College basketball 2009-10 running thread No. 1

Sadly, I'm not surprised by anything that happened in the first half at Lawrence.

 

Missouri was beaten before the game started. Cole Aldrich is starting to regain his form, flirting with a triple-double.

 

I saw Coastal in person and they beat the crap out of a decent (then healthy) Indiana State team on a neutral floor. They don't deserve top 25 consideration, but they are pretty damn good.

 

I've seen Coastal a few times now, and they are good, I agree. But not Top 25 good, as you noted. Two good freshman point guards that aren't showing any signs of playing like freshmen and a formerly surly big man from South Carolina (Chad Gray) that appears to be playing with poise and confidence. And my man crush on Joseph Harris is well professed in these circles.

 

CAA update: 3 teams tied for first after the first-half of the conference schedule. Not positive, but I believe Mason has the toughest remaining schedule of the three. Wonderful.

Northeastern has won something like 11 in a row. Ridiculous.

You'd think they'd get an at-large this year, but I guess it all depends on how things shake out the rest of the way. Some damn good basketball regardless.

 

Yes, Joseph Harris was/is very good. It was nice to get a sitdown with Cliff Ellis in the wake of what he considered his program's biggest victory. Pleasant guy to talk to.

 

That's because they funneled all of their football money into hoops. I wonder how that's working for Hofstra? (Hi BYH! )

 

When Musberger has to pull out the old pre-Civil War era stories to hype the matchup just before they flash up the graphic that Missouri hasn't won at Allen Fieldhouse since 1999 . . . it's just not a true rivalry. Takes more than emotion to make a rivalry.

Takes both teams holding up their end of the bargain.

 

I will point out -- College of Charleston played that game without Jeremy Simmons, their best big man and a guy who plays about 30 minutes a game. Good win for Coastal, but certainly not shocking that the best team in one small conference beat the best team from a slightly better conference w/o its second-best player.

 

What? You mean one team trailing by 30 in the second half isn't going to cut it?
And yes, that game was ugly.

 

This week's Bracketology has William Ampersand Mary as one of the last at-large teams and a 12, and Old Dominion as an 11. ODU has a great win (@Georgetown) and some solid wins (Charlotte, Marshall), and none of the losses are WTF-worthy (@Dayton, @Richmond, @George Mason, Mississippi State and Missouri, both in a Texas tournament). But they probably need a decent opponent in Bracketbusters, and they may have to run the table against the lower-division teams while losing no more than two regular-season games against the better squads (W&M, VCU, Mason, Northeastern) in order to secure an at-large spot if the lose late in the CAA tournament.

I don't think William and Mary's getting in. Great non-con results, but I think teams have figured them and their Princetonian offense out. They'll be fortunate if they get one of the four first-round byes in the CAA tournament, and I don't see them getting to the title game.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of Mason winning the CAA tourney and ODU getting the at-large.