Official 2007-08 College Basketball Thread

[Rowand44]

The NIT is screaming for a big-time upset. I just haven't decided wether it will be 'Cuse against Siena/SJU or OSU against W-GB/Delaware State. Maybe even Utah over Washington.

 

I must say though that I actually like how the NIT challenges it's hosts to make it out of their regional unlike all other preseason tournaments.

There ya go, buddy.

[Palehosefan]

I'll never understand coach K. He could just about recruit anyone in the nation and he ends up with a Mid-major type team that has to rely on 3 pointers and "scrappy" defense to win games. Southern Illinois is already a better version of Duke and actually plays clean scrappy defense.

[Buehrle>Wood]

IU down at half.

[Rowand44]

IU better win this damn game. Not good for our schedule(and potential schedule) if IU and USC go down in their first game.

[Soxbadger]

Interesting game going on in Bloomington.

 

Gordon looks really good though.

[Buehrle>Wood]

How does IU, a damned good defensive team last year, give up 50 points at home in one half to Chatanooga, a team that ranked 251 in offensive efficiency last year?

[Soxbadger]

Bridgewaters 6-6 is one thing

 

Being out rebounded by UT cant help either.

 

 

[Rowand44]

Looks like IU is going to win comfortably after all. Greasy, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Mocs when you get back from the game.

[Palehosefan]

This Ohio State team reminds me a lot of the 2006 UNC team. UNC just had Sean May, Ray Felton, Rashad McCants, and Marvin Williams depart, and was led by a highly rated freshman big man Hansbrough(Koufos) and a senior leader David Noel(Jamar Butler).

 

Granted, Hansbrough was special, even as a frosh, and David Noel was UNC's best leader since George Lynch in 1993, but I think Ohio State could suprise some people this year while they wait to reload next year like UNC did in 07.

[farmteam]

We gave them way too many open shots, and we couldn't rebound to save our lives. I'd say those two factors were both the key reasons why we allowed them to put up 50 in the first half.

 

Other game notes:

 

Lance Stemler is bad. Really, just bad.

 

Jamarcus Ellis is rather unimpressive -- so far Crawford has been much better.

 

D.J. got hurt near the end, but he was back on the bench by the end of the game.

 

Eric Gordon is good. Very good. 1 or 2 of his fouls were complete ticky tack calls (anyone want to tell me how you can foul someone when your back is to them?).

 

This team makes way too many turnovers by forcing a bad pass. And, as mentioned above, the rebounding deficiency hurts as well.

 

Twice (early in the first half and towards the end of the second half) IU went with a 4-guard set. I know Ellis is considered a G/F, but come on, he's only 6-5. Anyway, they stuck Gordon, Crawford, Basset, and Ellis with White, and they didn't do horribly.

 

Eli Holman and Brandon McGee didn't get until the end of the game, which was disappointing, especially because they could have taken some of Stemler's minutes. In addition, it seems Sampson is favoring a White/Thomas/Stemler rotation, with two of them usually playing (though rarely Stemler and Thomas are together).

 

DeAndre looked pretty good, but he looked a little wild at times. There were a few occasions where he put too much on it and missed a point blank shot. However, he also looked good at times and played some solid defense.

 

If I had to pick the starting five I'd do:

 

Basset

Gordon

Crawford

Thomas

White

 

Off the bench:

Ellis

Holman

Stemler

McGee

 

Overall, we definitely need to work on rebounding and not turning the ball over, as well as defense as whole.

[CWSGuy406]

Should I be worried that Marquette isn't pounding these weak teams into the sand? I know MU isn't the only top 25 team struggling with these smaller D1 schools, but I can't say I'm very confident heading to Maui. I could easily see Marquette struggling with Chaminade before eventually pulling away but exiting in the second round to OSU/LSU.

[greasywheels121]

Yeah, Eric Gordon. He's kind of good. The best part about EJ is that he's easily our best defender right now as well.

 

Nobody was worried about the first half. Our defense wasn't playing that well, but the Mocs got hot from deep early, and everything they threw up went in. In the second half, we gave them the inside and locked down anything out the paint--and their numbers definitely came back down to earth.

 

That's the only disconcerting thing about this game, the defense and the rebounding. Our offense is going to be scary all season; too many guys have to be cold for it to be bad. However, I'm positive our defense is going to get better as the season goes on, Sampson won't allow them to be a one-sided team.

[greasywheels121]

We gave them way too many open shots, and we couldn't rebound to save our lives. I'd say those two factors were both the key reasons why we allowed them to put up 50 in the first half.

 

Other game notes:

 

Lance Stemler is bad. Really, just bad.

 

Jamarcus Ellis is rather unimpressive -- so far Crawford has been much better.

 

D.J. got hurt near the end, but he was back on the bench by the end of the game.

 

Eric Gordon is good. Very good. 1 or 2 of his fouls were complete ticky tack calls (anyone want to tell me how you can foul someone when your back is to them?).

 

This team makes way too many turnovers by forcing a bad pass. And, as mentioned above, the rebounding deficiency hurts as well.

 

Twice (early in the first half and towards the end of the second half) IU went with a 4-guard set. I know Ellis is considered a G/F, but come on, he's only 6-5. Anyway, they stuck Gordon, Crawford, Basset, and Ellis with White, and they didn't do horribly.

 

Eli Holman and Brandon McGee didn't get until the end of the game, which was disappointing, especially because they could have taken some of Stemler's minutes. In addition, it seems Sampson is favoring a White/Thomas/Stemler rotation, with two of them usually playing (though rarely Stemler and Thomas are together).

 

DeAndre looked pretty good, but he looked a little wild at times. There were a few occasions where he put too much on it and missed a point blank shot. However, he also looked good at times and played some solid defense.

 

If I had to pick the starting five I'd do:

 

Basset

Gordon

Crawford

Thomas

White

 

Off the bench:

Ellis

Holman

Stemler

McGee

 

Overall, we definitely need to work on rebounding and not turning the ball over, as well as defense as whole.

 

Don't worry about Stemler; he'll be sitting in no time, if he keeps this up.

 

And oh yeah, Danny Granger was sitting right next to me.

[farmteam]

Don't worry about Stemler; he'll be sitting in no time, if he keeps this up.

 

And oh yeah, Danny Granger was sitting right next to me.

 

I hope so.

 

I wasn't that lucky, I was stuck in the second to last row of the balcony.

 

Who would you put in the starting 5, greasy?

 

[Balta1701]

I hope so.

 

I wasn't that lucky, I was stuck in the second to last row of the balcony.

 

Who would you put in the starting 5, greasy?

I remember those seats!

[greasywheels121]

I hope so.

 

I wasn't that lucky, I was stuck in the second to last row of the balcony.

 

Who would you put in the starting 5, greasy?

 

I'll be sitting section K, row 1 and 2 all year.

 

I like your starting five as well, but I'm going to substitute Crawford for Ellis for the time being still. It's early, and I want to give a fair crack at keeping his spot in the starting lineup.

 

----------

 

I've got to add this:

 

Chattanooga coach John Shulman summed it up like this: “It’s hard to come in and play at a place like this, especially on Eric Gordon freshman night. They should have given out posters. I would have gotten mine signed.”

[RockRaines]

There ya go, buddy.

Yeah.....

 

 

This just in, Koufos is good and Lighty apparently decided hes a star.

[Rex Hudler]

Yeah, Eric Gordon. He's kind of good. The best part about EJ is that he's easily our best defender right now as well.

 

Nobody was worried about the first half. Our defense wasn't playing that well, but the Mocs got hot from deep early, and everything they threw up went in. In the second half, we gave them the inside and locked down anything out the paint--and their numbers definitely came back down to earth.

 

That's the only disconcerting thing about this game, the defense and the rebounding. Our offense is going to be scary all season; too many guys have to be cold for it to be bad. However, I'm positive our defense is going to get better as the season goes on, Sampson won't allow them to be a one-sided team.

 

Part of the reason the defense was so bad is the pace/tempo they were playing on offense. Once they hit a few threes and got ahead, they started playing full speed ahead the whole time. They were taking wild 3's, trying to thread the needle with passes that were getting intercepted or knocked away. The helter skelter style they were playing kept them from being under control on defense. They weren't stopping the dribble so they ended up chasing the ball everywhere trying to switch all over the floor. Chattanooga did a good job of moving the ball and finding the opening man.

 

The game changed when their on the ball defense stepped up and they slowed things down a bit on offense, picking and choosing their spots to run rather than trying to push every time.

 

Scoring seems to come so easy to this team, it may be difficult for KS to pull in the reins at times (and maybe not wise), which will lead to some periods of sloppy D. Hopefully they will learn when to push and when to stay under control and that will lend to more consistent defense.

[Rowand44]

Yeah.....

This just in, Koufos is good and Lighty apparently decided hes a star.

Haha, I was waiting for someone to chime in. I thought that was the best chance for an upset, I was obviously wrong. Good win for tOSU.

Edited November 13, 2007 by Rowand44

[Rex Hudler]

farm, I think you are either being too hard on Jamarcus Ellis or expecting too much. We have guys that can score.

 

The guy had 5 points tonight, which is not all that impressive. But he added:

 

9 rebounds

6 assists

2 steals

1 blocked shot

 

I think you will find that he will do a lot of the little things that help a team to win. In all honesty, I think he will do a lot of things that you would hope Stemler could bring to the table, but doesn't. Also, it seems he has a pretty good thing going with Deandre Thomas. Having played together last year, it seemed he was looking for Dre a lot down on the block. Their chemistry could lead to Dre being a nice contributor inside, which will only help DJ.

 

Give him time, I think you will find that he will be a very important player on this team.

[RockRaines]

Haha, I was waiting for someone to chime in. I thought that was the best chance for an upset, I was obviously wrong. Good win for tOSU.

had to, the bait was set. I dont think anyone will know what kind of a team this is until the season is maybe 30 games in.

[farmteam]

farm, I think you are either being too hard on Jamarcus Ellis or expecting too much. We have guys that can score.

 

The guy had 5 points tonight, which is not all that impressive. But he added:

 

9 rebounds

6 assists

2 steals

1 blocked shot

 

Yeah I realized that, but I still just haven't been impressed with him from what I've seen. Admittedly, of the starting 5 I posted, he's the last guy I left out, and I wouldn't have too much of a problem with him starting over Crawford.

[whitesoxfan101]

Watching Gordon a few times now between the exhibitions and tonight, he's a very unique player. I can't really think of anybody that he reminds me of actually, the closest thing I can come up with is he's kind of like a cross between Dwyane Wade and Mitch Richmond with his athletic ability (Wade), 3 point shooting (Richmond), and ability to slash to the basket despite being a bit undersized for a 2 guard (both).

 

On another note, when people look back at the 2007-2007 all NCAA freshman team, they'll just be amazed at the 1 and done talent this year:

 

G: Derrick Rose

G: Eric Gordon

G: O.J. Mayo

F: Michael Beasley

C: Kevin Love

 

And hell, that doesn't even include guys like Jonny Flynn, who broke Carmelo's record for points in a Syracuse debut tonight, and Kousta Koufos, and Jerryd Bayless, etc etc.

 

As for Ohio State, they seem to have a starting 5 that can really play, but they need to figure out who will make up/be good enough to be in the rotation and make up the bench. Jamar Butler losing weight and moving back to point is going to lead to a big year for him IMO, Lighty will get his chance to show why he was a 5 star recruit, and Koufos and Hunter inside is really solid, plus I like Diebler's ability to shoot (even though he was awful tonight). We will see beyond the starters, but I'm sure Thad will find a few guys that can contribute bench minutes with all the talent he has (Lauderdale, Terwillger, Turner, Hill).

Edited November 13, 2007 by whitesoxfan101

[Palehosefan]

Pretty neat survey, 80 D-1 head coaches,

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coll...3_survey08.html

 

 

[whitesoxin']

I hope so.

 

I wasn't that lucky, I was stuck in the second to last row of the balcony.

 

Who would you put in the starting 5, greasy?

At least you wasted that seat on UTC. I'm in the last balcony row for Purdue and second to last row for MSU

 

Best seat of the year: Longwood this Sunday.

 

The hall is going to be rocking all year though so I'm not too upset about my seats.