2012-13 College Basketball Running Cordial Discussion

I'm with Dick in that it seems teams that generally rely on 3-pointers seem to struggle vs. their expectations in the tourney. I always use most of the mid-to-late 00s Duke teams as examples. Some of those squads looked like world beaters at times in the regular season, then they'd run into a team that was athletic and defend the 3 (like the Ty Thomas LSU squad) and lose when they were favored.

That's the main reason I wouldn't trust Florida to go past the sweet 16.

 

Not sure I would. A possibility (which is not to imply I agree with it): Duke beat a bunch of then-Top 10 teams earlier in the season while Miami lost to Florida Gulf Coast and Indiana State (and no, I'm not implying they're dogsh_t teams).

Duke also has more cache, and this shouldn't be dismissed (UNC always got this during the latter part of Dean Smith's tenure ... now Duke is benefitting from the same thanks to Mike Krzyzewski). Fear not, for those who believe in Miami. Keep winning, including beating Duke in Durham on March 2, and this will rectify itself.

It's not college football. Miami will get into the NCAA Tournament and this will get a better chance to shake itself out.

 

I covered the Indiana State-Miami game so allow me to shed some light.

Reggie Johnson did not play for the Hurricanes. But Kenny Kadji and Julian Gamble should have been more than enough brawn for the Hurricanes to handle the Sycamores in the paint.

Indiana State shot 27 percent in the game ... at the time it was the lowest shooting percentage for a winning team in a Division I game. Still might be.

One thing Indiana State did was completely shut down Shane Larkin. He was 2 of 13 from the field and did not convert a 3-pointer. Miami was 0-for-15 from 3-point range.

Indiana State did what its done at its best this season, it locked down defensively -- especially with its help defense -- and rebounded. Miami shot 33.8 percent in the game and had just a 47-46 rebounding advantage, despite a significant size advantage.

When the game was on the line, Indiana State point guard Jake Odum, who is an elite-level point guard few have heard of outside of the MVC, did what he's done several times in his career ... he drained a tough shot in the lane in overtime to kill Miami off.

I don't know what any of that does to sell Miami as the No. 1 team, but on their day, Indiana State is capable of beating anyone. They're also capable of losing to anyone, which is why they have one of the most bizarre at-large profiles of any team in the country.

Indiana State has victories over four teams that have been ranked at some point in the season and lost in OT to New Mexico and played San Diego State down to the wire.

What works against Indiana State, is that the MVC is much tougher than the conference gets credit for nationally. What irks MVC observers is that road losses in the league are not treated the same way perceptually as they are in other leagues ranked in the 5th-to-10th range.

Indiana State goes to Missouri State tomorrow. That's not an easy place to win at all. But if Indiana State loses, it'll be considered a bad loss. Same for when it goes to Bradley on Saturday, also not an easy place to win.

That's life in the big city I suppose.

 

Destroying Creighton last week should do a lot to dispel any notion that Indiana State isn't worthy.

 

It should ... and Indiana State completely negated Doug McDermott (eight points).

But Creighton is slumping right now because its 3-point shooting has fallen way off. It lost to Illinois State on Saturday. MVC teams get punished for their losses more so than they should.

 

I watched a lot of that Illinois State-Creighton game. Crazy to think ISU Red started 0-6 in the MVC. They looked pretty good.

Honestly, the ACC is so freaking top heavy this year, I don't know what to make of Miami's 10-0. There are two elite teams (Miami, Duke), two teams that are probably above average (NC State, Virginia), two teams that are mercurial and can look great at times and horseshit at others (UNC, Maryland), two really bad teams (BC, VT) and four WTF teams that are mediocre at best (Clemson, FSU, Wake, GT).

 

Illinois State was picked second in the MVC preseason poll. They have a new coach who might have been a tad naive as to how tough some of the conference games would be. They had issues with their best shooting guard -- Tyler Brown -- who essentially flaked out in early January and was suspended for a game.

Brown has since returned to form. Illinois State has won 6 of 7 since that 0-6 start. Talent-wise, Illinois State is probably as good as anyone in the MVC ... they just took a massive shit for three weeks. Their subsequent RPI drop is hurting the league, there's no question about it.

No one wants them in St. Louis for the MVC Tournament.

 

ESPN kid uses stat called "BPI" to explain why Miami is No. 1:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/75698/why-miami-should-be-no-1

 

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7561413/bpi-college-basketball-power-index-explained

 

Wonder why with such a productive season to date and with somewhat sexy TCU visiting and n the ropes, why there are so many empty lower level seats at Oklahoma tonight.

 

Because that area is all about Sooner football and Thunder hoops. OU basketball gets little interest unless it is really good. Even then sometimes no.

 

sexy TCU?