Official 2011-12 College Basketball Thread

[Izulde]

UNLV at #36 feels about right to me. Our perimeter play should be fantastic this year, but I'm still not sold on our big man situation.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by molson

First coach's poll is out:

NCAA College Basketball Polls, College Basketball Rankings, NCAA Basketball Polls - ESPN

Pretty surprised to see Syracuse at #5...there really wasn't a lot of off-season hype about the team being loaded this year. I guess people expect Jardine/Joseph/Triche to move up to superstar status.

I don't know whether #5 is legit or not to be honest, but you have a 5th year senior, a 4th year senior and a junior who is a 3 year starter now, to go along with a 6 other returning players and 3 freshmen, 2 of which are burger boys. Basically, 9 of the top 10 players from last year return along with 3 highly touted freshmen. I don't know if anybody becomes a superstar, and I believe you need one to win the tournament, but top to bottom they might be the most talented team in the country.

Edit to just add: a second 5 of Waiters, Carter-Williams, CJ Fair/Xmas (whoever doesn't start), Keita and Southerland/Mookie Jones might be a top 25 team. But again, without a go-to guy, they might top out at Elite 8. Jardine or Joseph could break out, or it could be freshman Carter-Williams, or most likely none of them.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Marmel

I don't know whether #5 is legit or not to be honest, but you have a 5th year senior, a 4th year senior and a junior who is a 3 year starter now, to go along with a 6 other returning players and 3 freshmen, 2 of which are burger boys. Basically, 9 of the top 10 players from last year return along with 3 highly touted freshmen. I don't know if anybody becomes a superstar, and I believe you need one to win the tournament, but top to bottom they might be the most talented team in the country.

Edit to just add: a second 5 of Waiters, Carter-Williams, CJ Fair/Xmas (whoever doesn't start), Keita and Southerland/Mookie Jones might be a top 25 team. But again, without a go-to guy, they might top out at Elite 8. Jardine or Joseph could break out, or it could be freshman Carter-Williams, or most likely none of them.

I'm not a super-close follower of Syracuse athletics, but checking out the blogs after the high ranking - it seems the consensus is very cynical, that when Boeheim has a team ranked this high, he blows it - and that he's better at building lesser-talented teams through the course of a season, than he is at utilizing A-level talent.

But I'm positive this is the highest pre-season ranking since I became a 'Cuse fan (my Freshman year in '96), so it's a bit unreal....not sure I see the talent that justifies it, but can't wait for the season to start. I do trust Boeheim - he's the man.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Beasley implicates Huggins in cheating scandal.......

Beasley Confesses NCAA Sins, Implicates Huggins

[DeToxRox]

Mitch McGary is deciding next week between Michigan, Duke and Florida. God how I hope it's Michigan.

[mauchow]

Wisconsin at 15 sounds about right. A great pg in Jordan Taylor returning while losing leuer and nankavil. We've got some good youngsters coming in but this will definitely be a season where we may start out up and down but we'll finish very strong and have a legit shot at the sweet 16 again.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Beasley implicates Huggins in cheating scandal.......

Beasley Confesses NCAA Sins, Implicates Huggins

Wasn't this a loophole in the rules that the NCAA acknowledged and then subsequently closed early last year? There now has to be a 2 year period before and after the player enrolls when you hire someone linked to the player.

[MrBug708]

STORRS Conn. (AP)—Changes in NCAA rules are expected to keep defending national-champion Connecticut from participating in the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Under the rules adopted Thursday by the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors, a school cannot participate in the 2013 tournament unless it has a two-year average score of 930 or a four-year average score of 900 on the NCAA’s annual Academic Progress Rate, which measures the academic performance of student athletes.

Connecticut’s score for the 2009-10 school year was 826. A UConn official has said the 2010-11 score will be approximately 975. That would not be high enough. It would give Connecticut a two-year score of 900.5 and a four-year average of 888.5.

The NCAA confirmed Thursday that scores from those years will be used to determine eligibility.

[DeToxRox]

Mitch McGary is announcing Thursday and is between Michigan and Duke. Most expect it to go Michigan's way. Would be unbelievable.

[MrBug708]

Tarc to Arizona

I hope Mitch picks duke because Parker to duke is starting to pick up steam

[Izulde]

Rosco Allen committed to Stanford over North Carolina and UNLV. Can't fault him that IMO.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Tarc to Arizona

I hope Mitch picks duke because Parker to duke is starting to pick up steam

I think it's closer than people thought, but I am still reasonably confident that Parker picks UCLA.

[DeToxRox]

Mitch McGary is making his choice at 5 PM EST on ESPNU. Everyone says it's Michigan but I have to see it to believe it.

[MrBug708]

And he is off to Michigan

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Kenpom rankings are out for 2012.........

http://kenpom.com/

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

And he is off to Michigan

Absolutely huge get for Michigan. It will solidify a consensus top 10 class and even if its for one year, give us a potentially elite front court with Smot, Morgan and Horford.

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Kenpom rankings are out for 2012.........

http://kenpom.com/

4 of top 7 in ACC

[Izulde]

UNLV #18 in Pomeroy Rankings. Nice! We played like shit in our first exhibition though, so still kinks to work out.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Kenpom rankings are out for 2012.........

http://kenpom.com/

polls already getting it wrong, UNC 2 spots too low!

I'm really looking forward to this aircraft carrier game w/ Michigan State, should be fun.

[DeToxRox]

I am more fired up than ever for Michigan this year. We should start slow as Trey Burke assimilates himself into the offense but we should pick it up as the year progresses.

Really excited for Maui to start.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Kenpom rankings are out for 2012.........

http://kenpom.com/

160, woohoo!



FWIW - W&M will be a part of the first nationally televised game of the season (at least I believe that's the case) playing St. John's on ESPNU at 7pm on Monday.

I was more excited about the game before we got a bunch of front-court injuries, but still think we've got a decent shot at an upset.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by wade moore

160, woohoo!



FWIW - W&M will be a part of the first nationally televised game of the season (at least I believe that's the case) playing St. John's on ESPNU at 7pm on Monday.

I was more excited about the game before we got a bunch of front-court injuries, but still think we've got a decent shot at an upset.

You have a great chance. The other team is coached by Steve Lavin.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

I am more fired up than ever for Michigan this year. We should start slow as Trey Burke assimilates himself into the offense but we should pick it up as the year progresses.

Really excited for Maui to start.

Also looking forward to Maui. It's a great lineup this year. UCLA and Michigan might even meet. Of course, it seems like we schedule home-and-homes with each other every few years anyway.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Kenpom rankings are out for 2012.........

http://kenpom.com/

They really rate the Pac 12 low, but I think that's going to change as we get into the season. There are several strong teams in the conference this year. Maybe only fringe national candidates, but they deserve better than the lower 30s-upper 40s.

[molson]

How can you have an "advanced" statistical team ranking before the season starts?

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Also looking forward to Maui. It's a great lineup this year. UCLA and Michigan might even meet. Of course, it seems like we schedule home-and-homes with each other every few years anyway.

Indeed. Always enjoy the games with UCLA. We've had Kansas and Duke the last couple of years, so I hope something with UCLA occurs in the near future.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

You have a great chance. The other team is coached by Steve Lavin.

Well, and Steve Lavin wasn't coaching at the exhibition game they had on ESPN3 recently?

Not sure if he will be at that game? Haven't looked it up.

[JeeberD]

Ugh, the Miners lost to Eastern New Mexico by 11 (and were down by 22 at one point) in our first exhibition game last night. Yes, we're a VERY young team, and yes, our two most experienced players didn't play last night...but there's still no excuse for getting our asses handed to us by a team that New Mexico State beat by 50 the night before. It could be a very long season...

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Well, and Steve Lavin wasn't coaching at the exhibition game they had on ESPN3 recently?

Not sure if he will be at that game? Haven't looked it up.

Lavin's teams are capable of wild results. Or at least they were at UCLA, and I got the impression from afar that it was true again last year at St. John's.

Lavin's team will sometimes absolute demolish a team they shouldn't, and then they'll play another team just as strong, but instead of showing up again, they will do the opposite, play even worse, and get blown out big time ugly.

When it comes to teams they "don't take serious" (and sorry that's probably their mindset with W&M), it's a virtual guarantee they will underperform when coached by Lavin. Which gives bad teams lots of opportunities to beat Lavin's teams.

I don't know what happened in any exhibitions for the Johnnies this year, or why Lavin wouldn't be coaching against you guys, so not sure what you're referencing there. I don't generally pay any attention to exhibition results for college basketball.

But if you want to get a good read on what's behind my thoughts on Lavin, feel free and do a search in the archive for "Chief Rum" and "Lavin", and you should find 16-17 point diatribe about Lavin from back in 2003 when he was finally let go by UCLA. To my knowledge, not one thing I said there has changed about how he does stuff in the eight years since.

[cartman]

I'm interested to see how Texas does after losing their top 3 players to the draft last season. They have a highly rated recruiting class coming in, but the line up is going to be one of the greenest that Barnes has ever had. They have three big games in December coming up against UCLA, Temple, and the Tar Heels.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I don't know what happened in any exhibitions for the Johnnies this year, or why Lavin wouldn't be coaching against you guys, so not sure what you're referencing there.

He had prostate cancer surgery last month.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Marmel

He had prostate cancer surgery last month.

Ah ha, missed that. Terrible coach, but always seemed like a decent guy, so I hope he has a quick and complete recovery.

[wade moore]

Well there you go.

I don't pay attention to exhibitions either, but someone tweeted that St. Johns was on ESPN3 and losing to a DIII school, so I tuned into the last 5 minutes (they won fwiw).

[Pumpy Tudors]

please memphis go back to being good

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by molson

How can you have an "advanced" statistical team ranking before the season starts?

You have to read the fine print of the analysis. The rankings use some data from last year until around ten games into the season. After that, it's all current year data.

[panerd]

Look forward to round robin play in the big 12 this year. Never seemed fair any other way. Plus it adds more conference games... sure beats playing Missouri Southern or Binghampton just to fill out the schedule.

[dave731]

Just talked with my brother who is deployed in Afghanistan right now but is due home in January. I am going out to Manhattan, KS where he is stationed here at home and we are looking at catching the Kansas/Kansas State game on 2/13!! I am a huge Kansas fan and have been one for as long as I can remember though I think it had to do with the 1988 team and my childhood. His wife has been accepted into K State and I'm not sure if she is starting this spring or not but I am super stoked for this game...I have been stuck on the East Coast catching Clemson, Wofford, and Presbyterian College games for the most part. It will be pretty cool to visit the Octagon of Doom!!

[spleen1015]

Season starts tonight on ESPNU.

Looking forward to this season. Duke gets started Friday.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Thanks for the heads up. Will have to do some split-screen work tonight.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

The Johnnies v Bill & Mary starting now. It's so nice to have some hoops that count.

W&M looked good in the first half, but the athleticism of St. John's and the injury problems caught up with them.

They didn't really talk about it like they did with St. John's, but we had 3 front court players able to play tonight, two of them just fresh off of injuries that had them out for weeks.

Of the 3 healthy, two of them would be around 4th, 5th, or 6th option if we had all of our guys healthy. That caught up with us eventually.

Saw some things I really liked, saw a talented young freshman experience his first college bball game against the Big East, and saw some things that worry me if we can't get healthy.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Signing Day is tomorrow.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Yeah, I'm glad Liberty gets you guys early on in the year. If you're healthy, I can only imagine how good your team can be after seeing how well your team played last night.

Of course, Liberty had our top returning scorer transfer to Arizona State, lost our second leading scorer to injury for the year, a sophomore who was expected to be our top post player off the bench to injury for the year, and now our freshman PF/C who is on the Polish U-21 team for a few weeks with a dislocated elbow on his shooting arm. It should be a couple of MASH unit games just like last night.

Reminds me..

Do you guys stream games online or anything?

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Usually so. There's libertychannel.com. You'll have to check week by week as they don't update it more than that. There's the in house sports network, and I'm guessing they'll at least broadcast the home W&M game.

If it doesn't pop up there, the first place I check is vipbox.tv.

Cool deal. Yeah, I'd rather pay the school if I have the option before going to something like vipbox, but always good as a last resort.

[Arles]

Arizona is real young, but also talented. I think they are going to be a little rough in pre-conference play, but should be a lot better by Christmas. I'm not sure how they're ranked 16, but they should be a top 25 team by the end of the season.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

Libertychannel.com streams for free and it looks like both W&M games are going to stream there.

Well, I'll be at one .

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Oklahoma cited by NCAA for major violations........

Oklahoma Sooners -- NCAA finds major violations in men's basketball - ESPN