you are too married to RPI #s, top 100 could be 8 90-100 wins. 'Nova played a cake sched in an overrated conf. you know Carolina beat UL 2 of 3 times, right?
The SEC is awful. If UK beats Auburn, I don't think any of the other teams belong in. They'll probably get 4 somehow, though. UNC now a favorite to win the ACC tournament thanks to Notre Dame upsetting Duke. Lunardi has St. John's as a 7 and UNC as a 4. UNC will end up with a 3 or 4 seed, I think.
Stony Brook Seawolves lose the America East Conference championship in a heartbraker 51-50 on a 3 point bomb with 1.6 seconds to go. Notre Dame in only their second year in the ACC has reached the championship game, an accomplishment they never achieved while in the Big East.
^ crazy ending. I tried to watch the final seconds but I just caught them celebrating after it went in. Georgia 10/35 FG, 9/16 FT today Arkansas does not have a good defense and plays up tempo, allowing over 70 points a game. Georgia terrible anyway. Arkansas 18/45 FG but they're winning in a rout
Notre Dame essentially playing a road game and getting some Carolina home cooking shoved down their throat. Besides shoving people out of the way to gain rebounding position, Meeks is taking the Okafor shoulder dip to another level with the ball while the 3 second rule seems to have been all but ignored in the North Carolina paint. Refs put ND's Grant on the bench with a bit of a ticky tack call aided in part by the UNC bench whining en masse while ND coach Mike Bray was besides himself. Crowd of 23,000, 22,950 of them wearing UNC baby blue. Conference championship? Provincial pep rally's more like it. Notre Dame up 39-34 at halftime……they'll probably need a miracle to get out of this 'blue gym' venue with a 'W' . Bray's halftime quote pretty much said it all: "…need to get better blockouts….and not get pushed under." edit: ND lights out shooting ends up dropping 90 on UNC. Never thought UNC would fold that badly and essentially at home no less--you could practically hear a pin drop when ND was shooting FTs at the end of the game in front of that sea of blue. 'Nova wins the Big East - #1 seed assured. Iowa St. stops Kansas to repeat as Big 12 champ. Oregon-Arizona later. And…the State University of New York system will have two teams in the NCAA's: SUNY-Albany and SUNY-Buffalo. Tomorrow: Mich. St. - Wisconsin for the Big 10. VCU - Dayton for the A10.
Good to see former St Anthony player Bobby Hurley get Buffalo into the tournament for the 1st time. I'm calling it now... Buffalo will play Duke in the 1st round. Even though Rhode Island lost I thin they're in as well meaning both Hurley brothers will be in the NCAA Tournament. I really like Danny, I want him to be the next coach at UNLV but I don't think it would happen in a million years.
Carolina home cooking, the team that dominated inside didn't get to the bonus in either half. The team that took 18 more shots from the field yet 25 less FTs got home cooking? Awful officiating kept ND in the game before they went on that crazy run. Carolina was dominating but every possession the officials were putting ND on the line to keep it close w/ touch foul garbage. ND goes to basket whistle, Carolina goes to basket and nothing. 66 FGA's for Carolina, shot 53% 48 FGAs for ND, shot 54% 32 FTAs for ND, 7 for Carolina. Yep, nothing like home cooking. After the officials kept ND in it ND would not miss a shot so congrats to them, they got some breaks and took advantage. As for Carolina, it was a great run. I think they said it was the first time they played 4 games in 4 days since the 30s or something like that so it was an impressive run over some top quality competition. I hope they play like this next weekend and beyond. a 4 seed at worst should be locked up. Looking forward to the best postseason tournament in sports beginning this week. Hackett: congrats on 'Nova, nice win and enjoy selection Sunday seeing 'nova as a 1 seed. I hope Gonzaga is your 2
That is a great coaching family. I would assume 1 or both will get a chance at major jobs in the not too distant future.
junc, suggesting that team 'A' is the victim of preferential refereeing because they don't go to the free throw line as many times as team 'B' doesn't hold water because it assumes a couple of things: 1. that both teams are similarly constructed physically and 2., that both team's style of play are identical. Physically, ND does not match up to UNC and UNC will use that advantage which translates to imposing their size and strength inside (e.g. offensive rebounding, a noted strength of theirs). This "contact-prone" style of play obviously is going to bring with it contact fouls, i.e. live by, die by if you don't play it in an aggressive but controlled manner. As far as style of play goes, ND's style of play particularly their offense is geared further away from the basket, that is, either swinging the ball around or kicking it out to an open player on the perimeter off dribble penetration. As ND started hitting their shots (and Meeks eventually got himself into foul trouble), it did open up some pick and rolls down low that ND ran for Zack Auguste but again, they're a team that's perimeter-geared and thus (along with their reputation as a 'non-fouling' team to begin with) it is not--and should not--be surprising that they did not collect as many fouls as UNC. In short, it wasn't what ND was or wasn't doing foul-wise, it was what UNC was originally getting away with (as Bray himself alluded to at halftime) that ND had to contend with….that and getting a double team out to defend against the picks being set to free up Marcus Paige whose shot was dialed in - both he and Johnson carried the load in the 2nd half. Heck, overall, outside of Britt and Jackson, UNC field goal pct. was right up there with ND (54%-53%). It was from 3-pt. land that ND showed their perimeter superiority, hitting on 50% vs. UNC's 29%. As for claims of touch foul garbage, that's just sour grapes that can go both ways. Recall Bilas's comment "you must move your feet, you can't just reach" after one of UNCs guards drove to the rim off a nice jump-step move - a call against ND that resulted in a 3-point play for UNC. Whatever you thought of the call, in the overall swing of things it paled in comparison to some of the outright pushing going on down in the paint esp. on the part of the UNC 'bigs' such as Meeks. So it looks like the numbers bear out my earlier non-partisan observation: ND shot lights out in addition to Bray's telling comments as well. Fortunately for him, his team adjusted and ramped up their defense. All that aside, ND's a better team than I though they were, Connaughton in particular…..so combined with both ND sweeping Duke, losing to Providence, and Providence taking 'Nova down to the wire just the other night, you may want to reconsider your oh-so-objective assessment of the Big East as a 'Nova-only, one-team-pony "absolute joke" of a conference. So much for that… And to bring it full circle: "home cooking?" Check out the 99.9% 'blue hue' of the crowd……one pix = a thousand words……
The more I think about it and look at it I don't think Rhode Island gets a bid but still a great season from the Rams. I wonder if Bobby keeps winning if he'll be the guy tabbed to replace Rat Face. I just don't see them leaving the East. I really like Danny, he has a good eye for talent and he has proven he not only can turn programs around but he can coach. I honestly like him better than Bobby and I would love him for Vegas. Both have nowhere to go but up.
