It's taken special teams for UF to win at Rupp arena and spoil the Cat fans day long party..... ( they truly hate the Gators up there ).... "Over the past 19 UF-UK games in Rupp, the Gators have won only three. And those rare victories were produced by three rare teams that all went on to win the SEC Championship, two that also went on to win the national title (2006 and 2007) and another that advanced to the Final Four (2014)."
Well of course until they declare for the NBA you don't really know, but in any year most of the highly ranked kids go to the NBA after the first year. Injuries and not having a freshman campaign that they thought sometimes changes things.
I think the thing with the mega-stars who go to Duke is that you better pray they are 1 and done, because if they stick around in Coach K's system, they are going to be monsters the longer they stay.
Terry, oh ok. Duke has had a pretty consistent record of players sticking around. They also usually have enough talent that freshmen don't dominate the team. Their upperclassmen hold their own with the younger guys, so you don't have a situation like Kentucky had with 4 or 5 freshmen starting.
Last year Duke had 3 freshmen go to the NBA, also had 1 soph. This year their outstanding freshman Marvin Bagley is the odds on favorite to be the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft. They only had 1 freshman taken in 2016, but had 3 freshman in the 2015 draft. Bottom line is that Coach K has embraced the 1 and done players, and I've heard him say that. He'd rather that HS players be allowed to go straight to the NBA but since they aren't he's embraced those top rated players. Here's a link to an article on that change. http://www.kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mark-story/article194262209.html
Ohio State made a huge jump in both the AP and Coaches basketball polls today, moving from #22 to #13. Nebraska and the Buckeyes play this evening here in Columbus, in the first game of a four-game homestand.
Texas was smoked at West Virginia in the 2nd half, more grumblings about Shaka Smart are starting to surface. I don't think he'll be fired and is likely to be the Texas coach through the 2018-2019 season. But it's not been what Texas folks expected when they let Rick Barnes go, who btw has Tenn in the top 25.
AP has Tennessee at #22 and Coaches Poll # 21. [/quote] AP has the Volunteers at #22 and Coaches POll has them #21
AJ, Palmer played one whale of a game, he just needed some more help on offense. Nebraska probably gave us more defensive problems than any team we have played this season. Nip and tuck ballgame down to the wire, but we finally prevailed in the last few minutes 64-59.
Longhorns rebound with a win at home vs Iowa State and West Virginia got beat on the road at TCU. It seems like parity is the buzz word this year.
Hoosiers lose to Illinois on the road 73-71. First conference win for the Illini this season! Really a down year for Indiana and Archie Miller.
If you are not watching Purdue v Michigan you are missing a heck of a game. Boilermakers could they be a final four type team. Big men inside and shooters outside + they play defense.
Ohio State ties the game with 4 seconds left and Penn State scores with a trey as time expires. Penn State played a superior game here in Columbus and deserved the win. They kept us at bay with their 10-13 from long range. We committed too many silly fouls and had some uncharacteristic turnovers.
Regarding Purdue; Shhhhhh. We're afraid of ending up like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away. Everybody afraid of talking about the team and irritating the Sports Woof Gods.
I can't say I've watched a lot of Purdue Basketball but this looks to me like the best Purdue team since the Glenn Robinson teams. I'm esp impressed with the combination of big men, Haas has really developed into an excellent college big man. You guys just look good, and well coached.
In a big womens game in Waco last night, Baylor just routed a pretty good Texas team. It wasn't even close, not even from the 0-0 point. Baylor has two good bigs and a Sr. guard from Australia who is excellent. They will be a final four type team. But the Longhorns were fighting a wave of emotion from the start, as Baylor was honoring a former player who recently died from cancer, she was a member of their 2005 Nat'l Championship team and her whole family was there and it was a sellout crowd. Longhorns never stood a chance.