College basketball 2009-10 running thread No. 1

I know he's an NBA role player, but Jared Jeffries' presence allowed Indiana to shoot about 30 uncontested 3's a game in 2002. Heard much from Tom Coverdale since then? Or IPFW head coach Dane Fife?

 

No, that was No. 2.

No. 1 was Larry Bird in 79. Why? Have you taken a look at the rest of that 79 ISU roster? Bird carrying that motley bunch to an undefeated regular season and to the national champioship game has to be the greatest "one man carrying a team on his back" season in basketball history.

 

I'm old enough to remember Bill Bradley's tournament (barely), and I certainly recall Carr and Bird. Great efforts all, especially Bird, but they didn't win the championship. As for Glen Rice, he had a much better team around him than Manning did. I'll stick with my choice, thank you.

 

Yeah, well Manning wouldn't have beaten Magic either. Personally I think reaching the championship game with a Missouri Valley Conference supporting roster (from frickin Terre Haute, for cripes sake) is more impressive than winning it with a Kansas roster.

 

Indiana State did have two NBA first-round draft choices: Bird and Carl Nicks, and it did finish 16-11 the year after Bird graduated, with Nocks averaging nearly 26 points and getting drafted by the Cavs as the 23rd overall pick.

But yes, Bird carried that team.

 

I was a hoops addicted kid living in Missouri Valley country in 79, so I remember that team pretty well. It is true that they had one other legitimate talent, Nicks, but the rest of that roster was hideous, guys who couldn't have gotten a scholarship anywhere else but a small mid-major school like ISU. The two other big men, Miley and Gilbert, were both comically inept shooters (I recall Gilbert, in particular, having a laughable 30-ish FT %), and the two other guards who played, Reed and Heaton, were glacially slow and mechanical farmboy types.

The next season they returned nearly everybody but Bird, including Nicks, but did little. They quite likely would've been bottom half of the MVC in 79 without Bird. But with him they went undefeated and to the championship game. I don't believe any player ever made more of a difference for a team than Bird did that year.

 

You're probably right about Danny and the boys not being able to beat that '79 Michigan State team. They were awfully good. One thing about that KU team, though, was that it wasn't close to being one of their most talented. You look at their roster and nobody really jumps out at you as being particularly good. They were a 6-seed that year that got hot at the right time, but at the time nobody really gave them much of a chance. And 31 points and 18 rebounds in a championship game victory is mighty stout. Hard to argue about Bird, though, because he really was the whole show for Indiana State that year.

 

If the 'Zags come back and nip St. Mary's in a tight game, what are the thoughts on the Gaels chances of an at-large bid? As it stands now, though, they're definitely making some bubble teams nervous.

 

And this one appears to be over, the Gaels look to be going dancing.

 

How many saw that game? Re the play around the hoop, "they let 'em play" is an understatement. I thought Elias Harris was going to be decapitated a couple of times there.

War
Good God
What is it good for?
St. Mary's

 

St. Mary's was in regardless, I think.

 

In most cases, I would agree with you on the name thing. Here, though, I think it actually comes down to resumes. Namely, UConn (at Villanova, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Texas, West Virginia) had more quality wins than USF (at Georgetown, Kent State, Seton Hall, Pitt) and played a much tougher schedule outside the conference and still came in around the same record after 30 games.

Either way, they're both going to the NIT, anyway.