Conference season is in full bloom and a lot of upsets over the last week. Duke on a 3 game losing streak, Clemson, ND, and now Syracuse. OU didn't last the day as #1 before Iowa State beat them at Ames. Kansas is prob the best team in the B12. Texas struggling with new coach Shaka Smart, but he's recruiting well so the future Michigan State once #1 has been struggling lately, Iowa and Wisc both beat them. Xavier who has sort of been a cradle of coaches with Sean Miller at Arizona and Thad Matta at Ohio State, but the new guy after a couple of good but not great seasons has them in the top 10, and looking like a really great team. Their only loss is to Villanova. Kentucky also sort of ordinary this year, Scott's Aggies look like the class of the SEC so far. LSU has the next Labron James in Ben Simmons a sure #1 pick in the NBA draft next year. SMU is on probation but undefeated so even if they run the table they aren't going anywhere. Pac12 doesn't have a team in the top 15 and only Arizona and USC in the top 25. Skybox Teams: ND - great on offense but suspect on defense. ACC will be a blood bath for teams, a lot of parity. UNC should be the best team. Miami very well coached and dangerous. Texas - Middle of the pack B12, dicey if we can make the NCAA's. Ohio State - Haven't really followed them so not sure about them. I see they are sort of the upper middle of the B1G. Miami - As I said a well coached and dangerous team Texas A&M - Best team so far in the SEC, they have a good combination of seniors and younger players. Almost mid-major like, it's the formula for achievement. Develop players who stay for the 4 years and then you have a mature team, add in some good freshmen and things happen for the good. Purdue - Got off to a good start, has a few losses right now but they will be one of the best teams in the B1G. Gators - Again haven't followed them, but 11-6 means something good is going on. Upper middle of the SEC. Wazzu- Do they play basketball? Bottom of Pac12, maybe next year. Alabama - Struggling so far in SEC play, does anybody notice? Chip in with analysis of your team's season and anyother college basketball talk.
I've been cautiously watching the Aggies this season. We brought in some serious talent with last year's class, but it's the seniors who are making this bus go. When they are all playing good defense, this team can destroy opponents like they just did to Georgia. But sometimes they lose focus, and you get a loss like the Syracuse game. Tonight they face LSU and their stud Simmons in Baton Rouge. I don't expect them to escape, especially when you know how the whistle can blow for the Cajuns in their house. Guess we'll see. This team has a chance to be special, but they need to keep improving to be ready for the last part of the season and tournament in top form.
Having a solid upper class is how so many mid majors make out well in the NCAA's when power teams are fueled by freshmen talent. That's why the Irish made the Elite 8 last year, 2 terrific Seniors...leadership for one and also very good college players.
Solid programs in Indiana Sid... IU looking good they beat Illinois handily tonight and while Butler lost, Providence is really good and Purdue is excellent as well, Irish could be good by tournament time.
Wow! The Aggies are playing well and took control of what was a close game at the half to bury L$U 71-57 for a nice victory. :shock: Oops I misread tje sched. This game was in College Station. Still a good win but not quite as big...
Two things about IU from what I've seen. One, they are playing great defense, which opens up their fullcourt offense. Tonight they set a school single game record with 19 threes. Two, Yogi Ferrell officially has become a leader of men. Tonight, he broke the all-time IU record for career assists with more than 10 games left in the regular season. One aside. The Indy sportswriters are saying that the win streak is great, but it's coming against "lesser" competition, that the schedule is back end loaded with the better teams. Ask Purdue about how "lesser" Illinois is. Just when I think I can respect, even like, some sports writers, they come up with ways to remind me that they are among the "lesser" intelligent beings.
Buckeyes are very young and have not learned to play defense yet! Good thing Thad Matta does not have much hair on his head or it would be all gone by now. The Hoosiers beat us bad in Bloomington and Maryland scored 100 points there for Mattas wors defeat since being at Ohio State. How we beat Kentucky in Brooklyn is still a mystery. Purdue up here this evening and I am not looking forward to the game. :roll:
Don, KY's going to lose several games. OSU's win certaiinly was significant but in hindsight, unlike the past couple of years, KY is beatable. Rebuilding years are tough in college basketball. IU went through it when they lost Zeller and Olidipo, but the fans were not sympathetic. Purdue also is beatable. It depends which Purdue team shows up. The "good" team showed up at Rutgers. The "bad" team showed up at Illinois. It should be a good game.
That was a great win for A&M, held the LSU NBA draft choice to a very average performance, while your freshman had a great game.
Purdue needs to learn to break a press...and also how to not lose composure when a few possessions don't go our way. Three point shooting is a little better than the last few years but a bit hot and cold. When they are hitting it's hard to stop us...when they are bricking it's way too easy to pack the inside...despite our big men. Caleb Swanigan will, I think be great. He is very good now...excellent size, moves, and basketball sense for a freshman. However he still has to learn that the stuff he could get away with in HS doesn't work in the B1G. Defensively we have been pretty good. Have only been able to watch one Ohio State game...Kentucky. Buckeyes played like a final four team. Results of several other games would obviously say otherwise.
Kansas lost last night to OKlahoma State. Xavier lost to unranked Georgetown at home. It really does look like a year where there is no dominant team and the tournament will be wide open and who ever is pretty good and gets hot at the end of the season will probably win. Kentucky definitely looks down, but I saw where they have another one of those monster classes with 6 guys coming next year 4 of which are 5 star players and 5 of the 6 top 100 players. Mississipi State has a big time class coming as well, and if you can believe it Harvard has a top 10 class with 7 freshmen committed. The comment on ESPN is that Tommy Amaker keeps pushing the limits of Ivy League recruiting and has 3 top 100 players.
Not sure what the problem is with MSU, with three straight losses and Valentine is back in the lineup?
Gators having in there. Not up the the standards overall set by Donovan, but actually doing better than his last year in Florida. If we keep on the same track I expect we will be somewhere in the middle of the Big Dance.
When the Irish beat them at Cameron, I thought..WOW..great win...which of course it was, but some of the luster is lost as they have been beaten by a bunch of teams since then. I think Miami is going to be a very tough team going down the stretch in the ACC. Miami is very well coached. Kansas in a tight game with Iowa State in Ames. B12 is loaded with good teams this year.
Duke and Mike Krzyzewski have been legendary in their play and coaching ability over the years but he hits a year like this one about every fifth year. Anytime Miami beats Duke it's a happy day as Krzyzewski was adamantly opposed to Miami's acceptance into the ACC years ago, saying once it would only hurt his strength of schedule to play teams of such caliber...