College Hoops Thread 2011-2012

[The Poet]

For some damn reason the nice weather has brought out all the nutz and bozos, so I've been pressed for time. Two very strange games last night:


Western Kentucky 59 - Mississippi Valley State 58 = The Delta Devils had this in the bag, with a 16-point lead and under 5 to play. Well, I guess an ugly loss was appropriate, as this was an ugly game by both teams, with the possible exception of the late run by the Hilltoppers.

BYU 78 - Iona 72 = In contrast, this was 2 halves of very good hoops, albeit from opposing sides. The Gaels came out like a vintage Loyola-Marymount or UNLV team and ran the Cougars off the court, building a huge 25-point lead. Then they ran themselves out of gas, and BYU made the adjustments on both ends to erase the largest deficit in NCAA history to advance.


Tonight's games:


Lamar vs. Vermont = This has the potential to be another close one, and will decide who gets to challenge my Tar Heels on Friday. Pat Knight does not have the players his daddy used to get, and isn't the floor general Bobby was either, but he does seem to have inherited Papa's sparkling personality. Outside of league play, his Cardinals have "good" losses against quality competition like Louisville, Ohio State, Kentucky, and George Mason, but their best wins were with Charlotte and Tennessee Tech. The Catamounts lost to such guys as South Florida, Harvard, and Saint Louis, but toss into that a terrible loss to the Binghamton Bearcats, who had only 2 Ws all year. VT did get a nice win against ODU, so give them that. As I'm not about to pick who I want UNC to face, I'll leave that up to you.

South Florida vs. California = Now this could actually be a pretty decent game, like that BYU/Iona one. The Bulls had no good wins outside the Big East, and considering how Cincy and Louisville played at times this year I'm not sure how good those Ws actually were. Yet they did lose to some good teams, like ODU, VCU, Kansas, and Southern Miss, so they learned some things from that. As for the Golden Bears, I count myself amongst those who don't believe the Pac-12 is as abysmal as many others feel. True, I see no quality wins outside the league for Cal, but losing to Missouri, San Diego State, and UNLV counts for something in my book . . . especially when you consider that Mizzou had them as about the ONLY "tough" non-conference opponent, whereas Cal at least tried to play somebody else. I'm leaning towards the Bulls here, but it would not shock me if the Bears could shock the nation. Remember last year the Pac-10 was bad-mouthed all year, yet did pretty well in the NCAAs.


If I get a chance I'll come back to talk of early action scheduled tomorrow, when the fun kicks off for real. But if I don't get that chance, I hope you'll do what I plan on starting noon tomorrow, and enjoy.

[yourchoice]

I can't wait to get home so I can watch a ton of basketball tonight on the big screen!

Anyone predicting any upsets for the rest of Thursday's games? I thing Long Beach State will upset New Mexico, and I could see Colorado challenging UNLV, but I don't know if I'd call that an upset.

It looks like Syracuse is struggling without Melo against NC-Asheville. Like a lot of people, I had them losing early...but certainly not this early. Game is a long way from over, but they certainly shouldn't be down 4 at the half.

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by yourchoice

I can't wait to get home so I can watch a ton of basketball tonight on the big screen!

Anyone predicting any upsets for the rest of Thursday's games? I thing Long Beach State will upset New Mexico, and I could see Colorado challenging UNLV, but I don't know if I'd call that an upset.

It looks like Syracuse is struggling without Melo against NC-Asheville. Like a lot of people, I had them losing early...but certainly not this early. Game is a long way from over, but they certainly shouldn't be down 4 at the half.

Well, what do you consider an upset? Is that a 6-11 game? From what I saw last weekend against Arizona, I can't give Colorado much of a shot against UNLV. How about 5-12? Can Harvard knock Vandy out? As psycho as the Comms have been this year, I could see the Crimson giving them all they can handle, especially if Vandy has another of their off nights . . . which they have had too often. Or maybe VCU over Wichita State? That may be your best shot at a 12 beating a 5 right there, though I don't expect VCU will make a run to the Final Four again this tourney, like they did last year. But they are confident, and they have been there before, so who knows?

I would expect that the Orange will come back in the 2nd half to survive their scare against UNC-A, but don't put all the onus on Melo being out. Not only have I expressed my doubts about that zone getting one through a tourney for YEARS now, you need take note that the Bulldogs have played some pretty good non-conference opponents this season, and are not intimidated by the fact. They started off at NCSU, hosted UNC-CH, visited U Conn and Tennessee, and played host to Charleston and Utah. If nothing else, they've seen some "big" names on the fronts of jerseys before today.

Update shortly.

P.S. - As for Long Beach vs. NM, I will point out that the 49ers lost at my Tar Heels by only 6, and won at Xavier by 10, so I agree they have a shot. At the moment, 8 left in the 1st, the Lobos are only up a point.

[yourchoice]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Well, what do you consider an upset?

I use the betting line to gauge an upset. If the spread is around 3-4 or less, I consider it a mild upset. 4-5 or more, an upset. Sometimes just a higher seeding isn't indicitive of an upset, IMO.

[SD Beerman]

SDSU is a 6 seed and they are 2 point dogs to NC State......

[yourchoice]

Originally Posted by SD Beerman

SDSU is a 6 seed and they are 2 point dogs to NC State......

Exactly.

[jcruse64]

We watched the 1st half of the Marquette game before going on home, and they were roughing the Cougars up pretty good. Got within 6, before Marquette slammed the door.

Good analysis on the Racers. Really good defenders that use this to create scoring, and can move the ball quickly. If Caanan either can't hit the 3, or is getting double/triple teamed, they have other guards more than capable of scoring. But... the last 3 weeks or so of play, they have let the boards go. Especially troubling is the lack of offensive rebounding, which could be turning into 2nd-chance points. This killed the Racers today in H1. For some reason, in the last few weeks, Daniels has decided to become a pacifist, and Aska is not paying attention. They'd better have received the wakeup call today, because Marquette will make them pay for this. On the other hand, in H2, Daniels and the others REALLY upped the defensive intensity. Really, Colorado State outshined MSI in many categories: shooting %, 3 point %, Freebies%, and rebounds. But they kept them from scoring, and won.

I think Prohme will be a good coach for the next level very soon, but he still needs some polish and experience. He will probably get an offer he can't refuse this off-season, but I hope he sticks around for at least 3 seasons. MSU has hosted more than a few up and comer coaches, and they've mostly had a tough go of it in the higher tier programs. Hope to see Cronin have more success at Cincy.

WKU started off well against UK, but it was no contest.

UNC-A almost did it!!! They had a chance. The refs did not help, for sure, but they blew it. I don't see 'Cuse going much farther.

Harvard falls to the up-and-down, southern Ivy League school, Vandy.

VCU has a 3 point lead w/ 12 secs left...wow!

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by yourchoice

I use the betting line to gauge an upset. If the spread is around 3-4 or less, I consider it a mild upset. 4-5 or more, an upset. Sometimes just a higher seeding isn't indicitive of an upset, IMO.

Originally Posted by SD Beerman

SDSU is a 6 seed and they are 2 point dogs to NC State......

Well, I'm just a country boy, and not a Vegas bookie. So talk to Charles Barkley, not to Kenny Smith.