Rowand44

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 05:52 PM) Only if Kansas squeaks by with a couple of fluky wins.... I think Oregon and LSU have consistently been the two best teams this year. If they take care of business, they'll be there. Or at least one of them will be there against a finally tested Kansas club. The worst scenario right now if for kansas to go undefeated in wholly unimpressive fashion. If they stomp OKySt and beat Mizzou, then take care of OU/TEX in the B12 championship, they deserve to be there. Ya, Kansas isn't going undefeated(sorry Jimbo). I agree that it would be Oregon and LSU but there is a possibility that 4-5ish teams finish with 1 loss. No matter what, you're still going to get a lot of argument somewhere, that's a lot of teams who could sort of make a case.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 04:57 PM) Mercer beats #18 USC Boo. Them and IU are the two ranked teams I would have liked to see win every game except one.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 05:32 PM) After all the times OSU has been a thorn in our side and stuck it to us, it's nice to have this big of a payback game. I am so proud of this team, everyone contributed and worked for a full 60 minutes. Did all the types of things you need to do to win this big of a game, and win on the road. Excellent stuff. My how far this program has come. I L L You seem happy.

The BCS is just f'd this year.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 12:09 PM) I don't see where people keep getting their confidence in MacD. He's had a few good years. I don't think it's necessarily that people have a ton of confidence in him, just moreso than other guys out on the free agent market. I'll take my chances with Mac's arm over a lot of middle relievers.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) I still say we need at least 2 upgrades in there. Personally I won't be banking on BOTH Thornton and MacDougal to rebound. Mike has some mental issues he needs to get over, and Thornton needs to work on his breaking balls as Pratt alluded to. I'd target 1 via trade, and sign 1 out of Japan. What would majorly help though is if a pitcher such as Oneli Perez could step up in Spring Training, claim a role, and produce. Here's the problem with that, no matter who we sign they're going to be just as big of question marks as Mac and Matt. I'll take my chances with Matt and Mac because of their arms over most. That being said, signing a japanese reliever is ok with me as most of them seem to have success in their first year here.

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 11:01 AM) I believe that Logan's starting to grow past the LOOGy label. I'd look at the stats again, my friend.

QUOTE(JohnCangelosi @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 10:45 AM) Everyone is saying our first line of priority this offseason HAS to be upgrading the bullpen (poll on whitesox.com) and it seems to be the case here as well at SoxTalk.com... First of all, if you understand the strategy of "find out where everyone is going and go in the opposite direction" you understand it's usually the proper thing to do in many situations. I'll give an example just so I don't have to further explain that statement. Most people are dead broke. 5% of the people out there control 90%+ of the wealth. Point: Don't follow the herd mentality of getting a job, get taxed everyway till Sunday and then hoping you'll have enough at the end of the day. You won't. The herd tells you "get a job, work your way up, see what happens". Nonsense. Same thing goes for "consensus thinking" on many different subjects all across the board from the stock market to baseball. What if, instead of investing in 2-3 more bullpen arms we took the risk of thinking that Mac and Thornton are in for a good year next year? Perhaps we sign one of the Japanese bullpen prospects but just keep it there and spend our money elsewhere??? It seems to me that quite often bullpens can be great one year and suck the next (see 2005 for Cliff Politte, Neil Cotts and then 06) Last year was obviously a disaster in the pen and no question it was the worst in baseball for various reasons. I do think, however, when healthy (like Mac) these guys can be really tough. And I don't think we give up on them yet and completely retool this thing. Honestly, and I know am very much in the minority here, but I am OK with us just picking up one arm (perhaps from Japan) for our Pen and then addressing the other issues we need taken care of such as getting a second baseman and CF through FA and trades... OK, so there it is...let me have it... ;-) More people agree with you then you think, I know I do. I have no problem adding another arm or two but I really don't think this pen needs a huge overhaul. I have absolutely no problem going into the season with Jenks, Mac, Thornton, Wasserman and Boone as 5 members of the pen.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 10:10 AM) Sometimes early season injuries like that can help a team in the long run. They will now have to find other ways to score and other players to rely on, while building depth at the same time. Survive early and they will be stronger later in the year. I agree in theory. Here's the problem with that, in 2 weeks there is a possibility that we start a stretch against Miss State, USC and IU, it'd be nice to be at full strength.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 09:44 AM) Don't mess with Steve Irwin ever again.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 01:21 AM) This probably should go in the sports forum, but... Sportscenter has become a sick joke, an absolute embarrassment. Tonight they didn't show highlights of half of the NBA games and showed all of one NHL game. You know, I don't even care if they want to do their bulls*** analysis segments and whatnot and put hockey as the last thing of the night, but not show it at all? Re-freaking-diculous. It's a shame how much that whole network has fallen in quality (outside of a select few). I remember the days of watching Sportscenter before I went to school, enjoying the highlights and guys like Olberman (sp) and Charlie Steiner and of course Kenny Mayne. Bah -- I'm getting old. Soon I'll be all like, "Back in my day, we had to walk up to the TV to change the channels. But now...!" (that statement isn't true, btw). Ha, it's funny cause last night I was actually talking to one of my buddies about the exact same thing. When I was younger I actually got up much earlier than I had to, to make sure I got a whole episode of sportscenter in before school. Now, I couldn't care less if I watch it at all for the most part. I can watch highlights and get scores on the internet, ESPN just does nothing for me at the moment(outside of PTI). I still do watch it when I can as it's still the best overall place for highlights but I certainly don't make a point to watch it like I used to.

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 03:47 AM) And, THAT'S why you're kept in the Dakotas. Where you can't hurt anyone else. Why is that in green?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 02:01 AM) OUCH that hurts, Bone was going to be your 6th man/instant offense player wasn't he? He's certainly the best shooter you guys have either way. Will you move Carlton Fay into the starting lineup and go away from the 3 guard lineup now, because other than Clemmons, Mullins, and Green, you have very little at guard if Bone is not available. He was going to be our 6th man(Lowery obviously loves D and he was going to start our 5 best defenders) but he's literally our most talented offensive player and I'm not exaggerating here. He can shoot, he's a really smart player(he had a whole 2 turnovers last season), he can drive to the hole and he's just a smooth ball handler, he really doesn't have a weakness offensively. As for Fay, he's still going to come off the bench(Mullins, Clemmons, Green, Shaw, Falker are starting) but you'll probably see a ton of Shaw, Fay and Falker all in together now. Trust me here but Fay has one of the nicest shots I've ever seen, the form on his shot is absolutely gorgeous and he's obviously strong as hell, he's a polished offensive player already. Once again though, he has a lot to work to do defensively(he positioned himself awfully the first exhibition game, he just looked lost on defense). Fay is going to make an impact this season but he has a lot of work to do and CLo isn't going to give him a ton of minutes until he learns what he needs to do defensively. Our other freshman who is going to have a huge role now is Brandon Wood, he's a better shoot than Bone but overall he's no where near the offensive player that Josh is. Once again though, as the case with Fay, he is not a very good defender right now. Problem is, now he's our only other pg on this team(Bone was most likely going to back up Bryan) and he's pretty much going to have to learn on the job. Brandon has a high skill set offensively, he's a scorer and a good one but it's just a hard thing to throw a frosh into the fire like this considering the style that this team plays. Unfortunately, he's going to have to produce right away now. The wild card is Christian Cornelius. He redshirted his frosh year and was injured all last year. I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about him cause he just hasn't played but he's supposedly a very talented tweener(he can play guard or down low, he's 6'7") but he looked very slow in the first game and how couldn't he? He hasn't played in two years. If he can get into shape, he'll be huge for this team but I just don't have a lot of faith as far as he's concerned, too much to overcome. Basically, after all that non sense I just said, we need Bone, it's that simple. He is such a talented offensive player and he was going to be a huge part of this team. The freshman need to step up huge now. I love Wood and Fay but it would have been nice to just ease them in, instead of having to rush them. Hopefully Josh can get healthy soon, cause we need this kid and badly.

Absolutely horrible news for Saluki fans. Josh Bone has seperated his shoulder and no one is really sure how long he is out for. He is our most talented guard and I've said before that I thought he'd be our leading scorer this year. This is bad, bad news for SIU fans.

After a horrid start by CU where they were down 15 or 17 at one point, they end up coming back and winning by a dozen. The 2nd half was all Stinnett, unbelievable performance by him in his first college game.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 07:00 PM) I've been gone the last 3 days. Anything happen in CBB? OSU lost? OSU lost an exhibition. UK lost to Gardner Webb in a real game.

I like Sweeney but that's a no brainer imo. If you make that trade your pen is pretty much set(maybe add a veteran reliever, maybe) and you didn't give up any thing from you major league roster or a crap load of money to do so.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 01:24 PM) If you have CLTV, tune in at 7. I'm not familiar with their young players, just that they have 6 freshman and 3 transfers. Maybe an MVC fan is more familiar with them. Must be good as they're favored by 3 in Vegas. As for us, I'm very excited to see our new guys, with Dar Tucker and Mac Koshwal in particular. Coach Wainwright has not named a starting 5, only that Draelon Burns will be in there for sure, but Mac is a captain and I'm sure should be starting. Dar might be also. I'm worried about both another very slow start under Wainwright and the opponent we're opening with but am very excited to see what we have and how the new guys respond. Yay for no cltv, I'll probably listen. Watts and Dotzler are really their only two impact players from last year who are back(though Bahe and Hibma were decent role players, we'll see how they do with more pt this season). Watts is big and slow, not a very athletic player. That being said, he can shoot, that's pretty much what he does. He's' a 6'8" forward who likes to shoot 3's. Dotzler was fantastic his freshman year, got hurt late in the year though and wasn't the same last season. If healthy, he's one hell of a point guard, I'm interested to see how he turns out. After that, it's pretty much all youngins. Their most touted recruit is 6'3 guard, P'Allen Stinnett, their fans are really excited about this guy. He's supposedly just a slasher, loves getting to the rim. After that, they have 6'8 forward Kenton Walker who at one point was another rivals 150 guy. Don't know a ton about him but like Stinnett, their fans seems to be in love with him. CU is young but they're very talented. They're probably the most unpredictable team in the Valley this year but as alway they're very well coached, so obviously that's going to help.

Very interesting game in Omaha tonight, Depaul-Creighton. Both teams are very young but also very talented, should be a fun game.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:25 PM) No you didnt say that. But some one else said that Indiana has 2 lottery picks, and that DJ White is the best big man in the Big 10, and that no one can hold a candle to him. And you speak of UCLA, what team did they lose to in the tournament. What was the rebounding advantage? Not to mention they play in the Pac 10, a completely different conference, with a completely different style. They got get killed in the rebounding department, but that was in the final 4. Once again, never said that IU was the best team in the country but they are the best in the big 10 imo. To say they aren't because of height in the front court, is well... weird. But since we're talking about National Champions, the 05 Tar Heel squad didn't have anyone over 6'9" either. The point is that you don't need a tall front court to win games and championships.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:06 PM) "Good" is relative - he's certainly "good" compared to me. He's not "good" compared to lottery picks. Heck, Shaun Pruitt averages 12 pts and 8 rbs in 4 less minutes a game compared to White. I don't think he'll be drafted at all, let alone the first day. And? Pruitt is a very good player. He also wasn't coming off of a serious injury like White was and I don't believe he's as talented. Pruitt is very good, imo he's not as good as White. QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:07 PM) Jenks, You just arent projecting it correctly. DJ White is going to come in and put up 20-10 this year. Everyone else in the Big 10 is going to regress. Hence why DJ White is the best big man in the Big 10 with out any question. Ah yes, go to the extreme. I have clearly said everything that you've posted there. Nope, just replying to your response that IU is going to have trouble cause they're not tall in the front court. Not having a 6'10" guy clearly made UCLA's season a failure last year.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 02:12 PM) My bet is White doesn't get drafted at all in day one. He's not that good. You're going to tell me that a guy who averaged 14, 7 and 2 blocks a game after basically not playing at all the previous season, isn't that good?

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 01:47 PM) DJ White is the most overrated player in the Big Ten. I disagree. I could see how you'd believe that while watching the beginning of last season but he was fantastic at the end. One could argue that it took him a while to get back into playing shape after missing the majority of the last season. DJ White has become a great player and he's certainly not overrated imo.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 11:02 AM) I'll throw the question out to anyone; do you believe baseball is corrupt enough to cover up a positive steroid test of one of the best players (read:money makers, which tends to exclude Palmeiro) in the league? No question.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 12:48 PM) I don't think Fields is really a 2-hole hitter, despite what Ozzie seems to think. You might want to consider putting Hunter in the 2-spot, actually, flipping him with Fields. But really, no one in that lineup is an ideal #2 hitter. That's what I'd personally do as well.