2012-13 College Basketball Running Cordial Discussion

I was just coming to give you props for that. I'm sticking by my Cavs in a play-in game prediction, especially now.

 

People think Wisconsin's awful 43-32 loss to SMSU was the low point but, if not for that, Alford doesn't grace Iowa with his presence and kick-start the Hawkeyes to a miserable decade of basketball.

 

I was this close to calling the Duke loss to UVa and the turnaround win over the U. Dangit.

 

Why do you think Bennett's teams have had so much trouble closing out games since he got to UVa? It's weird because what they do well most of the time -- play good defense, run a patient offense, use the shot clock -- would serve them well at the end of games.

 

Nice piece on BC SID Dick Kelley.

http://www.eagletribune.com/sports/x1503760906/BC-coach-This-game-was-for-Dick-Kelley

 

One of the big problems is that the guy who ends up with the ball with the shot clock running down (Jontel) is so limited offensively. And even when he gets fouled, he's a terrible free-throw shooter.

 

Evans does a couple of things extremely well - defend and get into the lane. But despite his handle, he seems to get nervous at the end of games. Witness him dribbling out of bounds yesterday. If they still made NCAA hoops video games, his handle and on-the-ball defense would be in the 90s and his free-throw shooting, jump shooting and offensive awareness would be in the 60s.

And while I love Joe Harris with all my heart, and his overall free-throw numbers are pretty good, he's got a tendency to short-arm them at the end of games.

I think the team as a whole tends to tighten up at the end of games. That's what happened yesterday and in the loss at GT. Hell, it nearly happened against Duke - an ACC basketball player should not dribble the ball off his foot and out of bounds while undefended, but that's exactly what Paul Jesperson did. It's something they can overcome when they've got a hot hand or can build a big enough lead to put teams away early, but yesterday the offense wasn't flowing and they weren't getting good shots. That's why they couldn't score at the end.

 

Interesting stat: Kansas wins by an average of 37 points in games where Jeff Withey hits a 3-pointer.

 

So ESPN doesn't consider Texas Kentucky a tournament team but does consider it a "quality win" for Baylor.

Uh, what?

 

I guess if they consider Top-50 a quality win that would be possible.

 

Guess so. But if one of your two quality wins (Oklahoma State is the other) is a team that allegedly won't be in the tournament then you're probably NIT material.