The game is on at 9:57 eastern on Thursday.
5 Ivy-leaguers against 5 NBA players.
Go Cornell, but honestly unless Cousins finally snaps and punches someone in the face, I don't think Cornell has much of a shot. Too bad, it would be awesome to see them win. But hey, they played Kansas close in Lawrence so who knows? Crazier things have happened.
Kentucky - 86
Cornell - 78
The way they have just dismantled Wisconsin and Temple gives me hope.
Plus Kentucky hasn't really beat anyone that good. Here is their top 5 wins.
Tennesse twice
Vandy twice
Lousiville
Those 3 teams are the only teams in the 65 NCAA tournment field that Kentucky has beat.
Tennessee beat them in their 27 Febuary matchup, further solidifying your point, but they have looked pretty darn good at handling their business to this point in the tourney. I guess we'll find out.
Go Cornell
But they beat Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, so they did in fact beat them two times.
Actually, beat might be a little too kind. Throttled might be a little more appropriate.
Yeah and they won that game by TWENTY NINE points.
After just beating Wake by THIRTY, they're going to be hard to stop.
I feel bad for Miss St. for not getting in...
who lost to North Carolina in the NIT?
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^
I don't think the evidence is out there, but I would venture a guess that:
Barely missing the NCAA tournament = Poor results in the NIT.
I mean, how many times is a coach going to be able to get his players up for the NIT after being one of the first teams out?
Also, Carolina had something to prove in the NIT after such a horrible season for them.
I didn't think about the SEC tourney.
Let the beat down commence!
UK was up by 6 with 8 min left in the game and won by 29! That was painful to watch.
squad, even though I dislike them and every SEC and orange damned thing about them (what, you couldn't think of another COLOR?)
I've been waiting for Cousins to break and maul an opposing player since the onslaught of the tourney. I'll be rooting for Cornell just like a lot of you but the team that has captured my heart is Saint Marys. Keep it up fellas.
I'm thinking Kentucky will win by about 400 points.
I think this Kentucky team is just playing completely loose right now. As much as he is a scumbag, Calipari can coach the players once he gets them. He is doing a good job of saying "we're just a bunch of freshman. We can' win." Bottom line is that Cornell is a darn good basketball team, but I just see Kentucky as the most complete team in the country.
Kentucky 89
Cornell 79
Also to be completely honest I picked Kentucky to win it all, so I might not be completely unbiased.
I'm sorry but Duke/Purdue has to be the most interesting matchup:
- Purdue playing without Hummel has turned into "nobody believed in us" mode
- Duke hasn't beaten a 4 seed or higher since 2001
- Kramer may or may not be on HGH
- Duke has looked good thus far
- Kentucky has the best odds to advance to the elite 8 of any team (9 point favorites)
Also, while Cornell has handled two solid teams thus far, Kentucky has looked unstoppable.
And it's worth noting the N Iowa / MSU game is the closest point spread - 1.5. I think Lucas has something to do with that.
Cornell has beat a 5 and 4 seed, while Kentucky beat a 16 and 9.
But I will go with Northern Iowa v MSU as the most intriguing match up.
i think that at the end of this week, the records will show that kentucky has won, by a lot.
i think that in five years, after UK has this season forfeited and their wins vacated, records will show that UK did not win
is playing in the Carrier Dome about an hour from their campus. It will be packed with people rooting for Cornell. I'd say Cornell fans, but really it'll mostly be Syracuse fans rooting for their "close enough" hometown team to knock off the big cat. A flight to Utah to watch the Orange play Butler is CRAZY expensive... so this is the next best thing.
With that said... I just don't see Cornell winning... of course I didn't see N. Iowa winning either. In fact, my grandmother could have picked my bracket for me and gotten a better score.
Kentucky 76
Cornell 64
Is indeed doing much better than mine is...
Same here. My grandmother got 33 out of 48 right.
UK is quicker, faster, and bigger at nearly every position (this can be said for every team remaining in the tournament vis-a-vis UK). I hope Big Red pulls the upset, and if they remain blazing hot from the perimeter they have a shot.
On a related note, Cornell press conferences are pretty damn good.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=df-cornell032110&prov…
in the first two games. They were on fire against 2 very good defense. It helps that they were able to get offensive rebounds. It'll remain to see if Cornell can keep Demarcus Cousins out of the box for rebounding. Kentucky defense is great, they don't allow you for an easy shot and they're very long and athletic which helps.
Cornell had a nice run but it ends against Kentucky unless Kentucky implode.
I was a sophomore at Penn in spring 1979 when they were the last Ivy League school to get this far. Those old enough recall they beat a good Syracuse team and then knocked off #1 seed North Carolina. They slowed down after that, beating another overacheiving team (St. Johns?) and then losing by 50 pts to Michigan State led by you know who. I felt they played well and had some bad luck that day, layups not going down etc. They should have lost by no more than 25.
The point is that a good Ivy League team can surprise and win. To do that they need to be very hot from the outside. So I predict Cornell will win without having seen them play. Kentucky is beatable. They won a number of very close games this year.
UK by 20, the cinderella run is over for Cornell. (unless Cousins implodes that is, that guy is one missed lithium dose away from destroying the planet!)
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
Everyone is saying this. I have only watched 1 Kentucky game this year and that was against Wake Forest and Cousins didn't show any signs of getting a technical. I still think Cornell has a great shot, but not for that reason.
By the way I would not call Cornell's success in the tourney a Cinderella run, I would call it a demolition. N. Iowa is a team on a cinderella run. They won both games in the final seconds. I thought St. Mary's was better than both teams they beat. Villanova started sinking as soon as they got in that tournament.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
I have only watched 1 Kentucky game this year and that was against Wake ForestThen you haven't seen games where he has lost his temper and gotten a technical. After the SC loss, he reportedly punched a student who was rushing the court (per a local radio host who claimed to have seen it, a student verified and claimed that Cousins hit him twice). Announcers made a point to mention his temper in several games that I've seen.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:42 PM ^
Wow, you almost had me. I thought this would be one of your rare posts where you didn't ask some dumb question, but little did I know you just decided to put it in your post instead of having it as the title. You cheeky bastard.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^
Agreed. How tight do I think it's going to be? Well the spread in Vegas right now is nine points so I'd say not that fucking tight.
KenPom also has it at nine.
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 PM ^
And it's the highest rank in the military
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:23 AM ^
If Calipari's smart he comes out full court pressing for 40 minutes. Push the tempo and make it a fullcourt game. Cornell's a good team but they don't have the horses to hang with Kentucky in a full court game for 40 minutes (Bill Self is probably kicking himself he didn't press for 40 minutes).
I'm not that familiar with Temple, but Wisky was a great match-up for Cornell. Wisky's a good team but not very dominating athleticly in terms of speed and quickness, and they only run when the opportunity presents itself.
This is one of those rare games in which you know 90-95% of the country is rooting for one side. Cornell will make it a game and look like they'll win, but the "evil" side will pull it out in the final seconds. 72-70.
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^
While I would love to see N. Iowa, Butler, Cornell, or St. Mary's make it to Indy, I have this feeling we are going to see a Duke, Kentucky, Cuse, and OSU Final Four.