2008-2009 College Basketball Thread......

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

So Mizzou has a basketball rivalry with Illinois but a football rivalry with Kansas? Seems a bit odd to me...

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

The Mizzou/Kansas rivalry in basketball is much bigger. Mizzou has the best record of any school in the conference against Kansas overall. Also, Norm Stewart was the only conference coach to have a winning record against Roy Williams, which is obviously saying something given the strength of the program under Roy.

The Illinois rivalry is much more recent in its origins.

When you're the only flagship school in a state, you pretty much have to make your rivalries with your out-of-state neighbors.

Really, they have rivalries with both schools. Kinda like how USC has got both UCLA and Notre Dame. One in-conference, one out-of-conference. But the Kansas one is definitely bigger.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

My favorite part of that portion of the article Mizzou posted is...

Associate Sports Information Director Steve Roe said Lickliter did not want to elaborate anymore on the suspension on Sunday...

lol, what details is exactly is he holding back? Jeez, how about this for negative recruiting?

"Coach Lickliter recruits gay basketball players...and then throws them under the bus publically."

The kid's responsible for his own voyeurism, of course, but, damn, he just got completely railroaded here by his own coach!

It looks ESPN.com is taking the high road and leaving out the key detail....

Hmmm, actually, does anyone have a link for the actual masturbation angle? I'm seeing "alcohol-related lapse of judgment and violation of team rules".

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by molson

It looks ESPN.com is taking the high road and leaving out the key detail....

Hmmm, actually, does anyone have a link for the actual masturbation angle? I'm seeing "alcohol-related lapse of judgment and violation of team rules".

I think you're right. It appears the origin of the original I posted was a Big 10 rival board.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I think you're right. It appears the origin of the original I posted was a Big 10 rival board.

So it's bullshit then? That's pretty crappy if someone did that, and it somehow got confused into being a legit media story.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I think you're right. It appears the origin of the original I posted was a Big 10 rival board.

Yeah, then it's probably pretty safe to assume it's false

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Temple just killed Tennessee today up in Philly. 88-72 as Dionte Christmas couldn't miss and finished with 35. Vols competed for a while in the second half but then three straight treys in a couple of minutes killed any hopes of a comeback.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Temple just killed Tennessee today up in Philly. 88-72 as Dionte Christmas couldn't miss and finished with 35. Vols competed for a while in the second half but then three straight treys in a couple of minutes killed any hopes of a comeback.

That was a brilliant performance by Christmas

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Temple just killed Tennessee today up in Philly. 88-72 as Dionte Christmas couldn't miss and finished with 35. Vols competed for a while in the second half but then three straight treys in a couple of minutes killed any hopes of a comeback.

Kansas looked terrible again yesterday in a loss to Massachusetts. Their young guys are having some prolonged slumps that are killing them. They were lucky they even had a shot to win at the end. It's beginning to look like Mizzou may be the best team in the B12 North. CU, ISU, NU, and KSU are all terrible.

[hoopsguy]

Pretty nice schadenfreude day for Illini fans yesterday:
1.) Kansas losing to Mass
2.) Tennessee losing (by double digits!) to Temple
3.) Indiana gets mauled by Kentucky

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Kansas looked terrible again yesterday in a loss to Massachusetts. Their young guys are having some prolonged slumps that are killing them. They were lucky they even had a shot to win at the end. It's beginning to look like Mizzou may be the best team in the B12 North. CU, ISU, NU, and KSU are all terrible.

We'll see where things are at with a team full of freshman at season's end. It's a little early now.

SI

[Radii]

Big win for Arizona today, upsetting #4 Gonzaga at home, 69-64.

[CU Tiger]

And Clemson remains unbeaten and unranked

Not sure I disagree with the unranked part, just thought it was worth mentioning.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

We'll see where things are at with a team full of freshman at season's end. It's a little early now.

SI

Mizzou's awful young as well (5 freshman and a JUCO), but they have the benefit of two senior starters in the post that are performing awfully well. That's basically the difference between MU and KU at this point.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

And Clemson remains unbeaten and unranked

Not sure I disagree with the unranked part, just thought it was worth mentioning.

They're getting noticed by the computer rankings, which are honestly more even-handed anyway. Pomeroy has them at #20 as of today........

2009 Pomeroy Ratings

And here's the page with the predicted record.........

2009 basketball schedule for Clemson

Edit: Just saw that they're ranked #8 in the Sagarin rankings.....

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagar...terstitialskip

[molson]

I didn't see it, but Cleveland St. beats Syracuse with a 50-footer at the buzzer.

For once, Syracuse managed to put together some quality pre-conference schedule wins (Kansas, Florida, Viriginia), they reach #11 in the polls, and blow a lot of that good start tonight.

And it could get worse, as Eric Devendorf is looking at a season-ending suspension for doing his usual thug stuff....currently under appeal.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

They're getting noticed by the computer rankings, which are honestly more even-handed anyway. Pomeroy has them at #20 as of today........

2009 Pomeroy Ratings

And here's the page with the predicted record.........

2009 basketball schedule for Clemson

Edit: Just saw that they're ranked #8 in the Sagarin rankings.....

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagar...terstitialskip

And now #1 in RPI yet still not ranked.

[vex]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

And now #1 in RPI yet still not ranked.

I know how they feel, in CH2K8, I have my Dartmouth team at 11-1 and #8 in RPI and still not ranked

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

And now #1 in RPI yet still not ranked.

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

Actually they are ranked #25 in both polls!

[JonInMiddleGA]

#19 Tennessee handles #23 Marquette 80-68, thanks to a career high 26 pts from Wayne Chism. Vols bench is big too, outscoring the Marquette bench 23-3. Pretty good win on the heels of Saturday's disappointment in Philly.

Vandy beats South Florida 71-52 to give the SEC a pair of wins in the SEC/Big East Invitational.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

#19 Tennessee handles #23 Marquette 80-68, thanks to a career high 26 pts from Wayne Chism. Vols bench is big too, outscoring the Marquette bench 23-3. Pretty good win on the heels of Saturday's disappointment in Philly.

Vandy beats South Florida 71-52 to give the SEC a pair of wins in the SEC/Big East Invitational.

The SEC as a conference already has some major NCAA bid issues. Their conference is 6th or 7th in the conference rankings depending on which one you look at. Their current strength of schedule is rated as 10th best. That's not good at all. The conference really needs some big wins between now and conference play, which honestly isn't all that far away or they're going to be facing the possibility of a record low number of NCAA bids.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Rough season for Kansas. JUCO transfer Little breaks his hand in practice just as he was to join the squad.......

Kansas guard Little breaks hand, out 2-4 weeks - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com News, Fantasy, Video

[JeeberD]

Not that it's a spectacular win or anything, but I have to gloat that UTEP beat Texas Blech tonight 96-78. God I hate TT...

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wow, a disaster brewing at UAB. 2 players announce they are transferring and two more didn't make grades and are immediately ineligible. To make matters worse, the #1 player in the 2009 class, DeMarcus Cousins, has now officially decommited from UAB and is back on the market. Rumor is that he'll try to follow Coach Davis if he gets a good enough position. In other words, Davis will market himself to schools as the guy who can bring the #1 player to their program, much like the Beasley/Coach Hill situation at Kansas State.

BlazerSportsReport.com - Basketball Bombshell

UAB Is Seeing Everything Fall Apart - NCAA Basketball FanHouse

[JonInMiddleGA]

On the UAB thing, one of the players transferring - Armon Bassett - was already sitting out this season after transferring there from Indiana. Another, Terrance Roderick, was academically ineligible all of last season & only managed to play as a backup this year, so I'd say we might be able to guess why he's leaving now.

Of the academically ineligible pair, one had been out each of the past two fall semesters (including this one) for the same reason, the other was a JUCO transfer reserve.

On the bright side for UAB they get the coach's son back on the roster now. He's a walk-on that was also academically ineligible for the start of this season.

Somehow I get the feeling that this shouldn't have been entirely unexpected.
I also get the feeling that somebody needs to exercise some institutional control over who they let in school to play ball in the first place. Who the fuck takes walk-ons that can't stay eligible?

http://www.al.com/uabbasketball/birm...660.xml&coll=2

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Should be interesting to see how UAB does down the stretch. They only have 6 scholarship players and 2 walk-ons on the roster for the rest of the season. Their starters are pretty good, but man, are they going to get worn down by the end of the season.

[JeeberD]

As a fan of a CUSA school, that sucks for the conference. However, anything that helps the Miners can't be totally bad...

[JonInMiddleGA]

ESPN - Ole Miss Mississippi Rebels coach Andy Kennedy arrested, charged with assault

Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy will coach on Thursday night against No. 9 Louisville despite being arrested early Thursday morning for allegedly assaulting a cab driver in downtown Cincinnati.

Kennedy was at the Rebels' Thursday's shootaround after entering a not guilty plea on misdemeanor assault charges alleging he punched the cab driver in the face while shouting racial slurs.

A pre-trial hearing has been set for Jan. 16.

Ole Miss spokesperson Joey Jones, traveling with the team, said a statement would be forthcoming from the university after it went through the campus' upper administration. Kennedy met with Mississippi athletic director Pete Boone in Cincinnati on Thursday morning.

According to Cincinnati police, Kennedy allegedly assaulted 25-year-old cab driver Mohammed Ould Jiddou at 1 a.m. ET in downtown Cincinnati.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kennedy has hired former Hamilton County prosecutor Mike Allen to represent him.

Allen entered a plea of not guilty on Kennedy's behalf Thursday morning and said Kennedy "emphatically denies this and emphatically denies making any racial slurs," according to the Enquirer.

The newspaper reported that William Armstrong was also arrested during the incident and charged with disorderly conduct. According to Mississippi's athletics Web site, Armstrong is the Rebels' coordinator of basketball operations.

According to the Cincinnati Police Department arrest report, Kennedy "was the aggressor that punched listed victim with a closed fist. [Kennedy] also was using racial slurs while punching victim. There was an unrelated witness that observed the whole incident."

The victim, according to the police report, sustained injuries described as a "swollen left face."

The Rebels (7-3), considered one of the best teams in the SEC West entering this season, are playing Louisville as part of the Big East/SEC Invitational.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Eric Gordon claims drug use at Indiana last year was the reason for their downfall..........

http://www.indystar.com/article/2008...S0601/81217054

Indianapolis Star
Gordon: Drug use wrecked IU season
By Jeff Rabjohns
Posted: December 17, 2008

Eric Gordon plays his first NBA game in his home state Friday, but the rookie still sometimes thinks about the turmoil that wrecked his one season at Indiana University.

Coach Kelvin Sampson was embroiled in a recruiting scandal that led to his ouster, but Gordon said there was another key reason for the rift in the team.

"It was the guys that were doing drugs that were separate," Gordon told The Indianapolis Star in an exclusive telephone interview earlier this week, speaking publicly for the first time about the issues that played a part in a once top-10 team failing to win a single postseason game.

The Hoosiers started 17-1 but lost their first game of the Big Ten Tournament and first game of the NCAA Tournament.

Gordon didn't say which players used drugs, but he said D.J. White and two others still on the team were among those who did not. Attempts to reach White and several other former players were not successful.

Gordon said Sampson "tried to stop it," but the coach "was just so focused on basketball and winning and everything."

Gordon said he spent considerable time with a family friend in Bloomington because the atmosphere around some players was so bad he didn't feel comfortable on campus.

"Sometimes it felt like it wasn't even a real basketball team because of all the turmoil that went on," said Gordon, now a starting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. "I was just thinking about that the other day. It was so crazy that all that stuff threw off a good season and made it a waste, basically.

"It was really tough for us to be around each other all the time off the court because we were so separate."

Former IU guard Adam Ahlfeld said players were aware some teammates had issues with drugs.

"I wasn't really with those abusing drugs, so I can't say what was really going on," said Ahlfeld, who graduates with honors Saturday after finishing his student teaching. "I wasn't involved in any of those things."

Dan Dakich, who became interim coach Feb. 22 when Sampson was forced out, declined to comment Wednesday afternoon when asked if drug use was an issue.

"I'm not going into any of it," he said. "I've been asked a billion times from a billion different places, and I'm not going into any of it."

Current IU coach Tom Crean said privacy laws don't allow him to discuss the issue.

"We're doing our best to move ahead from a very difficult time for Indiana basketball and focus on doing that in the best light we can," Crean said Wednesday night.

School spokesman J.D. Campbell said neither outgoing athletic director Rick Greenspan nor his replacement, Fred Glass, would comment.

"It would be inappropriate for anyone to comment based on student privacy laws," Campbell said Wednesday night.

Campbell declined to give the specifics on IU's drug testing policy.

North Central coach Doug Mitchell had three former players -- Gordon, Ahlfeld and A.J. Ratliff -- in the IU program for all or most of last season. After last season, he described the situation as "a mess."

"I'm extremely disappointed in what appears to have been the lack of monitoring and supervision of the players' behaviors," Mitchell said.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

ESPN - Ole Miss Mississippi Rebels coach Andy Kennedy arrested, charged with assault

Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy will coach on Thursday night against No. 9 Louisville despite being arrested early Thursday morning for allegedly assaulting a cab driver in downtown Cincinnati.

Kennedy was at the Rebels' Thursday's shootaround after entering a not guilty plea on misdemeanor assault charges alleging he punched the cab driver in the face while shouting racial slurs.

A pre-trial hearing has been set for Jan. 16.

Ole Miss spokesperson Joey Jones, traveling with the team, said a statement would be forthcoming from the university after it went through the campus' upper administration. Kennedy met with Mississippi athletic director Pete Boone in Cincinnati on Thursday morning.

According to Cincinnati police, Kennedy allegedly assaulted 25-year-old cab driver Mohammed Ould Jiddou at 1 a.m. ET in downtown Cincinnati.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Kennedy has hired former Hamilton County prosecutor Mike Allen to represent him.

Allen entered a plea of not guilty on Kennedy's behalf Thursday morning and said Kennedy "emphatically denies this and emphatically denies making any racial slurs," according to the Enquirer.

The newspaper reported that William Armstrong was also arrested during the incident and charged with disorderly conduct. According to Mississippi's athletics Web site, Armstrong is the Rebels' coordinator of basketball operations.

According to the Cincinnati Police Department arrest report, Kennedy "was the aggressor that punched listed victim with a closed fist. [Kennedy] also was using racial slurs while punching victim. There was an unrelated witness that observed the whole incident."

The victim, according to the police report, sustained injuries described as a "swollen left face."

The Rebels (7-3), considered one of the best teams in the SEC West entering this season, are playing Louisville as part of the Big East/SEC Invitational.

1am huh?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

1am huh?

The Mississippi coaching staff was in the cab at the time and is telling a much different story.........

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/...71764/12376746

The Ole Miss side of the story
Posted on: December 18, 2008 3:54 pm
Edited on: December 18, 2008 4:22 pm

The details of what led to Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy's arrest early Thursday remain unclear and disputed. But a source who was with Kennedy told CBSSports.com "nobody hit the cab driver" and that he's certain Kennedy will be cleared of all charges.

Here's the Ole Miss side of the story:

According to the source, the coaching staff had a team meeting, finished film and then went out for dinner and drinks Wednesday night in Cincinnati, where Kennedy used to coach. The party was a mixture of Ole Miss coaches, officials and some of Kennedy's friends from Cincinnati, and when it was time to go, the five coaches -- Kennedy and assistants Michael White, Owen Miller, Torrey Ward and Bill Armstrong -- jumped in a cab to take them back to the Marriott across the river in Kentucky.

Kennedy was in the front seat.

The four assistants were in the back.

According to the source, after driving "maybe a tenth of a mile" the cab driver realized there were five people in the car, and he told the coaches that he could not take five passengers. So he stopped, at which point Kennedy and his assistants jumped in another cab, one with a driver willing to take five passengers. At that point, the source said, the first cab driver pulled up beside the second cab driver and started yelling at the second driver "in a foreign language," and then the second cab driver turned to the coaches and asked if they owed the first cab driver money.

The coaches said they did not owe anybody anything because the first driver refused to transport them. Then, according to the source, assistant Torrey Ward, who is black, told the driver to stop talking to the other driver and to get them back to their hotel.

"And then the cab driver turned around and said "Shut the f-ck up, n-gger," the source said. "That's when things got heated."

According to the source, the coaches and cab driver did exchange words, "but nobody hit the driver." The source added that Kennedy and his assistants tried to get out of the cab, but that the driver locked the doors and got on his cell phone, "and we think that's when he called the cops." Eventually, the source said, the driver unlocked the doors and let the coaches out. They then got in a third cab and traveled about a half-mile before the cops pulled the cab over and approached the car.

"The cops said, 'Coach Kennedy, we need you to get out of the car," the source said. "They told him he was under arrest for assault."

According to the source, Armstrong came to the defense of Kennedy, started telling the police "this is bullsh-t" and that Kennedy didn't do anything wrong. That's when Armstrong was arrested, and then White, Miller and Ward waited at the police station for Kennedy and Armstrong to be released.

Also worth noting: There have been reports that Armstrong was kicked out of the Lodge Bar, which preceded the coaches getting in the first cab, but according to the source, that is "100 percent not true." Alex Moller, the general manager of the Lodge Bar, supports that claim. He told the Clarion Ledger newspaper in Mississippi: "The reports that they were kicked out are untrue. They were here, but they left on good terms. As for what happened after they left the bar, I don't know. But there was no incident here."

[Butter]

So, one of the Ole Miss coaches is trying to spin this the other way, eh? Yeah, as always, I bet the truth is somewhere in between. If the first cabbie had injuries, how did he get them? Did he Fight Club himself?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

The Mississippi coaching staff was in the cab at the time and is telling a much different story.........

The Ole Miss side of the story - CBSSports.com

I was not commenting on whether he hit the cab driver or not. Just made an observation that he was out after midnight and had an altercation.

[RainMaker]

It feels like Stephen Curry went from the most underrated player in college to the most overrated in one year. Don't get me wrong, he's a great college player, but this talk of him going #2 in the draft is ridiculous. I've seen him twice this year on national TV and he's looked real bad. Purdue is absolutely destroying Davidson right now and Curry's shooting is one of the reasons for it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Just made an observation that he was out after midnight and had an altercation.

I was on the verge of generically agreeing with that observation until I realized that it was coaches after a film session. Late film + dinner afterwards, really doesn't take much for that to reach 1 AM perfectly reasonably.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tennessee struggles all day at home against Belmont, can't hit free throws down the stretch. Up 79-77 with seven seconds left Vols foul as Belmont drives to tie, Belmont misses the first & can't get the basket on the intentional miss, although they did get a spinning off balance shot that would have tied it.

Vols looking pretty average for the past couple of weeks, and really for most of the season so far. Not bad, but not nearly as good as advertised.

[Radii]

Even with Duke/Xavier and Purdue/Davidson being disappointments, this has been an excellent day of college basketball. UConn/Gonzaga in overtime now, UConn up 4 with the ball with 2 minutes left.

[mckerney]

Great win for Minnesota. They hadn't played anyone to get to 9-0 and they lead the #9 team in the country the whole way for their first legit win. Great to see Al Nolen continue to produce, he'll be the top PG in the Big Ten when he's a senior.

[Buccaneer]

Go Orangemen! Made it even sweeter by beating Memphis, my 2nd most hated team after G'town.

[MJ4H]

Good to see Arkansas doing well, playing Austin Peay and winning earlier this week and now beating Stephen F. Austin tonight. Both teams are pretty solid and well coached. This Arkansas team is starting to come together with all of these youngsters. This season might turn out to go pretty well.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Go Orangemen! Made it even sweeter by beating Memphis, my 2nd most hated team after G'town.

Just finished that one on TIVO, they looked great (though the FT shooting will surely cost them down the road). I can't remember as strong a pre-conference schedule for Syracuse as this season.

And they also get a huge break with Devendorf's suspension being reduced.

The big east is just so terrifying though - even good teams could shit the bed there.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It feels like Stephen Curry went from the most underrated player in college to the most overrated in one year. Don't get me wrong, he's a great college player, but this talk of him going #2 in the draft is ridiculous. I've seen him twice this year on national TV and he's looked real bad. Purdue is absolutely destroying Davidson right now and Curry's shooting is one of the reasons for it.

Well, I think neither extreme is the truth. I definitely don't think he should be taken #2 overall, but when you're leaps and bounds better than any other player on your team (Curry really is light years better than any two of his teammates put together), and you're a long distance shooter, you're bound to have bad games. He's had a few bad shooting nights this season, but I'm not surprised with how much attention he commands.

I mean, one team even did a triangle-and-two with the two guys on him the entire game. He wound up standing in the corner, so his team could play 4-on-3. When was the last time that happened? That sounds like Wilt Chamberlain kind of stuff. He's not perfect, Rainmaker. He is a very, very good player, though.

[DeToxRox]

Honestly, with how much the Knicks obviously want LeBron, and how much LeBron loves Curry, I could see a scenario where if they pick 5th, and rate him maybe 11th on on their board, they still take him to to keep trying to lure Bron in.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

LeBron loves Curry

Maybe the Knicks should just put a Tandoori Oven in Madison Square Garden.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Well, I think neither extreme is the truth. I definitely don't think he should be taken #2 overall, but when you're leaps and bounds better than any other player on your team (Curry really is light years better than any two of his teammates put together), and you're a long distance shooter, you're bound to have bad games. He's had a few bad shooting nights this season, but I'm not surprised with how much attention he commands.

I mean, one team even did a triangle-and-two with the two guys on him the entire game. He wound up standing in the corner, so his team could play 4-on-3. When was the last time that happened? That sounds like Wilt Chamberlain kind of stuff. He's not perfect, Rainmaker. He is a very, very good player, though.

He's a great player, there is no doubt about it. I just think the hype behind him this year is ridiculous. ESPN has him #2 on their draft board. He hasn't shot that well this year.

My guess is that he'll end up being a Ben Gordon type player. He's not going to be able to hang defensively in the NBA and his passing isn't good enough to be a starting PG. He could be a solid 6th man who gives a team a nice jolt off the bench. I think he's at best a late lottery pick talentwise but will probably go higher because NBA teams are stupid.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Mizzou and Illinois both won on Saturday, setting up a pretty big NCAA resume game on Tuesday night. 10-1 Illinois vs 9-1 Mizzou in St. Louis. Mizzou has lost 8 straight in this series after the first 18-20 matchups were pretty even. Mizzou is the favorite for this one and may even be ranked later today. Should be a lot of fun.

[hoopsguy]

Yep, definitely looking forward to that game, MBBF. The Illini added Alex Legion (Kentucky transfer) into the mix on Saturday, allowing him to get his feet wet before the Bragging Rights game.

I would suggest that you guys probably need to win this year, because the Illini are really starting to line up some serious recruiting talent for the next couple of seasons.

Heck, last year was the year you should have broken the streak but if it does not happen this year then it may be awhile ....

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Yep, definitely looking forward to that game, MBBF. The Illini added Alex Legion (Kentucky transfer) into the mix on Saturday, allowing him to get his feet wet before the Bragging Rights game.

I would suggest that you guys probably need to win this year, because the Illini are really starting to line up some serious recruiting talent for the next couple of seasons.

Heck, last year was the year you should have broken the streak but if it does not happen this year then it may be awhile ....

Mizzou definitely should have won last year's game. The team finished poorly, but that was indicitive of last year's team.

The Braggin' Rights game always has some new transfers playing in it, due to its timing just after first semester ends. Always adds a nice twist to the game.

As far as future classes go, counting the chickens before they hatch is always a dangerous thing. Mizzou had a highly touted two year run of recruiting under Quin Snyder, including a top 5 national class 4 years ago. That top 5 national recruiting class graduated last year with no NCAA tourney appearances. Mizzou's current freshman class had mostly 3 star players, but they're playing like contributing veterans already. I've learned my lesson. I'll wait until they're on campus from now on.

[hoopsguy]

Fair enough on recruits ... after all, Illinois recently had one very highly regarded recruit that never set foot on campus

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Very interesting stat heading into the Braggin' Rights game. Illinois is one of the slowest paced teams in Division 1, averaging 64 possessions per game (291st in the nation).

http://kenpom.com/sr.php?team=Illinois&y=2009

In contrast, Mizzou averages over 73 possessions per game (32nd in the nation).

http://kenpom.com/sr.php?team=Missouri

This looks like one of those games where the winning score likely will decide who wins. If the winning score is under 70, Illinois probably wins. If it's over 70, probably a Mizzou win.

[hoopsguy]

KenPom rankings are far kinder to these teams that the pollsters:

Mizzou #8
Illini #16

Of course, rankings that list UNC at #4 clearly cannot be taken at face value. And, yes, I understand that there is a mathematical formula behind the rankings. I put a lot of value in his rankings at the end of the year. Much less so in December.

And what if the winning score is right on 70? Well, Pomeroy has a Mizzou 70-67 win projected (61% certainty).

Wow - only game that Mizzou is projected to lose the rest of the way is @ KU.