Azubuike24;1184487 wrote:Agreed. A team that didn't make the Final Four can't be in the discussion.

2007 Ohio State, 2008 Kansas, 2008 Memphis and 2001 Arizona would be on there before them...

Yeah I just put Kansas cause I'm a homer and that was the first thing that came to my mind...but all 4 of those teams would crush that St Joes team, and on paper were much better than St Joes.

Butler is headed to the A10 earlier than expected, to begin play in the fall. That'll be a fun conference to watch, with Butler, VCU, Xavier, Temple, St. Louis, UMass, Dayton etc.

It's a great move. It's a basketball-focused conference that will become a major player, both in recruiting and nationally. If a "mid-major" school wins a national title moving forward, it's going to be from the A-10. Not only have they spread their market share, they have retained coaches, developed players and started to recruit nationally.

I think they have now surpassed the Missouri Valley as the premier mid-major league. The Mountain West, if they haven't already, is close to doing so. With some longevity, they are well on their way. Same goes for the WCC with the addition of BYU. I see the Missouri Valley expanding in the future, as well as the Mountain West, at least for basketball. Schools without football programs or different football affiliations may attempt to break into these leagues. I'm thinking schools like Weber State (WCC), Old Dominion (A-10), Drexel (A-10), Long Beach State (WCC), Detroit (A-10), Murray State (MVC), New Mexico State (MWC), Nevada (MWC).

It might create 10 super conferences in basketball. 11 if you count C-USA.

Interesting thought on expansion there, though I don't see the WCC adding Weber anytime soon. They added U of Pacific for 2013-14 to even out the travel schedule. 2011-12 was a nightmare with not traditional travel partners. Beyond that, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in particular are not going to encourage any further expansion unless it helps their RPI. BYU did that. Weber will not. Finding schools that match the conference geographically, institutionally (private, preferably faith-based,) and that would help their RPI will be very difficult. Their was some wild speculation that had suggested a "super-conference" that would have an Eastern and Western division that covered both coasts of Catholic-only schools, but I think that was just a booze-inspired pipe dream of some pundit with nothing to write about in the offseason.

Kentucky will play at Notre Dame on November 29th.

The full schedule. Pretty BLAH.

Kentucky at Notre Dame
Marquette at Florida
South Carolina at St. John’s
Seton Hall at LSU
Syracuse at Arkansas
Tennessee at Georgetown
DePaul at Auburn
Georgia at South Florida
Alabama at Cincinnati
Villanova at Vanderbilt
Mississippi State at Providence
Rutgers at Mississippi

I bolded the games that might have some national interest. Missouri and A&M won't be part of the rotation until next year.

That Syracuse-Arkansas game isn't going to happen. Notice Pitt got left out too.

2 of the best games of the year are on ESPNU right now.

Down to the last 8 or so minutes of the Carolina/Dook game in Chapel Hill on now and then the game in HIS.

5 months until the season starts...I believe!

wildcats20;1192831 wrote: Down to the last 8 or so minutes of the Carolina/Dook game in Chapel Hill

I will NEVER watch that again. Makes me sick to see that Rivers shot. The ridiculous mistakes by Carolina in those last couple minutes, coupled with several "unfortunate" calls/no-calls, are just too much to live through another time.

Anthony Davis signs with an agent with a seperate company than the one WWW runs. How could this be? Doesn't WWW deliver all Calipari recruits? Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Derrick Rose are also with the same non-WWW agency...

Rodney hood visit to duke went well I heard. Have some hope he will sign w duke an not the buckeyes. Had heard Osu as front runner for months.

Joining the Huskies on the sideline next March will be Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California-Riverside, Cal State Bakersfield, Jacksonville State, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina-Wilmington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Toledo and Towson.

Basketball APR numbers released. All those^ schools will be missed the postseason this coming season.

swamisez;1203549 wrote:Rodney hood visit to duke went well I heard. Have some hope he will sign w duke an not the buckeyes. Had heard Osu as front runner for months.

Haven't heard or read anything about Hood since his Duke visit. Personally, I like that. If he would have been so sold on Duke, I would have expected him to announce soon after his visit. I would guess he is having a tough decision.

Agree. Think he will be a buckeye.

swamisez;1210699 wrote:Agree. Think he will be a buckeye.

We'll know this week.

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-sports/2012/06/reports_rodney_hood_to_choose.html

Saw today Kentucky reached out to Ohio State about a game but they couldn't agree on a date. That would have been an awesome game to see.

Terry_Tate;1211580 wrote:Saw today Kentucky reached out to Ohio State about a game but they couldn't agree on a date. That would have been an awesome game to see.

I wish OSU/UK would play annually.

Interesting that UK seems to be having so many issues with scheduling teams.

Midstate01;1211616 wrote:Interesting that UK seems to be having so many issues with scheduling teams.

Everyone wants to play them. They will only play on their terms. Makes it tough when other programs (and rightfully so) won't bow to their requests. It's similar to what Duke and Coach K have done for years.

I am not necessarily in favor but Calipari has taken complete control over the schedule. He has made it a recruiting-oriented schedule strategically wanting games in certain markets and venues. Rivalries and fan-preferred games have been victims of this.

For instance, he agreed to play Portland in Oregon a few years back. This was instead of a game they could have had at Rupp. Why? Well, Terrence Jones and Kyle Wiltjer were recruits from the area. Coincidence? I think not. It's a talent-rich area and very few schools outside of the Pac 12 and Gonzaga have a shot.

Cal also insisted on playing Indiana on a neutral site. This stems from the treatment of UK fans last year in Bloomington, no doubt, but at the same time, why play IU there when he could get a game in Indianapolis? Indianapolis is one of the hotbeds of talent and it certainly only hurts IU for UK to gain even more influence there.

UK is playing Maryland in a neutral site game at the Nets new arena in Brooklyn. That's pretty random as they could certainly have bigger opponents than Maryland. However, connecting with Jay Z (who helped arrange the contact) and playing on national TV in this market would be huge.

UK has signed to play Baylor in Dallas, TX at the Jerry Dome next year. This in a 2-game contract along with a game at Rupp this year against Baylor. For this upcoming year, it replaces the UNC game which is a long-standing rivalry and much-anticipated game. Why? Bringing the UK brand to Texas in-front of a record crowd is more beneficial than playing in Chapel Hill from a recruiting perspective.

It stinks on one hand, I'd love for UK/OSU to get a home and home. That would be awesome. I'd love to play UNC every year. Same with IU. Or Kansas. However, I don't see these happening anytime soon. I DO see UK continuing to abandon some typical scheduling procedures and really start to expand. I'd bet that here shortly Kentucky will play in Los Angeles, whether just a game there or a series with UCLA. Why? The only real sector of recruits that Calipari isn't #1 on the list of everywhere is with the west coast/California kids. That will change.

Long-winded post, but it seems Cal has upset many UK fans with his scheduling and while there are negatives, it's ridiculous for so many UK fans to react this way. It's obvious he wants complete control and he's slowly establishing it.

MSU and UConn will open in Germany at Ramstein AFB: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8096915/michigan-state-spartans-face-connecticut-huskies-nov-9-overseas-military-base

Dispatch article says rumors swirling at Durant camp that Hood may be OSU bound. Lets hope!

http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/blogs/hoops-and-scoops/2012/06/06-25-12-hood-headed-to-buckeyes.html

What Cal is doing to the UK schedule is just awful. I would hate it as a fan. The recruiting thing is obviously what hes going for, but he never needed it before. He doesnt need it now. Its UK and its Cal.

If Crean/Glass did that, and didnt take into account the students and fans, I would be livid.

There are some positives. It totally makes sense to expand into areas like Texas, California, the upper Northwest and the Northeast coast. There are hotbeds of talent there and as I said before, UK always tops the list for kids in the Midwest and South.

With that said, what doesn't make sense is dropping IU because they won't play in Indy. Indy is what it is. Everyone in Indy knows UK. Either come out and say you just don't want to play IU or you don't like playing in Bloomington. Both are understandable, but to have it go down the way it has with both sides acting almighty is crappy. The fans deserve better.

I think Cal made a mistake with UNC. That quickly got resolved. Geography aside, both sides realized UK/UNC is good for the sport. It's back on in 2013 and should continue for the long haul.

The scout's comment on William Buford really kinda goes along with my biggest complaint of him over the past 2 seasons

I don't think he likes to play.