College Basketball!

[cartman]

Ugh. Looks like Durant just severely sprained his ankle. He went straight to the locker room, but he was able to walk by himself.

[st.cronin]

Terrific game in Madison, Wi: Bucky on top of Sparty by 2 with a little more than 4 minutes left.

[st.cronin]

Kam Taylor = clutch

[cartman]

As well as Texas played in the first half, Kansas played even better in the second, and get the home win 90-86. Texas shot something like 10 of 13 from 3 point range in the first half, but were (I think) 3 of 15 in the second half.

[MrBug708]

Is Durant not liked by the other Texas players? Many times in that second half Durant was open and his teammates looked towards another one of the players...?

UCLA scored twenty points in a half. Looks like they are just looking ahead to the tournament

[TroyF]

Is anyone watching the Winthrop vs. VMI game? This is one of the most entertaining games I've seen this year.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Is anyone watching the Winthrop vs. VMI game? This is one of the most entertaining games I've seen this year.

I don't have it as an option, but I saw VMI live twice this year (Season tip-off tournament hosted by William and Mary)... They're definitely entertaining, too bad it doesn't translate into wins.

[wade moore]

Oh wait, I do have it, turned it on now.

[bhlloy]

That Durant kid is so overrated. Couldn't even get a double-double against the number 3 team in the county.

Serious question for people who actually know anything about basketball - does this kid legitimately have a shot to be Jordan/Larry Bird good? Because right now I can't imagine an 18 year old looking any more impressive. He also looks like he has the frame to add a decent bit of weight and stay as athletic.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Oh wait, I do have it, turned it on now.

This is just an amazing game. Guys are hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. If Winthrop were an average team, VMI would be trouncing them now. Winthrop just keeps hitting huge shots to retake the lead everytime VMI ties it up.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by TroyF

This is just an amazing game. Guys are hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. If Winthrop were an average team, VMI would be trouncing them now. Winthrop just keeps hitting huge shots to retake the lead everytime VMI ties it up.

I've seen VMI play live like I said, and one other game on TV...

This is pretty typical for every game tehy play... I saw them lose to a pretty mediocre Cornell team (15-12, 8-5 in Ivy) in a very similar fashion... And they've lost to some pretty bad teasm this year..

Anyway, it's the nature of this style of play... Yeah, Winthrop is good, but this is not really abnormal for how VMI has played all year.

[wade moore]

Dola:

It's not very hard to hit big shots like Winthrop has when you're wide open for 3's.

[TroyF]

I'm not saying VMI is a great team. I'm pretty sure the 14-18 record in that conference probably tells anyone that. I AM saying they've played a terrific game tonight.

As for it being like other games, it looks like in their two previous meetings with Winthrop they were routed. So something has changed. I really don't care who wins. I haven't seen either team this year, though I know Winthrop is supposed to be a pretty good small conference school.

All I know is that both teams have played a great game today. It's been a fun game to watch. And I don't think Cornell would beat the VMI team on the floor today. Just my opinion though, I could be wrong.

[MrBug708]

That was an ugly game for UCLA. Of course the loss doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Might actually still keep the #1 overall seed too

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

That was an ugly game for UCLA. Of course the loss doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Might actually still keep the #1 overall seed too

UW makes a lot of teams look ugly at home. If the Huskies could play on the road at all this year, they'd be tournament team...

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I'm not saying VMI is a great team. I'm pretty sure the 14-18 record in that conference probably tells anyone that. I AM saying they've played a terrific game tonight.

As for it being like other games, it looks like in their two previous meetings with Winthrop they were routed. So something has changed. I really don't care who wins. I haven't seen either team this year, though I know Winthrop is supposed to be a pretty good small conference school.

All I know is that both teams have played a great game today. It's been a fun game to watch. And I don't think Cornell would beat the VMI team on the floor today. Just my opinion though, I could be wrong.

*shrug*... Like I said, that VMI team looked the same as the team I saw play Cornell and Jacksonville St - losing to both - early in the season... in fact, theys cored more points in both of those games.... I think Wintrhop probably just had an off game.

[mauchow]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

That was an ugly game for UCLA. Of course the loss doesn't mean much in the scheme of things. Might actually still keep the #1 overall seed too

Why would they get the #1 overall when tOSU is where they are?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by mauboy1

Why would they get the #1 overall when tOSU is where they are?

#1 overall seed really doesn't mean that much, it is more of a prestige thing like #1 recruiting class. It doesn't even guarantee that you get the play-in game winner in the first round. Since a #1 seed has never lost a first round game, the argument over overall #1 seed is more for pride than anything else.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by mauboy1

Why would they get the #1 overall when tOSU is where they are?

The #1 seed, in theory, plays the 4th best #2 seed. It is really meaningless provided UCLA stays on the West Coast. But UCLA probably has the RPI and SOS to take the top spot in RPI

[kingnebwsu]

In the Horizon League semis, Butler beat Loyola in OT (on crappy officiating as always) and Wright State blew out UW-Green Bay.

Butler @ Wright State, 9 PM, Tuesday on ESPN. Here's to hoping WSU will dance for the first time in 14 years!

GO RAIDERS!!!

[LoneStarGirl]

Anybody watching KEntucky at Florida? This is a great game so far. A little bit of home cooking by the officials to start the game, but Kentucky is still playing their hearts out.

[Pumpy Tudors]

About three hours until UNO takes on Arkansas State in the Sun Belt quarterfinals. This is the game of the day.

[miami_fan]

Creighton beats (11)Southern Illinois today for the automatic bid in the Missouri Valley. Both teams were going to get in anyway though Creighton's out of conference schedule is not impressive at all.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Creighton beats (11)Southern Illinois today for the automatic bid in the Missouri Valley. Both teams were going to get in anyway though Creighton's out of conference schedule is not impressive at all.

I don't follow much outside of Conference USA and the Sun Belt, but looking at Creighton's schedule, I don't see how they get in without winning the conference tournament. Is the rest of the country so bad that a team can have losses to Dayton, Hawaii, Indiana State, Illinois State, and Wichita State and still be expected to get in? I see that Creighton only lost two home games all year, and they beat Xavier back in December, but I'm not sure what's so impressive about them besides that.

Sorry, I'm not looking to argue. Like I said, I don't follow the MVC. I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing by only looking at schedules and standings.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I don't follow much outside of Conference USA and the Sun Belt, but looking at Creighton's schedule, I don't see how they get in without winning the conference tournament. Is the rest of the country so bad that a team can have losses to Dayton, Hawaii, Indiana State, Illinois State, and Wichita State and still be expected to get in? I see that Creighton only lost two home games all year, and they beat Xavier back in December, but I'm not sure what's so impressive about them besides that.

Sorry, I'm not looking to argue. Like I said, I don't follow the MVC. I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing by only looking at schedules and standings.

The Bluejays are ranked #25 in the RPI and the MVC is #6 in the Conference RPI. I think that plus 20+ wins overall would have been enough.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

The Bluejays are ranked #25 in the RPI and the MVC is #6 in the Conference RPI. I think that plus 20+ wins overall would have been enough.

Clearly, I don't know how the RPI works if you can lose to all of those teams I mentioned and still be #25. That's how it is, though, so OK.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Clearly, I don't know how the RPI works if you can lose to all of those teams I mentioned and still be #25. That's how it is, though, so OK.

There was a general comment made yesterday during the UT-UGA game that pretty well covers it (assuming it was an accurate statement), basically to the effect that for RPI purposes it's better to lose to a team with a top 50 RPI than to beat a team with an RPI of 100.

Creighton's 10 losses came to teams with RPI's of:
4, 4, 39, 73, 76, 93, 101, 109, 136, 137

They had wins over 33 (Xavier), 3x vs 35 (Missouri St), & 40 (Bradley), and 3 more wins over teams in the top 100 RPI, so I'm guessing that those wins more than wipe out the problems with the sub-100 losses.

I won't pretend I totally understand it either, but it seems as those probably 3 of their losses really didn't hurt their RPI at all and 5 of their wins really make a big impact.

[timmynausea]

West Virginia is kind of like the anti-Creighton this year. They only lost 2 games to teams outside the top 50 all year (at #69 Providence and at #171 Cincy), but only have 3 wins over top 100 teams in #1 UCLA, #18 Villanova and #63 DePaul. Their RPI rank is just 58th.

[Wolfpack]

RPI in it's normally simplified formula is (.25*your win percentage) + (.5*the cominbed winning percentage of your opponents) + (.25*the combined winning percentage of your opponents' opponents). It's basically a combination of your performance, your strength of schedule, and the strength of schedule of your opponents. Losing to a Hawaii or a Wichita State damages your win percentage (1/4 of the RPI number), but that can be offset if Hawaii or Wichita State are strong winning percentage teams (1/2 of the RPI) and/or if they've been playing good opponents themselves (1/4 of the RPI). In recent years, it's been suggested that the NCAA has tweaked the value of the RPI numbers so that the road team or games played on a neutral court produce more value for those teams due to the greater "degree of difficulty", if you will, so there is now some component (and some RPIs on the web probably try to reflect this) that takes into account not only who, but where.

[henry296]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

RPI in it's normally simplified formula is (.25*your win percentage) + (.5*the cominbed winning percentage of your opponents) + (.25*the combined winning percentage of your opponents' opponents). It's basically a combination of your performance, your strength of schedule, and the strength of schedule of your opponents. Losing to a Hawaii or a Wichita State damages your win percentage (1/4 of the RPI number), but that can be offset if Hawaii or Wichita State are strong winning percentage teams (1/2 of the RPI) and/or if they've been playing good opponents themselves (1/4 of the RPI). In recent years, it's been suggested that the NCAA has tweaked the value of the RPI numbers so that the road team or games played on a neutral court produce more value for those teams due to the greater "degree of difficulty", if you will, so there is now some component (and some RPIs on the web probably try to reflect this) that takes into account not only who, but where.

The RPI used by the selection committee does adjust for road games. Therefore, road wins are worth 1.4 and home wins only 0.6.

[Toddzilla]

Way to go Chokies! You control your own destiny for the #1 seed in the ACC tournament and have a chance to share the regular season title, and you get blown out by Virginia and then dumped by Clemson on your home court.

Just....YECCH!

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

RPI in it's normally simplified formula is (.25*your win percentage) + (.5*the cominbed winning percentage of your opponents) + (.25*the combined winning percentage of your opponents' opponents). It's basically a combination of your performance, your strength of schedule, and the strength of schedule of your opponents. Losing to a Hawaii or a Wichita State damages your win percentage (1/4 of the RPI number), but that can be offset if Hawaii or Wichita State are strong winning percentage teams (1/2 of the RPI) and/or if they've been playing good opponents themselves (1/4 of the RPI). In recent years, it's been suggested that the NCAA has tweaked the value of the RPI numbers so that the road team or games played on a neutral court produce more value for those teams due to the greater "degree of difficulty", if you will, so there is now some component (and some RPIs on the web probably try to reflect this) that takes into account not only who, but where.

This is the part that has really helped the MVC.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Brah is Back

lol'z

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

About three hours until UNO takes on Arkansas State in the Sun Belt quarterfinals. This is the game of the day.

Unfortunately, UNO's season ended tonight to Arkansas State, 81-74. The Privateers trailed 23-8 early, took the lead in the second half, and then ran out of gas late. Bo McCalebb had 36 points and 11 rebounds.

Even for him, this was an incredible effort, but just not enough help. We have one more year to get him an adequate supporting cast before he graduates. One of the saddest stories in college basketball is that exactly two people on this thread have ever heard of Bo McCalebb.

[miami_fan]

So should Gerald Henderson get more than the ACC mandated one game suspension? Though I am a absolute Duke hater, I don't think Henderson had the intent of trying to hurt Hansbrough. I am fine with the one game but I could see Henderson getting one more game. One game for the ejection and then one game for the incident itself.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

So should Gerald Henderson get more than the ACC mandated one game suspension?

I only saw the incident on replay so I may be missing some context or something, but to be honest I was amazed that he was ejected (which I think by rule mandated the suspension). At least from the angles I saw I didn't see anything that looked remotely intentional, just a going for the ball thing.

Again, maybe there's a different angle or something or maybe they had an earlier problem with Henderson but so far it looks to me like the refs panicked & made a ball decision on the ejection.

[Toddzilla]

I imagine if there was no blood involved in the incident, a technical foul may have been the extent of the punishment, even if the act itself was the same.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

So should Gerald Henderson get more than the ACC mandated one game suspension? Though I am a absolute Duke hater, I don't think Henderson had the intent of trying to hurt Hansbrough. I am fine with the one game but I could see Henderson getting one more game. One game for the ejection and then one game for the incident itself.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I only saw the incident on replay so I may be missing some context or something, but to be honest I was amazed that he was ejected (which I think by rule mandated the suspension). At least from the angles I saw I didn't see anything that looked remotely intentional, just a going for the ball thing.

Again, maybe there's a different angle or something or maybe they had an earlier problem with Henderson but so far it looks to me like the refs panicked & made a ball decision on the ejection.

I think in slow motion replay it doesn't look too bad. If you're looking at the view from the other end of the court in full speed it looks pretty brutal. I agree with miami_fan.. 1 game suspension is adequate (although 2 would keep him out of the UVA game ). It was a pretty hard hit that is questionable. As a Duke fan I'd be upset, but only because I was a Duke fan. Since I'm not, I can see that it's a gray area -- but he drilled Hansbrough hard and his arm was a good 2 ft from the ball.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Since I'm not, I can see that it's a gray area -- but he drilled Hansbrough hard and his arm was a good 2 ft from the ball.

I saw the replay, and what struck me was that Henderson wasn't even looking at Hansbrough - not when he hit him, not before he hit him. I think it was completely accidental.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Unfortunately, UNO's season ended tonight to Arkansas State, 81-74. The Privateers trailed 23-8 early, took the lead in the second half, and then ran out of gas late. Bo McCalebb had 36 points and 11 rebounds.

Even for him, this was an incredible effort, but just not enough help. We have one more year to get him an adequate supporting cast before he graduates. One of the saddest stories in college basketball is that exactly two people on this thread have ever heard of Bo McCalebb.

I listened to the last 5 minutes of the game, and I was disappointed with the number of 3-point shots that the Privateers were firing up. Evidently, they couldn't hit them all night, yet they still tried them when they didn't need to. I understand that this is one of the top outside shooting teams in the country, and they have no inside presence, but come on. Bo can drive to the basket, Reynolds can drive to the basket, and I'd trust McNeilly and Parlow with jumpshots anytime. Still, if they had any size at all, they can make up for those misses on the defensive side of the floor, and that just wasn't going to happen.

I don't know what UNO is going to do next year. McNeilly is gone, so there goes a pretty decent point guard. I guess Shaun Reynolds becomes the point guard now. I don't think they're going to be effective at all inside next year, so that will hurt them again. What bothers me is that I thought Ben Elias was going to grow into a decent center after his freshman year, and it never happened. I'll guess that Tim Tillman gets most of the starts next season, but he doesn't do much either.

All that said, Bo McCalebb is still going to be one of the very best players in college basketball, and I agree that it's a shame that so few people know about him.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I listened to the last 5 minutes of the game, and I was disappointed with the number of 3-point shots that the Privateers were firing up. Evidently, they couldn't hit them all night, yet they still tried them when they didn't need to.

We were bad on three pointers, but man... we were getting good looks, and they were just barely rimming out. Ultimately we just got really fatigued. Did you listen to our new radio announcer? He sounds straight out of the 1940s. I keep waiting for him to go "That palooka committed a flagrant foul, see? You do that in this league and it'll get you a knuckle sandwich, see?"

Anyway, Tillman was just a one-year stopgap. He's graduated. Elias will be back, but who cares? Three new guards are coming in, and hopefully one of them is better than Reynolds. I like Reynolds as a sparkplug off the bench but he makes a lot of terrible decisions and would not start on a good team. Buzz needs to go find at least two good bigs, probably JUCOs, and plug em in so we can get Bo an NCAA Tourney appearance before he leaves here. Buzz was Texas A&M's recruiting guru and recruited most of their current top 10 team. It's supposed to be what he does best. On the other hand, recruiting kids to New Orleans is not exactly a walk in the park right now since at least 25% of the country thinks we're still underwater.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I only saw the incident on replay so I may be missing some context or something, but to be honest I was amazed that he was ejected (which I think by rule mandated the suspension). At least from the angles I saw I didn't see anything that looked remotely intentional, just a going for the ball thing.

Again, maybe there's a different angle or something or maybe they had an earlier problem with Henderson but so far it looks to me like the refs panicked & made a ball decision on the ejection.

Context and blood is what got him ejected. If that foul happens with 10 mins left in the first half (without the blood) I don't think you get anything but a foul called. The fact the Hansbrough was still in the game and still playing hard with 14 seconds left in the game allowed for the perception of a dirty play. If you listened to the call by the UNC radio broadcast, their initial call was that Henderson punched Hansbrough in the face. Add the blood and I am sure the refs had a similar thought in the mind. Like I said, I don't think he meant to bloody and injure Hansbrough. I do believe it was an unecessary foul and the result was worthy of ejection. Actually the ejection may have been in the best interests of Henderson himself and the game. It could have gotten very ugly if he were on the floor at the end of the game and the fans rushed the court.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

If you listened to the call by the UNC radio broadcast, their initial call was that Henderson punched Hansbrough in the face.

Eh, it's Woody. Kinda like listening to Soviet State Radio during the Cold War or perhaps Baghdad Bob a few years ago.

[SuperGrover]

I saw the replay, and what struck me was that Henderson wasn't even looking at Hansbrough - not when he hit him, not before he hit him. I think it was completely accidental.

Intent has nothing to do with it. It was deemed combative meaning that the force of the foul was excessive and reckless. The NCAA deems that players must be in control of themselvesw and can't jump with elbows flailing into players four feet away. There is a reason every analyst who has ever played competitve basketball is saying the suspension is justified.

Again, intent is irrelevant. Fact is he was out-of-control and put his opponents in a dangerous situation. The result was predictable.

Oh and the questioning of why Hansbrough was in the game sheds some light on the quality person that the Rat is. As if it makes it any better if it were done to Mike Copeland. Fantastic argument.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by SuperGrover

Intent has nothing to do with it. It was deemed combative meaning that the force of the foul was excessive and reckless. The NCAA deems that players must be in control of themselvesw and can't jump with elbows flailing into players four feet away. There is a reason every analyst who has ever played competitve basketball is saying the suspension is justified.

Again, intent is irrelevant. Fact is he was out-of-control and put his opponents in a dangerous situation. The result was predictable.

Maybe so, all I was saying was I didn't think it was intentional.

[Radii]

I think that Henderson should have been given an intentional/flagrant foul to recognize that he was a bit out of control and probably going for a hard foul and that was that. I see little reason in the replays to eject him. Both coaches are saying all the right things, and I think its pretty much a non issue outside of fans looking to find fault with UNC or Duke, and the media apparently looking for any reason they can find to kick duke while they're "down".

[MrBug708]

Maybe Roy learned to not leave in his star players with 10 seconds to go and up by double digits? Not that K has never been guilty of it...

[Radii]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Maybe Roy learned to not leave in his star players with 10 seconds to go and up by double digits? Not that K has never been guilty of it...

Both teams still had their starters in, Duke was still committing fouls with 25 seconds to go down 11, and when it happened Hansbrough's replacement was at the scorers table, and anyone anywhere near duke or unc knows all about UNC coming back from 8 points down with 17 seconds left in 1974, with no 3 point shot.

[Easy Mac]

Duke fan, so whatever I say doesn't really matter, but:

From the replays, it looked like he was going for one of those Tomahawk kind of blocks, where a guy cocks his harm back and tries to knock the hell out of it. The ones that draw all the ooohs and ahhhs from the crowd. Problem was about 1/2 way through Hansbrough got the ball knocked away, and Henderson wasn't nearly in control enough to stop. It looked like he tried, but it was such a bang-bang play that it happened too quick. Just poor luck on his part that Hansbrough hadn't really jumped yet. If Hansbrough is in the air fully, he probably gets hit in the chest. Still, a dumb play given the circumstances for Henderson and the score, and given the amount of blood, most likely the correct suspension fallout. But damn, Hansbrough bleeds like crazy. I've had my nose broken a couple of times and it was never that bad, and one I ran head on into a telephone poll at full speed (doen't ask).

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

That should set off alarms right there. Probably the most notorious "basketball factory" in the country. We also had a player from there that got kicked out of school after numerous arrests/academic issues.

Originally Posted by JeeberD

And UTEP has two players from there and they're model citizens...

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/16844234.htm - NCAA no longer accepting transcripts from there. As the WaPo reported - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101733.html - "The school does not have its own building or formal classrooms, and it operates out of a community center in a ragged North Philadelphia neighborhood. It has just one full-time employee: the basketball coach, a former sanitation worker who founded the school."

Students didn't/don't even take classes there, they take them on-line. I'm sure there have been some good kids come through there, and hopefully the UTEP kids are, but that's what I was referring too. (PS - root for UK to fire Tubby after this season, because they probably won't take Travis Ford yet, and the name up next on UMass' list if Ford leaves is Tony Barbee.)

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

In other UMass news, we moved into 1st place in the A-10 behind Stephane Lasme's 3rd triple-double of the season. Yeah, the A-10 is weak this year, but Lasme is putting up 13 and 10 with 5 blocks a game and should be getting some national attention.

As long as I'm quoting that post, 4th Triple-double (1st ever with blocks), A-10 POY and DPOY, UMass tied for the A-10 title and is legitmately on the bubble now. The way we're playing now, we could be a sleeper if we get in. Only likely tournament teams we've played this year were @Pitt, BC (with Williams), @UK, @UL (win) and @Xavier, and with the exception of Xavier all were in the 1st month. Since we brought in 3 transfers and a freshman, they took time to jell, but the team is 9-1 last 10 and is coming together at the right time. (Now watch them choke in the A-10 Tourney and win the NIT.)