Unofficial Official 2012-13 College Basketball Thread

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

I think Burke will be fine in the NBA. He is so clever and has a great ability to create space. He might struggle at times against bigger guards but I see him as kind of combo of Ty Lawson/Chris Paul. Flashes of both.

You made this WF/UNC/Mich fan pretty happy.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Yes, Kodos, we just smile.

Smiling right back at you, Bucc. (A little late - didn't get to watch the game until tonight.)

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Still, what a great F'n season!!! Not 'Mizzou-good, but still pretty good!

[tarcone]

When can I dump my Indiana sig?

And do you want to do the bet again next season?

[Kodos]

You can dump it now. And, yes, if you'd like, we can do it again.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Heard around the Mizzou circles that Drew Crawford is considering Mizzou as one of his options for his fifth year. Starter minutes likely available after Oriakhi and Bowers departure. Would be a nice upgrade for most teams.

[MrBug708]

ESPN reporting that Howland and Rutgers are in talks

[Young Drachma]

They need an infusion of credibility bad, so I hope all of those mysterious boosters are getting their checkbooks out. With Schiano gone, surely there's money under a couch somewhere.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

ESPN reporting that Howland and Rutgers are in talks

If Howland has learned his lessons from UCLA, Rutgers would be making a significant upgrade out of all this mess.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Amazing to see how far Coaches vs. Cancer has come. Now approaching $90M raised.

Former Missouri coach Norm Stewart’s war on cancer reaches milestone - KansasCity.com

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

If Howland has learned his lessons from UCLA, Rutgers would be making a significant upgrade out of all this mess.

One thing that I never got about Howland was that he always would lament about not playing "player A" in a press conference and work to get more playing time and when the next game rolled around he would not play them. It was a very odd thing to witness.

He needs to focus on his style of kids and not wild goose chase after kids he probably won't land and won't feature well in his system

[molson]

Rutgers is arranging another "independent review". Because the last one worked out so well. What if the review concludes that they need to hire Rice back immediately?

[Jon]

Originally Posted by molson

Rutgers is arranging another "independent review". Because the last one worked out so well. What if the review concludes that they need to hire Rice back immediately?

Well, there must have been something wrong with the way the new investigative group performed their work. As a result, they'll commission another panel to audit the way this panel reviewed the work.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Jon

Well, there must have been something wrong with the way the new investigative group performed their work. As a result, they'll commission another panel to audit the way this panel reviewed the work.

At least Rutgers is doing a lot for the investigative group job market.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by molson

Rutgers is arranging another "independent review". Because the last one worked out so well. What if the review concludes that they need to hire Rice back immediately?

Just another opportunity to try and preserve the jobs of two guys who already should be fired. Whatever. Fuckwads.

Howland is the guy I wanted back when we were talking about firing Rice for non-abuse reasons, as soon as it became apparent that he wasn't going to survive UCLA. It would be a tremendous move and would take full advantage of a situation that normally doesn't present itself (high priced coach willing to take less money to get back in).

Jim Delaney is going to have some level of involvement in the search for the next AD at Rutgers, which is another great thing IMO. Top candidates right now are rumored to be Sean Frazier, the Deputy AD under Alvarez at Wisconsin, and Greg Ianni of Michigan State. Don't know as much about Ianni but Frazier seems like a home run candidate, as Wisconsin is a great program to emulate and he's stuck behind Alvarez until at least 2018 since he just extended his contract.



In other news, this is pretty cool:

Brilliant decision by NCAA to host Division II/III title games in Final Four city - Yahoo! Sports

[molson]

I'm so cynical that when I saw "brilliant" in that headline I assumed they were being sarcastic, but ya, that's a great idea that should be an annual thing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by molson

I'm so cynical that when I saw "brilliant" in that headline I assumed they were being sarcastic, but ya, that's a great idea that should be an annual thing.

Ditto.

Although honestly I'm not sure how "brilliant" a move it is. I haven't seen a single scrap of coverage of these games locally, so completely invisible that I didn't even know they were being held here until I clicked the linked article.
I was expecting it to be a future-looking article about where they were going to do that somewhere down the road.

[Young Drachma]

Yeah...I think what's also noted is the D3 championship would've been a few weeks ago otherwise, so making them have that long layoff probably wasn't the best.

And it'd be better if they found a way to broadcast the D2/D3 in a double header, even if it'd be terrible for ratings.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Ditto.

Although honestly I'm not sure how "brilliant" a move it is. I haven't seen a single scrap of coverage of these games locally, so completely invisible that I didn't even know they were being held here until I clicked the linked article.
I was expecting it to be a future-looking article about where they were going to do that somewhere down the road.

Maybe this will cause the coverage to get picked up on in the coming years. I'm sure the media was similarly surprised that thousands of people showed up to this thing (especially with the lack of any publicity, apparently) and they probably didn't have anyone on hand to cover it.

Either way, I think the "brilliant" part to me was the ability to put these kids who work just as hard as the 1-A kids (without getting scholarships) in an environment where their big moment is watched by nearly 10K people.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

Maybe this will cause the coverage to get picked up on in the coming years. I'm sure the media was similarly surprised that thousands of people showed up to this thing (especially with the lack of any publicity, apparently) and they probably didn't have anyone on hand to cover it.

Either way, I think the "brilliant" part to me was the ability to put these kids who work just as hard as the 1-A kids (without getting scholarships) in an environment where their big moment is watched by nearly 10K people.

They did something similar in the Big 12 with the women's conference tournament in KC. They started hosting the ladies four blocks from the men's tournament instead of hosting it in a smaller gym in a different large city. Really helped boost the women's attendance by quite a bit since people could attend both women's and men's games in the same location. Even if your school got knocked out of one tourney, you still had a reason to stick around. It's a great idea to concentrate the events at one location rather than spread them around.

[JPhillips]

I'll resign right now and the university can keep the IPad.

Under his agreement, Pernetti is to be paid his base salary of $453,000 per year through June 2014 and a one-time payment of $679,500 in the next month. He gets the money even if he takes another job.

He also gets his $12,000 per year car allowance through June 2014 and health insurance and pension payments through October 2015.

Pernetti also gets to keep his Rutgers-issued iPad and laptop computer.

[tarcone]

I won my NCAA pool. 1st time ever. And if Louisville wins I place 1st and 3rd with my 2 brackets. $5 entry for a possible $115 win. Good stuff.

[Izulde]

Won my money pool for the first time ever after years of so damn many close misses.

[B & B]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I won my NCAA pool. 1st time ever. And if Louisville wins I place 1st and 3rd with my 2 brackets. $5 entry for a possible $115 win. Good stuff.

I watch more bball than anyone. Seriously.

Havent won a bracket in 15 years. Its that way.


Cashed in on $540 on Behanan scoring more than 9 pts.

Also took Lville getting 3 pts with live betting when they were down 12 1h.


Ville -4 sweated and paid the same. I didnt flinch the last 5 min of the game.

[B & B]

congrats tarcone. didnt want to seem a 1 - upper.

Still havent won a bracket since the mid 90s

[Vince, Pt. II]

So I didn't get to watch this evening, and I don't watch much college basketball, but does Louisville always get away with a lot of body contact? Near the end of the Wichita State game, I saw one possession in particular where a Louisville defender tried to intercept the inbounds pass, got literally no ball but bumped the receiver (solidly) with his shoulder. The guy who received the pass lost his balance and began falling forward out of bounds, tried to pass it off and ended up turning the ball over. How was that (among many other bits of body contact) not a foul on the Louisville player?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So I didn't get to watch this evening, and I don't watch much college basketball, but does Louisville always get away with a lot of body contact? Near the end of the Wichita State game, I saw one possession in particular where a Louisville defender tried to intercept the inbounds pass, got literally no ball but bumped the receiver (solidly) with his shoulder. The guy who received the pass lost his balance and began falling forward out of bounds, tried to pass it off and ended up turning the ball over. How was that (among many other bits of body contact) not a foul on the Louisville player?

One of the many complaints of the college game is how much contact the officials allow especially when compared to the NBA. The powers that be really need to take a look at the on court game and make some significant changes.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I never played at a high level, but if I were shoulder checked out of bounds and they awarded the other team the ball, you can bet that I'd have given the ref a piece of my mind.

The one I mentioned was at a critical point in the game and really helped put Louisville back in it.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

One of the many complaints of the college game is how much contact the officials allow especially when compared to the NBA. The powers that be really need to take a look at the on court game and make some significant changes.

I think for high-pressure teams like Louisville, the referees get some kind of "foul fatigue" and don't want to call more fouls than average, even though they're committing more contact than average.

[britrock88]

This is part of my theory on why Duke is able to deploy hand-checking guards so effectively...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I never played at a high level, but if I were shoulder checked out of bounds and they awarded the other team the ball, you can bet that I'd have given the ref a piece of my mind.

The one I mentioned was at a critical point in the game and really helped put Louisville back in it.

If I'm remembering the play correctly, he got hit out of bounds by his own teammate who was pushed a bit by the UL player.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by britrock88

I think for high-pressure teams like Louisville, the referees get some kind of "foul fatigue" and don't want to call more fouls than average, even though they're committing more contact than average.

Agreed 100%. Saw it in the A10 with VCU and Butler in particular. If you're a college coach with more than 7 scholarship players on your team and not taking advantage of this, you're not doing your job.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Oladipo and Russ Smith both to the NBA per ESPN. The guard spots in the draft are getting awfully scarce.

[Matthean]

Oladipo already has a press conference set up for today.

[Kodos]

4 p.m. for the Oladipo presser. Will miss him in Cream & Crimson, but he may make me start watching the NBA again after years away. Or at least make me buy NBA2K14. Just a great kid. Graduated in 3 years, worked tirelessly to improve his game. He is giving Calbert Cheaney a run as my all-time favorite Hoosier. Cody's conference is tomorrow. He is most likely gone too.

If you're interested, presser is at http://video.btn.com/allaccess/?media=384898

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Kodos

4 p.m. for the Oladipo presser. Will miss him in Cream & Crimson, but he may make me start watching the NBA again after years away. Or at least make me buy NBA2K14. Just a great kid. Graduated in 3 years, worked tirelessly to improve his game. He is giving Calbert Cheaney a run as my all-time favorite Hoosier. Cody's conference is tomorrow. He is most likely gone too.

If you're interested, presser is at IUHOOSIERS.COM - Indiana University Athletics

The rule that the NCAA instituted allowing three year graduates to transfer without sitting out a year if they pursue graduate studies was one of the better moves they've made of late along with the mandatory team grades rule for NCAA tourney eligibility. It seems like we're seeing a lot more early graduates and kids getting their graduate degree while they're at it.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

we may not see Sterling Ice for another 3 months

Originally Posted by Lathum

Just realized SI was going to the game tonight, feel bad for the guy.

Nah, totally enjoyed the game. It's like I mentioned in the previous thread: if I fall behind on here, it's because I'm busy with two other "minor" projects- mainly a 17 day trip to Russia and buying a house- and I always get annoyed with coming and having all my "current status" removed so I can't see the last thing I read.

Anyways, here's something I posted on RCT, the SBNation site for Kansas- it's a bunch of pics and my thoughts from that night:
NCAA Tournament 2013: One Night of Basketball in Texas - Rock Chalk Talk
(Actually, I'll see if I can repost it in the next post)

As I said there, it would have been a lot of fun to be a Florida fan that night: great game to start the night and then you get to stomp someone for the second game. Still, really enjoyed the experience!

SI

[sterlingice]

Link: NCAA Tournament 2013: One Night of Basketball in Texas - Rock Chalk Talk

Originally Posted by RCT Repost

(keep in mind: written for a Kansas audience but you get the idea)

I haven't been to a Kansas game since I finished school there. In fact, one of my great regrets, looking back in my time in Lawrence and Kansas City is that I never went to the Big XII tournament. So I was thrilled that I had a chance to head up to Arlington to see the game on Friday night, despite the outcome.

I had some vague hope when the bracket was announced as I said to myself "well, Houston to Arlington isn't that far away". But if it had been Thursday, there's no way I could have gone. And if Kansas had lost the opening weekend, well, you know this team and we all admitted there was a chance of that. Really, the second weekend is also ideal. The first weekend is just wall to wall basketball so I wouldn't want to limit myself to the games in just one location.

So, once the Jayhawks had dispatched with the Tar Heels last weekend, a friend and I, both KU graduates, finalized plans to go see the games on Friday night.



Here's a nice intro shot to Jerry's football pleasure palace. Yes, the screen is bigger than the court. I kindof wish I had grabbed a picture of the exterior to start but this will work. I got there a few minutes before the gates opened at 5 and wandered around. They didn't open up the Cowboys pro shops but just set up makeshift souvenir stands so the lines were long. I think they only had about a third of the staff they had there for Cowboys games.



I thought the juxtaposition of the different "motivational squads" for each team made a good picture. I'm not sure what I expected but there wasn't much pageantry for being an NCAA tournament game. There were the standard bands and cheerleading squad, standard player introductions, and the game was pretty much the same. Considering how many Big Monday or other nationally televised tv games we have, I'm used to the slow pace with all the tv timeouts. They even had some commercials shown on the giant screen tho they also had the standard stadium fare like trivia. As an aside, "Hail to the Victors" is a great fight song.



Speaking of time outs, I didn't really get many game shots for the first game and most didn't turn out. We were up in the 300 level so I was maxing out my zoom to get a lot of these pictures, which can make for shaky action shots. Frankly, I was more interested in what was going on down on the court. I hate to say it, but it's a lot easier to take pictures at a baseball game.



This was the tipoff for overtime. Obviously a lot happened before that. I hate to say I called this one, but I leaned over to my friend when we had a 14 point lead with 7 to play and said "you know how this goes: it's going to be a 4 point lead with 4 minutes left after we try to milk the clock and bog down the offense". The prediction was right but the timing slightly off: it took about 2 minutes longer than that but it came true. It's just how the game was flowing: we were in foul trouble so we were going to dial back on defense and the refs tend to let a team down by 10+ get away with more on defense and under the hoop. The Kansas crowd could sense it and it was more cautiously optimistic than excited about the 14 point lead. We've talked about this before: you don't really get to celebrate the wins all that much with high expectations. There is relief when you win and apprehension about losing but there is rarely joy as that typically requires unexpectedly winning.

The crowd noise on the shot by Trey Burke was amazing. There was this collective gasp by the Jayhawk faithful and whoosh-cheer from the Wolverine fans. Kansas fans outnumbered Michigan fans but, to their credit, the Michigan fans were louder all throughout overtime, even tho it was close to the final buzzer. It stunk to blow that lead but it took a crazy shot from one of the best players in college basketball to tie the game. Some nights, you're just not meant to win.



There's the last shot of a lot of our guys. Our whole starting 5 for this year are gone and that leaves only Perry Ellis, Naadir Tharpe, and Jamari Traylor from the rotation for next year. But I guess you already know that. It would have been special to win something this year with a senior team that isn't super-NBA talented. McLemore is a certain lottery pick and he played like it on Friday, even with the foul trouble. Hard for me to guess his ceiling as he has holes in his game but is so fast and skilled and still very young. Withey looks like he might have an Ostertag-like career: bouncing around as a backup center in the NBA who starts for a couple of his best years. But I don't see the NBA in the future for any of other guys leaving. Ellis will probably be there in 2 or 3 years but that's about it from our rotation.

It was disappointing to lose as we did. First to lose a game with that kind of lead is worse than just getting blown out to start. Secondly, to lose on that shot in OT. Well, as I explained to the vendor who asked why KU didn't just go for the tie, I had to sadly say "that's just EJ being EJ". That said, I'll miss this class. So, godspeed Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford, Kevin Young, Jeff Withey, and Ben McLemore.



And there's your final score. Frankly, the Michigan fans were a little more obnoxious than I expected but, oh well. I would chat with anyone around me in a friendly "non-partisan way" as that's just who I am but most of the game, but many of them just sat there sullenly. Then, after they made the comeback and won, there was just a lot of "we hate Kansas" and "you guys suck". Not like the Florida fans (a little more on that later) but I was just a little disappointed in them. Oh well.

After that, we went to go grab dinner, which was pricey but good. There was standard stadium food like hot dogs and pretzels but a majority of the seats that were perpendicular to the court were in club sections so they had fancier fare, too. I had BBQ brisket nachos for dinner but for more refined palettes, they had a vegetarian spicy black bean burger or sushi sampler or a roast turkey deli sandwich. Like a couple of NCAA events I had been to previously, most notably the Big Ten tournament last year, they served no alcohol.



This is easily my favorite action shot of the night. Fieler got called for the offensive foul on this but that should take nothing away from this ballerina pose. The Florida defender is already well on his way to the ground. The rest of the players are all looking at or running for the potential rebound, including Sherwood Brown's hair. Meanwhile, on the sideline, Donovan, a ref, and a sub all watch the play unfold.



We were kindof making good-natured Florida Gulf Coast jokes throughout the game: "And here's so-and-so; he's a tv-vcr repair major who joined the school three weeks ago". I think I laughed more than I cheered, especially early on when FGCU had built a pretty good lead. At that point, the crowd was very much a partisan FGCU crowd, probably 90% in their corner. Speaking of the crowd, it was probably 40% Kansas, 30% Michigan, 5% Florida (maybe), 5% FGCU student body, and about 20% locals who had Cowboys season tickets or friends who did, many of whom donned FGCU shirts.

They were new to this whole thing: "Five weeks ago, we were in our beach studies class and now we're a cheerleading squad". It really felt like a true underdog story where they had no business being there but they had legitimately won their way there and it was great to watch them. In this picture, I think the mascot was supposed to be doing something but was watching the cheerleader pyramid pensively. In short, Go Florida Gulf Coast!



This FGCU Cinderella got on screen quite a few times: it was a good costume. I was trying to get a picture of her as she was leaving after the game but she was steamed and saying something about classless Florida fans so I didn't trouble her. Shocking?!? Wait, no sarcasm font on the Fanposts? She seemed genuinely surprised by this and all I can say is "Sorry, guys: welcome to big time sports where there are a lot of jerks".



Another shot to remind you just how ridiculous the screen was. The total attendance was just over 40K. They had closed off large sections of the stadium which I presume will be open next year. This was their dress rehearsal for Final Four and I think they were a bit shortstaffed. It made it feel like, in some ways, they had never hosted a large even before as there were a lot of long lines even though you know a lot of this runs a lot more smoothly for an average Cowboys game when everyone is working.

I had mentioned before that all the club sections were open. Actually, a really large number of the seats were club seats as they kept open all the club seats, left some more "corner" standard sections, and then only a couple of levels of seats behind the backboards. And, on the whole, they were pretty comfy with nice foam cushions and reasonable width. I asked the frequent flying friend I was with if these were more or less comfortable than standard coach class airline seats and after about 5 hours in them (with some walking around mixed in), we both agreed that we'd rather be in these seats.



With about 2 minutes to go, after Brown clocked someone on Florida and they were doing the classic "was it a technical 1" review, we decided to head down to the lower level. We snuck past a busy staff member and got to the lower level and once we were down on the floor level with a minute to play, they let us take some pictures from down there. We were thinking of getting some tickets down here as they were the same price as up where we sat in the 300 level at midcourt. But, I decided I'd rather be higher up and at a perpendicular angle than lower down with a worse viewing angle.

All would probably have been much better in my mind if not for some "fun" with the secondary ticket market. I had originally ordered tickets in the 200 level on Razorgator on Sunday afternoon, after we had won against North Carolina. I received an email from them on Tuesday saying there was an issue with an order and to call in. Once I called, I found out the tickets I had selected and paid for were gone and I had a conversation for over a half hour, trying to get "equivalent" tickets. Unfortunately, by then, prices had already gone up more than $50 for equivalent seats and they could only offer me a discount of "what they paid for the seats" with fees waived. However, what they paid was still more than was listed and I would have had to pay another $50 per seat for tickets that weren't as good as I had picked out Sunday. They even tried a couple of replacement seats I thought would have been ok and called the dealer while I was on hold only to find out they had been sold. Ultimately, after exploring a few more options, I opted for a refund, in disgust, which, for the record, I still have not been credited.

I went with Razorgator instead of my usually reliable Stubhub because on Sunday, tickets were about $30 cheaper there and with some discount codes, I was saving $100 between two tickets. On Tuesday, I picked up some tickets in the 300 level for a few bucks less than the 200 level tickets were on Sunday as prices continued to rise. I got an email from Stubhub saying to call them on Wednesday and I was thinking "here I go again". However, it was just that the guy who was selling the tickets had ordered electronic tickets instead of paper ones and wanted to verify that was acceptable. And that just typifies the two experiences: with Stubhub, I feel that it's a lot of season ticket holders dumping tickets while Razorgator is more of a clearinghouse for ticket brokers with no real penalty for failing to deliver. Suffice to say, I won't use them again without a really good reason.
(To Editors: If we've gotta edit the above portion out, go for it. However, it was a significant portion of my weekend so I thought it important to be left in)



And here is the table at courtside where they figure out newer and more technologically advanced ways to fix games. Sorry, I thought FGCU got the short end of a lot of calls but that's not shocking. We reached a point in the second half where it felt like the 1/16 or 2/15 games in the first round where the high seed gets some serious home cooking and the refs just wanted to go home since it was getting towards midnight. We've seen Kansas be the beneficiary before so you all know what I'm talking about. Also, you can see Craig Sager giving a postgame interview to Billy Donovan and a Florida player in the background of the shot.



Speaking of Sager, I give him a lot of credit for this. After the interview was done, he came over to the table and then posed with some kids and even some college students, so they could get pictures that looked like him interviewing them. The crowd had really thinned out by then as it was getting late but he posed for pictures for at least 5 minutes until everyone had their picture. He looked tired and could have just gone to the "I have to pack up and get ready for Sunday" card but he was generous with his time.



And that's all folks. Would have really liked to see Kansas with a chance to cut those down on Sunday but it was not to be. Only about 6 months until Late Night.

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by rowech

His teams constantly lose like this. His team shit their pants and he shit his own pants like he does in these situations. They followed their coach.

He is the kind of coach who never gets anything extra out of his players. If they're good enough they'll win but if not, they will not have enough to overcome. Way too often his players play scared.

Actually, I think it's quite the opposite. I think he gets a lot of our his players. Look at this year's team: McLemore is a stud but he was only a 4 star who redshirted last year. Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford were both 4 star guys coming in and, again, both seniors. Then there's senior starters Jeff Withey and Kevin Young who are both transfers. That's not a ton of talent there by "elite college program" standards. Ellis (4), Traylor (3), and Tharpe (4) are the other three in the rotation so that's all 8 major players on a #1 seed without a single 5 star among them. However, in the tournament, you have a lot of "talent wins titles" and KU just wasn't that talented. The age and experience couldn't overcome the lack of talent.

As for the mentality: yes, his players often play scared and I think that's on Self and it's how he is. A friend of mine described how there is rarely joy in KU's wins in the tournament, just relief that it's not a loss. He always has a cool exterior but I think he's completely uptight and the players see that. They overachieve in the regular season because he and his teams are good at a lot of little things so expectations are that much higher in the postseason. I mean, geez- they lost to TCU and still were a deserving #1 seed.

However, I don't think there's another coach in the country I'd trade him for right now. And I'm talking about the total package: Krzyzewski is 66 and Roy is 62 while Self is 50; I'd love to have Izzo game manager skills but he doesn't recruit enough for a major program; No one can recruit like Cal but I don't want Kansas vacating any tourney appearances they make as Self seems like he knows how to play the compliance game of bend but not break (and also is great at developing 4 year players); Smart and Stevens are nice up-and-comers but I'd want to see what they could do in a major conference. Heck, for that matter, Tom Crean is new to being in a major conference job and the bloom can come off roses pretty quick, as we saw with Ben Howland.

Every major coach is better and worse at some things. I think of it like a video game where you only have so many points to spend on abilities. He's got a 9 on recruiting, 7 on game, 10 on player development, 10 on proven commodity, and 7 on compliance. That's not a bad way to spend those attribute points. Let's say you're UCLA and you have practically unlimited funds /and/ every coach in the country is available (which was not the case, of course): who would you pick?

SI

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Every major coach is better and worse at some things. I think of it like a video game where you only have so many points to spend on abilities. He's got a 9 on recruiting, 7 on game, 10 on player development, 10 on proven commodity, and 7 on compliance. That's not a bad way to spend those attribute points. Let's say you're UCLA and you have practically unlimited funds /and/ every coach in the country is available (which was not the case, of course): who would you pick?

SI

Screw you, EA. That compliance grade is way too high.

[Radii]

Nice writeup SI! That first picture showing big screen dwarfing the court in size is pretty crazy.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Radii

Nice writeup SI! That first picture showing big screen dwarfing the court in size is pretty crazy.

It really is just silly

SI

[nol]

Originally Posted by britrock88

I think for high-pressure teams like Louisville, the referees get some kind of "foul fatigue" and don't want to call more fouls than average, even though they're committing more contact than average.

This, plus the coaches are the stars of the college game. If you call a lot of fouls on a team, their multimillion dollar head coach is going to make you look like shit in the media, and nobody's going to do anything about it.

[Young Drachma]

Very cool writeup, SI.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Very cool writeup, SI.

Thanks! It was tremendously fun

SI

[spleen1015]

Zeller is declaring later today.

[Kodos]

Yep. Gonna need some young guys to step up next year. Will miss these guys, but happy for them.

[Matthean]

[MrBug708]

USC hires Tony Bland away from SDSU for a whole lot of money and an associate HC title. Not bad for a coach with two years of coaching experience.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Pressey declares and hires an agent. It's funny........he was first team SEC and is the all-time leader in assists at Mizzou, yet most fans aren't all that upset that he's moving on.

I will say that I thought that 'basketball IQ' was overrated in basketball players until I watched Pressey play this year. His poor decision-making abilities make me awfully glad that we have a 4 star PG coming in who is known as a player with great basketball IQ. I can't take that many bad plays in crucial situations again.