February 4, 2010 –
by Brendon
Bruce Weber’s team is underachieving this year, and, as a result, he’s been switching things up. He had the team elect new captains; he has changed the starting lineup. Since those shakeups following a loss at Northwestern two Saturdays ago, Illinois has won three straight, but victories over Penn State, Indiana and Iowa haven’t done much to stem growing concern that this is becoming a lost season for the Illini. It’s tricky to parse the numbers, but Illinois may be making some real strides to reverse one negative defensive trend that has plagued UofI this season.
Expectations: This appeared to be a “hold-water” year for Illinois in the fall. Weber had lost solid distributor and defender Chester Frazier, spot-up shooter Trent Meacham and the versatile Calvin Brock from a team that achieved a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
The additions of two four-star guards, D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul, as part of a nationally-ranked four-player 2009 class seemed likely to prevent much regression as Weber awaits his most acclaimed class in 2010. In 2010-11, Richardson and Paul are to be joined by three of the nation’s top prep players, including small forward Jereme Richmond. Weber will also have his top three returners entering this season — Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale — back for their senior seasons. It would appear to be a fortuitous confluence of talent in what many expect will be the season of Illinois’ re-emergence as a Big Ten power. Read More »
Posted in Big Ten
|
Tagged Big Ten, Bill Cole, Bradley, Brandon Paul, Bruce Weber, Calvin Brock, Chester Frazier, Clemson, D.J. Richardson, Demetri McCamey, Evan Turner, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jereme Richmond, Michigan State, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Trent Meacham, Tyler Griffey, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin
|
December 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
Most teams are about halfway through their non-conference schedules, which makes this a pretty good time to look at how conferences are doing in terms of RPI. Conference RPI is a solid predictor of how generous the committee will be to a given conference come Selection Sunday (more on that soon).
Top 10 conferences by RPI (through games of Dec. 3):
1. Big East
2. ACC
3. Big 12
4. SEC
5. Atlantic 10
6. Big Ten
7. Mountain West
8. Pac-10
9. Missouri Valley
10. WAC
Based on our expectations entering the season, there is one surprise in each direction. The Big East is the pleasant one, the Big Ten the unpleasant one. Let’s look at both.
The Big East entered this season with muted expectations thanks to the departure of so much talent from last year’s historically strong season. The thing about last year, though, was that the Big East was exceptionally tough at the top but very poor at bottom. Teams like DePaul, South Florida and Rutgers played very poorly out of conference, and those teams brought down the conference’s RPI, which ended the year just fourth. Read More »
Posted in Big East, Big Ten, National Perspective
|
Tagged ACC, Atlantic-10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Boston University, Bradley, Cincinnati, DePaul, Duquesne, George Mason, Gonzaga, Iowa, Louisville, Missouri Valley, Pac-10, Penn State, Providence, Rutgers, SEC, South Florida, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, UNC-Wilmington, UNLV, Utah, Vermont, WAC, Wichita State
|
December 2, 2009 –
by Brendon
The ACC-Big Ten Challenge is closing its 11th edition Wednesday night, and the conference from the Midwest has yet to win it. Five times — including last year — the Big Ten has come up just a game short. Someday the National League will lose the All-Star Game to the American League again, and someday the ACC will fall to the Big Ten. Could that day be today? The oddsmakers put it at just about even money.
The two conferences enter the last day of the challenge with three wins each. The Big Ten took a 3-0 lead in the series when it swept the 7:00 games on Tuesday night, Purdue pulling away from Wake Forest, 70-59, and Northwestern going down to Raleigh and schooling NC State, 65-53. This after Penn State squeaked past Virginia in Charlottesville on Monday night.
The ACC, though, is a resilient league, and the later tip-offs on Tuesday all went its way. Maryland visited hapless Indiana and won by 12. North Carolina hosted Michigan State in a rematch of April’s national title game, and the Tar Heels prevailed again behind Ed Davis, 89-82. Iowa hung with Virginia Tech for most of Tuesday’s final game, but the Hokies slipped away at the end, 70-64. Read More »
Posted in ACC, Big Ten, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged ACC, ACC-Big Ten Challenge, Al Skinner, Alabama, Big Ten, Bo Ryan, Boston College, Bradley, Brian Zoubek, California, Clemson, Connecticut, Duke, Ed Davis, Evan Turner, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Marquette, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rakim Sanders, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Wofford
|
November 16, 2009 –
by Brendon
In sum: Conference favorite Brigham Young led the way this weekend with a victory over Bradley out of the Missouri Valley. Colorado State showed well in Oregon despite running out of gas on Sunday, but Utah and Wyoming had rough losses.
Team of the week: Colorado State. When four of nine members begin play with non-Division I opponents, there aren’t many teams of the week from which to choose. So, the Rams get the nod for a pair of blowout wins followed by a respectable loss at Oregon. Picked eighth in the league, CSU took it to UC-Riverside and Winston Salem State with 28- and 17-point victories respectively. After Oregon dismantled those two opponents, the Rams’ 68-55 loss to the Ducks was a decent result.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Colorado State |
68 |
0.80 |
0.405 |
0.278 |
0.333 |
0.138 |
| Oregon |
68 |
1.00 |
0.500 |
0.219 |
0.379 |
0.283 |
With a third game in three days, Colorado State showed signs of fatigue in Eugene. Tim Miles basically has a seven-man rotation, and the lack of depth on the bench showed — Ernie Kent got 30 more minutes out of his bench than Miles did. CSU’s starting backcourt Adam Nigon and Dorian Green combined for 12 turnovers in a game where their team committed turnovers on 28 percent of possessions. The poor shooting, 16-for-41 (39.0 percent) on 2-pointers didn’t help either. Despite all of the poor offense on Sunday, Colorado State hung around against a Pac-10 team after two comfortable wins. Good start. Read More »
Posted in Mid-Majors, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged Adam Nigon, Brigham Young, Cal State-Northridge, Colorado State, Dorian Green, Idaho, Memphis, Mid-Majors, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Patty Mills, San Diego State, Southern Illinois, St. Mary's, TCU, Tim Miles, UC-Riverside, UNLV, Utah, Winston Salem State, Wyoming
|
March 25, 2009 –
by Lukas
A glance at your March Madness bracket pool will give you a quick verdict on the character of those involved – the higher you are, the more conservative and chalktastic your picks were. As Brendon previously wrote, the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament was filled with ‘almost’, but not quite. On towards the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 we go though, and despite the absence of any true Cinderellas, there is still much to talk about and compelling games to watch.
The Big Engine That Could
Arizona is the only team left with a seed higher than five, sitting all by their lonesome as a No. 12. Arizona was also the only truly controversial inclusion into the field of 65. While I highly doubt there was a massive conspiracy to by the Seeding Committee to help their least defensible decision put on a good showing, the end product was indeed that. While only one of the three of the most dangerous matchups pitting low seeded mid-majors with high ranking BCS schools that I identified ended in an upset, the one that did was the one I was most confident in – Cleveland State over Wake Forest. Had they even advanced, there was still no telling which Wake team we would be seeing – The one that beat Duke and UNC, or the one that lost to Georgia Tech and NC State.
Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged Arizona, Cleveland State, Kansas, March Madness, NCAA Tournament, North Dakota State, Portland State, Syracuse, Utah, Wake Forest, Xavier
|
March 24, 2009 –
by Brendon
This site — and many others — thought the Mountain West got jobbed by the committee when it omitted San Diego State from its field in favor of Arizona. The Aztecs had been in much better form down the stretch than Arizona, reaching the Mountain West Tournament final after a win over BYU. Utah narrowly defeated SDSU in the final.
The league looked like it had a great chance to prove its case with a No. 5 and 8 seed in the Tournament, especially with No. 5 Utah having a direct chance to avenge the perceived slight against No. 12 Arizona in the First Round. But despite the opportunity to carry the standard for the conference, San Diego’s conference mates, Brigham Young and Utah, were non-competitive in their First Round matchups in the NCAA Tournament, which makes any case for a third bid fall flat in the court of public perception. Read More »
Posted in Mid-Majors, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged Arizona, Brigham Young, Bryan Davis, Chase Budinger, Chris Miles, Donald Sloan, Jimmer Fredette, Jordan Hill, Kansas State, Lee Cummard, Luke Nevill, Mark Turgeon, Mountain West, Nic Wise, San Diego State, Utah, Weber State
|
March 18, 2009 –
by Brendon
Let me start off my first regional preview with a preface.
I’m not big into brackets. People always ask me who my Final Four is and who I have going far and what upsets I picked and when I’m going to come out with my bracket. And I understand why — this is the point at which the casual or non-fan relates to college basketball.
But I find that, when I am really into my brackets, I start rooting for teams I don’t like.
“Hey, Brendon, why are you rooting for Ohio State to beat Xavier? Wouldn’t that be a great upset?”
“Oh, it would — it’s true, and I would normally prefer Xavier, but I have OSU in the national final in my bracket.”
Aaargh!
No longer. I will pick a bracket and not get too attached to it. I will continue to root for the teams I want to root for and not worry about whether my bracket is ruined — and not get annoyed when people ask me how bracket is doing, as if it’s a newborn baby or a 401K. Read More »
Posted in National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged Alex Ruoff, Andre McGee, Arizona, Bob Huggins, Boston College, Cleveland State, Cole Aldrich, Da'Sean Butler, Darryl Bryant, Dayton, DeMar DeRozen, Devin Ebanks, Evan Turner, Fran McCaffery, Jerry Smith, Jon Diebler, Kalin Lucas, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Mike Tranghese, Ohio State, Preston Knowles, Raymar Morgan, Rob Lowery, Sherron Colling, Siena, Southern Cal, Taj Gibson, Terrence Williams, Tim Floyd, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Williams Buford
|
March 4, 2009 –
by Brendon
In a league that has been criticized all season for having a soft underbelly, two Big East bubble teams went into the belly of the beast and didn’t live to tell about it. Cincinnati and Georgetown both blew second-half leads to lose to bottom-four Big East teams on Tuesday, and both now stare at very long roads to an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Red Storm overcomes drought, stuns Hoyas: Georgetown may have escaped Villanova with a win on Saturday, but no one who watched that game would have accused the Hoyas of playing well. Still, a win is a win, and with St. John’s and DePaul upcoming, the Hoyas didn’t figure to need their best performances to get to 8-10 in conference. But St. John’s had been playing better ball of late, and the Red Storm would have nothing to lose, and SJU didn’t lose, defeating Georgetown, 59-56 in overtime. Read More »
Posted in Big East, National Perspective, Reviews/Previews
|
Tagged ACC, Alex Rivas, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Chris Wright, Cincinnati, D.J. Kennedy, DaJuan Summers, Dominique Jones, Don Criqui, Evan Turner, Georgetown, Greg Monroe, Gus Gilchrist, Iowa, Jason Clark, Jermain Davis, Justin Burrell, Justin Leemow, Kansas State, Malik Boothe, Maryland, Mick Cronin, Mountain West, New Mexico, Norm Roberts, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Paris Horne, Rob Morris, South Florida, St. John's, Stan Heath, Steve Alford, Tony Danridge, Travis Ford, Utah, Wake Forest
|
