College Basketball Thread 2014-15

Hawk-Lock":1nzgkent said:

UW vastly overachieved in the non-conference schedule. They are probably a bubble team. I watch a ton of college basketball, and I can tell you that they likely finish 4th or 5th in the Pac12. I still think AZ, Utah, Colorado, and Stanford are better than us.

Next year is the year UW Basketball gets back on the map. They have a top 10 recruiting class coming in next year.

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great. more talent romar can waste

Romar has long ago outlived his utility, and that has been apparent for several years, but UW is too scared to pull the trigger on removing him. Maybe they will after this year, I don't know. Loyalty for the great years he produced, and the way he helped pull UW basketball out of the dark ages are certainly part of it, but there's legitimate fear that we simply couldn't attract anyone better.

Personally, I think that's a really nihilistic point of view, and I'd rather roll the dice than keep watching this year in and year out, but I get it.

I think College Basketball is coming off an all-time low interest NCAA Tournament. And it seems like it has carried over to this 2014-2015 CBB season. Sure we have the dominant Kentucky team. But there isn't a lot of "star power" among individual play. There seems to be good, not great teams. And no elite teams outside of Kentucky. And the Wildcats seem to be taking advantage of a terrible SEC this year.

Playmaker21":2mq33923 said:

Wildcats seem to be taking advantage of a terrible SEC this year.

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Have you seen the last two games? That Florida game was a beauty. The game tonight
against LSU wasn't exactly a dud, either. The one I'm really looking forward to is against
Auburn. SEC BB just hadn't been the same without Bruce Pearl.

BIGNORMANHAND":1m1curk5 said:

Playmaker21":1m1curk5 said:

Wildcats seem to be taking advantage of a terrible SEC this year.

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Have you seen the last two games? That Florida game was a beauty. The game tonight
against LSU wasn't exactly a dud, either. The one I'm really looking forward to is against
Auburn. SEC BB just hadn't been the same without Bruce Pearl.

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The SEC is really bad this year. Probably the worst of all the major power conferences. The Pac 12 is very down this year too, but they get a boost because they are top heavy with Utah and Arizona.

Kentucky is a great team, but they are taking advantage of a bad conference. If they were in the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Big East, etc. they would have lost a game by now, probably more.

Hawk-Lock":1665ufj7 said:

Kentucky is a great team, but they are taking advantage of a bad conference. If they were in the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Big East, etc. they would have lost a game by now, probably more.

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This is said loudly and often. I'm not positive it's accurate any more. (Because it's been said for
a number of years now, some years when it was absolutely correct.) Only time will tell.

***Edited because some days I can't spell a tinker's darn.

God the Huskies have utterly collapsed. Caught part of their game @ Arizona Friday night and really they didn't play that badly. Their defense at least early on when they were in the game was good. They didn't turn the ball over much, etc. But good God what a bad shooting team. Shot after shot after shot clanking off the rim......drives, mid-range jumpers, threes, didn't matter.

IMO, people calling for Romar's head are off base. While they were still in the game, they played sound basketball. Hard to win though when you start a game shooting in the neighborhood of 3 for 23.

hawksfansinceday1":26mkyb4x said:

God the Huskies have utterly collapsed. Caught part of their game @ Arizona Friday night and really they didn't play that badly. Their defense at least early on when they were in the game was good. They didn't turn the ball over much, etc. But good God what a bad shooting team. Shot after shot after shot clanking off the rim......drives, mid-range jumpers, threes, didn't matter.

IMO, people calling for Romar's head are off base. While they were still in the game, they played sound basketball. Hard to win though when you start a game shooting in the neighborhood of 3 for 23.

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Here's my take on Romar. I have a ton of respect for the guy, because he basically turned a football school into a legit basketball school. The run he brought UW from 2004-2011 was incredible. IMO, he brought basketball to Washington. But I do not think he's the guy to take us to the next level (Elite 8/Final 4). The one thing Romar has always done great, is recruit. Lately, he has not brought in great recruits, but looks like that is changing next year (#9 recruiting class in the nation). I think the school will give Romar one more shot next year. They won't fire him now, because we would likely lose some of those recruits. This year is a bit unfair because of the Jerreau injury and the Upshaw dismissal.

He's not a good X's and O's coach. He is more of a player coach who lets the players play. Once he got into those pivotal sweet 16 games, he would always get out-coached by the greats (Pitino, Roy Williams, etc.).

Also one reason why we are not getting recruits....the Seattle area talent has dried up a bit. For about a 8 year stretch the Seattle area was producing as many NBA ready players as most other cities. In a several year span the Seattle area produced Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Spencer Hawes, Jon Brockman, Isaiah Thomas, Abdul Gaddy, Martell Webster, Tony Wroten, etc. Those names can change a program for the forseeable future. Romar was very good at keeping hometown talent in Seattle. Only a few got away from him. It's not a coincidence that the UW program happened to get really good when the Seattle area produced many NBA stars in that time period.

Hawk-Lock":21x7samp said:

Kentucky is a great team, but they are taking advantage of a bad conference. If they were in the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Big East, etc. they would have lost a game by now, probably more.

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The Big 10 is a one-team conference this year. They'd be dominating there too.

Hawk-Lock":2g0lvhgb said:

Kentucky is a great team, but they are taking advantage of a bad conference. If they were in the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, Big East, etc. they would have lost a game by now, probably more.

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I agree that the SEC is in a down year, but Kentucky is the real deal. I don't see any team beating them aside from POSSIBLY Wisconsin.. and that's just because they have the shooters and the size to test them.

Kentucky is just so deep and so talented it's going to take a teams best effort and Kentucky being off that given day to knock them out. Although, that's what March Madness is about. Very seldom do the best teams actually win it all.

Playmaker21":15605h34 said:

I think College Basketball is coming off an all-time low interest NCAA Tournament. And it seems like it has carried over to this 2014-2015 CBB season. Sure we have the dominant Kentucky team. But there isn't a lot of "star power" among individual play. There seems to be good, not great teams. And no elite teams outside of Kentucky. And the Wildcats seem to be taking advantage of a terrible SEC this year.

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If you don't have money on the games (I love to bet CBB because I'm sadistic apparently) it's really borderline unwatchable at some points. The product is really bad right now. There needs to be an overhaul of the age restriction rule. Either let these kids go to the NBA right out of HS or don't let them leave for 3 seasons.

The tournament will be the best/worst tournament ever IMO. Because the games will be extremely tight and upsets will be plentiful .. but thats mainly because outside of Kentucky, Duke, and Wisconsin .. its a big pool of mediocre basketball.

I feel like I must be drinking :179422: when I read this thread. Because, I have been feeling
like, as a sport, high school is playing at a better level, college and the NBA have all excelled
in new ways over the past few years, and as a fan, I'm loving it. It has just felt to me like
basketball is better from the ground up. I look very much forward to the coming years
as a hoops fan. It's just gettin' REALLY GOOD right about now, and it's only gonna
keep gettin' better!

BTW, the TN/UK game going on right now is a barn burner. THIS is why
I love college basketball! :thirishdrinkers:

Hasselbeck":1as2e4k0 said:

Playmaker21":1as2e4k0 said:

I think College Basketball is coming off an all-time low interest NCAA Tournament. And it seems like it has carried over to this 2014-2015 CBB season. Sure we have the dominant Kentucky team. But there isn't a lot of "star power" among individual play. There seems to be good, not great teams. And no elite teams outside of Kentucky. And the Wildcats seem to be taking advantage of a terrible SEC this year.

Click to expand...

If you don't have money on the games (I love to bet CBB because I'm sadistic apparently) it's really borderline unwatchable at some points. The product is really bad right now. There needs to be an overhaul of the age restriction rule. Either let these kids go to the NBA right out of HS or don't let them leave for 3 seasons.

The tournament will be the best/worst tournament ever IMO. Because the games will be extremely tight and upsets will be plentiful .. but thats mainly because outside of Kentucky, Duke, and Wisconsin .. its a big pool of mediocre basketball.

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For the most part I agree. I love betting college, and win I do, I watch the games. Without money on it, it's a hard product to watch, as most teams struggle to reach the 70's. There are only a few teams that I actually find exciting and enjoyable to watch (Oklahoma, Duke, Iowa St to name a few).

And one reason why college is down is because of the rules. IMO, they need to basically adopt NBA rules. Here's what I would change:

-Reduce the shot clock. 35 seconds is way too long. I'd bring it down to 30.

-A timeout in last 2 minutes should advance the ball. So many games give a team no chance because they have to go the length of the court in little time. A game is practically over in college when they have to go the length of the court in less than 3 seconds. In NBA, anything can happen in 3 seconds with the ball inbounded in frontcourt, even under 1 second.

-Increase player player fouls to 6. There is much more defense in college, resulting in more fouls. Too many good players have to ride the pine because of fouls. No one wants to watch a game with stars on the bench.

-Give HS players two options. Either they can go straight to the NBA, or they can choose college but have to stay a minimum of 2 years. The one and done really hurts college basketball.

-Do actual jump balls. I don't care for the alternating possessions at all.

Advocating for the Devil:

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2012/4...why-the-nbas-one-and-done-rule-is-better-than

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/fee...y/nba-college-benefits-from-one-and-done-rule

I just love Rivalry Week. This weather report from the Daily Tar Heel is classic!

Nothing better then Carolina/Duke

That Carlina/Duke game was awesome. One of the few rivalries left in sports. There are only about a handful of rivalries left in sports, don't think we can say SF-SEA is still a rivalry either.

What a weird game. We couldn't buy a basket in the first half and St. Mary's couldn't miss.

Ducks with a win over top 10 Utah today. Looks like that should put them into the tournament as they were one oh "the last 4 in" before this win. Although I expect they'll get bounced pretty quickly once they get there.

Ducks got a nice win today, I still don't think they're a tournament team. Probably says a lot about how bad college basketball is. Stanford has been quite disappointing too. This is a real down year for the Pac-12. Arizona, Utah and Stanford will all make the tournament. UCLA and Oregon will be on the bubble the rest of the season I think.