Arena The Madness Has Begun!: NCAA Basketball Discussion

Tonight should be interesting. KU v. Florida. KU has inside defense but struggles somewhat defending the perimeter. KU, at least in my opinion, has more talent depth wise than Florida...although Florida's starters are as good as any five in the nation. Personally, I think Noah is overrated but he has excellent court vision and can pass well. I personally think KU has a legitimate shot at winning tonight so long as they keep the turnovers under ten and they have a high assist to turnover ratio. If KU wins it'll be because of their passing and their point guards drawing defense and dishing to Darrell Arthur, D. Jackson or Sasha Kaun. Brandon Rush also has to play excellent...think double double...in order to for the Jayhawks to prevail.

The nice thing about this matchup is that KU has the speed to keep up with the frenetic pace that Florida likes to play at. It's just a question of whether KU's youth and inexperience in big games will hamstring them significantly. Their youth certainly showed during the Oral Roberts game the other night.

I think KU wins 79-74.

Rock! Chalk!

 

[obligatory] Jayhawk![/obligatory]

I won't be watching that game, though I might catch a few minutes of it, but I hope Kansas can prove just how overrated Florida is. And yes, I still think they're overrated after last season. They sure didn't show me ANYTHING last year.

 

Kansas 82, Florida 80, F-OT

And Kansas should have won the game in regulation if they didn't keep fouling like complete idiots.

Regardless, Florida still hasn't shown me anything. Beating crappy teams by 60 doesn't mean anything.

 

I was screaming at Sasha Kaun after that stupid away from the ball foul. As soon as it went to OT I thought KU was doomed. When Humphrey started hitting those threes...I didn't know what to do. However, the kids showed moxie in the clutch. They kept the turnovers low and their passing was excellent. Plus Julian Wright played like a man possessed and Darrell Arthur played like a junior. Overall, this KU team impressed. Good win...it was a gut check.

Florida will be there when this is all said and done but for now...Rock! Chalk! Jayhawk! KU!

The one thing Self has to be concerned with is how the team managed the zone. They seemed out of sorts and that let Florida back in.

 

Florida will be there when this is all said and done

Maybe. If they don't have to play anyone in the NCAA again, probably.

That (the not playing anybody) was half of what got them the championship last year, and the other half was how they functioned as a team (usually). But with NBA prospects so close now for several of them, I really don't think they can maintain that team mentality and not start trying to feed their own stats and such. I think that will really start to wear on Florida as the season goes on, and they will be exposed repeatedly during the season.

 

You're right. Florida's road to the championship was paved with weaker competition and Georgetown should have beaten them in the tourney. However, I did think Florida played pretty well even though their frontcourt is extremely underrated. They had certainly had size on KU and, according to the pundits, they had skill. Yet, the undersized Jayhawks simply outplayed them tonight. Noah looked like he was going to cry half the time.

The SEC will be tough on them for certain but I really think this Florida team is the type of team that could make a run in March assuming they get the right match-ups. I think if this game tonight showed us anything it's that the Florida frontcourt is not as talented as everyone has made them out to be and that KU is actually a good basketball team despite the ORU loss and the two chokes in the NCAAs.

 

The SEC will be tough on them for certain but I really think this Florida team is the type of team that could make a run in March assuming they get the right match-ups.

Bingo.

I think if this game tonight showed us anything it's that the Florida frontcourt is not as talented as everyone has made them out to be and that KU is actually a good basketball team despite the ORU loss and the two chokes in the NCAAs.

And exactly.


Of course, my opinion of Florida is influenced, although certainly not completely based on, watching them play South Carolina three times last year, losing twice and barely winning the third right at the buzzer. And while I'm a big SC basketball fan, I also know full well that we really didn't have that great of a team. Certainly not one that should have had any chance of going 2 for 3 and very nearly 3 for 3 against a real top caliber team. Which, as I've said, I don't think Florida was last year and I don't think they really will be this year either.

 

Clemson is 7-0! we have beat Miss.State and cupcakes. This week we play Minnesota then South Carolina.

 

I've got two teams this year that I'm cheering for: the Wake Forest DEMON DEACONS (as I'm a lifelong fan) and the Duke BLUE DEVILS (as I've applied there and hope to be accepted).

I'm looking forward to ACC match-ups Yay for basketball season!

 

So where in New England are you from? . . . . . Just kidding.



I am quite amazed that Noah is as skilled as he is, because he seems extremely uncoordinated. He moves like a kid who has hit a growth spurt and not really gotten used to his body yet. Anyway, I watched the second half and it was a heckuva game despite how badly KU tried to give it away. Julian Wright was pretty freakin' dominant and you would've sworn they were playing in Allen Fieldhouse had you not known better.

So I guess by tomorrow UNC plays against #1 Ohio State Wednesday night (at least in the coaches poll). As if ESPN needed a little something else to hype up this game. I wish Oden was available as I'm ready to see what this kid is all about. I imagine everyone will be watching tape of the Gonzaga game now to see how they shut down Hansbrough.

 

Nice win for Sidney Lowe and NC State tonight over Michigan. Lowe will have his work cut out for him, but he should definitely have the fanbase on his side for a while. Or at least until Dook and UNC rain on his parade a few times. I think State could be 30-4, but if you those for losses came against Dook and UNC, NCSU fans would be miserable. Sendek never stood a chance there.

 

Let's Go Pittsburgh!!!

 

USC beat Citadel 74-59 tonight, with the key point as far as I'm concerned being the emergence of R-Fr F Dominique Archie. He had a total of 7 points (1,2,4) in the first three games while playing very poorly and not showing anything at all, before finally coming out in the last two games, getting 20 and 10 against Lipscomb and 16 and 8 against Citadel. Granted, not tough opponents, but still, its a heck of a lot better than he was looking. The question now is whether he'll be yet another of those players we have that consistently underperforms but shows flashes of brilliance from time to time or whether it was just an adjustment to playing games in college. I'm desperately hoping its the latter, because we'll need him badly this year.

 

Even Vitale was admitting that Dook got away with a few last night. I assume he went home and did 40 "Hail Mary's" to Coach K to try and repent afterwards. The best part was Vitale trying to make excuses to Paulus. First it's a bad foot, then it's poor conditioning, then it's nerves. Let's just admit with two AA's in the lineup, Paulus had it made. Now his mediocrity will be unveiled for the world to see unless McRoberts comes out of his coccoon and helps Paulus save face.

 

Paulus will fail simply because people expect him to be the second coming of JJ Reddick.

No, the expectations for Paulus are very different than that of Redick. Skill set is too different. Now, Scheyer could draw expectations like that, but he won't have the pressure on him, especially not this year because there are so many other weapons as well.

As I've said before, Duke's going to make a lot of mistakes this year because the team is so young. They'll drop games they shouldn't, but I think they'll be a much improved team by the end of the season, when the freshmen get more time under their belts. And McClure, Pocius, and Boykin (though Boykin's out indef with mono currently, probably won't play until after Christmas) haven't had the PT prior to this year (and McClure's all a year removed to boot) that they're in a similar situation to the freshmen. Nelson, Paulus, and McRoberts are really the only guys with any experience worth mentioning on the team, and Nelson's 2 seasons have both been hampered by injuries.

Duke has more talent than GT, but both teams will struggle a bit periodically throughout the season because of youth. Still, I think GT will at least push Duke for the #2 spot in the ACC, though I think Duke gels better by the time the ACC season, particularly the latter part of it, rolls around and it'll be enough to get Duke that #2 spot.

Paulus' problem right now is the missed conditioning/practices from that foot injury. He's still playing like its a week or two before the season starts. The other problem, though, is that he's in that set mentally as well - or at least appears to be - and thats got to change soon.

 

The way Maryland is playing, I wouldn't be too quick to say they can't challenge for a #1 or #2 spot in the ACC. They've got nice talent, and a lot of it is more experienced that UNC, Dook, or GT.

 

I think Maryland is the easy #4 that could challenge for the #3 spot... but I don't think they'll beat UNC (over the season, head to head anything can happen) or both GT and Duke to be #2.

Still a team to watch out for, though. Along with Virginia, who has some good guard play.

Oh, and BC? Not a bad team either, although I don't care for them because they still play like a Big East team. And I can't stand the Too Big East in basketball.

 

The OSU/UNC game was a great first half, I can't stay up to watch the second but the Buckeyes needed to build a larger lead when they were shooting over sixty percent from the field. UNC has a lot of fresh legs, while OSU isn't nearly as deep. Whoever wins, it was certainly well played in the first half.

 

Three different #1s losing in the month of November... that might be a record.

In ACC, non-Big Ten news, Air Force beats Wake Forest 94-58. I know WF is still down right now, and AF is a good, veteran team, but still.

And Clemson wins the last ACC-Big Ten game 90-68 over Minnesota, giving the ACC a resounding 8-3 victory over the Big Ten... again. ACC now 8-0 all time in the challenge.

Any questions on which is better?

Also, I've heard rumors that there may be a (limited version of) SEC-Big East challenge next year. Surprising thing for me is I thought it would be SEC-Big 12, not Big East. Wonder if this'll happen, though.