February 2014 College Basketball Thread

mabrowndog

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Meanwhile back in Bloomington...
 
Hoosiers by 7 with 1:22 left, and the Hawkeye Intentional Fouling Festival is now in full swing.
 

mabrowndog

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Up 8 with 30 secs left and Indiana's going to take this one to move to 6-9 in the BT, 16-12 overall. The Hoosiers finish up with OSU, NEB and @MI. They actually have a less-than-awful chance to bypass both the Gophers & Huskers as the 6th BT team in the NCAA field.
 
For Iowa, it's 3 straight conference losses, and 8-7 & 19-9 marks. Their BT regular season ends with PUR, @MSU and IL.
 

Dan Murfman

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mabrowndog said:
I'm floored by all the empty seats at Houston. I mean, holy shit. You're the 4th-largest city in America, you have an incredible college basketball legacy at that school, and you've got the #21 team in the nation in your building. Instead, just vast expanses of empty red fabric as far as the eye can see. Way to support the team, morons.
 
Anyway, Cougars lead by 2 with under 3:00 left.
I miss what UConn had and it really hit home when they played down at Houston and the building was totally empty.
 

mabrowndog

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Shit got real late last night in the WAC, where the top two teams squared off with New Mexico State at Utah Valley. Tied at 10-3 in conference play coming in, the winner would gain the edge for the top seed when the tournament kicks off in Vegas in a couple of weeks.
 
OREM, Utah -- A wild brawl involving players and fans who came onto the court broke out when New Mexico State guard K.C. Ross-Miller hurled the ball at Utah Valley's Holton Hunsaker seconds after the Wolverines' 66-61 overtime victory against the Aggies on Thursday night.
 
Ross-Miller picked up the ball at midcourt and fired it at Hunsaker -- the son of Utah Valley coach Dick Hunsaker -- from close range, hitting him in the leg.
 
New Mexico State guard DK Eldridge was in the middle of the scrum before he was dragged away by Aggies coaches as order was restored.
 
"It was a very heated, emotional game, and if any of my guys did anything that was out of line, they will be punished to the 10th degree," New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies said in an interview posted on the school's website. "That may affect wins and losses, but they need to learn some life lessons after something like that. That is not going to happen in my program, and it's just embarrassing."
 
"I don't know what exactly happened. I was kind of going over to shake hands," Menzies said. "I want to apologize for K.C.'s actions. From what I understand, he threw the ball after the game was over and had expired. I don't know what provoked it. I mean, Hunsaker's a little chippy himself so he may have said something or done something, but you just can't respond. I mean, we showed them plenty of clips where they do things that can get underneath your skin a little bit and you've got to be tougher than that mentally, and I'm just upset that he did that."
 
Menzies initially indicated Ross-Miller wouldn't play in the team's next game Saturday at Bakersfield, but then said he needs to see video of the altercation before determining any discipline.
 
"I've got to look and see what happened," Menzies said. "I don't know what suspensions are going to come down. There's going to be a lot of video to sort through on this. I think the game was over, so I don't know (if) the coming-off-the-bench rule is applied. I think when their fans stormed the court, I think it kind of ... convoluted things a little bit because some of the guys apparently said they felt threatened. Daniel (Mullings) said he actually got hit."
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft28MXb1MCk
 

canderson

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My alma mater clinched the Southland regular season title last night. No one care, but they're tied for longest home winning streak in the nation and now something like 25-2 for the season. Knowing them, they'll blow the conference championship game and have to go to Washington State or some nonsense for the NIT.
 

Orel Miraculous

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mabrowndog said:
I'm floored by all the empty seats at Houston. I mean, holy shit. You're the 4th-largest city in America, you have an incredible college basketball legacy at that school, and you've got the #21 team in the nation in your building. Instead, just vast expanses of empty red fabric as far as the eye can see. Way to support the team, morons.
 
Anyway, Cougars lead by 2 with under 3:00 left.
 
It's frustrating, but Boston isn't much better. In towns like these, unless there's a number between 1 and 25 next to the home team, no one cares.
 

mabrowndog

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canderson said:
My alma mater clinched the Southland regular season title last night. No one cares, but they're tied for longest home winning streak in the nation and now something like 25-2 for the season. Knowing them, they'll blow the conference championship game and have to go to Washington State or some nonsense for the NIT.
 
I care, dammit.
 

 
It's a shame that even with a stellar season, they'll still have to win their conference tournament in order to get into the NCAAs -- and even then they're likely looking at a 14-seed at best. As fair and inclusive as the NCAA tournament selection process is, favoring middling big-conference schools for at-large slots is one of its few remaining and most blatant flaws. With all due respect to the fans of schools like Providence (62 RPI), NC State (58) or Tennessee (60), I'd much rather see the Lumberjacks (69) in a play-in game than watch a pair of teams that barely finished above .500 in their own conference duke it out for the "we're the king of mediocrity mountain!" award.
 
A slip-up in the conference tournament would be SFA's first loss since before Thanksgiving. Think about that for a moment. The selection process holds them to much higher standards of perfection despite the Lumberjacks having a massive resource disadvantage. These other, larger schools are allowed to lose multiple games not just because they might not have been the better or more talented team on each given night, but because they're granted forgiveness for uncontrollable factors such as a couple of key players being sick with the flu, a player slipping on a wet spot on the floor and turn the ball over, a crappy call or two by the officials, etc. When those things happen to the middle-tier major conference schools and they lose, they granted clemency. When they happen to an SFA, they're a fatal blow. I'm certain such fates have befallen SFA at various points over the past 3 months, yet they've managed to avoid a single loss on their ledger. Regardless of competition level, it's a remarkable feat worthy of recognition on the national stage.
 
Yes, these larger colleges and universities have all played tougher schedules than SFA. I get that. But if the goal of the NCAA tournament is to determine the best team in the nation, haven't these mega-schools already failed their test by finishing in 6th or 7th place in their own conferences over an entire season? I admittedly have no idea to what extent SFA attempted to play tougher teams out of conference (their only major conference foe was Texas, a 10-point road loss). But I assume they're at a major budget disadvantage for travel, which precludes heading too far out of the TX/OK/LA/AR region, and likely limits their ability to participate in some of the higher-profile early-season and holiday tournaments, if they could even garner an invitation. So yeah, slotting an SFA in for an NCAA at-large berth would be a far more compelling story, even if they were to get blown out.
 

WayBackVazquez

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Completely disagree. Teams like this rarely even get past the second round of the NIT when they slip up in their tournament. See, eg, SFA last year. They have played ONE top 100 RPI team. Not beaten, PLAYED. Sagarin has them as the 331st SOS. You really don't think Providence or Minnesota could go 27-2 with that schedule? They're not held to perfection. They can lose as many games as they want against the cosmetology schools they play all season; they just need to win their last TWO games.
 

canderson

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WayBackVazquez said:
Completely disagree. Teams like this rarely even get past the second round of the NIT when they slip up in their tournament. See, eg, SFA last year. They have played ONE top 100 RPI team. Not beaten, PLAYED. Sagarin has them as the 331st SOS. You really don't think Providence or Minnesota could go 27-2 with that schedule? They're not held to perfection. They can lose as many games as they want against the cosmetology schools they play all season; they just need to win their last TWO games.
IIRC last year they had an RPI in the 50s or 60s, lost the title game (thanks Kaspar!) and were NIT bound.
 
This year's schedule is awful but I can't blame Underwood - I think he was a GREAT hire (he'll be gone in a few short years I'm sure) and hope next season he gets some decent teams. The problem is no one will come to Nacogdoches to play so unless they only want a very few home games they're SOL.
 

canderson

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mabrowndog said:
 
I care, dammit.
 

 
It's a shame that even with a stellar season, they'll still have to win their conference tournament in order to get into the NCAAs -- and even then they're likely looking at a 14-seed at best. As fair and inclusive as the NCAA tournament selection process is, favoring middling big-conference schools for at-large slots is one of its few remaining and most blatant flaws. With all due respect to the fans of schools like Providence (62 RPI), NC State (58) or Tennessee (60), I'd much rather see the Lumberjacks (69) in a play-in game than watch a pair of teams that barely finished above .500 in their own conference duke it out for the "we're the king of mediocrity mountain!" award.
 
A slip-up in the conference tournament would be SFA's first loss since before Thanksgiving. Think about that for a moment. The selection process holds them to much higher standards of perfection despite the Lumberjacks having a massive resource disadvantage. These other, larger schools are allowed to lose multiple games not just because they might not have been the better or more talented team on each given night, but because they're granted forgiveness for uncontrollable factors such as a couple of key players being sick with the flu, a player slipping on a wet spot on the floor and turn the ball over, a crappy call or two by the officials, etc. When those things happen to the middle-tier major conference schools and they lose, they granted clemency. When they happen to an SFA, they're a fatal blow. I'm certain such fates have befallen SFA at various points over the past 3 months, yet they've managed to avoid a single loss on their ledger. Regardless of competition level, it's a remarkable feat worthy of recognition on the national stage.
 
Yes, these larger colleges and universities have all played tougher schedules than SFA. I get that. But if the goal of the NCAA tournament is to determine the best team in the nation, haven't these mega-schools already failed their test by finishing in 6th or 7th place in their own conferences over an entire season? I admittedly have no idea to what extent SFA attempted to play tougher teams out of conference (their only major conference foe was Texas, a 10-point road loss). But I assume they're at a major budget disadvantage for travel, which precludes heading too far out of the TX/OK/LA/AR region, and likely limits their ability to participate in some of the higher-profile early-season and holiday tournaments, if they could even garner an invitation. So yeah, slotting an SFA in for an NCAA at-large berth would be a far more compelling story, even if they were to get blown out.
SFA has a limited travel budget and have for many many years tried to get teams to come to SFA. A&M constantly turns them down, as does LSU, Houston, North Texas, etc. If those guys won't come play you'll never see a team they should be playing (say a San Diego State or Middle Tennessee or a Iona or whatever) will never travel unless some type of NCAA-sponsored event to middle-of-nowhere East Texas.
 
The funny thing about that Texas game is SFA led the majority and were iirc up 2 with 3 minutes left. They got exhausted and started fouling - that loss looks much worse on paper than the actual game was.
 
Under Kaspar they were pretty one dimension, hence all the good records but ultimate loss in the tourney. This year's team is MUCH more balanced - esp offensively - and if they can not get exposed by a man team are pretty legit.
 

Average Reds

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Orel Miraculous said:
 
It's frustrating, but Boston isn't much better. In towns like these, unless there's a number between 1 and 25 next to the home team, no one cares.
 
Houston is an epically bad town for college hoops.
 
I remember back in the 80s the NCAA regional finals were held in Houston and the final game drew something like 5,000 fans.  The announcers were out of their minds, just trashing Houston for their lack of support and the NCAA for being stupid enough to put the regionals there.
 
Have they supported the Cougars when they have a good team?  Sure.  That just makes them front runners.
 

mabrowndog

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A light slate tonight with only 12 games nationally, but some interesting matchups:
 
* Providence vs Seton Hall on CBSSN. Friars up 7 with around 13:00 to play, and they can't afford any losses until the BET.
 
EDIT - PC starting to wear down the Pirates down low, up 11 now with 7:00 left. 7 blocks tonight and a huge edge in paint points.
 
EDIT - An SHU garbage time three at the buzzer makes it a 74-69 final for the Friars, who have Marquette next Tuesday at the Dunk before finishing at Creighton next Saturday night.
 
* Mid-major action on ESPN2 with MAAC leader Iona (19-8, 16-2 conf) at 3rd-pace Manhattan (20-7, 13-5). It's a 5-pt lead for the host Jaspers with 14:28 left. A little later, 4th-place Canisius (19-10, 13-5) will try to keep pace as they play at Rider (13-14, 9-9) on ESPNU at 9 pm.
 
EDIT - The Gaels take a 65-63 lead with 5:37 left. They've outscored the Jaspers 30-18 this half. Tre Bowman with 23 on 9/13 shooting including 4 threes, while Manhattan's starters have shot just 10/28 (36%).
 
* Harvard can get another step closer to becoming the first team to clinch a berth in the Big Dance with a win over Cornell, and they're on their way leading 54-35 with 11:00 remaining. They could also use a Yale loss at Princeton, and they're tied at 36-36 with 9:00 left.
 
EDIT - The Crimson win it in a blowout 72-47, while Princeton is pulling away from the Bulldogs 56-42 with 1:25 left. Harvard can clinch the Ivy tomorrow by beating Columbia in Cambridge if Yale also loses at Penn.
 

mabrowndog

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Heading to OT in Manhattan. Great game, tied 71-71. Emmy Andujar saving the Jaspers' bacon with 23 pts on 10/14 shooting, then he blocks Iona's final shot, takes it the length of the court, and nearly makes a buzzer beater to win it.
 
EDIT - Iona draws first blood 18 seconds in on an Isaiah Williams dunk. Since then it's been all Jaspers, with Andujar adding a couple of buckets and assisting on another to put Manhattan up 5 with under a minute to play.
 
EDIT - A Sean Armond layup with 48 secs left stops the bleeding. Three point game.
 
EDIT - Wow, Andujar gets isolation at the left point, fiddles & diddles, then drives hard for the one-on-one lay-in after a pump fake. Fun kid to watch. 5-pt Manhattan lead with 24 secs left.
 
EDIT - It's an 80-77 win for the Jaspers. Iona has already clinched the MAAC #1 seed, but now Manhattan and Quinnipiac are tied for 2nd at 14-5 -- and Canisius has a chance to join them with a win tonight.
 

mabrowndog

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Canisius-Rider on ESPNU is a blowout thus far (Broncs trail 44-27 early in the 2nd half), but it's worth a look-see just to watch Golden Griffins' guard Billy Baron, son of Jim. 3rd-leading scorer in the nation (24.8 ppg), 14th nationally in FT% (89.2), and top 50 in assists (5.1/g). He's also pulling down 5 boards and 1.6 steals per game, and hits 43% of his threes.
 
EDIT - It's 71-53 with 4:00 left. Baron's got 26 pts on 9/14 shooting (4/6 on threes), 4/4 on FTs, along with 3 steals, 4 boards and 8 assists.
 
EDIT - Baron exits in the final minute after adding another three and 2 more assists to finish with 29 pts (10/15 FG, 5/7 3FG) and 10 feeds. Canisius takes it 79-66 to earn their 20th win for the 2nd straight season. The top 5 MAAC teams get byes in the tournament, which will be in Springfield MA. Lots of entertaining hoop played with solid fundamentals in this conference, so attendees ought to get their money's worth.