OT - General College Basketball

trwi7 · Post #201 » by **trwi7** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:57 am

Yeah, the Big Ten is ridiculous. Three teams in the top 5 currently. 6 in the top 25 and Wisconsin's only losses have been to the current 7th ranked team on the road and the 11th ranked team on a neutral court.

Safe to say the Big Ten will be up 4-2 after tonight in the challenge. Michigan already beat NC State, Minnesota beat Florida State and Nebraska and Indiana are both up by 20+ over Wake Forest and North Carolina respectively. Only losses today are going to be Iowa vs Virginia Tech and Northwestern vs Maryland.

Have to think the Big Ten will be able to take 3 of the matchups tomorrow between Virginia @ Wisconsin, Purdue @ Clemson, Michigan State @ Miami, Georgia Tech @ Illinois, Boston College @ Penn State and Ohio State @ Duke.

MikeIsGood · Post #202 » by **MikeIsGood** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:09 am

LUKE23 wrote:I'll make the prediction now: Bo Ryan's "no worse than top 4 in the Big Ten" streak ends this year (for one season, then back in again for the forseeable future). The Big Ten is absolutely stacked this year.

Yep. I'd be surprised if we finished top four, and I'm not "that" Badger fan (that thinks every year that it will be the year it happens). The B10 is just insane this year and the loss of Gasser did not help us there. Make the dance? Hard to bet against that. Top four in conference? Don't think it'll happen this year. On the bright side, our future is incredibly promising.

LUKE23 · Post #203 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:22 pm

MikeIsGood wrote:
Yep. I'd be surprised if we finished top four, and I'm not "that" Badger fan (that thinks every year that it will be the year it happens). The B10 is just insane this year and the loss of Gasser did not help us there. Make the dance? Hard to bet against that. Top four in conference? Don't think it'll happen this year. On the bright side, our future is incredibly promising.

Yeah, I think next season might be Bo's best team on paper. You have Gasser coming back, then Koenig, a top 50 recruit (depending on who you talk to), coming in at PG. Two athletic forwards in Hayes and Brown. Dekker's a year older. Berggren will be a big loss but I think they cover Evans and Bruiser's departures easily. The final piece to the puzzle to me long-term is Diamond Stone. If they land him they have basically no weak spots. Unfortunately, every school in the country will have an offer to him by this time next year.

KidA24 · Post #204 » by **KidA24** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:51 pm

The big question next year is if Frankie (Kaminsky) can take a big step forward or not. This year so far it hasn't looked like he has. I loved the way he played last year, aggressively smart -- and I'd never seen a guy look so goofy without the ball and then so smooth once he had the ball in his hands. They really don't have a lot of depth at PF/C going forward (please, correct me if I'm wrong).

LUKE23 · Post #205 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:54 pm

KidA24 wrote:The big question next year is if Frankie (Kaminsky) can take a big step forward or not. This year so far it hasn't looked like he has. I loved the way he played last year, aggressively smart -- and I'd never seen a guy look so goofy without the ball and then so smooth once he had the ball in his hands. They really don't have a lot of depth at PF/C going forward (please, correct me if I'm wrong).

They don't. They are very deep at PG, SG, and SF, but need Kaminsky to step up and to land another C recruit. They are hoping that Nigel Hayes and Vitto Brown can handle PF moving forward.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #206 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:49 pm

I knew the B1G was going to be good, but it's absolutely stacked. This might be the best it's ever been. Conference play is going to be a gauntlet, for everyone. Should make for some great games though. I wouldn't be surprised if the Conference Champ has 6 losses.

BUCKnation · Post #207 » by **BUCKnation** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 4:38 pm

LUKE23 wrote:
MikeIsGood wrote:
Yep. I'd be surprised if we finished top four, and I'm not "that" Badger fan (that thinks every year that it will be the year it happens). The B10 is just insane this year and the loss of Gasser did not help us there. Make the dance? Hard to bet against that. Top four in conference? Don't think it'll happen this year. On the bright side, our future is incredibly promising.

Yeah, I think next season might be Bo's best team on paper. You have Gasser coming back, then Koenig, a top 50 recruit (depending on who you talk to), coming in at PG. Two athletic forwards in Hayes and Brown. Dekker's a year older. Berggren will be a big loss but I think they cover Evans and Bruiser's departures easily. The final piece to the puzzle to me long-term is Diamond Stone. If they land him they have basically no weak spots. Unfortunately, every school in the country will have an offer to him by this time next year.

As a fan of both schools, I just hope he stays in state. Both UW and MU have very good recruiting classes and whoever gets him will be well on their way.

Also, I wouldnt go that far and say that it would be Bo's best team on paper. The year (06-07) with Butch, Tucker, Taylor, and Flowers was his best team. If Butch didnt get injured I think they could have had a very good shot to win the National Championship.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #208 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:01 pm

Something to think about: If Ohio State beats Duke tonight, will the B1G have the top 3 ranked teams in the country? Has that ever happened?

emunney · Post #209 » by **emunney** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:09 pm

I think Duke's going to have a hell of a time with Deshaun Thomas. Nobody in their regular rotation can match up with him. I'll be interested to see if they go to Amile Jefferson, who has shown some signs of being an excellent defender.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #210 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:33 pm

Duke's biggest problem is they have absolutely no depth. When they beat Minnesota at the Battle4Atlantis, they only had 2 bench points. I don't know how that is even possible when you have 4 and 5 star recruits coming in every year. Coach K must be purposefully keeping the rotation short for some reason.

emunney · Post #211 » by **emunney** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:51 pm

Some of them leave early for the pros (Irving, Rivers) and some of them transfer (Gbinije). Duke has 13 on their roster. One of them is an incoming transfer sitting out the year (Rodney Hood), one is sitting out the year while he deals issues relating to a death in the family (Dawkins), one is injured (Marshall Plumlee), and one is Todd Zafirovski.

I think the biggest reason why the rotation is so short is that all five starters are pretty good and earning 30+ minutes. You throw in Thornton playing 20+ as the third guard and there just aren't many minutes left. From what I've seen the guys who aren't playing are not bad.

Badgerlander · Post #212 » by **Badgerlander** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:30 pm

Bruin Report Online ‏@BruinReport

Sources are telling us that Josh Smith has informed AD Dan Guerrero of his decision to leave the program. #UCLA
Retweeted by Jeff Goodman

emunney · Post #213 » by **emunney** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:31 pm

Wow. Wonder if he's transferring or just hiring an agent.

emunney · Post #214 » by **emunney** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:32 pm

Also this means UCLA is now down to 8 scholarship players (!!).

Badgerlander · Post #215 » by **Badgerlander** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:39 pm

Report: Josh Smith has left UCLA basketball program
November 28th, 2012, 1:36 pm · · posted by Ryan Kartje, The Orange County Register

Just days after guard Tyler Lamb announced that he would transfer from the UCLA basketball program, a report from UCLA’s Scout.com site says that 6-10 center Josh Smith has also left the program.

Long criticized for weight issues that likely kept Smith from becoming one of the Bruins’ best players, Smith, according to the report, did not show up for practice on Tuesday and notified UCLA’s coaches the following day that he intended to leave. After an attempt to convince him to stay, the report claims, Smith remained steadfast in his decision.

Smith was a McDonald’s All-American before coming to Westwood, but with the burden of expectations and weight issues holding him back, Smith never quite lived up to his potential in a Bruins uniform. In his first two seasons with UCLA, Smith averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. This year, those numbers were down to 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Lamb and Smith’s transfers leave just eight scholarship players on UCLA’s roster — a number that could be legitimately concerning if injuries affect the Bruins at all this season.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basket ... en-howland

He reportedly will finish out the semester at UCLA and then transfer. If he seeks to play immediately at his next school, he’ll have only one semester of eligibility remaining, beginning at the Christmas break next year. Should he choose to sit out until the beginning of the 2014-15 season, he’d have one full year of eligibility remaining.

mattg · Post #216 » by **mattg** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:24 pm

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Duke's biggest problem is they have absolutely no depth. When they beat Minnesota at the Battle4Atlantis, they only had 2 bench points. I don't know how that is even possible when you have 4 and 5 star recruits coming in every year. Coach K must be purposefully keeping the rotation short for some reason.

Besides what emunney said, K is notorious for only playing 7-8 guys anyway. Allows guys to get into the flow better and minute distribution is more consistent. Realistically, no team should be playing more than 9 guys anyway. When the rotation is too big that means the coach can't figure it out or the talent just isn't very good.

Turk Nowitzki · Post #217 » by **Turk Nowitzki** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:29 pm

The hell is going on at UCLA?

Turk Nowitzki · Post #218 » by **Turk Nowitzki** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:24 am

Bruesewitz and Evans need to hurry up and graduate. They are both playing awful basketball.

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #219 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:38 am

Turk Nowitzki wrote:Bruesewitz and Evans need to hurry up and graduate. They are both playing awful basketball.

They are very Tim Jarmusz-esque.

Turk Nowitzki · Post #220 » by **Turk Nowitzki** » Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:41 am

Played a horrendous 1st half, only down 1 and I don't think Dekker has taken a single shot.