Official College Basketball Thread

[Brian]

LOL, who could hinestly justify giving OSU a number one vote?

And Wichita State not being ranked in a travesty!

 

Mike Conley and Greg Oden could be two of the best freshmen in the nation, even if Oden could be out til Big 10 play starts.

 

MVC has to earn the respect of the polls every year. That is fine with me. Than SIU can sneak their way into the Elite 8.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

At the same time, I don't see how Witchita State and Southern Illinois are left off this list and how the hell did Depaul get 11 votes??

 

Lots of buzz as a sleeper...returning 98% of the offense from last year including 4 double-digit scorers...2nd year for a well-respected coach who's creating good vibes...a potentially huge break-out year for sophmore Chandler along with a solid senior year from Mejia...top-notch schedule...and probably most importantly, we're in the best conference in the nation...

 

That's how.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

Lots of buzz as a sleeper...returning 98% of the offense from last year including 4 double-digit scorers...2nd year for a well-respected coach who's creating good vibes...a potentially huge break-out year for sophmore Chandler along with a solid senior year from Mejia...top-notch schedule...and probably most importantly, we're in the best conference in the nation...

 

That's how.

 

 

So Depaul will help KU's RPI when we beat you then.....

[SleepyWhiteSox]

So Depaul will help KU's RPI when we beat you then.....

 

Or possibly the other way around...either way, nice thing about rpi is that type of loss won't hurt a whole lot...

[Rowand44]

Ohio State has a chance to be really good, hell they may win it all, but do they deserve #4 coming in?? Were they even ranked at the end of last year?? 1 player shoudl not make that kind of immediate impact. They should earn that respect.

Well they were a 2 seed in last years tourny and made it further than KU in the tournament. Their team is almost entirely different(they do have Lewis and Butler back) but they have one of if not the most talented team in the nation. I see no reason why they shouldn't be ranked that high. Besides Florida every team has to prove themselves.

 

Lots of buzz as a sleeper...returning 98% of the offense from last year including 4 double-digit scorers...2nd year for a well-respected coach who's creating good vibes...a potentially huge break-out year for sophmore Chandler along with a solid senior year from Mejia...top-notch schedule...and probably most importantly, we're in the best conference in the nation...

 

That's how.

I know plenty of people who believe Depaul could be a top 25 team(myself included). No surprise at all that they got some votes, I'm surprised they didn't get more to be honest.

 

And Wichita State not being ranked in a travesty!

Gonna be hard for the 3rd or 4th best team in the Valley to get ranked.

 

The other Mid Major who should be ranked to start the season is Hofstra, they're going to be great this year(Stokes and Agudio are absolute studs). And I assume they will be ranked after they win in 'Cuse. Winthrop is going to be pretty damn good this year as well.

Edited October 27, 2006 by Rowand44

[chimpy2121]

FSU with 9 votes!

 

Our RPI should be better than previous years; 3 games in a row against top 10 teams: Wisconsin, Pitt, Florida.

 

Al Thorton pre-season ACC Player of the Year runner up!

[ZoomSlowik]

Booerns, guess we're just going to have to fight our way into the top 25.

 

EDIT: Some quick thoughts on this before I head to class: Pitt is beyond overrated. Gtech and Memphis are going to be very dangerous come tourny time. Duke will be more dangerous this year come tourny time than last. Creighton is better than 23 in the nation and Nevada better than 25th.

 

I agree with you on all those points. Pitt belongs somewhere in the 12 to 15 range at best IMO. I don't see how they're THAT much better than Illinois. Aaron Gray is the only major difference I see, and there is no way he's worth 500+ points in the polls. In fact, I like Illinois's guys better than the rest of Pitt's team.

 

Much as I hate to say it, Duke should probably be higher. Once Paulus gets back they'll be pretty dangerous. McRoberts is probably the runaway favorite for most improved player, and Henderson should have an impact right away as well. Tech and Memphis are both really talented, the question will be how they gel. The MVC should be loaded again, Creighton, Witchita State, and Southern Illinois all look pretty strong.

 

One team out of the top-25 that I expect to make an appearance before long is Louisville. I know they underacheived last year, but they were banged up most of the year and are still very talented. They should get a boost from a pretty solid freshmen class too.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Mike Conley and Greg Oden could be two of the best freshmen in the nation, even if Oden could be out til Big 10 play starts.

And?

 

 

They are still a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, way off from being the best team on teh country.

[Brian]

And?

They are still a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, way off from being the best team on teh country.

 

Than start your own poll and see how accurate you can be. None of them polls matter anyway except to generate interest into money. The only rankings that count are the four 1-16 in March.

[CWSGuy406]

Lazar Hayward cleared to play.

[IlliniKrush]

Tupper

 

Over at another table on the other side of the room, Sampson would not touch the Gordon topic. It’s true, he can’t comment specifically about the player until signing date, but he could have addressed the more general topic of recruiting players who have verbally committed. He chose not to.

 

You may have read some of Weber’s comments, but he basically said he would have appreciated a phone call from Sampson saying why they were getting involved with a player who had verbally committed. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said the same thing, although that made me wonder why he didn’t call Sampson back when this began and tell him it’s how this league prefers to conduct its business.

 

Delany said no rules had been broken (because the verbal is non-binding), but that he expects conference coaches to be more up-front and more considerate with one another.

 

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said he would call in-state rival Tommy Amaker of Michigan if the same situation existed and he’d anticipate the same courtesy in return from Amaker.

 

......

 

Back at Sampson’s table, twice I heard him say he likes to “do things the right way” when describing how he runs his program. Given his history with illegal phone calls and his failure to at least place a courtesy phone call to Weber regarding the Gordon situation, I wonder what he meant.

[IlliniKrush]

Another interesting Delaney comment:

 

"We have a phenomenal conference. Players compete, coaches compete, fans are enthusiastic. We don't need complicating factors on top of that. It makes great (newspaper) copy, but I don't need it, and I don't want it. I'd like the players to like and respect each other, the coaches to like and respect each other. If you don't like each other, at least respect each other and be candid."

[SleepyWhiteSox]

We were on the front page of espnu.com today...

 

Updated: Oct. 30, 2006

Blue Demons think late-season surge will carry over By Andy Katz

ESPN.com

Archive

 

NEW YORK -- DePaul would have been one of the toughest outs in last season's Big East Tournament and legitimately could have won the event.

 

Don't laugh. Just look at the facts.

 

DePaul smoked eventual tournament champ Syracuse by 39 points at home a week before 12 of the league's 16 teams converged at Madison Square Garden.

 

A week before the Syracuse rout, the Blue Demons beat eventual NCAA team Seton Hall by three. DePaul also beat NCAA teams Cal and UAB as well as NIT teams Creighton and Notre Dame, in addition to a win at Wake Forest, which at the time, in early December, didn't look like the worst team in the ACC.

 

The problem was that the Blue Demons were terribly inconsistent, like following up the Wake Forest win with a 44-point loss at Old Dominion and winning only one game in the month of January. So, it's understandable how DePaul finished 12-15 and 5-11 in the Big East in Jerry Wainwright's first season in Chicago.

 

To sleep on this team heading into this season, though, would be a major mistake. DePaul has the look, the feel and the overall confidence to go from not making the Big East tournament one season to being a potential multiple-win team in the NCAA Tournament the next.

 

 

 

Joe Robbins/US Presswire

Sammy Mejia will key DePaul's perimeter attack.

 

"I'm not going to lie to you -- it was devastating not doing anything, not even having a second chance," Wainwright said of not qualifying for the Big East tournament after losing by five at Notre Dame in the final regular-season game.

 

"We played well the last four weeks to show we belonged," he added during Big East media day last Wednesday in New York.

 

"It was a heartbreaker," said senior guard Sammy Mejia, who is from New York and desperately wanted to play back home. "Once it starts, you forget about the teams that didn't make it."

 

That's why it would be easy to discount the Blue Demons, but four of their five starters return from the team that was surging at season's end. Returning talent doesn't always mean a step up; in this case, it does.

 

DePaul was going through a classic adjustment period from former coach Dave Leitao to Wainwright. Not having Wesley Green for 11 games also was a legitimate excuse. While he was out with a broken foot, the Blue Demons struggled with their post depth.

 

Now Green is back and so are Marcus Heard, who Wainwright said could be the team's sleeper due to his improvement over the offseason, and Wilson Chandler. The big key will be whether the Blue Demons ever get Keith Butler back on the roster. Butler has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules and isn't practicing. The 7-foot-1 senior transfer from Temple could be a game changer if he can get his act in order.

 

"He's a major loss, but he is capable of coming back," Wainwright said. "I don't have any credibility if I don't have it with the faculty. If he comes back, it would be an infusion. It would help us."

 

Let's not kid ourselves, though. Despite all the talk about the post play, the Blue Demons will go as far as their guards take them. Mejia, who averaged 15.1 points a game, is a legit major talent. Adding Draelon Burns (11.6 ppg) and wings Karron Clarke (10 ppg) and Jabari Currie (5.1 ppg) makes the Blue Demons a bigger version of Villanova from a year ago.

 

That's not to compare the Blue Demons' talent to 'Nova's Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi, but Wainwright sees this group as playing "small ball that is bigger."

 

"For us small ball is 6-5, 6-8," Wainwright said.

 

The Blue Demons do have to shoot better than 31.5 percent on 3s, but they're capable of doing that this season.

 

"We just want to pick it up where we left off," Mejia said. "We're more mature and we're minimizing mistakes. Some say we're not as big as the other teams in the conference, but while we have to guard their height, they have to guard our speed. There are going to be matchup problems, but we believe in our game plan."

 

There now is a trust among players and coaches that took a bit of time to develop a year ago, despite Wainwright's track record. He has been a winner everywhere he's been, with NCAA berths at UNC Wilmington (two) and Richmond (one). Now, expecting one in year two at DePaul isn't a reach, especially when you look at the Blue Demons' nonconference schedule.

 

It's not unrealistic to think DePaul could compete for the Maui Invitational title. The Blue Demons have the talent to topple Kentucky in the opener before a likely meeting with UCLA (after a win over Chaminade) in the semis. If they could beat the Bruins, the final could be against Georgia Tech, Memphis, Purdue or Oklahoma (likely one of the first two). Even if the Blue Demons go 2-1 in Maui after losing the first game, the third game (and second win) likely would be against a possible postseason team.

 

The Maui trip comes after DePaul opens on the road at Bradley and Northwestern, and the first game back after that tournament is on Dec. 2 at the Allstate Arena -- against Kansas. Games at UAB and Rhode Island and home games against Wake Forest, Cal and even UC Irvine and Northwestern State will all be competitive (also at home is Chicago State in a guarantee game).

 

You shouldn't even be surprised to see DePaul take out Big East conference favorite Pitt at home on Jan. 10, the only meeting the two teams have this season.

 

"You're not tricking anybody in Chicago," Wainwright said. "They're not coming to your games if you're playing Little Sisters of the Poor. How can I talk to the team about beating Connecticut if we're going to be afraid to play Kansas? Everybody says, 'What if you lose games like that?' I say, 'What if you win?

 

"I've been a mid-major guy my whole life and any chance we have to play a good school I will," he added. "There's no question it has affected recruiting because of who we're playing. I'm sensitive to what the basketball media says. In your eyes and the NCAA they say play the best schedule you can."

 

That's what DePaul is doing, and if the Blue Demons win a few and compete the way they should in the Big East, we'll all be talking about Wainwright and the Blue Demons come March.

 

Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/stor...&id=2643372

[chimpy2121]

FSU has an exhibition game tonight against Spring Hill College. I'm looking forward to seeing the run and gun offense Coach Hamilton has been hyping.

 

Then I get to see the Bulls destroy the Heat after. ...I hope...

[SleepyWhiteSox]

New DePaul uniforms...I like the retro look, and the patch in honor of Coach Ray is done well...

 

 

[IlliniKrush]

Can't say i'm a fan of those stripes, they look very out of place.

[He_Gawn]

Those Stripes are ugly as f***.

[Heads22]

Isn't Kansas usually ranked #3 when ISU upsets them?

[Buehrle>Wood]

Wow those are ugly.

[CanOfCorn]

New DePaul uniforms...I like the retro look, and the patch in honor of Coach Ray is done well...

 

 

 

Those are close to the unis of the late 70's early 80's heyday of Aguirre, Cummings, Corbin etc. I love those unis and am glad to see the stripes.

[IlliniKrush]

Yeah, but where are the tight shorts?

[SleepyWhiteSox]

Those are close to the unis of the late 70's early 80's heyday of Aguirre, Cummings, Corbin etc. I love those unis and am glad to see the stripes.

 

You are 100% correct.

 

And for the haters, I want to also mention that the retro look is also being used along with the patch to commemorate the late Coach Meyer who passed away earlier this year, one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all-time...

[thedoctor]

nice to see depaul paying homage to its storied history. at least they kept the longer shorts and ditched the nut-huggers.

[whitesoxfan101]

Wilson Chandler and Sammy Meijia are going to cause soooo many matchup nightmares in that league. Chandler in particular should have a breakout year.

[Heads22]

 

Oh Rahshon, they are eating out of the palm of your hand. You stuck around, and now you're the hero. A high flyer, I hear, as well.