College basketball 2009-10 running thread No. 1

I could watch Jon Scheyer play basketball all day long.

It seems like he is in his eighth year at Duke, but man, does he understand how to play basketball.

 

Yep. I think this Duke team goes to the Final 4, maybe the title game. I think the Gonzaga result was indicative of how good the Blue Devils are. Maybe Gonzaga is down a bit from the past 10 years, but Duke destroyed them.

 

I'm having deja vu. This same conversation has been had every year for the past 4-5 years around this time about Duke. They'll once again end up with a 1-3 seed and they'll end up losing by the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight because their shooting goes cold and they're not strong enough on the inside.

 

Are you still smarting because the Heels gave up triple-figures? 8)

Seen Duke 3 times so far, and they look good. Yes, it's awfully early. I just like Scheier and Singler.

 

I was not surprised in the least by the UNC defeat. They're extremely young, and while very talented up front, also very thin and so a team like Texas that can muscle them up is a tough matchup.

I'm more smarting over the short memories of how Duke starts off strong every year. The past two years they didn't lose their second games until late January (last year) and mid-February (the year before). They didn't make it to the Elite Eight either year. Scheyer and Singler were two of the same guys who were leading them the past two years. Plumlee's going to need to become a go-to scorer on the inside for them to make a mark in March/April.

 

The thing is, in today's college basketball, who isn't young?

UNC studs are no less athletic and dominant than Texas studs. There might be a few programs with a few more seniors, but you can't count a shitload of programs that can be defined as "veteran."

If Texas and UNC played 10 times this season, they'd probably split, because even though Texas scored 103, a "young" North Carolina team scored 90. Not exactly stellar defense by the Horns.

 

As someone who covered years of Alford-coached teams doing a January-through-March bedshitting, I think it's only inevitable that it will happen in Albuquerque.

And as for Craig Neal staying to be Alford's replacement at Iowa, or even be in the conversation if a change is made at the head coaching spot with the Hawkeyes in a year or two — no, no, a thousand times no. There was equal joy in Iowa athletic department with his departure along with Alford, and with good reason.

 

UTEP is whooping Oklahoma State in front of few onlookers at OKCity.
Also, just saw on ESPN Classic the halftime interview by Erin Andrews with Bruce Pearl from Tennessee's game two years ago against Memphis.
Pearl tried to tackle her, or, at the very least, made a play on her.
He was very "relaxed" in that segment.
Maybe talking to Erin just "does that" to men.

 

Kentucky is kicking Drexel around like a soccer ball on ESPNU right now. 56-20 lead at halftime. Win No. 2,000 appears to be thoroughly bagged.

 

You haven't watched Duke play this year, have you?

How do you think they beat UConn at MSG? It wasn't because of stellar shooting- if anything, their shooting was kind of shabby. They wiped the Huskies off the glass and outmuscled them in the lane. Duke beat Gonzaga because of defense and not giving up too many second and third chances, a big problem with the program in recent years.

This is a different Duke team - didn't say better, but different. They have size to burn. The question for this team is can the perimeter players keep their legs, stay out of foul trouble and avoid injury as the season progresses. If yes, these Devils may be around for a while.

 

Well, if Kentucky fans missed this win No. 2,000, it will happen again sometime after Calipari leaves, leaves the Wildcats in trouble with the NCAA and has wins stripped away.