Duke was really scrambling as the game was nearing the end, but just could not pull it out as time expired. MSU should see a significant rise in the next poll.
Terry, Texas is off to a good start. They destroyed Indiana and beat North Carolina tonight. Must be the hair.
Shaka needs a good year, Sid. He's on thin ice with the fans for sure. So far he's been a big disappointment, he's 40-50 in Big 12 play. He's got a lot of good qualities and no doubt the Adm likes him but at some point you have to produce, and hair isn't what the fans are looking at for proof he's finally turned the corner.
He's off to a good start against credible competition, but it's a long road. I wouldn't have guessed his Big 12 record was that bad. Not a good omen.
I finally saw #1 Gonzaga yesterday. I was not impressed. They're a collection of international all-stars who're good, but not great IMHO.
Texas basketball writer on the Longhorns good start. We started last year at 4-0, too, so you can forgive Texas fans for being more than a little bit jaded when asking them to get hyped about this season's hot beginning. Still, Shaka has put together a roster that can beat some pretty good programs when playing below (well below?) their best level, and that is NOT something that could be stated about previous renditions of Coach Smart's Longhorn teams. All of a sudden, Sunday's hosting of Villanova could represent an opportunity to see a ranking quite different than Texas has seen since 2011. Are we ready to be at that level? Can we even assume we are able to figure out how to play at the high level we are, theoretically, capable of? I sure hope so.
It does seem like Gonzaga has become a destination for Euro players and also for transfers from US programs. They have a kid who played for the Gators on the squad. No doubt Mark Few is a very good coach, and he's done a lot with that program. I don't begrudge him loading up on Euro's and transfers, probably Spokane isn't an easy sell to top HS players and also playing in the West Coast Conference is also not likely as attractive as playing in the ACC, Big10, SEC, Pac12, Big East for US kids right out of high school.
I watched Gonzaga play and beat West Virginia last night. I thought they looked good. They lost their star player in the first half to what looked like a nasty injury, but they regrouped in the 2nd half and came from behind to win. The Florida transfer was key to the 2nd half run. I have no idea how good they are. I thought Indiana was good after they beat Providence. Then they got crushed by Texas. I thought ND was good until they got manhandled by Michigan State, who in turn beat Duke. Is Gonzaga the #1 team in the country? For now, I guess.
Gators never led in the first half against Army but rallied in the second half to win a close game. Then against Boston College led wire to wire and won big. Based on this game I have high hopes for my Gators.
Terry, looking forward to visiting Notre Dame tomorrow evening. (7:30 ESPN2) We definitely will miss Kaleb Wesson this season. We do not have a true center at this point. We will be introducing small power forwards to make up the difference in rebounding and scoring punch. Should be an interesting game, at least I hope that turns out to be the case.
Anybody notice that Kentucky after losing to Ga.Tech has started 1-3 after being a pre-season top 10 team? Only win was Moorehead State. I wonder what's going on with them?
A lot of Texas fans are buoyed by the way the Longhorns played vs Villanova on Sunday. Hopefully we don't have to be overjoyed in close losses to good teams this year. There is some talent on this Texas team and if Shaka is ever going to show his coaching skills this year would be a good one to start!!
I heard there was a basketball game today!!! Not sure what to expect out of our kids, every day/game is another mystery! Good luck to your Irish!
Purdue has Ralph's boys tonight...Boilers favored by 1.5. We're kind of Jeckll and Hyde so we'll see who shows up.
I didn't get to see the game Don, but from reading it seems like it was a close game. Looking at the box score your Buckeyes seem to be pretty deep, your bench really outscored our bench by a large margin last night. Congrats on the win.
I watched the game. The Irish looked like a different team that played Michigan State. Either MSU is really good, or we laid a huge egg in that game. Last night we played well against a game and talented and well coached OSU team. At times we even showed a glimpse of an inside game, until Durham fouled out. The good news: We have shooters, something that has eluded us often over the years, and we have height at more than one position. The bad news: In my opinion (Take it with a grain of salt), we lacked intensity, something I've seen too often during the Brey era (and I love Brey). It's obvious to me that we have a boatload of talent, more than in the recent past, but I guess it takes a while for it to meld into a consistently winning effort. I hope it happens and that the virus doesn't wreck the college basketball season.
Coach Holtmann has a talented and deep bench, far better than anything in the past few years. Trick now is get everyone on the same page. He is experimenting with many new rotations to see what works best with different players. We have elimated the turnovers, but we still seem to be impatient at times taking undesirable shots. The Big Ten is really loaded this year with good teams. Like Sid, I hope we can get through the season and March Tournament.