Official 2009-2010 NCAA Basketball Thread

[ZoomSlowik]

f***ing Hoffarber.

[Brian]

Go Cocks!

 

If Downey uses his left hand, he makes that lay up.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Brian

[Brian]

Down goes Kentucky. Glorious.

[Felix]

f***ing Hoffarber.

He's the only reason we won that game. It's laughable how we act like we've never seen a 1-3-1 every time we play Northwestern. They do it to us every year, and yet nothing ever changes. We're lucky that we won that one, as Northwestern easily outplayed us in the second half.

[Brian]

Seeing highlight of Jacob Pullen with another great game. Remember seeing him in high school, playing with Brian Carlwell, and didn't think he would be the more superior college player of that team. Ha

[danman31]

He's the only reason we won that game. It's laughable how we act like we've never seen a 1-3-1 every time we play Northwestern. They do it to us every year, and yet nothing ever changes. We're lucky that we won that one, as Northwestern easily outplayed us in the second half.

Yeah, it's similar to how it felt after NU lost in Illinois. Decent effort, had chances, one guy won it for the other team, just have to get them in Evanston. That last 3 from Hoffarber was sick. Pretty sure he barely looked at the basket.

 

So what does everything think of Kentucky after this loss? I've never thought they were great. Their best win (and only vs. a current top 25 team) was a 3 point win over UConn on a neutral floor. Their only other win vs. an RPI top 50 was Louisville in Lexington. They beat Carolina at home and won at Florida, the only other teams on their schedule that are at-large worthy (and even that's fringe). They've had a few close calls this year against below average competition and now this loss to a South Carolina team that still is looking at the NIT. There are tougher SEC teams coming up, but the conference is pretty weak overall. I'm probably putting Kentucky somewhere around 8 if I'm ranking teams right now and I could lean lower, but other teams have more question marks to me.

[Palehosefan]

Yeah, it's similar to how it felt after NU lost in Illinois. Decent effort, had chances, one guy won it for the other team, just have to get them in Evanston. That last 3 from Hoffarber was sick. Pretty sure he barely looked at the basket.

 

So what does everything think of Kentucky after this loss? I've never thought they were great. Their best win (and only vs. a current top 25 team) was a 3 point win over UConn on a neutral floor. Their only other win vs. an RPI top 50 was Louisville in Lexington. They beat Carolina at home and won at Florida, the only other teams on their schedule that are at-large worthy (and even that's fringe). They've had a few close calls this year against below average competition and now this loss to a South Carolina team that still is looking at the NIT. There are tougher SEC teams coming up, but the conference is pretty weak overall. I'm probably putting Kentucky somewhere around 8 if I'm ranking teams right now and I could lean lower, but other teams have more question marks to me.

 

Kentucky has the talent to win it all. I'm just waiting for something to blow up off the court at UK. Something like Cousins punching a coach, or getting arrested for drugs. Maybe John Wall getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Thank God Jodie Meeks left last year because UK has 5-6 NBA guys on the roster already. A Bledsoe, Wall, Meeks, Cousins, Patterson lineup would have been disgusting to have to watch.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

If you have Directv, put on channel 687. Seattle has the ugliest jerseys in the history of sports.

 

I like their silver jerseys. Those unis with sleeves though are horrendous.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Go Cocks!

 

If Downey uses his left hand, he makes that lay up.

 

Devan Downey's one of the most underrated players in the country

[He_Gawn]

Reports on South Carolina boards are that DeMarcus Cousins punched a fan on the way off the court last night. Calimari will figure out a way to sweep this one under the rug I'm sure.

[southsider2k5]

Reports on South Carolina boards are that DeMarcus Cousins punched a fan on the way off the court last night. Calimari will figure out a way to sweep this one under the rug I'm sure.

 

That dude is nuts. He was freaking out seconds into the Louisville game.

[Jenksismyhero]

Must win for Illinois tonight in Happy Valley.

[SnB]

this illini game is just infuriating

[RockRaines]

LOL.

[Heads22]

Wow, Iowa might win more games than Iowa State the rest of this year. A crappy Oklahoma team without Warren or Crocker hung 50 on ISU in the first half. It's kind of fulfilling to know that my vibe about McDermott from the beginning was correct (never lost fewer than 10 games a year at the D1 level, never had a great conference record), but its painful seeing us waste two NBA picks in Gilstrap and Brackins. Watching Wesley Johnson doesn't help either.

[Heads22]

Christ, Iowa blew that quick. Either way, I'd like to see what Lick could do with actual talent. I'll still trade you for him, Jas.

[Heads22]

And Iowa loses and ISU has cut a 21 point lead to 7 with 8 minutes left. Freaky.

[RockRaines]

Christ, Iowa blew that quick. Either way, I'd like to see what Lick could do with actual talent. I'll still trade you for him, Jas.

Once the refs couldnt call 2 bulls*** fouls on Turner to keep him out of the game they were done. Lick's offensive sets are nice, however his talent level is not good. I'm pretty sure Google or whatever his name is was taken from the front door of a bar earlier tonight.

[Heads22]

Once the refs couldnt call 2 bulls*** fouls on Turner to keep him out of the game they were done. Lick's offensive sets are nice, however his talent level is not good. I'm pretty sure Google or whatever his name is was taken from the front door of a bar earlier tonight.

 

Cougill is a load of mush.

[RockRaines]

Cougill is a load of mush.

Lick went to Vito's one night and was like, hey you look tall, wanna run up and down the bball court?

[Heads22]

Ha, and ISU cuts it to 3 with 90 seconds left in a building they haven't won in since 96.

 

But some dumb basketball in the last 30 seconds will cost them a shot.

[Jenksismyhero]

Nice win for Illinois. Thought they were going to lose yet another game they were leading, but they weathered the storm and controlled the last 10 minutes. I think the biggest problem with this team is Jordan. He's awful. He's less of a threat on the offensive end than Frazier, and that's really saying something. Teams practically ignore him, so it's really 4 on 5 and the offense just stops. Cole is a threat, Keller is a threat. I dunno why Jordan gets any minutes at all. I understand that you gotta give Richardson/McCamey/Paul a breather, but those three should be the guard rotation, and Tisdale/Griffey/Cole/Davis/Keller should be the front court rotation.

 

Two major observations:

 

(1) These guys have the talent and the tools to be really good. You can tell that. They look like robots sometimes, that just do what the coaches have tought them. This was evident when penn state made their run and got up by a couple baskets. Illinois ran set plays, got the ball to Tisdale, who made a 6-8 foot hook shot. They need to have more of an edge though, which has been lacking all year. They need a killer drive. They become content with a 10 point lead. They need to get up by 20 before they do that.

 

(2) The expectations for this team were unreasonable. This team relies on two freshman and three juniors, with another freshman coming off the bench. As talented as Paul, Richardson and Griffey are, they're not the John Wall type recruits that can lead teams. They need to mature and continue to learn the game. Next year should be a good year, but even then expectations can't get out of whack.

[RockRaines]

Pretty good article on ET on SI.com

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writ...d=si_topstories

 

Ohio State coach Thad Matta has coached a national Player of the Year before, so when he quickly compares current Buckeyes star Evan Turner to former Xavier standout David West, it's instructive.

 

In Turner, he sees the same kind of intelligent approach to the game and a refined sense of the moment that allows him to deliver whatever his team needs at the most crucial junctures.

 

Then Matta tosses this on top.

 

"I think [Evan] is probably one of the most ultracompetitive kids I have ever coached," Matta said. "Winning is very, very important to him. He's just the type of the guy in practice that he needs a score, he needs time on a clock. There's got to be a prize at the end, and I think that's what great players all seem to have."

 

That competitive drive helps explain what you're seeing now, the completion of Turner's evolution from freshman-year complement (capping that season by combining for 37 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in the NIT Final Four) to sophomore leading man to genuine national Player of the Year candidate. Not to mention Turner basically switched positions before this season. When Matta suggested some summer drills to prime the forward for extended work at point guard, his star dove in eagerly.

 

"He's one of those guys who's very critical of his game and is not afraid to admit he has faults," Matta said. "A lot of kids don't want to admit that, 'Hey, I'm not good at this.' And they sure as heck don't want to work on it. Evan is a kid who knows the game, he knows what he needs to get better at, and he's going to put in the work."

 

All that work on his supposed flaws? It has Turner positioned to end up in some very rarefied air.

 

First, let's examine this season. Despite a fractured back that cost him close to seven games, Turner should be the leading candidate for the Naismith Award (along with the bevy of other Player of the Year awards). With due respect to the other top candidates, a comparison of performance right now isn't all that close:

Player % Poss. Off. Rating eFG% Assist Rate OR%/DR%

Evan Turner 33.8 110.8 59.2 37.6 10.1/26.3

John Wall 27.3 114.1 53.2 36.2 2.3/9.2

Damion James 26.2 113.2 53.8 4.6 11.4/26.3

Wesley Johnson 21.8 117.7 61.6 10.7 8.7/19.0

Notes: %Poss is the percentage of time a team's possession ends in a player's hands. Offensive rating measures a player's individual offensive efficiency. Effective FG% accounts for the extra value of three-pointers. Assist rate is the percentage of teammate baskets created while on the court. Offensive and defensive rebound rates track the percentage of team's total rebounds grabbed by a player while he's on the court. All figures taken from KenPom.com for games through Jan. 24.

 

Turner is almost as efficient offensively as John Wall and Damion James, the two other high-usage players on the list, despite handling the ball a lot more. His effective field goal percentage also is significantly better than either of them, even though he's made only six three-pointers all season (Wall has made 16; James has 20). Meanwhile, Turner's assist rate is better than the best point guard in the land, and he's almost the glass-cleaning equal of James, an elite rebounder, and much better than Wesley Johnson.

 

Simply put, he's essentially a combination of the best traits of each of his competitors: Johnson's shooting, Wall's dishing and James' board work.

 

For high-usage players (greater than 28 percent of a team's possessions) in major conferences, Turner is second in possessions used and has the nation's best assist rate while still ranking eighth in offensive efficiency. And that doesn't even account for his overall defensive impact or the seemingly seamless way he stuffs his stat lines.

 

"I don't go in saying I have to get 10 assists today or something. I just play basketball," Turner said. "If I see an open man, I pass the ball. If I see an open shot, I take the shot. I always try to rebound, play defense, and when it's time to take the game over, that's what I do."

 

That's what he's usually been able to do, even against more rugged competition. The Buckeyes are 5-3 against RPI Top 100 teams with Turner -- and 0-3 without him.

 

Bottom line: If he keeps this up, POY should be his, and the better debate might be where Turner's season would place in the modern history of college basketball.

 

Right now, Turner is averaging 18.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. However, if you exclude the seven-minute outing against Eastern Michigan (when he was injured) and his 20-minute return against Indiana, those averages jump to 20.7, 11.0 and 5.8. If Turner can maintain those standards (technically, he'd need about a 0.5 ppg bump in scoring), he will complete one of the most statistically improbable seasons in modern basketball history.

 

How rare is a 20/10/5 year in college hoops? According to Ohio State's sports information department, which consulted with Stats Inc., no Division I player has completed one since at least 1996. Stats Inc.'s best guess as to the last player to do it is Larry Bird at Indiana State in 1978-79, and that wasn't even in a major conference. Searching independently, the last player who did it in a top-tier league may have been Bill Walton at UCLA in 1972-73.

 

Think about what that means. Grant Hill (17.4/6.9/5.2) never got there. Neither did Dwayne Wade (21.5/6.3/4.4). Tim Duncan came moderately close (20.8/14.7/3.2), but still didn't do it. Even less-remembered one-man wrecking crews like N.C. State's Tom Gugliotta (22.5/9.8/3.1) couldn't get there.

 

The best proxies? The two most freakishly multitalented stars of the modern era: Magic Johnson (17.0/7.9/7.4 and 17.1/7.3/8.4 in his two seasons) and Jason Kidd (16.7/6.9/9.1 his sophomore season). Both had outrageously impactful seasons, but each still missed on two of these three specific metrics.

 

More recently, there have been only 19 20/10 guys in Division I in the last five seasons combined, and none averaged more than 2.7 assists per game. Yes, it takes a perfect confluence of events -- a multidimensional star playing with a solid supporting cast that lacks a true second go-to guy -- but the sheer rarity of the feat hints at both Turner's uniqueness and his quality.

 

If Kentucky ends the season at No. 1, Wall rightly will get a long look for Player of the Year. He's lived up to all expectations and team success, especially for a point guard, should be strongly considered. That said, if Turner does make it to 20/10/5 and Ohio State continues to thrive, the POY debate should be settled. If you deliver arguably the most dynamic season of the last 30 years, you have to be considered the best player in the land.

 

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writ...s#ixzz0dva9w2Ab

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[SnB]

Nice win for Illinois.

 

no.

 

[Jenksismyhero]

no.

 

A win in a must-win situation is a good win. Dunno how you can disagree with that.