College Basketball 2009-2010 (part 2)

[jjfanec]

Big win in overtime for Marquette tonight. Doesn't really bolster their resume but a loss would have sure hurt it.

A win is a win. It is amazing how many close wins and losses Marquette has. A couple blowout wins but mostly everything has been close. They seem to play to any of their competition. They will be a tough out in the tourney thats for sure.

[TooLiveBrew]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... Purdue's Hummel out for season (torn right ACL)

The injury occurred during the first half of No. 3 Purdue's 59-58 win at Minnesota on Wednesday. Purdue made the announcement Thursday after Hummel underwent an MRI examination.

[homer]

That sucks. I thought Purdue had a good shot at the Final Four.

[Buckylovesbeer]

Well the Badgers finally looked good in the first half. All it took was a small dose of Indiana.......

 

TLB is probably going nuts right now. Nankivil is having a very nice game so far...... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[T B0NE 10]

Marquette should be happy Crean left them

[owbc]

It's Gavinski Time!!!

[hawing]

It's Gavinski Time!!!

That's just what I said when I walked into the living room late in the game. I'll take a .500 win percentage for the night. (I was following women's USA hockey as well.)

[Oldcity]

I don't care for Purdue at all, but losing Hummel is awful. They would have gotten a 1 seed.

It was nice to see the lineup that had so much success earlier this year. Leuer's rust appears to be pretty much gone. Then again, it's hard to take much away from a game against such a terrible team. I agree that Marquette is better off with Buzz than Crean.

[FVBrewerFan]

It was nice to see the lineup that had so much success earlier this year. Leuer's rust appears to be pretty much gone. Then again, it's hard to take much away from a game against such a terrible team. I agree that Marquette is better off with Buzz than Crean.

I don't like Crean, but to be fair Buzz is still working with Crean's recruits. We'll see what happens the next couple year. Same is true for Crean, he needs a chance to bring in his own recruits and then we'll see what he can do there. (Not to mention the fact they're coming off probabation.)

 

With that said, Buzz has done a great job this year. He's winning in the Big East with no size, and getting scoring out of guys like Acker and Cubillan.

 

 

[Menotti80]

i just want to comment on how frustrated it's been listening to people (especially TV and radio people) who have entire conversations revolving around bubble teams and whether or not they are in or out based on a win they just had or a loss they just suffered. how do these people not realize that bracketology means nothing until the conference tournaments weekend, if it ever means anything at all?

 

Seriously, how dumb is a question like: "Did Marquette's win the other night on the road put them in the tournament?" the answer is simple; if the season ended today, yes, but since there are still 2 weeks left, the answer is no. they still have 4 games left (not 3 by the way). if they lose the next 3 regular season games and get bounced in the first round of the big east tourney, would anyone in their right minds think marquette is still "in"?

 

the only way a team is in is if they lose all of the rest of the games and are still no doubt a tourney team. are these radio and TV people really that stupid to debate these things, or are they just looking for things to talk about that they know people will pay attention to?

 

rant over, have a good day!

[TooLiveBrew]

Well the Badgers finally looked good in the first half. All it took was a small dose of Indiana.......

 

TLB is probably going nuts right now. Nankivil is having a very nice game so far...... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I wasn't able to watch any of the game until well after the outcome had been decided. I think by the time I was able to tune in, there were ~ 6 minutes left. I didn't see any of Nankivil's success -- did it actually come down low?

Indiana is just terrible. That was like a preseason tuneup game v. Martyr State. Pretty embarassing.

[FVBrewerFan]

i just want to comment on how frustrated it's been listening to people (especially TV and radio people) who have entire conversations revolving around bubble teams and whether or not they are in or out based on a win they just had or a loss they just suffered. how do these people not realize that bracketology means nothing until the conference tournaments weekend, if it ever means anything at all?

I know what you're saying, but you have to take it for what it is. I think for the most part the talking heads make sure they add the discaimer that it's based on RIGHT NOW. As we're nearing the end of the season, I don't think it's wrong to start looking at who's in, who's not and watching it change as we head down the stretch. As long as the PLAYERS don't read too much into it, that's the important thing.

[homer]

I didn't see any of Nankivil's success -- did it actually come down low?

Offensively he had 14 points - six on two three pointers but he did get 4 blocks.

[TooLiveBrew]

I like to hear that, but I have a hard time taking performance against IU as any sign of true progress. Three rebounds? The Hoosiers shot 37.5% -- surely nabbing more than three rebounds was far from difficult. The four blocks are encouraging, though. Were his two-point FGs from the post? Jump shots?

 

Imo Nankivil will really be needed to be a factor in the post the rest of the way (& of course in the postseason). If he wants to play like he's 6'2", I hope Bo finds a way to get some true bigs on the floor. I'm sorry to belabor the point... regardless of how it may come across, I really root for Keaton & want to see him play well down low.

[jjfanec]

I didn't see any of Nankivil's success -- did it actually come down low?

Offensively he had 14 points - six on two three pointers but he did get 4 blocks.

I only saw some of the first half, but at least four Nankival's points came in the paint on a dunk and a nice post move.

[Buckylovesbeer]

I didn't see any of Nankivil's success -- did it actually come down low?

Offensively he had 14 points - six on two three pointers but he did get 4 blocks.

I only saw some of the first half, but at least four Nankival's points came in the paint on a dunk and a nice post move.

Adding to this point, the first Badger points of the game was a post up to Nankivil. He drop-stepped and dunked. Great move. I think Bo wanted them to get Keaton a touch in the post to start the game.

 

Sorry TLB, just picking on you. I hope he turns the corner as well. Dont worry about rebounds, I believe Jordan Taylor led the team in the first half. It is what it is.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Adding to this point, the first Badger points of the game was a post up to Nankivil. He drop-stepped and dunked. Great move. I think Bo wanted them to get Keaton a touch in the post to start the game.

 

This is really good to hear. Like I noted, not exactly good competition in Indiana, but still nice to hear. I hope Bo continues to work/feed Nankivil down low.

 

 

Dont worry about rebounds, I believe Jordan Taylor led the team in the first half. It is what it is.

 

It's not just one game, though. Travon Hughes has averaged 4.5 rebounds per game so far this season, Nankivil 4.8 (Leuer leads in Reb./game, at 5.8). Especially considering that Keaton was the only legit post player (size-wise) seeing regular playing time with Leuer out, that's just bad. Nankivil has been a very efficient shooter this season, and that's nothing to scoff at, but he doesn't consistently use his physical size to his advantage imo, and that could wind up costing the team come tourney-time(s)

[Oldcity]

It was nice to see the lineup that had so much success earlier this year. Leuer's rust appears to be pretty much gone. Then again, it's hard to take much away from a game against such a terrible team. I agree that Marquette is better off with Buzz than Crean.

I don't like Crean, but to be fair Buzz is still working with Crean's recruits. We'll see what happens the next couple year. Same is true for Crean, he needs a chance to bring in his own recruits and then we'll see what he can do there. (Not to mention the fact they're coming off probabation.)

 

With that said, Buzz has done a great job this year. He's winning in the Big East with no size, and getting scoring out of guys like Acker and Cubillan.

I agree that we'll see what happens, but I think Buzz has done a better job with Crean's players than Crean did. And Marquette has some great recruiting classes on the way. Crean was a pretty good recruiter, but I've never been that impressed by his actual coaching. No doubt he'll get better players there, but I don't think Indiana will be consistently at the top of the conference under him. Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois can get the same caliber of recruits, and coaches like Izzo, Bo, and Painter will get more out of their guys than he will.

[Oldcity]

i just want to comment on how frustrated it's been listening to people (especially TV and radio people) who have entire conversations revolving around bubble teams and whether or not they are in or out based on a win they just had or a loss they just suffered. how do these people not realize that bracketology means nothing until the conference tournaments weekend, if it ever means anything at all?

I've been on this same rant. It's all about drumming up as much importance for the current game, rationale be damned. Last weekend's Marquette-Cincinnati game was a perfect example. "The eyes of the college basketball world are on this game!" Uh, no, because each team has five or six games left.

[LouisEly]

With that said, Buzz has done a great job this year. He's winning in the Big East with no size, and getting scoring out of guys like Acker and Cubillan.

 

Unless Otule gets healthy Mbao gets better, he's going to have to do that again next year. Five schollies available and no one over 6'6" brought in. Hayward will be gone next year, and Butler and Fulce will be seniors. That does not bode well for the future. I know they didn't anticipate Maymon leaving, but I'd rather hold that scholarship for a year than give it to another 6'4" guard.

 

Seton Hall will be tough. They have some beef down low - Pope is averaging 11 boards a game. But they are a two-man team - stop Hazell and keep Pope off the boards and they can be beat.

[owbc]

Indiana needs to stick with Crean. He looks really bad right now because he is a mediocre coach at best. However, he can recruit, and Indiana will never have problems drawing in big names. Crean started 3 freshmen and a sophomore last night. Imagine Trevon Hughes against the other B10 powers as a freshman, with no experienced upperclassmen to help him out. The turnovers will go down with time. To Crean's credit, they play a solid offensive game, they just took poor/off-balanced shots. Bo Ryan will probably always dominate Crean, but he will start winning games next year and especially the year after.

[LouisEly]

Crean did make a mistage going there. To paraphrase him from his press conference after he was hired, sorry Tom, but Indiana is not Indiana. Indiana was Bob Knight. It hasn't been anything since he left, and I doubt it ever will be. They play in a glorified high school gym in a small town in the middle of nowhere. If you're a recruit and you go to Indiana, and then go see the facilities in Madison or the Breslin Center in Michigan State, you're not going to go to Indiana. Yes, Crean has brought in some recruits, but two of his big recruits from 2008 are already gone - Nick Williams (whom he stole from Marquette) and Malik Story - and his 2010 class wasn't that impressive (only two schollies available though).

 

I have a friend who is from Michigan, and he says the same thing about Michigan. One of the reasons Michigan State has been kicking UM's behind for 15 years is because of the Breslin Center. Michigan, as my friend says, plays in a barn. Granted, Izzo is a very good coach, but if you went to the Breslin Center, the Kohl Center, or even the Bradley Center (playing in an NBA arena), you'll be a lot more impressed by those venues than Assembly Hall or the Crisler Arena. The sell for Purdue is that you're close to Chicago.

 

There's a reason that Indiana hasn't hosted a NCAA tournament game since 1981.

[PeaveyFury]

It hasn't been anything since he left, and I doubt it ever will be.

 

They made it to the NCAA Championship game in 2002, for the record.

[TooLiveBrew]

#1KU & #2UK both lose, as does #11 G-town... Minnesota squeaked by Illinois at Assembly Hall, & New Mexico won by two points @ BYU. Some interesting outcomes today. Of course, the game to watch is Villanova @ Syracuse tonight.

 

Not much talk about how superior those other conferences are lately. Pomeroy actually had Wisconsin ranked #4 heading into this weekend.

[LouisEly]

Point made Peavey, however that was only two years removed from Knight's departure, so the juniors and seniors (and possibly sophomores) were Knight's recruits.