whitesoxfan99

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:57 PM) And he is being defended in the post much more aggressively and has scored from a distance, showing range, which was not in his repertoire last year. I think the guy got a ton of hype and has played and improved very well through it. He didn't improve as much as Oladipo and he still has a ways to go in many areas. I think at times he felt like he had to do too much and rushed things. All that said, I will say it right now, I think there is better than a 50% chance he comes back next year. He isn't going to improve his draft stock by coming back another year. This year's draft is remarkably weak and he will go in the top 10. We will see if it is good as the hype but the 2013 high school class is supposed to be really good so you would likely see a ton of freshman pass him on the NBA radar.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Mar 11, 2013 -> 04:19 PM) That's the problem with numbers. They don't always tell the story. For Cody to have done the same thing as last year would have been a big improvement just based on how teams defended him. But by looking at the numbers, you'll miss that Cody has become a better passer, he has extended his range in a big way and he's a better defender. Cody doesn't care how much he scores if the team wins. They might not tell the whole story but improvement generally shows up in the numbers whereas Zeller's assist rate has gone down and his assist to turnover rate from last year is also worse. He is also scoring less efficiently than as a freshman while not seeing his usage rate go up much at all. I agree he has improved on defense though and he has also improved on the glass.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2013 -> 05:20 PM) NO matter how the brackets end up, this year is going to be a b**** to pick. I have no idea who I like as champs this year. None. There isn't even anyone I feel comfortable picking to the Final 4.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 6, 2013 -> 10:17 PM) Ya I'm not gtowns biggest fan either. I could see either losing in the rd of 32 but I think there's a better shot UM goes down the first weekend. Let's be honest, there really aren't any great teams this year. It wouldn't be shocking if anyone is gone before the Sweet 16.

Another missed charge call by the refs as McCabe clearly was still sliding when contact was made and Paul drifted to the side to avoid him. I haven't had too much of a problem with the refs besides those calls (Illinois has rightfully been called for more fouls) but it drives me nuts how often the refs blow the charge/block call. For f***s sake, just call it a block every time and you will more often than not be right.

Terrible job by Groce letting Bertrand play tonight. Bertrand single handedly willing Iowa to victory right now.

This game is just awful. Terrible play by both teams with Richardson and Bertrand (with Abrams closing strong) deserving of special merit for their terrible play. I think Bertrand gets my vote for LVP so far tonight.

Nice recovery by Illinois after terrible start.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 5, 2013 -> 07:28 PM) OMG LOOK ILLINI FANS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE REFS!!!! That was a laughable call. It's one things if fans complain about the block charge all the time, but even Jay Bilas says they get it wrong almost all the time. Something really needs to change. College refs get that call wrong twice as often as they get it right. Just make the arc extend as far as the NBA's arc and basically remove the charge call from college basketball and I'd be thrilled.

Can we fire every ref in college basketball since they don't understand what a charge is? Abrams just got called for a charge where he was already in the air when the Iowa player slid over. I am 100% sure I can do a better job than these hacks simply because I would basically never call a charge.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 5, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) WOOT IM3 looks 'meh'. You'd think they could have done something different than yet another "OMG some huge evil villain is here". What the f*** do you expect? How is this any different than Nolan's Batman trilogy which simply replaced one evil villain for another?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 05:07 PM) Could Iowa be the 8th Big Ten team in the Dance this year? Unless the committee doesn't follow any criteria they have used in prior years Iowa isn't even remotely close to the dance. Even if they win their last 2 regular season games they won't even be mentioned without a deep run in the BTT.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 01:56 PM) Every time players collide in college basketball it's a charge if you guys didn't know. I've complained about that numerous times in this thread. What makes it particularly egregious that the refs favor the defensive player to the extent they do in college basketball is that well over 50% of the time the defensive player should be called for a foul in those situations.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) John Wall isnt awful and Turner is finally contributing. But clearly no talent that is head and shoulders above anything we've seen. John Wall still has some upside but he isn't a good basketball player and Turner is still really bad on offense.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) You throw a silly Bills Simmons quote at me stating that Kevin Johnson would average 30/15 in today's game and you want to talk about substance? Rightttttt. And these one or two game outliers you reference mean nothing. I've seen Dana Barros score 50 in a game. I've seen Tony Delk score 50 in a game. I've seen Muhammad Abdul Rauf, or whatever his name was, go on insane scoring binges. These guys weren't even borderline all-stars. it's quite simple: Bulls fans won't admit this, and I sure didn't at the time, but the 90's was watered down as s***. You don't add 6 new teams in 8 years, as the league did from '87 through '94, and not see the league take a big hit overall. That's basically a new team a year. The drafts from '94 through '2002 were ugly. I'm talking Kirstie Alley ugly. Just f***ing Awful. The 2000/2001 particularly were the worst ever. It's taken a while, but the league has finally caught up to all that expansion from the late 80's, early 90's. Look at the drafts from '03 through last year and compare them to '94 through '02. it's like comparing Joyce Dewitt to Snookie. The talent is simply better now. Nothing to do with a few rule changes 8 years ago. The 94 through 2002 drafts would have almost no impact on the Bulls dynasty. Not to mention that a lot of those drafts except from 2000-2002 (which impacts the current era, not the 90s) were pretty damn solid. The 96 draft produced Kobe, Iverson, Ray Allen, Marcus Camby, Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Peja Stojakovic, plus other solid players like Abdur-Rahim, Walker, Marbury (before his head got in the way of what should have been a great career) and Ilgauskas. I'd put that draft up against any draft from 03-present including the James, Wade, Anthony and Bosh draft. I'm not seeing this great talent gap in the 03-present drafts against the 90s drafts. The 2010 draft looks f***ing awful by the way. Paul George and Greg Monroe as the best players from a draft? Gross. And while its early, aside from Kyrie Irving, there are no true impact players in the 2011 draft class (although I do love Faried) and this years class isn't setting the world on fire.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 27, 2013 -> 11:53 PM) Even better than the show Harden put on against The Thunder last week. The PG position is just too much now. I remember back in the day Mookie Blalock was considered an all-star caliber PG. lol. Rajon Rondo is a 4 time all star and isn't any better than 1 time all star Mookie Blaylock was at his peak. I agree that the depth of the PG position now is better than it has ever been but that wasn't a great example.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 10:26 AM) Average...? Paul and Parker are both insanely fast players. Chris Paul is not insanely fast and I have never heard a single person describe him as such. His athleticism is nothing special at all by NBA standards. He is a phenomenal ball handler, a great passer and he understands how to create space but he doesn't do it with athleticism. In fact, not that they are a perfect representation of his athleticism but his lane agility and 3/4 court sprint times were nothing special at all at the NBA pre draft camp. Chris Paul's 3/4 court sprint time was the same as Kevin Love's and slower than a number of players that nobody would consider as insanely fast and his agility test was worse than guys like Jon Diebler, Draymond Green and Shane Battier (amongst many others) who I am pretty certain nobody would describe as particularly fast or quick.

Steph Curry putting on an unbelievably show on ESPN.

More proof that the top teams around college basketball just aren't that strong this year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 27, 2013 -> 09:40 AM) The Bulls also made it clear that they weren't going to baby him, that he was going to have to work just as hard as anyone else on the roster. The Bruce Weber approach to recruiting, worked beautifully for Illinois.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Feb 26, 2013 -> 12:12 AM) I turned it off at 79-72. How did Kansas pull it out? Kansas hit a couple of ridiculous 3s and then the refs decided to screw over Iowa St. by not calling a clear charge against Kansas with about 5 seconds left and then compounding that no call by calling a ridiculously weak call against Iowa St. when the ball was loose. KU steps up and makes both free throws and then Elijah Johnson went nuts in OT. Absolutely shameful officiating. What really annoyed me about the no call is that in almost all circumstances, college refs love calling players for charges even though players slide over too late the vast majority of the time and yet in this case, you have a play where Johnson is legitimately out of control and Iowa St.'s player was in position and they don't call it. College refs are truly atrocious at their jobs.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 10:18 AM) We are truly at the point where there's no reason for him not to be playing for the team paying him on a $95 million contract. In fact, I'd be pretty shocked if he doesn't play tomorrow night. That may be true but that video does nothing to prove that. Dunking at half speed is nothing like the stress that cutting at full speed puts on his body and the confidence he has to move laterally at full speed is the most important part of his recovery.

How do you let Aaron Craft get 4 layups in the half court, he can't shoot at all and isn't particularly quick with the ball, he also can't finish in traffic, just a brutal 2nd half by MSU.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) I'd be shocked if less than 6 teams make it from the Big Ten. Illinois is in, I'm not remotely worried about it. Dakich and the play by play by guy were clueless as to what it takes to make it in.

Lol at the announcers discussing whether Illinois is in. They are closer to a 5 seed then out of the tourney.