ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 12:08 PM) Agree with this. I could maaaaybe even go slightly below that. For example, Matt Lottich supposedly had a 26 on his ACT when he went to Stanford. A 26 isn't going to get you even sniffed at for regular Stanford admissions, but it shows you're fairly intelligent. I'm fairly sure they go a decent amount lower than that, especially for football. If I remember right, they were talking about a guy on the fringe that had like a 2.4 GPA and a 20/21 ACT, and they would have taken lower if his GPA were better (he ultimately didn't get in). It's hard to say though because they don't reveal their numbers as a private school. You have to keep in mind what other schools will take though. Last time I looked at a list of average SAT scores, Georgia Tech was the highest by a fair margin at like 1000 (old scale, and private schools didn't have data). People also love to point to Sean Dockery at Duke, who got in with a 15 ACT.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) I was thinking recently, whatever happened to him? Basically he couldn't play. His situation was funny for a few reasons: 1) People were excited for him because he was 1st team All-State (I think) even though he didn't have amazing offers. 2) He didn't want to redshirt his first year even though Carmody told him he wouldn't play. 3) That was the same year Shurna came in, and a lot of people assumed NU offered Shurna in order to get Fruendt.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:45 AM) I'm not talking about those guys. Look at the state tourney this year, there are plenty of good players with only MAC level offers that would be great at NW. I am just saying I dont think NW will be a tourney level program unless they bring in someone who can really recruit. And I dont think Michigan runs Princeton. That's basically what they do. Sometimes it works out and they get Michael Thompson, John Shurna or Drew Crawford. Much more often, they end up with Sterling Williams, Nick Fruendt, Jeff Ryan or Mike Cappocci. It's really hard to compete in the Big Ten when you typically only have 3 or 4 guys that belong in the league. And Michigan definitely runs a variation of the Princeton, they play with their center up high and rely on driving/cuts. They allow a lot more improvisation because their players are actually good.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:16 AM) Understandable but 13 years of status quo should be enough to try something else. There is bball talent all around the state of IL that leaks into MAC schools that they could keep home. I think you need someone who can actually recruit. MAC-level talent going against Big Ten schools doesn't end well. Their recruiting has improved, but even against Wisconsin or Minnesota, there are several guys on the floor that were more highly regarded than the type of guys NU can get. There are also a number of guys that would never get through admissions. I'd kill to have Trevor Mbakwe in purple, but the administration might fire Carmody for even asking him about someone with his past.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) I dont know if I agree with that. Bball teams have such limited schollies there should be enough talent even in this area to go around. I think Carmody's system has hurt his recruiting efforts. The problem is even Illinois doesn't get the superstar type recruits (ie Parker, Rose, et all) and the top-75 type recruits will get offers from every other Big Ten school. They're pretty much never going to beat OSU, Illinois, Wisconsin, hell even Purdue for recruits without some major changes. I really don't think the system is the issue either. Georgetown and Michigan both use it and the swing at Wisconsin has a lot of the same principles.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 10:14 AM) Realistically, who better are you going to get to take that job? That is probably one of the most impossible jobs in the entire country. I think this is a big part of the issue. Any proven coach is probably going to laugh at them when they call. A couple of stories related to this... 1) Jim Calhoun was considering taking the job before he went to UConn. Unfortunately, he talked to Bob Knight first, who basically told him he'd be crazy to consider it. I believe the money quote was "coaching graveyard". Obviously the rest is history. 2) At one point, they were talking to Tommy Amaker, back when everyone wanted Duke assistants. He gave the administration two transcripts and asked if they would be able to get in. Administration told him no, and Amaker moved on. Those two transcripts were Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley. They've had some coaches with pretty decent resumes in the past and the typical winning percentage is like .300. Carmody has been the most successful they've had since one stretch in like the 50's.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 10:22 AM) But the Football program has done well; what impediments are there for basketball that aren't for football? A couple other people already commented, but it's easier for them to recruit/compete in football due to a few factors: 1) It's a lot easier to develop studs in football than basketball. Guys like Corey Wootton and Sherrick McManis were 2-star recruits but eventually developed physically and became NFL players. In basketball, no matter how much someone like Kevin Coble develops, he's never going to be Carmelo Anthony. 2) The recruiting pool is distributed differently. In football, the elite teams/programs are typically in suburban areas with money and the guys are more likely to qualify at NU. In basketball, a much larger percentage of the good recruits are in the Chicago public league, where academics become a huge issue. 3) It's a little easier to hide an athletic deficiency in football. Football you can go with the spread and try to do a cover 2/cover 3 to try to limit big plays. It doesn't totally work, but it keeps things closer. In basketball, it's extremely difficult to defend/rebound with unathletic 6'7" white guys. 4) Pat Fitzgerald seems to be taking the program to another level right now (they're occasionally beating real programs for recruits), but he's also working with a history of some recent success. Gary Barnett greatly improved the program's visibility in 95/96, and they were fairly consistently competitive under Walker. In basketball, the program was crap. They went 5-25 in Kevin O'Neill's last year and multiple players left the program in the transition. Carmody has the only two 20-win seasons in program history and has more NIT appearances than the rest of their history combined.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) Who's a NW fan here? Zoom? Didn't Carmody sign their best recruit ever and he's made it known that he'll leave if Carmody leaves? Jaren Sina is one of the better recruits they've had. He was a 4-star pretty much everywhere before he committed to NU (that seems to happen a lot ). Right now he's rated similarly to Jitim Young (somewhere in the 80-120 range if I remember correctly) and Jerson Cobb (was like 90, fell below 100 in Rivals' spring update when he was recruited). I don't know if he's come out and said exactly those words, but he (and his dad, who I believe is his coach) have said something like "he will have to seriously reconsider his options if Bill Carmody is not retained."

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 15, 2013 -> 08:06 AM) The injuries are not his fault, but I really doubt that is a tournament team if everyone stays healthy and passes their classes. Their new facilities which are either being built or about to begin construction will help them. Carmody seems like a good guy and probably is a good coach, but it isn't working at NU. Of course you can say that for every NU basketball coach, so the problem is probably not with the coaches. Chances are the next guy is going to fail. I wonder if Carmody even wants to come back. He must be sick of the beatings and all the job speculation the last couple of years, but I would imagine he's gone either way. This was definitely not "the year" like a few in the past. Outside of Crawford and to a lesser extent Sobolewski, there were a ton of question marks. They had no #2 scorer (people were hoping Cobb before he got suspended) and the interior was still a huge issue (two transfers and a few freshmen bigs). Add in the injuries and it was always going to get ugly. The problem with the new facilities is that it's mostly about football with the indoor practice field and new offices. I'm not even sure there will be a basketball court in the facility, specifics are still a bit sketchy since it isn't really moving along yet. I would assume hoops will have access to the weight room ect, but there's nothing being done to the locker rooms or arena yet.

Wow, Northwestern talk! Nice, because the NU rivals board is horrible right now. I'll respond to several posts because it's easier for me that a huge wall of text.

Iowa should be winning by about 30, they've missed a ton of wide open jumpers.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 09:08 PM) ND deserves to lose just for those unis. Those are beyond horrific.

The bubble is already full of mediocre teams as it is, adding 60 more isn't going to improve anything.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) Truth be told, lack of big wins or not, Iowa right now is just as good of a basketball team as Illinois or Minnesota and they are in. Iowa has to beat NU, beat MSU and win another to get in. If Iowa is 9-9 in the Big 10 without beating anybody, the 8-10 teams who have beaten good teams have some brutal losses. But that is how it is. Its not like any of them are going to win. Many years ago, back when Jalen was playing and Digger was coaching, that was a general rule. If you weren't at least .500 in your conference, you were NIT bound at best. Not exactly true since Iowa had a loss at Nebraska. It helped quite a bit that the worst team that they only played once was Illinois. Minnesota only played Purdue and Penn State once and Illinois missed a game against Penn State as well as the previously mentioned Iowa game. An extra game each against the worst team in the league could easily swing that one game, not to mention that there was another winnable game for both of them.

I was just watching Jalen Rose and Digger Phelps on ESPN talking about U of I/Minnesota/Iowa and they're fairly clueless. Their main point was that you shouldn't be in the tournament if you are under .500 in conference and Iowa could/should be in with a win over NU. THEY DIDN'T BEAT ANYONE THIS YEAR!!! Well, okay, that's a slight exaggeration: they beat Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota at home (and I guess Iowa State), but you just spent the last couple minutes s***ting all over the last two teams. The 4 teams that they only played once were MSU, Michigan, OSU and Illinois, so why should we care that they had one more conference win than Illinois and Minnesota?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 14, 2013 -> 01:02 PM) Woo what an ending. Tubby Smith please pick up your pick slip at the front desk. I never really thought about it before, but he has zero seasons above .500 in conference and zero tournament wins (so far) at Minnesota. That's pretty embarrassing for a guy with his reputation.

My personal guess is MSU, but not many teams would surprise me.

I read an article about that thing and immediately thought "who the hell is going to buy this?" Console gamers are going to balk at the price since you might be able to get two systems for that price, and PC gamers that would have that kind of cash to burn are going to want to pick their own components/build it themselves. Also note that it says it "starts" at $1,000, there are two options with bigger hard drives that cost several hundred dollars more.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 03:29 PM) Frankly, the guy in college basketball who is the best in the business right now at "developing talent" is Calipari. If your kid is a 5 star recruit, send them to Calipari and see them get drafted in the first round the next year (even this year, Noel, Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein are showing up in first round mocks). Someone will probably give you grief for that, but I do find it pretty amazing that he's been able to get those blue-chippers to play defense and generally share the ball. Even this year, they're a pretty respectable 33rd in offensive efficiency and 53rd in defensive efficiency, and that latter one has fallen a lot since Noel got hurt (I read a blurb somewhere that their defense is over 15 points worse per 100 possessions since his injury). Speaking of Kentucky, their situation fascinates me right now. Does Cal WANT anyone to come back next year? Normally that'd be a stupid question, but I wonder this year. They might want to distance themselves from this class and who knows what promises he made to the incoming class. Under normal circumstances, I'd say only Noel should declare (even with the ACL, he's a top-5 pick, maybe #1). Poythress, Cauley-Stein and Goodwin could all really use another year. However, there would be a huge roster crunch if they did come back. The Harrison twins are clearly going to play a ton, and Young, Johnson and Lee could all crack the lineup too. Then there's Harrow and Wiltjer, who are almost certainly back. Can they really balance that many talented players? I suppose it's moot because those guys will probably go if they're first rounders, but that would be an interesting team if one or more came back. They could probably survive without Goodwin easily, I think they could use Cauley-Stein or Poythress coming back for some proven production inside (I have no idea how much of an early impact Johnson and Lee will make). Of course all of that changes if they land Wiggins, Randle or Gordon too.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 12, 2013 -> 11:53 AM) He's being an idiot, whether intention or by ignorance I'm not sure. Ever tried to argue with an idiot? It's like banging your head against a very thick wall. You can never win so you just stop. Kinda like arguing with a guy that posts opinions as facts and then questions your basketball knowledge if you dare disagree with him (and I do intend to stop).

Tournament of most hated college athletes of the last 30 years. If for no other reason, had to post it for Duke having their own bracket.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 08:48 PM) If Zeller came back (not likely) what happens to the schollies they were hoping on banking? You must really want to drive Hoosier fans nuts today if you're bringing up their scholarship situation.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 12:20 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2767499:date=Mar 10, 2013 -> 10:05 PM:name=buhbuhburrrrlz)-->QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 10:05 PM) <!--quotec--> love the kids reactions Poor Brandon Knight. If you go on google right now and type Brandon Knight, it actually suggests "Brandon Knight dead" because of the memes/comments from that dunk.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:19 PM) That's the problem with numbers. They don't always tell the story. For Cody to have done the same thing as last year would have been a big improvement just based on how teams defended him. But by looking at the numbers, you'll miss that Cody has become a better passer, he has extended his range in a big way and he's a better defender. Cody doesn't care how much he scores if the team wins. Watford has rebounded much better this year and been more consistent. He has struggled in the last few games, but he has been solid all year long as a 3rd or 4th option on this team. Hulls has improved light years in the past two years. He is actually a very good off the ball defender and has improved greatly on the ball despite physical limitations. Hulls handles the ball and passes much, much better than even last year. When Hulls arrived, he was simply a catch and shoot 3 pt shooter. His release has gotten much quicker. He makes shots off the dribble, and off shot fakes moving inside the 3 pt line. To say he hasn't improved greatly is assinine. Sheehey is a very good all-around player and defender. Stats don't tell half of what he does on the floor. Teams have assistant coaches too. The Head Coach isn't responsible for the improvement of every player in any program more than motivating that player to work hard, improve their basketball IQ and choosing the right assistants to work with these guys every day. I'm not making this argument to say Crean is Top X, just to defend the fact these guys have gotten much better. Oladipo is a perfect example. His work ethic is as much responsible for anything, but don't you think it is the coach's job to cultivate that and give the player the tools to make himself better? I get the feeling that you think the Head Coach is having two hour individual sessions with each player every day. That doesn't happen anywhere. Again, I never said none of these guys improved at all. Certainly their defense is better than last year on paper. My post was also specifically in response to another with a specific context, it's not like I compared him to Rick Barnes. However, we're still talking about incremental improvements with basically everyone but Oladipo. You mention a bunch of offense-related improvements when they were basically as good last year even with Verdell Jones III as a starting guard instead of Ferrell. I'm not seeing any of those supposed huge improvements.

I think next year will be a far better test for whether Indiana is "back" or not. This year they had a loaded team with experience. Next year, not so much. I have no idea what to expect from their frontcourt; there are a number of highly rated recruits but who knows what to expect in terms of production. If they can contend for the title leaning on Ferrell, Sheehey and a bunch of lightly used underclassmen, that'll be a lot more impressive. I think they probably have a tournament team next year but need things to go their way to get a bye in the BTT.