Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You have got to buck up, man. You cannot drag this negative energy into the tournament!
On a neutral court...
Little Lebowski Urban Achievers
Hartzell's Baby:
ESPN.com - CB News
The Fairview King: Go Longhorns
Where's Pat?
28 comments:
To Ring in the New Year:
1- Syracuse
2- Kentucky
3- North Carolina
4- Missouri
5- Ohio State
6- Duke
7- Baylor
8- Georgetown
9- Nevada, Las Vegas
10- Connecticut
11- Florida
12- Michigan State
13- Indiana
14- Louisville
15- Michigan
16- Murray State
Sorry for not posting last week, but figured we would start up again once the conference portion of the year commenced. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist may be the best player in the country, his performance on Saturday was impressive to say the least.
Georgetown or Indiana? You must be joking.
I also can't believe you have a team that lost to Central Florida above a team that has beaten your #2 and #5.
I'll post mine soon. Murray State? You need to stop ignoring stats.
And I'm sorry for dragging on and on here but a team that loses to Rutgers has no right being almost in your top 10. Especially when their best win is Arizona.
Michigan at 15? So you're telling me you would take them SU over Kansas and Wisconsin?
Please redo your poll before I look at it any closer.
I am alive...was waiting for a new post. 16 will be up later today.
1st Poll of 2012:
1-Cuse
2-Kentucky
3-UNC
4-Duke
5-Ohio St
6-Baylor
7-Mizzou
8-G Town
9-Mich St
10-Indiana
11-Lville
12-UConn
13-Kansas
14-Florida
15-Miss St
16-Wisconsin
Heading to the GT Bama game tonight as well as the Duke GT game on Sat. GT might be the worst team in the ACC and thats saying a lot. I'll report back on both teams...Bama looked promising early on, but has fall a bit short as of late. I am curious to see how good this Duke team really is.
Is UNLV really that good. I watched them play UNC over thanksgiving and they were OK.
The last I checked BC was still in the ACC? They could be the worst team from a major conference in history.
Lux has a lot to say but I don't see any power 16. I'll let my rankings do the talking for me:
1-Kentucky
2-Syracuse
3-North Carolina
4-Ohio State
5-Missouri
6-Baylor
7-Georgetown
8-Florida
9-Duke
10-Kansas
11-Indiana
12-Louisville
13-Connecticut
14-Michigan State
15-Wisconsin
16-Nevada Las Vegas
Florida, Kansas, and Wisconsin are all playing with three losses. That's probably going to scare most of you from ranking them because you have no heart. These teams, however, do.
Billy Donovan, Bill Self, and Bo Ryan can all coach for me any damn day of the week. I can't speak with the same confidence for some other head coaches running teams on our power 16's right now with less than 3 losses.
Some observations at the start of a new year:
Baylor and Missouri are both really good. Frank Haith walked into a honey pot when Mike Anderson left with 7 seniors on this roster. That's unheard of unless we're talking about Patriot league rosters. KU and Texas are not the front-runners this year in the Big XII, which is really shaping up to be a fun race.
Speaking of fun, who's going to win the Big 10? My money is still on Ohio State and Thad Motta, but Indiana isn't a one-trick pony, and Sparty has reeled off 13 in a row after starting the season 0-2. Michigan is also strong this year, and as mentioned previously, Wisconsin is going to have something to say before all is said and done.
On the flip side of things, the ACC is downright bad. Outside of the big two in Chapel Hill and Durham, Tony Bennett's Cavaliers are the only other tourney-looking team to me so far. Florida State, who I've gone on record as liking a lot in November, has underwhelmed, losing recently at home to Princeton. Maryland, BC, GT, Wake, Clemson, and Miami are all terrible. NC State and Virginia Tech to me are the only 'maybies' in the group. ACC could be a four-bid conference this year and that's a very liberal assessment in my opinion.
Can't figure out the Pac-12 yet, other than Stanford and Cal are both very good on their home courts this season.
To me, Las Vegas, Harvard, Murray State, Ohio, St. Louis, Southern Miss, VCU, College of Charleston, and Denver--in that order--might be the best of the rest. Of all the non-BCS or 'power' conferences in the NCAA, these teams jump off the page to me for what they've done in the non-conference season. Now most of them will fade into obscurity since Big Monday and Super Tuesday crank back up. Makes me long for the days on Fairview Ave, watching ESPN triple headers while Lux cooked French Bread pizzas and Pat walked around in his boxers and DS was in the back room crushing up addies and getting blue snot and Matt was slanging New York Strips at the 'Bee.
Happy New Year, fellas.
Great point Mr. Lux....they are still scheduled to play GT so they should be included in a major conference and yes they are terrible...what happened to BC?
1. UK
2. Cuse
3. Indiana
4. Ohio St
5. UNC
6. Michigan St
7. Duke
8. Gtown
9. Wisconsin
11. Lville
11. Mizzou
12. Baylor
13. Kansas
14. Florida
15. UNLV
16. Zaga
and 1: winner of UConn/Hall tonight
@Hartzell: Washington is going to win the Pac12. Both Cal and Stanford are overrated.
Lux I will give you credit: you called the demise of X. Breaks my heart, but you were spot on.
Thanks el duderino
I also ranked Mich St two weeks ago. Glad the rest of you have come around even though you still have them out of the top 10 which is a mistake. I don't really understand how you can justify a power 16 without 2 teams from the best conference in the top 10. Try harder Matt and Hartzell.
Because personally Lux, I believe the talent gap between Ohio State versus Indiana and Michigan State is that great. I also don't think the Hoosier's can keep this up over the course of January and February, but we shall see. Top-to-bottom, the Big 10 is very gifted. But I'm sorry Indiana and Sparty are not in the same elite class as Kentucky, undefeated Syracuse, or North Carolina. Period.
We all know that you have had a man-crush on Tom Crean going back to his days at Marquette. That's fine, his team is playing very well. But they are not an elite bunch and I'm not willing to give them status in my top 5 until they do something on the road.
Honestly, you think IU or MSU can beat Baylor? Or Georgetown? Or Florida? I do not.
You know Indiana has beaten both Kentucky and Ohio St right? I just don't see how you can disregard that fact.
But to answer your question, yes I would take both Indy/MSU against Baylor. Baylor turns the ball over almost 25% of their possessions and aren't good on the offensive glass. That's why someone like West Virginia is taking them to overtime.
Yeah, I'd probably take Georgetown at home against Indy/MSU but not Florida. Like Duke and UConn, they can't shoot free throws. Luckily Duke and UConn have a free throw % close to their field goal % to make up the difference. I would hack every player on Duke/UConn as soon as they got anywhere near the basket.
Luxey Baby, since when have you gone away from your bread-and-butter about winning true road games. It's no small feat. Syracuse has played two of them to non-tourney teams. Indiana has played 2 1/2. They won at Evansville (non-tourney), won at NC State (non-tourney), and lost at Michigan State this past weekend. If you think Indiana is an elite team then just say so. I will take three-loss Florida against them on a neutral court every day of the week.
I'm not dismissing wins against Kentucky and Ohio State but I think that has a lot more to do with Assembly Hall than it does IU's x's and o's. You obviously disagree and have decided to anoint Indiana as the third best team in the country. Nevermind that they just lost by 15 to a team ranked 3 spots below them on your poll. It's called blasphemy.
You're reaching Hartzell. You can use the road win argument for mostly any team right now.
"Nevermind that they just lost by 15 to a team ranked 3 spots below them on your poll."
-umm that was on the road. You can't pick and choose in the same argument how you want to look at road losses. Also, it was tied with 8 min to play. Both teams were going on huge runs. In any event, even losing by 1 or 2 pts to Kentucky or Ohio St at home is more impressive than anything Florida has done. I know you love Billy but Indiana didn't lose to Rutgers last week. Am I wrong?
Indiana was also missing their 6th man (10 ppg) against Ohio St.
You're damn right I'm reaching because I'm trying to talk to a so-called scholar of the game who has Indiana as the third best team in the country!! Just simply not buying it.
Matt I'd love to get your opinion unless you're too busy hanging out with Bernie Fine. Am I wrong here?
Seton Hall is barely an away game for UConn. Come on now boys, I'm making you all look foolish. None of you are cooking with gas.
Seton Hall is apparently pretty good this year, and I am UConn's kiss of death, something that I am happy to serve. Indiana is a nice story but 3rd best team in the country? May be high, I would take Baylor on a neutral.
Just about everyone has a loss that shouldn't be there at this point in the season. When I ranked UConn I did it based on talent and the fact that they will finish in the top 3 of the Big East. Plus, Wisconsin hasn't always shown up in the big games they have played. I could've easily switched out Wisconsin for Michigan.
Murray State is beating people handily. They may not go undefeated but they won't lose more than 2 games, and I am impressed with how they are beating up on their schedule. They are usually a pretty solid squad so they are getting love over BCS conference 4th place finishers, or anyone from the Pac10.
Losing to Rutgers, in the RAC, with a program super geared up to show benchwarmer Mike Rosario what he is missing is not enough to dismiss Florida's talent. They are the only team in the SEC that can play in the same gym as Kentucky.
I think the Georgetown/Indiana game on a neutral would be closer than Lux thinks. Georgetown was supposed to be a bubble team at best and they have looked damn good.
Well, Lux you were correct about UCoon as they didn't even show up last night.
I am not going to jump in this debate over who has a bigger johnson tom crean or billy donovan. I'll let you guys get into that.
As I stated I will report back on some teams that shouldn't be on anyones radar.
Georgia Tech-bet aganist them in every game for the rest of the year. I don't have a single player that can dribble the ball
Bama-Hard to tell from last nights game, but they looked pretty good. With Green healthy again they may be the 3rd best team in the SEC. With Kentucky and Florida ahead on them. I thought that they looked better than Miss St did against Baylor,. but again they were playing GT. Just wanted to put that on everyone radar to keep an eye out for this team.
I believe that the Big Ten isn't as good as we are all giving them credit for this year. I will say that they have four really good teams:
Mich St, Indiana, Ohio St and Whisky.
I don't think that Michigan is that good and Purdoodoo is a med level team as well. As for the rest of the conference you can fill in with the bottom tier of any other major conference including the pac 12.
I am sure that each of you will aruge something about Iowa beating Whisky or Northwestern is a decent team etc etc, but really these team are no better than NC St upsetting Duke later this year or Florida St in the ACC.
I can say the same thing for the Big East as well. You have Cuse, Lville, GTown and Marquette/Seton Hall/ dare I say UConn. After that Pitt is looking more and more like a bubble team, nova isn't good at all this year. I guess you could toss in Cincy, but can't respect a team that starts fights on the court.
Overall, I am disappointing in the level of college basketball this year. Seems to me that only a few teams can play at a high level and then we have a bunch of mediocre teams fighting from tournament spots and a chance to make a run at the elite eight. I am wrong?
I tend to disagree Dru. I think the Final Four is wide open and this is one of those years where there really aren't any completely dominant teams. Kentucky has already lost and isn't covering the spread lately.
Cuse is a very good basketball team but I think they are overrated. They'll probably still be undefeated when they head down to Louisville in mid February though.
Ohio St has moments of greatness and is my pick to cut down the nets but they are very vulnerable.
Then you have 10 teams that can easily beat any of the 3 teams above on a given night. Why is that a bad year of basketball?
I also have to disagree with Dur. There are a bunch of teams that have been playing a high level of basketball. This year has everything a basketball fan could want. There is the dominant teams that are on their own level (Cuse, UK, Ohio State, UNC) and still the second tier of teams can play with them. Traditional powers have been restored, and the Big 10 and Big 12 will have compelling races that keep us on our heels.
What I think this comes down to for Dur is that the ACC is awful, as has been previously discussed. The conference is clearly UNC's to lose and the middle of the conference is extremely fluid and inconsistent. The Big 10 is better than Dur thinks, as a third of the conference is top echelon according to Dru. Additionally, the middle and bottom is probably better than the Big East this year and is most certainly better than the ACC and the SEC.
I think the MVC is better than the ACC this year. Dru, next time leave off the question mark when you say "I am wrong?"
Gentlemen,
Thanks for the riveting responses. I see each of your points that their is a bit more parody in the game than I had previously thought. Matt I do believe you may have hit on a good point in saying that my drum normally beats to the tune of the ACC and yes you are probably correct that the MVC may be better than the ACC.
On a side note have any of you given thought to coming to Atlanta for the Regional in March. Obviously you will have a place to lay your head and I am only about five minutes from the Georgia Dome.
Looking forward the tonight's match up with Michigan and Indiana.
Wow, the Pac12 is wide open. All 4 likely conference champions: Cal, Stanford, Zona and Wash, lost last night. Utah also beat Wash St. Small miracle. There was a strong chance that Utah would be the worst major conference team of all time. It was one of many upsets last night. Purdue and Hummel lost by 20 to Penn St?
Charleston lost to Wofford. Nova lost to South Florida. Pitt went down against Depaul.
Now it is time for me to talk about Indiana who beat Michigan last night despite having the best 6 man in the country on the sidelines again. 5 players are avg at least 11 ppg and 2 more are avg 8. Why does that not impress you guys?
Wins:
Kentucky
Ohio St (full roster)
Michigan
NC State
Notre Dame
Butler (many of you have ranked this year)
Only loss: at Michigan St
How that doesn't merit you guys thinking about them as a Final Four team is blasphemy. You guys keep talking about talent but Zeller has potential to be the player of the year and I'll take team chemistry
over talent this year thank you very much. Memphis had almost a full NBA roster in 2008 and they didn't win it all. Did Butler really have anyone that talented last year? Yes UConn has won national titles recently on the back of 2 stars but there is no Carmelo Anthony or Kemba Walker this year. Duke couldn't even beat Arizona last year. Yes they won in 2010 but luckily for them WVU took down Kentucky for them. Again, another example of talent not getting it done when all is said and done.
Lux makes a legitimate argument. Indiana are a top tier team this season when there may not be, in fact, top tier teams with which to be intimidated by. The only thing is that I, personally, don't see the Hoosier's as the third-best team in America, as the aforementioned Lux does. Then again, when you have 'em ranked that high, Lux, they really have no place to go but down as the season progresses.
Near case-in-point: Wednesday's two point win over a Michigan team you're favored to beat at home by 8. Just saying. The big boys aren't the only ones not covering spreads as home favorites these days.
Conference play begins in earnest this weekend. I'm excited. I don't foresee a team running the table this year. Baylor and Missouri and most importantly Syracuse will all lose multiple games before it's all said and done. Parity is most certainly prevalent this season in college hoops. There are no great teams. A scattered dozen-or-so great players doing their thing at their respective schools, but I'm going to agree with the notion that there's no 2007 Florida Gators in the college basketball this season; no team out there that just makes everyone shit themselves with fright.
Good day gentlemen.
Hartzell, Indiana might not be the 3rd best team in the country but I don't think anyone else besides them has earned the distinction as of yet.
Look at Baylor and Missouri. The best win from either of them is St Mary's. Missouri is certainly an Elite 8 team but Baylor turns the ball over a lot and let's their opponents grab a lot of 2nd chances. They'll be lucky to make the Sweet 16 in my opinion.
I am honestly considering only ranking 8-10 teams on Monday. The Big East is clearly down this year which shows the problem with super conferences: too many bad teams equals garbage middle. How will the Tournament even field 65 teams this year?
Bad week for Duke. Almost got embarassed today. Dru, were you at this game? What was the atmosphere like?
I'm serious about the 8-10 teams by the way, Lux you have to be on board.
And JMU lost! I thought this was the year they would turn it around.
Lux you mean to tell me that you are ranking Michigan this week because they lost to Indiana? I understand they beat Wisconsin but did this coupled with the showing in Bloomington really cause you to reverse your stance on Michigan from last week when you went after me for having them ranked? You are becoming the Mitt Romney of this blog.
Post a Comment