Games, games and more games. It’s the last weekend of January. Conference rivals are squaring off. Networks are offering plenty of views. What are you watching?
Xavier at Richmond?
Texas A&M at Nebraska?
Wisconsin at Penn State?
Syracuse at Marquette?
Georgia at Kentucky?
Missouri at Texas?
Take a spot on the pine. Offer up your insights.
They could be up by 18-20 in this game if they hit their free throws
Wow…it’s been mentioned above regarding the odd Mizzou offense, but they really take a lot, in fact a TON, of quick 3’s. Is this typical of Mizzou?
Plaque Attack !!
I have seen Missouri in bits and pieces this year. Their offense is based on getting turnovers and conversions.
Quick 3s would be good if you could actually hit ’em. Right now, they are 3-15.
Plaque attack – hahaha
What gas station is O.J. Mayo buying his energy drinks at?
hahahaha
NIce finish by Thompson!!
Holy crap! How did Thomas get the ball to the basket. Dixon was draped all over him.
My man, Gary Johnson. He’s doing the little things.
OJ is from Cali, right? Maybe he’s used to buying things such as over-the-counter weed at gas stations..
Opps it was Thomas..:-)
Will someone please tell Missouri to rebound!! This is embarassing.
Yes, and that explains Mayo’s existence at USC.
Kim is no Jimmer.
If you are Missouri do you invoke the Shaq rule and foul Thompson every time down? He is a horrible free throw shooter.
Good point Smitty. Texas is 8-22 from the line.
Missouri is 10 of 12 from the stripe.
On a non-basketball note – the Texas cheerleader outfits are nice.
Hamilton, you just used the guy’s back as a step ladder? Why are you getting upset about the call?
How much has the absence of Bowers affected Missouri’s rebounding?
Texas has the most active post defense I have seen all year.
Since there really isn’t any – I am going to say a lot.
Don’t know much about Bowers… but they are having a hard time rebounding. I think part of that is Texas’ size though.
I do know that the Texas cheerleaders have terrific outfits.
Did the announcer just try to justify Texas being 10-26 from the free throw line?
Yes, he did.
Aside from Texas’ 5 man, doesn’t it seem like positions 1-4 can guard any of Mizzou’s rotation. In other words, they can pretty much switch all ball screens and not lose advantage.
The stars at night. Are big and bright. Deep in the heart of Texas.
Chris – yes. The Tigers seem incapable of doing anything in the half-court to give each other an advantage.
Ha – the announcer just said – everybody standing around looking for Kim English to make a play.
Thanks Mr. Announcer. Talking about the Texas D
Missouri came in averaging 85 per game. So much for that. Texas d took care of that. Longhorn offense helped the cause not turning over the ball.
Texas made as many free throws as Missouri.
Outrebounded the Tigers by 10.
Johnson is to Texas what Rautins was to Syracuse last year.
I was just going to ask… do either of you like Gary Johnson as much as I do? I remember him as a freshman with Durant (I think memory serves correct on that point – a few blue lights in). Anyway, Gary is all grown up now.
Yeah, he plays a solid role. Every good team needs a player like him.
Anybody watching Duke-St. Johns? Lavin’s crew is moving the ball really well and Duke looks flat-footed on D.
Yes. And, yes.
3 fouls in under 5 seconds? Pretty impressive. Might be the POTW. Casey – you have to appreciate the St. John’s big men catching that ball in the short corner after breaking the press and making a nice “lunge” move to get parallel with the baseline giving Duke recovering defenders no chance at a block.
Duke currently 1-17 from three-point range.
1-19
Okay … after all the upsets this weekend, what was it … 11 teams in Top 25 lost and 5 were in the Top 10? Heck … even Ohio State was taken to the brink by a so-so Northwestern squad playing w/o their best player. Can we officially declare that the road to the Final Four is WIDE OPEN??? Where some of us earlier this season might’ve thought 4-6 teams had a decent chance to win it …. probably safe to say that any one of 15-20 teams could take home the title in April.
I have a question to which I think I know the answer. The current RPI rankings shows Penn State with a SoS Rank of 6. Does this mean they’ve played the 6th toughest schedule in the country? It must, because most of the other teams with single digit SoS Ranks are Big East and Big Ten schools.
What’s also funny, though, is that the RPI rankings only have three Big Ten teams in the top 25, whereas the other polls have five, I think. Is the Big Ten over-rated by pollsters?
Also, not to place too much emphasis on Penn State (but at least you have me discussing college basketball), how does Talor Battle project as a professional? How much does his lack of size (6-0, 170) for a shooting guard type hurt him?
Chas – great questions. I don’t know about Battle as a pro, but he will appear on my second team this week. I heard a comment about Battle this weekend: if he was on a top ten team, people would be talking about him as a POY candidate. Mark Jackson commented during the Celts-Lakers game: “There is always a job available for guys that can shoot.” Battle can shoot, handle the ball and defend. Yeah, that makes him a candidate for the Association.
The RPI can be tricky. You get a couple of weeks like we have have had and everything can swing. Michigan State’s record is having an impact on the RPI of every team in the Big Ten. Suddenly, wins over the Spartans don’t seem so impressive.
That being said, the RPI is a good place to start when assessing teams.
Guys —
Can you please print the latest RPI rankings here on the site … I’m not sure where to get them. Thanks …
Here’s the link to the RPI rankings on Yahoo sports:
https://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/polls?poll=5
Woo-hoo! Penn State moved up to #35 in the AP rankings! Although, none of those morons over at the other poll voted for them at all.
Chas —
You should probably be happy with #35 in one poll. The Lions are only 45th or so in the RPI, right?.
And thanks for the link to that!
Yeah, you’re right, Wally. I should just be excited that Penn State basketball has reached double-digit wins about a month and a half earlier than normal.