Official 2007-08 College Basketball Thread

[Rex Hudler]

20 minutes to game time for the Hoosiers and Salukis!

 

My pre-game thoughts:

 

Very tough game for an IU team that is still trying to figure out who they are. They struggle on defense, especially on the interior. They too often resort to one-on-one play relying on excellent individual skills. That however can lead to bad shots and turnovers. Playing under control is imperative if the Hoosiers expect to win. Indiana is also susceptible to foul trouble inside. Their depth is young and not real strong. DJ White needs to have a solid game and stay out of foul trouble or IU will struggle to stay in the game. We all know what Eric Gordon can do so I won't go into a lot of detail here, but he certainly has the ability to be the difference maker. Other keys for IU are Jamarcus Ellis and Armon Bassett. Armon will have to be able to handle the SIU ball pressure D. If he can drive and dish and hit some shots off of ball rotation it will give the Hoosiers a huge boost. Ellis plays both inside and outside. He's a slasher that can create problems for SIU. If he plays with composure and doesn't get flustered by the defense, IU will have a very good chance to win. He will hit the boards and take some pressure off the bigs inside. Lastly, anything positive they can get from Lance Stemler will help. Lance has played well lately, staying under control. If he plays out of control, IU might be in trouble.

 

If IU can be solid on all those fronts, they could walk out with a 10-point win. I suspect SIU will keep that from happening and IU will have to squeak out a close one if they are to come away with a win. An SIU win would certainly not surprise me in the least.

Anyone have thoughts from the SIU side??

[Brian]

Anyone have thoughts from the SIU side??

 

1. I'm excited

 

2. Indiana sucks

 

 

I think I would of liked SIU to play a day or two after the USC game to get that bad taste out of their mouth. Get Falker involved early. Hopefully we don't shoot 30 percent again. Clemmons needs to play or else Green will play and suck.

Waiting for Matt Shaw to wake up. He looked dawg tired vs. USC. I'm assuming Mullins will guard Gordon. Gotta contain him.

[Rex Hudler]

Harvard beat Michigan today

 

Butler just kicked the crap out of Ohio State

 

Hope this isn't an omen for the Hoosiers!

 

 

[Rex Hudler]

Pretty good first half for IU. It started sloppy early, but IU got into a bit of a rhythm. Going to the zone kept them out of major foul trouble. Give me more of the same in the 2nd half and keep knocking down key shots and all will end well for the Hoosiers.

[Brian]

Awful. We have no scorer.

[fathom]

SIU tried to get physical on Gordon on that one drive, and all it did was fire the Hoosiers up.

[Rex Hudler]

Good effort by the Hoosiers. SIU, as Brian referred to, really needs scorers. I thought IU played very well defensively tonight, but the game would have been much closer if SIU could have hit more shots. There is no reason SIU should be that cold at home. IU contested and blocked a lot of shots, but there were open looks as well.

[Brian]

Good effort by the Hoosiers. SIU, as Brian referred to, really needs scorers. I thought IU played very well defensively tonight, but the game would have been much closer if SIU could have hit more shots. There is no reason SIU should be that cold at home. IU contested and blocked a lot of shots, but there were open looks as well.

 

Yup, and SIU missed a lot of open lay ups. Just bad. Hopefully take it out on Chattanooga! I thought we played well defensively. Gave up a lot of offensive boards to IU as well. Falker was playing his butt off.

[aboz56]

I thought SIU forgot about getting the ball to Falker in the second half. For them to win, he had to have a better game than he did. They also had no answer for Gordon once he got going.

[Rex Hudler]

I thought SIU forgot about getting the ball to Falker in the second half. For them to win, he had to have a better game than he did. They also had no answer for Gordon once he got going.

 

Aboz, where the hell ya been?

[aboz56]

Aboz, where the hell ya been?

Busy blogging I suppose...Just actually got that PM you sent me regarding Zeller yesterday, that's how long it's been since I've been on here.

[Rex Hudler]

Busy blogging I suppose...Just actually got that PM you sent me regarding Zeller yesterday, that's how long it's been since I've been on here.

 

No s***. Welcome back. We need some intelligence on this board amidst all the Illini fans dumbing things down.

 

;-)

[fathom]

USC's defense is phenomenal. If they continue to improve, they can definitely be a national title contender.

[Chisoxfn]

USC's defense is phenomenal. If they continue to improve, they can definitely be a national title contender.

They should be. They have a lot of talent and a very good college coach. Say what you want about Floyd in the NBA, the guy is legit in the college ranks (did an outstanding job at ISU where it is hard to recruit and now he's at USC with new facilities and just tons of athletes in the Cali area that make it much easier to recruit). USC should be a national power in basketball moving forward (they may still be a year or two away, and OJ Mayo may actually ruin that if he ends up getting the school in trouble, but aside from that they are heading in the right direction). It will make Pac 10 basketball even better as USC/UCLA will be a ridiculous rivalry (UCLA is a powerhouse), plus you have Washington and Oregon who are turning into quite the basketball schools and Stanford seems to be getting back on track and than of course there is Arizona who is suffering from a bit of a down period but they still have talent and a rich history.

[Rowand44]

Well that's our 4th loss at home in like the last 7 years, so no matter what, that shows how good IU is, to come into Carbondale and beat the crap out of us. IU is a really, really good team and much better than us at the moment.

 

I haven't looked at the box score but when you go 1 for 14 or 15 or whatever from 3, you're not going to win many games, I don't care who you are playing. Shaw and Bone both had some really good looks and couldn't hit crap, they're both in horrible shooting slumps at the moment. As of now, if Shaw and Bone are making shots then we're a pretty good team but if they aren't, we're pretty awful.

 

Besides the horrific shooting, one of the more frusterating things to me last night was the way coach Lowery handled his rotations. I love CLo and he's a terrific coach but sometimes you need to change some things up. Brandon Wood and Carlton Fay are two of our more talented offensive players and two of our best shooters. They needed to play, especially Wood. I'm not sure what the hell Brandon has done in practice or what not but when he's played in games, he's been terrific. It would have been nice to have arguably our best 3 point shooter out there against a zone when nobody on the court could hit a jump shot to save their life.

 

I'm pissed off about these guys right now but there will be better days ahead for this team, I'm sure of it.

Edited December 2, 2007 by Rowand44

[Jimbo's Drinker]

Great day for the Big 12....Ku and Texas win today.

 

KU and Texas will both be in top 5 next week!!!!

[whitesoxfan101]

KU plays great defense and dominates the glass, plus showed they can win without shooting well today in a tough enviornment against a really good team, I must say I'm impressed. There are two problems for KU though, they have no depth and had 6 assists and 22 turnovers today, that won't get it done long term. Also, Texas appears to have a team good enough to overcome the horrible in game coach that is Rick Barnes, and Arizona is very underrated.

[fathom]

KU plays great defense and dominates the glass, plus showed they can win without shooting well today in a tough enviornment against a really good team, I must say I'm impressed. There are two problems for KU though, they have no depth and had 6 assists and 22 turnovers today, that won't get it done long term. Also, Texas appears to have a team good enough to overcome the horrible in game coach that is Rick Barnes, and Arizona is very underrated.

 

I don't think Arizona's very good....they just played a great game today. It's a two man team. Bayless might have had the single best individual game of the season today, when you take into consideration the defense they were facing. So far, the top 5 freshman in the country are Gordon, Love, Beasley, Rose, and Bayless.

[CWSGuy406]

Great day for the Big 12....Ku and Texas win today.

 

Chalmers' three was amazing. Basketball doesn't give me -- personally speaking -- many 'WOW' moments, but that was one. He must've been a good five-to-seven feet beyond the ark when he buried that one. He knew it all the way, too -- nothin' but net.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

I am watching the game on Tivo, we are missing some huge piece...Sherron Collins and tyrel reed.

 

 

 

 

[Heads22]

Iowa State hosts Iowa on Saturday......

 

 

CRIPPLE FIGHT

 

[He_Gawn]

Glad some of the Illinois fans over on Illiniboard can take joy out of Gordon's injury. At least some of them have some decency though. Sloppy game tonight. Lets hope we absolutely smash UK this Saturday!

[whitesoxfan101]

Glad some of the Illinois fans over on Illiniboard can take joy out of Gordon's injury. At least some of them have some decency though. Sloppy game tonight. Lets hope we absolutely smash UK this Saturday!

 

The Eric Gordon anger is odd. Yeah he's a liar and not really a good person, but he's a great player and one of many great players that Bruce lost out to in recruiting. It happens.

[hitlesswonder]

The Eric Gordon anger is odd. Yeah he's a liar and not really a good person, but he's a great player and one of many great players that Bruce lost out to in recruiting. It happens.

 

Saying he's not a really good person seems over the top -- maybe you know something about him I don't. He changed his mind about which University he wanted to attend. It's not a big deal -- other people do the same thing all the time. Athletes transfer and it's no big deal.

 

Sure, he should have told UI as soon as he knew he wasn't coming. But that's a pretty minor misdeed, I think. And even if he had, you know that people would still be seething over being jilted. The hatred is really just about choosing Indiana over Illinois.

 

Edit: Actually -- looking at the UI Scout board, there's really almost no posts wishing Gordon ill. I think I'll not look at IB and just be happy with that.

Edited December 4, 2007 by hitlesswonder

[Jenksismyhero]

Not to bring it all back up, because we've all talked about it 1000 times, but Gordon, and more importantly his family, are douches for lying to Weber for months and months. Players reneging on their verbals happens every year, it sucks, but it happens. Rarely though are programs literally screwed over for months and months, only to be hit with the change at the last possible minute. As soon as Sampson was hired Gordon should have said "hey, i'm opening up my recriuitment." Weber lost out on a handful of athletic guards because he beleived Gordon, guys that really wanted to come play for Illinois, and guys that are seriously needed on the current roster.

 

All that said, I watch Gordon and Indiana. He's a fun exciting player to watch. There are some over the top Illinois fans who are probably happy he got hurt, but the majority of Illini nation does not think that way. How else are we supposed to get excited about him visiting the real Assembly Hall later in the season if he is hurt and can't play?