It's College Basketball Season Boys

[Brothersport]

I've seen Yao Mings with broken feet run faster than Brian Zoubek.

Zoubek has Powerpuff Girl balls for hands, little basketball IQ, no idea how to not foul people, no lateral or vertical movement, etc. But he has been playing through his roof for a stretch of games. Really, you can't imagine the vast difference between watching him travel twice a game (in like 12 minutes) and actually making a post move and hitting a baseline jump hook, like he did against UNC. It was AMAZING. He's been avging around double digit rebs for a few games, and actually an average player, a far cry from what he has been in years past. I'm not saying that he's Duke's lack-of-size savior or anything like that. But an improvement from a supermassive black hole to an average player is not one to be discounted.

 

[AlanC]

Yahoo Sports All-America Team is out.

John Wall, POY & Demarcus Cousins, first team

Go 'Cats!

 

[Mblova]

YEAHHHH SCOTTIE woooooooooo

 

[ArliHawk`]

Wow, Aldrich 3rd team? Hope he gets to go up against Cousins and teach him a thing or two.

Then again, if Kentucky makes the final four, they won't have been there two years from now after all the wins are vacated because of Cal.

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by ArliHawk`

Then again, if Kentucky makes the final four, they won't have been there two years from now after all the wins are vacated because of Cal.
Cal has escaped sanctions on himself in the past, it'll be interesting to see if he can continue to do it at Kentucky.

 

[AlanC]

Originally Posted by ArliHawk`

Wow, Aldrich 3rd team? Hope he gets to go up against Cousins and teach him a thing or two.

I hope he gets to go up against Cousins, too.

 

[eg1]

Originally Posted by StephenHero

I have this disgusting feeling that Duke is the best tournament ready team. Their two major concerns are not crucial in March.

#1 They are thin in the back court, but benches always shrink in the tournament and having Scheyer and Smith playing 38 minutes a game isn't a huge problem as they've already done so many times and have learned to pace themselves.

#2 They have trouble consistently scoring and rebounding at the center position. But if you go back and look at past champions teams that win it, all usually get their points at point guard, shooting guard, and power forward. Center is the least important offensive position and becomes more defensive minded. This year the only team with an athletic enough front court to give Duke's centers problems defensively is Kentucky (who I think will fall short from lack of tournament experience, which is vital).

Duke is my pick to win it all. I think Syracuse would be the next favorite, with Nova and Kansas as favorites after that. I think Kansas is the most vulnerable for an exit early from the likely 1 seeds due to inconsistent shooting and limited offensive production at the shooting guard. I suspect Kentucky will win some close games and then murdered in the Elite 8 or so by a more experienced team.

Please, God, no -- anybody but dook. I HATE dook ...

 

[Brothersport]

Did anyone listen to Simmons and Klosterman's latest podcast? Klosterman, like he is wont to do, really gets into the pseudo-psychology of why so many people hate Duke. It's reasonably interesting.

 

[AlanC]

^People hate Duke because they deserve it.

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Duke is going to exit the tournament earlier than their seeding this year for the same reason it has done for the past several years: they are too reliant on perimeter scoring. Tournament teams tend to play good defense, and Duke is not going to get as many open looks as they are used to seeing.

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by AlanC

^People hate Duke because they deserve it.
+1

 

[eg1]

Originally Posted by Brothersport

Did anyone listen to Simmons and Klosterman's latest podcast? Klosterman, like he is wont to do, really gets into the pseudo-psychology of why so many people hate Duke. It's reasonably interesting.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention -- listening to the back end of it now.

Why do I hate dook? Let me break it down for you:

- I am a long-suffering Georgia Tech basketball fan (27 years and counting) and most of that time, dook is kicking our ass

- having to endure Dickie V slobbering all over them all season, every season

- the silver-spoon set that, for the most part, their student body represents

- I am attracted to the rogueish, carpet-bagger type coaches -- Tark, Sutton, Pitino, Huggins, Calhoun, (to a lesser extent Calipari). My premise is that NCAA men's basketball is inherently dirty, and these guys more or less embrace that reality. Coach K, on the other hand, is insufferably sanctimonious. It is intolerable!

 

[Brothersport]

Originally Posted by AlanC

^People hate Duke because they deserve it.

Originally Posted by JayJay

+1

Originally Posted by eg1

Thanks for bringing that to my attention -- listening to the back end of it now. Why do I hate dook? Let me break it down for you: - I am a long-suffering Georgia Tech basketball fan (27 years and counting) and most of that time, dook is kicking our ass

- having to endure Dickie V slobbering all over them all season, every season

- the silver-spoon set that, for the most part, their student body represents

- I am attracted to the rogueish, carpet-bagger type coaches -- Tark, Sutton, Pitino, Huggins, Calhoun, (to a lesser extent Calipari). My premise is that NCAA men's basketball is inherently dirty, and these guys more or less embrace that reality. Coach K, on the other hand, is insufferably sanctimonious. It is intolerable!

Thanks for a real answer. As someone graduated from Duke last year and never watched college bball in HS, I had no idea how much people hate the **** out of Duke. It makes me sad. - Fair enough. There's nothing wrong with that hate. It's just people all around the country that hate Duke for very very little reason, meaning nothing or knowing one douchebag who went to Duke and had nothing to do with basketball that frustrate me. - Fair enough. Of course, that doesn't really have a lot to do with the basketball team. Klosterman made a couple really good points, IMO, when he brought up Scheyer and Grant Hill. Scheyer is the type of white, heady, overachieving, high-basketball-IQ player that is absolutely BELOVED on every other team, both college and NBA. On Duke, people hate him. Grant Hill was more silver-spoonish than anyone I can remember. His parents ******* went to Yale and Wellesley. Yet, as far as I know, people don't hate him nearly as much as other players who may or may not deserve it. Why not? It's like: people love underdogs, players with not as much talent who are scrappy and player over their heads, but when it comes to a Duke team full of them, they hate them.

- Ugh, you LIKE people like Calipari? That's awful. I can see why people don't like Coach K, but don't see why they have such more hate for him than other coaches, like douchetastic Roy Williams. - I understand why a lot of people resent Duke. I am just continually shocked by the overwhelming force and quantity of it.

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

Duke is going to exit the tournament earlier than their seeding this year for the same reason it has done for the past several years: they are too reliant on perimeter scoring. Tournament teams tend to play good defense, and Duke is not going to get as many open looks as they are used to seeing.
I am afraid of this and agree. The past 4 years have made me more than pessimistic about their chances. I don't think it's as much about open looks/good defense as it is about general reliance on 3's. 3-point shooting can be random as **** and if Duke has an off-night, they're going home, most likely. I do think that they are stronger than in past years, but **** if that's saying anything. I'll be pretty happy if they get through the 3rd round, honestly. EDIT: forgot to say that I hate Dickie V.

 

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by Brothersport

- Ugh, you LIKE people like Calipari?
No I don't, definitely not.

 

[eg1]

You will notice I said "to a lesser extent" when I included Calipari -- I just figured any list of rogue coaches had to include him.

I don't dislike individual dook players, for the most part. Rat-face, on the other hand, I can do without.