Midnight Madness is tonight! The college basketball season is finally underway!!!
What are your predictions? Pre-season Final Four? Player of the Year? Who is going to overachieve and surprise people? Who is going to underachieve and be a letdown?
I don't really watch basketball at all (college or pro), but my son is a sophomore at Louisville so that's who I'll be pulling for.
I was able to get down there for a game at the KFC Yum! Center last season. What a great facility and environment. It probably rivals a number of pro arenas. I still don't care for basketball as a sport, but I had a blast that night.
[color:"white"]"Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
I havn't been this excited for ohio state basketball since greg oden came on the scene 5 years ago. I really believe Jared Sullinger gets what he came back for, leading the buckeyes to a national championship. I work outside Pittsburgh, I'm hoping the buckeyes get to play there in the tournament opening weekend. I bought a elite 8 ticket blind last year in new jersey, only to see the bucks tose to kentucky. I'm hoping i get to see them in pitt, and possibly the elite 8 in boston.
There's no way uconn should be 3. Kemba Walker was the heart and soul of that team. We do have florida and duke at home. Kansas is on the road. We should win 2 out of 3 with no problem, with the good possability of a sweep.
There are first round games in Columbus but I'm not sure if they can play there. They'll probably play at Nationwide so maybe they can play there since that's not their home arena.
Joe Thomas made Justin Timberlake change his name. He didn't want wusses to have the same initials...
Yea, the bucks are the host, so they're not allow to play in columbus. They always go to nationwide every 5 years or so. There is always a big turnout. The city really supports the event.
Quote: There's no way uconn should be 3. Kemba Walker was the heart and soul of that team. We do have florida and duke at home. Kansas is on the road. We should win 2 out of 3 with no problem, with the good possability of a sweep.
They got a future #1 pick in Andre Drummond. He skipped an extra year of prep school and went to Uconn.
Quote: We're better than Cuse. However because of our early schedule being rough, we will slip.
Until Thad Matta shows he can develop a gameplan around the strengths of his team, I won't buy Ohio State as a true National Title contender.
Didn't use Greg Oden the right way, didn't use Sullinger the right way last year, I don't have faith he will this year.
When you got one of the Top 5 players in college basketball, and he's a dominate big man, you have to feed him, and play an in an out game. Matta won't do that. Most of Sullingers touches are offensive rebounds, and broken plays. That's not gonna get it done.
That really isn't true at all. That would be like me saying Brandon Knight only scored points in transition. Our most effective play was the in and out with Diebler and Sully. We killed teams with that. It's why we scored so many 3's. We ran the offense through him.
Quote: That really isn't true at all. That would be like me saying Brandon Knight only scored points in transition. Our most effective play was the in and out with Diebler and Sully. We killed teams with that.
I found a stat at some point last year (I don't feel like looking for it again) that showed Sullinger averaged like 11 shot attempts per game, and 3 per game were offensive rebound put backs..
That' doesn't mean jack....there is no stats for how many times the ball went through him... He was doubled constantly after the first few games of the season. He kicked it out lot of the times.
That Matta is god in cbus now that Tress is gone...all he needs to do is win a championship or 2 and the city will be his......minus urban taking over next year for football.
Those big time programs have really lost their soul becaue of the one and doners.
You want to check out some good college Bball go to some MAC games. These kids are great players, who are playing ball for the loveof the game. Theres nothing I like better than getting a $5 GA ticket at the Kent State MACC arena ion a Friday night.
KING
You may be in the drivers seat but God is holding the map. #GMSTRONG
I agree, it's why I love seeing teams like VCU do well in the tournament.
Big Sully is incredibly hungry for a championship. It's important as a team for your best player to be incredibly motivated like him. I hope Buford feels the same way. We need him to become more mentally tough.
Overachievers: Oklahoma will climb back towards respectability NCST (my boys) will challenge Duke and UNC at the top of the ACC as will Clemson and Virginia Tech...also Virginia and BC show growth Rutgers will be a top 25 team Michigan will build upon their late season climb Marquette will be a top 25 team Purdue with Hummell back wont suck as much as originally thought George Mason will look good under Paul Hewitt (for a couple years, then fade to obscurity) Mississippi State Baylor...all the returning talent is a BIG boost to Scott Drews squad and in addition they may be the most exciting team in the nation to watch
Underachievers: Texas...another letdown for Rick Barnes...great talent finder...cant get where he wants to though...no titles Most of the Big 10...Michigan St will be down (outside of Ohio State and Michigan, the Big 10 will be largely anonymous and Bruce Weber may get fired) the SEC as a whole again. Bama, Kentucky, and Vandy will be good...i dont see anyone else that really strikes me as dangerous. Florida could be, but I just dont see it, too young, too many players that have been "big time" and havent lived up to it St Johns...too much turnover Midmajors as a whole...i think this year we go back to seeing big conference schools get it done.
"It has to start somewhere It has to start somehow What better place than here? What better time than now?"
John Calipari said if there's anyone in America better than Terrence Jones, that he's not sure who it is. Said he's improved in every aspect of the game.
So what you are saying is that even in an exhibition game, he's selfish and he doesn't pass much...
He scored 52 points in an exhibition game where there was minimal defense and the score was something like 130-110? I'm not saying he isn't good or even great but is that REALLY a good measuring stick?
Kentucky has a long way to go. Watched their exhibition game, and this team is going to have to improve a lot.
They don't have the athleticism of the 2009 team (I don't know if a team can ever have that athleticism again, though).
And they don't have the basketball IQ of last years team.
Terrence Jones has improved 110%. I agree with Calipari, he'll be a top 3 player in college basketball this year. 1a-1c = Jones, Sullinger, Barnes (in no particular order).
Doron Lamb is becoming a better all around player. He looks to have added about 10-15 lbs, gotten stronger, and has a better close-midrange game, instead of just being the shooter he was last year.
Darius Miller won't be a starter by December. His one shot at staying in the starting lineup was to rise up and be the leader of this team, as a senior. He just doesn't have that in him.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a STUD. This kid, for some reason, was the forgotten piece in this recruiting class. And I don't know why. He was #1 in the 2011 class for a long time, and dropped, and no one was sure what caused the drop. He's going to be special. As a freshman, he took control over the team last night. On the court, he was the leader, even coming off the bench. On numerous occasions, I saw him in someones ear about something they were doing wrong. Can a freshman be the team leader? I think we're gonna find out. He will be starting over Darius Miller by December.
Marquis Teague has the potential to be special. He needs to lose his "shoot first" mentality, though. There's too much talent on this team for him to be playing 1 v. 5 as he has a tendency to do. But, if there's one thing we know, it's that he'll either learn to distribute out of the Dribble Drive, or he'll be sitting.
Kyle Wiltjer is possibly the most fundementally sound of all the freshman. He doesn't have the athletic ability the rest of them do, but everything he does is so fundementally sound. I didn't have high hopes for him this year, but after seeing him play, I think he might have a role on this team. He won't get a ton of action, but he'll be a part of our regular rotation.
The most disappointing player of the night goes to ... Anthony Davis. The kid was terrible last night. He looked slow, he looked weak, he was overpowered by guys 8 inches shorter than him. Just an all around pathetic performance. I think he will be alright, but I think the moment of playing in Rupp Arena, even though it was an exhibition game, with all the expectations surrounding him and this team was too much for him last night.
Davis' high school team was TERRIBLE outside of him, and that showed last night. Davis seemed uncomfortable playing team basketball. He seemed lost on the court, didn't seem comfortable moving without the ball, etc. I think he'll be okay, but he was overwhelmed last night.
Overall, this is NOT a Top 5 basketball team. We don't deserve that #2 ranking. If this was last year, where there were no great teams, I'd say yeah, we're a Top 5 team. But not this year. With North Carolina, Syracuse, UCONN, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Louisville, etc. all as good as they are this year, we aren't a Top 5 team ... yet.
The potential is there, and you know Calipari teams in November aren't the same Calipari teams you see in March. But as of right now, this team is behind where the last two teams were on Day 1.
Unfortunately OSUs scrimmage against Ohio U was closed off.
I am just stating this off of what I heard. OSU won the first 2 periods but then the deepest part of their bench lost. Sully had 22 and 11. Shannon Scott looked good and will be used like Aaron Craft. Most of our freshmen look confused in our man to man defense. So Matta had to switch to zone for the all freshmen period, not surprising. They worked well on the inbound defensive plays which we are famous for.
Not a surprise. Rumors were he was a Duke lean, considering UK and Michigan (I heard he was never actually considering UK).
So basically I heard he was down to Duke and Michigan. And he never really struck me as a "bright lights" kind of kid who wants to play on the biggest stages, which is what he would have done at Duke, so Michigan made sense to me.
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