November 6, 2009 –
by Brendon
2008-09 in review: The Big 12 fit comfortably in the middle of the major-conference pecking order last season. Lacking an elite team as the flaws of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas revealed themselves, the league still had a depth of quality teams that helped it win all six of its first-round NCAA Tournament teams and send two squads to the Elite Eight.
The Big 12 also boasted the consensus player of the year last season in Blake Griffin. The athletic big man was unguardable down low, drawing more fouls than any other player in the country. He and freshman point guard Willie Warren helped the Sooners to a 25-1 start, but the Sooners stumbled into the NCAA Tournament. They reached the Elite Eight, nonetheless, losing there to national champion North Carolina by 12 points, the smallest margin of victory in UNC’s march to the title.
Missouri was the conference’s breakout team last winter. In Mike Anderson’s third season in Columbia, the Tigers finally got the 40 Minutes of Hell in place, becoming a sweltering pressing team led by DeMarre Carroll. Carroll, Leo Lyons and the rest of the 10-man rotation advanced to the Elite Eight with a 102-point effort against a Memphis team on a 27-game win streak. Read More »
Posted in Big 12
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Tagged 2009-10 season preview, A.J. Abrams, Ade Dagundoro, Austin Johnson, Avery Bradley, Baylor, Bill Self, Blake Griffin, Bryan Davis, Byron Eaton, Cade Davis, Chinemelu Elonu, Cole Aldrich, Colorado, Connor Atchley, Cookie Miller, Cory Higgins, Curtis Jerrells, D.J. Augustine, Damion James, DeMarre Carroll, Doc Sadley, Donald Sloan, Dwight Thorne, Elijah Johnson, Iowa State, J.T. Tiller, Jai Lucas, Jeff Bzdelik, Jeff Capel, Jordan Hamilton, Josh Carter, Jrue Holiday, Juan Patillo, Kansas, Kansas State, Karron Johnson, Keith Gallon, LaceDarius Dunn, Leo Lyons, Marcus Morris, Mark Turgeron, Marquis Gilstrap, Matt Lawrence, Mike Anderson, Mike Singletary, Missouri, Nebraska, Nolan Dennis, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Paul Velander, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Raymond Penn, Rick Barnes, Ryan Wright, Scott Drew, Shawn Williams, Sherron Collins, Steve Harley, Tennessee, Terrel Harris, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Thomas Robinson, Tommy Mason-Griffin, Tony Crocker, Travis Ford, Tyshawn Taylor, Wally Judge, Willie Warren, Xavier Henry
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March 27, 2009 –
by Brendon
Not much time to wax today, but I did want to put electronic pen to paper before Friday’s games and the Elite Eight. I’ll breakdown all of Thursday’s games and give a glimpse at Friday and Saturday’s matchups herein.
West Region: In my West Region preview, I noted two keys to the Missouri-Memphis game — Memphis’ turnovers and Missouri’s 2-point shooting. Memphis had 14 turnovers, probably a couple more than John Calipari would have liked but nothing out of the norm — Antonio Anderson did duplicate his six-turnover performance from the win over Cal State-Northridge. The other key — Missouri’s 2-point shooting — was the difference. The Tigers hit 58.7 percent of their 2-point attempts, including far too many layups with several difficult 18-footers mixed in. Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged A.J. Price, Arizona, Blake Griffin, Chase Budinger, Connecticut, Dante Cunningham, DeJuan Blair, Duke, East Region, Gerald Henderson, Gonzaga, Hasheem Thabeet, J.T. Tiller, Jerry Smith, Jon Sheyer, Jordan Hill, Kansas, Levance Fields, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan State, Midwest Region, Missouri, Nic Wise, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Sam Young, South Region, Syracuse, Terrence Williams, Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyreke Evans, Villanova, West Region, Willie Warren, Xavier
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March 19, 2009 –
by Lukas
In my East and South regional previews, I noted that I considered Wisconsin the bracket-buster in that section of the bracket. I did this a bit tongue-in-cheek as bracket-busters tend to be teams from small conferences and combine very low national exposure with double-digit seeds. I went back and researched all the non-power-conference teams seeded No. 12 or worse that won in the last five years to see if I could glean any insight into what characteristics, if any, these bracket-busters or the teams they defeeated had in common.
The nine major upsets were as follows:
2008 – No. 13 Siena over No. 4 Vanderbilt
2008 – No. 13 San Diego over No. 4 UConn
2006 – No. 14 Northwestern State over No. 3 Iowa (not the Northwestern Wildcats as was the call)
2006 – No. 13 Bradley over No. 4 Kansas
2005 – No. 14 Bucknell over No. 3 Kansas
2005 – No. 13 Vermont over No. 4 Syracuse
2005 – No. 12 UW Milwaukee over No. 5 Alabama
2004 – No. 12 Manhattan over No. 5 Florida
2004 – No. 12 Pacific over No. 5 Providence Read More »
Posted in Mid-Majors, Pac-10, Reviews/Previews, SEC
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Tagged Alabama, Bracket Buster, Bradley, Bucknell, Cleveland State, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Manhattan, March, Michigan State, Morgan State, NCAA Tournament, North Dakota State, Northwestern State, Oklahoma, Pacific, Portland State, Providence, Robert Morris, San Diego, Siena, Stephen F. Austin, Syracuse, UW Milwaukee, Vanderbilt, Vermont, Wake Forest, Xavier
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March 18, 2009 –
by Lukas
Welcome to your 2009 March Madness region of contrasting styles. Get ready for some fireworks and several battles for which team can control the tempo. Six of the top seven seeds have elite offenses. In fact they comprise half of the top-12 most efficient offenses in the country. Just for good measure, you’ve also got the two teams in the tournament that have the largest discrepancy between their horrific offense and lock down defense.
How fast should we go? Consider these Second Round matchups that all have a good chance of occurring with their national rank in possessions-per-game in parenthesis:
North Carolina (7) vs. Butler (286)
Gonzaga (88) vs. Illinois (283)
Syracuse (32) vs. Arizona State (333)
Oklahoma (94) vs. Michigan (267)
Tempo-free statistics help us understand these teams on a comparable level, but with such large gaps between the fast and the slow it will be interesting to see if any teams get thrown off its game. UNC’s secondary break tends to move at express speed no matter who the opponent is, so it’s safe to say that the other team is going to have to make an adjustment if they aren’t used to the pace. The looming Syracuse vs. Arizona State matchup is the most interesting out of these, and pits the two teams most equal in talent and ability to win. Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Akron, Arizona State, Butler, Clemson, Gonzaga, Illinois, James Harden, LSU, March, Michigan, Morgan State, NCAA Tournament, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Radford, South Regional, Stephen F. Austin, Syracuse, Temple, Western Kentucky
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March 11, 2009 –
by Lukas
The Big 12 has flown somewhat under the radar compared to fellow BCS conferences this year. The conference featured neither multiple high-soaring teams at the top of the league a la the Big East and ACC nor the down-to-the-wire bubble mayhem of the Pac-10 and Big Ten, nor even the generally uninspiring and sloppy play of the SEC. Once Blake Griffin went down and with it Oklahoma’s likely No. 1 seed, the focus switched to the bubble race. Fortunately for fans of Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Texas, their teams are looking pretty solid in terms of an at-large bid for the NCAAs, but unfortunately for the conference officials, there is a good chance that Selection Sunday will not spring any major surprises. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
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February 13, 2009 –
by Brendon
Bracketing challenges: The two most difficult aspects to this bracket were near the top and at the at-large cut line. The former was centered around the second, third and fourth seed lines. Several of the teams being considered for these lines — Marquette, Kansas, Louisville, UCLA, Xavier, Wake Forest — lost during the mid-week, which made identifying good options more difficult. Through a process of elimination, the last spot on the second seed line came down to Clemson and Villanova, the two teams that met in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Clemson gets the nod with one fewer loss on the season and one more win against the RPI top 50. The margins are that small from team to team. Read More »
Posted in Bracket Junkie, National Perspective
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Tagged ACC, Arizona, Arizona State, Atlantic-10, Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Boston College, Brigham Young, Butler, Cincinnati, Clemson, Creighton, Dayton, Georgetown, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Marquette, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mountain West, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pac-10, Penn State, Providence, San Diego State, SEC, Southern Cal, St. Joseph's, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Utah, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Xavier
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February 10, 2009 –
by Brendon
Zaire Taylor’s runner gave Missouri a two-point lead over Kansas in the final seconds on Monday night, and that shot — with great assistance from 26 Jayhawks turnovers — resulted in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since January 2006. The game was as evenly-matched as one would expect from two teams in the 3-5-seed range, but the effect of the result that I want to focus on is not how Missouri’s performance and Taylor’s shot will affect the NCAA Tournament projection on Friday. Rather, since this was Kansas’ first conference loss, we’re left with just one team — Oklahoma — that is still undefeated in conference among teams in the six major conferences.
It’s very unlikely that Oklahoma will actually finish the conference season undefeated. Only three teams in the last 10 seasons — Duke in 1999, Kansas in 2002 and Kentucky in 2003 — finished their conference regular seasons undefeated. Duke and Kentucky went on to win their respective conference tournaments as well. Stanford in 2004 and Illinois in 2005 lost their undefeated seasons in the final game, road losses to Washington and Ohio State respectively. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, National Perspective
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Tagged Big 12, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis, Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Princeton, Stanford, Utah State, Washington, Zaire Taylor
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February 6, 2009 –
by Brendon
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Bracketing challenges: The most difficult team to place in this bracket was Purdue. On Tuesday, the Boilermakers lost at Ohio State in overtime without their best player — Robbie Hummel. It’s the second time Purdue has lost a close game on the road without the sophomore star. Usually those losses would be discounted slightly with the expectation that Purdue will have a full-strength Hummel by the time March comes around. The problem with that assumption is that Hummel is suffering from a stress fracture in his back, an injury that won’t fully heal until the offseason. Hummel is expected to be day-to-day from here until Purdue’s final game of the season. Because of the chronic nature of the injury, I’m treating those losses as if they were full-strength losses — with a slight discount for the Penn State loss, because Purdue was without Chris Kramer for that game. Losing close road games to Penn State and Ohio State is not particularly egregious — certainly better than Michigan State’s home losses to Penn State and Northwestern — but Purdue would probably be listed as a No. 4 seed if doctors expected Hummel to be fully healthy by March. Instead, the Boilermakers are the top No. 5 seed on my board.
Note: San Diego State is in the field as an automatic bid from the Mountain West after winning at UNLV on Tuesday. The Aztecs would be right between Baylor and Southern Cal in the “Last In” list if they were considered an at-large.
The Bubble: The bubble was a little awkward this week because of several results in conference play. Even with San Diego State’s inclusion as an automatic, the standard for inclusion in the field on Friday feels less stringent than it did on Monday thanks to many losses by teams around the bubble. In the end, I’m very comfortable with the top 32 at-large teams. It’s the last two — Baylor and Michigan — that I could take or leave.
Michigan’s impressive win over Penn State put both teams right around the cut mark. Because of the Wolverines’ win Thursday and their more impressive play out of conference — wins over Duke and UCLA — they’re in and the Nittany Lions are out, not that it was necessarily and either/or proposition. Baylor is running out of reprieves. Scott Drew’s team has now lost four straight games, all against teams seeded No. 7 or better in this projection. Baylor now enters a stretch of five games — at Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, at Oklahoma State, at Iowa State — where the Bears will need to win at least three to stay in the field. Read More »
Posted in Bracket Junkie, National Perspective
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Tagged ACC, Arizona, Arizona State, Atlantic-10, Baylor, Ben Howland, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Bo Ryan, Boston College, Brigham Young, Bruce Pearl, Butler, Chase Budinger, Chris Kramer, Cincinnati, Clemson, Connecticut, Davidson, Dayton, Derek Glasser, Florida, Florida State, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, James Harden, Jay Wright, Jerome Randle, Kansas, Kansas State, La Salle, Louisville, LSU, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Michigan State, Mike Montgomery, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Mountain West, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Pac-10, Patty Mills, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Purdue, Rhode Island, Robbie Hummel, Rutgers, Saint Joseph's, Saint Mary's, San Diego State, SEC, Siena, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Syracuse, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tom Izzo, Tywon Lawson, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Xavier
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