College Basketball 2012-2013

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JohnBM01

JohnBM01

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College basketball is all about proving you're the best in the nation. It doesn't matter whether you are a major school or a small one- it's all about making noise. It's tough to do when literal hundreds of schools all want to accomplish what your own school wants to accomplish. It may take months to show you belong, but it takes only one month to show you REALLY belong. Therefore- welcome to the world of college basketball! Does your school have what it takes to make The Big Dance in March? Are your boys or your girls capable enough to rule the collegiate game of roundball? Can any mid-majors (or even low-majors) stun the big name schools?

The new season of college basketball is still a good distance away as of the date of this post. However, it's never too late to start something about the 2012-2013 season of college basketball. So let's chat! This is the college basketball thread, but this is for more than just NCAA Division 1. Be free to chat about other NCAA basketball or even any non-NCAA basketball here. And of course, this is about men's basketball as well as women's basketball.


I somewhat created this thread today to honor the great Jim Calhoun, as he retired after 26 seasons at Connecticut. I wish Coach Calhoun the absolute best. This season will be extremely unusual- Pat Summitt retired some time ago in the women's game; now Jim Calhoun steps down in the men's game. Two of the best coaches- at least in today's landscape of college basketball- stepping down. Wow.
 
Are you okay with the Final Four going back to arenas rather than filling up domed football stadiums? I read about how teams performed better at proper arenas as opposed to stadiums for the Final Four games. I think the push to go to stadiums is basically for attendance and money.

By the way, the NCAA D1 Men's Final Four will be in Atlanta this season, and the NCAA D1 Women's Final Four will be in New Orleans. So all the winners will be playing here in the good ol' South- which is just fine for a Southern boy like myself.
 
There will be a game on November 9th that will mark the first-ever regular season game held in Europe. The Inaugural Armed Forces Classic will see Michigan State and Connecticut play a game at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Here's some more info:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...es-michigan-state-spartans-play-germany-nov-9

Earlier this year in the college football realm, Notre Dame and Navy played in Ireland. This deal here involves two of the US's finest universities playing within continental Europe. I remember watching last season's game between Michigan State vs. North Carolina on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson.

Michigan State vs. Connecticut is a great matchup no matter where they play.
 
My West Virginia Mountaineers won't be doing much this year, with Kevin Jones gone, so I will be paying more attention to my homestate Illinois Fighting Illini. With Senior guard Brandon Paul, Super Sophmore Tracy Abrams, and our blue chip recruit straight out of nationally ranked Chicago Simeon, Kendrick Nunn.
 
There may be possible recruiting violations for Saint Mary's College. SMC is usually a pretty good school, so this could be a bad break for the Gaels.

With West Virginia now in the Big XII, that means they'll have to deal with teams like Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and teams like that. Not going to be a cakewalk for WVU in Big XII basketball. Very good men's team, good women's team. It should be interesting to see how the Mountaineers do this season.
 
Tonight is the start of Midnight Madness. Yep. Time to get back into the flow of college basketball.
 
In the Preseason NCAA D1 Men's polls, Indiana is #1. Here is the full list:

01. Indiana
02. Louisville
03. Kentucky
04. Ohio State
05. Michigan
06. North Carolina State
07. Kansas
08. Duke
09. Syracuse
10. Florida
11. Arizona
12. North Carolina
13. UCLA
14. Michigan State
15. Creighton
16. Memphis
17. Missouri
18. Baylor
19. UNLV
20. San Diego State
21. Wisconsin
22. Gonzaga
23. Notre Dame
24. Florida State; Texas (tie)


So it looks like most of the usual suspects are in the Top 25.

* The highest-ranked team from a non-major conference is Creighton of the Missouri Valley Conference. To me, the Missouri Valley Conference in basketball is like the MAC in FBS-level football. I'm sure the Blue Jays will be tough to beat as usual.

* Most surprising to me is to see North Carolina State (1983 National Champions) in the Top 10. And I am guessing that Duke has plenty more talent than North Carolina for UNC to be ranked lower than Duke.

* Missouri is going to be interesting to see playing in SEC basketball. Missouri is often a pretty good school back in the Big XII. Maybe not Kansas or Oklahoma State good, but I want to see how Mizzou will match up against teams like LSU, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, and a school called... the University of Kentucky.

* I wonder if Florida State can keep up their tremendous form from last season. The Seminoles were ballin' last season on the way to winning the ACC Championship. Oh, and beating both Duke AND North Carolina is nothing to scoff at either.


Again- this is Preseason. You just have to wonder how many of these Top 25 teams will really be factors for when March Madness rolls around.
 
The new season of NCAA Basketball begins tonight! The two marquee matches tonight are:

* Michigan State vs. Connecticut (in Germany)
* Maryland vs. Kentucky (2002 national champs vs. defending National Champions)

Good luck to all of your team(s), on both the men's and women's side, this season.
 
Today is the Tip-Off Marathon. LOT of games being played today. Right now, it's Harvard at Massachusetts.

Enjoy your college hoops!
 
One of the tournaments going on right now is the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. In NCAA Division 2, you will find more Hawaii schools as well as four University of Puerto Rico schools. Most people usually think of Chaminade as far as NCAA D2 schools are concerned. However, there are other schools such as BYU-Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, and Hawaii-Hilo. On the Puerto Rico side, you have four schools in the University of Puerto Rico system: Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico-Cayey, and Puerto Rico-Bayamon (host of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off).


This bit of randomness aside, have a great day and enjoy some college hoops! ^_^
 
Butler and Marquette went at it in the Maui Invitational. Both religious schools, Butler had themselves quite the Hail Mary as they sank a game-winning, buzzer-beating three that put the Bulldogs over the Golden Eagles of Marquette. The score was either 73-72 or 72-71 in favor of Butler.
 
Chaminade University upset the University of Texas in the Maui Invitational! The Longhorns lost to the Chaminade Silverswords 86-73. Wow! I got this news from Twiiter and later looked online to confim this. Congratulations, Chaminade!

Chaminade pulled another big upset in their Maui Invitational history, though not as big as their takedown of (then) #1 Virginia back in the 1980s. One other thing I read is that this loss was Rick Barnes' 2nd loss to Chaminade as an NCAA D1 coach. This one is going to sting the Longhorns this season, and maybe future seasons...
 
This is the week of the big conference vs. conference matches. Among others, of course, is the ACC vs. Big Ten challenge. One of the games on right now is #18(?) North Carolina State at #3 Michigan. There is also the SEC vs. Big East battle. It is also the week honoring Jimmy Valvano. Or for ESPN's sake- more "Always Hate Houston" by prostituting video showing North Carolina State beat my beloved Houston Cougars for the championship in 1983.


Enjoy your college hoops, folks!
 
How do you like this one...

Tonight is #4 Ohio State at #2 Duke. Even in late November, you got to love two Top 5 teams going at it. Duke is difficult to win at. I don't like Ohio State's chances in this game.
 
I didn't think my Blue Devils would pull this one out, judging by us getting crushed in Columbus last year. I'm not complaining though :D.
 
I'm upset the Houston Cougars lost at Prairie View A&M. I even vented on Facebook- "C'mon. Really? PVAMU?" We lost 81-80 last night. Damned shame.
 
For 55 straight games, Kentucky has enjoyed beating teams at their Rupp Arena home. That streak ended just now as Baylor went into #8 Kentucky and handed them a 64-55 beating. Kentucky just couldn't land enough shots in crucial times. You know the saying- all good things must come to an end. Sadly for Kentucky Wildcat fans, that means their long home winning streak. As for Baylor, that is their first-ever win in school history in beating a ranked non-conference team on the road. I think I read they were 0-18 all-time in non-conference road games against ranked teams before this win.
 
Stupid Calipari. Messing up Duke's strength of schedule for coaching an awful team.
 
Hey, ECU is 5-0. We've played total trash though. We play UNC-Charlotte tonight, who is 6-0. We go to Carolina on December 15, so I'm excited to see how long we hang.
 
Sad news in college hoops... Rick Majerus, who coached for teams like Saint Louis University, has died today at the age of 64(?). I have had great respect for Rick Majerus as one of the finest coaches in college basketball. I think he died from heart complications or something. But it's sad he's no longer with us.
 
My Houston Cougars managed to tame the team down the street from UH, and it took Overtime to do so. It was 78-75 in Overtime as Houston took down Texas Southern. Not that we're any kind of national power, the Coogs just have to do much better against teams they know they can beat. The men's team have only lost at Prairie View A&M and vs. Texas A&M. So if it's an A&M, we'll lose.


The real reason why I wanted to drop by this thread is that CAM's East Carolina Pirates will get some face time on the ESPN networks this Saturday afternoon. Sadly... that face time will be at North Carolina. Wouldn't it be something if ECU upsets North Carolina AT North Carolina? It would be massive.
 
Have an interesting story to tell you about someone I know committing to Illinois.

My best friends' dad knows the father of Michael Finke, a three star, 6'9" recruit for Centennial High School in Champaign. John Groce called him and offered him a scholarship, were which he verbally accepted it.

Being die hard Illinois fans, they really didn't expect to consider any other offers. That is, until Finke's father got a phone call:

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this the Finke residence?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well hi! I'm Tom Crean from the University of Indiana and I want to speak with your son Mike."

He told him no, that he is a diehard Illini fan and how it's always dreamt of playing for them. Basically, in his words, it was a nice way to tell Crean to go (bleep) himself. LOL
 
College football may be in its Bowl seasin, but college basketball is just getting warmed up! Plenty of games are slated for today. Enjoy some college hoops this weekend.
 
DOWN GOES INDIANA! The Hoosiers were stunned by Butler in Overtime 88-86. A clutch basket by the Butler Bulldogs with about 2.5 seconds left in Overtime gave them the win over #1 Indiana. I have to wonder how far Indiana will fall after this loss.

I saw most of the East Carolina at #21 North Carolina game on ESPNU. ECU really made it interesting once their offense started going. Sadly, CAM's Pirates couldn't take down UNC in Chapel Hill. The final tally was 93-87 in favor of North Carolina. I think I heard this was East Carolina's first-ever visit to UNC's humble basketball abode.
 
Albeit late, I congratulate Jim Boeheim on picking up win #900 against Detroit. A few more wins this season will have the Syracuse men's basketball coach tied or surpassing Bob Knight.
 

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