Words on the NCAA Basketball Season

With little to no action on the recruiting front (although our new best friend Nate Mason was on campus this weekend) and nothing worth talking Twins about, I haven't posted in a while.  But here I am, watching both baseball and football, and I was missing you guys so I should write some words.

-  Ok so spoiler alert, I'm pretty lazy busy now a days and don't get to post as much.  Therefore, I likely won't be doing that thing where I preview a whole bunch of college basketball teams this year because that takes a shit ton of time and I don't think anybody reads them anyway.  But I feel I must call your attention to a team that is not getting the respect they deserve, a team I have ranked as the 3rd best in the country behind Michigan State and Louisville - The Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Most prediction things I've looked at have them somewhere in the 20s, and that is just way way way wrong.   Did we all forget just how far one great player can take a team in college basketball?  Carmelo Anthony?  Danny Manning?  Hell, Kemba Walker?  Marcus Smart is one that level.  But lest you think this is a one person team, Markel Brown and LeBryan Nash are here too.  The only thing missing is a good big man, but they have a ton of options so if they can cobble together forty minutes of competent big man play each game (they only need one "big guy" because Nash is big enough to play the 4 unless they need to go big) this team is going to be a serious, serious contender.  Currently 25-1 or 40-1 to win the whole thing at some books.  Get in there now.

-  Speaking of, here are your contenders this year:  Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Louisville, Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Kansas, Syracuse, VCU and Wisconsin (gross, but true.  I'm high on Dekker).  That's it.  I think UCONN could be a bit of a sleeper too, seems like everybody has forgotten about them but they have a pretty nice squad coming back.  On the opposite end, I think Indiana falls off a cliff.  I know Noah Vonleh is supposed to be a stud, but when the rest of your offense is going to reliant on Yogi Ferrell and Will Sheehey you're in trouble.  The only exception is if Evan Gordon (transfer from Arizona State) ends up being a stud, but he's on his third team of his career for a reason.  Then again, he's already 22 (and a half) so maybe he'll have some of that Mbakwe stuff going on, although I don't know how much that'll help a guard.  Plus, I hate Indiana a lot, so there's that too.

-  If you want another team that could surprise, but in more of a rising from projected bubble team to a top 5 seed, you should consider Stanford.  Nobody really is predicting them to do much, but it's basically the third year with the same core group but they added Chasson Randle last year.  Two years ago they won the NIT, then had a really disappointing season landing back in the NIT last year.  They just couldn't get over the hump, losing something like six games by five points or fewer, and I think with another year, particularly for Randle, they'll win more of those games and contend for the Pac-12 title.  And then probably make Reid Travis fall more in love with them.  Great.  We're doomed.

-  Speaking of doomed, I just want to mention the loony bin that is the Gopher Hole, where apparently if Rashad Vaughn ends up at either Iowa State or UNLV those programs are clearly crooked.  Honest to god, the prestige rankings over there are something like:
1. Michigan State
2.  Ohio State
3. Indiana
4. Michigan
5.  Duke
6.  North Carolina
7.  Louisville (shot up the rankings this year)
8.  Kansas
9.  Minnesota

Seriously.  Then there's a huge gap and everyone else is in the 100s with Iowa State at the very bottom.  That place has gotten damn near unreadable due to all the Minnesota high school talent for 2014.  Did you know that any Minnesota kid, or any kid considering Minnesota, who ends up going to a different school was clearly enticed by some sort of illegal or shady benefit?  It's true.

-  Should I elaborate on my Wisconsin thoughts a bit?  Yeah, probably since I'm saying they're going to be really good but I hate them.  Assuming Josh Gasser is fully back, he and Ben Brust give the Badgers one of the best back courts in the country.  Wait let me clarify.  I don't mean one of the best back courts in the country in terms of talent or ability or anything like that, I mean best back courts as in best fits for their team's system.  Their boring, boring system.  I don't remember the last time they had two guards who fit this well, but this is like if Jordan Taylor and Trevon Hughes played together and were white.

Then you bring in Sam Dekker, who I think is going to be an absolute monster, and this is a crazy, crazy talented team for a Wisconsin club.  The only real concern is in the front court, except that's never a concern for Wisconsin because there's always some giant hulking shlub who can go from nothing to 10 & 8 in no time flat because Bo Ryan has some sort of grinchy magical powers when it comes to 6-8 frumps.  I don't know if it'll be an old guy (Frank Kaminsky/Zach Bohanon/Evan Anderson) or a new guy (Nigel Hayes) but the last thing you ever need to worry about when it comes to Wisconsin is them getting front court production.  Add in their best 3-man back court I can remember and their boring, boring system of boring their opponent to death and the Badgers are sneaky dangerous this year.  And that sucks.

-  Overall the Big 10 is going to be tough this year, but I see four pretty distinct tiers:
TIER 1:  Michigan State
TIER 2:  Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa
TIER 3:  Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota
TIER 4:  Northwestern, Nebraska, Penn State

There's some chance for movement between these of course - Michigan State, Ohio State, or Wisconsin could end up as good as Michigan State.  Iowa or Illinois could drop.  Northwestern could jump up, but pretty much this is how I see it so I guess I'm saying the Gophers could finish anywhere from 6th to 10th, and because their schedule is so weak this year it's going to be an uphill battle to get to the NCAA Tournament again.  Obviously not impossible or anything, but keep an eye on the Maui tournament - the results there could end up being huge for the Gophers' RPI.





-  Your most likely high profile coach to get canned this year is Rick Barnes at Texas which makes sense because he's a terrible game coach.  He was always a hell of a recruiter and rode those abilities to a stretch of five Sweet 16s in eight years, but the Longhorns missed the NCAA Tournament last year (for the first time since 1998, but still it was pretty bad) with a losing season and they're poised to have an even worse year this season.  Myck Kabongo left for the NBA (or wherever, considering he didn't get drafted) and Julien Lewis and Shelden McClellan transferred, Ioannis Papapetrou signed to play pro ball overseas, and Javan Felix is injured and out for an indefinite amount of time.  With a not very strong recruiting class coming in this is going to be an ugly year.  Maybe his past success combined with the current rough circumstances will buy him some more time, but Texas is not a very patient school and also Rick Barnes is almost worse than Bruce Weber.

-  As far as Kentucky goes this year, I know a lot of people are ready to hand them the title since they have the best recruiting class of all-time coming in and some established talent already in place and frankly it's not a bad call.  It really is the greatest collection of talent I can remember in college basketball in the early entry era, at least on paper.  Calipari showed how this kind of plan can work two years ago when he won the national title, but he's had the same basic play every since he came to Kentucky and still only has the one title in four years, while missing the tournament altogether last season.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be the favorite, but there is some truth to the old saying, "not enough basketballs to go around."  That Kentucky team that won the National Championship was supremely talented, but that talent came mainly in the form of players who could impact the game without needing the ball.  Anthony Davis was a defensive force, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was an all-around stud, Marquis Teague was happy to let others take the shots, and even Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones had no problem taking a back seat when necessary for the good of the team.  That was the problem with the John Wall team (a team that, granted, made the Elite 8) - Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson, and DeMarcus Cousins were all ball dominating players.  I'm interested to see where this new group falls, because the talent level really is insane, and like nothing we've ever seen before.


-   One of the unintended consequences of all this conference realignment stuff going on is the complete weakening of the mid-majors as the bigger conference get stronger by pilfering the top programs from all over the country.  The only mid-majors worth a damn (WCC, A-10, Missouri Valley, and Mountain West if you consider them a mid-major) were either strengthened or completely untouched by realignment.  Look at once strong conferences like Conference USA, the Colonial, and the Horizon have been gutted. 

C-USA has become 16 crappy teams, everyone has fled the Colonial to the point where the team that just joined up, College of Charleston, is probably the most historically successful program in the conference, and the Horizon is now looking at Wright State and Cleveland State as it's shining stars.  Perhaps the worst is the WAC, which was never you know, awesome or anything, but it has been completely gutted.  The #1 team is now New Mexico State, but even worse the #2 squad is Idaho or Cal State Bakersfield.  Bakersfield!  I'm not even sure if any of these teams here outside of NMSU have ever been to the NCAA Tournament.  I mean they probably have or something, but I'll be damned if I remember.  Sure, this all makes for better games in the major conferences, but I'm a little sad about how crappy all the mid-majors are now.  Well, I'm over it now.

-   There is now a team in D-I basketball called the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals (of course they're the Cardinals).  They're ineligible for the NCAA Tournament this year as they make the transition to D-I, but they're joining the Southland along with Abilene Christian and Houston Baptist.  Soon it seems the Southland will be called the Holy Conference.  Or something more clever than that.  Shut up I'm tired.

-  Lastly, here's my shot at your projected NCAA Tournament teams by conference.  We'll see how I do:
ACC (5):  Duke, Syracuse, UNC, Virginia, Notre Dame
AAC (4):  Louisville, Memphis, UCONN, Cincinnati
A-10 (3):  VCU, LaSalle, St. Louis
America East (1):  Stony Brook
Atlantic Sun (1):  Florida Gulf Coast
Big East (5):  Georgetown, Marquette, Villanova, Creighton
Big 10 (5):  Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana
Big 12 (5):  Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Iowa State
Big Sky (1):  Weber State
Big South (1):  High Point
Big West (1):  Long Beach
C-USA (1):  Louisiana Tech
Colonial (1):  Drexel
Horizon (1):  Wright State
Ivy (1):  Harvard
Mountain West (4):  New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State, Boise State
Missouri Valley (2):  Wichita State, Indiana State
MAC (1):  Akron
MAAC (1):  Manhattan
MEAC (1):  Morgan State
NEC (1):  Bryant
Ohio Valley (1):  Belmont
Pac-12 (5):  Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Colorado, Stanford
Patriot (1):  Lafayette
SEC (6):  Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Missouri
SoCon (1):  Elon
Southland (1):  Houston State
Summit (1):  Denver
Sun Belt (1):  Western Kentucky
SWAC (1):  Texas Southern
WAC (1):  New Mexico State
WCC (2):  Gonzaga, BYU
 
You know what's crazy?  When I did this without worrying about counting how many bids I was giving out on my first pass I came out with 67 teams.  Just had to add one to round it out.   I ended up making it Indiana which was perfect because I didn't feel good about just five teams coming out of the Big 10, but I have no idea who the sixth one will be.  Indiana, like I said, has a million question marks, I hate Illinois, and I don't think Purdue or Minnesota have the pieces.  Whatever.  I'm pretty dumb anyway so say la vee.

Game Preview: Gophers vs. Lafayette (and some general college hoops stuff)

Let's get this out of the way:  Lafayette is bad.  Like, really, really bad.  All five wins this year (vs. 8 losses) have come at home vs. terrible teams, including a non-D1 school.  The only decent teams they've played this year are Kentucky (lost by 52 yes 52), Maryland (lost by 9), Princeton (lost by 19), and Long Island twice (they split somehow).  Kentucky shot 65% against them.  They've given up 80+ points five times this year despite not being an uptempo squad.  Of the 347 Division I teams, they rank 313th in 2-pt field goal defense, 323rd in 3-pt defense, and 311th in total defensive efficiency.  They're a little better with the ball thanks to good three-point shooting (hit 36%) and great free-throw shooting (76.4% - 21st in the country) but they better take advantage of any shots they can get off because they don't take care of the basketball (227th in turnovers) or rebound their misses (316th in OReb %).  They don't have a single player averaging more than 4.3 rebounds per game, and it's not like they make it into a group effort because they're 324th in the country in rebounds per game.  They're horrible.  Kenpom predicts the Gophers to win this one 85-55.  That might end up being generous.

They've got a handful of semi-interesting players, I guess.  Seth Hinrichs is a 6-7 guard who averages 14 per game, and Dan Trist is a highly efficient (55% FG) power forward who also averages 14 per.  Tony Johnson is the point guard who averages a respectable five assists per game and was the only Leopard to hit double digits in scoring against Kentucky, and Joey Ptasinsky is a three-point chucker who hit seven against Morehead State.  But in reality it's an undersized, undermanned, and under-talented team going against one of the ten best teams in the country (yeah, I said it).  Lafayette could keep it interesting because they move the ball well (assists on 60% on their FGs, 54th in the country), shoot well, and hit all their free throws and in previous years that's the kind of thing that would worry me.  Not this year, however.  Lafayette's inability to rebound and the Gophers dominating defense will collide to make this an absolute ass-kicking of the highest order.  Get ready to see a whole lot of Kendal Shell.  More college basketball thoughts after the girls.

Gophers 90, Lafayette 52.

You're not going to believe this, but there aren't a lot of Lafayette chicks pictures out there.

-  I wish you could bet on things like "Jabari Parker is going to dominate next year."  He just announced he's going to attend Duke (over Michigan State, BYU, Stanford, and Florida) and he's going to thrive their.  Guy is like a more athletic version of Carmelo Anthony.  Granted I'm only basing this on some highlights I've seen because I've haven't watched a game of his because only weirdos watch high school basketball, but that was enough to convince me that Duke will win the National Championship next season.  Look man, I'm not happy about it either but I'm just reporting the facts.  Maybe we'll get lucky and somebody will pull a miracle upset in the tournament.  Seems likely, actually.

-  I'm so disappointed in the Ohio Bobcats.  I thought they'd be good enough this year to get an NCAA at-large bid (if they didn't win the MAC) and even ranked them as the 26th best team in the country this year before the season started.   After starting the season 6-0 (with decent wins over Richmond and St. Bonnie mixed in) things have fallen apart with the Bobcats going 1-4.  They missed out on a chance to add another top 100 type win by losing to UMass, missed their shot at a big-time marquee win by getting killed against Memphis, and threw two very ugly wins on the ledger dropping games to Winthrop (RPI 211) and Robert Morris.  With a weak conference again this year (Akron is the only other decent team) Ohio absolutely has to beat Oklahoma  next week in their last non-conference shot at a Top 100 win and then will have to roll through the MAC at pretty close to undefeated to get a bid if they don't win the conference tournament.  Although, really, that Winthrop loss and the rest of this stretch say it might be too late.

-  After a little bit of a dick tease that the Pac-10 was going to be back to being relevant this year after what feels like 10 years of shittiness they're clearly going for the shittiness thing again.  UCLA was supposed to be a top 10 team but is in shambles (with a loss to Cal Poly) and will likely get their coach fired soon.  Colorado and Cal got off to great starts, but Colorado needed double overtime to beat Texas Southern, lost to Wyoming, and got crushed by Kansas and Cal lost three straight against legit competition including getting absolutely destroyed by a terrible Wisconsin squad.  USC had their sites on a NCAA Tournament bid but has been a total train wreck, Stanford hasn't won a single meaningful game and lost to Belmont, and Washington has lost to Albany and Nevada.  Other than Arizona (fool's gold, trust me) and Oregon (their win over UNLV was more impressive than the loss at UTEP was harmful) I don't know that there's a team in this conference who can win an NCAA Tournament game, assuming anybody else can even get there.  But I suppose we should be used to this.  The Pac-12 is just awful at hoops now. 

-  Obviously it will all come down to match-ups so this isn't a prediction per se, but these are the teams I think are most likely to make the Sweet 16 this year:  Indiana, Duke, Michigan, Syracuse, Minnesota, Louisville, Florida, Kansas, Gonzaga, VCU, New Mexico, and Creighton.  No that's not 16 but I can't find 16.  These 12 I would be willing to bet will make up at least half the Sweet 16.  I'm too tired and drunk to figure out how big a limb that is to go out on, but I'm out on it any way and I'm loving every minute of it.

-  The NCAA is suspending Texas guard Myck Kabongo for the entire season.  Why, you might ask?  Sounds like he might have had some dealings with an agent and/or had a workout paid for by someone when he was flirting with entering the NBA Draft last season.  But wait, you'd say, I thought you only got like a 10 game suspension for that kind of stuff, and you'd be right.  The NCAA, however, has brought the hammer down on Kabongo because he wasn't immediately forthcoming with all the information, similar to when they clamped down on my main man Dez Bryant.  You know, people always talk about how guys like Bud Selig and Roger Goodell are too heavy handed, but the NCAA is a total joke.  They make billions of dollars off student athletes and then rule them with an iron fist.  I was going to write more but I can feel my train of thought going right off the rails as I'm trying to watch The League right now as well.  Effin' Rafi. 

 Yeah that's about it.  Should be plenty.   For those who don't believe in Twitter you'll notice that on the right hand column my tweets are showing up over there so you can read them.  Much thanks to Stroms for the help.

DWG NCAA Basketball Preview: Teams #38-34

Way to go, Kyle Lohse.  You might as well just come to my house and steal my money.  And it's not just Lohse, it's everybody - not only the Cardinals but the entire National League.  The Giants suck.  I'm sorry, it's just a fact, but everyone seems to just lay down and die.  The Cards, a normally excellent fielding team, have given more free runs away this series than they've scored and suddenly the Cards can't hit Barry Zito?  I can't believe I'm going to have to be a Tiger fan for the Series.  Gross.  But I sure as shit can't root for the Giants.  I feel sick.  Whatever.  Let's look at some chicks and talk some roundball.

38.  Texas Longhorns.  Similar to last year's team, this Texas squad will be deep and talented in the back court with major question marks in the front court.  Dissimilar to last year's team, they won't have last year's leading scorer in the Big 12 (at 20.1ppg) J'Covan Brown, who left the team to enter the NBA draft and then didn't get drafted like a genius.  Stupid name guy Myck Kabongo will be the key as the team's point guard and best player, but his status is currently in limbo due to some agent related nonsense.  Although the agent is the same guy who represents Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph and Kabongo is also part of that bizarre Canada/Texas pipeline, so I'm pretty sure he's definitely guilty of whatever.  I believe suspension is the only answer.  

37.  Miami Hurricanes.  It's very possible I'm overrating the Canes since my ranking for them (particularly ahead of FSU) doesn't seem to jibe with most others I've seen, but I like a lot about this team.  Reggie Johnson and Kenny Kadji are both double-double threats at all times and averaged 22 points and 13 rebounds per game between them.  Johnson is 6-10, 292 lbs.  Kadji is 6-11, 242 lbs.  They're both seniors so they aren't about to fuck around this season.  They do lose two of last year's three starting guards, but they get by far the best one back in Durand Scott, and Shane Larkin (yes, Barry's kid) is going to be in his second year and can give the Canes a real live point guard for the first time in a while.  He was one of the best point guard prospects a year ago and had a decent freshman year, but it's time for him to step up to the plate and go yard from the duguot with a rosin bag before the Hurricanes boot one and strike out in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.

36.  Valparaiso Crusaders.  Valpo won the Horizon regular season title last year before getting crushed by Detroit in the Horizon Tournament Final, but with their top two players and lots of seniors back they are the favorite to take the conference again, and hopefully (for them) not flame out again.  And if they make the tournament you'll hear way too much about them because, admittedly, they're kind of an interesting team.  The coach is Bryce Drew who hit the second greatest shot in NCAA Tournament history (behind that dude from Northwestern State who hit the shot to knock out Iowa because fuck Iowa).  Their best player (and last season's conference player of the year) was a finalist to make the Australian Olympic team.  Their second best player has played internationally for both the Canary Islands and the Netherlands.   They have a dude from Jamaica.  They have guys who transferred from Virginia Tech, Ole Miss, Indiana, Hawaii, Cal, South Florida, and Rice.  Seriously it's ridiculous.  I haven't seen this many transfers since Tark's days at Fresno.  Plus they have a guy with the last name Buggs, and since we all know Charles Buggs is going to be a superstar I can only assume the same for a guy who I assume is related.

35.  Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys season will basically come down to what kind of changes LeBryan Nash made this offseason.  Nash was the team's best player last season, should be again this year, and is probably the best player to suit up for OSU since JamesOn Curry.  The bad news, however, is that he shot an appalling 39% including just 24% from three despite jacking up the second most shots on the squad (behind the departed bomber Keiton Page).  He balanced out his poor shooting and shot selection by averaging just 1.5 assists per game and getting almost no steals.  He's insanely talented and if he can play smarter and maybe hit a jumper here and there these guys should be in line for an NCAA bid.  And hey, if everything works out he can become the next JamesOn Curry and enter the NBA draft after his junior year and then fail to get drafted in the first round.  It's good to have dreams.

 34.  Stanford Cardinal.  Yes, the dreaded Cardinal.  Enders of the Gophers season and world champions of the NIT.  And, as we all know, winning the NIT is a strong predictor of future success the following season.  I'm just kidding of course, it means exactly jack shit.  More than anything it's just says you were a crappy team that couldn't be bothered to get into the NCAA Tournament, and barring a stellar recruiting class coming in you're probably still terrible.  And they are.  They have a good back court in Chasson Randle and Aaron Bright and some decently experienced guys, but nothing really special.  Which is why they're ranked 34th and are incredibly boring.  Or maybe they're ranked 34th because they're boring?  I don't know.  I'm tired and hate Kyle Lohse.

Now that I think about it, Detroit gets to set their rotation with Verlander first and I assume Scherzer second and will have the option to go with JV three times.  The Giants will have to go with Lincecum and Zito to start it off and will only get to throw Cain once.  I'm thinking we make some money on the Tigers.  We goin' Sizzla.


Previous:
Teams #68-60
Teams #59-53
Teams #52-47 
Teams #46-39

Notes from a Marathon

24 hours of basketball, and nobody with a real job or who lives in a real adult world or who has any kind of life could possibly watch it all.  I tried to watch as much as I could, which mainly consisted of sneaking peaks at ESPN3 while at work, and here is everything I noticed, read, or had someone tell me:

-  Memphis looked very good dismantling Belmont 97-81 in a game they controlled from the start.  Being that this is the same Belmont team that took Duke down to the wire earlier this week makes the Tigers win that much more impressive.  Memphis's guards were able to penetrate at will (just like when I went out with your sister that one time) and made Belmont look like the low major it is.  I don't think they're a very good shooting team and the 50% from 3 and 59% from the floor won't happen very often, but this is the same team that held Duke to just 43%, so who knows.  They're going to run away with the C-USA title.

-  Kent State scored an upset for the MAC, defeating West Virginia 70-60 in West Virginia.  This is the second big win for the league this week after Akron defeated Mississippi State.  I don't know if the rest of the league will be good enough to boost the league's overall RPI enough to get an at-large bid, but both Kent State and Akron not only look worthy of a bid so far, but look like they could score an upset in March.

-  Despite losing almost everyone from last year, Texas's offense is going to be just fine as they dropped a hunny on Rhode Island.  J'Covan Brown answered questions if he can be the main guy for the Longhorns by putting up 35 and that's good because other than Myck Kabongo I haven't heard of anybody else on this team (except Jonathan Holmes but I'm guessing that's a different guy).  Of course, not having guys like Tristan Thompson and Dexter Pittman around doesn't exactly help your interior defense because Rhode Island scored 90 in the loss.  Looks like Texas will be fun to watch and then get bounced early in the tournament.  So that's totally new.

-  Baylor's Quincy Miller is the best freshman I've seen so far this year, and that includes Austin Rivers.  Rivers might end up being better (he still kind of seems to be adjusting to either college ball, Duke, or both), but right now Miller is better because he is just straight ready to go.  Super athletic at 6-9, he can play inside or outside equally well, which is a big key because once Perry Jones comes off his suspension Baylor will need him to move out to the perimeter more often since they have Quincy Acy as well.  I'm guessing he can handle it.

-   The Spartans managed to make it look like a competitive game, clawing back against Duke from what was at one point an 18-point second half deficit to finish losing by just five (and covering the spread, woo-hoo!).  It was basically a one-man show with Keith Appling scoring 14 points in the final six minutes.  Two other things I learned from this game:  Draymond Green is much better as a distributor/facilitator rather than a first option, and Adreian Payne is going to be a defensive monster.  As far as getting a read on the Spartans your guess is as good as mine - so far they've played North Carolina on a freaking battleship and Duke when Andre Dawkins was unconscious.  So I dunno.

-  Ohio State, however, defended the honor of the B1G by beating Florida 81-74.  Of course they were at home and are ranked higher, so they're expected to win but since it's a Big 10 team you never know.  One interesting wrinkle was that in the first half the Buckeyes had troubling keeping Florida's guards out of the lane despite having Aaron Craft who might end up going down as the best white defensive guard in history.  Of course it's kind of tough to judge because Florida's guards (Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario, and Brad Beals) might be the best group in the entire country.  And obviously something changed in the second half that I'd love to tell but can't because in a related story I didn't watch the second half because we were watching Harry Potter and I sort of forgot to pull the game up on the computer.

-  I did remember to turn on the UK/KU game, so I can tell you Kentucky is easily the most talented, the most athletic, and the most exciting team to watch in college hoops this year.  They simply have the most ability and they play a Washington-esque brand of circus ball - it's truly exhilarating.  They are also a complete train wreck.  I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it.  Marquis Teague, Michael Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, and Anthony Davis all have a legitimate claim as the most talented player at their position in college ball, which is why they stomped the crap out of Kansas.  Of course, Kansas is going to have a big time down year (this #11 in the country crap is bullshit, I really wish you could bet on over/under season wins for college teams) so that makes this less impressive, as does the myriad of just simple mistakes they made on both sides of the floor, which again is kind of expected when you have a bunch of freshman and also when your coach couldn't game coach his way out of a whorehouse.  This paragraph is pretty disjointed, isn't it?  Well that's because this team is as confusing as a vagina.  They're either going to win the National Championship or become the first #1 seed to lose to a #16.  No in between.

-  Not part of the marathon, but Iowa State lost to crap-ass Drake, which means the dream of them becoming a sleeper National Title Contender is probably dead, unless of course this is what they want you to think in order to lower spreads and come in under the radar.  That's probably it since Royce White was awesome again (21 & 14) and everyone knows he just does the opposite of what he's supposed to.  Oh my god that's it.  Hoiberg is a genius.  Luckily he has some good soldiers who agree to be terrible like Chris Allen and Melvin Ejim, who combined to shoot 3-20 and 0-9 from three.  Good job guys!  Nobody will see you us coming now!  And we can build this dream together, standing strong together, nothing's gonna stop us now!

And if this world runs out of lovers, we'll still have each other, nothing's gonna stop us now

- The last game of the thing was Stanford/Colorado State. Here are my thoughts.

NCAA Hoops Preview - The Big 12 or whatever

Remember how I said I was going to do a preview of a new conference each Wednesday or Friday and laid out that whole schedule?  Well forget all that.  I don't do organization well.  I'm just going to run 'em out there whenever I see fit in whatever order I fell like.

We're starting with the Big 12, a conference that will have a significantly different look this year and I don't just mean that they tossed two of their worst hoops programs in Colorado and Nebraska.  The real intrigue here is that the two tradition powers of the Big 12, Kansas and Texas, were both hit hard by graduations and early defections to the NBA if it ever exists again.  Between the two schools they lost 9 starters, and although both are capable of rebuilding quickly and still have plenty of talent, the conference is more wide open than it's been since I can remember.  Of course, it's looking like it won't exist for much longer, but for this season at least it will be interesting.  With an 18-game true round robin schedule, I expect these teams to beat up each other pretty good, and any school that can manage double digit wins is going to be in good shape.

1.  BAYLOR BEARS.  If he had entered the draft Perry Jones would have been a top-3 pick, so his return to Waco is huge for Baylor.  He's an absolute beast who is tough to handle inside but can also play the perimeter (although not much of a shooter) and is practically a lock for B12 player of the year, especially with Lace Dunn gone so he will become the absolute focal point of the offense.  They return everybody else inside and picked up a couple of stud freshman in wings Quincy Miller (#7 overall according to Rivals, spurned Duke to sign with the Bears) and Deuce Bello (#54 overall and has a sweet name) so they're pretty well loaded.  Their frontline of Jones, Miller, and Quincy Acy might be tops in the country.  If they can get solid PG play from either the returning A.J. Walton (meh) or JuCo transfer Pierre Jackson, who led his team to the JuCo championship, they're a major contender to win the whole thing.

2.  MISSOURI TIGERS.  With so much talent having vacated the conference the door is open for the Tigers and their five returning starters - yes five.  Of course, the biggest question is what happens when you take the players who are well suited to run Mike Anderson's crazy circus ball system and give them a new coach, one whose Miami team last year was one of the slowest in the NCAA.  Assuming Frank Haith has the brains to realize you fit your system to the players in this case, hopefully he turns them lose because with Marcus Denmon, Michael Dixon, and the Pressey brothers running the break with Ricardo Ratliffe, Laurence Bowers, and Kim English filling the lanes these guys are one of the most fun groups to watch in all of the NCAA.  Of course, if my knowledge of most coaches is right he'll try to force them to slow down and at least one player will quit or get suspended for "conduct detrimental to the team" which in this case will mean getting pissed at the coach.  This is just like Above the Rim.    

3.  KANSAS JAYHAWKS.  Kansas lost a ton of talent this year and 75% of their scoring from last year, so they'll rely heavily on Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, assuming they can improve upon last year.  Both were solid players last year, but are going to have to become the main men on offense if Kansas is going to make any kind of run.  Sophomore guards Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson were top 100 guys coming out of high school, as are newcomers Naadir Tharpe and Ben McLemore, but they're all guards.  The biggest issue for Kansas is on the interior, because outside of Robinson they're paper thin.  They have a big seven-footer in Jeff Withey, but he's only played 207 minutes in his first two years in Lawrence.  The talent on the outside will get them to the NCAA Tournament, but I wouldn't expect much of a run unless somebody really steps up to help Robinson in the paint.

4.  TEXAS A&M AGGIES.  Khris Middleton is one of my favorite players to watch, and also one of my least favorite players to watch.  When things are going well he's a born scorer who can hit from outside, inside, or drive to the hole and get to the line.  However when the opposition makes a concerted effort to take him out of the game it works far, far too well, such as when he shot 0-9 and didn't even bother getting to the line because he just shot jumpers all game (I watched this one and it was lame).  But he's no doubt a special talent and he doubled his scoring average from his freshman to sophomore year, so if he worked that hard again this offseason you might be looking at a B12 player-of-the-year type season.   

5.  IOWA STATE CYCLONES.  What to think about Iowa State?  It's tough, partially because I'm biased since I consider them my second favorite college team, partially because how do you not like the mayor, partially because I love his strategy of not caring about a player's off the court baggage and just bringing in talent, and partially because when you ignore players' off the court baggage things can implode in a hurry.   I mean you know all about Royce White's talent and watched Chris Allen for what feels like 10 years, but did you realize transfer Anthony Booker from So Ill was ranked the #43 freshman in the country when he came into school?  And Chris Babb from Penn State averaged nearly 10 points per game as a sophomore?  They're going to struggle finding a ball handler with Diante Garrett graduating, but this could be a spectacular team.  Or they could end up with a couple of guys kicked out, a fight amongst their own team, and a massive flame out of a season.  Either way, this should be fun to watch. 

6.  OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS.  I've flipped these guys with Texas a few times, and that's mainly because I can't quite figure out what to think of OSU (or Texas, actually).  On the one hand, the bring in a freshman in wing LeBryan Nash who instantly becomes their best player (#6 overall recruit by Rivals) so that ups their talent level.  On the other hand, he needs the ball in his hands to be effective, their other stud recruit is a point guard Cezar Guerrero (#71 overall) who is described as more of a scorer than distributor, and their best returning player, Keiton Page, is a big-time chucker who led the team in shot attempts despite hitting just 37% of his shots.  See where I'm going with this?  They might be a more talented team this year, but I'd be concerned about if there are enough balls to go around. 

7.  TEXAS LONGHORNS.  I'm struggling to see any way they can compete this year.  I know Myck Kabongo is a total stud and basically pushed Cory Joseph out the door, but I am, everything is gone from last year and even though this year's recruiting class is very good it's not a ready made team like Kentucky seems to pull in each year.  I mean, literally the only returner of any consequence is J'Covan Brown and he averaged double figures scoring and went for over 20 in both NCAA tournament games, but that was as a complimentary player, and now he's going to have to be Mr. Offense.  I feeling like I might be selling them a bit short because it seems like no matter what the Longhorns are always able to end having a great team that flames out in the end, but I'm really not seeing it this year.  Seeing as how Rick Barnes isn't exactly known for coaching teams up, looks like 7th place and the NIT to me.

8.  KANSAS STATE WILDCATS.  So here's Kansas State.  A terrible program that never did anything, and Frank Martin manages to snag Michael Beasley, Bill Walker, and Jake Pullen - bam, instant contender.  Well guess what?  With Pullen's graduation they're all gone.  Some say Martin has turned K-State into a whole new program, one who can contend with the big boys in the conference (wherever they end up).  I say they're wrong, and K-State is heading back to dumpsville - unless they end up in C-USA or the Mountain West or some new conference made out of leftovers, but if they're in a major conference it's not going to be pretty, starting this year where I'd be stunned if they managed even an NIT bid.  Should have taken the Miami job, Frank.  A chance to go back to your home town right as your program is about to fall off a cliff?  Ouch.  This is like Shelly Long leaving Cheers, only kind of the opposite.

9.  OKLAHOMA SOONERS.  Ouch.  From 30 wins two years ago to just 27 in the past couple of seasons combined along with NCAA infractions and a new coach.  Also, if I told you there was much talent here I'd be lying.  Lon Kruger has a long road back to make Oklahoma relevant, but at least if they move on to the Pac-12 (14/16) they'll get to play those crappy teams a bunch of times, so that'll help.  Seriously, though the only guy I remember from Oklahoma last year is that Brian Cardinal wannabe Cade Davis and he's gone so you can just picture me shrugging my shoulders and we can move on.

10.  TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS.  Riddle me this - what happens when a terrible team loses four starters (it's four top scorers, top rebounder, and 3 top assist men) who accounted for over 2/3rds of the team's scoring and are replacing them with a JC dude and a transfer from Utah?  Well we're about to find out and I have a feeling it's not going to be pretty.  Assuming Billy Gillespie isn't drunk all the time I'm sure he'll improve their fortunes (wherever they end up), but this is going to be a rough year.  Good thing nobody gives a crap about this team.


Well there we are.  The first college basketball preview of the year.  As Brian Fantana would say, "It really revs my engine."  Seriously though, I need this.  I can't even watch the Twins anymore.  At like, 2pm this afternoon Snacks texted me something about how Parmalee can hit and I was like, "Dude, I totally forgot they were even playing a day game" and he was like, "I know.  I only even saw the score because I was going on mlb.com to check and see if the Red Sox were losing because it would be funny if they collapsed."  It's so funny and sad I'm going to go kick a baby.

Seriously though, Missouri at 75-1 to win the National Championship is worth throwing a couple bucks down.  They'll end up a 3-4 seed.

Some Tough Bracket Questions

I'm just sitting here, sipping away on some Crown Royal - which I won for free at a raffle while supporting a very worthy cause, so it's win/win - and looking at my bracket picks and there are some really tough questions this year.  So why not share what I'm agonizing over?  Maybe it will give you some insight to pick a better bracket.  Maybe somebody can sway me in the comments section.  Or maybe I'll just come to a better conclusion by typing it all out.  Maybe it will even be entertaining.  Or not.  Whatever, dude it's free so just read it. 

And don't forget to join the DWG bracket pool at this link.  Valuable prizes are there to be won. 


EAST REGION

The top half here is pretty straight forward if you ask me, particularly the 8/9 game between GMU and Nova, where Mason should kill the sliding Wildcats and Ohio State will have little trouble with anybody, including Kentucky.  I think UK was ripe for a first round upset until they were matched against Princeton, who won't be able to remotely keep up with them.  The Princeton offense is cute and can work in some instances, but Kentucky is too athletic and too fast.  It wouldn't surprise me if the Tigers keep in close for a half, but Kentucky wins hands down.

The bottom half, however, is a mess for me because both second round games are tough.  Syracuse has been both good and bad this year, however what they've had the most trouble with is teams with good, penetrating guards - which exactly what Xavier bases its offense on, particularly Tu Holloway.  On the other hand, Xavier hasn't beaten anybody out of conference play - look at their schedule, they've missed on every chance to get a good win.  But on the third hand, they did dominate the A-10, for whatever that's worth. 

The other game, UNC vs. Washington, is going to be an absolute circus ball barnburner.  Washington is a much better team than they're 7 seed, but unfortunately when circus ball goes bad it goes bad in a hurry.  Carolina on the other hand snagged a two thanks to a late run through the ACC, but looked pretty bad in their ACC Tournament games.  Is Harrison Barnes about to make the leap on the biggest stage or can Justin Holiday shut him down?  Can Kendall Marshall run with Captain Circus Ball (Isaiah Thomas)?  Is Terrence Ross's emergence in the Pac-10 Tournament a real thing or a fluky blip through a mediocre season?  Does Washington have enough skilled bigs to slow down an emerging Tyler Zeller and rebounding machine John Henson?  And can either of them stop Matthew Bryan-Amaning?

That's the game where I'm having the biggest issue, because whoever wins that is my elite 8 team opposite Ohio State.  Putting a seven seed there might be a recipe for disaster, but like I said I don't think Washington is talented like a 7, more like a 3 or 4.  In a wide open tournament they could make a big run.  In any case, that section of the bracket is without question the most talented and hardest to pick.



WEST REGION

One of the toughest first round games here for me in Oakland vs. Texas.  I was convinced I was going to pick Oakland in their first round match up, because their entire season looks like a run-up to a first round upset:  tough non-conference schedule with a bunch of misses, easy run through the conference, an NBA player and another dynamic scorer.  And then they got Texas.  Texas, who on talent should not be a 4, but more like a 3 or even a 2.  Texas, who is equally capable of flaming out and could easily lose not just to Oakland but could even lose to a 16 seed.  I just don't know.  If Texas does get passed Oakland, however, they'll beat both Arizona and Duke.  Book it.

The bottom of the bracket is pretty straight forward other than the Cincy/Mizzou game but who really cares because neither will get through UCONN.  Until the sweet 16 matchup between UCONN and San Diego State, that's about as tough as it gets.  I don't know if I believe in UCONN, despite that run through the Big East Tournament.  Hard to pick against them, though, even if I'm a big SDSU guy.  Either way the winner of that game is your final four team, whether they end up having to beat Duke or Texas.


SOUTHEAST REGION

This is without a doubt the biggest mess of a region, at least for me, because other than Pitt winning this entire region, a lock, I've changed the outcome of basically every other game ten times.  For some reason I'm having trouble picking Belmont over Wisconsin even though my entire plan was to pick Belmont over anybody because they play so similarly.  I also want to pick Utah State over K-State because I think that's a perfect matchup for USU - an undisciplined, mediocrely coached team prone to underachieving - but they haven't beaten anybody this year and I can't stop thinking about how last year's team could keep up with Texas A&M athletically, and this year's team is probably less athletic while K-State is way beyond last year's A&M.

At the bottom here it's stunning that Florida is a two seed, and they could run all the way to the elite 8 or they could get dropped in the first round if their guards aren't shooting well.  St. Johns might be the toughest team but just lost leading rebounder and third leading scorer DJ Kennedy to a knee injury.  Everybody knows about Jimmer and BYU, but what can you expect from a team who just booted their best interior player for getting some stank on his hang down?  Then there's Michigan State who has struggled all year but hell it's Michigan State.  This year's version actually looks worse than ever, but I'm pretty sure we said that last year.  And maybe the year before.  I just don't know.

This whole region is a complete mess for me right now.  The only thing I'm remotely sure of is that Pitt is winning it.  Other than that, anything else could happen.  Hell I could see Gonzaga getting to the elite 8.  And, just to throw a little more confusion your way, Old Dominion is absolutely the worst possible second round matchup for Pitt, and as sure as I sound about Pitt winning it wouldn't remotely surprise me if ODU wins.  Crazy year.


SOUTHWEST REGION

This is the region I'm most confident in.  Kansas is a very good team that's also very vulnerable, but fortunately for them they don't face a team that can beat them until Notre Dame in the elite 8.  Louisville is a good team that will get to sweet 16 and I wanted to pick them to beat the Jayhawks, but they just aren't a good enough team to do it.  I like their guards but neither Knowles or Siva is the type to dominate a game and I don't think they have the interior guys to handle the Morrisisis's, so KU moves on. 

In the bottom half the toughest game to pick is Georgetown vs. Purdue.  The Hoyas were looking very Final Four sleeperish but faded hard once Chris Wright went out with a broken hand.  He's supposed to be back for the tournament (and it's his non-shooting hand) but who knows how it will affect him?  The game is in Chicago as well, which settled the coin flip for me and convinced me to push Purdue through to the Sweet 16.  Not that it really matters, because either team loses to Notre Dame.  Both the Irish and the Jayhawks could have been vulnerable to the right (wrong?) team, but both caught a break and are on a collision course to the Elite 8.  That will be a great game, and I see the Notre Dame pulling it out because Kansas has to choke somewhere. 


I feel better now.  I know what I'm going to do.  Go ahead and prove you're smarter than me.   And forward the link on to as many people as you want.  I'm still going to win.  And then I get to keep all the prizes.

SUCKA MC!

Still Going Strong

Awesome job by Oakland.  After a very tough non-conference schedule to get them used to that level of competition they used that experience to absolutely run through the Summit, culminating in an easy tournament win and an NCAA berth.  They are going to be very tough.  There are a few teams in the first round in that 4-5 seed area that I don't think they can handle, but without seeing matchups I'd give them about a 75% chance of a first round victory.

Also of note is Butler's win, a team that everyone will pick as a first round upset winner, which won't happen, and Ark-Little Rock won the Sun Belt, a team nobody will pick to win and they most definitely won't.  Finally, Villanova continued their slide in a loss to South Florida (a great game, actually) and will now be such a low seed that everyone will know they're going to lose.  I really wish they could have maintained a 4 or 5 - easy pick to lose.

BIG TWELVE:  I feel like this conference is a bit underwhelming this year.  Yeah, Kansas is good and a title contender, but the rest?  Meh.  Texas will flame out, Texas A&M sucks, and Colorado probably won't even make the tournament.  I guess Kansas State is sort of exciting in a "can they salvage the season" kind of way but I don't know.  I think I'm going to need Frank Martin to strangle a player/ref/assistant or something to get me jazzed up about the Wildcats.  I guess I kind of like Missouri.

FAVORITE:  Kansas.  Yes, I know Texas smoked them in Lawrence and that was a pretty big deal win, but Kansas doesn't do things like lose to Colorado or Nebraska - practically Texas's M.O. the last few years. 

SLEEPER:   Baylor.  Is this just me refusing to give up on a team that I loved preseason despite all evidence pointing to the fact that they just plain suck, or are the Bears a legitimate sleeping giant, just waiting to go on a run?  I think we all know the answer to that.

W's PICK:  Texas.  Even though I'm fully expected them to be upset in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, they are talented enough and dumb enough to get all amped up for this and win it, only to go out and get smoked by Belmont. 

WHO'S DANCING:  Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado

CONFERENCE USA:  I keep hoping C-USA will be good someday, but I'm starting to think that's just crazy talk.  UAB, UTEP, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulsa, and UCF were all supposed to be in line for a possible bid this year, but at this point it's looking like UAB is the only team with a shot at an at-large.  I don't know.  I guess I just thought this conference would be better. 

FAVORITE:  UAB.  Solely because they won the regular season title and are the #1 seed.  In reality any one of those teams I mentioned above could easily end up winning this and it wouldn't be remotely surprising. 

SLEEPER:   Central Florida.  They finished C-USA Play at just 6-10, but I'm not exactly sure what happened.  This is still the same team that started the season 14-0 and beat both Florida and Miami.  I have to believe there's a chance they can find that form again, and in a conference with no dominant teams it's wide open.

W's PICK:  Memphis.  It could be any of several teams at the top, but Southern Miss was terrible against the good teams in the conference and UTEP and Tulsa both fattened up their records by playing really easy C-USA schedules, so that leaves UAB and Memphis.  I think Memphis has more talent.

WHO'S DANCING:  Memphis.  If the Tigers win that means UAB didn't make the championship game, something they probably have to do to get an at-large.

PAC 10:  The Pac-10 still sucks but it's at least getting better.  Last year at this time we were wondering if they'd get even two bids, this year they are certain to get three with an outside shot at four.  That being said, it wouldn't be a shocker if they end up 0-for the first round as a conference.  

FAVORITE:  Arizona.  I'm not exactly sure how they ended up winning the regular season title, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Derrick Williams.  That dude is pretty unreal, and has basically carried the Wildcats to every big win they've had this year.  It's just too bad for him he's basically all alone out there.

SLEEPER:   USC.  The tournament is in LA, so that's huge for the Trojans, plus they've already beaten UCLA, Washington, and Arizona this year.  There only real problem has been losing to bad teams (swept by Oregon?  Ouch.) but that's something they'll likely avoid with their four seed. 

W's PICK:  Washington.  I don't care about the seven Pac-10 losses, the third place conference finish, or the 2-3 finish to the season - this is the best team in this conference.  They're the most fun to watch, too, so let's hope they don't slip up against on Thursday because that loss might be enough to send them to the NIT.  Which would be a shame, because nobody plays circus ball on Over Saturday like the Huskies.

WHO'S DANCING:  Arizona, UCLA, Washington, USC

SOUTHLAND:  Do you remember the wrestler Sam Houston?  Probably not, because he wasn't really all that big of a deal or any good or anything and was only in the WWF from 87-89 and anybody who watched anything other than the WWF at that time was just wasting their time (the Midnight Rockers had already moved on from the AWA.)  Anyway, guess who his half brother is?  Jake "The Snake" Roberts.  Fascinating.  Also Sam Houston State is in the Southland Conference.

FAVORITE:  McNeese State.  The Cowboys semi-respectable RPI (#163) and what will be over 20 wins if they win the Southland Tournament mean they might be all the way up to a 15 seed.  With absolutely zero chance of beating anybody.

SLEEPER:   Stephen F. Austin.  They are actually a decent defensive team and they play a tempo so slow they're nearly going backwards.  They also have four wins against non D-I schools this year, including an 39-point win over Oklahoma School of Science and the Arts.  Thrilling.

W's PICK:  Sam Houston State.  Jake the Snake man, that dude was awesome.  Not so awesome?  His snake, Damien, starved to death, locked in Jake's garage.  Bad karma, man.  Bad karma.

SWAC:  The Southland's younger, shittier brother, the winner of the SWAC is basically guaranteed a spot in the play-in game because every single team is terrible.  The best team here according to kenpom's statistical breakdown is Jackson State, who ranks #282 out of the 345 teams in D-I.  The bottom of the conference contains teams #344, #341, #340, #337, and #330.  Only Texas Southern and Jackson State have winning records on the season.  These are bad teams.

FAVORITE:  Texas Southern.  Jackson State ranks slightly higher 282 vs. 284, but Texas Southern ran through the league and finished 16-2, which probably means they just showed up for every game.  They did, at least, beat Oregon State, by far the best win by any team in the SWAC.

SLEEPER:   Mississippi Valley State.  They actually have a non-conference win over a D-I team (Georgia Southern), which may not sound like much but it's actually really rare.  Of the 10 SWAC teams only these guys, Texas Southern, Jackson State, Grambling, and Alabama State managed to pull it off.

W's PICK:  Jackson State.  They're fifth in the country in forcing turnovers.  That's the kind of defense that could make them a pesky 16 seed.  Or I'm just flaying about wildly for anything remotely positive to say.

WAC:  Pretty simple here:  Utah State needs to win, and with the way the WAC sets up the tournament they're in good shape with an automatic bye to the semifinals.  Some think they're safe no matter what, others think they can't possibly get an at-large.  I'd say their biggest problems is that no matter who they face, a loss even in the championship is going to be a bad loss - no other WAC team is even inside the top 125 RPI.  So they should probably just win.

FAVORITE:  Utah State.  I just said that.  Their RPI is #17, next best is Boise at #126.  They rank #13 at kenpom.  Next is Boise at #81.  They lost one conference game which was a pretty big fluke to a crappy team.  They're more of a favorite than any other team in any other conference.

SLEEPER:   San Jose State.  There really isn't a whole lot to love about any of these teams, so I'll go with the "who has the most talented players" angle.  Despite going just 5-11, SJSU has the conference's leading scorer (Adrian Oliver), #3 assist man (Justin Graham), and #5 rebounder (Will Carter).  I suppose they could all get hot at the same time.

W's PICK:  Utah State.  It would be a heart-breaking shocker if they don't win this, particularly because they only need to win two games.  I think they're safe even if they don't, but it's better not to play that game with the committee.

WHO'S DANCING:  Utah State

Outside of the bubble teams mentioned above there isn't too much intrigue tonight, so instead watch the most awesomest video ever:

Week in Review - 01.24.2011

 Well, it's now obvious how to fix the Vikings.  Simply trade your second round pick over to Chicago for Caleb Hanie, give him the rock, and sit back and watch him destroy the league.  The guy's like the second coming of Jonathan Moxon!  Of course, if Chicago is smart they're going to demand your first round pick.  Is Hanie worth #12 overall?  I think it's pretty clear that he is.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Gopher basketball.  Ok, awesome might be a bit strong here, but considering that at no point did I expect them to end up winning that game in Ann Arbor and they pulled it out semi-convincingly I can give credit where credit is due - particularly since Al Nolen was out for the entire second half.  I'm not even sure which part was most impressive for the Gophers:  Blake filling in at point guard and doing a great job (6 assists to 0 turnovers) including a couple of big baskets down the stretch, the absolute pounding they put on the boards (out-reobunded Michigan 37-11), or the quality shots they were getting that led to 63% shooting.  Just an all around excellent game.  Now let's hope Nolen isn't hurt for an significant period of time.

At this point the Gophers have to be considered a near lock to make the NCAA Tournament.  An RPI of 24 with a Strength of Schedule of 41, 3 wins over RPI top 25 teams, and just one bad loss (Virginia, RPI 121).  Absolute worst case scenario, will be an 7-11 Big 10 record, and that's if there only wins the rest of the year are home games against Northwestern, Michigan, and Penn State.  Obviously in that case they wouldn't get in, but 9-9 should do it so all they need to do is win 2 games out of @ Purdue, @ Indiana, vs. Ohio State, vs. Illinois, @ Iowa, @ Penn State, vs. Michigan State, and @ Northwestern.  That shouldn't be an issue, with or without Nolen.  I can see an 11 or 12 win season as a definite possibility, in which case the Gophers are set up for a 5 or so seed.  Perfectly placed for a first round loss to Old Dominion. 

2.  Texas Longhorns.  Quite the nice little run by the Longhorns, starting the week off with a ho-hum 21-point win over #10 ranked and previously 1-loss Texas A&M, and then followed that up by going into Allen Fieldhouse and beating undefeated and 2nd ranked Kansas by 11, ending the Jayhawks 69-game home winning streak.  I don't even think it's possible for a team to have a better week, and if you weren't totally sold on the Longhorns, and I wasn't, I don't think you can deny them any longer.  Jordan Hamilton has decided to become a stud, Tristan Thompson is a force, Gary Johnson plays a quality role, and Corey Joseph seems to be figuring it out.  They've got an outstanding inside/outside balance and could make a hell of a run in March.  Of course, Rick Barnes is still involved, so it wouldn't be shocking in the least to see them lose 10 straight and miss the tournament.  We'll see.

3.  Alabama Crimson Tide.  If you're going to make a run an your first NCAA tournament bid since 2006 you need to win some big games.  Which is exactly what Alabama did with their 2-point victory over #12 Kentucky, giving them a much needed resume boost.  They are just 11-7 overall, their losses to St. Peter's and Iowa are a bit tough to explain, and they have a pretty crappy strength of schedule so they still have a ton of work to do.  That was the last game on their schedule against a currently ranked team and they play in the crappy SEC West so a big run isn't out of the question.  They're 3-1 in conference now, so something like 12-4 isn't out of the question.  That would be enough to get them in, no doubt.  It would actually be pretty sweet to have them matched up against the Gophers, because I'd love to see a Mbakwe/JaMychal Green match-up.

4. Memphis Tigers.  There was a lot of preseason talk about whether this was the year Memphis finally lost it's stranglehold on Conference USA (at least on the rare occasions when anybody talked about C-USA) after winning it each year since 2006.  There was a lot of talk about Larry Eustacy's Southern Miss taking the crown, or maybe UTEP or UAB would finally take that next step up or perhaps Central Florida and their hot start signaled the changing times.  Well you can shut your whore mouth about all that, because Memphis beat both UAB and Southern Miss this week, both on the road, and are now tied with UTEP at the top of the standings.  Now, this Memphis team isn't anywhere near the class of Calipari's old teams, but for one week at least they made sure everybody knew they weren't done just yet.  That sentence was stupid and something a hack writer for SI.com would write.  My apologies.  Smelly pirate hooker.

5.  Jimmer Fredette.  I've avoided talking about him so far this year, mainly because everybody else is and whenever people like something I automatically hate it (see:  Brett Favre, Nickelback, or Olive Garden) but I can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer - he's really good and really mormon.  He scored 42 points on Saturday on the road at a pesky Colorado State team, giving him two 40+ games in his last three times out and is currently leading the country in scoring at 26.7 points per game.  He's also efficient, and his 48% shooting, including 41% from three, along with his 90% accuracy from the free throw stripe is a good reason why BYU is the 6th best team in the nation by offensive efficiency.  Are they an actually good team?  I'd say yes, probably, but let's wait to see what happens Wednesday against San Diego State.  I know the Jimmer is bad ass though.  Seriously, just watch this: 






WHO SUCKED

1.  Colorado Buffaloes.  Waah wah!  The DWG curse strikes again, and all the momentum and positivity and sleeper talk Colorado built up with their 3-0 start in Big 12 play has now come to a screeching halt after an epic crash and burn this week, losing both to Oklahoma and Nebraska, two of the worst teams in the Big 12 and both losses are resume killers.  The conference is strong enough where they'll have plenty of opportunities to get marquee wins and build their profile back up, but this is a pretty massive setback.  It would be like the Gophers losing to Michigan and Indiana, only if they didn't have those good wins from Puerto Rico.  My bad Colorado fans, you can blame this one on me.

2.  Gonzaga Bulldogs.  Another team who absolutely god awful week and made huge strides in tanking their at-large chances.  Gonzaga, whose overall record is now just 13-7, lost twice this week, to San Francisco and Santa Clara, both contenders in the West Coast Conference, but not the same kind of contender St. Mary's has been the last few years.  In short, the kind of teams that the Gonzagas of the past would just roll right over, but clearly this year's Zags aren't quite the same type of team.  Which is weird, because a nucleus of Steven Gray, Robert Sacre, and Elias Harris should be enough to carry them to a WCC title.  Clearly, all those other dorks I've never heard of must really, really suck.  Now, their strength of schedule was ridiculous and do have wins over Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Xavier so they'll still almost certainly get a bid, but this isn't he same kind of dangerous Gonzaga team, more like out in round 1.

3.  Kenny Boynton.  It didn't take long for me to find my most-hated player after Scottie Reynolds' graduation, so congratulations Kenny Boynton, a chucker of such epic proportions that he makes Chris Kingsbury cringe at his shot selection, Reynolds' himself chuckle at the volume of shots he puts up, and Al Nolen chuckle at his accuracy.  Boynton has shot the rock 121 times this year from beyond the arc, and has hit a whopping 30.6% (and that's after going 4-7 on Saturday), after shooting 29% last year.  This year is 81st in three-point attempts in the country, and out of those 81 players, only four have a worst shooting percentage than Boynton.  Not dissimilar to last year, when he was 28th in the country in 3-point attempts, and had the worst shooting percentage out of the top 100 attempters.  Seriously, you should watch this guy.  He's completely insane.

4. Northwestern Wildcats.  Did you freaking see that score yesterday?  I guess we can cross off "Can Northwestern make it's first NCAA Tournament" from the list of storylines for 2011.  You just can't lose at home by 32, especially to a good but not great Wisconsin team.  As it stands Northwestern's record is now 13-6, and although none of those losses classify as "bad" (margin of loss not a factor), their RPI is a dismal 69, their strength of schedule is horrendous at #122, and their best win right now is over Michigan - their only win over a top 100 RPI team.  It's just ugly, and it's exactly what they deserve for scheduling such a terrible non-conference slate in a year where they knew they were trying to make a run for an NCAA bid.  Terrible.  Just terrible.

5.  Central Florida Knights.  Hey, remember when UCF started out all hot and were 14-0 and beat Florida and Miami and everyone was "OMG Michael Jordan's kid is single-handedly making UCF into an awesome team" and nobody would ever shut up about it and it was just like John Madden/Brett Favre love-fest and everybody was giving out handjobs?  Remember that?  Well suck it, liberal media, because UCF sucks and Jordan's kid sucks, and you suck.  They're now 1-4 in C-USA after losing to East Carolina and Rice, two of the absolute worst teams in the conference, this week and your boyfriend Marcus Jordan was a combined 3-14 shooting in the two games and probably got his ass beat by his dad because of his losing.  So maybe we shouldn't all be so desperate to turn something into a cute little story when nothing has even happened yet.  And speaking of cute, there are lots of good pictures of UCF fans out there: