NCAA College Basketball

[Lord Kayoss]

Credit to UConn for executing their game and defending their #1 ranking.

Bad night for Cards fans, but we knew it was coming.  We've had a grueling schedule and not much time to rest or prepare.  Our guys have 6 days before the next game and just in time.

I'm proud of our boys.  To come out of the recent stretch with only one loss is still quite an accomplishment.  Marquette hasn't even gotten into the meat of the Big East yet.  Hope they enjoy sitting at the top of the conference while it lasts!

Again, credit to UConn.  Great game tonight.

[pilferk]

A VERY nice win for Uconn, and a pretty inconsequential loss for Louisville.  It never "hurts" as much in the rankings to lose to the #1 team.

And Louisville's defense was pretty damn impressive.  That press is going to cause many teams FITS.

[D]

Yeah, when I saw UL stretch of schedule and saw Kentucky, Notre Dame, number 1 pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, UConn, if u told me we'd only lose 1 game out of that, I would've been shocked.

I wouldve been ok with 500 out of that

[faldor]

Yeah, when I saw UL stretch of schedule and saw Kentucky, Notre Dame, number 1 pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, UConn, if u told me we'd only lose 1 game out of that, I would've been shocked.

I wouldve been ok with 500 out of that

That's the nature of playing in the Big East.  The schedules are unforgiving.  Hopefully the selection committee takes that into effect come tournament time.  Just look at Georgetown and Notre Dame, both teams have lost 5 in a row in the grueling Big East.  Prior to that both were top 10 teams.

[pilferk]

That's the nature of playing in the Big East.  The schedules are unforgiving.  Hopefully the selection committee takes that into effect come tournament time.  Just look at Georgetown and Notre Dame, both teams have lost 5 in a row in the grueling Big East.  Prior to that both were top 10 teams.

I don't care WHAT anyone says, I think the Big East has the toughest conference in College B-Ball this season.  EVERYBODY is so good...even the teams at the bottom of the barrel are "gamers", capable of beating you on any given night, and giving the top teams close games.  Everybody plays SICK defense.  And you look at the teams toward the bottome....G-Town, ND....those teams are MUCH better than their conference record shows.  I'm not sure it'll help THEM come tourney time....I think if they have a losing record in the confernece, they'll probably not make it...but playing against teams LIKE that are going to help those that DO get selected perform better in the field of 64, IMHO.

The ACC isn't bad, either...but it's a VERY different league.  Some think it's a lot more exciting, because...lets face it...they score a LOT more points in that league.  But I just don't see the defense from most of them.  The game's just nowhere near as physical between 2 ACC teams.  I like watching the Big East games, personally.  It's like watching a fucking WAR out there.  Not that it's gorilla ball....it's not.  But the bumping, banging, defense.....I think that's exciting shit to watch.

[Axl4Prez2004]

Let's Go Orange!!!!!  Let's Go Orange!!!!!  Watch out #1 UConn!  (Onuaku and Rautins are still nursing injuries...SU's in trouble, but I'm keeping the faith!)  7pm Wednesday at UConn.   

[faldor]

Let's Go Orange!!!!!  Let's Go Orange!!!!!  Watch out #1 UConn!  (Onuaku and Rautins are still nursing injuries...SU's in trouble, but I'm keeping the faith!)  7pm Wednesday at UConn.   

UConn looked much more human against Michigan this weekend.  They were on quite a roll going into that game but the Wolverines gave them all they could handle.  Syracuse plays that 2-3 zone and that should work to their advantage.  UConn is NOT a very good 3 point shooting team and sometimes look lost in the half court against a zone.  That being said, their defense has been solid pretty much all season long so even if their offense is a little stagnant, their D has made up for that and helped create offense.  I'd expect the Huskies to be a little more on top of their game on Wednesday, which wouldn't be good news for the Orange.

[Lord Kayoss]

UK/Florida was a great one to watch tonight.  Entertaining all the way with a heroic finish.  Meeks hitting that contested 3 was awesome.

[D]

Meeks is just amazing

hopefully he and Patterson will stay one more year and we will have a shot next season

[pilferk]

UConn looked much more human against Michigan this weekend.  They were on quite a roll going into that game but the Wolverines gave them all they could handle.  Syracuse plays that 2-3 zone and that should work to their advantage.  UConn is NOT a very good 3 point shooting team and sometimes look lost in the half court against a zone.  That being said, their defense has been solid pretty much all season long so even if their offense is a little stagnant, their D has made up for that and helped create offense.  I'd expect the Huskies to be a little more on top of their game on Wednesday, which wouldn't be good news for the Orange.

Other than the part about not being a good 3 point shooting team, you've just describe UCONN pretty much over the past 20 years.

Solid defense, who's offense can look very sloppy at times, and who look their best in transition basketball, usually after forcing turnovers, rebounding, or inbounding (one of the few teams who push the ball after a made basket by the other team).

I agree, though, the threat from 3 point range isn't there this year.  I think that might be the one piece of the puzzle they had in their "great" years where they won championships over this year.  We'll see if they can bang their way to a championship or not THIS year.

Michigan took VERY good care of the basketball and I suspect that's what made the Huskies look so "mortal".  They've also had a tough run of games, not just in quality of opponents, but in terms of number of games in the preceeding week and travel.  To me...they looked TIRED, which I don't think helped things.

We'll see how they look against the 'Cuse, tonight.  They've had a decent break between games, so you'd think fatigue wouldn't be a factor any more.

I can't believe the Big East schedule regular season is almost done.  3 weeks left....well, really only 2 for Uconn + Pitt.  I HATE that one week break in Feb between ND and Pitt. 

Marquette went down to 'Nova last night.  'Nova seems to be heating up fast.

[faldor]

UConn has lacked a true 3 point threat since their last championship run with Rashad Anderson.  They have guys that can hit 3's, Price, Dyson,  Austrie, and Walker.  But none of those guys can be counted on every night like Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, and Anderson.  A.J. comes the closest. He hit that big 3 to force OT at Gonzaga, but he's been up and down all year.  People tend to forget he's coming off a pretty bad season ending injury from last year when he seemed to be coming into his own.  I don't think he's fully recovered so that could be reason for the inconsistency.  Freshmen Scottie Harrelson was supposed to be a legit 3 point threat but he's barely played all year, and I think he's made 1 three.

[pilferk]

UConn has lacked a true 3 point threat since their last championship run with Rashad Anderson.  They have guys that can hit 3's, Price, Dyson,  Austrie, and Walker.  But none of those guys can be counted on every night like Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, and Anderson.  A.J. comes the closest. He hit that big 3 to force OT at Gonzaga, but he's been up and down all year.  People tend to forget he's coming off a pretty bad season ending injury from last year when he seemed to be coming into his own.  I don't think he's fully recovered so that could be reason for the inconsistency.  Freshmen Scottie Harrelson was supposed to be a legit 3 point threat but he's barely played all year, and I think he's made 1 three.

They handled the 'cuse last night.  First half looked very  much like their last game vs Michigan.  I didn't see much of the 2nd half, but from the stats it looks like it might have gotten a bit better...certainly less sloppy.  Did it?

And Duke lost, which I think always makes any UCONN player smile.....

[faldor]

UConn has lacked a true 3 point threat since their last championship run with Rashad Anderson.  They have guys that can hit 3's, Price, Dyson,  Austrie, and Walker.  But none of those guys can be counted on every night like Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, and Anderson.  A.J. comes the closest. He hit that big 3 to force OT at Gonzaga, but he's been up and down all year.  People tend to forget he's coming off a pretty bad season ending injury from last year when he seemed to be coming into his own.  I don't think he's fully recovered so that could be reason for the inconsistency.  Freshmen Scottie Harrelson was supposed to be a legit 3 point threat but he's barely played all year, and I think he's made 1 three.

They handled the 'cuse last night.  First half looked very  much like their last game vs Michigan.  I didn't see much of the 2nd half, but from the stats it looks like it might have gotten a bit better...certainly less sloppy.  Did it?

And Duke lost, which I think always makes any UCONN player smile.....

Yeah I went to the game last night and that was one sloppy first half.  They really played poorly on offense.  So many stupid passes and turnovers.  I was amazed they ended the half actually leading by 3.  They settled down a bit in the second half and played better on offense, but obviously defense was the name of the game.  Holding Syracuse to 49 points is quite impressive, heck holding any team to 49 points is impressive but the Orange were one of the top scoring teams in the conference.  Thabeet is such a force in the middle.  He's a great shot blocker, but it's really his mere presence that makes the biggest difference.  Teams don't even try to go inside, and if they do they often get denied.  Hasheem still has a load of work to do on the offensive end, I swear he has among the worst hands in college basketball history, but he's an A+ on defense.  He rarely gets into foul trouble too.  He fouled out of one game this year, the OT game against Gonzaga, and that was a bunch of crap.  He got called for a technical for his 5th foul in OT for taunting, which was one of the worst calls I've ever seen, especially to foul a guy out on.  Other than that, he stays out of foul trouble for the most part.

One big negative from last night though is we lost Jerome Dyson for the season with a knee injury.  He's Calhoun's favorite player and he brings a definite spark to the team.  He can score, shoot, defend.  That's a big loss.  They do have depth at the guard position with Price, Austrie, and Walker but that depth will be put to the test now.  Austrie and Walker will have to step up their games.  I think we've established though, IF the Huskies are gonna march deep into the tournament it's gonna be because of their defense and as long as Hasheem is out there, they still are tough to score against.

[pilferk]

I agree...losing Dyson is going to hurt.

From what I read though...he could be out for the season, or he could be back in time for the Big East Tourney.  They weren't sure.

Given the injury he has, it depends on the size and severity of the tear.  We'll probably find out more over the next couple of days....here's hoping he's back, and healthy, before the end of the season....

[faldor]

I agree...losing Dyson is going to hurt.

From what I read though...he could be out for the season, or he could be back in time for the Big East Tourney.  They weren't sure.

Given the injury he has, it depends on the size and severity of the tear.  We'll probably find out more over the next couple of days....here's hoping he's back, and healthy, before the end of the season....

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping too.  They did play their best basketball last season though after Dyson and Wiggins were suspended.  They went on long win streak without those 2, then kind of fizzled when they came back.  Not saying Dyson made them a worse team, there were probably a lot of other factors, but they can still play at a high level without him.  But I do hope he returns, because he brings a lot to the table.

[Axl4Prez2004]

Orange beat the Hoyas in O.T.!  Sweeet.  31,000+ in attendance at the Dome.  Beautiful stuff man, beautiful stuff.   

[faldor]

How about Thabeet's line from yesterday?  Career high 25 points, career high 20 rebounds, and 9 blocks.  Not a bad day at the office.  Huskies looked pretty much the same in their first full game without Jerome Dyson, big game on Monday against Pitt.  We'll see how they stack up against a legit final four type team without Dyson.  I think as long as Hasheem is out there, healthy, on the court, not in foul trouble, they'll always be a force.  He is just such a factor right now.  I didn't think I'd see more of a force than Okafor when he left but I think Hasheem has topped him recently.  At least on defense, he still leaves a lot to be desired on offense but he pretty much eliminates penetration into the lane and shuts down the opposing big men.  He does have 5 inches on Okafor, so maybe that's enough to make up the difference.

Also, good to see highly overrated Duke struggle lately.  Nice to see that supposedly great defense get blitzed by UNC.  If Duke doesn't hit 3's they're quite pedestrian.  If they weren't Duke they'd be nowhere near the top 10 right now.  And what happened with Louisville recently, getting crushed by a struggling Notre Dame?  That came out of nowhere.  I mean I guess ND was bound to snap out of it at sometime, I just didn't expect it to be at the expense of a solid Louisville squad.  Oklahoma's quietly having a fantastic season.  Blake Griffin went off for 40 points yesterday.

[D]

Notre Dame have a fantastic shooting team. If u saw that game, ND just did not miss. It happens every once in awhile where a team gets so hot, they would've beat anybody that day by 10pts.

UL had an off day shooting and harangody or however u spell his name was just on fire as was the other guys.

[Lord Kayoss]

UofL rebounded with a 46 point thrashing of DePaul.  Preston Knowles was hot from 3.

Providence is next before our guys head to Cincinnati & Georgetown.

I hope we're getting back on track.  Cincy, GT, and then hosting Marquette won't be easy.

[faldor]

Duke lost again........   If they're not out of the top 10 this week, we've got serious problems.  #1 UConn vs. #4 Pitt tomorrow night.  Let's do it!