Rex Hudler

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 11:02 PM) Not really if you know the correct way of reading it. RPI can tell you everything in a breakdown of a team's resume. And what is tells me about Kansas is that they are 3-2 against the top tier teams this year. Sorry, not good enough. And as of right now, it doesn't look too good for them. But of course, there is still time. Assuming they win the Big 12 tourney, anything can happen. They are right there in the mix. Right now, they are on the outside looking in, but if teams above them lose once or twice, then its very realistic. If they finish strong and win their tournament, then they will be right there, regardless of how you interpret their RPI today. Again, RPI is way overrated. To think they don't have a realistic shot at a 1 seed is not seeing the big picture.

I agree. I was throroughly unimpressed by the guys tonight. As you stated, Chris and Phil were the best two.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 10:23 PM) They would beat you guys no questions asked. And have you looked at the RPI lately? Kansas is not getting a one seed. Actually, I can see a very realistic scenario for Kansas getting a #1 seed. I guess you never read the articles I suggested. RPI is merely one factor considered and is WAY overhyped compared to how it is ACTUALLY used. Creighton loses at Illinois State. Bradley loses at home to Northern Iowa. MVC teams must not want that at-large bid. They must want to play home games in the NIT> On the flip side, Missouri State did bounce back and beat Wichita St on the road.

Who is the guy that they showed on the previews for next week? Not having seen previous seasons, I don't know anything about him. Can anyone give me some quick background?

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 12:25 PM) I came across this tidbit, and it sounds like it could be Houston area QB Andrew Luck... Would Houston be considered the Midwest?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 11:30 PM) Collins would not be better that Conley, but he's still really good. Oh, and Misery State missed last years dance exclusively due to being a Valley team, regardless of what the lying, stupid committee says. Why did I not expect this nugget of intelligence coming from your keyboard? It's funny how you know more than everyone else, including the committee who live the process. Well, sad more so than funny.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 07:29 PM) In terms of last year's Missouri State team, I would strongly disagree. Not that the SC would admit that. It is stated repeatedly that conference affiliation has nothing to do with whether a team makes it, at least in terms of how many other teams from that conference have already made it. The committee has stated that for years. Now, they open up the process to the USBWA and the writers after better understanding the process echo the same. Andy Katz, Jay Bilas and others have no reason to lie about the process. So at what point are people going to start believing them? I'd say this would be a good place to start. The tournament committee selects teams, not conferences. They select teams based on this year and not on past year's success or failures in the tournament. How about we all just move past all of the prior misconceptions and take the process for what it really is, no longer championing the conspiracy theories that the committee lies to us?

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 03:27 PM) Their not going to leave Bradley and their RPI that lies in the 20's out. Yeah they did it last year with Missouri State, but I beleive they were also by far the highest ranked team to ever be left out. Plus they already had four teams from the MVC and were not about to take a fifth. If Bradley wins just one in Arch Madness, I don't see them being left out(That is assuming their profile remains close to what it is now). Teams get invited to the tournament, not conferences. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 03:52 PM) I dont think that OSU deserves the #1 ranking until they beat someone thats not in the big ten, or beat Wisco. With that said, if anyone watched OSU play this weekend, if Greg Oden continues to hit those right and left handed jump hooks, there really isnt a team they cant beat. Also interesting note on Oden they mentioned in the game. Since the first few games shooting FT's left handed, they said he has shot at about a 75 percent rate with his off hand. If that is true, that is ridiculous and should make players like Ben Wallce et al. feel incredibly piss poor. I said early in the year that OSU would likely not begin to peak until late February. It looks as if that is happening. We'll see how they far in Round 2 against Wisky, but I like the direction they are heading.

Here is a good piece by Joe Lunardi, the hated ESPN bracketologist. He highlights a few myths about the selection process and shows that he truly gets it, regardless of what many think. Lunardi: Bracket Building

Jason, I see Wright St. whipped your Fullerton Titans yesterday. Was that game on TV? Did you see any of it? They have won 16 of their last 18 games after a rough start with a new coach. I'm curious as to how good they are. Has anyone else seen then?

QUOTE(Tmar @ Feb 16, 2007 -> 02:26 PM) My testicle was the size of a can of corn. What are you going to do now Stop eating cans.

Not saying I could get rid of her case of the hiccups, but here are some solid remedies should you ever need to get rid of them. When I tended bar, I had 7 different ways to rid someone of hiccups and never failed to cure them. I think we had to go 6 methods deep once. These are in no particular order. 1. Drink water upside down - bend over and drink at least a half glass of water in that position, drinking from the opposite edge of the glass. 2. Pour a packet or two of sugar directly into the back of your throat. 3. Drink club soda and bitters (nasty stuff). 4. Kiss the person with the hiccups unexpectedly. Just grab them and stick your tongue down their throat kissing them quickly and passionately. Not sure if it is the shock factor or if it has something to do with cutting off their breathing through their mouth, but it works. Note: Not recommended for everyone. You might get rid of her hiccups but might get slugged in the process. I can't remember the others, but these are pretty good remedies to start with.

QUOTE(BB2ZZ @ Feb 17, 2007 -> 08:50 AM) All this preseason stuff is pure speculation, just like mock draft talk. So much changes year to year, how can anyone think that a big power hitter like Collaro just totally loses it? One season of adjustment could add up to a VERY BIG year at the bat. Longest Homer EVER in the Pioneer League, League leader in HR and second in RBI at Carolina. That is not a fluke boys...... The Hoover Met.......... where home run hitters go to die.

It's been a hell of a day for me and college basketball. I went to the Evansville - Samford game here in Birmingham and then came home and watched the IU - Michigan game. Went to the grocery store, cooked a frozen pizza for dinner and just finished watching the SIU - Butler game. Gotta love the DVR! Some thoughts: 1. I'll spare you anything on the E'ville-Samford game other than to mention it was a weird game. Evansville shot 69.7% from the field for the whole game, only committed 13 turnovers, yet won by only 4. Danman, you talk about small gyms, Samford's gym (they are building a new one now) is no better than your average Indiana HS gym. Very small. Attendance was reported as 1,141. It felt like a bad HS atmosphere. 2. The Butler - SIU game was excellent. Both are very good teams and play hard. Apparently Graves was sick today and it showed in how he played. But he battled his ass off while being constantly hounded by the Salukis. I'd love to see both of these teams at least win one in the big dance. Danman, Hinkle may have a small gym feel, but it seats between 10,000 and 11,000 and was packed to the rafters today. Hinkle is an unbelievable place and as others have said every basketball fan should see a game there. I saw a game many years ago there where Evansville beat Butler 136-128 in two overtimes. It was one of the wildest games I have ever seen. 3. IU is really pissing me off right now. After watching them the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to put my finger on their problem. It seems to me they have gotten into the habit of dribbling too much and aren't making the "hockey pass" as Majerus put it in the SIU game today. They are shooting way too many threes off the dribble and not making the extra pass to find the open guy who can spot up for the three rather than have to try and create it. They were doing this early on, and that is exactly what they have done when they hit a lot of threes. Guys like Wilmont, Ratliff and Bassett have had some success hitting threes off the dribble and I think they have fallen into the trap of relying on that. Until IU gets back to focusing on ball movement via the pass and finding the open man off the dribble and making the extra pass, they will continue to struggle. Both Butler and SIU are very good at this. IU has been and needs to get back there. The only thing keeping this from being an awesome day was IU not getting it done at Michigan. Still, seeing three good games from start to finish was a lot of fun.

QUOTE(soxwon @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 09:29 PM) why not? who do you consider the fave? Just from what I have seen, I think she is middle of the pack of women, at best. Not too impressed. From the guys, I do like Chris Sligh, the guy who was the back up singer (Brandon?) and am intrigued at what Sundance Head will bring. As far as the girls, I guess in what little I have seen, I have been less than impressed. I do think Melinda Doolittle could do well, but she will have to gain confidence. Her current demeanor and voice will only go so far. She doesn't have to go 180 degrees on us and turn cocky, but she'll need to step up and give the audience the feeling she believes she belongs.

One thing I caught last night that I forgot to mention earlier. The girl that won the contest on the Grammy's and sang the duet with Justin Timberlake, was one of the Idol contestants cust in last night's Hollywood Week show. Her name was Robyn Troupe. All we saw was a quick blip on Idol, but I thought she was pretty damned good on the Grammy's. QUOTE(soxwon @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 09:02 PM) the winner will be Alaina Alexander No chance in hell

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 12:23 PM) I like the Hollywood part the most, usually. It shows you pretty good what the personalities really are like. I'm thrilled that the brillo-pad guy got through! Talk about your anti-American Idol guy! I agree about the Hollywood part. I wish they would show much more of this than the stupid idiot auditions. I don't recall them going though the Hollywood round so quickly in the past. Last year I think they went through 3 or 4 episodes, possibly one or two of them two hour shows. This is the time where they need to develop the characters, so to speak. Think about it. They want the public to start voting next week, yet they are going to show the selected 24 in an hour show tonight. I hate when they go to the voting and you see 3 or 4 people you've never seen before. Quite frankly, I am losing interest this year. Getting to know some of these people and the stories behind them would make it much, much better in my opinion.

I don't understand why everyone gets their collective panties in a bunch every week when Lunardi's bracketology comes out. It's pretty easy to enjoy it weekly if you keep the following in mind: 1. This is NOT a prediction of what he thinks the bracket will look like come March. 2. This IS a snapshot of what the bracket could look like if the season ended today. 3. It does NOT take into accout what games teams have left and how they might finish. See #2 4. This is a conversation piece and nothing more. Basketball season is way to volatile to do anything but look at each week in isolation. The matchups and tournament sites are just things to talk about. This would be pretty boring if all he did was name 64 teams each week. I haven't paid much attention to Lunardi's final bracket the past 2-3 years, but his final bracket used to be damned close. When I first started checking his bracket regularly, he never missed more than 2 teams in the field and most teams were within one seed line. Unless his final brackets have gone into the tank in the past couple of years, I don't see how one can see he is a terrible bracketologist.

You guys have the title wrapped up. You don't want Creighton losing tonight. Think bigger picture for the conference at this point. I can understand the reservations about playing against a zone defense. In Bobby Knight's final years, IU had the same problem. They were as good as any team in the country playing against a man-to-man D. In 1999, IU beat the living hell out of George Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Orlando. They were pounding a good St. John's team pretty good in the first 10 minutes until they switched to a zone. They never left the zone and went on to beat IU by 25. IU looked like two totally different teams.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Feb 13, 2007 -> 12:06 PM) An no one sees the dad as the bad guy. Jack's sister-in-law. ex lover doesn't think to tell Jack what she knows. Please. She started to but got scared. If you saw the previews, she will give it up this week.

QUOTE(Balance @ Feb 13, 2007 -> 11:04 AM) Cowboy Mouth!!! Nice call! I've seen them live a few times. Excellent band. Who the hell is The Band? Someone mentioned Molly Hatchett. Flirtin with Disaster was a solid contribution. Would April Wine fit? I know I would know many of their songs, but off the top of my head I can only think of Just Between You and Me. What about Little River Band? Thoughts on where they fit??

QUOTE(Brian @ Feb 13, 2007 -> 09:09 PM) Huge W. I was hard on Jamal Tatum at the beginning of the year, but I will never bash that guy again with his play the last few games. Come on Northern Iowa! Why would you guys be rooting for NIU?? Oh, and weren't there SIU fans on this board questioning whether Chris Lowery had lost his team only a month or two ago?

Here is an article on junior Kyle Kuric, a 6-4 guard from Evansville Memorial HS (my alma mater). He's currently being recruited by Purdue, Indiana, Southern Illinois, Evansville and Butler, among others. Tigers Kuric has passion for game

Here is a good article on the Indiana - Purdue rivalry from the Indianapolis Star. Don't expect another blowout

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 11, 2007 -> 11:12 PM) Win at Mich, loss at Purdue. A split would be expected. I'd rather lose at Michigan! Puck Furdue!