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Bob Green
02-07-2011, 08:51 PM
This week finds the following Top 25 match-ups:

Monday:

Missouri (20) at Kansas (2)

Tuesday:

Tennessee at Kentucky (18)

Wednesday:

North Carolina (21) at Duke (5) - please discuss this game in the pre-game thread as I'm just including it in this thread so people don't think I overlooked the most important game of the week.
Louisville (15) at Notre Dame (7)
Georgetown (11) at Syracuse (13)

Thursday:

Saint Mary's (23) at Santa Clara - these West Coast Conference games always intrigue me.
Illinois @ Minnesota (25)

Friday:

None

Saturday:

Ohio St (1) at Wisconsin (14) - the marque game of the weekend. Can Wisconsin knock off the last undefeated team in the nation?
Pittsburgh (4) at Villanova (10)
Kentucky (18) at Vanderbilt (24)
Saint Mary's (23) at San Francisco - can the Gaels keep winning?

Sunday:

Purdue (12) at Illinois

Please join in and discuss these games and any others (feel free to add games to the watch list) as we move closer to March and Selection Sunday.

ice-9
02-07-2011, 09:29 PM
If Ohio State can survive Wisconsin this weekend, they have a decent chance of going undefeated the rest of the regular season. The only probable challenger after Wisconsin is Purdue at Purdue, but given the way Ohio State manhandled them earlier in the season (by 23 points) I have doubts Purdue could pull it off.

gumbomoop
02-08-2011, 12:10 PM
For college bball junkies with access to ESPNU: every Tuesday aft, live, 1-4 p.m., "The Experts: College Basketball." Panel discussion, 6 talking heads, at least some of whom you'll respect. Panel varies week-to-week; I think they're almost all ESPN-affiliated, but some you'll not have seen much, if at all.

LouisianaDukeFan
02-08-2011, 03:55 PM
For college bball junkies with access to ESPNU: every Tuesday aft, live, 1-4 p.m., "The Experts: College Basketball." Panel discussion, 6 talking heads, at least some of whom you'll respect. Panel varies week-to-week; I think they're almost all ESPN-affiliated, but some you'll not have seen much, if at all.

Coach K gets 3 of 6 expert votes for coach on their consensus team (including Elmore). Nolan made the cut as well, with Fredette, Hamilton, Johnson, and Sullinger. :)

gumbomoop
02-08-2011, 08:41 PM
Coach K gets 3 of 6 expert votes for coach on their consensus team (including Elmore). Nolan made the cut as well, with Fredette, Hamilton, Johnson, and Sullinger. :)

At program's end, the 6 gave their predictions re Duke-UNC game.

Picked Duke: Stephen Bardo, Andy Katz, Mark Gottfried, Adrian Branch

Picked UNC: Len Elmore, Fran Fraschilla

Channing
02-10-2011, 03:54 PM
Did anyone catch the end of this game (or the highlights)? Rutgers started raining threes to mount a furious comeback and then, down 3, made a 3 pt shot and got fouled with .8 seconds left. The shooter made the free throw and Rutgers won.

It was a tough call to make - got to hand it to the refs for blowing the whistle when he saw (or thought he saw) a foul, and not letting the clock dictate his calls.

gumbomoop
02-10-2011, 06:33 PM
Don't want to start new thread just to post this specific piece of info, but this is a bit of good news re NCAAT tv.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6107744

If I read this right, no matter where you live in the country, you'll be able to see the Devils in their Sweet 16 game [......], either on TBS or CBS. That is, I assume that TBS and CBS will each have 2 Sweet 16 games on both Thurs and Fri of Regionals weekend.

cato
02-10-2011, 06:56 PM
If I read this right, no matter where you live in the country, you'll be able to see the Devils in their Sweet 16 game [......], either on TBS or CBS.

Ye gods, man! I hope that the [......] stands for "(if the Devils advance that far)".

pfrduke
02-10-2011, 08:29 PM
The Johnnies are currently taking it to UConn, up 15 with 15 to play. If they can hang on, both teams will be tied at 6-5 in conference.

juise
02-10-2011, 08:39 PM
The Johnnies are currently taking it to UConn, up 15 with 15 to play. If they can hang on, both teams will be tied at 6-5 in conference.

Up 22 with 10 to play. So St. John's is pretty decent at home it seems.

Duvall
02-10-2011, 08:44 PM
The Johnnies are currently taking it to UConn, up 15 with 15 to play. If they can hang on, both teams will be tied at 6-5 in conference.

Now up 23 with eight to play. A win would give St. John's wins over four of the top eleven teams in the country. Impressive work by Gene Keady in his first year there.

Starter
02-10-2011, 08:55 PM
Not that that was a positive experience in the Garden -- trust me, I was there -- but they're putting a whipping on No. 9 UConn right now. I think it was uh_no who astutely pointed out before we played SJU that they were pretty high quality despite a lackluster record, and sure enough, playing all those ranked teams has totally paid off.

ice-9
02-10-2011, 09:10 PM
Now up 23 with eight to play. A win would give St. John's wins over four of the top eleven teams in the country. Impressive work by Gene Keady in his first year there.

A dominant win by St John's benefits us in two ways:
1. Makes our loss look better
2. Moves Kemba Walker down in the NPOY race and therefore space for Nolan Smith to move up

Go Johnnies!

pfrduke
02-10-2011, 09:11 PM
2. Moves Kemba Walker down in the NPOY race and therefore space for Nolan Smith to move up

15 points tonight on 4-16 shooting. Not a strong performance.

Duvall
02-10-2011, 09:34 PM
A dominant win by St John's benefits us in two ways:
1. Makes our loss look better
2. Moves Kemba Walker down in the NPOY race and therefore space for Nolan Smith to move up

Go Johnnies!

Also:

3. Weakens UConn's claim to a top seed.

A good night.

Bob Green
02-10-2011, 10:02 PM
After going on the road, and dropping three straight games, the Washington Huskies are pounding California 58-34 at the half in the friendly confines of Hec Ed Pavilion.

Bob Green
02-11-2011, 09:54 AM
After going on the road, and dropping three straight games, the Washington Huskies are pounding California 58-34 at the half in the friendly confines of Hec Ed Pavilion.

Following up on this post, Washington continued to have a hot hand in the 2nd half and thoroughly beat California 109-77. When the Huskies show up with their A Game they are a very good team. They shoot the 3-ball (17-31 last night) and pound it inside to their power forward who scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Moreover, they play tough defense as evidenced by the 11 blocks and four steals recorded in this game.

I wasn't able to watch the St. Mary's at Santa Clara game but the Gaels won 65-59 to improve to 9-1 in the West Coast Conference maintaining a one game lead over San Francisco. St. Mary's plays at San Francisco Saturday night.

Johnny Dawkins took his Cardinal into Pullman and beat the Washington State Cougars 75-62.

gumbomoop
02-11-2011, 10:26 AM
Ye gods, man! I hope that the [......] stands for "(if the Devils advance that far)".

Yes, I think that must be why I did it, to appease, not so much the karma gods - who can kiss my butt - but posters who do worry at least marginally about karma. As one who just assumes Duke will win all the time, I got no time for karma. I know Duke will lose a few - but very few - times, but before any [and all] particular games, I think Duke is going to win. I'm always surprised when Duke loses. [And I say this despite the fact that - on some other thread sometime today - I'm going to caution that we should take Miami seriously.]

After I typed that prior post bit of FYI, I thought to revise it to eliminate any ref to the Devils, and simply note the good news [again, if I'm reading it right] that we'll all get to see the games of our choice in Sweet 16. And switch to another game at our own pace, rather than that of blechy CBS. I should have revised. Don't really want to have to debate karma.

Olympic Fan
02-11-2011, 10:49 AM
Did anybody else see the end of the Vandy-Alabama game last night?

I'm not prone to Terp about the refs, but Tim Higgins absolutely screwed 'Bama in the closing seconds with a blown call.

Under 10 seconds left and Vandy has just taken a two-point lead. Bama calls timeout and sets up a play that results in a forward driving the baseline. The defener bumps him hard -- it could have been a foul, but I understand that's open to interpretation (although I thought he got both hands on him, which I thought was supposed to be automatic).

Anyway, if that was it -- no complaint.

But the contact forces the driver to the baseline and here's where Higgins blows his whistle and points to the baseline, ruling that the Bama player stepped on the line. Anthony Grant, who is not 15 feet away (in Nashville, the benches are on the end-line), goes ballistic.

When they do a slo-m, replay from midcourt, it's one of those so-close-you-can't-tell-but-the-ref-was-in-the-best-position-to-make-the-call-so-he-must-have-been-right situations. However, when they showed an angle right along the end line, you could see that he DIDN'T step out or bounds and Higgins, not five feet away, blew the call.

There was also an issue about Higgins not giving Bama a timeout in the final seconds, but that was only an ice-the-free-throw-shooter TO and the guy was a 90 percent FT shooter.

I had absolutely no rooting interest in the outcome of this game, so while I could be wrong, I am not biased on this occassion. I simply think Tim Higgins made a horrible, horrible call.

ice-9
02-11-2011, 12:43 PM
Two big games on tap this weekend:

1) Ohio St at Wisconin. KenPom actually now has Ohio State winning this game, but just barely at 51%. This is really Ohio State's best chance to lose in the regular season; if they get by Wisconsin, there's a decent chance they can enter the tourney undefeated.

Even if they do lose, I wouldn't be surprised to see them retain their #1 ranking and at the very least share votes with Kansas. Hard to say which is a worse loss: at home to the #3 ranked team, or away at #13.

2) Pittsburgh at Villanova -- this one actually has direct seeding implications for us. Ohio State and Kansas seem to have a stronghold grip on a #1 seed. Texas will probably get the other one. Thus for the remaining #1 position it would come down to Pitt or us. We'd likely need Pitt to lose at least two games (and for us to not lose another) considering they have many more quality wins than we do, but for that to happen it'll most likely have to start at Villanova where Pitt has only a 47% chance of winning. Pitt is favoured to win the rest of the way.

Pull hard for Villanova this weekend!

Bob Green
02-12-2011, 03:36 PM
At the under eight minutes timeout, Ohio St 51, Wisconsin 49. Wisconsin is on a 17-4 run to cut a 15 point deficit to two points. Ohio St. is at the free throw line after the timeout. This should be an exciting finish.

Bob Green
02-12-2011, 04:06 PM
Jared Sullinger is a very talented young man. The fade away 3-PT basket he hit off an offensive rebound on a missed free throw was impressive. Having the focus to secure the rebound and step outside the arc showed high basketball savvy. He will be in the running for NPOY.

Bob Green
02-12-2011, 04:17 PM
I just checked the scoreboard and see Vanderbilt beat Kentucky 81-77. Kentucky is now 1-5 on the road in the SEC with remaining road games @ Arkansas and @ Tennessee. It is hard to win on the road in conference with a young team.

1 24 90
02-12-2011, 04:21 PM
Ohio State lost. Check
Kentucky lost. Check
If only UNC could have completed the trifecta.

Go Duke!

Namtilal
02-12-2011, 09:43 PM
So who do you guys pick for #1 this week? Texas has won @KU, 2x vs T A&M, 2x vs OU, and vs Mizzou in their current 10 game win streak. However, I don't care who 'earned' a ranking -- I think it's purely subjective, and I'd pick a one-loss Kansas or OSU as #1. Probably stick with OSU.

I know it's trendy to say who earned a higher ranking. I would vote based on my gut impression, though.

pfrduke
02-12-2011, 10:08 PM
So who do you guys pick for #1 this week? Texas has won @KU, 2x vs T A&M, 2x vs OU, and vs Mizzou in their current 10 game win streak. However, I don't care who 'earned' a ranking -- I think it's purely subjective, and I'd pick a one-loss Kansas or OSU as #1. Probably stick with OSU.

I know it's trendy to say who earned a higher ranking. I would vote based on my gut impression, though.

Texas's win over Baylor today was the first time a Big XII opponent has kept the margin under 10. And that's with trips to Kansas and Texas A&M already under wraps. Since the calendar turned to 2011, they've been the best team in college basketball.

Duvall
02-12-2011, 10:13 PM
Texas's win over Baylor today was the first time a Big XII opponent has kept the margin under 10. And that's with trips to Kansas and Texas A&M already under wraps. Since the calendar turned to 2011, they've been the best team in college basketball.

Even if you throw out everything before January 1, Texas still has a home loss to an overrated UConn team - much worse than a narrow loss at Wisconsin. Ohio State should still get the nod, not that it matters.

pfrduke
02-12-2011, 10:19 PM
Even if you throw out everything before January 1, Texas still has a home loss to an overrated UConn team - much worse than a narrow loss at Wisconsin. Ohio State should still get the nod, not that it matters.

I don't really disagree with anyone that picks Ohio State, but for my money (none of which, thankfully, is actually on the line), Texas has been better.

NashvilleDevil
02-12-2011, 10:19 PM
Even if you throw out everything before January 1, Texas still has a home loss to an overrated UConn team - much worse than a narrow loss at Wisconsin. Ohio State should still get the nod, not that it matters.

I say give it to Texas just for the comedy when Rick Barnes becomes the coach of the first 1 seed to get beat by a 16 seed.

DukieTiger
02-12-2011, 11:49 PM
I say give it to Texas just for the comedy when Rick Barnes becomes the coach of the first 1 seed to get beat by a 16 seed.

I don't know if you have seen Texas play, but I think there is about zero chance of this happening. I'm not writing this to disparage your statement, just to underscore how good Texas really is. In years past, they've had lots of talent, but what sets them apart this year is their balance and their defense.

It's harder to choke in the tournament, yes-even with Rick Barnes as your coach, when you have the ability to absolutely lock a team down. They've got decent size, a lot of long athletes, and play great defense. I think they are deserving of the #1 spot right now, because they've been playing absolutely lights out. I think they're the best team right now, and in essence that is what the in-season polls are about. As for their chances in March, they obviously do have the Rick Barnes handicap... :D

tommy
02-13-2011, 12:17 AM
I'm wondering how to explain Texas' 17 point loss to thoroughly mediocre USC earlier in the year. Yes, it was a December game, but still. USC is under .500 in the lousy Pac-10. They will not even make the NIT. How does that thumping that the Horns took compare, in the committee's eyes, to the January loss we suffered to probable bubble team St. John's?

Bob Green
02-13-2011, 01:46 AM
How does that thumping that the Horns took compare, in the committee's eyes, to the January loss we suffered to probable bubble team St. John's?

With wins over Duke (3), Connecticut (9), Notre Dame (11) and Georgetown (13), I'm not sure St. John's is a bubble team. Yes, there is a lot of basketball left to be played, but St. John's has a solid resume to date. I believe they will be dancing come mid-March.

Namtilal
02-13-2011, 01:55 AM
With wins over Duke (3), Connecticut (9), Notre Dame (11) and Georgetown (13), I'm not sure St. John's is a bubble team. Yes, there is a lot of basketball left to be played, but St. John's has a solid resume to date. I believe they will be dancing come mid-March.

They are a classic beat-anyone-or-lose-to-anyone team. The most exciting kind of team in the tourney.

JohnGalt
02-13-2011, 07:01 AM
They are a classic beat-anyone-or-lose-to-anyone team. The most exciting kind of team in the tourney.

Truly odd, as well, considering something like 8 of their top 10 guys are Seniors.

Sports are weird. But like you said...they sure are exciting.

Indoor66
02-13-2011, 07:47 AM
I say give it to Texas just for the comedy when Rick Barnes becomes the coach of the first 1 seed to get beat by a 16 seed.

Careful there. I have been a long time Barnes Basher, but coaches can grow too. Maybe Rick has learned more over time. I see Texas as #1 right now.

JasonEvans
02-13-2011, 08:33 AM
Pitt's win at Villanova with leading scorer Ashton Gibbs out with injury was really impressive...

Of course, Nova was missing Corey Stokes too.

Anyway, we all need to keep an eye on Pitt. I am starting to think they are extremely likely to be in our bracket come tourney time -- either as the #1 to our #2 or vice-versa.

-Jason "I too would have Texas as the #1 team right now" Evans

tommy
02-13-2011, 01:33 PM
With wins over Duke (3), Connecticut (9), Notre Dame (11) and Georgetown (13), I'm not sure St. John's is a bubble team. Yes, there is a lot of basketball left to be played, but St. John's has a solid resume to date. I believe they will be dancing come mid-March.

They may well be, and of course you're right that the above wins certainly look good on their resume. Their strength of schedule is excellent.

But as I type this their record is 14-9, 6-5 in the Big East. Their RPI is 20, which normally means they'd be a no brainer to get in. They have only two games against opponents currently ranked (Pitt and Nova) so that helps too. But also on their resume are pretty bad losses against St. Bonaventure (at home, current RPI 100) and even worse, to Fordham (winless in the A-10(!), 6-16 overall, RPI 242).

If they take care of business and beat all the unranked teams they play and lose to Pitt and Nova, they'll be in. But if they blow one or two of those games they 'should' win, like for example, to South Florida or worse DePaul, and end up, say, 17-13 or even 18-12 and lose in the first round of the Big East Tournament, it'll be nervous time.

When it's all said and done, I agree with you that they'll make it.

Maybe time to start a "bubble" thread?