College Basketball Open Thread
A big day of basketball today, with a few ranked games going on currently;
- #1 Florida's routs #25 Kentucky 84-65 in Florida
- #8 Kansas loses as WVU holds on 92-86
- #15 Cincinnati pulls one out 70-66 over Rutgers.
- #18 SMU loses 67-58 at #20 Memphis in another ranked matchup
Kansas losing would is nice as it lessens the gap between them and Michigan and increase Michigan's chances for a 2 seed.
There are also some good games on tap for later, including;
- #19 UConn trails @ #11 Louisville 28-17 right before half
- Bubble team Georgetown trails 38-27 @ #6 Villanova
- Oklahoma State leading #18 Iowa State 32-25
- #3 Arizona @ bubble team Oregon at 4
- Our game at 6
- Bubble team Providence @ #13 Creighton at 8
- The headliner, #14 UNC @ #4 Duke at 9
- #21 New Mexico @ #10 SDSU at 10
- As well as a bunch of smaller conference tournament games (including Wichita State at 2:30) and a few SEC and Pac-12 bubble teams playing each other
So if you can, do what I'm going to and just plant yourself on your couch to enjoy a great day of college hoops
And Iowa is taking on Illinois in the other Big-10 game tonight at 8:30 on BTN.
And watching this UK-UF game, I can't help but think that we would break Florida's trap and destroy them like we did last year.
It's interesting to look at Florida's results this year. Yes, they're #1 and yes, they have won 20 straight. But they play in the SEC, which is awful. Kentucky will fall out of the rankings after this leaving the Gators the only conference team ranked.
During their winning streak, look at how many close calls they have survived against so/so teams...
*1 point win over Florida State
*2 point win over Memphis
*2 point win over Arkansas
*5 point win over Auburn
*4 point win over Alabama
*4 point win over Auburn
*4 point win over Ole Miss
*3 point win over Vanderbilt
I wouldn't expect the #1 team in the country to have that many struggles. I'll be interested when the tournament starts to see how far they'll go.
Very good point. That is a long list of close games against inferior competition. It will definitly be interesting when they face a well coached team that doesn't struggle against a full-court press.
Interesting that they have so many close wins this season, given this kenpom article from last season which talks about how they were 0-6 in close games last season, and "predicts" that they will lose a close game in the tournament. Of course they did lose, but it was gloriously not close.
Loving Florida destroying Kentucky so far. Can't stand Calipari.
West Virginia up that much on Kansas is pretty shocking.
Maybe I'm a hater, but it's looking to me like we'll end up with several two and three seeds better than some one seeds: Florida and Wichita State
I'm sure both of those teams are good, but they play in downy soft conferences. I have more faith in Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Syracuse, etc. making a deep run than I do either of those two
Definitly not a hater. Just using common sense and not buying into a team being a Final Four lock just because they put up a perfect record and gaudy stats against inferior competition.
I'll take a battle tested 10 loss team over the Gonzaga's and Wichita State's every year.
I was just having the same exact conversation with a co-worker. I have a lot more faith in the battle tested teams.
And absolutely no one should trust Wisconsin to do anything in march. Being a good team from a solid conference doesn't mean you will have any greater chance at success. Ask Kansas and Georgetown.
Well there are definitly two solid sides to this topic. Yes there are going to be flaky teams from power conferences that will lose early in the Tourny (ie OSU this year would be a good upest pick).
But I think in general we tend to see teams from non-power conferences that roll through the regular season struggle in the NCAAT. I mean even last year Wichita State lost 6 games on their way to the Final Four.
I just think Wichita State is probably a team that's really somewere between say #8 and #15. They're good, but they would've picked up some losses if they played a full season in the Big 12, Big Ten, or ACC. I think they're a solid 2-4 seed that will advance, I just don't think they're truly a 1-seed.
Same for Florida. They're running over a bad SEC and Kentucky is the only ranked team they've played since Dec 17. If they played in a better conference they'd probably be team that's 15-3 / 14-4 in conference and not 17-0 which would make them a solid 2-3 seed as well.
Holy cow. A 23 point lead for WVU over Kansas.
Look at the Big-12 depth! /s
At the rate all these top teams are losing, Michigan is slowly creeping closer to 1-seed territory. Obviously still a very long shot, but you never know...
Was just thinking about with all the games, is there anyone you've seen today or this year that would be a nice fit at UofM. Certainly lots of talent across the country, but I'm thinking specifically about:
- Good basketball IQ
- Good defense, moves well without the ball
- Decent shooter / shooting stroke
- Not a one-and-done player (so no Wiggins, Parker, Gordon, et al)
I'm very much enjoying watching Devin Williams of WVU. Nice mid-range jumper, some hustle plays, not a woofer, strong inside. Granted, no Joel Embiid today, but Williams has been fun to watch.
Florida looks pretty good here but I'm with you in that their schedule is poo dollar and lost to the decent non-con teams they've played while playing their ESS EEE SEE schedule way too close to be number one.
Kentucky's problem under the Calipari regime has been, and will continue to be, the pesky rule that does not allow 5 basketballs to be used simultaneously in the game.
Don't turn off CBS too soon. UK making a comeback. Down 6 with 12 minutes left.
If you have ESPNNews or ESPN3 turn on the Rutgers-Cinci game. RU is up 1 with less than 3 minutes left and 2 FT's coming up for Cinci
Kansas is managing only a 44.56% effective FG% right now ans they are just 3-13 from beyond the arc. If you want a fun stat from this game, both teams have free throw rates of 50% or better, but they are also both under 70% at the line. WVU also has an offensive rebound percentage of 48.18% right now.
Anyone else lose their feed to CBS?
Yea just turned the tube on a bit ago and saw Kansas' 1-seed line slipping away. Srsly, they can't keep a 1-seed after this, right?
I'm of the mindset Florida is good; really good this year. I want nothing to do with them. I think they would dominate us down low too much. Witchita St. is another team I'm not sure why everyone's down on. They played awesome ball last March and have most of the same players? And they just went undefeated. Why do people think they're overrated? I honestly think we match up better with them than Florida but really don't want any part of them either.
This Florida crowd is nuts! and looks like everyone is right on top of the court
Kansas has managed to cut the lead in half since it was 25, but hot damn Wiggins is good. He has basically done this all by himself, he has 39 of his teams points, the rest of his team has 34.
they did lose their starting 5 from last year if I recall correctly. And they're still recovering from "the shot" as well.
West Virginia is choking.
Oh my I wrote to soon..there's a serious implosion going on with WVU
Oh my. WVU forgot how to play basketball. And Wiggins is ready for the NBA. What a great player. Watch him put on some weight and he'll be right up there with LBJ easy.
St. Johns, who according to Lunardi is the 6th team out of the tourney, had a 6 point lead over Marquette with 11 seconds left and just blew it to send it into OT