quote:

Originally posted by Shaferguy91:
With Duke losing I'm assuming Tennessee will be #2. #1 Memphis vs. #2 Tennessee
on Sat. night @ 8:00 P.M. CST.

Quit gloating ..that will be a great game. I'll be watching. Is the game at UT? If, so I'd put my money on them.

I can't remeber- are you a UT or Memphis guy? Personally I hope Memphis wins...just so they are undefeated when the Bruins beat them in the Final Four.

I am first a Memphis basketball fan but I went to UT so they are my second choice. The game is in Memphis and I'll be there pulling mostly for the Tigers.

The Memphis/Tennessee game should be one of the best regular season games of the season, and should give the winner a number one seed.

Wake Forest, while clearly not as good a team, exposed Duke last night. Any team with quickness on the perimeter and a good inside game can take Duke out of its comfort zone. If the Deacs can upset either UNC or Maryland, they may sneak in the tourney. If not, they will be a top ten team next season based on current personnel and three big time recruits.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaferguy91:
I am first a Memphis basketball fan but I went to UT so they are my second choice. The game is in Memphis and I'll be there pulling mostly for the Tigers.

Yikes, what a conflict...fortunately (or unfortunately) I dont think this is a position you have to worry about too often. Hope you don't see any UT alums you went to school with there if you are rooting for the tigers.

I think Memphis has alot more to lose here. If they lose to UT at home, I'd bet they drop down out of the top 5 and they don't play anybody decent enough to help them climb back up. Even though other top teams will likely lose again in the conference tournaments, Memphis could lose the number 1 seed. Then again, outside of where you play, seeds are overrated..you stil gotta beat 6 teams in march.

As long as my bruins stay out west I dont really care if they are a 1 or a 2. Now if they ship them to the midwest or east as a 2, that would suck.

HUGE game tonight in Memphis. I think that Memphis is around a 5 1/2 to 6 point favorite. I think that Memphis will win by at least 7 or 8. I certainly hope that Memphis wins for no other reason that Bruce Pearl is probably the most annoying college coach of all time. Latour, are you lucky enough to be attending the game tonight? I wish I could be there but I will definitely be watching the game.

On another note - good move by IU to buyout Sampson. However, they should not have hired that sleazeball in the first place.

Shaferguy and Latour will be there !

quote:

Originally posted by scbeerman:
The Memphis/Tennessee game should be one of the best regular season games of the season, and should give the winner a number one seed.

That was a really good game. As much as I despise Bruce Pearl, his team did a great job of adjusting in the 2nd and rallying to win – they were very tenacious. I hope that Calipari had his team in the gym at 6 AM on Sunday morning to practice free throws. 50% is pathetic!! I believe the announcers said that the Memphis team percentage for free throws is around 58%. If this doesn't improve it will be their Achille's heel in the tournament.

Despite Memphis losing, they should still get a #1 seed.

Not sure about No. 1 seeds at this point. There's too much basketball to be played.

I think the selection cmte has to take into account the fact that Memphis plays a relatively weak schedule. If teams like Texas, UCLA and Carolina (a couple of losses but tough schedules) win out the rest of the way, I would think that they would move ahead of Memphis.

Terrific game last night between two heavyweight clubs. The Fed Ex Forum was absolutely packed and rocking.

I don't think losing to the #2 team in the country in the last minute is going to drop Memphis out of a #1 seed. Memphis was a #1 seed last year and they had 3 losses. Tenn. will probably be their only loss. I think they will fall to 3rd behind TN and NC. However they are unlikely to lose again and TN and NC have tough conference tournaments to go through and might pick up another loss.

Carolina put in another fine performance last night against Wake Forest despite an injury/illness bug like I've never seen.

They have starting PG Ty Lawson out for a few weeks now with a bad ankle. Starting forward Marcus Ginyard has a turf toe on 1 wheel and a bum ankle on the other. Starting PF Deon Thompson has been limited to a few minutes per game with a hyperextended knee. To top that off, a few of the guys have been battling the flu for the last week or so.

But they keep rolling on with a deep and talented bench. Oakland, CA native, Quentin Thomas has emerged as one heck of a PG, leading the ACC is A/TO ratio since taking over the starting role. Wayne Ellington is one of the smoothest players I've seen in a long while and Tyler Hansbrough is averaging about 27 and 12 since Lawson went down.

It's a fun team to root for.

Now things are getting interesting...Tennessee loses to Vandy and stil has to face Kentucky and Florida in their next two.

Duke & UNC have a showdown on the 8th plus their conference tourneys.

UCLA goes to the Arizonas and then has Stanford & Cal at home. Stanford has the Washingtons and then travels to LA...and then they have the Pac 10 tournament- yikes.

I figure with Tennessee losing, Memphis has secured the overall #1 seed since the remaider of their season is filled with games against Southeastern Middle Arkansas A&M and Northern BFE College.

Duke or UNC gets another #1 (my money is on UNC).

Assuming UCLA wins the Pac 10 (still some hard work ahead) they should get the 3rd #1 seed regardless of the conference tourney. the Pac 10 regular season title is the most meaningful as I believe it is the only conference that plays a true round robin (every team home & away) and considering how strong the conference is 1-9, the winner deserves it.

other #1 up for grabs between Kansas, Texas..and maybe Tennessee, Duke, etc depending on how they do. I think we'll end up seeing Memphis with one loss and then a bunch of teams with 3-5 losses. At that point I think it goes to conference strength. RPI is meaningful but a loss to a good team still hurts you more than a win against a bad team- so in a super strong conference like the Pac 10, I don't think RPI does teams justice. As much as I hate to say it, I think Stanford is a sleeper this year. They have good guard play and have two 7+ footers who will both play at the next level. They are a tough matchup for anybody.

I still like my bruins but they need to start hitting their 3's so team sdon't doube down on Love so hard. Shipp is a darn good 3 point shooter and he has missed his last 20+ over 5 or 6 games. If he can break out of that slump, the offense will really start clicking.

quote:

Originally posted by jgreen:
other #1 up for grabs between Kansas, Texas..and maybe Tennessee, Duke, etc depending on how they do.

Good analysis.

Texas is really on top of their game. If they continue to play at that level, they shouldn't lose another game

quote:

Originally posted by Purple Teeth:
Texas is really on top of their game. If they continue to play at that level, they shouldn't lose another game

OOPS!!!

My Spartans have been sliding of late. Nice to see them put a royal thumping on Indiana. I hope they find a groove going into the tournament.

Huge game on Thursday..Stanford at UCLA. Bruins win Pac 10 outright with a win.

quote:

Originally posted by Redhawk:
My Spartans have been sliding of late.

What about your Redhawks? They are 14-13 and probably wishing they had Wally back about now. I’ve been commiserating with my wife, a Miami grad, about their fate this season. They get #24 Kent State tomorrow but Kent's foray into the top 25 was short lived with a loss to Bowling Green on Saturday. Regardless, it will be a tough game for Miami.

As far as some other contenders are concerned – I think Memphis is showing some chinks in their armor. Southern Miss had them on the ropes this weekend in a game that Memphis should have easily won despite the fact that it was played on USM's home court. I was really high on Texas but Texas Tech showed they are beatable. However, the Longhorns have D.J. Augustin and he is the type of player that can take over a game. More and more I like UNC's and UCLA's chances to take it all. The UCLA vs Stanford game will be classic and Stanford, along with Xavier, are 2 big sleepers in the national picture, IMO. Also, Louisville is playing as well as any team in the country now and will present problems to any team they face in the tourney. I am not impressed with Duke right now as they were lucky to beat NC State this past week. Kansas could be peaking right now as they showed when they put the wallop on KState on Saturday. The Jayhawks have a pretty stingy D despite the fact that they gave up 90 points to Baylor, 71 points to Missouri and 74 points to KState. These scores by those opponents, for the most part, have been anomalies this season.

It will get really fun in a few weeks.

Good observations Alta. I think ultimately it's going to come down to match ups. I too like UNC and UCLA because they have excellent perimeter and inside games. I will be the first to admit UCLA's 3 point shooting has been suspect of late but Collison is a career 40+% guy and Shipp wil come around (he hit 4 of 8 against ASU, but then only 1-5 against U of A).

In any case, my dream match up in the finals is UNC vs UCLA. Collison and Lawson goign at it, Westbrook guarding Ellington, Hansborough & Love battling in the post- that would be a great game.

I think UNC fans would like that matchup as well. It would be a fun, fun game.

All year, I've thought the 2 toughest teams for Carolina would be UCLA and Kansas (with Gtown as the 3rd toughest).

The matchups with UCLA are really good. When you throw in the histories of the programs, and the fact that Carolina recruited Love hard (that sounds funny) and have 2 power forwards from LA and our PG of the future (Larry Drew) from LA, there are some good story lines.

Carolina is playing pretty well now considering all the injuries. Not many teams could lose its starting PG, get limited play from a hobbled starting 4, and still go 7-1 in league play over that time.

And in the newest coaches' poll...UNC is 1 and UCLA is 2- order has been restored in the universe (as Bill Walton would say)although for true order it shoudl be the other way around . Both have tough tests this week..if they win out I think each will be assurred of #1 seeds regardless of the conference tourney results. Memphis has already secured a #1 seed but no one (except maybe Shaferguy) will believe they are the best team in the country unless the win the whole thing.

Woo hoo... we finally found a team we can beat! Too bad it's the 0-16 (in the Pac 10) Oregon State Beavers.

At 7-9 conference, 16-12 overall it's going to take a miracle for Oregon to make the Tournament.

No offense DFIM but I have to think Uof O is one of the biggest disappointments this season. If you look at their starters...Porter, Taylor, Hairston, Leunen...all with experience...I thought they'd be a top 25 team for sure.

Too bad Love didn't stay home

Well, Kansas certainly looks ready after the can of 109-51 whip a$$ that they opened on Texas Tech last night.

Kansas probably has more pure NBA-type talent than any team in America.