Semi-official 2013-14 College Basketball Thread

[MJ4H]

[digamma]

Pretty sluggish opener for Harvard yesterday. They beat Holy Cross 81-71. At times, they looked really good and you could see the potential this team has. It will be a process to figure out the best rotation and get everyone minutes and shots.

[Butter]

So, interesting situation in the Dayton Flyers' home opener.

Some of you may have seen it on SportsCenter, but for those of you who didn't, here's what happened:

UD was down 80-78. They steal the in-bounds pass with 6 seconds left, bring it upcourt, and hit a 3 to take the lead. Clock stops at 0.5 seconds. IPFW inbounds the ball, heaves it 80 feet and miss. UD celebrates the apparent win, coaches shake hands.

Refs go to the monitor, and determine that there actually should've been 1 second left. IPFW gets to re-run a play with 1 second left, they throw it 50 feet, actually get a half-decent look from 35 feet, but still miss.

My question: doesn't the fact that they ran the play at 0.5 negate them getting another crack at it with 1 second left? If they had hit the 80 footer with 0.5 remaining, surely they would not have made IPFW run the play again. They essentially got 2 cracks at winning the game, which seemed unfair.

Even more worrisome: why does Dayton need a buzzer-beater to beat IPFW from the Summit League.

[Butter]

Other scores of interest for me:

USC Upstate 64, Va Tech 63
Manhattan 99, LaSalle 90 in 2OT
Coppin St. 78, Oregon St. 73

I also see the St. Francis (NY) win over Miami (FL) was already discussed.

Still trying to figure out if Craig Robinson still has a job at Oregon State just because he is Obama's brother-in-law or what. They were 21-15 in his 3rd season, but other than that have been fairly non-descript.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Other scores of interest for me:

USC Upstate 64, Va Tech 63
Manhattan 99, LaSalle 90 in 2OT
Coppin St. 78, Oregon St. 73

I also see the St. Francis (NY) win over Miami (FL) was already discussed.

Still trying to figure out if Craig Robinson still has a job at Oregon State just because he is Obama's brother-in-law or what. They were 21-15 in his 3rd season, but other than that have been fairly non-descript.

I believe Oregon State had numerous transfers and they have a couple of their returnees suspended. I know Moreland is. Could be a very long season for them. With what has gone on this past off season I would be very surprised if Robinson was back next year. He doesnt have Cunningham to fall back on this year and somehow he lost Starks back to Illinois.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Impressive stuff from this guy. Quits his job of 20+ years and calls out Huckleberry Hound in the school newspaper while doing it.

Longtime UNC tutor quits, calls out coach for Hairston treatment - CBSSports.com

Until Hairston actually plays a game why is this such a big issue? Maybe Williams feels this will help the kid more long term than kicking him off the team. Didnt the Ducks just kick their tight end off the team a month ago and 2 weeks later gets busted with all sorts of drugs?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Until Hairston actually plays a game why is this such a big issue? Maybe Williams feels this will help the kid more long term than kicking him off the team. Didnt the Ducks just kick their tight end off the team a month ago and 2 weeks later gets busted with all sorts of drugs?

Part of the reason the UNC thing is such a big deal, especially around here, is because of the "UNC Way". Basically, UNC spent a lot of time talking about how they do things "right", and now it turns out their athletic department was actually doing what everyone else is doing. They are getting more heat because of their attitude.

[SirFozzie]

Tonight and tomorrow is the ESPN 24 hour college basketball marathon

[mauchow]

Weeee Badgers a ten point favorite tomorrow night at the Kohl Center..I'm pumped to be in attendance. I only wish Florida was fully healthy/not suspended.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

I believe Oregon State had numerous transfers and they have a couple of their returnees suspended. I know Moreland is. Could be a very long season for them. With what has gone on this past off season I would be very surprised if Robinson was back next year. He doesnt have Cunningham to fall back on this year and somehow he lost Starks back to Illinois.

Yeah, I have a feeling this is his make or break year, and I'm guessing he'll be out by the end of the season. They just haven't made much progress, and there's too much money floating around the conference now for Oregon State to stick with him if they don't show some significant progress.

[sterlingice]

Kansas is a 5 point dog to Duke which feels about right. The team looks really, really green- talented but entitled and not at all a team yet. They could all decide to show up tomorrow and roll or, more likely, a good loss to Duke to get the team focused and remind them they are not invincible.

SI

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

I'm confident Larranaga can rebuild.

It looks like there about 500 people at the Georgia Southern - Miami game tonight. What happened to all of the Miami bandwagon fans? Also, the Heat have a bye tonight, but there's no sign of LeBron and Dwyane Wade in the stands.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

It looks like there about 500 people at the Georgia Southern - Miami game tonight. What happened to all of the Miami bandwagon fans? Also, the Heat have a bye tonight, but there's no sign of LeBron and Dwyane Wade in the stands.

Not sure what that has to do with what I said. I'm certainly not a bandwagon fan. It's no secret that the Canes don't have a big basketball tradition. They actually completely dropped their team for several years until bringing it back in the late 80s. They've had a few good years here and there and last year was their best season ever, but they're not going to get consistently high attendance numbers for OOC games until they build more of a tradition. I'm hoping Larranaga can do that, but I'm sticking by them either way and lack of large attendance isn't going to change my support.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by digamma

Pretty sluggish opener for Harvard yesterday. They beat Holy Cross 81-71. At times, they looked really good and you could see the potential this team has. It will be a process to figure out the best rotation and get everyone minutes and shots.

Yeah, it's a bit weird to have 2 starting point guards back. Should work out fine in the end, but it'll take some adjusting for Chambers and Curry. If that Jonah Travis shows up every game though their frontcourt looks a lot better.

Saw a nice 15 point UMass win over BC in the 2nd game of that doubleheader. DG had an off day shooting, but looked the part, Chaz came alive in the 2nd half and Cady Lalanne was a monster down low (27/12, 3 blocks). Offense still looks disjointed in the half-court - there was a lot of effort spent trying to feed Lalanne for post-ups down low, but that seemed to throw off the rhythm of our other perimeter players. Our 21 offensive rebounds (vs. 18 BC defensive ones) were really the difference. LSU tomorrow at 11am in part of the marathon.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Tonight and tomorrow is the ESPN 24 hour college basketball marathon

a degenerate gamblers wet dream

[tarcone]

Iowa wins their 2 1st games. Demolished UNC-Wilmington, then struggled with Nebraska-Omaha. But got 2 wins.
We are still struggling shooting. That is left over from last season. Need to get that fixed.

[Lathum]

Gonzaga looks really good early on. They are going to be able to spread the floor and if they knock down jumpers look like they will be hard to beat.

[Lathum]

Wow. 2 great games tomorrow.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Wow. 2 great games tomorrow.

Let's hope they're less sloppy than this UMass game. 22 fouls called in the first 12 minutes and teams a combined 4-25 inside the 3-point line does not make for the most enjoyable viewing experience. I also didn't realize grey was a school color, but at least we're winning.

[MacroGuru]

BYU took Stanford into the triple digits last night and pulled out the win. Don't know what it says about this young team of ours other than, they can score.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Let's hope they're less sloppy than this UMass game. 22 fouls called in the first 12 minutes and teams a combined 4-25 inside the 3-point line does not make for the most enjoyable viewing experience. I also didn't realize grey was a school color, but at least we're winning.

Welcome to the first part of this season. Fouls are abundant. Players are going to have to adjust because they aren't going to change how they're calling the game. Officials have been told that if they don't call the game as specified, they will get regular season games taken away. Also, any official who loses some regular season assignments automatically loses the opportunity to officiate any post-season games. That's thousands of dollars for these officials and you can be sure they don't want to lose that.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Yeah, it's a bit weird to have 2 starting point guards back. Should work out fine in the end, but it'll take some adjusting for Chambers and Curry. If that Jonah Travis shows up every game though their frontcourt looks a lot better.

The knock on Travis has always been his defense. He looked better on that end on Sunday, and if he can play at both ends, he should get significant playing time. Casey has always had foul issues and Kenyatta Smith may be out for a while. I have to think Zena's minutes will increase as the season progresses--he just looks different on the floor than Harvard's other players.

[Butter]

UMass hangs on to win.

I wish Dayton had gotten Anthony Hickey, one of LSU's guards... he is a good one. I know UD was on his final list but he chose LSU instead back in 2011.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Yeah, it's a bit weird to have 2 starting point guards back. Should work out fine in the end, but it'll take some adjusting for Chambers and Curry. If that Jonah Travis shows up every game though their frontcourt looks a lot better.

Saw a nice 15 point UMass win over BC in the 2nd game of that doubleheader. DG had an off day shooting, but looked the part, Chaz came alive in the 2nd half and Cady Lalanne was a monster down low (27/12, 3 blocks). Offense still looks disjointed in the half-court - there was a lot of effort spent trying to feed Lalanne for post-ups down low, but that seemed to throw off the rhythm of our other perimeter players. Our 21 offensive rebounds (vs. 18 BC defensive ones) were really the difference. LSU tomorrow at 11am in part of the marathon.

Bishop, digamma, what's the word on Zena Edosomwan and his role with the team?

Nice, athletic talent who is raw, and probably should have been recruited harder by Howland when he was out here.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Welcome to the first part of this season. Fouls are abundant. Players are going to have to adjust because they aren't going to change how they're calling the game. Officials have been told that if they don't call the game as specified, they will get regular season games taken away. Also, any official who loses some regular season assignments automatically loses the opportunity to officiate any post-season games. That's thousands of dollars for these officials and you can be sure they don't want to lose that.

Oh, I know all about the early-season crackdowns, but that was also really poor shooting from both sides in the opening 10 minutes. Picked up quite a bit after that as both teams shot 50%+ the rest of the game. For all the talk about hand-checking it was really the post players getting the brunt of the brutal calls - both Lalanne and Johnny O'Bryant were in foul trouble all game due to some real ticky-tack calls.

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

UMass hangs on to win.

Even when we were up 8 with less than a minute to go I knew we'd make it interesting! But that's two wins over teams that could/should be on the bubble in March, and some really encouraging signs - Cady's an absolute beast down low when on the court, Sampson Carter looks much quicker after struggling with an ankle injury last year, and Derrick Gordon is still out of sync on offense but looks like a beast athletically and hustles his ass off (as evidenced by him taking out multiple members of press row late in the game). Charleston Classic (Nebraska, New Mexico/UAB, tba) in 10 days should be fun, and looks like another potential shootout with BYU in less than a month.

[tarcone]

I was wondering how MSU would adjust to the new rules. Pretty good I guess.

[sterlingice]

I am /shocked/ that Izzo is being a good tactical game coach

SI

[sterlingice]

I'm not going to make it through our game tonight at this rate

SI

[Matthean]

A four point loss to MSU this early in the season likely isn't that bad of a thing for UK considering the number of freshman they have. It seems like MSU has a terrible record during these early games against fellow top tier teams so this is still huge for them.

[sterlingice]

Been a fun first half. Going to have to head to sleep, tho

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tennessee loses to Xavier by 4 on the road. Not a bad game really, some mental stuff (like having the hot hand McRae not get his touches in the 2nd half) and some physical stuff (like Stokes being in foul trouble all night) but all in all not a bad loss IF they take it & learn from it.

[jbergey22]

Good stuff tonight. You wont even see such good matchups at the final four most years. From watching these 4 play Id have to say Louisville is going to have to find another scorer to repeat.

And if possible I think I came aware more impressed by Michigan State and Kentucky. Michigan State for their typical toughness and seem more talented than usual and for Kentucky for fighting back like they did in their first huge challenge.

As for game #2 I can not believe how many good scorers these 2 teams are throwing out there.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Tennessee loses to Xavier by 4 on the road. Not a bad game really, some mental stuff (like having the hot hand McRae not get his touches in the 2nd half) and some physical stuff (like Stokes being in foul trouble all night) but all in all not a bad loss IF they take it & learn from it.

How did Maymon look in his return?

[MrBug708]

Went to the sad UCLA game tonight. 2K fans and I was able to score tickets for $2 a piece.

Terrible job by our AD

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

How did Maymon look in his return?

Beasted the offensive glass (7 OR, 10 total rebounds) but only 7 pts on 3/8 shooting and just 1/4 from the line, with 5 turnovers. With McRae lighting things up the offense really didn't look to Maymon much, going with either Jordan or the rotating cast of guards.

As an aside, you won't see many games feature uglier FT shooting. Vols were 7/19 (37%) while Xavier was just 13/24 (54%) and aside from Myles Davis (5/6) the rest of their team went 8/18. UT actually shot better from behind the arc than from the line, it was grotesque.

[Izulde]

The terrible preseason form for UNLV is carrying over to the regular season. Utterly embarrassing 86-65 loss at home to UC-Santa Barbara. There's quite a few fans who have already been upset with Dave Rice for looking like one of those guys who can recruit but not get the team any further than the first round exits we got under Kruger's plateau.

This bad start isn't making things any better.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Other scores of interest for me:

USC Upstate 64, Va Tech 63
Manhattan 99, LaSalle 90 in 2OT
Coppin St. 78, Oregon St. 73

I also see the St. Francis (NY) win over Miami (FL) was already discussed.

Still trying to figure out if Craig Robinson still has a job at Oregon State just because he is Obama's brother-in-law or what. They were 21-15 in his 3rd season, but other than that have been fairly non-descript.

I sent a customer to the game and got an earful about it yesterday, which was a good thing.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Izulde

The terrible preseason form for UNLV is carrying over to the regular season. Utterly embarrassing 86-65 loss at home to UC-Santa Barbara. There's quite a few fans who have already been upset with Dave Rice for looking like one of those guys who can recruit but not get the team any further than the first round exits we got under Kruger's plateau.

This bad start isn't making things any better.

Hey, my Gauchos are feisty. Don't be that embarrassed

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Good stuff tonight. You wont even see such good matchups at the final four most years. From watching these 4 play Id have to say Louisville is going to have to find another scorer to repeat.

And if possible I think I came aware more impressed by Michigan State and Kentucky. Michigan State for their typical toughness and seem more talented than usual and for Kentucky for fighting back like they did in their first huge challenge.

As for game #2 I can not believe how many good scorers these 2 teams are throwing out there.

I'm not sure where to gauge Michigan State after this. That's an old team up against a lot of younger players so they should be more ready and win. However, they were in control a lot of the game until Randle went nuts and then salted it away late, like a veteran team should. It tells me Izzo has a talented and mature enough team to win in November. Will that be enough in March with all the young teams probably getting better faster than they will?

As for Duke-Kansas, I missed 15 minutes of game time as I only saw the first half before falling asleep last night and then fast forwarded to the last 5 minutes before I needed to leave this morning. I was really impressed with Parker (duh) but it looked like he didn't do much in the time I missed as most of his points were in the first half. Considering Duke was the older team, I expected Kansas to lose by 5-7 and a win is nice. Also, going against some of the freshman hype, I have some inflated expectations for Perry Ellis as either the 1 or 1A option at Kansas this year. He looked really good in the second half of last season. This year, I expect a lot of 20/8 type games like he got last night (24/9 was the final tally, I believe). He doesn't quite get enough boards to get a lot of double doubles like Collison, Simien, or Robinson and he's only a sophomore but he could really do some damage this year.

SI

[mauchow]

Wisconsin benefits nicely from Florida missing some key players last night. This win is going to look great at the end of the year when deciding between a 2 seed and 3 seed for Badgers. Thats right..I said it

Badgers get both MSU and Ohio State just once this year and its in Madison for both so if we can finally end this bad run against MSU and beat OSU it will give us a nice leg up on the B1G. The schedule definitely favors Wisconsin this year. Put in your bets now!

[Izulde]

Dwayne Morgan officially signs his Letter of Intent with UNLV. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 of SFs.

[MrBug708]

PAC-12 is looking mostly bad in OOC. Arizona exempted

[JonInMiddleGA]

Kinda randomly ... got hooked up with tickets by an old sales rep of mine, so tonight me & the kid will be at GT vs UGA.

I believe this will make the 5th time I've seen these two play men's hoops, almost certainly the most I've seen any matchup (above the HS level) in person. There's kind of a weird synergy to taking my teenager, since the first time I saw them play each other in person I was the teen & my dad was taking me to The Omni.

[Chief Rum]

Jon, you're a hard one for me to picture as a teen. I am sure, theoretically, that it happened, but it's not something I can visualize lol.

Have fun at the game with your son!

[Lathum]

Going to be a long season for the Huskies. Lost to UC Irvine last night after they blew us out of the water to start the second half. More great game coaching by Romar. I am a big fan of his, but I am sure the haters are out en masse today.

Our starting front court is out, including Jarreau for the year after getting hurt on basically the first play of the season. We have a young backcourt, no size or depth, and onr only scorer is CJ Wilcox, who can dissapear at times.

If we manage 4 wins in the PAC 12 this year I'll be surprised.

[Lathum]

So Mau or Lungs, is Wisconsin playing a more up tempo game this year or was tonight just an aberration?

[tarcone]

Iowa cracks the top 25 in the coaches poll. Im so happy.

[Izulde]

Man, this year is sucking.

[Lathum]

looking forward to playing indiana tonight, of course, we'll probably get killed, but will still be fun to see us play at MSG.

This UAB- New Mexico game has been great

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Lathum

So Mau or Lungs, is Wisconsin playing a more up tempo game this year or was tonight just an aberration?

I missed all but the last few minutes of the 100 point game but my impression so far is that they will actually take an open shot if it is there and more than 10 seconds left on the shot clock. I haven't watched enough to say how much running they will do.