NCAA Men's Basketball Thread
 

OK, let's get it started this year. I know football isn't quite done yet but NCAA fever has hit me a bit early this year.

So, who is making a bracket for the OM this year and will there be prizes?

ACC looks pretty strong yet again but watch out, the Big 12 has two of the top three teams at the moment! (Ok State and KU). Texas looks pretty decent too and if Tech wouldnt have screwed up I suspect they would be in the top 25 teams.

Duke is starting to come around, but thats like normal. Surprising Gonzaga beat Georgia Tech, that was a real treat! And how about those Illini? Wow, they aren't missing Bill Self that much though, to be fair, they wouldnt be where they are now without Self two years ago.

Wake Forest dropping that game to Illinois has to be my biggest upset of the year so far. Illinois has a great team and all but I never would have thought they would beat Wake Forest.

Anyway, what's ya'lls read on the season thus far?

Rock Chalk Queerhawk.

just kidding alec. Kansas looks really good as does Illinois. This should be a good year. It is still early though, not even in conference play yet.

Yeah, KU will be hurting without Simien for the next four weeks though. We got Georgia Tech on New Years Day (or the day after, cant remember). Thats gonna be a tough game, thankfully its in Lawrence and we got a shot even without Simien who might be the most complete player in College right now.

Conferance play is where it really heats up I agree, but its a good time to get a feel for the teams chemistry right now. Illinois, KU, Ok State (these three teams I have watched a lot of this year) all look good as far as team chemistry.

The ACC is stacked this year for sure. I wonder who gets snubbed from that conference come tourney time.

In other news, Let's go Syracuse, Maryland, and Kansas!

MD is OK but I will not tolerate any Syracuse rooting!

Kansas sucks, Big 12 sucks, go Heels!

Look out for Washington. They're super athletic, have everyone back, and have a 5'8" PG named Nate Robinson who's absolutely legit. This should be the first year in a long long time that a team not named Stanford or Arizona wins the Pac 10.

As for my Cardinal, they lost 80% of last year's scoring to graduation or early entry to the NBA, lost their all-world coach in Monty, and as a result are struggling. No worries, give them a year and they'll be back.

You might be right about Wash Smelvin. I know they have a good team this year but Im not sure if its up there with the elite teams yet, maybe though.

Stanford will go back to sucking balls. Sorry but its true.

DenFan, who did the Heels lose against in their opener again?

We lost to Santa Clara, and havent lost since.

my LMU Lions only lost to Wash by 7. And the U is doing well in BBall this year. I still dont expect either of them to be anything good.

Hey Alec, when are you going to get your Gerry McNamara jersey?

This is the only part of your post that matters ;)

Never.

Stanford has two fundamental problems this year. Well make it three. First they have no depth. Second they have no athleticism (a reacurring problem that digs deep into their academic restrictions) and for the first time in pretty much my lifetime, no outside shooting. I mean Stanford has always had a devastating sniper on the wing. From Matt Lottich, to Ryan Mendez, Casey Jacobson, Kris Weems, Julius Barnes...all the way back to Peter Saur, Kenny Ahmn and the best Cardinal ever...Todd Lichti.

When you combine a lack of athleticism with limited outside shooting, topped off with no depth - you have a WCC team.

But they'll get better. No doubt. I still think they're a tourney team this year, and for a down year is respectable considering their restraints. Trent Johnson is the right man for the job, and they do have NBA talent in Haraysz and perhaps Hernandez. Dan Grunfield is scrappy, like his dad.

Most importantly in regards to Cardinal hoops - Jessica Elway is a freshman on the womens team ;-).

#21 Gonzaga over #3 OK St. tonight in OK. Awesome game.

it was a very good game........Ok. St. got exposed a little bit inside, if there is one weakness with the OSU team, it's their lack of a big man inside.

Gonzaga is a good team though, so Cowboy fans, don't fret........

Gonzaga is very very good. Much more athletic than in years passed. Turiaf is one of the best bigs in the country and Adam Morrison is one of the best players in the country, and only a soph. He just has "it". At 6'8" he's too tall for most guards to handle, yet he still has quickness to break down almost anyone. For a whte guy he has awesome athleticism. And he understands the game...phenominal fundamentals. Think Mike Dunleavy with athleticism and quickness....and most importantly...toughness. He isn't a p***Y like Dunleavy is.

The best hoops on the West Coast reside in the state of Washington. For my money Gonzaga and Washington can go toe-to-toe with all them overated big conference Least Coast teams.

Watch out for Michigan State. They have Izzo and a very athletic squad that is 12 deep.

MSU is very good. I unfortunately know this first hand. They destroyed Stanford in front of a national audience.

Wheres the NCAA womens basketball thread?

hoops n' hooters!

Watch out for my Piggies. We're playing much better than we have in a long time. The Razorbacks are 10-1 with that lone defeat to Illinois in a good game. We might sneak into the sweet 16 this year. Our next game tips off in 2 hours. Bring on Jacksonville St.! ROFL!

Does fat ass Darnell Robinson still play for Arkansas? I remember when my high school played his. He was dominant. I think he still holds the record for the most points scored in CA high school history. He was such a dump in college though. The laziest POS ever. A guy that big and talented couldn't make it in the NBA. What a waste.

I was excited when we first got Darnell. He had a lot of hype being the #1 prospect out of high school. He got All-Freshman F over Jerry Stackhouse, then he never got better. He regressed. He's probably the biggest dissapointment in Hawgball history. He was lazy. He couldn't shoot free throws. Hell, he could barely make a basket from the paint. He missed many of those. I didn't keep up with him in the NBA.

1994 All-Freshman Team
C Marcus Camby, U Mass
G Jeff Capel, Duke
G Jacque Vaughn, Kansas
F Darnell Robinson, Arkansas
F Rasheed Wallace, UNC

You didn't keep up with him in the NBA cuz he didn't have an NBA career. Too fat and lazy.