College Hoops Thread - 2014

[Weasel]

#1 Kentucky vs #2 Michigan State, followed by #4 Kansas vs #5 dook tomorrow night

Should be a great night of hoops. Randle will have his hands full trying to replicate what he's done the first two games (first freshman with 20 + points and 10+ rebounds in first two games since Michael Beasley) vs a tough Spartan squad.

Meanwhile, Rick Pitino breaks his word and reinstates Chane Behanan after missing one game, a lackluster win over the weekend. So Pitino lied....whodathunkit

Thanks for the reminder, I actually completely forgot this game was on tomorrow

[BIGmike]

Why is La Salle playing Quinnipiac right now?

[LetsGoPeay]

Why is La Salle playing Quinnipiac right now?

Trying to get some Quinnipiaction.

[ajalves]

They figured they'd free up the rest of their day

[BIGmike]

I thought I was watching a replay. 9:00 am tip-off on a Tuesday? Let's do it!

[Cnasty]

Where are these places?

Maybe a blizzard later.

Anyone in the stands?

[LetsGoPeay]

I think this is ESPN's 24 hours of hoops tip-off day or something.

[Whittness10]

I think this is ESPN's 24 hours of hoops tip-off day or something.

Correct. But I heard them say it was 30 straight hours of basketball??? Way too much for me.

[nick]

every year at the beginning they have a 24 hr run of games usually ending off with some solid matchups (MSU-UK etc)

[jsence2]

United Center tonight might have the greatest non-tournament college hoops event ever

19 McDonald's All Americans
17 of the top 50 NBA prospects for 2013 according to Chad Ford of ESPN, including the three best freshmen in the nation (Parker, Randle, Wiggins)

I didn't realize that this was the first meeting between UK and MSU since 2005 Elite Eight (the Patrick Sparks buzzer-beater three that was reviewed for like 5 min to send the game to OT, and MSU won in double OT). Used to meet up every year for a while it seemed like. Also the first meeting in the regular season between #1 and #2 in five years, and the earliest meeting ever.

[ChampDizzle]

started with wku @ witchita st at 1am est. I watched some of it, crowd was full.

[nick]

MSU and UK havent played since 05?? da fuq? i swear they played last yr.

[jsence2]

MSU and UK havent played since 05?? da fuq? i swear they played last yr.

Nope; last year we played Duke in the Champions Classic.

I didn't realize it had been that long either. For a while there from like 99-2005, it seemed like we played every single year, we would either be scheduled or we would run into them in the tournament. I remember going to two MSU games while I was at UK.

Izzo is the coach I wanted after Cal, he's a very good coach and an even better person, I respect him and that program quite a bit. Him and Cal have been talking smack leading up to it, they're really good friends...I'm hoping they will renew the rivalry after the Champions Classic contract ends in a few years. That said, I'm glad they made Indy one of the cities during the next three years, I'll def be going.

[nick]

I emailed Izzo and said i was a huge fan and everything and he mailed me a signed autograph. To Nick, Go State. kinda cool. Gave me a soft spot for MSU in hoops

[jsence2]

There are 30 teams in the NBA.

There will be 80 NBA scouts in attendance at the United Center. That's not including the GMs, owners, and Team USA reps.

[trendon]

Who is this "must-see" kid on Fordham?

[DRiccio21]

this defense that Mich St is running is what my high school ran, basically like a hybrid matchup zone.

or at least it looks like that's what they are doing. we called it shadow, but its such a sick defense against a team that struggles shooting from deep.

I love Izzo

[jsence2]

Julius Randle's a man. He's 40.

He's put this team on his fucking back in the second half, win or lose this kid has shown he's maybe the most physically unstoppable player at UK in 20 years. Cousins wasn't even this good. A lot of heart and fight in these kids, nice to see after some of the quitters we had last year.

[jsence2]

Congrats to Beefy/Weasel on the win. I have a feeling both these teams will be taking flights to JerryWorld in late March.

This second game has a lot to live up to. As does Wiggins; Randle joins Melo and Beasley as the only players in the last 15 years with three 20/10 games to start their careers.

Btw (and no, this isn't an excuse, has nothing to do w outcome of this game, just a general thought after a week of basketball) these new hand-check foul rules are nice....but the refs are calling a lot of ticky-tack fouls, and missing simple things like travels, illegal screens, etc. Feels like they're focusing so much on these fouls that they're missing simple stuff, and they're disrupting the game. That game took two and a half hours. There was a game earlier today that had a combined 73 fouls. It's getting a bit ridiculous. Both UK and MSU got called for some really weak stuff, while they both got away with easy things that should've been called.

[nightwing_v6]

The rules are not "technically" new, just getting called now. But now I know why NBA players don't play defense very often.