NCAA Mens Basketball 2008-2009 Season + Tourny

[Doofus]

Both pre-season polls are out:

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings


AP Top 25
1. North Carolina (72) 0-0 1,800
2. Connecticut 0-0 1,661
3. Louisville 0-0 1,638
4. UCLA 0-0 1,487
5. Pittsburgh 0-0 1,319
6. Michigan State 0-0 1,311
7. Texas 0-0 1,259
8. Duke 0-0 1,250
9. Notre Dame 0-0 1,243
10. Gonzaga 0-0 1,162
11. Purdue 0-0 1,099
12. Oklahoma 0-0 987
13. Memphis 0-0 977
14. Tennessee 0-0 920
15. Arizona State 0-0 645
16. Marquette 0-0 592
17. Miami (FL) 0-0 570
18. USC 0-0 414
19. Florida 0-0 403
20. Davidson 0-0 347
21. Wake Forest 0-0 312
22. Georgetown 0-0 311
23. Villanova 0-0 256
24. Kansas 0-0 233
25. Wisconsin 0-0 196


Others Receiving Votes
Xavier 154, UNLV 143, Baylor 128, Saint Mary's 112, Syracuse 83, Kentucky 75, Ohio State 64, LSU 31, Texas A&M 30, Washington 19, West Virginia 17, Virginia Tech 16, Brigham Young 16, Alabama 16, Siena 13, Washington State 11, Vanderbilt 11, Clemson 11, Arizona 11, Temple 10, Virginia Commonwealth 8, Creighton 7, Butler 7, New Mexico 3, Cleveland State 2, UAB 2, Stanford 2, San Diego 1, American University 1, Cal State Northridge 1, Saint Joseph's 1, Drake 1, Miami (OH) 1.
Complete Rankings


ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. North Carolina (31) 0-0 775
2. Connecticut 0-0 707
3. Louisville 0-0 694
4. UCLA 0-0 650
5. Duke 0-0 578
6. Pittsburgh 0-0 576
7. Michigan State 0-0 572
8. Texas 0-0 538
9. Notre Dame 0-0 525
10. Purdue 0-0 465
11. Gonzaga 0-0 437
12. Memphis 0-0 425
13. Tennessee 0-0 408
14. Oklahoma 0-0 387
15. Arizona State 0-0 304
16. Miami (FL) 0-0 233
17. Marquette 0-0 219
18. Georgetown 0-0 175
19. Florida 0-0 161
20. Davidson 0-0 158
21. USC 0-0 153
21. Wisconsin 0-0 153
23. Kansas 0-0 130
24. Wake Forest 0-0 129
25. Villanova 0-0 122


I dunno why we didn't have a thread for this until the middle of the season last year, lets keep this one going all season and during march madness.

Thoughts? Who's your favorite team? Predictions? Discuss~!


To start us off, go unc yo!

and QQ at hansbrough's leg, hope hes not out for long

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3674076

[Mizango]

Tarheels.


We can end this thread now.

[Tyche]

Roy Williams has had the best talent, been in like 57 final fours, and won...one? championship. Hooray for underacheiving. If anyone beats the team they have this year with the talent he has, he needs to be bitchslapped. Pitino has an incredible group this year. Probably better than the Garcia/Dean final four team. I'm hoping for another final four, but I'll be happy with beating KY and winning the big east. God damned conference is stacked again this year with 4 top ten teams, so that should prove to be quite an accomplishment should it happen.

[Doofus]

lol, well at least that one championship was with UNC <.<

That kansas unc game in the final four last year....i still dont know what happened. that was just an utter breakdown of play.

About this hansbrough thing, ive seen some reports that its OMG CAREER ENDING and others just saying hes gonna rest for a week and be ok, idk which to believe

I agree, if they dont win the title this year, i will have some major questions(barring any major injuries of course).

Its just sad that the only reason UNC is ranked number one is because everyone stayed, its lame that all the other teams suck now because the top players went to the NBA. Didnt florida win like 2 in a row then didnt even make it last year? sad.

UCLA supposed to be strong again, memphis too. Should be an exciting year.

I think Clemson should be in the top 25 at least, i went to school with one of their players and he was good, only a freshman last year but now he will really start to shine imo, plus they got a good coach so we'll see.

[Tyche]

UL returned everyone after going to the elite 8, plus they have some great recruits...but pitino always has great recruits. I don't know how he does it, but he has a way of raping the state of New York's best talent. Mob ties, etc. Like I said in another thread, we'll go in ranked 3rd, lose 8-10 games and enter the tourney as a 5-6 seed and then go to the final four. That's our M.O.

[Doofus]

I just realized the preseason picks last year were:

1. North Carolina (29) 0-0 1,728
2. UCLA (24) 0-0 1,710
3. Memphis (18) 0-0 1,680
4. Kansas 0-0 1,568


for both usa today and AP....

Thats kinda creepy isnt it? Sorta like espn picking all number one seeds to go to the final four and everyone laughed at them <.<

[Mertron]

RUTGERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS


k im leaving now.

[Arvin]

Tarheels.


We can end this thread now.

12-03-08 is the day number one falters and goes into a downward spiral. Tyler Hansbrough being injured doesn't help either.

Can we end this thread now?

[Headspace]

Upset that Xavier isn't ranked.

[Byrd]

I am hoping that the new coach Craig "Barack Obama's brother in law" Robinson will be able to improve upon last year's 0-18 conference record.

If that is all that Oregon State does this year, I will be satisifed with their performance. Getting out of last place would be a nice bonus.

[Ryany]

.....downranked for sucking in the early 2000s. At least this isn't football so opening rankings can't screw you over.

[Plow]

Roy Williams has had the best talent, been in like 57 final fours, and won...one? championship. Hooray for underacheiving.

Be that as it may, Roy Williams players at KU had a 10% better graduation rate than the school overall has. He has his ring, he's an awesome guy, and is much more than just a coach.


Don't be bashin Roy man, it ain't right, that's my qua... er coach.

[Ryany]

High graduation rates in the eyes of the public = Those players go to class and are model student-athletes.

High graduation rates through my eyes = That school knows that there is big money in college athletics and does a good job of rigging their classes to keep players eligible.

I remember Colin Cowherd saying something similar about how most players in an SEC Backfield couldn't put together a full sentence. He obviously was exaggerating, but I think we all know some of these athletes wouldn't stand a chance in hell of passing their classes if they were a normal student in a real major. There's a reason why you almost never see a Duke player that just barley qualified flunk out and it isn't because Coach K is some humanitarian.

I'm not trying to argue about Roy Williams, I just wanted to point out that I feel the graduation rate stat is one of the most useless stats out there.

[Doofus]

Im not sure if this is a woosh or if you truly are that stupid...

The ACC is known for strict academic requirements. Dont you ever wonder why the ACC always sucks at football, and the SEC is always good? SEC has next to no academic requirements for its atheletes, while the ACC has pretty much the highest in the nation.

And for you saying Coach K isnt a good guy (I hate duke fyi but i gotta give him props), he spends a shitload of time with charities and fundraisers, Roy williams does the same thing.

Winning games doesnt make a coach legendary(the good kind), See: bob knight. What they do off the court for their community is, you either need to go read up on what you are talking about or shut the fuck up, Seriously.


And as far as rigging classes, lol. Sure they may take some of the easier majors, but that doesnt mean they take surfing and volleyball. I saw a stat the other day showing how 1 out of the 12 SEC schools had a graduation rate for atheletes above the national average.

The ACC had all schools above the national average. People who live near ACC schools know that they pride themselves on academics (That includes Duke and UNC). Im not sure what they do over there in indiana, but here we have good coaches who actually do care about their kids.

[Plow]

High graduation rates in the eyes of the public = Those players go to class and are model student-athletes.

High graduation rates through my eyes = That school knows that there is big money in college athletics and does a good job of rigging their classes to keep players eligible.

I remember Colin Cowherd saying something similar about how most players in an SEC Backfield couldn't put together a full sentence. He obviously was exaggerating, but I think we all know some of these athletes wouldn't stand a chance in hell of passing their classes if they were a normal student in a real major. There's a reason why you almost never see a Duke player that just barley qualified flunk out and it isn't because Coach K is some humanitarian.

I'm not trying to argue about Roy Williams, I just wanted to point out that I feel the graduation rate stat is one of the most useless stats out there.

Look around at some other graduation rates, you think that's not happening at every major college?

I'll just put it this way, I went to K-State when the football was at its prime, and I took a summer class called "the psychology of ethnic humor." I know what you mean.

But this is everywhere, and still a huge percentage of players don't graduate, not to mention when you have people that could go to the pros year in and year out but don't, it says a lot.

[Tyche]

I couldn't care less if Roy Williams had A 7ft 6inch albert einstein playing center, he's overrated. Grats, your students graduate. Fact of the matter is that if Roy Williams didn't consistantly get great recruits and teams to the final four, he'd be out, gone, see ya later, even if 98% of his athletes graduated. He's arguably had more talent than any coach over the last 10 years and one championship to show for it.

[Plow]

I couldn't care less if Roy Williams had A 7ft 6inch albert einstein playing center, he's overrated. Grats, your students graduate. Fact of the matter is that if Roy Williams didn't consistantly get great recruits and teams to the final four, he'd be out, gone, see ya later, even if 98% of his athletes graduated. He's arguably had more talent than any coach over the last 10 years and one championship to show for it.

Golly gee, if he wasn't a fucking amazing basketball coach, he'd get fired.


How novel an idea.

[Tyche]

"Fucking amazing" is certainly a subjective term. Why bring up graduation rate if you're not going to substantiate your claim when I tell you how meaningless it is in the context of what I originally said?

[Kyo]

Finally Miz we can see eye to eye in a sport, also I doubt if hansborugh is out a few games it'll hurt us, deion thompson can step in and do the job. Can give the rookie some playing time as well.

[Mizango]

Finally Miz we can see eye to eye in a sport, also I doubt if hansborugh is out a few games it'll hurt us, deion thompson can step in and do the job. Can give the rookie some playing time as well.

lol Indeed.