind for next year though, ive never been to a tourney before.

Gameday from Morgantown tomorrow for WVU's game vs Louisville. The weather is really nice tonight and there are a ton of students, out in tents, waiting in line for tickets. Should be fun.

Pitt came to play today

Yeah, they are putting on a clinic really. Great gameplanning, they really make an effort to take Thabeet out of the game by running fast breaks and getting early offense or play some 5 out in the halfcourt. Which is a great idea if you see that on the half a dozen times they directly attacked the basket in halfcourt Thabeet has 3 blocks, 1 wildly overthrown entry pass, another wildly changed shot and another one than bounced back to Young by accident.
UConn is bad offensively today, Adrian is off and can´t find any room, Price plays a wild game. Thabeet is the one consistent threat with 14 but he´s not a good enough offensive player against double teams to really forcefeed him, so someone else has to step up here.
Young is playing terrific so far.

Great and intense game so far, definitely worth watching.

btw : Is anyone else amazed at the number of ridiculous plays that aren´t even being replayed of even mentioned (like that Price shot arround, through and over a defender with 0 on the clock or the one where Edwards almost kills himself breaking up an alley oop) ?

I can't wait for the Big East tournament - some day I'd love to get to MSG and see the whole damn thing.

Absolutely HUGE win for Michigan in Minnesota. Down 12 with about 10 minutes laugh, they claw back and hold on.

Have the Big XII or Big Eight ever had a three-way tie for first at year's end? That would be awesome.

The Big East tournament is always amazing.

dola- Second ticket punched today ( Cornell clinched the Ivy League) with the first championship game and man is it fun to watch so far.

I played a College Hoops 2k8 dynasty with VMI, so I find myself rooting for them against Radford. VMI plays a really fun style of basketball.

They just ran down a list of regulations on campus at VMI. It's amazing they ever get any kids to g othere

It's really killing me whether to shell out for 1st/2nd round games in Boise. And with Gerry McNamara and the Reno Bighorns of the NBDL coming to town that same weekend, this would be theoretically possible:

Thursday: Stampede v. Bighorns (NBDL)
Friday: 4 NCAA First Round Games
Saturday: Stampede v. Bighorns (NBDL)
Sunday: 2 NCAA Second Round Games

So that would be 8 games in 4 days, for around $400....

Nice showing by the Tigers again today.

UCLA smokes Oregon.

The ball is in Washington's court. Beat your rival, win the conference outright. Lose, only get a share of the title AND you lose the #1 seed in the Pac 10 tourney.

Go Cougars!