College Hoops Thread '09-'10

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by jcruse64

UK has a fight on its hands. This is a good game, so far.

Yes, Jay, congrats to Washington for snagging the crown and a bid. But unless they play better than they've played all year, Marquette's gonns whup their butts, but good.

And as for that Kentucky game . . . well, I'm tired of beating the same old dead nag. The Wildcats got the win in OT in one more game they tried their best to lose. They have the talent to go all the way, and the ability to let the Texas/Wake winner send them home early.

[The Poet]

It seems that Rick Majerus is PO'd that his Saint Louis Billikens did not get an invite to the NIT. Hell, as far as I care, he can have the Heels' one if he really wants it.

[WildBlueSooner]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Yes, Jay, congrats to Washington for snagging the crown and a bid. But unless they play better than they've played all year, Marquette's gonns whup their butts, but good.

And as for that Kentucky game . . . well, I'm tired of beating the same old dead nag. The Wildcats got the win in OT in one more game they tried their best to lose. They have the talent to go all the way, and the ability to let the Texas/Wake winner send them home early.

UK just isnt that good....they have let so many teams hang with them this year

[jcruse64]

Originally Posted by The Poet

And as for that Kentucky game . . . well, I'm tired of beating the same old dead nag. The Wildcats got the win in OT in one more game they tried their best to lose. They have the talent to go all the way, and the ability to let the Texas/Wake winner send them home early.

No argument there.

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by jcruse64

No argument there.

Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you Joe? But some people are fans, and others just nutz.

We have the play-in game in the NCAA tonight, between Winthrop and Arkansas Pine Bluff, with the winner getting the opportunity to be embarrassed by Dook. Some folks don't like this game, but I look at it this way . . . this is the best chance either of these two teams have of actually winning an NCAA game, thus getting their school off the O'fer snide. But aside from this one, there are games in the NIT, the CBI, and the CIT - whatever the fark those last two are. You don't much care? Well, neither do I. But you must grant this: Those games will involve a good number of teams who . . . unlike that pair above . . . could actually win a game in the NCAA, aside from that play-in one.

In opening round action in the NIT, the following hosts play:

U. Conn vs. Northeastern = Eh, could be OK.
South Florida vs. N.C. State = Eh, should be OK.
UAB vs. Coastal Carolina = Eh, will be OK.
Seton Hall vs. Texas Tech = A pair of yo-yos dueling.
UNC vs. Wm.& Mary = Can the Heels stay a .500 team?
Miss. St. vs. Jackson State = One defensive rebound from the NCAAs, MSU is likely to take frustration out on J.State.
Arizona St. vs. Jacksonville = Dissed for where they play, not what they did, the Sun Devils are also p!$$ed.

And in the CBI, we have:

VCU vs. George Washington = Here's two who could whup most 14-16 seeds in the NCAA.
Indiana St. vs. Saint Louis = And after Rick Majerus popped off yesterday, he'd better not pull a Gary Williams and lose this game.

And in the WTF . . . excuse me, the CIT:

Fairfield vs. George Mason = You tellin' me these 2 couldn't beat Winthrop/AR-PB?
Western Carolina vs. Marshall = Or these 2?
South Dakota vs. Creighton = Or these?

So if you really need to feed your basketball jones before you gorge it starting Thursday, enjoy.

[The Poet]

Lemme do this quick and dirty, as I'm already late and there's a $#!+load to do.

NCAA play-in:

AR Pine Bluff 61 - Winthrop 44 = So now we're down to 64 officially.

NIT first round:

Jacksonville 67 - Arizona State 66 = So maybe I had too much respect for the Sun Devils.
U. Conn 59 - Northeastern 57 = And too little for Northeastern, as this was close.
N.C. State 58 - South Florida 57 = But not as close as this one.
Miss. State 81 - Jackson State 67 = No shock here.
UNC 80 - Wm.&Mary 72 = And the only shock here is that Carolina made the plays late it failed to do all year.
Texas Tech 87 - Seton Hall 69 = If reports are right, this loss had NOTHING to do with Bobby Gonzalez getting fired 12 hours later.
UAB 65 - Coastal Carolina 49 = Another bubble team snubbed makes its case.

Tonight in the NIT:

Kent State vs. Tulsa = I'd go with Tulsa here.
Virginia Tech vs. Quinnipiac = The Hokies will own them.
Dayton vs. Illinois State = Don't know, don't care.
Cincy vs. Weber State = If the Bearcats show up, it's theirs.
Rhode Island vs. Northwestern = I'm picking RI.
Mississippi vs. Troy = And Ole Miss.
Wichita State vs. Nevada = Pick 'em.
Illinois vs. Stony Brook = Illini, easily.
Memphis vs. St. John's = Will Norm Roberts get the ax too after this loss?

Last night in the CBI:

VCU 79 - George Washington 73 = Was probably a good game. Did anybody see it? Didn't think so.
Saint Louis 63 - Indiana State 54 = Rick Majerus managed to avoid looking further the @$$ . . . and if you know Rick, that's quite the @$$ he has.

Tonight's CBI games:

Princeton vs. Duquesne = The Tigers roar.
Akron vs. Wisc. G.B. = Zips.
Eastern Ky. vs. Charleston = Another "don't know, don't care."
Hofstra vs. IUPUI = Ditto.
Morehead St. vs. Colo. St. = Double dit.
Oregon St. vs. Boston U. = Triple that.

In the CIT:

Creighton 89 - South Dakota 78 = Congrats, I guess.
Fairfield 101 - George Mason 96 (OT) = No slipper for Geo.Mason this year. But at least it seems both teams cared enough to fight for it.
Marshall 90 - Western Carolina 88 = And this must have been fun too.

CIT tonight:

App. State vs. Harvard = No thoughts, save that Haa'vad was touted early as an NCAA team, but now are in this joke tourney.
Missouri St. vs. Middle Tenn. State = They play basketball?
Northern Colorado vs. Portland = And remember 'way back when Portland was ranked in the Top 25? I do, and I wonder if they do too.
Loyola Marymount vs. Pacific = What do they both really care? Surf's up!

As I won't be here until later in the afternoon tomorrow, I'll also give you the early 1st round games in the NCAAs now:

Villanova vs. Robert Morris = You really have to ask here?
BYU vs. Florida = The money seems to be BYU, but I'm going Gators.
Vanderbilt vs. Murray State = And some say Murray St.'s tricky offense will win this. Against some teams, maybe, but Pearl's too smart to be fooled.
Kansas State vs. North Texas = Somebody on here . . . Travis, was it? . . . thought heart would favor NT. I wonder how he felt when he saw their pairing!
Notre Dame vs. ODU = Should be a good one. I'd pick ODU as more consistent.
Richmond vs. St. Mary's = And I always go with the Spiders in such games. Those arachnids are tough!
Baylor vs. Sam Houston State = The team from Texas takes this one, I'd betcha.
Butler vs. UTEP = And I'd lean towards the same outcome here too.

As always, enjoy.

[The Poet]

Well, let's get today's scores outta the way first, as that's what most of you care about:

ODU 51 - Notre Dame 50 = Like I said, ODU wins it. As for the Irish, they needed a second Hansbrough on the court. Baby brother Ben did what he could, with 17 pts. and 6 boards, but that over-rated stiff Harangody only got 4 & 7. You gonna tell me Tyler wouldn't have found some way to win this squeeker?

BYU 99 - Florida 92 (2OT) = And I picked the Gators here, but don't blame me. They had the last shot in regulation, then the last shot in the 1st OT, and missed both chances to win.

Villanova 73 - Robert Morris 70 (OT) = And I implied this would be a walkover, but how was I to know that Jay Wright would sit Scottie Reynolds down for the first 4 minutes, thus throwing off his whole game. But they did survive, and do advance.

Baylor 68 - Sam Houston 59 = I was right. The Texan team won.

Murray State 66 - Vandy 65 = Wow, this shocks me. Though Vandy's been spotty all year, I expected more from them. 'Grats to Murray State, and so far it's a bad day for the SEC.

I'll be back later with more. Until then, enoy.

[qwerty1500]

Love this time of year!!!!

Some great games so far today. Taking the day off tomorrow and will be glued in front of the TV.

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by qwerty1500

Love this time of year!!!!

Some great games so far today. Taking the day off tomorrow and will be glued in front of the TV.

I wish I could. In fact, I did, for many years. The first Friday of March Madness was always understood to be a "sick day" for me. Sadly, I cannot this year.

I've had too much work to give a full update, but I'll have time to catch up tomorrow. But I do have some more finals:

Kansas State 82 - North Texas 62 = I guess this is a good-enough showing for NT, as they stayed within 20 of a much more talented team.

St. Mary's 80 - Richmond 71 = Yeah, I picked the Spiders here. My bad. In my defense, this St. Mary's team has been like too many others this year . . . impossible to figure out. They lost to a crappy USC team by 11, a briefly over-ranked Portland by 5, got beaten twice by Gonzaga in the regular season, then spanked the Zags by 19 in the WCC tourney final. I figured they'd shot their wad. Shows what I know.

[The Poet]

The buzz on the Net is that Villanova did not actually win that game against Robert Morris . . . the zebras gave it to them. Now I saw some questionable calls myself as they made their move to push it into OT, but I did not see the extra session. Did anybody here? I'd be interested in objective opinions, if you can manage that.

[jcruse64]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Murray State 66 - Vandy 65 = Wow, this shocks me. Though Vandy's been spotty all year, I expected more from them. 'Grats to Murray State, and so far it's a bad day for the SEC.

YYYEAAAAAHHHHH BABY!!!!!!

Ha Hahh, been smiling all afternoon!!! I only got to hear the game intermittently at work, and at 3:15, decided I'd had enough and headed for the house to see the end. Freaking vendor calls me on the way home, with 1.5 minutes left, and I thought I was going to miss it. Easley fouls out as I put it in the driveway, and so I had just enough time to see the last 20-30 seconds. As good as the game seemed to be, I appear to have been lucky enough to see the best part of the game . 22 years is a long wait, but...

Wooooooohhhhhhh!!!

[The Poet]

Glad you enjoyed it, Joe, and all the best of luck to them against Butler. Hey, if they can take Vandy, they can certainly take them too.

But if you think YOU'RE happy, consider the Ohio Bobcat fans. More to follow, once I have my AM stogie.

[The Poet]

Man, that was a nice smoke - a JR Ult. Petit Cetro Maduro while sitting out in front of the shop flirting with pretty girls in the parking lot on this lovely last day of winter. But enough about me an my tough life.

That Murray State win can be considered an upset, but not a huge one. In fact, some experts gave them a good shot at the victory, and they proved them right. And some are calling the Northern Iowa game an upset too, but they are wrong. Although I did question their ranking earlier in this thread, it was not because I thought they were a bad team. They have some good offensive options, and play good D. Besides, no 8/9 game can be called an upset. However, there's no doubt that the win by Ohio U over Georgetown was one of the biggest in recent history. Remember, two weeks ago the Bobcats were dead, while Georgetown was regaining their power, and made a run to the championship game of the Big East tourney. Be honest now. If you had OU in your bracket, you either know nothing about basketball or you thought it was OSU instead.

So far today, 15-seed Morgan State is hanging tough with 2-seed West Virginia, as is 12-seed Cornell with 5-seed Temple. I'd be surprised if they hold onto it, but after yesterday . . . who knows? One game I do see as a possible "upset" today is Siena over Purdue.

If you guys want to discuss any of the games from yesterday, or today, such as the Wake win over Texas, the survival of Tennessee, or the squeekers Kentucky and Kansas had, please feel free. Later.

[The Poet]

Well, it's official now, just like I've been hinting at all season long: After 6 seasons as head coach of St. John's, Norm Roberts was fired today. Although he took the Johnnies from the 6-21 debacle under Mike Jarvis to a 17-16 record this year, and a bid to the NIT, that was not enough to save his job.

The fall of this storied program had nothing to do with this poor sod, and I feel for him. As for his compatriot at Seton Hall, Bobby Gonzalez, who was canned two days ago . . . well, that was his own damn fault for being such a screaming psycho @$$hole.

[The Poet]

As I expected, WVA has gone into the break with an 11-point bulge. But Cornell is still 9 better than Temple, with 5 1/2 left in the 1st.

[The Poet]

Xavier/Minnesota a low-scoring battle with 4 1/2 in the 1st.

[ripper]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Yes, Jay, congrats to Washington for snagging the crown and a bid. But unless they play better than they've played all year, Marquette's gonns whup their butts, but good.

Nice call!

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by ripper

Nice call!

Hey, don't blame me! The only other big game they won all year was the championship of the Pac-10, and without that one they woudn't have been dancing at all. Marquette should have thumped them and taken their lunch money to boot, and you know it too.

Congratulations to them. Now we'll see how they fare against the Lobos, from that best conference in the West.

[The Poet]

At the half, Xavier/Minnesota tied @ 26, and Cornell 37-29 over the Owls.

[ripper]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Hey, don't blame me! The only other big game they won all year was the championship of the Pac-10, and without that one they woudn't have been dancing at all. Marquette should have thumped them and taken their lunch money to boot, and you know it too.

Congratulations to them. Now we'll see how they fare against the Lobos, from that best conference in the West.

Funny that an 11 seed is favored over a 3 -- UW by 1.5.