Around the NCAA

Mischa · Post #1 » by **Mischa** » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:45 pm

Bold predictions for 2018-2019

01. IU will crack top ten in the polls by January.
02. Wichita State will not make the tournament this year.
03. Arch will win B1G COY and possibly national COY.
04. Duke will get upset early in the tourney, again.
05. IU defense will be top 15 by the end of the year.
06. Steve Alford will get fired < not very bold.
07. IU will win the B1G regular season.
08. UK will be the number one overall seed.
09. Robert Phinisee will be conference all freshman team.
10. Georgia will finish last in the SEC.
11. IU will not lose a game at home.
12. NC State will be the surprise team in the ACC
13. IU UK series will be renewed.
14. Vanderbilt won't be in the tourney.
15. Jordan Poole will have a breakout year.

SlovenianDragon · Post #2 » by **SlovenianDragon** » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:18 pm

Watch on YouTube

Post #3 » by **lilfishi22** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:00 am

What's an IU?

DirtyDez · Post #4 » by **DirtyDez** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:12 am

lilfishi22 wrote:What's an IU?

Post #5 » by **bwgood77** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 am

DirtyDez wrote:
lilfishi22 wrote:What's an IU?

That needs some context for lilfishi....some reporter after a game they must have lost in the press conference asked Knight if they brought their game faces or something like that.

Watch on YouTube

DirtyDez · Post #6 » by **DirtyDez** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:45 am

Damn UK got Reid Travis. I would’ve taken him over any incoming freshman.

Mischa · Post #7 » by **Mischa** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:59 pm

Kinda late but my thoughts on Chris Mack (who I wanted for the IU job) and Jeff Capel

Mack first…seems as if this is the job he was holding out for all along and when it came open and he was contacted, he leaped at it. Remains to be seen how hard Louisville gets hit by the NCAA around the FBI stuff (if at all…and “if at all” absolutely remains on the table), and that probably determines how quickly he gets his thing off the ground there.

I think it’s always interesting to watch a coach make the jump from a program like X, where they’re mostly relying on kids who are outside the top 50, to a bigger program where the name alone gets them in the game. Guys like Matta and Miller made that jump easily and I would expect Mack will follow. In fact, he’s the guy at that school who really elevated the recruiting profile. He won battles against Big Ten and other high major programs for guys like Bluiett, Scruggs, etc. So we know he can recruit against the big boys. With the platform Louisville offers, I would think he’ll have them right back more or less where Pitino did in terms of profile and results, though I don’t know if there’s anyone they could have gotten who is on Pitino’s level as a pure coach. That’s not a knock on Mack as much as it is just an acknowledgment of how good Pitino is/was.

Capel is going to be more of a crapshoot IMO. He gets a lot of credit for Duke’s move into one and done territory and their success in landing those kids, and he was a good recruiter at Oklahoma. I wonder, though…Pitt isn’t really an easy place to recruit to in basketball. Pennsylvania outside of Philly isn’t really a great basketball talent producer, so your home turf isn’t going to keep you competitive in the ACC. The success that Howland and Dixon had was based largely on second tier recruits from the East who they got to buy into a toughness and defense approach. They weren’t loading up on McDonald’s AAs. Yet Capel has been a guy who’s rep is based largely on his ability to reel those high end types in (though admittedly he’s the guy who got VCU’s program rolling before Shaka Smart, and he did that without top tier players). Will he change the profile at Pitt and land those high end guys or will he try to adapt to recruiting a different kind of player and build it in a way similar to Howland and Dixon?

Mischa · Post #8 » by **Mischa** » Fri Jun 22, 2018 2:25 am

DirtyDez wrote:Damn UK got Reid Travis. I would’ve taken him over any incoming freshman.

He makes UK better, but he's somewhat redundant with PJ Washington. It'll be interesting to see how Cal deals with that.

Mischa · Post #9 » by **Mischa** » Fri Jul 6, 2018 5:36 pm

Maryland has FBI troubles - two subpoenas served relating to CBB case.... The first relates to Diamond Stone, who apparently received a $14,000 payment from Andy Miller's office. Miller, to reset for those who may not remember, is the agent who employed Christian Dawkins as a runner.

The second is more interesting and newsy, as the Stone stuff had been anticipated. Apparently UA made a $20,000 payment to Silvio DeSousa, who ended up at Kansas after having long been considered a lock to go to Maryland. DeSousa's guardian apparently asked KU and Adidas for $20K to repay UA to ensure his commitment to Maryland. So, interesting that A. a payment was made by UA. B. KU (and Adidas) were involved in repaying that payment and C. DeSousa's guardian is also the guardian of current Terp Bruno Fernando.

Book1Nation · Post #10 » by **Book1Nation** » Fri Jul 6, 2018 5:47 pm

Texas Tech is going to end Kansas’ streak of Big 12 titles.

Top 20 recruiting class + 2 of the best grad transfers in the nation coming in + returning guys like Moretti, Culver, Francis and Odiase.

It’s lit, fam.

darealjuice · Post #11 » by **darealjuice** » Fri Jul 6, 2018 9:57 pm

Golanator wrote:Texas Tech is going to end Kansas’ streak of Big 12 titles.

Top 20 recruiting class + 2 of the best grad transfers in the nation coming in + returning guys like Moretti, Culver, Francis and Odiase.

It’s lit, fam.

Yeah good luck with that lol

Book1Nation · Post #12 » by **Book1Nation** » Sat Jul 7, 2018 3:47 am

darealjuice wrote:
Golanator wrote:Texas Tech is going to end Kansas’ streak of Big 12 titles.

Top 20 recruiting class + 2 of the best grad transfers in the nation coming in + returning guys like Moretti, Culver, Francis and Odiase.

It’s lit, fam.

Yeah good luck with that lol

We were like 1 minute and a Keenan Evans injury away from doing it last year...maybe it won’t happen this year but Chris Beard is going to win multiple Big 12 titles before he’s done at Tech.

DirtyDez · Post #13 » by **DirtyDez** » Sat Jul 7, 2018 4:03 am

Golanator wrote:
darealjuice wrote:
Golanator wrote:Texas Tech is going to end Kansas’ streak of Big 12 titles.

Top 20 recruiting class + 2 of the best grad transfers in the nation coming in + returning guys like Moretti, Culver, Francis and Odiase.

It’s lit, fam.

Yeah good luck with that lol

We were like 1 minute and a Keenan Evans injury away from doing it last year...maybe it won’t happen this year but Chris Beard is going to win multiple Big 12 titles before he’s done at Tech.

Did Bill Self announce he’s going to the pros?

Post #14 » by **bwgood77** » Sat Jul 7, 2018 11:12 pm

Golanator wrote:
darealjuice wrote:
Golanator wrote:Texas Tech is going to end Kansas’ streak of Big 12 titles.

Top 20 recruiting class + 2 of the best grad transfers in the nation coming in + returning guys like Moretti, Culver, Francis and Odiase.

It’s lit, fam.

Yeah good luck with that lol

We were like 1 minute and a Keenan Evans injury away from doing it last year...maybe it won’t happen this year but Chris Beard is going to win multiple Big 12 titles before he’s done at Tech.

You also lost your best player.

Book1Nation · Post #15 » by **Book1Nation** » Sun Jul 8, 2018 12:08 am

bwgood77 wrote:
Golanator wrote:
darealjuice wrote:
Yeah good luck with that lol

We were like 1 minute and a Keenan Evans injury away from doing it last year...maybe it won’t happen this year but Chris Beard is going to win multiple Big 12 titles before he’s done at Tech.

You also lost your best player.

And added Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens

Mischa · Post #16 » by **Mischa** » Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:55 am

To no one's surprise, KU has (tacitly) acknowledged it too has received a subpoena from the Feds.

https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-tac...deral-basketball-investigation-142515144.html

Two players appear to be the focus. One I mentioned the other day in connection to Maryland...Silvio DeSousa. The other is Billy Preston, who never played last season for KU after he got in an accident and the NCAA began to investigate how he came to have the automobile involved (shades of the famed Maurice Taylor rollover).

Post #17 » by **bwgood77** » Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:00 am

Arizona Wildcats basketball schedule....be nice to see them get to play Duke in that Maui championship game but it will likely be too tough to make it with Gonzaga or someone else in the way and a weaker recruiting class than usual after the crazy stuff last year and 3 guys going to the NBA and others graduating..

(home games in bold, exact Pac-12 dates TBA, most times TBA):

Oct. 14 Red-Blue Game (scrimmage)

Oct. 30 Western New Mexico (exhibition)

Nov. 4 Chaminade (exhibition)

Nov. 7 Houston Baptist

Nov. 11 Cal Poly

Nov. 14 UTEP

Nov. 19 Iowa State (at Lahaina, Maui) 7 p.m., ESPNU

Nov. 20 Gonzaga or Illinois (at Lahaina, Maui) at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) or 3 p.m. (ESPN2).

Nov. 21 Maui Invitational final game vs. Duke, San Diego State, Xavier or Auburn) TBD

Nov. 28 Texas Southern

Dec 2 at UConn (Hartford)

Dec. 6 Utah Valley

Dec. 9 at Alabama

Dec. 15 Baylor

Dec. 19 Montana

Dec. 22 UC Davis

Jan. 2-6: Colorado, Utah

Jan. 9-13: at Stanford, at Cal

Jan. 16-20: Oregon, OSU

Jan. 23-27: at UCLA, at USC

Jan. 30-Feb. 3: at ASU

Feb. 6-10: WSU, Washington

Feb. 13-17: at Colorado, Utah

Feb. 20-24: Stanford, Cal

Feb. 27-March 3: at Oregon, at OSU

March 6-9: ASU

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/basketball/pascoe/arizona-wildcats-to-open-season-against-houston-baptist/article_58f26252-8f8b-11e8-94ec-df76c9441d91.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

Mischa · Post #18 » by **Mischa** » Thu Jul 26, 2018 5:32 pm

Can Chris Holtmann make OSU elite again?

There’s never a good excuse for OSU not being very good, and yet during my lifetime they’ve been maddeningly inconsistent. Matta gave them the best sustained run since Fred Taylor in the early 60s but then the bottom fell out over his last two years. Guys like Randy Ayers and Jim O’Brien and Eldon MIller had flashes in the pan but couldn’t sustain high level success for various reasons.

They’re the only Big Ten school in the state, something MSU, M, Purdue and IU don’t benefit from. That alone should make them a consistent contender but for different reasons over the years, it’s been spotty.

I think Holtmann will do a good job. He’s recruiting well and showed last year and at Butler that he can teach and get a team to buy into what he wants to do. “Elite?” That’s a tall order for anybody. Need to win multiple conference titles, make multiple Final Fours, etc. to get into that discussion. I’m high on him but I don’t think you can view that as a done deal.

Mischa · Post #19 » by **Mischa** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:19 pm

Should the Big Ten/NCAA expand to Canada?

Carleton University has won 13 of the last 16 Canadian collegiate championships. They haven’t lost a game since 2015-16. It’s a dynasty that, in its own world, makes Wooden-era UCLA look like Pikers.

Well, you might say, big deal…it’s Canada. The level of college basketball up there certainly would leave something to be desired. Overall, that’s certainly a fair statement. However, this whole story (one I was unaware of previously) got my attention because of these scores over the past few days from American college teams playing them on a summer tour of Canada:

Carleton 113 South Dakota State 51 – SDSU has Mike Daum, a likely NBA draft pick next year and a truly elite PF. They have made the NCAA Tournament three straight seasons and five times since 2012.

Carleton 81 Ole Miss 63 – Ole Miss is operating under a new coach, Kermit Davis (you remember him, right? Middle Tennessee), so they’re going through a transition period. Still, an SEC team losing by 18 points?

Carleton 86 Cincinnati 67 – Cincy was 31-5 last year. Now, they did lose 3 starters from that team but expectations are still high for this coming season.

Lest you think that’s a one year fluke, Carleton beat Alabama, Providence and Vandy last year. They also beat WIsconsin during one of their Final Four seasons a few years back.

Their entire roster this year is comprised of Canadians, though some of them have transferred in after starting out at American schools (they have one guard who transferred in this year, for example, from UTEP after averaging almost 10 ppg last season).

https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/08/11/canadian-powerhouse-carleton-is-destroying-american-college-teams-again/

Post #20 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:15 am

Mischa wrote:Should the Big Ten/NCAA expand to Canada?

Carleton University has won 13 of the last 16 Canadian collegiate championships. They haven’t lost a game since 2015-16. It’s a dynasty that, in its own world, makes Wooden-era UCLA look like Pikers.

Well, you might say, big deal…it’s Canada. The level of college basketball up there certainly would leave something to be desired. Overall, that’s certainly a fair statement. However, this whole story (one I was unaware of previously) got my attention because of these scores over the past few days from American college teams playing them on a summer tour of Canada:

Carleton 113 South Dakota State 51 – SDSU has Mike Daum, a likely NBA draft pick next year and a truly elite PF. They have made the NCAA Tournament three straight seasons and five times since 2012.

Carleton 81 Ole Miss 63 – Ole Miss is operating under a new coach, Kermit Davis (you remember him, right? Middle Tennessee), so they’re going through a transition period. Still, an SEC team losing by 18 points?

Carleton 86 Cincinnati 67 – Cincy was 31-5 last year. Now, they did lose 3 starters from that team but expectations are still high for this coming season.

Lest you think that’s a one year fluke, Carleton beat Alabama, Providence and Vandy last year. They also beat WIsconsin during one of their Final Four seasons a few years back.

Their entire roster this year is comprised of Canadians, though some of them have transferred in after starting out at American schools (they have one guard who transferred in this year, for example, from UTEP after averaging almost 10 ppg last season).

https://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2018/08/11/canadian-powerhouse-carleton-is-destroying-american-college-teams-again/

That would be interesting...probably more likely the Big East, which would make more sense given the location. This might make for an interesting thread on the Raptors forum, as I'm sure they'd have more opinions and they have a ton more posters.