Random Thoughts On Random Games

[zls44]

-The bat incident at the Bradley Center was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. If Providence attacked the paint against Big East teams with half the intensity they went after that bat, they'd win the conference.
-The last 5 minutes of Ohio-Kent State were a ton of fun to watch. DJ Cooper took the game over and completed some incredible passes. Ohio could do some damage in this year's tournament, too.
-Villanova had a great week, but so did LaSalle! They beat Butler at home and then went and won at VCU. They have the tools to be a tough out in March, but didn't show it often before this week, including losing to CCSU.
-Northern Illinois.
-North Carolina isn't very good. That's pretty much it. Either they refuse to play defense, or they can't do it- either way, they stink. So does Kentucky.
-Kansas has a legit shot to run the table in the Big 12. I think they and Florida will roll their conferences the rest of the way, and they're the best two teams I've seen this year.
-The SEC is bad, but Florida is making SEC teams look like Sun Belt teams.
-Bradley hung around with Wichita State for about 15 minutes, but ended up losing by about 30. WSU is a terror on defense. I wonder how they'll handle a team with a star scorer (are there any of those around?) based on Greg Marshall's past history, but they have the chops.
-Wisconsin-Minnesota: it wasn't as bad as you think! It was actually worse. Wisconsin tried to neutralize Minnesota's bigs by low-bridgeing them on every rebound. It was a pretty dirty trick, and it worked. This might be Bo Ryan's best coaching job yet. That team has no business doing as well as they have with that roster.
-Escaping with a close win at Auburn didn't do much to shake my thoughts of Ole Miss as being a paper tiger, but that was actually a pretty live crowd at AU. AU fouled on the inbounds pass in a tie game in the final 10 seconds; Mississippi was in the bonus, hit both FT's, and is off to their best SEC start since either 1998 or Reconstruction.
-Louisiana Tech-Utah State was a case study in why there is probably too much video review in college basketball. Every physical battle inside led to an extensive review to try and find a flagrant foul that wasn't there. Game ended with a pair of horrible offensive decisions, while both teams had multiple timeouts in their pockets. La Tech clinches the #1 seed in the WAC Tournament with their next win. Remember when the WAC didn't suck?

 

[zls44]

Ed Cooley during the bat incident.

 

[Fishy]

1) I was at a restaurant in Bar Harbor a couple of years ago and a bat flew into the dining room. It was swooping around and the hostess came out and started to say something corny, like 'Don't worry, this is Maine and sometimes our animals like to come in and say hello!"

Right then, one of the restaurant's waiters took a huge cut with his serving tray and drilled the bat into the cheap seats.

2) Mississippi strikes me as one of those teams that isn't very good and yet somehow lucks into the Elite Eight. They were 4-17 from the free throw line and 11-24 from three...good luck with that game plan.

3) Michael Carter Williams and Peyton Siva will be auditioning for the NBA whenever they get the chance.

4) New Mexico, a top 15 team, scored 34 points against San Diego State. One of their forwards offered that, "(San Diego State) is not a great defensive team, but they forced us to turn the ball over". Mike Patrick nodded his approval.

5) Things I found depressing....1,698 people at the Tulane game, 4,638 at the SMU-UCF game, 3,135 at the UAB-Houston game.

6) Thing I found not as depressing...16,386 people at the Marshall-Memphis game.

7) When they scheduled the year, the Big East clearly used UConn like you would use chinking in a log cabin - wherever they found a gap, they stuffed UConn into it. Two week-long gaps, Louisville, road trips to Pitt, Marquette and Notre Dame and now a week off and then Rutgers on a Sunday afternoon. Just odd.

 

[mauconnfan]

Obviously Kadeem Batts though it was out to get him.......

Agree fully on MCW and Siva, 2 guys who forgot they had teammates. And I think both will have trouble at the next level, one is talented with a high dribble and is an a**hole and the other just can't shoot straight...........

Florida to me with Boynton on his game and Murphy having a very good senior year, is the team to beat at this stage. Deep, tough on both ends but as Fishy said not to far behind is Kansas with all of the pieces. They just always seem so Cuse-ish to me come tourney time, losing one to someone they shouldn't early on.........

How can LaSalle be favored over Butler even at home I was thinking to myself? Well something has gotten into the water in Philly as the Explorers and Wildcats had a great week. I guess Temple has a different reservoir and Penn and St Joes pipes are plugged!!...........

 

[RichZ]

The Boneyard, where 5 minutes of reading provides 10 times as much insightful bb analysis as a day spent watching espn and sny.

 

[zls44]

7) When they scheduled the year, the Big East clearly used UConn like you would use chinking in a log cabin - wherever they found a gap, they stuffed UConn into it. Two week-long gaps, Louisville, road trips to Pitt, Marquette and Notre Dame and now a week off and then Rutgers on a Sunday afternoon. Just odd.

This was the first of three consecutive Saturdays off due to Sunday games. Just odd.

 

[Vuce]

5) Things I found depressing....1,698 people at the Tulane game, 4,638 at the SMU-UCF game, 3,135 at the UAB-Houston game.

.

Oh yeah, well wait until Uconn has to play at those places....the crowd with be TWICE THE SIZE of those attendance figures

 

[caw]

Someone want to explain why VCU was ranked, let alone as high as it was?

 

[Waquoit]

-
-Villanova had a great week, but so did LaSalle! They beat Butler at home and then went and won at VCU.

So if this was 2011, they win two games in the Final Four.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

1) I was at a restaurant in Bar Harbor a couple of years ago and a bat flew into the dining room. It was swooping around and the hostess came out and started to say something corny, like 'Don't worry, this is Maine and sometimes our animals like to come in and say hello!"

Right then, one of the restaurant's waiters took a huge cut with his serving tray and drilled the bat into the cheap seats.

2) Mississippi strikes me as one of those teams that isn't very good and yet somehow lucks into the Elite Eight. They were 4-17 from the free throw line and 11-24 from three...good luck with that game plan.

3) Michael Carter Williams and Peyton Siva will be auditioning for the NBA whenever they get the chance.

4) New Mexico, a top 15 team, scored 34 points against San Diego State. One of their forwards offered that, "(San Diego State) is not a great defensive team, but they forced us to turn the ball over". Mike Patrick nodded his approval.

5) Things I found depressing....1,698 people at the Tulane game, 4,638 at the SMU-UCF game, 3,135 at the UAB-Houston game.

6) Thing I found not as depressing...16,386 people at the Marshall-Memphis game.

7) When they scheduled the year, the Big East clearly used UConn like you would use chinking in a log cabin - wherever they found a gap, they stuffed UConn into it. Two week-long gaps, Louisville, road trips to Pitt, Marquette and Notre Dame and now a week off and then Rutgers on a Sunday afternoon. Just odd.

Ole Miss is interesting indeed. What scares me about them is Marshall Henderson last years JC POY has the potential to blow up during March Madness and become the basketball equivalent of rapper Marshall Mathers "Eminem" .

 

[zls44]

Someone want to explain why VCU was ranked, let alone as high as it was?

They were drilling people. Savage beatdowns. Not good teams, but it was a legit ranking. La Salle is a decent squad.