Week of 12/11 Other Games

[HuskyHawk]

Good news @kobe. Cincinnati is at least third best in state behind X and Dayton.

Ohio State is way better than Cinci

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Good news @kobe. Cincinnati is at least third best in state behind X and Dayton.

Given that Dayton is basically a suburb of Cincinnati, U of Cincinnati is the third best team in the Cincinnati metro area.

 

[AllHusky]

I tell you this im not worried about either one of these teams. The team that worries me a bit is UK. Their guards are really good and only freshmen. They have some athletic talented bigs. Guards that can attack the basket and athletic bigs who can run the floor and defend is trouble for us. DC would have to be at full strength and Newton would need to be at his best. AK and Spencer may see the bench because they are going to have trouble with UKs athleticism. Not saying they beat us because we present a ton of problem match ups also and we have the better coach but they do worry and they are the first team this season ive seen that does. And no i dont care they went down to the wire against UNC who we beat rather easily. Its about matchups.

What do you mean by that? Why would they see the bench and who are you playing in their place?

 

[Palatine]

Michigan State just reminded everyone they can be insanely bad or insanely GOOD!

 

[connVA]

Was obviously sarcasm I know they wanna make MSU ranked though.

If nothing else it gives every basketball analyst and their brother the excuse to dust off their standard Izzo is God narrative, so there’s that. We’ll have to listen to that crap until Sparty begins dropping games to the bottom half of the B10 in a few weeks.

 

[Bboy Lace]

I tell you this im not worried about either one of these teams. The team that worries me a bit is UK. Their guards are really good and only freshmen. They have some athletic talented bigs. Guards that can attack the basket and athletic bigs who can run the floor and defend is trouble for us. DC would have to be at full strength and Newton would need to be at his best. AK and Spencer may see the bench because they are going to have trouble with UKs athleticism. Not saying they beat us because we present a ton of problem match ups also and we have the better coach but they do worry and they are the first team this season ive seen that does. And no i dont care they went down to the wire against UNC who we beat rather easily. Its about matchups.

Not worried about UK at all. Without Bradshaw they're just another "young" talented team. Their backup big is not very good and if Bradshaw gets into foul trouble, they'll have trouble with teams like ours. Guard play is good but we're talking about Calipari here.... lol

 

[TheChamps990411]

What do you mean by that? Why would they see the bench and who are you playing in their place?

I think its possible Diarra and Ball get more minutes in a four guard lineup if AK/CS get into foul trouble and DH has to sit them. DH had DC, Castle, Newton, Diarra and Spencer on the floor so i can easily see a lineup of DC, CAstle, Newton, Diarra and Ball on the floor if AK and Spencer gets into foul trouble. This is why we need Stewart to step up because he could give us some size at the 4 in place of AK.

 

[TheChamps990411]

UK has good depth at guard also. They are almost all one on one though. Not saying they don’t get assists but it’s drive and kick or drive and dump off.

Yeah thats what makes me nervous. Newton and Spencer simply cant guard guys going to the basket. AK whether people want to accept it or not cant guard a chair and will have trouble with UKs frontcourt.

 

[mauconnfan]

Yeah thats what makes me nervous. Newton and Spencer simply cant guard guys going to the basket. AK whether people want to accept it or not cant guard a chair and will have trouble with UKs frontcourt.

Agree on UK. Very talented guards with quickness and great athletic ability. Make them make shots and give them space would be our only shot, plus having our bigs around the basket when beaten. But when they get it going they look good. Good news is they are UK and will also make mistakes to keep you in the game.

 

[mauconnfan]

I would've completely agreed with you this morning, but Michigan State looked INCREDIBLE vs Baylor today

No doubt totally different MSU team huh? Impressive game for them looked like the team that was preseason favs.

 

[alexd]

Purdue is playing well. It must not be March.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Agree on UK. Very talented guards with quickness and great athletic ability. Make them make shots and give them space would be our only shot, plus having our bigs around the basket when beaten. But when they get it going they look good. Good news is they are UK and will also make mistakes to keep you in the game.

I watched about eight minutes of the Kansas-Kentucky game and about ten minutes of the Kentucky-UNC game.

I've never seen a team that can quickly turn double digit leads/deficits into close games, into double digit leads/deficits the way this Kentucky team can.

Quite a bit of talent and athleticism, not able to remain focused and committed for more than brief stretches and doesn't always understand the benefits of playing as a team.

 

[ucp990411]

Yeah thats what makes me nervous. Newton and Spencer simply cant guard guys going to the basket. AK whether people want to accept it or not cant guard a chair and will have trouble with UKs frontcourt.

Based on your comment we are a terrible defensive team. Being that bad how on earth are we rated 10th in the defensive net rankings?

 

[ucp990411]

UK has lots of talent on the court but not much talent coaching them

 

[NJHusky]

Quite a bit of talent and athleticism, not able to remain focused and committed for more than brief stretches and doesn't always understand the benefits of playing as a team.

Sounds like our last puppy.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Given that Dayton is basically a suburb of Cincinnati, U of Cincinnati is the third best team in the Cincinnati metro area.

Not a "given." 50+ miles distance to an entirely different >800,000 person SMSA overreaches on "basically."

Southwest Ohio? Sure.

Right now, you could be claiming something like Bridgeport being "basically" a suburb of Hartford. That ain't no "given," except for the folks who voted thumbs up for the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater naming rights in CTs most populous city. And you'd be omitting consideration of New Haven or Springfield in such a scenario (I-91 Corridor).

It's true that Cincinnati-Dayton has been informally and officially considered for years, but it still is not so in a similar way to Minneapolis-St Paul or Dallas-Ft Worth.

For the Northeast-centirc Boneyard, the largest reach of the Boston CSA includes the separate SMSAs of Worcester and Providencence (New England's 2nd & 3rd most populous cities), so what you've written is not beyond imagination, it's just beyond your not-uncommon sense of self-certainty.

Trust that there are other examples, and just let's close out the matter. Cincinnati's loss to both Xavier and Dayton is bad enough.

 

[AllHusky]

I think its possible Diarra and Ball get more minutes in a four guard lineup if AK/CS get into foul trouble and DH has to sit them. DH had DC, Castle, Newton, Diarra and Spencer on the floor so i can easily see a lineup of DC, CAstle, Newton, Diarra and Ball on the floor if AK and Spencer gets into foul trouble. This is why we need Stewart to step up because he could give us some size at the 4 in place of AK.

Got it. There were grave concerns about Karabans defense going into tourney time last year, as well as Joey C. Both performed fine, if not great at times. Cam has a certain something on defense that make him a plus defensively, though not a lock down Ricky Moore type, and Karaban just needs to stay disciplined and not try to do much on defense, just hold his ground. I think the "Eraser" factor of Clingan will mitigate some of those shortcomings that you are concerned about.

 

[upstater]

I hope for and expect a lot of improvement on defense as we move into February, especially when it comes to guards driving.

We'll see how much they miss Andre Jackson.

I do think they can do it, since Hurley has them improving on defense each year.

2 or 3 games against Marquette will be a real test.

 

[Samoo]

Based on your comment we are a terrible defensive team. Being that bad how on earth are we rated 10th in the defensive net rankings?

This^^^^^

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Today at 5 PM, our next opponent, Seton Hall plays against Missouri at a "semi-away" game in Kansas City.

I'm curious how the Pirates will look against Dennis Gates' turnover-centric defense (3rd in block % and 13th in steal %).

I'm really not sold on this Seton Hall team, but based on how hard they play, they give teams fits.

 

[Samoo]

They're nowhere near the third best team in Ohio. They went with the wussiest OOC schedule I've ever seen. Their next three opponents are Merrimack, Stetson, and Evansville.

Clearly dodging the rest of Ohio...

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I just don't think they're Title Tier this year.

Interesting. I think they definitely are.

They, like UConn, have a projectable ceiling with two high-end freshmen (Jackson/Furphy; Castle/Ball) getting a lot of minutes.

 

[bendm]

Houston lost their 6th or 7th man for the season yesterday but they were going 10 deep already

 

[storrsroars]

Looks like MSU has sorted itself out. Impressive rout of Baylor.

Also, Izzo's kid just came into the game and looks like he's in his mid-40s.

 

[superjohn]

Looks like MSU has sorted itself out. Impressive rout of Baylor.

Also, Izzo's kid just came into the game and looks like he's in his mid-40s.

You're watching a replay from yesterday. It's one game, they'll have to do some serious lifting in the Big 10 just to make the tournament.