i didn't see any threads with college basketball as the main theme..... other than Eddie Famous and his CBKB Famous.... March Madness (oops... almost said Martz.. damn i miss football) is almost here.... anybody have any picks they would like to share?.... Maryland knocking Duke off was very interesting... it allowed a big 12 team to sit on top... i'm a maryland fan... but i am hoping mizzou can turn it around and make a good showing in the tournament.
I am huge HUGE Kentucky Wildcat fan. We are not having a good season (by good in KY we mean ranked #1 and dominating the SEC) this year, but I can't figure out if the SEC is just an all around tougher conference this year, or if we are that bad. We have nearly the same conference record as Florida and the Gators are more talented than us.
But then again, most schoools would be happy with a 19 or 20 win season, but this is the Bluegrass dammit! The heart of basketball! Where 20,000 people sell out high school basketball games, where Louisville expects to win a title every year, and UK fans expect to win a title every year!
That and our football team sucks, so we have to cheer something.
If I lived back in the wild west days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
I'm a big Ohio State fan, and it's good to see we are looking at another 20 win season. Jim O'brien really turned the program around, it was really bad for a few years after Jim Jackson left and Derek Anderson transfered to UK. Anyway i don't see the Buckeyes making another Final Four run like they did with Redd and Penn a few years back. It looks like they will end up with a four or five seed, maybe three if they do well in the Big Ten tourney. But they are more of a defensive team and i think they will be upset early in the tournament. The backcourt has been playing well, but they let teams hang around and thats fatal in the tournament. Also they have no inside size to speak of. I see them as Sweet Sixteen at best, but i'm just happy they will get in. It would be nice if they could get the top players in the state to come to OSU, but Cincy usually gets them. A few more 20 win seasons and that should change though.
Updating Ohio State's basketball record could get to be a chore. Just remember, Michigan sucks.
SEC is definitely a tough conference. They have six teams (Kentucky, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Miss St.) that will all get in and three teams (Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas) who have an outside shot but not likely (beating Kentucky last night would've helped UT but they blew it). Arkansas still plays three more games against the six above that will be in the tournament.
Anyway, Kentucky is down this year, i think them and Georgia are sweet sixteen teams at best. I'm not sure about Alabama, they have the best record in the SEC, but even though Ole Miss and Miss St. are tough, the East is way tougher.
Some picks... Gonzaga and Pepperdine both make the tournament even though they are both in the same mid major conference (there is usually only one from each)
Duke doesn't make the Final Four.
The Pac 10 representatives will be the most likely to get upset in the first round.
If Indiana and Texas Tech do well enough to conceivably be a 3 seed (for Indiana) and a 6 seed (for Texas Tech) then they will be in the same bracket making a possible second round matchup between the two.
The Big East has the most bubble teams, and when selection time comes they will also have the most disappointed teams.
My Final Four picks for now (with my luck some of them will turn up in the same bracket so they can't all make it to the final four)....
Hey Ffej! You too? I bleed blue. I've got two degrees from Murray State, but even when they were good (Popeye Jones, Jeff Martin, Marcus Brown, Don Mann, etc. etc.), I still preferred UK.
This has been an awful year. I know many other fans would love for their teams to be 18-7, but that is a BIG disappointment. They never should have lost to Western, they had Duke beat and gave the game away and I don't even want to get into the rest of it. I was happy with the 14-14 record in Pitino's first year because I felt they were over achieving. This year they are under-achieving, big time (except for winning in Gainesville).
I'm not sure I agree that Florida has more talent, I just feel that Florida's talent is playing better than UK's. The "Team Turmoil" moniker that Jerry Tipton has saddled this team with is pretty accurate. What's wrong with Bogans? Why doesn't Carruth play more? Why does Hawkins try to do stuff he can't do? Why does Prince disappear? Why can't both Camara and Estill have a good game during the same game? Why doesn't Daniels play more? Why did Fitch and Sears get into it?
List goes on and on and on and .......
Need a strong showing in the SEC tourney. They've already played themselves into a borderline seed for the NCAA tourney. I figured they'd be a one seed a month ago. Last night I thought they'd lose to Tennessee and then "lose out".
I'm a huge Tubby fan. I may be the only one left in the state, but what's going on here?
To keep with the theme of the thread.... I hate Kansas; Roy Williams ran a score up on UK big time in Pitino's first season (150-95 at Kansas or something like that), but I think they'll be tough to beat, BUT everybody is beatable this year so I'll just be a mark and say UK will win it all. (Yeah and Matt Heisenbuttel will score 85 points in the championship game and Richie Farmer will come back for one last game.....)
Ser Wolfe, I too hope that ole Mizzou can turn it around. The season started out so promising. I had Final Four dreams in my head. But those two games against Iowa and Illinois exposed their shortcomings. I still believe they have the talent to be a Final Four contender, but they sure as hell haven't played like it.:(
Originally posted by SerWolfei didn't see any threads with college basketball as the main theme..... other than Eddie Famous and his CBKB Famous.... March Madness (oops... almost said Martz.. damn i miss football) is almost here.... anybody have any picks they would like to share?.... Maryland knocking Duke off was very interesting... it allowed a big 12 team to sit on top... i'm a maryland fan... but i am hoping mizzou can turn it around and make a good showing in the tournament.
Serwolf, from one St. Louis native to another: go Tigers! They have slipped majorly this year, starting as a top 5 team and now being unranked and all, but I would like to see them turn it up for the tourny.
However, I AM a student at UF, and we do have a shot, so...go Gators.
Alright Rudoublesedoublel! Nice to put some Big Blue in Wienerville! And you are Racer alumni, I went to Cinncinati State and Nothern Kentucky, which have awful sports programs.
I like Tubby and I think he is a good Coach, but its apparent that he cannot control his kids off the court. I hate to say it, but if you can't control your kids its time to go.
My sister goes to UK and has a class with Bogans. He has been to class once since the semster started yet somehow when the attendence sheet makes it to her he is always signed in as there. And even though he is never there to take tests he somehow manages to get a B on each test. Interesting to say the least. You would think as much trouble as our athletics program has gotten in in the past we would be smarter.
It seems like UK athletics have aired on the sleazy side since CM Newton retired and Pitino left. They both brought a class to the Bluegrass that we desperately needed and with them gone we seem to be going downhill. I don't think our athletic department is properly policed any longer.
While I like Tubby the Coach, I don't like Tubby the educator/mentor. UK needs a Coach who in addition to being an excellent Coach, can also be an excellent mentor and father figure. Thats what makes Pitino a great a college Coach and a horrible NBA Coach. In the NBA you have men being paid, in many cases (not all) they don't need or want a father figure, they want a Coach. Pitino tried to be both on a Pro level and it blew up in his face. Mark my word, Louisville will be hanging a championship banner in the next 5 years.
But anyway, here are my Final Four predictions and the region I think they will be seeded in:
Duke (East) Kansas (Midwest) Maryland (Southeast) Oklahoma (West)
If I lived back in the wild west days, instead of carrying a six-gun in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like "Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!" and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right, it's a soldering iron. The soldering iron of justice." Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the soldering iron of justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink.
I hate to hear that guys aren't going to class. I naively hope that Tubby isn't involved. If Bogan's is getting a pass, it needs to be stopped and he needs to be disciplined. I don't think the state will put up with NCAA probation again. (On a side note, is it just me or is Bogans about to be the next Roderick Rhodes?)
Tubby has at least put up a good front in dealing with the disciplinary issues (but I live in the western part of the state, so I don't get as much newspaper coverage of what goes on). I thought he did well in suspending Carruth for skipping class (but maybe he got in trouble because his designated class/stunt double failed to show?) and then again for skipping practice.
I could rant about the 'Cats all day, but I won't. Final four predictions (for real):
Duke Kansas Florida And some random lower seed (or lesser known team)..., lets say Gonzaga.
The SEC is just top to bottom tough this year. And by the way, Kentucky fans, most teams would kill for you guys idea of a "down year". Vandy just lost two games to South Carolina and Miss. St. by identical scores of 66-43...AT HOME! You've never been THAT far down. Oh and another thing, the 9th annual UK-VU Memorial Gym thrashing is next Wednesday. Please watch the game at home from the comfort of your sofas, and DO NOT taint our gym with that wretched royal blue color!! It's gonna be bad enough as it is. I DO think we can all agree that anything's better than that disgusting bright orange, though.
One more thing, has the UK athletics department ever thought about going back to those snazzy demin unis?? (sorry, I have to take all the shots I can, since I obviously don't have a win over UK in recent memory to gloat about)
:)
(edited by chuckc14 on 21.2.02 1055)
"I'm more confused than Scott Hall in a parking lot" - Joshua Grut
Well i'm a Gators fan over here, so I am anti-Kentucky, BUT I think Tubby Smith is a great coach. I'm happy with Billy Donovan as our coach, but if we didn't have him Tubby would probably be one of my first choices of who to replace him. This is a down year for them it seems but look at the schedule they have to play. 2 games against Florida, a top 10 team. 2 games against Georgia, probably a 15 - 20 if they didn't have such a tough schedule. 2 games against Tennessee who is probably a tournament team. Then they have 1 game against Alabama, Ole Miss, and Mississippi St., three more tournament teams. In their non conference schedule they played Kent State, Duke, Indiana. Maybe that is the same or not as difficult as their usual non conference schedule, but since the SEC is better that makes their conference schedule harder.
i still have an outside hope that mizzou will make it in... but loosing to texas tech and bobby knight?... that hurts... it wasn't even that close..... so i admit we are taking are lumps now... but i still think mizzou should get in..... 2 more wins and mizzou hits that magical 20 win mark....
When C.M. Newton hired Tubby I was solidly behind the decision. My second choice would have been Billy Donovan. I think Billy is a great coach. If memory serves his first year at Florida was Pitino's last year at UK and the conventional wisdom was that he wouldn't leave Florida that early plus he needed a little more seasoning before he could be ready to deal with the pressure that being the head coach at UK brings with it. I'm happy to see him be successful at Florida. No offense, but I hope that when Tubby leaves Kentucky (which I don't really want, unless he's letting guys get away with murder away from the court) that Billy Donovan will be our next coach. BTW, is John Pelphrey still on the staff down there? (Talk about a guy that could play basketball.. he bled blue, I wish this year's team had half the heart that guys like Feldhaus, Pelphrey and Farmer had.)
I agree that the SEC is very though this year, but the SEC is always tought. But, the type of losses we've had this year is the thing that has UK fans down: Blow big leads on the road to Mississippi State and Tennessee, blow another lead and lose at Georgia. Blow a lead and lose at home to Alabama and Georgia. The team is bad from the free throw line. I really think our pre-conference schedule was weak this year, although it was no one's "fault". North Carolina is down this year, Louisville is down, Indiana was way down when we played them (they've just come back to life since). The wins agains Marshall, Morehead, VMI, Kentucky State, Notre Dame and Tulane don't amount to much. The loss to Western Kentucky was just sloppy and bad. The Duke game was great. I thought UK outplayed Duke, but they haven't had that level of intensity in a game since.
ChuckC14:
The denim was fugly (as were many of the uniforms during the Pitino Era), but I do think we were wearing them when we cut the nets down in 1996 :-)
I've always dreaded the game at Vandy. Vandy is always pumped for UK (players and fans alike). It wouldn't surprise me if UK lost that game this year.
I find it interesting that there have so far been no ACC or Pac 10 fans represented so far. Well, let me show you my Carolina PRIDE, baby! Yeah, no fair-weather fan here, I'm sticking with my team even if we have nothing. Oh well, at least Duke went down like I said they would. Now if we could only run the ACC tournament and get a shot into the NCAA's.... oooh, that'd make me happy. Hmmm, Lute and my Arizona Wildcats have also been having issues, but I can still see them making a run in the tournament. And then, of course, there's the Wyoming Cowboys, who may finally get to shine in the NCAA's this year Yeah, this is not my year to be a college basketball fan. oh well.
Above every one of your individual posts should be an "edit" button...
And don't fear the VU matchup this year...I think we've thrown in the towel for this year. There will be a LOT of blue in our house (ugh). One things for sure, even when you guys struggle in the regular season, UK is ALWAYS ready for the postseason (especially the SEC tournament). Good luck the rest of the way, except next Wednesday :)
"I'm more confused than Scott Hall in a parking lot" - Joshua Grut
Okay.. Here is a Pac-10 Fan... Alumnus of Arizona State. The best I can say is we actually beat U of A this year... Onto the NIT!! (unless we pull off a few major upsets in the new Pac-10 Tournament)
Well I don't think Billy Donovan will be leaving anytime soon, he's shown in a lot of interviews that he is very determined to bring a title to Florida. But then again he's still very young. He could win a title for Florida, go to Kentucky coach there a while, and then still go to the NBA after that, which he has said he would be interested in doing in the distant future.
Agreed. I can guarantee I won't see a single minute unless it's Jazz-Cavs, and that's through no great love of either team (although Cleveland is SO due for a win; given Buffalo's unlikely hopes, all my karmic power goes towards them).