Was watching it live on the internet as I posted...

How's LSU gonna be this year, azu?

We (Rutgers) have them and Florida at home this year..obviously I know all about Florida's team (incredible backcourt) as well as Mike Rosario's return to Rutgers, but haven't read much about LSU.

Talented front-court. Storm Warren, Malcolm White, 5-star Johnny O'Bryant. Starting backcourt of Ralston Turner and Andre Stringer, the team's 2 leading returning scorers. Solid starting 5, not a lot of depth, they have gotten beaten down badly in the SEC the last few years so we'll see how Trent Johnson's responds.

Now that it's a 12-team league without divisions, I'd predict them 5th in the West (behind Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi State and Mississippi) and 8th or 9th overall (also Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and tied with Georgia). Very outside shot to be an NCAA Tournament team, along with Mississippi and Georgia. Better than Auburn, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Johnny O'Bryant, from seeing him in a few all-star games is a beast though. I actually really wish Kentucky could have signed him. Definitely a horse inside and has some nice skill.

Nice, thanks.

I'm hoping for a split between UF and LSU for Rutgers

Are you attending grad school at Rutgers, Sports? Or work there or something. I know you were at Ohio (at least I think) at one time. That's cool, though. Too bad you weren't there when Quincy Douby was still tearing up the RAC and the rest of the Big East. That dude could ball. Probably the calmest, coolest and most collective shooter from 30 feet I've ever seen in my life as a fan of basketball. He was a light switch. If turned on, he wasn't going to be stopped.

reclegend22;967262 wrote:Are you attending grad school at Rutgers, Sports? Or work there or something. I know you were at Ohio (at least I think) at one time. That's cool, though. Too bad you weren't there when Quincy Douby was still tearing up the RAC and the rest of the Big East. That dude could ball. Probably the calmest, coolest and most collective shooter from 30 feet I've ever seen in my life as a fan of basketball. He was a light switch. If turned on, he wasn't going to be stopped.

Yeah just started working here..in the athletic department (well, sorta..). Graduated from Ohio in June.

Quincy Douby was awesome..I rarely ever paid attention to Rutgers, but Quincy Douby was always one of my favorite players to watch. Sucks he never made it in the NBA.

No mention of UK players getting hit by drunk driver?
Poole and Jones OK
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/11/stacey-poole-and-terrence-jones-involved-in-car-accident/1

The UK players weren't the ones drinking and driving. Why would anyone care?

Being sarcastic as if it was reversed, the media would be blowing it up. Then again, anything else sports-related is going to take a backseat to the Penn State situation.

Azubuike24;968324 wrote: Then again, anything else sports-related is going to take a backseat to the Penn State situation.

This. I hadnt even heard about the UK players. But at the same time, its only worth a mention in passing if they werent hurt in terms of ESPN, etc.

The 2011 Freshman class at UK looks pretty sick already.

86-50 with 8 minutes left over Marist. Darius Miller and Terrence Jones are the 6th and 7th leading scorers in the game.

Hoosiers get their first win under their belt in 2011. A 96-66 win over Stony Brook, who is picked to finish 2nd in their conference and returns 12 players and 4 starters.

Laley23;968484 wrote:Hoosiers get their first win under their belt in 2011. A 96-66 win over Stony Brook, who is picked to finish 2nd in their conference and returns 12 players and 4 starters.

But unfortunately, they're still Stony Brook. I like the optimism, though.

Belmont is taking Duke down to the wire..but Dawkins just drilled a 3 to put em up 4

Belmont will be dancin again this year

Fuck duke.

Belmont is definitely living up to their "top mid-major" label. Duke is underwhelming though. Just comparing the two, Austin Rivers isn't anywhere close to the league that Kyrie Irving or Brandon Knight were in last year.

Curry truck sticked that guy before dukes timeout and K wanted a foul called on Belmont.

Final: Duke 77, Belmont 76.

Very good game to watch.

karen lotz;968704 wrote:Curry truck sticked that guy before dukes timeout and K wanted a foul called on Belmont.

Yeah that was pretty funny..Curry just ran the dude over, Coach K goes apeshit to keep the ref from calling the offensive foul..that's why he has 901 wins

SportsAndLady;968707 wrote:Yeah that was pretty funny..Curry just ran the dude over, Coach K goes apeshit to keep the ref from calling the offensive foul..that's why he has 901 wins

Oh no, he clearly wanted a defensive foul called which makes it even worse.

Duke showed great poise at the end to stave off a really good, senior-laden Belmont club. The Bruins will make some noise in the NCAAs. This will be the year they break through and win one, maybe two, games as they are dancing in March. Chris Collins said it best when he described Belmont this week as a very scary team. As a follower of Duke, I can attest to that first hand. I was afraid I was losing my health during our 2008 first round face-off with Belmont. I would be quite pleased to never play them again.

While Rivers may not be a Kyrie Irving -- newsflash, not many guys are -- he came out throwing punches, and proved that he isn't afraid to get to the rim and attack. Not many of his driving shots fell on this night, but that's all right. He got to the free throw stripe five times, connecting on 8-of-10. Rivers finished with 16 and hit a couple of threes for good measure. A solid first night under the bright lights of America's most famous college basketball stadium, Cameron Indoor.

The real story of the night is sophomore workhorse Tyler Thornton. Ten points, three steals and two threes in 24 minutes off the bench, in addition to stifling defense all over the floor. He's Duke's defensive igniter, and he's damn good in that role. I love this kid.

LOL

Azubuike24;968701 wrote:Belmont is definitely living up to their "top mid-major" label. Duke is underwhelming though. Just comparing the two, Austin Rivers isn't anywhere close to the league that Kyrie Irving or Brandon Knight were in last year.

It is amazing what Belmont has done in such a short time, they were known as Vanderbilt's "hat" (being just NE of the Vandy campus and sharing many streets), really a good program developing.

As an aside, Doris Burke said during the game that Belmont's Drew Hanlen told her he grew up as a fan of the Celtics watching Larry Bird. Hanlen is 22 years old, which means he was three years old when Larry retired and is a fucking liar. I don't know why I just got so mad about that, but enough is enough. You hear this all the time. Guys from 2005 or maybe 2006 could have made that claim about actually watching Larry Bird's playing days. But it just sounds ridiculous now. And from a sexual reproduction standpoint, it's fucking impossible. Just say, I grew up watching NBA Hardwood Hero videos of Larry Bird.

Maybe this doesn't bother other people, but it always vexes me.

Gonna be a rough first month or longer for Duke. Without Nolan and Singler this team is still trying to find an identity. Not sure what in the heck K is going to do with this group. Sure as hell can't run the floor with three 6'10" white guys playing 30 minutes a game.

Looks like UCLA is going down to Loyola Marymount. Rough opener for a team hoping to get back to winning. Ben Howland got outcoached in this one, too.