College Basketball Open Thread
There a lot of games with RPI/seed implications tonight:
Duke-Wake (it's really early but Wake is off to a good start), Louisville-SMU, Texas Tech-Kansas, Purdue-Wisconsin, Nebraska-Indiana among others.
EDIT: Wake beats Duke, Nebraska beats Indiana. Does the Duke loss put us on the 2-line?
For Nebraska-Indiana, pull for Nebraska because 1) we want them in that RPI Top 50 at the end of the season and 2) Tom Crean is still Tom Crean.
At this point, any perceived change in the quality of middling conference foes is miniscule and has little to no impact on where M will be seeded in the Dance. To hell with Tom Crean.
What about pull for Nebraska because...Tom Crean?
Good point, sir. Fixed.
I feel like I've seen Nebraska-IU about 4 times already this season. There's too much red in this conference.
Meanwhile at Assembly Hall....
Indiana eFG% - 43.18%
Nebraska eFG% - 53.85%
Indiana OREB% - 14.29%
Nebraska OREB% - 31.25%
Indiana has the better free throw rate and one less turnover, but yeah, the rebounding and the cold shooting is hurting just a bit.
Assembly Hall is such a weird place. Why would you design an arena with almost no seats behind the two baskets? Yeah, a midcourt angle is a little better, but it's not like football where the difference is huge.
We all Nebraska basketball fans here? I mean, I'm rooting my ass off for them to get into the Dance. I've been nearly as pumped for Nebraska's games the past couple weeks as Michigan games...okay not quite nearly, but the more they win the more I get excited to see their Win column go up.
Yeah, they're a cool story. I want them to make the tournament (their last time was 1998). I love that we are the only team to beat them at their place.
Meanwhile, Wake is just hanging around with Duke.
IU/NEB tied up 52-52 looks like (just gametracker, not watching live)
Yea Nebraska up 1 at the tv timeout now
Under 2 minutes left. This would be a HUGE boost to our 2 seed chances. F Duke
Nebraska answers every charge. Really gutty team.
...and of course, Yogi Ferrell puts up nothing but bricks from downtown.
Loving the possiblity of a Duke loss.
Wake could beat Duke and UNC in one year. Weird team.
Wake on a 12-0 to take a 5 point lead with < 3 to go! And they've done it with the 1-3-1 on defnese...
Wake up 71-66 over Duke, 1:51 left.
Would we pass Duke for a 2-seed with a loss today?
Oh lawdy, Wake takes a 10 point lead
Wake Forest beats Duke.
Then I heard Bill Walton's voice.
Nope.
It doesn't appear this has been noted but Holy Cross just keeps on winning and just advanced to the Patriot League semi-finals. If they can find a way to win the Patriot League championship, there is a good shot they could move into the RPI top 100. Another top 100 win can't hurt. Also a decent run by Charlotte in Conference USA would be great to make that worst loss look a little better. All small things at this point but if it moves us up to the 2 line, I'll take it!
Holy crap, Shon Morris just revealed that he was TORN about leaving Aaron Craft off his All Big Ten team.
LOLOLOLOLOL
Are these people insane? Is there something in the water at the BTN? Craft has SUCKED this year. I mean SUCKED.
He has been a massive liability. I've watched plenty of OSU games this season because it became obvious they were flailing and I hate them. And Craft has had as much to do with their issues as anything else. He can't throw it in the ocean. He's been a mess with the new emphasis on shit actually being called.
People are just ridiculous sometimes.
I don't care how many games in a row WIsconsin has won. They're still finishing in second, at best.