My last comment on this as this is the Duke board, but you're clearly wrong again. Early exits in 02, 04 and 06 are hardly a plethora. I'd rather have those exits than early exits in the NIT like the Wolvies. I'd suggest sticking to football trash talking.
And State's losses in the Final 4, ugly as two of them to UNC have been, have generally come to higher ranked teams. Arizona in 2001 is the only exception, unless you count a crippled team this season. Hardly choke artists.
dukemsu
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
More confirmation in this article from Jeff Goodman, who is the main college basketball writer for FoxSports.com. He's really good with his info, so I trust him more than the Freep article; Goodman was the guy that broke the Singler staying story, IIRC. Anyways, here's the link: http://community.foxsports.com/goodm...lenge_matchups
For those that don't want to read the link, not all of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge matchups are set, but the big ones are as follows:
Michigan State at Duke
Purdue at Virginia Tech
Ohio State at Florida State
North Carolina at Illinois
NC State at Wisconsin
I don't know how long it takes for an Achilles Heel injury to heal, but I'd guess Kalin Lucas will still be feeling some effects.
Also, if the reports of Chris Allen's departure are true, Duke's backcourt could be too much to handle for the depleted Spartans.
Nevertheless, it will be a great early season matchup in Cameron and the atmosphere will be absolutely electric.
For what it's worth, Chris Allen's mother has been quoted as saying that the rumors are just that and that Allen will be back at MSU for his senior year.
Things could change, but the rumor mill has now switched to Korie Lucious being the most likely transfer candidate. The buzz was much, much, louder on Allen.
Izzo may also have been playing head games in the press with his comments last week about how someone else may be going. He's known to do that.
You're absolutely right on Lucas, however. He's said to be recovering ahead of schedule, but an Achilles injury is the worst injury that could happen to a jet-quick guard.
dukemsu
Hmm.
Michigan State at Duke - Very good chance this is a #1/#2 match up. Won't say Duke is going to blow anyone out.
Purdue at Virginia Tech - Va Tech at home starting, what, 4 seniors? Purdue starting 3 seniors. This is going to be a tough game.
Ohio State at Florida State - Both teams lost a lot. Florida State at home.
North Carolina at Illinois - Rematch of a great title game. Illinois will be fired up. Decent chance at blow out, but what's not to drool at?
NC State at Wisconsin - Wisconsin is virtually impossible at home. Good chance of solid win by Wisconsin. Least drool worthy in terms of style of play. Wisconsin forcing ugly ball as usual.
Maybe it's that I've been deprived any college basketball to watch lately, but this all sounds good to me.
Both of these lose a bit of talent, but they also add quite a bit. Ohio State has one of the nation's best recruiting classes highlighted by Jared Sullinger.
F$U brings in a point guard in Ian Miller who will likely have the ball in his hands from Day 1.
Unless these teams are having trouble assimilating their new talent, which Thad Matta rarely ever does, there should be some high level basketball being played.
i'm loving the match-ups, although i would have enjoyed seeing unc go into Purdue and get manhandled, but i'm really excited for msu at cameron it will be one of the biggest non-conference home games in awhile
Hard to tell who'll come out on top for these match-ups.
Michigan State at Duke - Probably the easiest to pick. Go Duke!
Purdue at Virginia Tech - Tech gets home court advantage, but Purdue should be the better team. Remember this is basically the same Purdue team minus its best player who defeated a very good #5 seed in Texas A&M. And this is the same Virginia Tech team that didn't make the NCAA tournament. So I'd give the edge to Purdue, but this is gonna be a great game no doubt.
Ohio State at Florida State - Florida State is very tough at home but loses Alabi while Ohio State reloads with Jared Sullinger in the paint. I see Ohio State winning this one.
North Carolina at Illinois - Just how good will Harrison Barnes be? Since it's at Illinois, let's assume the Illini wins one for the Big 10.
NC State at Wisconsin - We lost to Wisconsin last year. Sure, the teams are different, but the Badgers are almost impossible to beat at home.
Big 10: 4, ACC: 1
Yikes...
It appears to me that the initially reported matchups reflect what some consider to be the pre-season top five teams in the ACC - Duke, Virginia Tech, UNC, N.C.State and Florida State. I will be particularly interested to see what Tech and the Wolfpack do in these matchups as well as the rest of the season given the high expectations for these two teams.
gw67
Is anyone a little nervous about our non-conference home record? I know K is never going to shy away from an opponent, but it's pretty gutsy risking it all against a preseason final four favorite. I still think we'll win, but I'd be sad if the streak comes to an end.
Trinity '09
I'm inclined to agree with this take. I see us winning against MSU, but I see the Big-10 taking those other matchups. Purdue should be much better than Va Tech - more than enough to offset the home court advantage for Va Tech. And Wisconsin just has a knack for winning in Wisconsin. A team like NCSU (which struggles to win on the road and may not be fully-organized at that point) should struggle there. The swing games are Illinois/UNC and OSU/FSU. I think OSU brings better talent in and has more experience (though less top-end talent) returning. FSU doesn't bring in junk, but I don't expect them to win that one, even though it's at home.
The only bad thing I can see about these ACC/B10 matchups is they are more than 6 months away.
Should be some great games and a good barometer for the teams involved.
Sure hope ACC can take more than 1 of these top 5 games, for I think ACC will not have Miami in this year's Challenge, as they finished last in conf in '09-'10. Miami might well be our #6 finisher this year, and certainly wouldn't be bottom 2-3, so ACC will miss a possible Miami win. You'd have to think Big is favored to win the overall Challenge in December.