ZoomSlowik

Close enough. I moved it back a day, so the draft is now March 20th at 8 PM.

LOL, I just realized that I can't make the draft. Oh well, I know it's incredibly lame for the commish to miss his own draft, but I'm not going to move it unless it's cool with the majority of the league.

It looks like we have two open spots. I already PM'd Reddy about taking one of them, feel free to invite anyone else you guys want. I'll make sure we're full and the keepers are set before the draft.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 8, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) I think next year is a step back, but if Cobb develops into the player I think he can be and the incoming freshmen class produces at least a couple solid players they should be in position in two years. A lot of ifs, but that's how it goes. Looking at the future roster reminds me...weren't Tre Demps and Mike Turner supposed to be respectable recruits? How come they never saw the floor? I'm expecting 6-ish Big Ten wins, I don't trust Drew to dominate consistently and Sobo/Cobb have to get a lot better if they're going to be the #2 scorer. The next two years could be interesting though, NU will have at least 5 freshmen and Sobolewski as a sophomore next year. Demps injured his shoulder before the season, tried playing hurt for a while, then ended up having surgery and getting a medical redshirt. Turner redshirted too, not as sure about that one. The general consensus coming out was that he needed a year to bulk up and develop, though NU definitely could have used an athletic 6'8" guy.

As usual, NU can't create any shots down the stretch and give up too many boards/easy buckets. No margin for error whatsoever. You'd think that NU would be able to luck into something resembling a post player once a decade to help mitigate that. Oh well, since they're the basketball version of the Cubs, wait 'til next year. PG- Sobolewski, could be good if he learns how to create his own shot more efficiently SG- Cobb, hoping that he can break out with a healthy off-season SF- Hearn, not great but a decent glue guy PF- Crawford, hate the lack of size, but they have too many options on the perimeter C- Cerina? Probably going to see a lot less of the young guys than I'd like As usual, keep getting deeper and more talented but lose their best player and still have no proven bigs. They'll have a ton of underclassmen that would have probably started 5 years ago, hopefully that'll be a good sign for the future.

I'd rather do all-time. Current would be a mess outside of the top-20 or so.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 11:31 AM) I'm a Northwestern fan, but I think it's a joke that they're still getting consideration. They certainly fail the eye test. This team looks no different than anything they've had the past couple years of NIT teams. A losing record in conference would be an automatic out for me. Not to mention, they've blown so many close games that it's their own fault for not having a respectable resume. I think they have to beat Michigan. It does look a lot like 09/10 on paper. That said, as Huskers pointed out, the bubble looks pretty weak and there are 3 more bids now. And yeah, they definitely have theirselves to blame if they fall short given the multiple shots for more wins.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 06:45 PM) What will upset me is if teams like WV or UConn get in over more deserving mid-major teams. My problem is determining what a "more deserving mid-major team" looks like when they don't play anyone (Iona) or do the exact same thing that teams like NU and UConn have done when they play real opponents (Long Beach State).

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) Looks like there are two owners not in the league yet. Any idea if they are returning or not? Not yet. I was planning on bugging them soon.

I'm not normally anti-mid-major, but I'm going to get highly annoyed if NU loses out on a bid to someone like Iona that choked and didn't beat anyone all year (though if NU loses to Minnesota it's their own damn fault).

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 3, 2012 -> 08:05 PM) Pretty much. Consistency is the most valuable trait to have in the tournament. The problem with that is how many truly consistent teams are there outside of Kentucky and Syracuse? Kansas? I'm not falling for that one again...

I don't know what to think about UNC. On the one hand, I feel like they could beat anyone if they play to their potential. On the other hand, I could easily see them losing in the Sweet 16 if Barnes has a bad night since their other perimeter players aren't the greatest scoring threats.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 1, 2012 -> 12:50 PM) Bill Carmody is the Vinny Del Negro of college coaches. Watch him coach and you think he's terrible in-game, but look at the results vs. the talent and you can't really complain overall. Seems like this team could have won at least two more instead of dropping basically every game that came down to the last minute. Ouch, Vinny is a bit harsh. I'd put it on roster limitations a lot more than coaching, mostly on the interior. Their centers are terrible and have been for basically his entire tenure. Because of that they get murdered on the glass, struggle to defend any team that has strong, athletic guys that can get inside, and have no low post play to get them easy buckets. If they even had a serviceably big man they'd be in way better shape. They always seem to have a jumper-heavy team with 2 guys that can score and a bunch of role players. That doesn't leave them much margin for error, which is why we see games like that.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 26, 2012 -> 07:29 AM) I may need glasses but thought that was clearly a foul on Shurna's shot. In real time, it is a tough call but maybe the ref heard the slap. Who knows. PSU coach has to be frustrated losing so many close games this year. I thought he clearly got bumped before the shot, not as sure on the shot. I tend to think Shurna doesn't miss it that bad unless he was hit though.

Also, I'm not sure which was more annoying: NU's complete lack of interior defense or the number of times they said NU was "one of the last four in". THERE ARE TWO WEEKS LEFT AND LUNARDI CHANGES HIS BRACKET EVERY 3.8 SECONDS!!!!

Holy f***, NU had no business winning that game.

I'd REALLY love to do an auction league, preferrably as a keeper. Anyone else interested? Let me know and I'll create the league.

Side note: I looked over my roster again, and I hate my team from last year. How the hell did I finish 3rd?

I assume you mean Carlos Gonzalez in your keepers, right Steve?

So who coaches Illinois next year? I don't even know who to throw out there as a realistic name...

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 07:27 PM) f***in cats. So damn close again. It's their thing: play just well enough to think they might get over the hump and make the tourney, only to run out of gas in 3 or 4 close games against quality opponents and finish with their usual 7 conference wins.

If you need a replacement guy, I'm down to re-join this league. I'm working on getting my activity level back up. I actually started my draft prep already as a change of pace to my usual laziness.

I just realized I don't think we can do off-season trades with the 'select your keepers" setup, so I'm leaning strongly towards changing that. Post your keepers here in case you didn't (mostly for Tru).

Just curious, am I the only one that plays the Uncharted 3 multiplayer? I've put in more time on that than I'd care to admit. I keep intending to finish the campaign (barely started), but end up doing quick multiplayer sessions whenever I do fire up the PS3.

Renewed. Yahoo set it up so you can select your own keepers from last year's roster, so I figured I'd see how that works. You all should know the rules, 2 hitters/2 pitchers/1 wildcard.