whitesoxfan101

Illinois can still get in if they win Thursday (although if they only win 1 in Indy, it'd be very close a la 2007.) But considering it's a team that really has no heart, no intelligence, and questionable coaching, combined with being in a free fall, why would anybody assume they can do that? Finish the regular season with 3 straight home losses, 4 home losses out of 6 games, and 5 losses out of 6 overall. An impressive collapse when a tourney bid once seemed a pretty safe bet.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) I said mccameys 2nd foul sucked over an hour ago and I said that wad an and one. Yup pinning the whole game on the refs. You are right. The refs almost single handedly got Illinois back in the game. Of course, McCamey has worked a little of his magic, as have the big men on the glass, and Wisconsin is right back in control.

If I made a list of 10 dumbest college basketball players I've ever watched, McCamey is on it. Maybe top 5.

The refs should be wearing white jerseys today. They missed a couple of travels in the first half on Wisconsin, but overall, all Illini. And that wasn't even close to an and one, the blocking contact came before McCamey hit the groud and then jumped back up to shoot. And there's another phantom foul on Wisky.

This collapse down the stretch by Illinois to put themselves into potential NIT position has been very impressive. They get as little out of their players as any team I've seen this year, Weber should be proud.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 02:19 PM) Sometimes the goalie needs to make a stop. Huet can not do this. I still believe they will be bounced in the first as there is no way this situation does not weigh on the whole team. The first round might depend on the matchup (a Detroit series would lead to a 1st round loss), but there is no chance this team wins 2 playoffs series like they did last year. At this point, I think you just have to put Niemi in every game no matter what. He's not great (or good), but there is more hope with him in there than with Huet.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 7, 2010 -> 01:49 AM) Yeah but there's plenty of good hitters to be dh'ing, they don't need to be 30+ homer guys but a decent hitter would sure be nice. For the first time in my life, I agree with quick, if Jones doesn't magically get back to what he was 4 years ago than the dh(or wherever the hell this extra player will be hitting) will be a miserable failure, I don't see how that's even arguable at this point. It would take somebody massively overachieving or a trade for DH not to be a miserable failure (and even with a trade, that probably wouldn't occur until July.) The Sox are just going to have to get around the DH spot being bad in the meantime by hoping for more realistic things like Quentin having a big year (I expect him to if he's healthy), Konerko doing it more one time (certainly possible) and Rios rebounding (he's a wildcard, he could do just about anything this year and I wouldn't consider it a surprise.)

Need to see the bracket before I can answer this. Who turns out to be a "sleeper" and who turns out to be "overrated" is more about the draw nowadays than anything else. Every game is on tv basically, so we know about these teams.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 09:47 AM) You know, I knew it would happen when it became clear this is what we had, but I really do tire of trying to be convinced that putting a combination of really bad offensive players in our offense consistently would make us better. That's the issue here. The rotating DH, if done properly, is not a problem at all. Actually, in the post greenie era, it's probably a good way to go, and it gives you more flexibility in facing lefty vs. righty pitchers. But when none of the guys rotating in there can hit, it doesn't matter how fresh everybody is.

In additon to obviously being a GREAT baseball team, the 2005 White Sox had the best intangibles of any baseball team I've ever seen. They also had about as many things go well for them as any baseball team I've ever seen. With those two things in mind, I don't think I'll ever compare another baseball team to them beforehand simply because it's impossible to predict things like that.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 3, 2010 -> 02:40 PM) Anyone see the article on yahoo.com about the "fake" Florida 40 time board? There were like 8 players listed under a 4.4 on their board including Hayden who ran a 4.57 at the combine. Didn't see the article (although it sounds good, I'll be looking for it) but that's not a surprise. I love to hate on Florida at any chance, but they aren't the only ones doing that. Virginia Tech is another school notorious for shenanigans like that, for instance.

Hawks goalies have made 181 fewer saves than any team in the league, which is an absolutely insane stat. And this isn't me dissing the Hawks either, as I looked through past years, the best teams are generally among the lowest in total saves (which is not a surprise obviously.) Plus, the Hawks are tied for 21st in save percentage, which while not great, doesn't match the save stat at all. The biggest difference between 29th and 30th in total saves for a season since the lockout is 61, so the Hawks are going to blow that away. Just shows how dominant their puck possession is. The Hawks also lead the league in shots on goal, but are tied for 12th in goals per game. Back on topic though, Oilers and Hawks are 2-2 after 2 at the UC. Hawks really can't afford to give away points against a bad team again as the schedule stiffens after tonight.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Mar 3, 2010 -> 05:01 PM) That's nto a sure thing. The only sure thing is that it would make you feel better going into the season if they had someone else. I'll admit it's not a "sure thing", they might just leave the DH slot as it is right now. I'd say odds are very high that (1) the current set of DH's will fail, leading to (2) an upgrade at DH because the pitching staff will carry the lineup and keep the team in the race, though. Unless Kenny Williams has just decided not to be a bold GM anymore, and I would say it's a sure thing that hasn't happened.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 3, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) Well, your bandwagon seat isn't even warm yet so feel free to jump off so someone else can hop on. Considering I actually went to more games a year when they were bad than I have been since the bandwagon filled up with the Cubbie esque fans, I'll take a pass. Nice try though. Just because I think a team with two goalies who have as many playoff series wins combined as I do, while having a bevy of questionable (at best) performances throughout this season isn't going to win the Stanley Cup doesn't make me a bad fan. It makes me a logical one.

The only sure thing about the 2010 DH spot is it will need to be improved upon if the Sox are serious about trying to win the World Series. I am confident the Sox will eventually realize this too though.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 3, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) If they beat Wisconsin they should be in. 4 top 25 wins and an 11-7 conference record in a good Big 10 should definitely be enough. I don't think a 2nd PG is a huge deal as long as you have other guys who can handle the ball. Bertrand is solid in that regard, and Richmond is a very good ball handler who could definitely bring the ball up for stretches next year, especially since he won't be pressured by the other teams PG. Richardson and Paul need to improve their ball handling going forward and Head is injured so I can't really speak to his current status as a ball handler but he wasn't a bad ball handler (definitely not a PG though). The 07-08 team sucked, but interestingly they were the 40th ranked team in the Kenpom ratings that year which are usually a very good indication of how good a team is. That team just had an amazing ability to not win close games which was directly related to their struggles to score in general and the fact that their best offensive player was a liability in key situations because he was terrible at the line which directly cost them the IU game, and indirectly cost them several other games. As a guy who has seen Bertrand play probably two dozen times, I don't think he can play point at the Big 10 level. You are probably right about Richmond though because he's so good. As for the tournament, 2 more wins and they are a lock. No more wins and it's NIT team. If they just beat Wisconsin at home and then lose their 1st game in Indy (or lose to them and then win 1 in Indy) it'll be just like '06-'07 where they are like the last team in or first team out. Hopefully if that happens, the result is the same as that year and they sneak in.

As far as i'm concerned, today sealed the fate of the 2009-2010 Blackhawks. I think it'll even be somewhat hard for them to match the 9 playoff wins they had last year with the goaltending situation as it is and the fact that teams seem to have a pretty good idea of how to deal with the Hawks heavy puck possession style of offense. The problem is, one of the (if not the) biggest reasons teams can just sit back as the Hawks control the shots on goal and puck possession all game is they are confident the 22 shots they get will result in 3 or 4 goals on the Hawks goalies. I hope this post is mocked one day, but the Hawks are not and will not be a legit contender to end their near 50 year championship drought unless a goalie upgrade is made IMO. I honestly don't even really blame Stan Bowman since he has the Huet contract noose on him right now, but today is a sad sad day. QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 3, 2010 -> 12:58 PM) Unless Huet pulls his head out of his ass and plays like he did down the stretch for the Caps two years ago which led the Hawks to give him that monster deal. True, but that looks like a classic case of a guy trying to (and being succesful) get that one big contract on the free agent market.

Not making the tournament in '07-'08 was not surprising (although just how bad they were was), but it would be pretty impressive for a team with a reasonable amount of talent like this years Illini have to not make the tournament. And if they don't win their next 2 games, I think they're out. The problem is that as talented as the class this year was in recruiting, and as talented as the class next year will be, they still really only have one point guard in McCamey. Unless I'm really missing something, Head and Richmond can't play point either, so this isn't a problem that's going away (although they will be better next year. I think.)

Even with the Hawks records as good as it is, I really don't think they can be considered a legitimate contender to win the Stanley Cup until they make a notable upgrade at goalie. If a deal isn't made by the deadline today, it almost feels like a season killing moment because you simply aren't winning a trophy with Niemi and Huet in there.

Rose is a much, much better shooter and scorer than Kidd (Kidd is better at 3 point shooting, but from the field, it's not even close, plus Rose shoots and scores more.) With that in mind, Rose probably won't ever be at the level Kidd has been in assists, although having better teammates someday will help. Rose is averaging about 4 rebounds a game, to Kidd's career total of about 6 and a half a game. If Rose can get closer ot 5 in that department, I'd be happy. And I think he can.

Looks like they definitely made the place left handed hitter friendly, no surprise. It looks like it could just generally be a hitter friendly ballpark though (just particularly to RF), although it's impossible to say just by looking at the dimensions. You never know how the ball will carry, how the place plays day vs. night, how the wind currents tend to blow/how strong they are/how much of an effect they have, etc. Will be interesting to find out.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 10:09 PM) Well, that game was good at the end of the third and start of the fourth, it just got away from them then. I miss Joakim. The Bulls would get that #5 seed if they could just become and stay healthy. But that seems unlikely. Tonight has disaster written all over it with Deng and Noah hurt, plus an opponent in Atlanta who has dominated the Bulls recently as it is.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) So, was anyone else watching Kaner fly around last night backchecking and thinking "wow, if he does that for us from here on out we are set"? I'm glad I wasn't the only one who saw it. I don't think I've ever seen him as all over the place (for lack of a better term, and I mean that in a good way) as he was in that game.

Screw hockey being their sport. They've now won 2 goal medals in the last 15 Olympic games. They may have invented it, but there are several other countries not far behind them in ability to play the game. Would have been great to piss on their little parade today, but alas it was not meant to be.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 01:08 AM) Yes.. yes you are. f***ing kills me of all people... cry baby Sid gets the winning goal. ANYONE else from Canada I was hoping would get it if the USA didn't. Glad to see Toews following the Yzerman 2002 line. Hopefully he completes it like Yzerman did with the Stanley Cup this year as well. Toews was really an underrated player.....up until this tournament. I don't think that will be the case anymore. Watching this tournament makes you appreciate even moreso how good Toews, Hossa, Keith, and Kane are. We're privledged to have those guys around for a long time.