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2012-2013 College Basketball Game Discussion Thread


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Nerlens Noel set a Kentucky record with 12 blocks tonight.

 

Even more impressive? About 5 of those came after he had picked up his 4th foul with 12 minutes left in the game. He sat for about 4 minutes and Ole Miss went on a 15-0 run to cut Kentucky's lead to 1 point. Noel comes back in and Kentucky goes on a 15-0 run of their own to close out the game.

 

He completely dominated the game despite scoring 2 points. I'll even go as far as to say that he was more dominant defensively tonight (well, at least in the 2nd half as that was all I saw) than Anthony Davis was at any point last year.

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Ugh...didn't watch it.  LA was playing, and I was checking out Dallas and Portland, also.

 

More dominant than Davis?  That's a big statement...really wish I had watched the second half.  Guess it wouldn't surprise me, though, because I do remember there was talk about him being the better defender.

 

If he gets drafted (well, we know he will, probably top five), and he puts on a lot of weight, I wonder if he'll become a better defensive player, or lose out on the defensive end.  I don't think an extra 25 pounds would hurt him, at all, since he's so damn athletic and has a huge wingspan, but still...

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Ugh...didn't watch it.  LA was playing, and I was checking out Dallas and Portland, also.

 

More dominant than Davis?  That's a big statement...really wish I had watched the second half.  Guess it wouldn't surprise me, though, because I do remember there was talk about him being the better defender.

 

If he gets drafted (well, we know he will, probably top five), and he puts on a lot of weight, I wonder if he'll become a better defensive player, or lose out on the defensive end.  I don't think an extra 25 pounds would hurt him, at all, since he's so damn athletic and has a huge wingspan, but still...

 

I know it sounds like hyperbole on my part, but it really isn't. Kentucky was poised to blow a 16 point lead in a matter of 4 minutes simply because Noel wasn't on the floor. Ole Miss was getting whatever they wanted inside and eventually it led to open perimeter shots because Kentucky was so help conscious. Noel comes back into the game and, even with the 4 fouls, completely changes the complextion of the game. Ole Miss could do absolutely nothing offensively after getting whatever they wanted seconds prior.

 

As for the weight thing, I'm not too sure how much his frame can handle. He has some pretty small shoulders. Check out this picture with him, Davis, Wiljter and Cauley-Stein:

 

http://ukrecruiting.bloginky.com/files/2012/08/UKposts.jpg

 

His shoulders are much more comparable to Wiljter than Cauley-Stein, let alone Davis. I think he maxes out around 235. His frame looks a lot more like Bosh or Garnett and those guys have been around 240 for most of their careers. I think he is probably around 215 now (no way he is 230 like ESPN says) so yeah, 20-25 pounds is probably pretty accurate.

 

PS: Through their first 20 college games, Noel actually has more blocks than Davis did. Noel has 94 and Davis had 93. Noel also has 47 steals to go along with those blocks. He is averaging 4.7 blocks and 2.4 steals. He is a freak.

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Yeah, I noticed his frame the first time I saw him...and honestly, in his first few games, I wasn't sure what to think.  Didn't leave much of an impression in the first one, forgot who they played...but he played Duke not long after, and did a lot on the floor, even on the offensive end.

 

And I specifically remember the Baylor game, where it seemed like he pulled down every rebound for Kentucky...but my God, he was horrible getting ANYTHING to fall back on the other end of the court.

 

I really can't say I'd take him in the top three just yet.  Guys like this...I want to see what they do in the tourney.  Those 12 blocks look pretty damn good, but then I go back and look at Jeff Withey and realize he's not worthy of a lottery pick, yet, he's an outstanding shot-blocker.

 

But I do know Noel does more on the defensive end of the court, that's for sure...and that's why he's up there.  Still tough to say he's a top three for me right now.

 

Alex Len...man, I don't know.  I almost want to say I'd take him over Noel right now.  Len just needs a big man coach to teach him how to handle the ball in the post, and when to dump the ball back out.

 

Obviously, I'm going to take McLemore...partial bias there, but even if there wasn't, I think McLemore is easily top three in the draft.  And Shabazz.

 

So Noel would be top five, but I'm not so sure about three.

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It is tough to rally fault Burke for last night, though. Hardaway was having troubles shedding Oladipo and getting open off the pin-downs and back screens that they were setting for him. Oladipo did a fantastic job fighting through all of those screens, which is saying something because McGary sets some really good screens. When Hardaway did manage to get open, he did a nice job of hitting his shots, but those times weren't exactly common occurances.

 

Robinson III was just a complete ghost out there. He was such a non-factor that I forgot he was even playing.

 

When those two things happen, Burke has to change his approach and look for his own offense more. Yeah, you'd like to see him try to get into the paint a bit more rather than settle for jumpers as often as he did, but he did do a really nice job creating seperation with his step backs to get off fairly clean looks. That was one area that really impressed me about Burke. The space he creates when stepping back is Paul-lite.

 

He definitely didn't have his best game, but aside from missing some shots he normally makes (and taking some poor shots) I thought he had a solid game considering the circumstances.

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So a few things:

 

First off, lol at this whole number one seed losing immediately after being named number one. Indiana's loss against Illinois makes this, what, the 5th straight week a number one seed lost? It will be the 6th straight week (maybe, I'm not 100% sure) we will have a new #1.

 

Secondly, is the Big 10 this year the most exciting conference we've seen in the past decade? I can't remember a last time we've seen so many thrilling games in a single conference. Every time you have any two of Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State play each other it is an awesome game. Throw in teams like Minnesota and Wisconsin (and maybe even Illinois after their Indiana upset) and the conference has been just ridiculous. So much fun.

 

Thirdly, speaking of the last decade, was TCU's upset of Kansas last night the biggest of the last decade? You have the Jayhawks coming off a loss, facing an 0-7 team - who's 7 Big 12 losses were all by double digits no less - drop two games in a row for the first time since 06 and get throughly embarassed in the process by scoring 2 points in the first 10+ minutes.

 

Lastly, Duke fans strike again:

 

 

James Sloan @James_Sloan19
 

Alright duke. Chanting "how's your grandma" to Tyler Lewis who's grandma recently passed away. I lost all respect. Not that I had any...

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Wisconsin had a couple fouls to give but choose not to foul Hardaway before he made a huge three. And then Wisconsin comes back to hit a gametying three from halfcourt when Michigan had a foul to give. WTF! Poor coaching on both sides.

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Wisconsin had a couple fouls to give but choose not to foul Hardaway before he made a huge three. And then Wisconsin comes back to hit a gametying three from halfcourt when Michigan had a foul to give. WTF! Poor coaching on both sides.

 

Eh.

 

Brust hit a halfcourt, buzzer beating three. I get that they had a foul to give, but I'm not going to call out Beilein for not fouling there. The chances of accidently fouling Brust in his shooting motion are probably higher than making that shot. It was just an incredibly flukey shot that you just have to tip your hat to.

 

 

UNC getting smashed by Miami. Shane Larkin played about as perfect of a first half as you can ask from your starting point guard. Very impressive performance by him so far.

 

Meanwhile, McAdoo sucks. Shocker. His touch around the rim is brutal. The more I watch this team play, the more I think Brice Johnson is better than McAdoo, which is a huge turnaround from the start of the season when I thought McAdoo was a legitimate All-American and player of the year contender. Oops.

 

I did get a kick out of the Miami fans chanting overrated at the end of the half, though. Nobody thinks this UNC team is worth a damn and, barring an unexpected run to finish conference play and into the ACC Tournament, everybody knows this team is headed to the NIT.

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Dave Pasch and Doris Burke are starting to get on my nerves.

 

No this is not a surprising result. Nor is it anywhere close to being an upset or shock or any other stupid adjective they've used. The only thing UNC has going for them is the fact that their uniforms have "Tar Heels" on the back of their jerseys.

 

Miami dominated UNC in Chapel Hill. Miami is 9-0 in ACC play. Miami is the 8th ranked team in the country (and will potentially be in the top 5 next week). Miami is a vastly superior team than UNC. Everybody who knows anything about college basketball expected something like this.

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Kansas is stupid.  Nice to dive into the triangle and two...but GET OUT OF IT when a team starts dropping bombs from the perimeter.

 

That's three losses in a row, first time since 2005.

 

Elijah Johnson is truly a Russell Westbrook now, for some reason.

 

Here's every team that beats us:

 

http://i.imgur.com/S0zl2.gif

 

I'm just mad.

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kembawalker 7:06 pm
    kk
    if kansas had a better pg
    theyd be pretty good
    lol ive never seen a top 5 team with such a terrible pg
    elijah johnson...hes awful
iWarren2ThaG 7:07 pm
    is napier better
kembawalker 7:07 pm
    duh
    napiers a star
    elijah johnson shoots like 36%
    over 3 turnovers a game
    4 apg
    in 31 mpg
    thats so bad
    9 ppg
iWarren2ThaG 7:08 pm
    should be a bench guy
kembawalker 7:08 pm
    ya
    shouldnt even play
    kansas just has no depth
 

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Did anybody catch the 5 OT Louisville/Notre Dame game last night? I was at a hockey game so I missed it, but damn, it sounded unreal.

 

Notre Dame was down 8 points with 50 seconds left and ended up winning 104-101 in the 5th OT. Jerian Grant was 0-6 for the game up to that point and then went off for 12 points in the last 47 seconds of regulation.

 

Some more stuff from that game.

 

- 8 players fouled out.

 

- There was a combined 97 free throws and 158 shots.

 

- 6 players played over 50 minutes and 10 players scored in double digits.

 

- It was the longest game in Big East regular season history.

 

 

As crazy as the Big 10 has been this year, the Big East might even be more wide open conference. Come tournament time, I wouldn't be surprised at all if any of Gerogetown, Pitt, Louisville, Cincy, Syracuse, Notre Dame or Marquette win. Hell, you can throw St John's in there as well as they've looked good in conference play too. Even the regular season crown could easily end up being a 4 way tie. Ridiculous.

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Did anybody see the Noel injury in live action? How bad did it look?

 

I've only seen a gif of it but you can't actually see his knee. Based on what I've read on Twitter, it sounds like many people think he might've suffered a very serious injury and his season is over.

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Jeff Withey is so underrated. He's actually the biggest reason we won that game...and not just all of his FT's he hit, but he was on the glass, posting up, fouling out their defensive big, etc.

 

McLemore and Smart were awful...but Ben was really pissing me off. I understand he was being locked up, but damn, you have to WANT the ball when the game is on the line. He was standing as far from the pass as he could, and with Elijah Johnson fouled out, we didn't have a scorer out there.

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