NCAA Basketball 2007-2008

[Akiyama]

Amazing game. It's a shame there was no OT, but man, what a great game. Memphis fought hard.

[Ryany]

I feel things are wide open this year. There's probably 15-20 teams capable of winning it all this year if they get hot come March.

[Tyche]

I'm getting giddy, UofL is raping competition since they got healthy. They started the season ranked 6th in the nation, and I'd make the argument that that is probably where they are now, dismissing the AP and ESPN polls which obviously can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground...

Drake...Butler...OKAY! >.>

1. UCLA
2. UNC
3. Kansas
4. Tennessee
5. Memphis
6. Louisville
7. Georgetown

15+ Duke

[Akiyama]

I'd rather the mid-majors get their respect than a bigger school who DID struggle at the beginning of the year. Top 25 Polls with College Basketball have always irked me. I've never understood them much.

[Tyche]

The only ranked teams they played were each other. Stick 3/4 of the Big East or Pac 10 teams in there, and I'd be shocked to see 2 losses.

[Akiyama]

The only ranked teams they played were each other. Stick 3/4 of the Big East or Pac 10 teams in there, and I'd be shocked to see 2 losses.

See, that's just it. You can't do that. Just like with football, you can't take lolOSU and put them in the SEC and watch them go 7-5 (if they're lucky). You can't take LSU, AU, or UGA and put them in the Big 10 and watch them possibly go undefeated. You can't take Drake and put them in the Big 12 or Big East and watch them struggle. They play who they have to on their schedule and they are being rewarded for that just like UL are finally being rewarded for playing good with Padgett(sp) back.

Also, I personally think the Big East/Big 10 are stronger this year with the Pac 10, ACC and Big 12 right behind. That's just my personal opinion. SEC sucks at basketball. I'll be the first to admit it (even though FLorida won two years in a row.)

[Tyche]

Teams are ranked on SoS all the time. college football does a decent job of doing it. Hawaii, undefeated, took 14 weeks to reach top 10. I'm looking at this, as if these teams were to play on a neutral court, who would win more than 50% of their games, and rank em down.

[Akiyama]

Teams are ranked on SoS all the time. college football does a decent job of doing it. Hawaii, undefeated, took 14 weeks to reach top 10. I'm looking at this, as if these teams were to play on a neutral court, who would win more than 50% of their games, and rank em down.

Yeah, I completely understand. I like SoS. I don't like the RPI system the NCAA uses for basketball. I think it's pretty off. In football, almost any given team can win any given day. Basketball, it's a little harder because in football, if your lineup isn't completely loaded, you can just replace him with someone decent enough to get by (except QB). With basketball, if say.. UCLA, who has great talent (just an example) played a team like Oral Roberts, 99% of the time, UCLA SHOULD win. Basketball is just more dependent on the athletes than another sport.

I guess my point is, we'll find out what happens when March Madness starts. I always root for mid-majors to succeed (except Hawaii, because I wanted them to get their asses beat) and I'm happy they are ranked, even though they don't have nearly as tough competition.

[Tyche]

Here's the latest Vegas handicapper poll. Sex. I completely disagree with Duke. Think they are vastly overrated (yeah, I know they beat UNC at home). Also think UCLA is the best team in the nation.

Rank 	Team (AP Rank) 
1 	KANSAS (4) 	
2 	UCLA (6) 	
3 	NO CAROLINA (3) 	
4 	MEMPHIS (1) 	
5 	DUKE (5) 	
6 	TENNESSEE (2) 	
7 	LOUISVILLE (18) 	
8 	GEORGETOWN (12) 	
9 	STANFORD (9) 	
10 	WASHINGTON STATE (17) 	
10 	INDIANA (15) 	
12 	CLEMSON (28) 	
13 	WISCONSIN (11) 	
14 	CONNECTICUT (13) 	
15 	TEXAS (7) 	
16 	TEXAS A&M (22) 	
17 	WEST VIRGINIA (37+) 	
17 	XAVIER (10) 	
17 	MARQUETTE (25) 	
20 	MICHIGAN STATE (19) 	
21 	KANSAS STATE (24) 	
21 	GONZAGA (28) 	
23 	NOTRE DAME (21) 	
24 	ARIZONA (30) 	
25 	PITTSBURGH (26) 	
26 	MISSISSIPPI STATE (31) 	
27 	ARKANSAS (37+) 
28 	PURDUE (14) 	
29 	USC (37+) 	
30 	BUTLER (8)

Hope UL can win out and win the big east tourney, hopefully snatching a #1 seed, #2 at worst.

[Akiyama]

Duke is really overrated for sure. They live by the 3 and die by the 3. UNC is pretty fucking good though with the way Hansborough has taken over and taken his game to a new level. Love out there in UCLA is great too, and yeah. I'd say UCLA is probably the best team in the nation with UNC close behind. Other than that, I pretty much agree. Hope UL does well, I like em.

I don't really see UL getting a #1 seed. If they win out, I see em getting at best a #2.

[octopus]

No one is as overrated as Indiana in that list.

[Tyche]

No one is as overrated as Indiana in that list.

Gordon and White are really really good, but I don't know how good they can be with an inexperienced coach.

@ Akiyama. UCLA, UNC, and Memphis are pretty much locks. That leaves Duke (lol), Tennessee, Kansas, and, imo, the Big east winner (assuming the winner of the final UL/Georgetown game goes on to win the tourney) all have a viable shot at getting the last #1 seed. You can't dismiss winning the Big East Tourney and regular season. Guess it depends on how Kansas and Tennessee finish up including tourney play.

[Akiyama]

Uh.. Indiana is still playing decent ball with their Coach gone after another illegal act. Eric Gordon is pretty good (Not Beasley, Love, Hansborough good mind you), but still a pretty damn good freshman. Don't forget the beast, DJ White. I don't think Indiana is nearly as overrated though as Duke.

Now if you just hate Indiana all together, then ok. =P

[Ryany]

The RPI could be perfect with a little tweaking. The thing I don't like about the RPI is how you can win a game by 40 against a terrible team and have it hurt you or how you could lose a game by 40 against a good team and have it help you. Things seem to rely a little too much on SoS.

I'd like to see some sort of cap on how much a bad team can hurt your SoS. Maybe they should make something such as the #150 RPI team counts the same against your SoS as playing the #300 RPI team. There really isn't a difference for tournament teams on how those games would end up. (blowouts) A real life example could be a top 25 team playing #154 Fordham and another top 25 team playing #330 Princeton. The team playing Princeton would take a much bigger SoS blow even though both games would likely not be any different. (blowouts)

[octopus]

Now if you just hate Indiana all together, then ok. =P

Well maybe there's some of that ;o but I have watched a lot of their games, and they're just not impressing me. As a supposedly "top ten" team, they should be wiping the opposition given how weak the Big Ten is this year, but they are just barely winning most of the time. DJ White is awesome, and Eric Gordon is pretty good, but I still don't think they're that good (top twenty maybe, but no way top ten)

They're probably only sweet sixteen material. If they play Duke, Duke wins hands down.

[Byrd]

Vegas handicapper poll

That's interesting. The three teams tied at the top of the Big 10 are T10, 13, and 28 (and, if they all win out, #28 wins the tiebreaker). No doubt that Purdue had a shitty early season (i.e. losing at home to Wofford), but right now, those teams should probably be fairly even. It's odd to me that there's a lot of discrepancy in the Vegas poll, and less in the AP/Coaches poll; I would think it would be the other way around.

Random side note: Due to the unbalanced schedule in the Big 10, Purdue and Indiana only play once this year (@IU). I realize that the schedule is dictated by the conference, but why didn't the AD's of PU and IU get together and agree to play a non-conference game in West Lafayette? Surely that would have been better than scheduling yet another creampuff. Can you imagine Duke and UNC only playing once a year?

[Vade]

Erin Andrew Picture Thread...

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp? ... forum_id=5

[octopus]

Erin Andrew Picture Thread...

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp? ... forum_id=5

nice...

[Doofus]

Through games of Thursday, February 28
                                                        SOS  1-50   51-100  101-200  201+     Non Conference    L10  RD/NT
Rnk Team                     Conf   W-L   RPI    SOS     Rk   W-L     W-L     W-L     W-L      W-L  RPI  SOS    W-L   W-L
  1 Tennessee                 SEC  24-3  .6874  .6135     2  10-2     2-1    10-0     2-0     13-1    1    5    9-1  11-3 
  2 Memphis                  CUSA  27-1  .6681  .5760    15   6-1     6-0    10-0     5-0     14-1    2    9    9-1  11-0 
  3 North Carolina            ACC  26-2  .6663  .5884     5   6-1    10-1     5-0     5-0     15-0    3   30    8-2  13-0 
  4 Texas                     B12  23-4  .6591  .5959     3  10-3     3-1     5-0     5-0     12-2   13   23    9-1   9-3 
  5 Duke                      ACC  24-3  .6590  .5778    12   5-2     9-1     6-0     4-0     13-1   10   73    8-2   9-3 
  6 Xavier                    A10  24-4  .6475  .5738    17   6-1     7-3     8-0     3-0     12-3   11   15   10-0  10-3 
  7 Vanderbilt                SEC  24-4  .6429  .5624    37   4-3     5-1     9-0     6-0     15-0    7  108    8-2   6-4 
  8 UCLA                      P10  24-3  .6411  .5661    33   6-2     7-0     5-1     6-0     11-1   24  100    9-1  11-1 
  9 Kansas                    B12  24-3  .6403  .5474    67   4-2     7-1     9-0     4-0     14-0    8  136    7-3   8-3 
 10 Georgetown                 BE  23-4  .6372  .5523    56   4-4     3-0    13-0     3-0     10-1   17  124    8-2   8-4 

 11 Wisconsin                 B10  24-4  .6318  .5611    38   5-4     0-0    15-0     4-0     10-2   30   62    8-2   9-2 
 12 Louisville                 BE  23-6  .6314  .5838     8   8-4     2-2     9-0     4-0     10-3   29   21    9-1   9-4 
 13 Drake                     MVC  22-4  .6255  .5444    74   4-2     4-1     9-1     5-0      8-1   14   97    7-3  10-3 
 14 Connecticut                BE  22-6  .6255  .5717    20   6-4     3-1     7-1     6-0     11-2   22   60    9-1   8-5 
 15 Marquette                  BE  20-6  .6214  .5706    23   3-6     6-0     5-0     6-0      9-1   23  103    8-2   6-5 
 16 Michigan St.              B10  22-6  .6196  .5569    47   4-4     3-0    10-2     5-0     12-1    6   35    6-4   6-6 
 17 Indiana                   B10  24-4  .6161  .5473    69   6-4     2-0     9-0     7-0     11-2   37   90    7-3   8-2 
 18 Butler                   Horz  26-3  .6160  .5183   118   2-1     6-2    10-0     8-0     11-1   18   92    9-1  15-2 
 19 Notre Dame                 BE  21-6  .6105  .5533    53   6-5     3-1     4-0     8-0     10-2  117  283    8-2   5-6 
 20 Stanford                  P10  23-4  .6102  .5267    99   4-1     6-3     5-0     8-0     11-1   55  292    9-1   8-3 

 21 Arizona                   P10  16-11 .6088  .6220     1   5-6     5-3     3-2     3-0      9-3    4    6    5-5   6-6 
 22 Washington St.            P10  22-6  .6080  .5539    52   4-5     5-1     4-0     9-0     12-0   19  218    6-4  14-2 
 23 Clemson                   ACC  19-7  .6062  .5688    27   3-5     5-1     6-1     5-0     11-2   49  175    6-4   6-5 
 24 Brigham Young             MWC  22-6  .6058  .5365    89   2-3     5-2     5-1    10-0     11-4   64  126    9-1   8-6 
 25 Pittsburgh                 BE  19-8  .6016  .5684    29   3-5     6-2     5-0     5-1     11-1    9   89    5-5   5-6 
 26 Miami FL                  ACC  18-8  .6000  .5698    25   4-3     4-3     4-2     6-0     12-1   28  164    5-5   7-6 
 27 Purdue                    B10  22-6  .5988  .5352    91   5-3     0-1    10-2     7-0      9-4  140  236    9-1   7-5 
 28 Kent St.                  MAC  23-5  .5974  .5121   134   2-2     6-1     5-0    10-2     12-3   20   61    9-1   8-5 
 29 Nevada Las Vegas          MWC  20-6  .5962  .5404    81   1-3     5-2     5-1     9-0     10-3   45   55    8-2   6-4 
 30 South Alabama              SB  22-5  .5958  .5121   133   1-2     2-1     9-2    10-0      7-3   54   91    8-2   8-5

First off, Drake has a SoS so far ahead of butler that it evens out with the record.

Second, UNC is show? We have a SoS of 5, only lost 2 games, and we have been playing what would amount to our 3rd string point guard(Lawson and fraiser are injured) since the Florida state game, that includes both losses. Lawson will be back before the next duke game and the tournaments, UNC will be a threat.

Also, I believe the ACC is at least the most exciting conference to watch, because its the only one where in any single game the win is up for grabs. Every team has the capability of winning each game. They have consistently been on top of the conference RPI, and if you watch the games you understand why, it is packed full of great teams.

Duke has been falling off the past few weeks with 2 losses. One game was the only one is the schools history where all 5 starters have fouled out, since I'm a UNC fan naturally I hate duke but when they show up to play they can play, however I don't see them as a title contender anymore.

I'm not going to claim to understand how the rankings work(I know about the polls, but not what they judge their vote on), but after watching most o the top 10 teams play, I feel they are correct.

[Ryany]

Vegas handicapper poll

That's interesting. The three teams tied at the top of the Big 10 are T10, 13, and 28 (and, if they all win out, #28 wins the tiebreaker). No doubt that Purdue had a shitty early season (i.e. losing at home to Wofford), but right now, those teams should probably be fairly even. It's odd to me that there's a lot of discrepancy in the Vegas poll, and less in the AP/Coaches poll; I would think it would be the other way around.

I'm surprised they still have them that low if that poll is current. I was reading something the other day about how Purdue has one of the better records against the spread this year.

Random side note: Due to the unbalanced schedule in the Big 10, Purdue and Indiana only play once this year (@IU). I realize that the schedule is dictated by the conference, but why didn't the AD's of PU and IU get together and agree to play a non-conference game in West Lafayette? Surely that would have been better than scheduling yet another creampuff. Can you imagine Duke and UNC only playing once a year?

It seems like Indiana only wants the 2nd game when they don't get a home game. This happened about 6 years ago where there were 2 straight years where both teams played each other once. They played a non-conference game in the RCA Dome the year the only Big Ten Game was at Purdue, but did not the year the only Big Ten Game was at Indiana. Most people on the Gold and Black Illustrated boards seem to share my opinion that Purdue should refuse to play a non conference game next year against them because so far they have had 2 separate years where the only game was at IU and a non-conference game was not played.

I don't understand why there are not protected rivalries in Big Ten Basketball considering they have them in football. In fact, I believe there are 2 protected rivalries per team in football. One guaranteed game out of 18 in basketball isn't too much to ask considering they have 2 guaranteed games in football out of 8 games. Of course football regular season games are far more important than basketball too. I would say they should expand to 20 games and play every team twice, but they just upped everything to 18 this year, so I doubt they would up things again. If things were done my way, they would get rid of the Big Ten Tournament to make room so they could have 20 games. (but the Big Ten Tournament is about $$$ so that won't happen)

My biggest complaint is that things are unbalanced with the schedule this year if you compare the 3 teams in the Big Ten competing for the title in terms of who they don't play.

Wisconsin --- Doesn't play at Michigan State (likely loss)
Indiana --- Doesn't play at Purdue (likely loss)
Purdue --- Doesn't play Indiana at home (likely win)

Remember the top 4 teams in the Big Ten are something like 26-2 at home in conference play this year.