Ostensibly Hoops

[eCat]

its college gameday in Lawrence so they'll be pumped, the fans will be pumped - and even without gameday, they've got to be pissed about last years loss.

Look at how UCLA played us.

If Kentucky scores the first basket it will be the only time they lead in the game and it won't be close.

yea maybe - I'm just dreading the handwringing that will be the result of a loss like this.

I will say that something (Derek Willis) has changed in the last 2 games that has noticeably improved UK.

[aTm]

Not that it matters but I think it's a little ridiculous that North Carolina is #1 over Oklahoma in the coaches poll.

[hedge]

How so? They lost, we didn't. You lose, you drop in the polls. That's the way it usually works...

[10ac]

I wish they would drop you on some sharpened polls.

[aTm]

How so? They lost, we didn't. You lose, you drop in the polls. That's the way it usually works...

Well yeah, for lazy voters that don't look at the teams or see the games. The poll is the teams they voted for as the best 25, right?

Well, UNC lost to two teams that these voters didn't rank. They've only beat one team in the rest of the poll. #7 at home.

Meanwhile Oklahoma's 2 losses are to teams the voters put in the poll. An overtime away loss to #3, and an away loss to #16. Then they also have wins over #5 on a neutral court, #9 and #16 at home, and #18 on the road.

North Carolina is a ridiculous choice over Oklahama based on how these same voters ranked (or didn't rank) teams that Oklahoma and North Carolina have played.

[Saint]

You're only looking at the whole season in that model, which assumes that teams are the same throughout the season. Voters may consider their choices as reflective of the most recent performances, hence the reshuffling when higher ranked teams lose. Not arguing for either model since I consider polls utterly meaningless

[hedge]

I hope Kansas moves up next week. After all, they only lost twice in the past 3 games, and one of those was to #14 Iowa State, at Iowa State. That's a resume builder right there. If they don't move up or at least stay where they are, it'll be wrong...

[AlabamAlum]

I'll handle this. We once had Wimp Sanderson as a coach...

[eCat]

losing to Iowa St only makes the beatdown that much worse

[hedge]

Regardless of the outcome of the KU/UK game, I don't think either team should penalized or rewarded. They should both stay right were they are in the polls, irregardless of the outcome. If there was to be any movement in the ranking for either team, the only thing that would make sense is that the losing team move up in the polls and the winning team move down, again, irregardless of who wins or loses...

[sardis]

I'll handle this. We once had Wimp Sanderson as a coach...

At least you were stylin'

[eCat]

Regardless of the outcome of the KU/UK game, I don't think either team should penalized or rewarded. They should both stay right were they are in the polls, irregardless of the outcome. If there was to be any movement in the ranking for either team, the only thing that would make sense is that the losing team move up in the polls and the winning team move down, again, irregardless of who wins or loses...

Both Duke and UK will fall out of the top 25

[hedge]

This will warm Crotch's heart. From a report of the Duke loss to Miami last night:

"The true measure of how much Duke has struggled recently arrived immediately after its 80-69 loss at Miami on Monday night.

Beating the hated Blue Devils was routine enough for the 15th-ranked Hurricanes that their student section didn't even bother to storm the court."

[aTm]

Teams should fall in the polls when they are no longer look as good or have the resume of a team behind them who moves up. Usually that happens when a higher team loses and a lower one wins but its fuckin lazy to just automatically move teams up over teams that lost without conparing them. The AP got it right.

[AlabamAlum]

I'll handle this. We once had Wimp Sanderson as a coach...

At least you were stylin'

Wimp was a great coach.

[eCat]

The irony was not lost on me when they were talking about how great Ingram is at Duke with his shooting percentages as they were losing to Miami.

Its one thing to talk about how great the kids NBA career will be when he is leading his team to contending for a national championship, its a whole new level of fan butthurt when you're talking about how great a one and done is as your program is tanking.

Coach K is clearly seeing the downside of going all in on the John Calipari school of recruiting.

I'm not sure its better for UK or not, but at least Cal recognizes that Skal is part of the reason UK is struggling and has adjusted his game plan to it. Skal will improve but its probably much easier for fans to accept the downturn of their team when the star isn't being touted as a first round draft pick.

[Saint]

Actually, I think Duke's problem is that K only went partway in on Cal-style recruiting, not all in. He probably thought he'd at least have Tyus Jones for another year and had to dredge up a high school kid to finish early to be his PG and that hasn't worked out. Plus, the Jeter kid has done little in terms of what he was expected to do so if your McD's A-A's don't play like that, you're a little bit fucked.

The good news is that Duke will have another top 5 class next year and probably will only lose Ingram.

[crotch]

This will warm Crotch's heart. From a report of the Duke loss to Miami last night:

"The true measure of how much Duke has struggled recently arrived immediately after its 80-69 loss at Miami on Monday night.

Beating the hated Blue Devils was routine enough for the 15th-ranked Hurricanes that their student section didn't even bother to storm the court."

.... heh, like I've posted several times, storming the court is for the lesser programs in college roundball

[youtube]tWuCsMO8F34[/youtube]

[eCat]

Actually, I think Duke's problem is that K only went partway in on Cal-style recruiting, not all in. He probably thought he'd at least have Tyus Jones for another year and had to dredge up a high school kid to finish early to be his PG and that hasn't worked out. Plus, the Jeter kid has done little in terms of what he was expected to do so if your McD's A-A's don't play like that, you're a little bit fucked.

The good news is that Duke will have another top 5 class next year and probably will only lose Ingram.

So K is in year 3 of Calipari where we had Archie Goodwin shooting every shot for us on our way to the NIT.

[Bklyn]

Regardless of the outcome of the KU/UK game, I don't think either team should penalized or rewarded. They should both stay right were they are in the polls, irregardless of the outcome. If there was to be any movement in the ranking for either team, the only thing that would make sense is that the losing team move up in the polls and the winning team move down, again, irregardless of who wins or loses...

Thankfully, this is college basketball in January. None of this really matters, as far as the season. If you're a top 4 seed I don't see much space to quibble about where you rank in the Top 25. The real meaningful thing is the region the selection committee puts you...and who is in that region.