College basketball thread...

Yeah. The Cats should be better next year if the two signees are as good as advertised. I like Crawford and Bradley, but I'm not sold that they're great "team" guys, even though they seem to be heading down that track.

Patterson, Meeks and Jasper make for a formidable top three, and if Stevenson and Harris keep improving, UK should be a decent team next year. It'll still lack depth but will have the talent to compete in the SEC and be a Sweet Sixteen-level team, in my opinion.

 

Not that I'm completely shocked, but Providence just totally choked away a win at Notre Dame in the final 20 seconds of regulation tonight.

 

With Jasper at point guard, I assume?

 

Wow, WSU is about to blow it at home against Cal. Trail 67-64 with 20 seconds left. What the hell has happened to Derrick Low? He has been terrible lately.

 

Cougars missed three 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds that would have tied the game, instead they lose again.
Homer, I think you will get your wish about the Cougars falling in the polls.

 

Dayum. Cal blows, too. That's too bad. I like the Cougs.

 

While it's not everything, trivializing free throws is also a mistake.

Look at Houston back in '83. Phi Slamma Jamma was immensely athletic, talented and had a special post in Akeem Olajuwon. But Jim Valvano knew they couldn't hit free throws to save their lives, fouled, watched the Cougars miss free throws and led an underdog to a shocking win for a national title.

Clemson can't hit free throws, and it's cost them more than one game. Memphis will probably get away with it until the NCAAs, save for maybe the game against Tennessee, but that's more because the Tigers are that much better than the rest of C-USA than anything else.

Granted, you can't specialize in free-throw shooting and excel at the Division I level, but there's no excuse for guys who can hit off-balance jumpers, finger rolls with 260-pound monsters draped on them and 3-pointers from the parking lot. If they can do those things, they should be able to hit a 15-footer with a 10-second window in which to attempt the shot.

The evolving athleticism is something to watch, but its meaning is diminished when these guys can't pass to the open man out of a double team, hit the mid-range jumper or make free throws down the stretch.

 

Good game going on in California, as Arizona and USC are duking it out.
USC leads 56-55 with 6:53 remaining in the game.

 

Arizona is suddenly killing. Swept the Washington schools and now have a solid win at USC. Wildcats are up 75-65 with a minute left. Budinger has a cool 29 points tonight.

 

So much for the theory that Kevin O'Neill was going to quickly destroy what Lute Olson has built.

 

Give him another year or two. He'll do it

 

...or one step closer to Bob Knight breaking a potted plant...