Week of 1/1/24 Other Games

[caw]

I love Clingan, but Edey is a different animal. He had a real off night last night and put up 15/7 and 2 blocks on 6/10 from the floor. He’s also just quite a bit bigger than even Clingan. There’s no one in college basketball that is effectively guarding him 1-on-1 without throwing a ton of help there.

Edey is stronger and taller. Clingan is way more mobile. Defensively Edey is a sieve in comparison. Offensively Edey is better because he goes strong at the rim and has a pretty good hook shot.

Not for nothing but Hunter Dickinson has gone head to head against Edey three times. Their individual matchup could be described as even in a very favorable read for Edey.

 

[storrsroars]

Exciting finish for SJU.

 

[SixRings]

PeeCee isn’t capable of boxing anyone out.

 

[How Sway?!]

Miami and Clemson both lost, Miami to Louisville. The ACC...

 

[REB1094]

Welcome to the B12 UCF! Down goes Kansas

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Welcome to the B12 UCF! Down goes Kansas

Our non-conference schedule looks worse every week. Texas is not a Top 25 team. Indiana just sucks. Kansas may just be one great player (McCullar) rather than a great team. UNC and Gonzaga are good, so it's not all bad.

 

[KingAG]

Our non-conference schedule looks worse every week. Texas is not a Top 25 team. Indiana just sucks. Kansas may just be one great player (McCullar) rather than a great team. UNC and Gonzaga are good, so it's not all bad.

That’s more so a symptom of the state of CBB. Outside of 4-5 teams everyone is mid. The entire top 5 sans us lost today

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How is this Butler/Marquette game happening?

 

[Tommyboy]

Marquette trying to foul and refs don’t give it and butler blows the layup. Crazy.

 

[MJKI]

Marquette going through the same January slump we did. Gotta have faith if you’re MU, Kolek won’t be this bad all year and they’ll figure out a 3rd scoring option come March. I’m not worried about them. It’ll be a good resume builder for Butler who is on the outside looking in right now though

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Marquette trying to foul and refs don’t give it and butler blows the layup. Crazy.

I can't believe I am saying this about a Shaka Smart team, but a few of those Marquette players looked like they had quit on the game with about 3-4 minutes left.

 

[superjohn]

Marquette going through the same January slump we did. Gotta have faith if you’re MU, Kolek won’t be this bad all year and they’ll figure out a 3rd scoring option come March. I’m not worried about them. It’ll be a good resume builder for Butler who is on the outside looking in right now though

Thad Matta is definitely making Butler good again.

 

[How Sway?!]

Looking like 6 BE teams are tourney bound.

Us
Marquette
Creighton
St. Johns
Vilanova
Butler/Seton Hall/Providence

Not bad considering we were looking at 4 at the start of BE play

 

[caw]

I can't believe I am saying this about a Shaka Smart team, but a few of those Marquette players looked like they had quit on the game with about 3-4 minutes left.

Prosper gave them a ton of defensive energy in the starting lineup and they are missing that and waiting for someone to step up there.

 

[caw]

Looking like 6 BE teams are tourney bound.

Us
Marquette
Creighton
St. Johns
Vilanova
Butler/Seton Hall/Providence

Not bad considering we were looking at 4 at the start of BE play

Not sure PC has a shot with their situation now. Butler and SHU are both relatively impressive so far in BE play.

 

[Kolumbo]

ansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Marquette, Clemson - ranked teams taking the L train

 

[uconnfan68]

Elsewhere UCF putting up a fight against Kansas. Dickinson not getting the Kansas whistle and in foul trouble with a lot of time left.

Refs are bad in Florida too.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

ansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Marquette, Clemson - ranked teams taking the L train

Only UConn, UNC, and (wait for it) Duke have been able to win on the road.

 

[storrsroars]

That’s more so a symptom of the state of CBB. Outside of 4-5 teams everyone is mid. The entire top 5 sans us lost today

Over the past 10 years, the only NC that wasn't in top six of combined O & D on KenPom was us in '14. We were 16th best in terms of balance offense & defense.

During that time, the team that has the lowest combined O & D ranking won the NC 4x. In '15, Duke was 3rd. In '17 and '22, the NC winners were 4th best. In '21, Baylor was 6th. Seven of those teams were in the top 11 on defense. All of them (except us in '14) were top 9 offenses.

Right now, Arizona holds the #1 spot for combined O & D, followed by Houston, Auburn, Purdue, UNC and Tenn. We're currently #12.

It may well be that once DC returns, UConn will play the back half of the season as a top defensive team and we can win an NC with a defense that's not ranked that high over the course of a full year. But for now, until that happens, I'll say that there are numerous teams more balanced than ours - more than just 4 or 5. So let's not count our chickens until DC returns and we see what he's got.

 

[caw]

Over the past 10 years, the only NC that wasn't in top six of combined O & D on KenPom was us in '14. We were 16th best in terms of balance offense & defense.

During that time, the team that has the lowest combined O & D ranking won the NC 4x. In '15, Duke was 3rd. In '17 and '22, the NC winners were 4th best. In '21, Baylor was 6th. Seven of those teams were in the top 11 on defense. All of them (except us in '14) were top 9 offenses.

Right now, Arizona holds the #1 spot for combined O & D, followed by Houston, Auburn, Purdue, UNC and Tenn. We're currently #12.

It may well be that once DC returns, UConn will play the back half of the season as a top defensive team and we can win an NC with a defense that's not ranked that high over the course of a full year. But for now, until that happens, I'll say that there are numerous teams more balanced than ours - more than just 4 or 5. So let's not count our chickens until DC returns and we see what he's got.

UConn's numbers are a mess because they have played maybe 5.5 games with a fully healthy team so far this year. I say maybe because there were at least 3 games there where Castle was on minutes restrictions. He's only really started to play over 20 minutes like we all expect the last three games, games Clingan was out.

 

[storrsroars]

Poor Miami. They went from ORV (they'd be 36 on AP), 38 in NET and a projected 9 seed, all the way to out of the tourney, tumbling 23 spots in NET after losing at home to Louisville.

Also found it interesting that Xavier dropped 7 spots in NET with last night's loss, but we stayed at 8 - no bump at all.

 

[Karmacop]

Over the past 10 years, the only NC that wasn't in top six of combined O & D on KenPom was us in '14. We were 16th best in terms of balance offense & defense.

During that time, the team that has the lowest combined O & D ranking won the NC 4x. In '15, Duke was 3rd. In '17 and '22, the NC winners were 4th best. In '21, Baylor was 6th. Seven of those teams were in the top 11 on defense. All of them (except us in '14) were top 9 offenses.

Right now, Arizona holds the #1 spot for combined O & D, followed by Houston, Auburn, Purdue, UNC and Tenn. We're currently #12.

It may well be that once DC returns, UConn will play the back half of the season as a top defensive team and we can win an NC with a defense that's not ranked that high over the course of a full year. But for now, until that happens, I'll say that there are numerous teams more balanced than ours - more than just 4 or 5. So let's not count our chickens until DC returns and we see what he's got.

Good analysis. Our offense hasn't faltered through injury (currently 3 on kenpom), but the defense is concerning, all the way down at 41.

If UConn is going to be a serious title contender come March, that defensive rating has to start moving toward the teens. Whether that can happen before Clingan returns is another question. But obviously the defense is where attention needs to lie. The rating was pretty high earlier in the year, so the potential is definitely there.

 

[KingAG]

Over the past 10 years, the only NC that wasn't in top six of combined O & D on KenPom was us in '14. We were 16th best in terms of balance offense & defense.

During that time, the team that has the lowest combined O & D ranking won the NC 4x. In '15, Duke was 3rd. In '17 and '22, the NC winners were 4th best. In '21, Baylor was 6th. Seven of those teams were in the top 11 on defense. All of them (except us in '14) were top 9 offenses.

Right now, Arizona holds the #1 spot for combined O & D, followed by Houston, Auburn, Purdue, UNC and Tenn. We're currently #12.

It may well be that once DC returns, UConn will play the back half of the season as a top defensive team and we can win an NC with a defense that's not ranked that high over the course of a full year. But for now, until that happens, I'll say that there are numerous teams more balanced than ours - more than just 4 or 5. So let's not count our chickens until DC returns and we see what he's got.

More balanced than this version or the Donovan Clingan Version?

The eye test says we are arguably the most balanced team in the country when healthy

 

[connVA]

Miami and Clemson both lost, Miami to Louisville. The ACC...

UNC is going to wind up a top 5 team after feasting on that garbage.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UNC is going to wind up a top 5 team after feasting on that garbage.

I hope a writer or blogger does a deep dive on how the ACC, one of the historically best conferences in college basketball, got so bad. The ACC is a 3 or 4 bid league this year unless a lot of games break just right for the league.

 

[REB1094]

Are we officially saying FAU isn't for real? Up 1 against Tulane at halftime 39-38

Life comes full circle. Why am I willingly watching an AAC game on a Thursday night?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Are we officially saying FAU isn't for real? Up 1 against Tulane at halftime 39-38

Life comes full circle. Why am I willingly watching an AAC game on a Thursday night?

Welcome to the Portal/NIL era. If we are going to use "close wins over mediocre opponents" as the standard for not being "for real", I don't think anyone is for real.

 

[kobe]

kevin cross and jaylen forbes could have landed at pretty much any school they wanted to in the sec but somehow didn't enter the portal.

yes im disgusted with myself that i know this much about tulane's basketball program, hopefully it all exits my brain in the years to come.

 

[connVA]

Are we officially saying FAU isn't for real? Up 1 against Tulane at halftime 39-38

Life comes full circle. Why am I willingly watching an AAC game on a Thursday night?

The alternative is Michigan-Maryland. Mediocre basketball would be an upgrade from this crap.

 

[REB1094]

It was a 1 point game, Nick Boyd hit a 4 point play, hit another 3 a minute later, Weatherspoon hit a minute later, and it looks like FAU avoids the upset