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JC: UConn plays Indiana tonight in the 2kSports Classic final. Definitely happy we're playing Indiana. We've got Washington in the next couple of games anyway. I like playing these Big Ten teams and seeing how we match up with that conference. Still wish they let us in over Maryland or Rutgers.......
Should be a good game! If we can just start doing a better down low (rebounding/down low defense) and closing games better, we'll compete for the title. We are definitely one of the more underrated teams in the league this year. 18th or something like that, yet we're undefeated, and teams that have gotten beaten are ranked above us. I don't think we've lost the lead yet this year, although I missed the first half vs BC last night. Give me a break......
EDIT: Well we didn't have the lead tonight early on...... But yeah, watching this, defense and rebounding need to improve, so we can win the dirty basketball games when the shots just aren't falling......
Last edited by PeteyDangerous; 11/22/13 08:57 PM.
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This is why I love college basketball. I know some people love football because every game matters, etc.. but UNC loses to Belmont, comes back and beats Louisville.. Duke almost falls to Vermont. Interesting stuff. These teams don't set up their schedules in hopes of being invited to play for the championship, they set up their schedules so they can get better and be where they need to be come March
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J/C DC
Nice weekend for us at Kent St. 3 game sweep in our part of subregional of the Coaches vs Cancer tourney. We had a nail biter Friday night over Upstate USC, who has a kind names Craig who is a NBA prospect. They had a chance to win it at the buzzer but luckily the shot did not go down and we won by 1.
We are now 6 and 1 on the season. NOBODY expected that out of us this season after graduating 32 PPG. We have a tough test Wednesday night when Youngstown St come to The MAC Center.
Hey Ytown, give me some info on your squad. It will be interesting to read what a fans perspective is and then match it up with the actual scouting report and game plan.
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This is true, but it is what frustrates me about the tournament itself. I've always felt that the tournament waters down the regular season. If you're a good school, that consistently gets into the tournament year after year (UConn, Kansas, UNC, Kentucky, Duke, etc.), the regular season is just preparation for the tournament.
And your record really doesn't matter as long as you got in. Nobody remembers years from now how good you were in the regular season, just how you did it the tournament. And since you only have to be 1 of 64 to get in, getting in really isn't a big deal either (unless you're a smaller school or a less-prestigious basketball school).
All the regular season is really good for is message board trash talk pride
People hate hearing this, but I want less teams. A 16 slot NCAA Tournament seems right to me, and give 8 teams byes. Thereby allowing 24 teams to compete
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I disagree.. and not just because it would cost the NCAA hundreds of millions of dollars and therefore will never happen. I think college basketball has more parity than any other sport. I love the first weekend of the tournament, watching high seeds fight, lose, or hang on to advance against teams like Vermont and George Mason.... I love watching those lesser known teams roll off a few victories to make it to the 16 or even the 8.. because they can shoot lights out or play great defense or run a controlled offense but don't have the marquee names on their team..
The two best things about the tournament, and what makes it so much better than just about any sport, are:
1. Feeling like you have a true champion who ran a gauntlet of all the best teams in the sport to win it all.
2. The chaos that erupts every year as a few powerhouse schools fall.
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Oh I agree that the tourney is a money maker. And winning the tourney is a huge accomplishment.
But you would agree that it does make the regular season watered down, wouldn't you?
There is a ton of parity in Men's College Basketball. No question about that. I just wish they could do something more to signify what a successful regular season a team has. I guess Conference Tournaments do that, but still, it's just a little ridiculous to me.
It makes for great stories, but for teams that have great seasons and lose one single lousy game to a team like Seton Hall which comes in as a 12 seed, and had a terrible season with one magical night, it's gotta be terribly frustrating.
Some fans just care about the tournament, me, I like to watch every game. My girlfriend complains "Why are we even watching this, can't we just turn it on with 5 minutes left in the game or something". Well, the same thing could be said with the tourney. It's so easy to get in, why even worry about college basketball until March Madness starts.......
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It makes for great stories, but for teams that have great seasons and lose one single lousy game to a team like Seton Hall which comes in as a 12 seed, and had a terrible season with one magical night, it's gotta be terribly frustrating.
As a Maryland fan, I've been on both ends of this.. I've seen them come into the tournament with little fanfare and make a nice run, I've seen them come in highly ranked and exit early.
I guess the short answer is, if you want to be considered the best basketball team in the land, you shouldn't lose to Seton Hall the first weekend of the tournament.
You mentioned the parity too. I think one of the reasons you have this kind of parity is because of the expanded tournament.. if you reduced the tournament back to 24 teams as you suggest, it's only going to help the Kentuckys and Dukes of the world recruit, as if they need any help.
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You mentioned the parity too. I think one of the reasons you have this kind of parity is because of the expanded tournament.. if you reduced the tournament back to 24 teams as you suggest, it's only going to help the Kentuckys and Dukes of the world recruit, as if they need any help.
That's a solid point that I never thought of about recruiting.
And I do remember you guys once in the tourney and coming out of nowhere, beating my UConn Huskies. I think you had some chubby guy on your team named Lonnie Baxter or something like that. We tried to match Emeka Okafor on him (I think it was Emeka, or else it was a different freshman, Ajou Deng may be), and he just bullied our guy all night.
Man I hated Maryland in that game......... Whole season out the window because we were overpowered by some stocky, chubby guy. lol
Still stand by my feelings though, and I bring it up every year here. Tournament is too large. Too many teams who don't deserve a shot at being national champions getting their chance. And I'm not talking about small schools. As I said, I'm talking about mediocre teams in major conferences. Someone like a Seton Hall with a .500 record who manages to play their best game of the season the night they play a number 1 seed
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Some of the tourney's greatest moments have come with true underdogs. Vilanova and nc state were 6th and 8th seeds if i'm not mistaken. Butler was 5 or lower a few different times. THe tourney is the best thing going in my opinion.
My only gripe with college basketball is too many guys leaving after 1 year. Back in the late 80's and early 90's, you had lots of teams that were junior and senior driven. Made for some great basketball, and great rivalries. That's why so many smaller schools are having success. they don't have nba talent for the most part, just a group of guys that have played with each other for 3-4 years. Just imagine if conley and oden gave osu 2-3 years? same with the other programs that have guys leave so early. Even the fab 5 gave us 3 years with the exception of webber(2). You would never see that today.
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That is a problem with college basketball. Unfortunately there's nothing the NCAA can do about it, as the 1 year rule is an NBA rule not an NCAA rule.
An ideal rule would be ...
You can enter the NBA draft after high school, but if you choose to enroll in college, you have to stay at least two years before you can enter the NBA draft.
It won't happen, but that would be ideal.
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And I do remember you guys once in the tourney and coming out of nowhere, beating my UConn Huskies. I think you had some chubby guy on your team named Lonnie Baxter or something like that. We tried to match Emeka Okafor on him (I think it was Emeka, or else it was a different freshman, Ajou Deng may be), and he just bullied our guy all night.
Man I hated Maryland in that game......... Whole season out the window because we were overpowered by some stocky, chubby guy. lol
I did a little checking.. the only year Lonny Baxter played against UConn in the tourney was in 2002, Maryland was ranked in the top 5 all year, they were a #1 seed and beat UConn in the elite 8 on the way to winning the national championship.. I guess you could call that coming out of nowhere. 
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Still stand by my feelings though, and I bring it up every year here. Tournament is too large.
And I disagree with you every year.. it's like a tradition.
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My surprise team of the year made an appearance in the AP Top 25 this week.
The Iowa Hawkeyes at #23.
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That is a problem with college basketball. Unfortunately there's nothing the NCAA can do about it, as the 1 year rule is an NBA rule not an NCAA rule.
An ideal rule would be ...
You can enter the NBA draft after high school, but if you choose to enroll in college, you have to stay at least two years before you can enter the NBA draft.
It won't happen, but that would be ideal.
Like how Baseball does it?
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Basically, except baseball does 3 years if you go to college, I'd only do 2 in basketball.
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Coach K is ruining college basketball with all these one and dones he's bringing in next year. 
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Quote:
I did a little checking.. the only year Lonny Baxter played against UConn in the tourney was in 2002, Maryland was ranked in the top 5 all year, they were a #1 seed and beat UConn in the elite 8 on the way to winning the national championship.. I guess you could call that coming out of nowhere.
LOL, hey hey hey. I was like 15 or 16 years old. And I was a die hard UConn fan. Just took a look down memory lane, and that it was. Emeka Okafor, a sophmore. Couldn't D up on Baxter. And then we had Caron Butler (one of my favorite UConn players ever, he was such a guy to root for) as well as Talik Brown and Ben "The Quiet Storm" Gordon (another favorite player of mine). We won a title the next year with Emeka and Ben, but Caron left for the NBA. Too bad, as I said, he was definitely up there with my favorites.
We held the best record in the Big East and won the Big East Tourney. I wasn't concerned with some random ACC team - Who turned out to be really good. As I did (and generally still do) I figured UConn had the championship in the bag. That's how I support that team. And I was convinced that nobody stood a chance, until we lost........... lol
But yeah, I see. Looks like I was jaded. Maryland was a good team that year. I just was in love with that UConn team. Caron Butler, Ben Gordon, Emeka Okafor, Talik Brown. You know how some teams are more special than others, that was a special team for me....... And your dang Terps had to ruin it all. lol.
Yeah, just looked at the scoring line of the game, Baxter had 29 points. Oof that guy had me all worked up that night. He was just too strong. I really thought we were gonna win a title that year (as I do every year that we're pretty good, lol).
Living in my household growing up, we were Big East fans. Big college basketball fans, but we never really kept up with who the other teams were. Kind of a jaded mindset, Big East was the best. That's where the best basketball was played. (That was our mindset, ya know) Big East was king. There were so many good ones, that you could do that. Just keep up with the Big East. So of course I'm gonna be surprised when Maryland beats UConn..........
It's just sad what happened to the league....... Big East basketball was so much fun. I'm getting more optimistic about the AAC, but we'll see how it goes. UConn, Cinci, Southern Methodist, Memphis. That's about it, hopefully this will open the door for some of these other schools to improve their programs. May be Temple will get good again, or University of Central Florida........ Houston was good at one point in the 1980's with Hakeem Olajuawan, lol
Last edited by PeteyDangerous; 11/25/13 06:27 PM.
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We look soooo much better when Amir Williams plays like he has a pair. Dude is a 7 footer that weighs 250 and runs pretty well. He should DOMINATE some of these guys with pure physical ability.
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Kentucky looked atrocious last night.
Cleveland State led by 11 with 10 minutes left. Kentucky didn't take the lead for good until about 2 minutes left.
That was the laziest I've ever seen a Kentucky team play.
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Another game, another lackluster performance by Kentucky. Up 3 on Eastern Michigan at half. 
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Just clicking T Dawg
Big win Wednesday night for us against Youngstown State. Y State was 6 and 1 coming and were averaging 83 PPG. We held them to 69. NOBODY picked Kent to be 7 and 1 at this point. As a manager I dont get to go to road games, unless they are bus games, but cant wait for MAC season to start and get to go to BG, Akron, and a few of the other closer schools.
KING
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The Cats are looking really good tonight vs Providence.
Best effort, best defense, and best execution they have played with all year.
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The Cats are looking really good tonight vs Providence.
Best effort, best defense, and best execution they have played with all year.
My boss was at the game, he must really be upset, cause he thought that Providence really stood a chance. lol.
I can't wait to laugh at him about it; he rips on UConn all the time. Especially now that we're in the AAC Yet my team is undefeated. Plus, he's a Pats fan. If we can just beat them Sunday, I can stride around in all its glory (well not too much, but just enough)
EDIT: And I really just don't get these college basketball rankings. Huskies are ranked below Gonzaga and Witchita State? The other teams, that's alright. But those two? Come on. Especially since the Zags already lost to Dayton.
We've beaten Maryland, BC, and Indiana. I mean, those are some real non-conference games, may be not so much BC. But Maryland and Indiana are usually pretty good programs. That's alright though, folks will wake up and see that the Huskies have a lot of bite!
May be it's last week's rankings or something, but UConn is due to move up in the polls for sure. We'll see in the next couple days
Last edited by PeteyDangerous; 12/02/13 12:08 AM.
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May be it's last week's rankings or something, but UConn is due to move up in the polls for sure. We'll see in the next couple days
Why do you care where they are ranked? They are going to get into the tournament and that's all that matters.
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And we will see how good Maryland is on Wednesday when they travel to Ohio State. If they protect the ball they can hang with them but I don't look for them to win...
Buckeye fans help me out.. how is OSU's perimeter defense? because that is where MD struggles .... they are very weak at the PG position this year and if the PG starts turning the ball over, this one could get away from them quickly..
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May be it's last week's rankings or something, but UConn is due to move up in the polls for sure. We'll see in the next couple days
Why do you care where they are ranked? They are going to get into the tournament and that's all that matters.
yep, exactly.
college basketball in November? even December? yawn.
#gmstrong
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college basketball in November? even December? yawn.
That's how I feel about the Browns in November and December too
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#gmstrong
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And we will see how good Maryland is on Wednesday when they travel to Ohio State. If they protect the ball they can hang with them but I don't look for them to win...
Buckeye fans help me out.. how is OSU's perimeter defense? because that is where MD struggles .... they are very weak at the PG position this year and if the PG starts turning the ball over, this one could get away from them quickly..
I'd be very, very, very worried then. Our perimeter defense is our best strength. Shannon Scott and Craft force a lot of TOs. Also Lenzelle Smith and Sam Thompson make things difficult as well. If what you're saying is true of Maryland then OSU is the worst possible matchup for you.
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It's to Ohio State's advantage that the new handchecking rules don't apply to white guys (Craft)
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It's to Ohio State's advantage that the new handchecking rules don't apply to white guys (Craft)
Isn't that the Duke way of life?
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How 'bout the Dayton Flyers comin' in at #25 in the polls this week!
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Dunno bout you guys but I'm looking forward to tmr nights espn double header matchups: 7:15 PM Indiana at (4) Syracuse then, 9:15 PM (22) Michigan at (10) Duke
Then Wed.. 7:00 PM Maryland at (5) Ohio State
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Thad Matta does a good job for a guy that is supposedly poor at in-game adjustments and can't develop players.
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I'd be very, very, very worried then.
Oh I am.. Maryland averages as many turnovers a game as they have assists.... They are probably still a bubble team this year (real nice recruiting class coming in NEXT year) so I don't expect them to beat OSU.. but if they are going to keep it close, they have to protect the ball.. Maryland has 4 guys averaging over 2 turnovers a game and one of them is very close to 3...
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It's just stupid and unfair that Maryland has to play OSU.
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It's just stupid and unfair that Maryland has to play OSU.
I read a breakdown of the ACC/Big10 Challenge where the guy predicted every game and had a little blurb on each game.. his comment on the Maryland vs Ohio State game was pretty funny.. It said (and I'm paraphrasing).. "The only reason Maryland is playing Ohio State in the Challenge is because the Miami Heat were not available. Let's be honest, the ACC is sacrificing this game because they are mad at Maryland." I got a chuckle out of it.
The game went much as I anticipated, Maryland just doesn't have the horses yet to play with a team like OSU.. and thanks to Thad Matta for pulling back the reigns and allowing Maryland to go a bit of a late run to make it look more respectable than it actually was. 
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Kentucky vs Baylor is going to start about 11:30 PM because the women just went 4 OTs. UK women beat Baylor 133-130 
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hope the men's game is good - might watch a bit of it...
<><
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It's just stupid and unfair that Maryland has to play OSU.
I read a breakdown of the ACC/Big10 Challenge where the guy predicted every game and had a little blurb on each game.. his comment on the Maryland vs Ohio State game was pretty funny.. It said (and I'm paraphrasing).. "The only reason Maryland is playing Ohio State in the Challenge is because the Miami Heat were not available. Let's be honest, the ACC is sacrificing this game because they are mad at Maryland." I got a chuckle out of it.
The game went much as I anticipated, Maryland just doesn't have the horses yet to play with a team like OSU.. and thanks to Thad Matta for pulling back the reigns and allowing Maryland to go a bit of a late run to make it look more respectable than it actually was.
I see a lot of talent and hope for the future. I actually like your head coach. OSU is just locked in right now. We're playing the same type of defense we did last year. I just hope the offense hits stride in March.
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