Rowand44

We just got our asses handed to us. Got completely outcoached and played like s***, and come away from this road trip 1-2. The one at UNI I could handle but this one stings. Absolutely f***in awful.

Up 2 at half. Had the game under control, Lowery takes Tatum, Falker and Shaw all at the same time, they quickly get it down to 5 and it's been a close game ever since. Way too many damn turnovers. In other news, Shockers losing at Indiana State by 6 with under a minute left in the game. If ISU holds on here, you can stick a fork in WSU as far as winning the Valley goes. And the Shockers do indeed lose. And with that loss goes any shot of them winning the league.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 07:01 PM) Yeah, but he really had no other option, that is an evil when you break in a struggling Rookie in CF with no other legit CF'ers on your team. I hate to get back to this Anderson/Mack stuff. But Anderson was just as good as Mack offensively in the 2nd half of the season. And we all know the huge difference that the two bring defensively. Yet, in the 2nd half of the season, Mack continued to play 3-4 times a week in center for absolutely no reason, costing us a bunch of games defensively.

IU taking it to Purdue in the first half, up 13. We're about to tip off in Peoria against Bradley, GO DAWGS!!!!!

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 03:27 PM) I had the biggest crush on the pink ranger from the Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger series growing up. Of course, I think any kid who watched the show did. Yup.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:08 PM) Yep, he's been playing much better recently. It's amazing how poor the point guard position is this season. T. Green has been playing better recently as well. Here's a question I've been pondering: In 5 years, who will be the better pro player: Tyrus Thomas or Josh McRoberts? Personally, I think McRoberts brings more intangibles to the game than Thomas. McRoberts also doesn't get single coverage every time down the court like Noah and Horford do, and teams don't have to worry about Duke lighting it up from the perimeter like they do with Humphrey, Green, etc. It was amazing last night to see how many short shots Horford and Noah get. I never thought I'd say this, but Donovan actually was designing magnificient plays to get those guys layups. Might I also add that I hate Duke, so please don't think I'm a Duke/Coach K/McRoberts homer. I hope they lose by 30 tonight. Duke does indeed have some decent 3 point shooters. McRoberts is a decent player but at this point imo he's not on Noah or Horford's level, he's got a long way to go before he becomes elite. Thinking about the pg's a little more, a guy who should get some votes for an all american team but definitely wont is Jared Jordan.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 01:57 PM) McRoberts has been fantastic in every aspect besides scoring this year. Anyone that was expecting him to replace Redick's scoring is going to be disappointing, but he's far and away the best player on Duke. Noah and Horford offset each other, and neither has been as good as they were last year. No one is a bigger fan of Aaron Gray than I am, but he's struggled recently. He'll be better when he gets more consistent playing time, even though teams are taking away his touches and making Pitt burn them from the perimeter. Sean Williams of BC had a great stretch of games, but he's fallen off the table now. Davidson is a solid center, even though he's trying way too hard to impress scouts with his outside game. He's gone through so much though, and I only wish he can be a first round pick. Ronald Steele has been bad this year, but that's due to injury. If Drew Neitzel qualifies as a point guard, he belongs in the top 3. He's really impressed me this season, and Mich St. would have been so much better the past few years if he played with this much assertiveness. McRoberts has been ok. He's a good player at this point but he certainly isn't special and he doesn't belong on an all american team. His scoring and rebounding numbers are similar to Noah's and Horford's and then when you realize they're both shooting nearly 20 percent better than him from the field, it's not much of an argument there.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) And though Shakur has been better than in the past I'd still take Collison. He's got similar numbers across the board and plays much better defense. Man, this is a down year for PG's, my next two are probably an injured Ronald Steele and freshmen Javaris Crittendon. I'll throw Acie Law's name into the mix.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 01:32 PM) First, I explained the missed shot totals above, with the 5 FT added in. As for Rush, it's still crazy to see how some people list him as their best SF in the country. So far this year, he's not even one of the top 5 SF. I don't understand the way Self is using him. Rush just stands on the side out on the perimeter, and never moves. All the team has to do is face guard him, and he's taken out of the game. Other underrated players in the country include the Providence duo of McDermott/Hill, Levance Fields (stats aren't great, but he's a hell of a leader), D.J. Strawberry, and Rich McBride (I joke!). Ya, after I posted I figured you meant ft's added in, still, he didn't have a great game but he was still solid. And we can sit here for hours and list underrated players, a lot of people fly under the radar in college sports.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 09:36 AM) Tucker missed just as many shots as he had points. He's a good player, but he's severely overrated right now. I can't believe some people are claiming he's the Player of the Year in college basketball this year. Other players who are massively overrated are Dominic James and Brandon Rush. The most underrated players in the country are Mustafa Shakur and Richard Hendrix. Alando had 17 points last night and missed 10 shots. Alando is having a great year and before this game he's shined even brighter in Wiscy's biggest games(Pitt and Marquette). He's averaging close to 20 and 5 and shooting close to 50 percent, like I said, he's having a great year and he will definitely be in the player of the year talk at the end of the year. As far as Rush, he had a lot of preseason hype but that has cooled down big time. He is not having that good of a year at all but I certainly don't think he's severely overrated at this point either. Dominic James on the other hand is completely overrated right now. As far as your underrateds: Mustafa has been so inconsistant before this year that I think it's going to take him some time to earn some of that respect back, as he's been a pretty overrated player through out his career. And Hendrix will become pretty well known as the season goes, that whole Alabama team has just been under the radar so far.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 01:14 AM) What makes u feel good about it ? Jenks and MacD are the only 2 proven commodities and one has a history of injuries and the other one has a screw in his elbow. I like the arms that we have, that simple. It's hard to find consistant middle relievers from year to year, so if you just look by previous years, it's not always going to be the best way to determine future results. All of the guys that are either in the pen or have a shot to make it, have terrific arms.

If there is one part of the team I feel very good about, it's the bullpen.

Wow. What a finish.

Well then...

OSU is just a dumb team at the moment. They're going to have to mature a lot come March.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 09:58 PM) You lose a bet or something? Hey Rex, don't look at the Evansville score tonight.

Airforce was down 15 in the first half, new mexico has scored 5 points in the 2nd half with 5 minutes left in the game. Air Force is now up 8.

Fun game in Madison, changing the subject to the Valley just for a second(cause that's what I do ) UNI downed at Illinois State, there are now 0 undefeateds left in the Valley. Back to OSU-Wiscy now...

This game needs more Erin Andrews. My gawd.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 06:21 PM) if they really believe that they could 'compete' with the big teams -- should try (maybe they did?) to schedule at least one tough OOC game. Although, I don't know how far in advance these schedules are made... I'd bet that they did try.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 04:36 PM) Boise could have had a greater say in the argument if they scheduled better OOC opponents. Oregon State, Wyoming, Sacramento State, and Utah just isn't going to get it done. Yes, this is assuming a bigger power would actually play them, and that's a big assumption. But I'm not ready to hand Boise State anything after their schedule and escaping one of the worst BCS teams this year. USC, LSU, OSU, Florida, and probably even Michigan would beat Boise State by 10+ points in my opinion. I agree with a lot of what you said, but the point is that they still didn't get to prove themselves completely. Would they have lost to Florida? Most likely, but we don't know that for sure. And if I had to bet, there was probably no way that one of the powers would have scheduled Boise State.

Two of the best and two of the classiest guys in the game. Both very deserving.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 03:07 PM) Except Booty has actually played QB, while Cassel was purely a clipboard holder. But yes if the Bears go down, my focus will be the Patriots and my favorite current QB in the NFL, Tom Brady. However, I am now predicting a Pats/Bears superbowl. Of course first the Bears got to win a playoff game and than another and than we'll see what happens in the big game. Did I mention how great Brady is. You called Troy Smith, Troy Brown, hence my Pats comment.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 03:00 PM) Grossman also put up ungodly passing numbers for a couple seasons and had a rocket ship of an arm. And even than he went 24th overall and had the Bears not taken him (although there was speculation the Packers had interest) he probably would have fallen to the 2nd round. I do think you are right, his arm is good enough but I wouldn't even think of comparing it to that of Grossman's. Brees was a 2nd round pick and took some time and I could buy this comparison a bit, however, Brees was 3 times the passer Brown was at the collegiate level. I would rather draft Booty than I would Brown. Someone has the Patriots on their mind.

Definitely two final four calibur teams, I'm really looking forward to this one.