College Hoops

[cm_hayden]

If I was still a betting man, I would put money on MSU to beat UK in the finals.

[Rude]

If I was still a betting man, I would put money on MSU to beat UK in the finals.

That's a long way off. 1st UK vs Wisconsin then duke vs MSU. MSU proved they could falter a lot during the season. They have had a long streak without a letdown. I expect it to come this game. Hell Louisville had them beat. Louisville couldn't hit a field goal to save their lives and was 1 free throw away from a final 4.

[bs69]

Michigan St. has had a nice run, but I don't think they have the talent to match up with Duke in this game. Still not sure what will happen in the other game, I could see it going either way.

[oysterhead]

All Big Ten Finals?

[Rude]

The West Virginia game was horrible for UK. They had no time to an for Notre dame and were not focused at all. You can tell from nonstop tweets they were sending. 1 week to prepare for Wisconsin though. They will be ready. The final game is a different story. That being said I just hope Dekker doesn't pull a 6/6 3-point 2nd half again. Watching okafor, he's not as much a threat as I once believed so MSU has a good shot there.

[Tom Banjo]

Calipari may recruit talent. He isn't that great with the Xs and Os. Kudos to Wisconsin. They played harder. They deserved this game. No need to vacate the title. Time for kids and the pros to get back to I want to beat the best not play with the best.

[Rude]

Calipari leaves both Harrison's in tbe last 6 minutes leaving ulis and booker on the bench. We were yelling at him to put them in. Horrible coaching. Coach of the year my ass. How many airballs did Aaron throw up. 3? Good riddance. Hope the hell he goes pro and not get drafted and becomes a crack head on the street. In all fairness it was Calipari who left him in. Their offense fell apart the last 6 minutes with that team when it was going good. Won't even talk about that insane shock violation where it ran out before he even caught it to put it back.

[Tom Banjo]

The refs missed that call. They also just gave you guys an iffy charge. Feet were definitely moving especially in comparison to the block they call on Kaminsky minutes later. Not saying they both are charges or both blocks but those calls didn't reflect consistentcy. Also, they let a flagrant one go, although it may have been incidental. He obviously smacked dude in face. I'm not saying that the refs were biased just that the officiating was poor. I definitely don't think one shot clock violation missed changed the game. They got outplayed last 4 minutes. I think he went with experience and it turned out to be a poor call, although combined they were only slightly less than 50 percent. Towns needed to be more of a focal point. I think Ullis and Booker had their draft stock hurt. Maybe they come back. Ball needed to move more on offense. 7 assists total for the game, 4 by Andrew Harrison.

I really don't think Calipari is a good coach. He consistently underperforms with the most talent. Also think several of Kentucky's kids look overrated. I only see one nba all star on the team. A few role players but I'm not sure he has these kid developing to their potential. Lack of minutes and game involvement would impact my growth. Hopefully, they get back on track in the nba. Harrison kids look average. Don't think they last too too long on the NBA or at least as relevant. Stein doesn't have much skills. Just an athlete. Towns in legit. Dekker and Kaminsky we're the best players on floor right now. Don't get me wrong. I see the potential of towns. He will be better pro. I still think okafor 1. You still think towns?

[Rude]

Not giving towns the ball every possession was a mistake near the end. Booker will go top 20. He's solid. Ulis was never going pro this year. He played as well as the team would allow. 0 turnovers. A few steals. Calipari after a game this year called Aaron Harrison the best player in the country. He must have been high. Props to Wisconsin. They played well, but Calipari blew this game. He's not a good coach. He won in 2012 b/c kidd gilchrist was the real coach on the team. Regardless of this game 38-1 was a great season. Pick and roll defense did us in. They did an automatic switch if u noticed 1st half that creTed many mismatches. We were screaming at him all game to coach differently. He blew it.

And yes towns goes 1. Book it.

[Tom Banjo]

38 and 1 is great. 35 and 4 with a championship is better. Kentucky didn't do anything historic or anything memorable. I got Okafor 1. I can't book it for Towns. Okafor more of a polished offensive player and his coach let him show his polish. I think Booker is late first round but maybe I'm wrong. He has potential but I haven't seen anything from him yet. He doesn't play enough for me to appreciate his game based on the sample size. Harrison played over him late in the most important game. Clearly a signal that coach doesn't think he is NBA ready.

[Rude]

If u think Calipari starting both Harrison's over ulis and booker means he thinks they are better u don't watch uk hoops. The Harrison's completely shut down mentally wjen they are taken out. If they weren't to start they may not be able to play. In the Louisville game Andrew was sat for ulis. He refused to cheer when ulis scored. He only cheered if Aaron did. They aren't good team players and are mentally weak which is why the nba doesn't have interest in them. Booker is a leader and never lets up. His pull up jumper is NBA ready. He did a few 16 footer stop on a dime pull ups that game. And no team in 30 years has gone 38-0 to start a season. How is that not an accomplishment? They doubled west Virginias points. They were up 2 with 2 minutes when the game changing call or no call on the shot clock happened. U think that call didn't change the game? Calipari called a time out to get it reviewed but there were 30 seconds too many to review. Being up 2 after a huge stop or tied and upset is a compleyely different situation with 2 minutes left.

[bs69]

Good game. As previously stated, poor refereeing. The shot clock call was definitely big, but I still think Wisconsin wins. Kentucky got some calls as well. Should be a great game tomorrow night.

[Tom Banjo]

I think the no call flagrant 1 impacted the game equally. Just my opinion. I don't think the refs dictated the outcome of the game. The players did. Also only my opinion.

[found]

Officiating blew but felt it all evened out although you could argue the timing swings momentum in key parts of the game. All in all, I think the better team won that day. Really wanted to see Tom Izzo lead the Spartans into the finals. Definitely rooting for Wisco now. 

 

Okafor is too big and strong for some of these college athletes and I think that will change once he gets to the NBA. I was actually really impressed with Cook. He drives to the hoop and finishes strong with a nice touch. Towns is a beast but I'm not sold on either of the Harrison twins or Cauley-Stein. I think Kaminsky is gonna be good, shades of Dirk. But Okafor will be taken #1.

[Rude]

Cauley is offensively challenged for sure. He's just going to be a defensive specialist. Towns will go 1 b/c you can't teach size and athleticism and he's got both in spades. He was literally unstoppable. I want the Harrison's to leave. They bring negative energy and don't have the work ethic. I'm a huge uk fan but I'm like a coach in my analysis. I'm not blinded by my love of UK basketball. All year lomg we've watched the undulations of cauley. He was brilliant early then becomes irrelevant. He's a sketchy draft pick besides defensively. Booker went from unknown to lottery b/c of his form, speed and defense. Aaron Harrison has dropped all year on draft boards and in our confidence. He literally just stands in 1spot offensively and doesn't move. He is lazy and complains to much. Andrew however was predicted never to go pro last year and this year turned it around averaging only 1.5 turnovers a game at point while improving his shooting a ton. His best feature is his defense. He's big and strong and has developed a work ethic to an extent. I just want Booker to come back to work with ulis on the best backcourt in the country. We will lose all centers and hopefully our new top 5 freshman center will be good.

[Tom Banjo]

Booker should come back if you think he is lottery talent.  I don't see how he can go in the lottery, although I admit my sample size is limited to his tournament performance.  Maybe Coach Cal held him back this year so he would have to consider coming back.  

[Tea]

It pains me to say this but....Congrats to Duke. Coach K out coached Bo Ryan and showed again why he's the best in the business.

Coach Cal is synonymous with the one-and-done players and gets his fair share of criticism for it. He's a much better recruiter than a coach and his less than savory impacts at UMass and Memphis don't help his rep.

I point this out only to add a fact about last nite: 4 Duke freshmans scored ALL of the teams points in the 2nd half. K is a lot more like Cal than fans and media will admit - at least from a one-and-done standpoint. Cal is just is honest about his approach. K is less-so.

While K is still a member of the rat family, he is one hell of a basketball coach. Maybe the best ever - sorry Mr Wooden.

[cm_hayden]

Shows how much I know, I was expecting to watch UK and MSU in the finals.

[Rude]

Booker should come back if you think he is lottery talent. I don't see how he can go in the lottery, although I admit my sample size is limited to his tournament performance. Maybe Coach Cal held him back this year so he would have to consider coming back.

Booker shot 42% from 3 point range and had a stretch of 18/24 3's. NBA has become a 3-point league. Booker is projected as the 2nd shooting guard taken after an international player. He's projected from 8th pick to 20th overall on 5 draft boards. The kid has a pull up jumper that's as perfect form as you will see. His dad played nba so the kid has a new car and takes the team out to eat a lot so isn't hurting for cash which gives UK a shot. If he returns, UK will be pre-season number 1. He's the key to UKs season next year.

[Tom Banjo]

Coach K won his first 4 titles the other way. He has adapted to the current state of the NCAA. He recruits 1 and done players, but he also still has a history deep in multi-year guys. Coach Cal has only made a living based on one and done players. This helps foster the belief he must be cheating. He's also been shamed at 2 programs. If you're the coach and your kids get impermissible benefits, its your fault. Run your program. Don't plead ignorance.

The 3 point percentage from Booker can't be denied. Its impressive. I still don't see a lottery pick, but I know that the TV pundits and sport analysts do.

[Rude]

The fact that cal pushes kids to nba is the payment. 1 year players don't need cash. The reason football has so much booster payments is b/c u are in college at least 2-4 years. Where would a kid like towns go to school? Alabama who would have to pay him 250k or ky who gives u massive exposure for free. UK is only program that has a pro day that invites 100 scouts to check out every player. There is no need to pay them. Their program is the pay.

[Tom Banjo]

You've said that before. I don't believe that sending kids to pros and getting them exposure necessarily means that no impermissible benefits ever happen. UNC been doing good for kids for awhile and they cheated. Syracuse no mid major. They cheated. Im not going to assume to big to cheat. Sorry coach Cal has a reputation that precedes him.

[acududeman]

It pains me to say this but....Congrats to Duke. Coach K out coached Bo Ryan and showed again why he's the best in the business.

Coach Cal is synonymous with the one-and-done players and gets his fair share of criticism for it. He's a much better recruiter than a coach and his less than savory impacts at UMass and Memphis don't help his rep.

I point this out only to add a fact about last nite: 4 Duke freshmans scored ALL of the teams points in the 2nd half. K is a lot more like Cal than fans and media will admit - at least from a one-and-done standpoint. Cal is just is honest about his approach. K is less-so.

While K is still a member of the rat family, he is one hell of a basketball coach. Maybe the best ever - sorry Mr Wooden.

 

Wow Tea, I know that was hard for you to say, being a Carolina guy and all

 

Congrats to the Blue Devils........it was a hell of a ride for those of us who bleed Duke blue!

[Rude]

You've said that before. I don't believe that sending kids to pros and getting them exposure necessarily means that no impermissible benefits ever happen. UNC been doing good for kids for awhile and they cheated. Syracuse no mid major. They cheated. Im not going to assume to big to cheat. Sorry coach Cal has a reputation that precedes him.

Again, UK is cheating b/c Calipari had issues in the past is just wrong. Not saying it's the case with you, but generally people accuse out of jealousy. They will call girls whores b/c they are jealous. People tend to put others down b/c of insecurity in themselves. I had horrible self esteem in collehe and wanted everyone else to be miserable as well. I still have issues with this as I tend to say little things when people are happy to belittle what's making them happy. Ive worked on eradicating this. Obviously people are jealous that Calipari gets the number 1 class every year. I predict LSU will have this years number 1 class btw. They aren't number 1 now but some uk recruits I believe are going to choose LSU over UK.

[bs69]

I agree with rude, I don't think there is any cheating going on with recruiting or benefits at Kentucky. He just doesn't need to do it. This years group seemed like a pretty good group of kids, not sure about the classroom though. If Booker is still going to class, he is probably coming back.