NCAA Hoops!

[PRMoon]

With football season winding down, the hoops season will be heating up. Who do you guys will make the march to March?

 

[LA_Chico]

Cal-State Fullerton bro! GO TITANS!

 

[Unregistered]

This is a great year for college basketball. You can't really pick one dominant team. 6 Teams stand out for me:

North Carolina has the most talent in the nation. They can definitely be beaten, however. Hansbrough is one of my favorite players in CBB, and the freshman Wright is a stud.

Ohio State is very good and will be downright scary in March. A bunch of quick, athletic players who can shoot 3's + Greg Oden. They've lost all of their big games (Florida, North Carolina, and Wisc.) but Oden is still recovering from his injury. Watch out for them.

Kansas is looking very good after the early season stumble to Oral Roberts. They probably have the best pressure defense in the nation. We'll see how their half-court offense improves over the Big-12 conference games. They've shown how good they can be in their wins over Florida and Oklahoma State. Rush is out of his shooting slump, and Sasha Kaun is healthy again, but Mario Chalmers is the guy to watch on this team, though they have a bunch of players that can burn you. Keep an eye on Fr. PG Sherron Colllins, he had 23 last game.

In the early season people were talking about Florida being the most dominant CBB team since '91 UNLV. No way. However, Florida still might have the best team in the nation. They made Ohio State look downright bad. Very balanced team. Joakim Noah annoys the hell out of me, but he can play with the best. Brewer and Horford are also great players. I'm not sure why Taurean Green is leading them in scoring.

I haven't seen much of Wisconsin, but they seem good. Tucker is putting up amazing numbers and has a great chance for national POY.

UCLA wins games with defense. I saw them absolutely choke out a very good Texas A&M team. Collison is doing great things at PG. Even though UNC, KU, and Florida have more pure talent than UCLA, the Bruins might have the best team.

Other thoughts:

Duke is overrated this year, despite having 5 McD's AA on the roster. After I saw them struggle against mediocre teams at Cameron, I knew they'd get smoked in the ACC. I think they'll drop out of the top-25 for most of the season. Still, I wouldn't underestimate Coach K in March.

The Big 10 is down this year, other than OSU and Wisconsin. There are a bunch of average teams battling for the third spot (Indiana, MSU, MU, and Illinois). It'll be interesting to see how many teams they get into the dance.

Even though Oden is the most hyped freshman in many years, Kevin Durant is the best in the nation. 6'9 and a 7'5 wingspan - pretty impossible to guard. Texas plays a bunch of freshman and could make some noise in the tourny.

The Big East is young (other than Pitt) but has some teams with great potential, and some nice surprises (WVA and Notre Dame).

Oklahoma State and Texas just played the game of the year. Triple overtime. Ok. State is really good this year. Too bad they lost their best freshman Obi Muonelo. that kid could play. Still, they play good defense and have two great players in Curry and Boggan.

Arizona is a team to watch in March.

 

[Unregistered]

BUMP.

Alabama is overrated, too.

 

[PRMoon]

I'm pullin for UNC! I picked them last year after the 06 tournament was over. They were a mostly freshman team and they still made it deep into the playoffs. I give credit to the man Roy Williams. Coaching has NEVER been so good as what he can provide. He did a good job in Kansas, getting them to the finals a few times and the tournament every year, but when he went back to UNC (his university) he just started turning it out. He does the best coaching job in college basketball hands down, no arugments.

 

[Roly]

Speaking of the NCAA..... Where's JJ Red**** these days? Is that dude a superstar yet? He definitely would be on my roster, every championship team always has to have a three point bomber. Steve Kerr, Robert Horry, Danny Ainge you name it man.

 

[PRMoon]

Speaking of the NCAA..... Where's JJ Red**** these days? Is that dude a superstar yet? He definitely would be on my roster, every championship team always has to have a three point bomber. Steve Kerr, Robert Horry, Danny Ainge you name it man.

Another unfortunate by product of the Duke basket ball system. His number will be retired in febuary at duke. He is the all time points leader for the ACC, which is no small feat. A great career at duke but that's where the story ends.

He plays for the Orlando magic now, where he averages 4.4 pts a game. He has more fouls then he does points. Even he himself said he expected to be a utility player like 80 percent of the NBA and not a superstar. He's not really the go to guy anymore.

 

[Unregistered]

Re**** doesn't really have an NBA game.

 

[Rollo Tomassi]

Wolf Pack, Nevada!

 

[ValleyDJing]

Florida is gonna win it again. Whats to predict?

 

[PRMoon]

Bump.

What the hell! It's almost torney time!

 

[Bible_Belt]

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

There are some unusual schools in the top 25. Southern Illinois is ranked ahead of Duke - I imagine that's the first time that has ever happened.

 

[Bonhomme]

Even though they dropped a turd @ Washington, I like UCLA. The Pac 10 has been very tough, and a bit underrated (except for Arizona).

North Carolina is the greatest offensive threat, the best team in the deepest conference, and took out Ohio State (albeit assisted by home court advantage and Oden's injury). The computer rankings I think are best ("Bow Down to Entropy") have them #1.

Ohio State could take it all, as long as Florida gets KO'd before they meet. Florida slaughtered them, and Oden was playing (perhaps not 100%), so I don't think OSU matches up well against Florida. Florida's been inconsistent, but can't be counted out.

Somehow I don't think Kansas is going to come through, but it wouldn't shock me if they do, either. As for Wisconsin, one of their key players is injured, so that may be their undoing. A few weeks ago, I'd have given them as good a chance as anybody.

Dark horse to watch out for? Michigan State. Their only bad loss was against Purdue away, coming off a tough down-to-the-wire game at OSU. They've taken Ohio State and Wisconsin to the wire away, beat Wisconsin at home, beat Texas on a neutral court, and belted Belmont. They're #1 among major colleges in scoring defense, very well-coached, and always strong from the foul line. All the good computer ranking algorithms (Bow Down to Entropy, Sagarin, Greenfield) have them top 25 (#18 in "Entropy" and Sagarin "predictor"), and they'll probably be seeded about #10 (should be about #4 or 5).

 

[Bonhomme]

Well, round one is history, with only 2 big upsets, 11 over 6 ones at that. Miami of Ohio came damn close to pulling a huge upset, but was short by one 3-pointer that didn't drop. A pretty dull, predictable 1st round, comapred to the last few wacky years.

All the big guys took care of business pretty easily (though Wisconsin took a long time to get in gear), and tonight my dark horse (MSU) faces mighty North Carolina. Both did very well in their 1st round games. Of course I have to favor UNC, but MSU's defense just could slay the giant. Depends upon who's hot and who's not, and how the teams match up. Could be anything from a UNC blowout to a MSU upset.

As I type this a stone-cold Ohio State is having a helluva time with Xavier, speaking of giant-killing defensive efforts.

Florida kicked major tail in the conference tournament, and likewise the 1st round, so I won't argue with those who say they're the team to beat. Still, any team that remains is damn good, and you never know who might get the hot hand...

 

[PRMoon]

I can't believe UNLV and Nevada Reno are both in the big dance this year. Concidering they're the only colleges in the state, I think that's pretty special.

I still like UNC. Vitale picked them to win it all too. Damn I wish I would have put 100 dollars on them at the end of last years tornament for them to make it to round 3 at least. I'd of raked it in big time.

 

[ValleyDJing]

In all of Florida's wins this year (including the top ranked Buckeyes), they won by like over 20, including several by more the 40, a couple more than 50, and they even beat one team this year by 61 points! Some teams don't score 61 points all game, let alone win by that much. They dropped 71 in the second half yesterday! Yeah, everybody else is pretty much f.ucked. Don't worry though, there's always next year.

 

[Bonhomme]

Wow, Xavier gave Ohio State a helluva scare!

I was a bit torn between Big 11 (sic) loyalty and my tendency to root for the underdog/mid-major. Great game. OSU showed a lot of guts in pulling it out, but they definitely look like the most beatable of the top seeds at this point.

 

[Rollo Tomassi]

I can't believe UNLV and Nevada Reno are both in the big dance this year. Concidering they're the only colleges in the state, I think that's pretty special.

And UNR took Creighton on Friday too,..heh.

Wolf Pack kick ass. They got to the sweet 16 in 2004 and have been in the NCAA finals for the last 4 years.

and yes, UNR is my Alma Mater,..

 

[Roly]

Anyone here saw Kobe's 65 game performance last night? ooops oh yeah this is the NCAA, not the NBA thread. But damn, he was showing flashes of MJ...maybe even better. KOBE= this generation's MJ. Screw Lebron, Kobe is the real deal. Kobe has that thing similar to what MJ had, it's that they both have the killer instinct.

 

[Bonhomme]

MSU did give UNC a hell of a game, but Hansbrough and foul trouble were ultimately too much for them. I didn't see the game, only heard some of it on the radio while in the car, so I don't know to what extent, if any, the home state crowd may have affected the way the game was called. But it usually is the case that an outmanned team has to play bit rougher to hang. Still, I wonder how things would shake down if they play somewhere in Michigan...

Hansbrough's gutsy decision to unmask himself may be the reason UNC is still in it. Mad props to him.

No big surprises in this round so far, but a lot of good games, several of which were closer than their scores indicated. I wouldn't call a #6 seed (Vandy) veating at #3 seed (Wash. State) an upset. I was surprised at how close VCU came, given how they trailed most of the game by a big margin.