2015-2016 College Basketball Thread

[Groundhog]

I watched the LSU Tigers play my local professional team the Sydney Kings last night - although we were missing our imports (Josh Childress and Celtics 2nd rounder Marcus Thornton) as well as our starting PF.

Ben Simmons was the reason everyone was at the game, and he lived up to the billing. He did a bit of everything, bringing the ball up and running the offense, shooting from 3, and attacking the basket. We have some solid post players on our team and you can see he needs to work on his strength as he was getting pushed away from the hoop on contact, but he had the touch to finish anyway after the foul. Ended up with a line of 25-6-8 - it was an up-tempo game, 95-93 final score, 10 minute quarters.

LSU looked to him just about every possession he was on the court - although maybe that was partly because he was in Australia playing in front of Aussie fans. Quarterman woke up in the 2nd half and started to take on the scoring load as LSU fought their way back into the game, but most of his shots were off of Simmons passes.

In the end the under-manned Kings won on a jumpshot with a few seconds left, after a Quarterman 3pt shot tied the game. Each year we get college teams downunder playing this type of exhibition games and it's rare that our pro teams lose, although it does happen from time-to-time.

[CraigSca]

Since it won't last, I'm going to bask in the "Maryland ranked #1 in the preseason" per ESPN. :)

[dawgfan]

5-star SG Markelle Fultz is going to make his announcement tonight among Louisville, Arizona and Washington. And to the surprise of most college hoops observers, it looks like he's going to pick the Huskies.

Romar has performed a remarkable roster sweep and kickstarted his recruiting to a higher level. He did a great job of building up Washington into a Pac-10 power earlier in his tenure around guys like Brandon Roy & Jon Brockman and later Isaiah Thomas & Terrence Ross, but the team has hit the skids lately after some poor recruiting decisions.

The roster has been almost completely revamped from last year with several players transferring and only 3 scholarship players returning, joined by a top-10 recruiting class of 8 (!) new players, with 6 of them rated 4-star talents.

Romar already has a probable 4-star committed for the 2018 class in Jontay Porter, younger brother of stud 2017 prospect Michael Porter Jr. Both are godsons of Romar, as he and Porter Sr. are very close. He's also doing very well with local 4-star 2017 prospects Jaylen Nowell and Daejon Davis.

It's been a wild ride for Washington basketball over the last few months, from a terribly disappointing ending to a once-promising season following the dismissal of C Robert Upshaw, but things look much better now and tonight could be a real cherry on top of that positive momentum.

[MrBug708]

He basically resurrected his career at UW with his recruiting. He'll never be a great X's and O's coach, but getting the talent back could sustain UW for a nice run again.

[dawgfan]

He basically resurrected his career at UW with his recruiting. He'll never be a great X's and O's coach, but getting the talent back could sustain UW for a nice run again.
That's probably underselling his coaching a bit too much (and over-stating his recruiting a bit), but yes - he's known more for his recruiting than his coaching acumen. I'll note that he's done a pretty good job of turning 3-star recruits into NBA players.

He landed Fultz as expected. The 2016-17 roster is looking stacked...

[digamma]

Harvard's starting point guard tore his ACL and is out for the year. It looks like he hasn't had to enroll in classes formally yet, which is important since the Ivy League doesn't allow redshirts. If true, he'll take the whole year off from school and come back next year.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Harvard's starting point guard tore his ACL and is out for the year. It looks like he hasn't had to enroll in classes formally yet, which is important since the Ivy League doesn't allow redshirts. If true, he'll take the whole year off from school and come back next year.

Ooooofffff. Can he take classes elsewhere and get them transferred in just so it's not a total waste of a year?

[Chief Rum]

Ooooofffff. Can he take classes elsewhere and get them transferred in just so it's not a total waste of a year?

Sure, why not? Go to a local Boston CC and see if Harvard will accept GE credit for classes there heh heh.

[digamma]

The degree program doesn't really work that way in terms of credits. He'll graduate at the end of his next academic year.

(And confirmed that Siyani will in fact take a voluntary leave for the academic year.)

[britrock88]

Time to rehab while doing volunteer work in Peru! :)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sure, why not? Go to a local Boston CC and see if Harvard will accept GE credit for classes there heh heh.

I know. Just seems like such a waste.

[digamma]

Well the other option is to go to school and lose his last year of eligibility. There are some requirements for students who take voluntary leaves. You typically can't just sit on a beach (or in Siyani's case, in the snow (he's from Minnesota)).

[Butter]

So, interesting doings at University of Dayton the last week.

Seemed to be a normal offseason when there started to be rumors that star forward and candidate for A10 Preseason POY Dyshawn Pierre was no longer enrolled in classes.

A couple of days later it turns out that he was not. Because he had been recommended to be suspended from school for a semester for a sexual assault that allegedly took place in April.

The assault was reported in May, a couple of weeks after it happened. In the report, the girl talks about how she doesn't want to see him go to jail, but does want to see him "punished". The entire incident as laid out in the police report is very he-said/she-said, as obviously both sides have entirely different interpretations of the encounter. And with no DNA evidence as the girl didn't report for 2 weeks, the prosecutor declines to bring charges.

Fast forward to last week, when Pierre apparently went before a University Hearing Board and was given his punishment of suspension.

Then, sometime late last week it is reported that Pierre had hired an attorney to fight the suspension (Dyshawn Pierre of Dayton Flyers will fight suspension (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/13727438/dyshawn-pierre-dayton-flyers-fight-suspension))). Same attorney who represented Ray Rice in his fight against the additional suspension and Jonathan Vilma in Bountygate... and also Dez Wells in a similar situation at Xavier... which ended with Wells transferring to Maryland.

Reports are Pierre will be back for the second semester, which would see him eligible around Christmas, but others are saying that Pierre lawyering up to fight the suspension likely means he has played his last minutes at UD.

Difficult for UD, as their big non-conference games will come over Thanksgiving at the Advocare Invitational in Orlando, opening with Iowa and really needing to win that game to get the schedule boost of playing Notre Dame, Wichita State, and/or Xavier later in that tournament.

We'll see.

[britrock88]

Interesting. The para-judicial non-judicial stuff that the feds are tasking colleges with... ugh. But enough about my job.

[JonInMiddleGA]

At some point doesn't Brown get a lifetime achievement award or something?

NCAA bans SMU Mustangs for 2016 postseason, suspends Larry Brown for 30 percent of team's games (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/13769364/ncaa-bans-smu-mustangs-2016-postseason-suspends-larry-brown-10-percent-team-games)

[BishopMVP]

Not 2015-16 related (I'd guess UMass is around .500, outside hope of an NIT berth), but we got some huge commits for 2016 this week. 2 kids from New Orleans in a package deal, but either would normally be our top recruit - one's a top 60 combo guard, the other a 6'9 high motor guy who people have ranked between 70 & 150. Then added another borderline 3*/4* 6'8 PF who grew up locally, and we really seem to be at least a co-favorite for another top 50 G in Bruce Brown. It's probably already a top 20 class, and if we get Brown we might even end up fringe top 10, although there are always a few schools that'll jump us late - I don't think we'll still be ahead of Kentucky when it's all said and done ;)

[rjolley]

I'm really looking forward to this season. The kids I coached as part of the Georgia Stars are going to be college freshmen. A few made it to big programs and were high recruits. It'll be fun to watch them continue to grow.

A couple of the kids:
Malik Beasley: He was on the team when work got very busy for me and I had to not coach as much but you could tell he was going to be a solid player. One of the best wings we had. Great pickup for FSU.
Noah Dickerson: Dominate post when he joined the team when he was 14. When he got going, he was a man among boys. Worked with him in the post. Definitely has to skills to make an impact down low for Washington.
Will Jackson: Didn't work with him much, as he played above his grade most of the time, but watching him in practice and the games that I saw, he's a solid point with the ability to run a team. He'll be at Georgia.
Lemonte Turner: Good guard with skills with a funky stroke that he makes at a good clip. He'll be sitting out at Tennessee, which is a shame. He should be a good one.

Saw quite a few other players while on the circuit and looking forward to seeing them as well, especially Mickey Mitchell who'll be at Ohio State. He was dominate and had crowds gathered to watch him play in 8th grade, but I'm not sure if he developed early and has reached his max or still has more room to grow.

Really miss being around the players and the game. All the kids above were great to be around and work with. Really wish them all the best, even the ones that lost we to in championship play. ;)

[JonInMiddleGA]

A quote from the Frazier kid involved in the SMU scandal

The NCAA's investigation found that after Frazier was enrolled in an online course to meet NCAA initial eligibility standards and be admitted to the university, a former administrative assistant obtained the student's username and password and then completed all of his coursework.

"I didn't even know what was going on," Frazier said. "I didn't know she was doing that class for me. I wasn't aware of that. I know it looks that way on the outside looking in, but I didn't know."

There's a part of me that wants to say "oh c'mon, you signed up for a class but never did anything (cause someone else was doing it for you) but you 'didn't know'?" That beggars belief.

There's another part of me that says "sigh. yeah, I can actually believe this"

[BishopMVP]

Book: Louisville hired prostitutes to woo basketball recruits | 2015-10-02 | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com (http://www.ibj.com/articles/55155-book-louisville-hired-prostitutes-to-woo-basketball-recruits)

[Logan]

Ex-Louisville recruit JaQuan Lyle confirms escort allegations for NCAA - CBSSports.com (http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25331355/ex-louisville-recruit-jaquan-lyle-confirms-escort-allegations-for-ncaa)

[Kodos]

Good way to get that commitment, I guess.

[nol]

Shame on Louisville for hiring strippers to do this when everyone knows you're supposed to conscript the female undergraduate population to serve as escorts for the recruits.

[Scoobz0202]

Local news here regarding the Dayton Flyers.

All-Atlantic 10 second team Dyshawn Pierre is suing the university over a what I believe was a ten game suspension regarding allegations of sexual assault.

Basketball player sues Ohio college over suspension | www.whio.com (http://www.whio.com/ap/ap/sports/basketball-player-sues-ohio-college-over-suspensio/nnxyZ/)

[BishopMVP]

Good way to get that commitment, I guess.Maybe they should've found strippers/escorts who weren't named Rodney or TooTall.

[cartman]

One week until the season kicks off!

[MizzouRah]

MBBF... what's the scoop on Missouri this year? They can only go up from last season.

It's brutal watching that pathetic football offensive unit.. I'm hoping their basketball team is more competitive this season.

[Thomkal]

Coastal Carolina starts their last Big South season in Hawaii in a tournament against Nevada and Hawaii. Hard to say what kind of season the Chants will have-battling injuries already and lost top two scorers from last season to graduation. Think it will be a down year for them, but we shall see. Never know how the new players on the roster will turn out.

[cartman]

Looking forward to the start of the Shaka Smart era at Texas. His first game at the helm is tonight against Washington in Shanghai.

[JeeberD]

UTEP opens the season against Loyola (New Orleans) on Saturday. It should be an interesting season as we had a lot of turnover on the roster. For the last few years we've been very big, but haven't had great guard play. This year we're overflowing with quality guards and are thin up front.

We haven't had a chance to see what the team really looks like as Floyd suspended four players for our exhibition games (and possibly the first couple regular season games), have had a couple of guys out or with limited minutes due to injuries, and have had a couple of guys sitting out due to the NCAA looking at transcripts. We're picked to finish 3rd in CUSA by the coaches, but I think we can finish higher if our bigs show up to play...lower if they don't. Dominic Artis, a transfer from Oregon, has looked great so far at PG and should be our most exciting player.

[Kodos]

Indiana hosts Eastern Illinois tonight. Yesterday, we got a big commit in De'ron Davis (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/11/12/deron-davis-commits-indiana-hoosiers-tom-crean?xid=si_ncaab) out of Colorado. Adds some nice size to the team.

Kinda sick of the part of our fan base that cares more about getting rid of Crean than they care about winning. We get a nice commit, and their reaction is "great, another couple years of Tom Crean." Guess I should just avoid the message boards.

[cartman]

First game of the season is in the books. Eastern Michigan beat Vermont 70-50. Only several thousand more games to go until March Madness!

[BishopMVP]

I get that it makes sense to have 1-2 more "scrimmages" before any real showdowns (Tuesday nights Duke/Kentucky, Kansas/Mich St, even OU/Memphis & GTown/Maryland), but wow tonight's slate is brutal. You've got Iowa St/Colorado early, UNC/Temple, an intriguing Baylor/SFA game and a whole lot of what look like 1/16 matchups. Edit - throw Gonzaga/Pitt in there too.

[dawgfan]

Looking forward to the start of the Shaka Smart era at Texas. His first game at the helm is tonight against Washington in Shanghai.
I'm expecting Texas to win comfortably, but I'll be interested to see all the new kids suiting for for the Huskies. There's a ton of athleticism and talent in that 8-man recruiting class, and while it will take a while for them to gel and learn Romar's rotating man defense and figure out their roles offensively, I think this will be a dangerous team to face in the latter half of the season.

Marquese Chriss is a human pogo stick at PF with good shooting range. Dejounte Murray is a smooth, athletic wing that can pass, get to the hoop and shoot it from mid-range. Matisse Thybulle is still rather raw offensively but is the best athlete of the bunch. Dom Green is a terrific 3-point shooter. David Crisp is an undersized 2, but fearless and with a great shot from deep as well. Noah Dickerson is on the short side for a post, but has a knack of getting his shot off and hitting the boards.

Anyway, should be fun to see.

[MrBug708]

Indiana hosts Eastern Illinois tonight. Yesterday, we got a big commit in De'ron Davis (http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/11/12/deron-davis-commits-indiana-hoosiers-tom-crean?xid=si_ncaab) out of Colorado. Adds some nice size to the team.

Kinda sick of the part of our fan base that cares more about getting rid of Crean than they care about winning. We get a nice commit, and their reaction is "great, another couple years of Tom Crean." Guess I should just avoid the message boards.

Alford is waiting for the call..

[Kodos]

Dear god, no.

[wade moore]

I watched a kid on your team play throughout HS. Curious to see if he starts to get more PT. Colton St.-Cyr fwiw.

[wade moore]

W&M starting their first season without the career leading scorer Marcus Thornton that was drafted by the Celtics this spring.

Starting out good so far, up double digits at half over NC State.

[Groundhog]

W&M starting their first season without the career leading scorer Marcus Thornton that was drafted by the Celtics this spring.


Thornton is playing pro for my local team down here in Australia. Had a shaky start but has looked real good the past couple of games, now that he has realized he is quicker than the guys guarding him and is attacking rather than jacking up threes.

Watching Simmons' first game with LSU. He could've had about 7 assists in the first 5 minutes if guys made open looks.

[MrBug708]

Curious to watch how Howland does at MSU

[Atocep]

I've watched approximately 14 minutes of Ben Simmons college basketball career and I'm sold. I don't know who I'd compare him to (maybe a young Lamar Odom?). It's almost like you're watching the small forward version of Jason Kidd with a jumper.

[Groundhog]

In LSU's games in Australia during the offseason he was putting up near triple-doubles against professional players, so I'm not surprised he's looking good tonight. Plays with incredible patience, and looks to make the play with the pass before the shot.

[Thomkal]

The Pitt/Gonzaga game was cancelled for some reason?

[Groundhog]

The Pitt/Gonzaga game was cancelled for some reason?

Humidity causing the court to be too slippery.

[Groundhog]

9 points 10 rebounds 4 assists at the half for Simmons on 4-4 shooting.

[Thomkal]

Humidity causing the court to be too slippery.

ah well-that sucks for those two teams.

[wade moore]

Didn't realize they were your local team! I've been keeping an eye on his play (scores). I was happy to see that he's settling in. Will have to check in with you now and then :).

[wade moore]

W&M holds on to win 85-68 vs NC State. Impressive start to the season.

[cartman]

I was hoping the new shorter shot clock would limit Bill Walton's airtime, but no such luck.

[Wolfpack]

W&M holds on to win 85-68 vs NC State. Impressive start to the season.

I wouldn't say they "held on". From what I understand, State was dead in the water after five minutes. Losing Lacey apparently is really going to suck because in their first game without him, the team folded badly when under adversity. Someone's gotta take the reins or this season will get ugly really fast (and of course, the timing of this couldn't have been better given the optics of Gottfried getting an extension until 2020 today...not saying he doesn't deserve one, but it looks awful to get an extension and then get blown out...)

But between the fact that 150+ French people died tonight and I'm in the midst of likely the busiest stretch of work in my professional career, I can't really devote the energy to be all that outraged about tonight's outcome. Disappointed, sure, but it just isn't that important to me atm.

[tarcone]

Watched Mizzou tonight. They have a kid from our local HS playing. The team looks good this season. Beat a solid Wofford team. They have some quality freshmen on the team. One big man away from being really good.

[cartman]

I'm expecting Texas to win comfortably, but I'll be interested to see all the new kids suiting for for the Huskies. There's a ton of athleticism and talent in that 8-man recruiting class, and while it will take a while for them to gel and learn Romar's rotating man defense and figure out their roles offensively, I think this will be a dangerous team to face in the latter half of the season.

Marquese Chriss is a human pogo stick at PF with good shooting range. Dejounte Murray is a smooth, athletic wing that can pass, get to the hoop and shoot it from mid-range. Matisse Thybulle is still rather raw offensively but is the best athlete of the bunch. Dom Green is a terrific 3-point shooter. David Crisp is an undersized 2, but fearless and with a great shot from deep as well. Noah Dickerson is on the short side for a post, but has a knack of getting his shot off and hitting the boards.

Anyway, should be fun to see.

Congrats on the win. Those freshmen look real promising. Too bad for my cheering preferences that the Longhorns didn't play the first 30 like they did the last 10. Looks like it is gonna take several games for them to get the hang of the new system.

[dawgfan]

Congrats on the win. Those freshmen look real promising. Too bad for my cheering preferences that the Longhorns didn't play the first 30 like they did the last 10. Looks like it is gonna take several games for them to get the hang of the new system.
Let's hope both the refs and the players get settled into the new rules emphasis for this year. 88 free throw attempts? 60 fouls? Yowza.

Why I do get the feeling these two teams will meet again in a few weeks in the Bahamas?

[Atocep]

Let's hope both the refs and the players get settled into the new rules emphasis for this year. 88 free throw attempts? 60 fouls? Yowza.

Why I do get the feeling these two teams will meet again in a few weeks in the Bahamas?

WVU shot 45 free throws today. Probably the most boring 107 points I've ever seen scored.

[dawgfan]

I was hoping the new shorter shot clock would limit Bill Walton's airtime, but no such luck.
I believe it was the good doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy who said of Walton "I'd pay real money if he'd shut up."

[Thomkal]

Coastal Carolina starts their last Big South season in Hawaii in a tournament against Nevada and Hawaii. Hard to say what kind of season the Chants will have-battling injuries already and lost top two scorers from last season to graduation. Think it will be a down year for them, but we shall see. Never know how the new players on the roster will turn out.


And it appears it will be a down season :( Lost to a 9 win Nevada team from a year ago 73-56. Ugh.

[britrock88]

Coastal Carolina starts their last Big South season in Hawaii in a tournament against Nevada and Hawaii. Hard to say what kind of season the Chants will have-battling injuries already and lost top two scorers from last season to graduation. Think it will be a down year for them, but we shall see. Never know how the new players on the roster will turn out.

Any word on whether the Sun Belt will go to 2 divisions next season, seeing as Coastal is team #12?

[Thomkal]

Any word on whether the Sun Belt will go to 2 divisions next season, seeing as Coastal is team #12?


Probably would make sense, but I haven't heard anything one way or another yet. I will try to remember to say something here it they decide.

[tarcone]

Has ant BB conference gone to divisions?

[britrock88]

Has ant BB conference gone to divisions?

It's pretty passe--15 years ago, maybe 25% of all conferences had divisions. Now it's just the MAC and the Ohio Valley that split their 12 evenly.

[Butter]

On the eve of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon, Dayton is preparing to participate for the first time, hosting Alabama. That game is at 1 PM tomorrow, and I'll be taking a half-day to be there in person. Not sure how the crowd is going to end up being, as there has been a lot of grumbling on the UD boards along with people incredulous as to why there is no secondary market for their prime seats for this game.

Typically we come within 1,000 seats of selling out the 13.5k Arena no matter the opponent, with sellouts very typical for good matchups. Tomorrow, I'm expecting a lot of empty seats and no walk-up crowd.

[BishopMVP]

On the eve of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon, Dayton is preparing to participate for the first time, hosting Alabama. That game is at 1 PM tomorrow, and I'll be taking a half-day to be there in person. Not sure how the crowd is going to end up being, as there has been a lot of grumbling on the UD boards along with people incredulous as to why there is no secondary market for their prime seats for this game.

Typically we come within 1,000 seats of selling out the 13.5k Arena no matter the opponent, with sellouts very typical for good matchups. Tomorrow, I'm expecting a lot of empty seats and no walk-up crowd.UMass hosted LSU for an 11am start recently. You hope for a big student turnout, because you just won't get most normal people to skip jobs and come unless it's hosting a Duke or Kentucky.

[BishopMVP]

Huh, women's basketball has gone to quarters instead of halves. Here's the rationale - NCAA women's basketball adopts new rules, including four 10-min. quarters | NCAA.com (http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2015-06-08/ncaa-womens-basketball-adopts-new-rules-including-four-10)

[Solecismic]

I think these are good ideas, except for the extra piped-in music. Loud piped-in music really kills conversation and makes attendance more unpleasant.

Anything that reduces the time out mess at the end of the game is desperately needed. It's too bad the proposal to keep only two for the second half was rejected.

Unimportant but rather cute... Michigan has Madison Ristovski, formerly a Miss Basketball here but now a senior. She wears #1. The Wolverines played Detroit yesterday, which features her two little sisters, who wear #2 and #3.

[Groundhog]

Kinda floating towards the FIBA rules, which IMO is a good thing.

[wade moore]

W&M has a few OOC games with fofc poster schools ;). We play you guys this year.

[digamma]

Hi wade

[wade moore]

:wave

[Atocep]

We're only a game and a half into the season, but I think Izzo and Michigan State are learning why Huggins had no problem with Eron Harris leaving WVU.

[CraigSca]

Completely surprised MD came back to beat Georgetown. Typically a game they'd lose in the past, preseason #3 or not.

[Butter]

UMass hosted LSU for an 11am start recently. You hope for a big student turnout, because you just won't get most normal people to skip jobs and come unless it's hosting a Duke or Kentucky.

Posted attendance was 12,118. It was more like 9-10 thousand. Traffic is usually a big issue around the Arena, and even moreso with this as many people weren't even seated until several minutes after tip.

But it was a good crowd, probably more people than I even expected. I sit near the top of the season ticket area, and there were absolutely no people behind me which means there were very few tickets sold beyond the season ticket people. There were 3 sad 'Bama fans behind me who were fairly excited when 'Bama was up 18-16, but quickly turned disgusted as UD took a 40-24 lead into halftime.

W&M has a few OOC games with fofc poster schools ;). We play you guys this year.

You are up next for us. Easily will be the toughest game we've played yet. W&M has already won 2 road games, so that shouldn't be a problem for them. Dayton has played very well early on, but has played 2 awful teams, so it's hard to tell how good they are just yet.

[wade moore]

We have some d3 school I've never heard of before the game Saturday. So basically extra practice. Unfortunately the game overlaps with a football game (that is for the conference title), so I won't be able to watch it.

I think it will be a good measuring stick game for both teams. Not sure how good NC State is or isn't and we struggled against Liberty more than we should have.

You guys have that X-factor of that crowd. A win at Dayton would be huge for this program right now.

[Butter]

Yeah, sadly I won't be there either as we are leaving for vacation Friday afternoon. Probably won't be able to watch it either as I'll be hanging out for the Clemson-Wake Forest football game around the time this tips.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Excited to watch the KSU-Mizzou game in KC tonight. Fun to get back to playing some OOC games against some of our old rivals.

[Butter]

You guys have that X-factor of that crowd. A win at Dayton would be huge for this program right now.

W&M came close. They were up 11 in the first half and by 2 with under 90 seconds to go before UD pulled out a 3 point win.

[larrymcg421]

Great start to the season for the Canes. Love what Larranaga is doing.

[Butter]

Dayton's early season games vs. FOFC poster favorites continues Thanksgiving night vs. Iowa.

Expecting a loss, but Dayton has done well in these early season tournaments in the past few years, so I'm hopeful.

[Groundhog]

Ben Simmons getting the LeBron criticism for passing up on the game winner today. Still finished with 21 points, 20 rebounds, and 7 assists in the 1 point loss to Marquette.

[JeeberD]

UT-Arlington with wins at Ohio State and Memphis in the past week. I think their coach may have just made himself a whole lot of money.

[Kodos]

IU learns that not playing defense can lead to a loss.

[Groundhog]

LSU falls to NC State in OT. Simmons just 1-6 shooting... but 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks.

[Eaglesfan27]

USC is 4-0 for the first time in 15 years and looked very impressive in their win last night. Enfield and his staff have done a great job of bringing in some legitimate talent.

[Butter]

Dayton's early season games vs. FOFC poster favorites continues Thanksgiving night vs. Iowa.

Expecting a loss, but Dayton has done well in these early season tournaments in the past few years, so I'm hopeful.

Dayton beats Iowa by 5, then Monmouth by 3 to get into tomorrow's Advocare Invitational final against Xavier. First time UD and X will play since the New Big East formed. Fans are fired up, not sure the players will view this as anything but another game.

Should be a real good game that will probably be largely ignored as it comes on at 4:30 on an NFL Sunday.

[Butter]

It was NOT a real good game, Xavier controlled it from the outset winning 90-61.

In all 3 games that Dayton played, there were 50+ total fouls called. While I don't disagree that they need to crack down on the bumping and hand checking... they need to be a bit more reasonable about what is considered a bump. None of these games were particularly pleasurable to watch. It's a good thing that UD got some depth in the offseason with a lot of incoming freshmen, otherwise everyone would foul out of every game.

[nol]

LSU is losing 17-39 at halftime to College of Charleston. NBA teams may not want to wait until March before doing their scouting on Ben Simmons.

[BishopMVP]

LSU is losing 17-39 at halftime to College of Charleston. NBA teams may not want to wait until March before doing their scouting on Ben Simmons.The current MVP lost twice to CoC his last year.

[nol]

The current MVP lost twice to CoC his last year.

And also ended up playing in the NIT that year, hence what I said.

[BishopMVP]

And also ended up playing in the NIT that year, hence what I said.And you can't scout NIT games? Whatever, guess your snark was a little too oblique for me.

Is Johnny Jones in that Scott Drew/Rick Barnes category? Johnny O'Bryant, Jarell Martin, Jordan Mickey... he's had a lot of talent for no NCAA wins (and only one appearance) in his 3 years at LSU.

[nol]

And you can't scout NIT games? Whatever, guess your snark was a little too oblique for me.

Is Johnny Jones in that Scott Drew/Rick Barnes category? Johnny O'Bryant, Jarell Martin, Jordan Mickey... he's had a lot of talent for no NCAA wins (and only one appearance) in his 3 years at LSU.

Nope, some teams do not invest much in scouting and rely disproportionately on catching several prospects at once at NCAA tournament sites.

If the objective is to see if Ben Simmons will have improved enough over the course of the season to be proficient in a half-court offense against players who are at least approximately NBA-level athletes, the chances that happening are much worse in the NIT (and that would be assuming the players don't mentally check out due to a disappointing season/bad coaching staff and that LSU improves and beats a few teams outside the bottom 100).

[Atocep]

Nope, some teams do not invest much in scouting and rely disproportionately on catching several prospects at once at NCAA tournament sites.

Jordan is notorious for this.

[CraigSca]

Based on what I've seen from Maryland thus far, I'm quite surprised to seem them hang with UNC, who is shooting lights out.

[cartman]

UT-Arlington with wins at Ohio State and Memphis in the past week. I think their coach may have just made himself a whole lot of money.

UTA is legit. They took Texas to OT tonight in Austin. If they didn't have such a horrid night from 3 point range, they would have won easily.

[BishopMVP]

Jordan is notorious for this.Rich Cho modernized their front office a little bit, but yes Jordan still has veto power and isn't known for his foresight. Although if he was only scouting the tournament still hard to explain why they picked Kaminsky over Justise Winslow.

[cartman]

Found the video. There was a sick dunk by Kerwin Roach for Texas tonight. He destroyed the guy from UTA.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations to the UT-A player that just made it onto the Kerwin Roach poster. <a href="https://twitter.com/TexasMBB">@TexasMBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/ifqVsMGzHx">pic.twitter.com/ifqVsMGzHx</a></p>&mdash; Sports Night (@Sports_NightTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sports_NightTX/status/671868381792894976">December 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Kodos]

Pretty sure Duke is going to whip IU tonight.

[Kodos]

Pretty sure Duke is going to whip IU tonight.

Thank goodness my fears were unjustified. :rolleyes:

[tarcone]

Iowa beats FSU 78-75 in OT. Crazy ending. Iowa up by 4 with 10 seconds left. FSU kid shoots up a 3 over our 7 footer from about 25. Looking to draw the foul. No foul but he swished the chuck with 3.0 seconds left. Iowa hels on.

B1G wins the Challenge again, 8-6.

[Groundhog]

LSU beat North Florida 119-108. Ben Simmons with 43 points on 15-20 shooting (and more impressively, 13-15 FTs), 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks. LSU's halfcourt offense is basically trash (a lot of contested long 2s - Blakeney in particular), but when they get out on the break... wow.

[nol]

LSU beat North Florida 119-108. Ben Simmons with 43 points on 15-20 shooting (and more impressively, 13-15 FTs), 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks. LSU's halfcourt offense is basically trash.

To say nothing of a defense that gives up 108 to a school called North Florida :D

[wustin]

The current MVP lost twice to CoC his last year.

One quick look and it says Davidson went 1-1 against CoC that year. It's different for Steph Curry anyways because he was a guarantee top 10-20 pick after his sophomore year. He stayed another year because Davidson's starting PG graduated, so Curry stayed to develop and showcase his point guard skills to improve his draft stock.

As for Ben Simmons, he should be averaging at least 20PPG in college playing for a mediocre team through talent alone. Hopefully his scoring improves because right now all I see is Lamar Odom with more upside

[JonInMiddleGA]

To say nothing of a defense that gives up 108 to a school called North Florida :D

NF has already beaten Illinois this year, beat Purdue last year.

from espn
North Florida entered the game first in the country in 3-pointers with 96, second in 3-pointers per game with 12.0 and sixth in 3-point shooting at 44 percent. The Ospreys made 58 percent of their 3-point shots (19-of-33).

[Groundhog]

Yeah, North Florida aren't Kentucky, but they actually looked pretty good offensively vs. LSU's defense just plain sucking. It's just that those missed threes turned into LSU fastbreaks, which is about the only thing the team does at a high-level at this point of the season.

We can talk about Simmons being 1-12 from outside the key this year, but at the same time "Lamar Odom with more upside" is far from the worst thing your team could end up drafting.

[BishopMVP]

One quick look and it says Davidson went 1-1 against CoC that year. It's different for Steph Curry anyways because he was a guarantee top 10-20 pick after his sophomore year. He stayed another year because Davidson's starting PG graduated, so Curry stayed to develop and showcase his point guard skills to improve his draft stock.

As for Ben Simmons, he should be averaging at least 20PPG in college playing for a mediocre team through talent alone. Hopefully his scoring improves because right now all I see is Lamar Odom with more upside1-2 - Lost the rubber match in the conference tournament that knocked them down to the NIT.

Sane Lamar Odom with more upside is a pretty freaking good player (just for reference Odom put up 17.6/9.4/3.8/0.8/1.5). And Simmons is averaging 19.9 ppg - Jabari Parker was at 19.1, Jahlil Okafor 17.3, Andrew Wiggins 17.1, Blake Griffin 18.8, Kyrie Irving 17.5, none of the Kentucky guys put up more than 16.6, Derrick Rose 14.9, and none put up close to 15 rpg/6 apg, not to mention the steals/blocks. The guys like KD/Michael Beasley/Carmelo who come in and put up 22+ ppg as a freshman are exceedingly rare.

If you want to question whether he can be a "franchise player" worthy of a #1 pick vs merely a very good NBA player due to shooting questions go ahead (and there will be a lot of talk about that from March-June), but trying to nitpick his college production is insane. He's putting up a stat line for the ages (20/15/6/2.4/1.6) - only KD (26/11/1/1.9/1.9) comes close among recent freshmen. The rebounding number alone is absurd - nobody's averaged more than 12.5rpg for any D1 team in any of the last 4 seasons. The last 3 to put up more than 14rpg in a season are Kenneth Faried (as a SR), Blake Griffin (as a SO), and then all the way back to Tim Duncan's SR year in 1997. If he does end with his current 14.9rpg or more he'll be the first since 1979. I'm racking my brain to try and think of any player who would've averaged 10+rpg and 5+apg and I'm coming up blank.

[larrymcg421]

I'm racking my brain to try and think of any player who would've averaged 10+rpg and 5+apg and I'm coming up blank.

Larry Bird - 14.9 rpg/5.5 apg in his senior year.

[wustin]

Calipari and Coach's K squad has always been loaded, it's going to be hard to average over 20PPG in a system full of 4, 5-star recruit studs who are all capable. LSU's team is not particularly good, the only other good player is that 6'6 swingman who is a fringe first-rounder.

I'm not saying he's overrated but he's being touted as the next big thing so it's fair to critique his scoring ability in regards to Carmelo or Durant (and those guys had some pretty amazing teammates). Pretty sure the Sixers aren't tanking year by year to just settle for the a slightly better Lamar Odom.

Literally everything about him is amazing besides his scoring ability. That is my only issue. The North Florida game currently is an anomaly to me in terms of Simmon's offense. Both sides played 0 defense, North Florida had two guys drop 30+ points. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

[MrBug708]

Kyle Anderson averaged 14.5/9/6.5 his SO year at ucla

[nol]

1-2 - Lost the rubber match in the conference tournament that knocked them down to the NIT.

Sane Lamar Odom with more upside is a pretty freaking good player (just for reference Odom put up 17.6/9.4/3.8/0.8/1.5). And Simmons is averaging 19.9 ppg - Jabari Parker was at 19.1, Jahlil Okafor 17.3, Andrew Wiggins 17.1, Blake Griffin 18.8, Kyrie Irving 17.5, none of the Kentucky guys put up more than 16.6, Derrick Rose 14.9, and none put up close to 15 rpg/6 apg, not to mention the steals/blocks. The guys like KD/Michael Beasley/Carmelo who come in and put up 22+ ppg as a freshman are exceedingly rare.

If you want to question whether he can be a "franchise player" worthy of a #1 pick vs merely a very good NBA player due to shooting questions go ahead (and there will be a lot of talk about that from March-June).

The thing is, people have stopped discussing that, set him in stone as the #1 pick, and moved on to discussing how Ben Simmons compares to LeBron and Magic, which is insane. I can think a great deal of recent one-and-done players who would have put up similarly gaudy numbers playing 36 mpg as the one good player on a mediocre team, especially against so many sub-300 RPI schools. Of all the names you listed, Beasley is the only one who was in a remotely similar situation, and again, Simmons is about a year older than those guys were on average.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the level of production, it's more that he plays on a team where those types of performances are needed to pick up non-blowout wins against the likes of North Florida and McNeese State and the coaching is bad enough that I don't have faith he'll be in the best position to succeed against decent opponents who have scouted him (foreshadowing alert: NC State is the only team playing any amount of zone defense in any Ben Simmons highlights I've seen). His rebounding will 100 percent go down; the schedule can't get any easier than it has at this point and LSU gets a few frontcourt players at midseason; none of that makes him any worse of a rebounder than he currently is, but the people saying he's an all-time great because of unique statlines will be disappointed.

[Groundhog]

Obviously it's ridiculous to compare a guy to two of the best players of all time after a handful of college games, but hey, that's what happens.

Stats aside, he passes the eye-test for me. Yeah he boards, but his passing ability is what makes him the most exciting prospect for my money. Opening night he would've had about 7 assists in the first 4 mins if his team mates knocked down open looks. He looks better suited to the NBA up-and-down style of play than guys like Beasley.

[BishopMVP]

The thing is, people have stopped discussing that, set him in stone as the #1 pick, and moved on to discussing how Ben Simmons compares to LeBron and Magic, which is insane. I can think a great deal of recent one-and-done players who would have put up similarly gaudy numbers playing 36 mpg as the one good player on a mediocre team, especially against so many sub-300 RPI schools. Of all the names you listed, Beasley is the only one who was in a remotely similar situation, and again, Simmons is about a year older than those guys were on average.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the level of production, it's more that he plays on a team where those types of performances are needed to pick up non-blowout wins against the likes of North Florida and McNeese State and the coaching is bad enough that I don't have faith he'll be in the best position to succeed against decent opponents who have scouted him (foreshadowing alert: NC State is the only team playing any amount of zone defense in any Ben Simmons highlights I've seen). His rebounding will 100 percent go down; the schedule can't get any easier than it has at this point and LSU gets a few frontcourt players at midseason; none of that makes him any worse of a rebounder than he currently is, but the people saying he's an all-time great because of unique statlines will be disappointed.Calipari and Coach's K squad has always been loaded, it's going to be hard to average over 20PPG in a system full of 4, 5-star recruit studs who are all capable. LSU's team is not particularly good, the only other good player is that 6'6 swingman who is a fringe first-rounder.

I'm not saying he's overrated but he's being touted as the next big thing so it's fair to critique his scoring ability in regards to Carmelo or Durant (and those guys had some pretty amazing teammates). Pretty sure the Sixers aren't tanking year by year to just settle for the a slightly better Lamar Odom.

Literally everything about him is amazing besides his scoring ability. That is my only issue. The North Florida game currently is an anomaly to me in terms of Simmon's offense. Both sides played 0 defense, North Florida had two guys drop 30+ points. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.A hyped freshman is having an amazing start, enjoy it a little. If (/when) people are anointing him a future HoF'er bring up the downsides - I know I have in a couple other conversations with casual fans. But when Groundhog points out he put up 43/14/7/5/3 I don't need to immediately hear about his potential future downsides. When Steph Curry goes off for 28 points in a quarter you don't have 2 people talking about how the teammates he play with help him, or questioning his defense (although I'm sure they're out there on Twitter etc).

I will push back against the idea that he "needs" to average 20ppg (especially seeing as he's averaging 19.9, his coaches and teammates are pushing him to shoot more, and he just had 43.) The majority of really good current NBA players averaged less than 20ppg as a freshman, and none put up his other stats (even if they regress a little).

While they sound terrible, the idea that North Florida is basically an NAIA or D2 school so we shouldn't even give Simmons credit is wrong. KenPom has them as #109 in the country - there are worse teams in every big conference.

And I'm not sure where the idea that LSU has no other talent came from. Nobody is as talented as UK, but Blakeney was a 5* McD AA, and Quarterman/Sampson/Patterson/Robinson all had hype, as well as Victor when he becomes eligible. That's why I was questioning Johnny Jones in my prior post - I really haven't paid attention to him beyond the two games UMass played them, but he does not seem to be a good gameday coach from my limited impression.Larry Bird - 14.9 rpg/5.5 apg in his senior year.Kyle Anderson averaged 14.5/9/6.5 his SO year at ucla

Perfect two examples! Let's all agree that Ben Simmons eventual NBA destiny is somewhere between Kyle Anderson and Larry Bird :)

[nol]

A hyped freshman is having an amazing start, enjoy it a little. If (/when) people are anointing him a future HoF'er bring up the downsides - I know I have in a couple other conversations with casual fans.

Next LeBron James? Ben Simmons looks ready to grow into the role (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/next-lebron-james--ben-simmons-looks-ready-to-grow-into-the-role-063847416.html)

I'm enjoying it the right amount by already knowing Ben Simmons is excellent in transition and can drive to the hoop all day if you try to match up on him with a marginal 6'7-6'8 power forward while knowing he has quite a ways to develop in a more structured environment. Therefore, I don't have to be disappointed when he has an off night against teams that make sure to get back on defense muck up the game a little more.

And I'm not sure where the idea that LSU has no other talent came from. Nobody is as talented as UK, but Blakeney was a 5* McD AA, and Quarterman/Sampson/Patterson/Robinson all had hype, as well as Victor when he becomes eligible. That's why I was questioning Johnny Jones in my prior post - I really haven't paid attention to him beyond the two games UMass played them, but he does not seem to be a good gameday coach from my limited impression.

Because, despite having the best college basketball player in the country, it's more likely than not they've played against 0 NCAA tournament teams (maybe one of the cupcakes gets an autobid 16 seed or something) so far and are 4-3 without even looking particularly dominant in any wins over the bottom-feeders.

[MrBug708]

Apparently Alford has some coaching ability

[digamma]

Loved the effort from Harvard at Kansas today. Got down early, but clawed back and tied it up with about 5 minutes left. Kansas ended up turning it up a notch and won by 7. This is going to be a battle tested team when Ivy play starts. I think Yale and Princeton are still the favorites for the league, but it will be a fun 14 game tournament.

[Butter]

Dayton with a big win at #21 Vanderbilt last night, 72-67.

Vandy was playing without their 7'1" stretch PF Luke Kornet, who tore his MCL in practice on Monday. Still, UD was down 38-22 late in the first half before tightening up the defense and getting steals on 4 straight possessions to cut it to 8 at halftime, 40-32.

UD continued the pressure into the 2nd half, and Vandy really wilted. Dayton was just tougher, and killed Vandy on offensive rebounds throughout the game. By the time we got to the final minute, Dayton was up 66-62, then this happened:

Kendall Pollard doesn't mind the pressure, makes a huge contested three at the buzzer - ESPN Video (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14333038&sf16787437=1)

A guy who doesn't shoot threes nailed one with the shot clock winding down, giving Dayton a 7 point lead with under 40 seconds to play, and they were able to hold on.

Huge resume win.

[cartman]

That was a heck of a game today between Texas and North Carolina. Texas just seems to have the Tar Heels number. The final shot was the one of the closest reviews I'd ever seen for a good shot. It left his fingertips a couple of hundredths of a second before the backboard light came on.

[Groundhog]

Not a good game for LSU today vs Houston. They seem to have no idea what to do against a zone, and it wouldn't have gone as far as OT if Hornsby wasn't on fire. Offense features a token pass or two around the perimeter and then a whole lot of quick and/or contested long 2s and 3s. On defense and the glass the other bigs not named Simmons are invisible. Darcy Malone is far from a stud, but at least he has some size and is an OK rebounder, a bit surprised he hasn't been hitting the court.

Simmons is playing passively, but doesn't get enough touches inside the arc. He had some nice passes out of the post, but they only posted him up a handful of times all game. IMO they should be playing him at the FT line against the 2-3 every single possession, looking to either go down the middle of the key or hit the other post player, rather than this tacky pick n roll stuff they do when he handles the ball, which is all but useless against a zone.

[britrock88]

That was a heck of a game today between Texas and North Carolina. Texas just seems to have the Tar Heels number. The final shot was the one of the closest reviews I'd ever seen for a good shot. It left his fingertips a couple of hundredths of a second before the backboard light came on.

Grumble grumble rebounding...

Shaka's impact on the defensive end showed through. Fouly, sure (UNC had a high FTR), but it cut down on transition opportunities and ball movement in the half-court (low assist %age).

I'm okay losing a true Tier A road game or two in the early going (KenPom definition, roughly top-75 team). Better than some schools 8 miles down the road that never play true road games out-of-conference. :D

[Butter]

Dayton blew any goodwill they had from the win at Vanderbilt by coming home and losing to a decent Chattanooga team. Mocs are favored to win the SoCon and have wins over Georgia and Illinois already, but were without their leading scorer coming in.

Dayton uncharacteristically wilted down the stretch and lost by 2 on 2 free throws with under 6 seconds to play.

Won't be a bad loss at the end of the season, but really killed the momentum off the Vandy win.

It's early to talk RPI, but Dayton, North Carolina, and UCLA are the only 3 teams to have played 7 games against the RPI top-100, and UD and UNC both are 5-2. Dayton also has the most games against the top-50, and is 4-2 in those games. Will probably be a fringe top-25 team all year.

[BishopMVP]

Dayton blew any goodwill they had from the win at Vanderbilt by coming home and losing to a decent Chattanooga team. Mocs are favored to win the SoCon and have wins over Georgia and Illinois already, but were without their leading scorer coming in.

Dayton uncharacteristically wilted down the stretch and lost by 2 on 2 free throws with under 6 seconds to play.

Won't be a bad loss at the end of the season, but really killed the momentum off the Vandy win.

It's early to talk RPI, but Dayton, North Carolina, and UCLA are the only 3 teams to have played 7 games against the RPI top-100, and UD and UNC both are 5-2. Dayton also has the most games against the top-50, and is 4-2 in those games. Will probably be a fringe top-25 team all year.Nice to see UD/GW/Davidson up high right now, and Richmond has some good wins, but doesn't look like the A10 will have the same depth of teams in the 50-75 range of years past. On the plus side, Fordham doesn't look like a complete anchor on the conference like years past.

In news about a great person everybody who doesn't know him hates, John Calipari will be back in town Wednesday night as UMass raises a banner for him next to Julius Erving, Lou Roe, Al Skinner and the two other UMass bball players no one here's ever heard of. Still not sure I like the idea of raising a banner for a non-player, but the court's already named after a 30-year head coach and great guy, and the arena's named after the state senate legend who brought a ton of state money to UMass and Western Mass. Hate the way he operates under the NCAA structure all you want, but it infuriates me when people call him sleazy or a scumball because he's a great guy who genuinely cares about people and is freer with his time and money than 99% of people. It's not like he only shows up in Amherst because the basketball team is honoring him and there's a PR benefit - the guy came back for a cafeteria worker's retirement party last summer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wisconsin's Ryan retiring effective immediately

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan is retiring effective immediately, he said after the team's win Tuesday. Greg Gard will take over as interim head coach.

[Butter]

Pulling a Spurrier?

[britrock88]

Wisconsin Badgers coach Bo Ryan retiring effective immediately (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14378183/wisconsin-badgers-coach-bo-ryan-retiring-effective-immediately)

There's a little nugget in this article about why Bo stayed on this long rather than retire this summer as he originally intended. Class.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Ugh. Wish the Tigers were better at this point. I'd love to have a reason to participate in this thread. :(

[lungs]

Wisconsin Badgers coach Bo Ryan retiring effective immediately (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14378183/wisconsin-badgers-coach-bo-ryan-retiring-effective-immediately)

There's a little nugget in this article about why Bo stayed on this long rather than retire this summer as he originally intended. Class.

I wondered why Bo didn't just retire after last season but the info regarding Gard's father cleared things up for me. Definitely can't say Bo wanted to give it one more go to get a championship because this wasn't going to be the team that delivered it.

[Atocep]

I'm struggling to see how Skal Labissiere is a top 5 pick. I know Calipari is forcing him to play in the post where he isn't comfortable, but I don't see franchise player here. Shooting and rim protection has value, but he's passive and has no interest in playing close to the basket.

[JonInMiddleGA]

GT's four year win streak over UGA comes to a crashing thud today.

There was a headline today, something to the effect that "Can fans finally trust the Jackets" (who were 7-2 coming in).

I believe that's been answered, as the farcical Brian Gregory era continues, now without the only single positive thing it could claim to hang its hat on.

My soon to graduate HS son was 4 yrs old the last time they had a winning conference record, was 9 the last time they were .500 in conference play, hadn't started high school the last time they sniffed the post-season.

Hanging on to Blewitt too long was a disaster, hiring Gregory has basically provided the kill shot.

[Groundhog]

I'm struggling to see how Skal Labissiere is a top 5 pick. I know Calipari is forcing him to play in the post where he isn't comfortable, but I don't see franchise player here. Shooting and rim protection has value, but he's passive and has no interest in playing close to the basket.

Yeah, he would've been a top-2 pick sight unseen, but he's looked like a poor man's Nerlens Noel so far.

[BishopMVP]

Watched Providence destroy UMass tonight. They're not just all the Kris Dunn show - Ben Bentil doesn't seem to have any national press but he looks like a future NBA player too.

[digamma]

Huge win for Harvard this afternoon against BYU in Hawaii. It took overtime, but it may be the kind of win that can turn Harvard into a really good team for Ivy play. They have to turn around quickly and play Auburn tomorrow. That should be a wild one. Bruce Pearl teams get in your grill and we will likely turn it over 20 times, but we can play some defense too.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Kansas/SDSU game is getting interesting. SDSU on a big run after being down by 16 at one point. Now only a four point game.

Edit: Jinxed them. Now up by 15.

[digamma]

Harvard 69
Auburn 51

That was fun. Bring on the Sooners (or maybe the Rainbow Warriors).

[BishopMVP]

Harvard 69
Auburn 51

That was fun. Bring on the Sooners (or maybe the Rainbow Warriors).Be careful what you wish for... I think I'd pick Oklahoma to win the title right now.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Disappointed that Mizzou lost the Braggin' Rights game last night, but they showed a lot of character making that huge run to make it a nailbiter after being down by 20 early in the game.

I have to keep reminding myself that we're 337th in Division I in experience. There's some really good young players, but they're still learning.

[digamma]

Be careful what you wish for... I think I'd pick Oklahoma to win the title right now.

Oh, we're clearly playing with house money in Hawaii at this point.

[cartman]

Texas comes back from the Christmas break with a home game tonight against UConn. But they suffered a big (literally) loss when center Cameron Ridley broke his foot in practice over the weekend. He has been arguably the best Longhorn on the court this season.

[tarcone]

Iowa knocks off #1 MSU tonight. We beat them 83-70. Huge win for the Hawks and a great start to the season.

[MrBug708]

This UCLA-UW game is awful. The refs were the stars

[dawgfan]

This UCLA-UW game is awful. The refs were the stars
Bryce Alford is a sunfabitch. Huskies were damn lucky Andrews and Crisp were also clutch.

[MrBug708]

There isn't a more polarizing player in the nation

[tarcone]

Iowa comes from 19 down in the 1st half at #14 Purdue, to win 70-63.
Great start for the Hawks. Beat MSU and Purdue in the 1st week of the season.

[miami_fan]

Granted I am not a Jayhawk fan but I think I follow college basketball pretty closely. I am shocked that Wayne Selden Jr. is still in Lawrence.

[hoopsguy]

Hope that at least a couple of folks got a chance to watch #1/#2 showdown between Kansas and Oklahoma. 12 seconds left right now in 3rd OT, one point game.

[Vince, Pt. II]

That game was crazy.

[miami_fan]

Yeah that was a fun game last night.

[Butter]

Started watching it at like 10:45, switched over to watch end of Virginia-Va. Tech, then switched back to see the end of regulation.

Wished I had gone to bed, as my alarm goes off at 5:30 whether I've stayed up late or not. That thing didn't end until midnight.

[BishopMVP]

There isn't a more polarizing player in the nationI'm sure as captain of the 17th-year Seniors Aaron Craft will show back up on Ohio State at some point.

Good luck tomorrow Butter. We're definitely a better team with Antwan Space playing again and I'd still love to get a W at Dayton, but I still think we're NIT at best, so I won't be mad if the good A10 team avoids a landmine loss to us.

[Groundhog]

LSU topples Kentucky by 18 in easily their biggest win of the season. Led nearly all of the way and smashed Kentucky on the glass. Simmons sat a lot of the first half with 2 fouls, ended with 14-10.

[Butter]

I'm sure as captain of the 17th-year Seniors Aaron Craft will show back up on Ohio State at some point.

Good luck tomorrow Butter. We're definitely a better team with Antwan Space playing again and I'd still love to get a W at Dayton, but I still think we're NIT at best, so I won't be mad if the good A10 team avoids a landmine loss to us.

We've barely avoided losses at home recently to Miami (O) and Arkansas, and did lose to Chattanooga. So even though we just got ranked again, nothing would surprise me at this point. I mean, Miami is the third worst team on our entire schedule and we had to make a basket with under 5 seconds left down 1 to beat them. We'll see. I'll be there.

[Atocep]

Watching Kentucky last night I'm not sure there's a lottery pick on that roster outside of Jamal Murray, who should probably be a late lottery pick.

This is the type of season that was inevitable with the way Kentucky does things, but the number crunch will be interesting if some the guys assumed to be 1 and done decide to return to school because their stock is so low.

[BishopMVP]

We've barely avoided losses at home recently to Miami (O) and Arkansas, and did lose to Chattanooga. So even though we just got ranked again, nothing would surprise me at this point. I mean, Miami is the third worst team on our entire schedule and we had to make a basket with under 5 seconds left down 1 to beat them. We'll see. I'll be there.I mean, UMass also tends to rely way too heavily on guards who should not be shooting from the outside, shooting from the outside. (Davis, Hinds, Donte Clark a.k.a. 80% of our offense), so anything could happen. To an extent the opponent doesn't matter - they can go 13-23 from 3 vs Dayton, or 2-21 from 3 in an open gym vs an intramural team, so I stopped predicting anything. Just hoping Clark/Holloway keep developing for next year's team (or more realistically, the 2017-18 one) and Zach Coleman can stay mostly healthy. Maybe Malik Hines can even do something good one of these days...Watching Kentucky last night I'm not sure there's a lottery pick on that roster outside of Jamal Murray, who should probably be a late lottery pick.

This is the type of season that was inevitable with the way Kentucky does things, but the number crunch will be interesting if some the guys assumed to be 1 and done decide to return to school because their stock is so low.
This has already happened. That Nerlens Noel version tanked into the NIT once he got hurt, and then two years ago a lot of kids did come back, which led to last year's 10-deep "platoon" system. This is college basketball recruiting... the numbers will "work themselves out", and Cal has shown he can get one and done lottery picks to buy in to limited playing time and team concepts.

As for specific players, totally agree Murray is the one I've liked by far the most so far. Not sure I see future NBA star, but good combo guard that'll be guaranteed lottery. Tyler Ulis has played really well, but has that ceiling of a 5'9 guard. If I was him I'd stay in college all 4 years, but I think he would be a 1st round pick if he left, so who knows. Isaiah Briscoe has actually played really well at times, except for that minor shooting issue, highlighted by a 35% free throw percentage!!!!!!!, which admittedly is a bit of a red flag for a future NBA guard... but he's actually the one I could see having a huge NCAA tournament, or just declaring when people don't think he should and being drafted higher than anyone who watched college basketball thinks. Skal's been the obvious disappointment, even as someone who didn't buy into the helium that was pushing him above Ben Simmons as #1. But he clearly has the skillset, so even if it takes him 3 years like Willie Cauley-Stein no doubt still he'll be a lottery pick eventually. And who knows, he really could turn it on and parlay 5 good games into a lotto slot - there's a lot of interesting guys, but it's really not that top heavy a draft. As the rare Kentucky SR Poythress is gone regardless. And then quite frankly who cares about Marcus Lee, or Derek Willis, or Mychal Mulder? If they pop and deserve the time the minutes will be there, but if they transfer, or they play 8 mpg and score 2ppg next year I don't think anyone outside their family or AAU handlers ever really expected them to be lottery picks.

[Butter]

Yeah, UMass basically decided not to play defense last night. Literally everyone on scholarship for Dayton scored, including some little-used freshmen. I'm sure that's not what they normally look like, and UD doesn't normally shoot 57%. Once it got to 28-14, it was going to be a long road back for UMass. Space seemed like he has some scoring potential, but also seemed to like to be a little too 1-on-1 to fit into a conventional offense.

[mauchow]

Fuck!

Badgers needed that Signature Win against MD if they're going to be around .500 in conference.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Killer by Trimble.

[dawgfan]

With seven (!) freshmen and eight newcomers on the roster, Washington is one of the youngest teams in the country. They can look terrible at times, but they're very athletic and a terrific fit for Romar's style of play. They've now won their first three Pac-12 games, all of them either OT or last-minute wins. I'm not sure if they'll be able to win enough conference games to get into the NCAA Tournament this year, but they're entertaining as hell and should be a force next season.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

It's not much, but great to see the Tigers get a conference win against Auburn at home. Considering they've been getting waxed of late, we'll take it.

[MizzouRah]

It's not much, but great to see the Tigers get a conference win against Auburn at home. Considering they've been getting waxed of late, we'll take it.

Yes sir.. I watched the Georgia game and that was ugly.

[Julio Riddols]

Indiana has found a defense.. a 25 point win over Ohio State is nice to see. Hope they can stay this hot.

[murrayyyyy]

Rice fired by UNLV. Good recruiter but couldn't coach to save his life.

[Izulde]

Rice fired by UNLV. Good recruiter but couldn't coach to save his life.

Exactly what I said.

[Scoobz0202]

Not sure if anybody here has followed it at all, but Andrew Smith a former center for the Butler Bulldogs and part of Brad Steven's team during their great run passed away this morning from cancer. He was 25 years old.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Andrew peacefully passed away in his sleep and in my arms as I told him I loved him this morning. Love you always, Smith.</p>&mdash; Samantha Smith (@Samantha44Smith) <a href="https://twitter.com/Samantha44Smith/status/687020528670867457">January 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Here was her devastating blog post a few days ago.

January 2016 | Kicking Cancer with the Smiths (https://kickingcancerwiththesmiths.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/418/)

RIP

[Thomkal]

Far too young, RIP Andrew.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

KU on the ropes at West Virginia. Down 11 with 7 minutes left.

[Atocep]

And people were saying WVU wouldn't be able to turn Kansas over.

[Swaggs]

And people were saying WVU wouldn't be able to turn Kansas over.

Wooooohooooo!

[digamma]

http://www.mutigers.com/news/2016/1/13/GEN_0113165148.aspx?path=general

Missouri penalizes itself by withdrawing from postseason participation this season and vacating the 2013-14 season.

[Atocep]

http://www.mutigers.com/news/2016/1/13/GEN_0113165148.aspx?path=general

Missouri penalizes itself by withdrawing from postseason participation this season and vacating the 2013-14 season.

A huge blow to this year's tourney field.

Though self-imposing a postseason ban for this season is difficult for our student-athletes, our coaches and our loyal supporters

Did they seriously type this up with a straight face?

[Marmel]

http://www.mutigers.com/news/2016/1/13/GEN_0113165148.aspx?path=general

Missouri penalizes itself by withdrawing from postseason participation this season and vacating the 2013-14 season.

(Who am I to talk, however....) They can vacate it, but they can never take that first round NIT win away from my memory.

[nol]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Students can also enter NBA draft multiple times without jeopardizing eligibility &amp; participate in combine &amp; 1 tryout per NBA team per year.</p>&mdash; NCAA (@NCAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NCAA/status/687389310505631744">January 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In addition, the early entry deadline is pushed back to a month after the NBA Combine.

[cartman]

Boy, as bad as this is for the Texas program, you have to feel bad for the Tennessee program. They just can't buy a break over the last few years since the Bruce Pearl debacle.

Volunteer state: Another coach, another possible problem - Yahoo Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/volunteer-state--another-coach--another-possible-problem-211003814.html)


Turns out it wasn't bad at all.

Report Highlights Successes, Areas for Improvement in Athletics Student Services | UT News | The University of Texas at Austin (http://news.utexas.edu/2016/01/13/report-evaluates-athletics-student-services)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

http://www.mutigers.com/news/2016/1/13/GEN_0113165148.aspx?path=general

Missouri penalizes itself by withdrawing from postseason participation this season and vacating the 2013-14 season.

It's obviously not that big of a deal overall given the current record and state of the program. The main thing is does do is ensure that Kim Anderson won't be fired at the end of the year, something that would have probably occurred without these sanctions. They can't fire a coach at this point and expect a good coach to take over the program with some punishments still in place. Kim will get a year or two more because they know he's not going to do anything that would harm the standing of the program, allowing them to hire with a clean slate at that point.

It's clear now why Haith left. Mizzou was notified less than a week before he 'took a new job'.

[cartman]

Just leaving this link here in case there might be any interested parties. Fun begins around post #20.

NCAA Basketball Offseason Thread: We must protect this house from transfers. - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=88660)

[Logan]

Indeed.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Indeed.

Glad we could agree on something for once. :)

[Atocep]

When Rob Fulford was hired as an assistant in order to land Gill-Ceasar it was obvious things were highly unlikely to work out well for Kim Anderson. The two in-state schools were he was a HS coach had zero interest in bringing him in and one of those 2 schools (Marshall) hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since the Reagan administration.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

When Rob Fulford was hired as an assistant in order to land Gill-Ceasar it was obvious things were highly unlikely to work out well for Kim Anderson. The two in-state schools were he was a HS coach had zero interest in bringing him in and one of those 2 schools (Marshall) hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since the Reagan administration.

To be fair, Gill-Caesar was leading the team in scoring his freshman year by a good size margin until he injured his back pretty badly. After the injury, he wasn't the same player.

[tarcone]

Iowa goes into MSU and spanks Sparty by 17. Iowa sweeps MSU for the first time since 1992-93. Another huge win. It was never close. Iowa could be top 10 in the next poll.

This is awesome.

[Johnny93g]

I watched some of that Iowa game tonight as well as bits and pieces of their other big Ten wins. Impressive start to the season!

[Atocep]

Huggins has WVU playing at an incredible level right now. Convincing win over #1 Kansas and a 2 point loss on the road to the soon to #1 Sooners this week.

[mauchow]

The Badgers will need to do some quick growing up if they want to keep their streak of NCAA Tourney appearances. it isn't looking good at the moment. i think they have 17 straight appearances. :(

[britrock88]

I dunno about the NCAAs for Wiscy, but any sign of improvement in the second half would be a great start. Sealing that win over Sparty yesterday is a good start.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

If I used this thread as a barometer, I'd say that Michigan State is pretty bad. People keep posting that their team beat Sparty. :)

[tarcone]

Its great to be a Hawkeye these days. First football and now basketball. We beat Rutgers tonight to start 6-0 in conference for the first time since 1987.
If you get a chance, watch them. Hosting Purdue Sunday and on the road at Maryland Thursday.
Iowa is a quality team.

[tarcone]

And Iowa beats Purdue by 7 today. We were up by 15 early in the 2nd. Purdue was never really in it after the start Iowa had in the 2nd.

Iowa could climb into the top 5.

Big game Thursday at Maryland. Cannt wait.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Had to laugh when I saw that Tulsa is looking to get out of the contract with Haith despite the fact that he 'wasn't responsible' for any of the wrongdoing at Mizzou.

[CraigSca]

And Iowa beats Purdue by 7 today. We were up by 15 early in the 2nd. Purdue was never really in it after the start Iowa had in the 2nd.

Iowa could climb into the top 5.

Big game Thursday at Maryland. Cannt wait.

As a Maryland fan I've come to the conclusion they're just not very good. Wouldn't surprise me if Iowa comes in to College Park and takes the Terps down.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

We've at least got something to root for at Mizzou. The ladies team beat a good ranked Florida team and should move up in the rankings this week. Still got some work to do to get into the tournament, but 16-4 overall and 3-4 in the tough SEC is still far better than what the men's team is doing.

[Kodos]

Iowa is having a GREAT sports year.

[dawgfan]

Hey there Bug & CR. ;)

Washington gets only their 8th win at UCLA in 70 games, and sweeps the series for only the third time in school history. Two of those sweeps have happened under Romar, and he is now 13-14 vs. UCLA while with the Huskies. Washington remains tied for 1st place in the Pac-12.

These freshmen are raw (and very foul-prone) but also very talented. If Murray and Chriss return next season, this team could be special with 5-star Markelle Fultz and Sam Timmins joining them and Matthew Atewe coming off his transfer.

[MrBug708]

Ucla sucks. No heart.

[tarcone]

Iowa loses a tough at Maryland. I didnt expect them to go undefeated, and that was a tough place to play. So I wasnt to upset about the loss.

[dawgfan]

Ucla sucks. No heart.

Yeah, could be. And Bryce Alford may have some flaws, but he's been a royal pain in the ass to the Huskies with his clutch 3 pointers.

[INDalltheway]

Iowa loses a tough at Maryland. I didnt expect them to go undefeated, and that was a tough place to play. So I wasnt to upset about the loss.

They played them tight with Uthoff shooting poorly as well. They are a solid team that I like to watch minus Woodbury (he's a schmuck).

[Groundhog]

Oklahoma-LSU looking like a good finish. 73-72 Oklahoma with 1:20 remaining.

[MrBug708]

Hey there Bug & CR. ;)

Washington gets only their 8th win at UCLA in 70 games, and sweeps the series for only the third time in school history. Two of those sweeps have happened under Romar, and he is now 13-14 vs. UCLA while with the Huskies. Washington remains tied for 1st place in the Pac-12.

These freshmen are raw (and very foul-prone) but also very talented. If Murray and Chriss return next season, this team could be special with 5-star Markelle Fultz and Sam Timmins joining them and Matthew Atewe coming off his transfer.

You jinxed them

[Eaglesfan27]

You jinxed them


USC has a lot of talent.

[MrBug708]

The PAC-12 isn't that good

[cartman]

Nice showing for the Big 12 today in the Big 12/SEC challenge

[dawgfan]

You jinxed them
Eh, I didn't expect a win in that one. USC is good, they play just as fast as Washington and I figured the Huskies would be half a step slow after Thursday's game. I'll take a split in L.A.

[dawgfan]

The PAC-12 isn't that good
There aren't any great teams, but it's deep. The Cougs are the only really bad team this year.

[MrBug708]

Deep is subjective IMO. I think there are a bunch of 5-12 seeds. I dont think it's because we beat each other up, I just dont think the coaching is there to take any teams to the next level, now or in the future

[JonInMiddleGA]

Awful story :(

Mercer basketball player shot dead in car outside Macon store | The Telegraph (http://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article57979553.html#storylink=mainstage)

[Groundhog]

Ben Simmons has as many 20-10-5 games this year as every other college freshmen combined. Yikes.

Actually knocked down some jumpers against Auburn too, which is a good sign.

[wustin]

Would Simmons turn the Sixers piece of shit franchise around? Watching him more and more, I think he has the potential the be a better point guard than Lebron with the way he plays.

Imagine:

PG: Simmons
SG: Cannon
SF: Covington
PF: Noel
C: Okafor

Saric and Embiid of the bench. And they should probably make some moves to bring in some veteran guards.

[Groundhog]

I don't know if Simmons is an NBA PG to be honest. He's a much better passer than he is ballhandler/floor general, but that might just be LSU's terrible halfcourt offense.

[Atocep]

Would Simmons turn the Sixers piece of shit franchise around? Watching him more and more, I think he has the potential the be a better point guard than Lebron with the way he plays.

Imagine:

PG: Simmons
SG: Cannon
SF: Covington
PF: Noel
C: Okafor

Saric and Embiid of the bench. And they should probably make some moves to bring in some veteran guards.


Assuming the Sixers win the lottery and get Simmons a more likely lineup would be something like:

PG: Smith
SG: Not on roster right now
SF: Simmons
PF: Noel
C: Okafor

I think either Noel or Okafor end up getting moved to balance the roster. I think Covington gets moved if they land Simmons. He's the perfect 3 and D for a championship contender. If they end up with Ingram instead I wouldn't be surprised if they tried him at the 2 initially ala Durant.

[wustin]

Ish Smith is an UFA this summer I think. He's played well enough to demand a decent contract, I think he'll be sought after highly.

[Eaglesfan27]

USC completes the sweep of UCLA tonight. First time in years that I think USC has a team capable of not only getting into the tourney but making a run to the sweet 16.

[MrBug708]

Fuck Alford. Him ignoring SoCal for the first two years essentially enabled players he didnt want, to just blow him out.

[nol]

I think he has the potential the be a better point guard than Lebron with the way he plays.

:lol: Ben Simmons will be 20 years old when he's drafted. At age 20 LeBron averaged 27, 7, and 7.

[wustin]

:lol: Ben Simmons will be 20 years old when he's drafted. At age 20 LeBron averaged 27, 7, and 7.

I don't think Simmons would average anywhere near 27 points a game as a 2nd year pro but given the direction of the NBA's metagame I wouldn't be surprised if he averaged double-digit assists. Unless of course he goes to the Sixers or something.

[nol]

There are fewer, not more, players averaging double-digit assists compared to the past, plus basing someone's performance at point guard purely on assists per game is exactly the opposite of the way basketball is going. Did Steph Curry get worse as a point guard compared to the past two seasons :lol:

[wustin]

Then why even bring up Lebron's numbers? All I said was that he had the potential to a better point guard than Lebron. He has a knack for playing on the perimeter and he's not innately aggressive as Lebron. But everything about him is incredibly raw. Also his jumpshot is really ugly to look at.

I also think Ingram is a better prospect than Simmons. Duke isn't doing too well this year but they have the 2nd best offense in the nation.

[Thomkal]

Williams on In-Game Collapse | 120Sports.com (http://www.120sports.com/video/v164109264/williams-on-ingame-collapse?partnerid=120fb)

[wustin]

How long until Roy and Coach K call it quits

[Atocep]

How long until Roy and Coach K call it quits

We have a large group of HoF coaches coming up on the end of their careers. The top 5 active coaches as far as wins go could be retiring within the next few years:

Beoheim (71), Coach K (68), Williams (65), Pitino (63), Huggins (62)

[Kodos]

Good game tonight, tarcone. I imagine the story will be different when we travel to Iowa, but happy with the win tonight.

[tarcone]

Good game tonight, tarcone. I imagine the story will be different when we travel to Iowa, but happy with the win tonight.

Yep, very good.
Indiana just took it to us in the 1st half. Killed us on the boards. And we couldn't stop anyone.

Makes for a great race to the end. I think Iowa has the easier schedule down the stretch.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Kudos to my Tigers! Tossed our top scorer off the team, then went out and won our second straight game with a win over the 21-4 South Carolina team! I expected far better from Frank's team given that they were embarrassed at home last game.

As bad as this season has been, I'm glad that Kim continues to take a hard stance on some of these players in regards to behavior. There's some really good freshman and sophomores on this team that are getting better, but we need to make sure that these upper classmen don't send them down the wrong path.

[Butter]

If anyone wants to get an early start on your Wednesday night hoops, #15 Dayton @ St. Joseph's on CBS Sports Network should be a good one. Basically a fight for the league title, as each team has a relatively easy road the rest of the way, SJU is favored by 1.5 even though Dayton has the highest ranking they've had in nearly 40 years.

Dayton has 2 injuries coming in, starting wing Charles Cooke (a James Madison transfer) has an ankle injury and is expected to play, but hobbled. Also, top PF Kendall Pollard is questionable with a bone bruise to his knee... they basically are trying to let him heal, but may press him into action anyway since UD will be favorites in the final 5 games even without Pollard.

St. Joe's has top A10 POY candidate DeAndre Bembry, who is capable of scoring in every way. Key for Dayton will be to force him to become an outside shooter, where he is only 27%, and to send him to the line rather than giving up layups, as he only is a 66% FT shooter. But Bembry can beat you in a lot of ways, as he averages 8 rebounds and nearly 5 assists a game.

If Cooke and Pollard are able to play at full health, and the Flyers can avoid turning the ball over (which they have been bad at this year), I like the Flyers in a close one. If Bembry goes off or any of the above don't take place, then I think St. Joe's wins.

Dayton hasn't won on Hawk Hill since the year 2000, and would be in the driver's seat for a conference regular season title (something else Dayton has never won) with a win... but St. Joe's would be the #1 seed owning the tiebreaker over Dayton with the win... so lots of motivation on both sides.... not to mention Martelli telling Andy Katz about 2 weeks ago that St. Joseph's is "the best team in the league".

With SJU losing already at home to VCU and St. Bonaventure, the #3 and 4 teams in the A-10, SJU has shown uncharacteristic vulnerability at home. But they have no problem getting up for games against the Flyers, and this will be a hard one for UD to pull out even at full strength.

[MizzouRah]

Kudos to my Tigers! Tossed our top scorer off the team, then went out and won our second straight game with a win over the 21-4 South Carolina team! I expected far better from Frank's team given that they were embarrassed at home last game.

As bad as this season has been, I'm glad that Kim continues to take a hard stance on some of these players in regards to behavior. There's some really good freshman and sophomores on this team that are getting better, but we need to make sure that these upper classmen don't send them down the wrong path.

I taped this last night.. can't wait to settle in later and watch it!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I taped this last night.. can't wait to settle in later and watch it!

Seemed like the team responded well every time SC made a run. Rosberg has really caught fire of late.

[tarcone]

The kid from my hometown got his first start. Cullen Van Leer. He is struggling, but does other things.

As for the rest of the squad, Im hearing some things that need to be changed at Mizzou.

Like the team is very dumb. Cant run a set play. Watch Van Leer (who has a very high BB IQ) direct traffic when he is on the floor.

Also, I hear the Sophomore class does nothing to improve. They like to smoke weed and play Xbox.

[Butter]

Dayton goes down 79-70. Pollard didn't play, and UD shot 31 threes and only 7 free throws. Scored 7 points in the final 11 minutes of the first half. That'll do it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The kid from my hometown got his first start. Cullen Van Leer. He is struggling, but does other things.

As for the rest of the squad, Im hearing some things that need to be changed at Mizzou.

Like the team is very dumb. Cant run a set play. Watch Van Leer (who has a very high BB IQ) direct traffic when he is on the floor.

Also, I hear the Sophomore class does nothing to improve. They like to smoke weed and play Xbox.

I believe most of this. Specifically, Gant, Wright and Isabell have all three clearly not taken positive steps. If they aren't improving, they're doing something they shouldn't be doing. Gant is clearly underachieving and is much more talented than he's shown thus far. There was two plays last night where the announcers noted that Isabell (who was the point guard on the floor) clearly didn't have any clue how the play he called was supposed to be run.

Even the freshman have taken huge strides in the course of their first season. The offense is much better when the freshman (Van Leer, Phillips, KJ Walton, and Puryear) are on the court. I think all four of those guys will push themselves in the off-season to improve. Hopefully the sophomores put their head back into the game too.

[digamma]

UNC's offense went to sleep in the second half and especially the last five minutes of the game last night. Not sure how Duke won that game or why that annoys me (I'm not a fan of either team).

[MizzouRah]

Seemed like the team responded well every time SC made a run. Rosberg has really caught fire of late.

Great start as well.. helped down the stretch. Rosberg has been lights out lately.. good win.

[Kodos]

Wow, Penn State has had a couple of nice upsets in recent weeks.

[cartman]

Wow, Penn State has had a couple of nice upsets in recent weeks.

As does Texas Tech. They've got three straight wins over ranked teams (Iowa State, Baylor, OU).

[HomerSimpson98]

UNC's offense went to sleep in the second half and especially the last five minutes of the game last night. Not sure how Duke won that game or why that annoys me (I'm not a fan of either team).

Because Ol' Roy just rolls a ball out there and lets his guys do whatever the hell they want. Duke had no answer inside. NONE. SO what do the Heels do? Jack up 3s. Take stupid running contested shots. UNC kept Duke in the game far longer than they deserved and stole it at the end. Im not a Duke fan at all, but playing with basically just 5 guys was impressive.

[HomerSimpson98]

As does Texas Tech. They've got three straight wins over ranked teams (Iowa State, Baylor, OU).

Good to see Tubby finally get some traction. He's a good dude. I'm thinking the Gophers wish they could have a do-over

[digamma]

Because Ol' Roy just rolls a ball out there and lets his guys do whatever the hell they want. Duke had no answer inside. NONE. SO what do the Heels do? Jack up 3s. Take stupid running contested shots. UNC kept Duke in the game far longer than they deserved and stole it at the end. Im not a Duke fan at all, but playing with basically just 5 guys was impressive.

Which makes the not going inside all the more silly. Didn't Plumlee have four fouls? Foul him out and play against the student manager if you must.

[HomerSimpson98]

Which makes the not going inside all the more silly. Didn't Plumlee have four fouls? Foul him out and play against the student manager if you must.

Yeah, I even forgot about that. The Heels fans have to be losing their shit after that L

[britrock88]

UNC's offense went to sleep in the second half and especially the last five minutes of the game last night. Not sure how Duke won that game or why that annoys me (I'm not a fan of either team).

Yeah, I even forgot about that. The Heels fans have to be losing their shit after that L

Commence annual crisis of confidence in Roy.

[MrBug708]

I hate Steve Alford

[Butter]

If anyone wants to get an early start on your Wednesday night hoops, #15 Dayton @ St. Joseph's on CBS Sports Network should be a good one. Basically a fight for the league title, as each team has a relatively easy road the rest of the way, SJU is favored by 1.5 even though Dayton has the highest ranking they've had in nearly 40 years.

Dayton has 2 injuries coming in, starting wing Charles Cooke (a James Madison transfer) has an ankle injury and is expected to play, but hobbled. Also, top PF Kendall Pollard is questionable with a bone bruise to his knee... they basically are trying to let him heal, but may press him into action anyway since UD will be favorites in the final 5 games even without Pollard.

St. Joe's has top A10 POY candidate DeAndre Bembry, who is capable of scoring in every way. Key for Dayton will be to force him to become an outside shooter, where he is only 27%, and to send him to the line rather than giving up layups, as he only is a 66% FT shooter. But Bembry can beat you in a lot of ways, as he averages 8 rebounds and nearly 5 assists a game.

If Cooke and Pollard are able to play at full health, and the Flyers can avoid turning the ball over (which they have been bad at this year), I like the Flyers in a close one. If Bembry goes off or any of the above don't take place, then I think St. Joe's wins.

Dayton hasn't won on Hawk Hill since the year 2000, and would be in the driver's seat for a conference regular season title (something else Dayton has never won) with a win... but St. Joe's would be the #1 seed owning the tiebreaker over Dayton with the win... so lots of motivation on both sides.... not to mention Martelli telling Andy Katz about 2 weeks ago that St. Joseph's is "the best team in the league".

With SJU losing already at home to VCU and St. Bonaventure, the #3 and 4 teams in the A-10, SJU has shown uncharacteristic vulnerability at home. But they have no problem getting up for games against the Flyers, and this will be a hard one for UD to pull out even at full strength.

I would be interested to know how many times I have posted about Dayton in the past vs. how many times they have lost immediately after.

Seems like a lot. 2 game losing streak going into tonight's game @ St. Louis, who is terrible. UD forums are ready to go into full-on panic mode with a loss.

[nol]

LSU is losing 17-39 at halftime to College of Charleston. NBA teams may not want to wait until March before doing their scouting on Ben Simmons.

Not snarky then, definitely not snarky now. Hell, if LSU loses 2 of its next 3 and goes out early in the conference tournament the NIT is probably even out of the question.

[Butter]

I would be interested to know how many times I have posted about Dayton in the past vs. how many times they have lost immediately after.

Seems like a lot. 2 game losing streak going into tonight's game @ St. Louis, who is terrible. UD forums are ready to go into full-on panic mode with a loss.

UD fights themselves... scores 2 points in the opening 9 minutes, then 14 total in the first half, but somehow manages to score a 52-49 overtime win in the ugliest game of the Archie Miller era.

[BishopMVP]

Not snarky then, definitely not snarky now. Hell, if LSU loses 2 of its next 3 and goes out early in the conference tournament the NIT is probably even out of the question.Is the NIT draw basically set in stone now? If they even have the chance to take LSU as an at-large, they still care about making money, so you'd think they'd jump at a chance to take LSU and Simmons for ratings.

And I'll still reiterate that even if there are front offices that dumb (and even Mike hired Rich Cho to modernize the Bobcats scouting a year or two ago), how much do you learn watching him in person vs watching his game tapes and holding private workouts? Especially when it's basically a binary choice vs Ingram? (Bender's still the wild card, but I don't think he's gotten enough minutes to get into the top 2.)UD fights themselves... scores 2 points in the opening 9 minutes, then 14 total in the first half, but somehow manages to score a 52-49 overtime win in the ugliest game of the Archie Miller era.Rick Majerus is looking down at that affront to modern basketball and smiling.

[nol]

Is the NIT draw basically set in stone now? If they even have the chance to take LSU as an at-large, they still care about making money, so you'd think they'd jump at a chance to take LSU and Simmons for ratings.

And I'll still reiterate that even if there are front offices that dumb (and even Mike hired Rich Cho to modernize the Bobcats scouting a year or two ago), how much do you learn watching him in person vs watching his game tapes and holding private workouts? Especially when it's basically a binary choice vs Ingram? (Bender's still the wild card, but I don't think he's gotten enough minutes to get into the top 2.)

It looks like you technically don't have to be an above .500 team to get in (I don't think that's ever happened before though), and I don't really know about the ratings for LSU/college basketball, so maybe it's still possible. My main point has been that this whole situation has been a net loss for basketball pretty much from the jump. Probably should have seen the writing on the wall when a couple of their underclassmen elected to leave for the NBA when they were not guaranteed first-round picks rather than try and improve their stock on a team that would've been much more talented on paper than the one that made the NCAAs last season.

Simmons was just allowed to do the exact same thing he did in high school to a slightly less dominating extent. It certainly didn't do much to help NBA teams get a better idea of his strengths and weaknesses beyond what was readily apparent over the past couple years. It certainly didn't help Simmons' draft stock, as the other freshmen have largely been unimpressive enough that he could've played professionally or stayed in Australia or done anything else and still been in consideration for the top pick. It'd be tough to spin some 'personal growth' narrative about his time in college given that he apparently got benched for not going to class. It's probably even going to be a net negative for the coaching staff that persuaded him to buck tradition by coming to LSU, only to make it clear why the absolute best recruits tend to entrust their development to a very small number of programs in the first place.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It looks like you technically don't have to be an above .500 team to get in (I don't think that's ever happened before though)

Selection principles simply refer to "best available". Selection committee members are free to use whatever criteria the want to make that determination.

Every committee member nominates 32 teams.
Any team mentioned on all but one ballot is in, along with any regular season conference champions that don't get in to the NCAA.

The remaining slots are filled from "the nomination board", which is any team that got more than one, but less than all but one, votes in the initial round.
From that pool, each member picks eight teams to include.
The top eight candidates by total votes are then put up for a "cross-country" ballot ranked 1-8 with ordinal points assigned to them. Top 4 are in, bottom 4 hold over for another round of the same process. That continues until the field is filled.

[Groundhog]

I have to say, LSU's halfcourt offense is one of the least inspiring I've seen in a while, considering the couple of pieces they have. Token ball reversal on the perimeter, high pick-and-roll, then dump out to a wing for a long contested 2 or 3. Only time they don't look awful is when they aren't pulling the ball out of the net on the other end and get to run.

[mauchow]

Badgers pick another big win on the road. If we didn't have the early season garbage losses the Badgers would be in line for a top 3 seed but instead it's looking like somewhere between 5-11 depending on the rest of the season. Barring a disaster down the stretch the Badgers have punched their ticket. Not too many teams have the quality of wins as the Badgers do. They have some shitty losses too during the Bo stretch and early Gard time.

Badgers need to extend Gard now. What they've managed to do this season is amazing.

[lungs]

Badgers need to extend Gard now. What they've managed to do this season is amazing.

+1

I really like what Gard has done. Initially thought he might be one of those nice guys finish last types but he's really turned this team around.

Can he recruit?

[henry296]

Badgers pick another big win on the road. If we didn't have the early season garbage losses the Badgers would be in line for a top 3 seed but instead it's looking like somewhere between 5-11 depending on the rest of the season. Barring a disaster down the stretch the Badgers have punched their ticket. Not too many teams have the quality of wins as the Badgers do. They have some shitty losses too during the Bo stretch and early Gard time.

Badgers need to extend Gard now. What they've managed to do this season is amazing.

They made a good point on the broadcast, that there is a posting process that needs to happen before they can formally hire him.

I recall this same process slowed down the hiring of Paul Chryst when everyone knew he was going to leave Pitt for Wisconsin.

[lungs]

They made a good point on the broadcast, that there is a posting process that needs to happen before they can formally hire him.

I recall this same process slowed down the hiring of Paul Chryst when everyone knew he was going to leave Pitt for Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's really no big deal though. Allows a bunch of hooligans to throw their resume in too.

[tarcone]

Wiscy is on fire.

I think Iowa peaked way to early. Im afraid this will be a lost season. I hope they can turn it around.

[mauchow]

Wiscy is on fire.

I think Iowa peaked way to early. Im afraid this will be a lost season. I hope they can turn it around.

Anything can happen in the tournament. If you're a top 3 seed your chances are a lot better than everyone else.

Iowa will be fine.

I still wish Uthoff was at Wisconsin. Bo obviously knew he would be a good player. Do you think Jared regrets missing out on two potential final fours? Tough to say. Badgers fans are obviously satisfied how it's been since JU left..

[tarcone]

Im not sure JU liked Bo. I imagine that played a part. And he is only 30 minutes from home.

I cant say if he regrets it or not. But I imagine it would be slight if he did.

[Groundhog]

Random fact: Uthoff's (much, much older) cousin Dean played for my local pro team down in Australia years ago, and it was a school visit by him and another American on our team back when I was around 10 years old that got me interested in and playing basketball initially.

[Thomkal]

Coastal Carolina somehow got the #3 seed in its final Big South season today. They started off this season with big losses to most of its non-conference schedule, then lost to two teams who would end up at the bottom of the Big South conference. But somehow they turned it around, and coming into today actually were still alive for the #1 seed. They won today, but didn't get the help they needed to get that seed. 18-10 is quite the achievement, but likely will need to get in the tournament final to get into one of the tourneys.

[cartman]

I thought Texas might start slow tonight against Kansas, because of the quick turnaround after the big win over Oklahoma on Saturday, but they are horrible tonight. Can't buy a basket, and Kansas is shooting lights out.

[Kodos]

Hoosiers secured sole possession of the Big Ten championship by beating Iowa at home on senior night. This team really bounced back after an embarrassing loss to Duke. Glad to see Yogi's hard work pay off. The game got scary in the second half. Glad IU was able to pull it out.

Good luck in the Big Ten tourney and the NCAA tourney, tarcone.

[mauchow]

Man, if only the Badgers didn't suck early on in the season and lose to Northwestern , then they'd still be alive.

Helluva job in Indiana this year by Crean. Solid players all around helps of course. I find it hard pressed to give COTY to Gard over Crean, sadly. :( Arguments can go either way still depending on if Badgers win out.