2011-12 College Basketball

[DrJay]

It has begun. Interesting circus...er...game between Carolina nd Michingan St last night on the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego Bay. We at UNC love Michigan St, having beat them four times in the NCAA since 1998, usually late in the tourney. After John Henson leaves UNC, NORAD should station him somewhere north of the 49th parallel. Nothing the Ruskies lobbed over the pole at us would ever reach its target.

[donley2]

I suppose this could go in the conference chaos thread, but Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is ending one of the really good rivalries in college basketball. KU vs Mizzou was a huge deal to the people who lived in the greater Kansas City area and surrounding environs.

[KevinM]

I suppose this could go in the conference chaos thread, but Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is ending one of the really good rivalries in college basketball. KU vs Mizzou was a huge deal to the people who lived in the greater Kansas City area and surrounding environs.

Yep. As much as I grew up loving college athletics, I'm starting to hope that this disregard for great old regional rivalries shoots the schools in the foot. I know I've become significantly less interested in the last 6-12 mos (although I am excited to walk 4 blocks from my office to MSG in a few hours to watch a fantastic doubleheader of MSU/Duke and UK/KU).

[bambam]

Boy, Kevin, do I envy you. I even debated flying up to New York this afternoon to watch the Duke game.

[guru]

Interesting all-day college basketball marathon on ESPN leading up to the Duke/MSU game. Not sure I would have wanted the wake-up call for that 6:00 AM Drexel/Rider game though

[bambam]

Two words for Dr Jay:

9 - 03

[dukehjsteve]

Two words for Dr Jay:

9 - 03

I'll second that !!!

[DrJay]

Yes, well.......congratulations. Better Coach K than Bobby Knight.

[guru]

And then there's Pat Summitt...

[odelltrclan]

Yes, well.......congratulations. Better Coach K than Bobby Knight.

Coach K is quite the class act. Always praising those who helped and led the way (including Mr Knight) and nary a word about himself or an unkind words of others. They couldn't fine a finer guy to be number one. Can't imagine anyone ever passing him if he stays in coaching for any reasonable length of time.

[KevinM]

Boy, Kevin, do I envy you. I even debated flying up to New York this afternoon to watch the Duke game.

Honestly, I'm guessing you probably enjoyed the moment more watching on TV. This was the third time I've been to a doubleheader at the Garden, and each time the first game has felt like it was being played in a library.

[guru]

Coach K is quite the class act. Always praising those who helped and led the way (including Mr Knight) and nary a word about himself or an unkind words of others.

I just love this pic. Krzyzewski still looking every bit the understudy in his expression.


http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/2011/writer ... ers415.jpg

[DrJay]

What? 1:30 p.m. EST and nothing from bambam nor dukehjsteve yet?

[dukehjsteve]

What? 1:30 p.m. EST and nothing from bambam nor dukehjsteve yet?

Duke rules.....for now... but a biggie against Ohio State on Tuesday. And then there's that team just down the road.....

[DrJay]

There we go! That's more like it.

UNC-UK next Saturday, 12 noon EST, could be an epic.

[DrJay]

Awesome game. UNC played with poise in a tough road setting, Rupp Arena. I thought UK would control it and win by a dozen, especially after watching the Heels lose to UNLV and have their hands full with Wisconsin. UNC had a balanced attack and, I think, still has a lot of room to improve (which is scary) by February/March.

[DrJay]

Not much love for the college hoops thread.

bambam and steve, your team broke our collective UNC hearts this evening. A great game that UNC should have been able to put away, but kudos to the Devils for hanging in there. If I was Roy, I might make Tyler Zeller hold his arms in there air as he walks from one class to another, and to meals, and to practice, and to the potty, tomorrow.

[dukehjsteve]

I went to bed in shock... very PLEASANT shock. So sorry about all this doc. It definitely was not Party Night in Chapel Hill.
Odd to see they both now have identical records of 20-4 and 7-2.

[DrJay]

Apparently there was a Wall St Journal article about the rivaly and, I guess going into last night's game, in their last 75 games UNC led 38-37. During that span Duke scored 5,858 points, N.C. 5,857. So now it's 38-38 with Duke up by two points. Doesn't get much closer than that. In the Louisville Courier-Journal, Rick Bozich wrote an article about why the UK-UL rivalry is better than the Duke-UNC rivalry. It was a bit stupid, but has provoked a scrum on FB after a friend of mine posted it. Recall I grew up in Louisville as a UK and UL fan, so I've been on all four sides of the fence.

C-J: http://blogs.courier-journal.com/rickbo ... a-vs-duke/

[TN1965]

This Bozich guy is an idiot.

1 Except for a brief gap between Smith and Williams, coaches at both UNC and Duke stay much longer than the ones at UK and Louiville. That creates longer history of rivalry between coaches. And Williams-Krzyzewski rivalry goes back to Roy's days in Kansas.

2. Because we play more often, the rivalry is more intense.

3. Because we play in the same conference, conference titles and tournament titles are often at stake in addition to the bragging rights.

4. Any one who believes Chapel Hill and Durham belong to the same "community" has not visited there.

5. Huh? We have great rivalry in every sport, that is every sport Duke offers. And of course, we have beaten Duke six of the last seven years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Cup
http://www.tarheelblue.com/trads/battle-of-blues.html

[DrJay]

You're a Tar Heel?

[DrJay]

I think Bozich has been with the C-J for years, and I recall him being called Bozo more than a few times.

[Dutra5]

My guess would be that Bozich hasn't been outside Louisville except when he travels to Lexington.

As one with no affiliation to any of the involved programs....there's no current comparison.

[TN1965]

You're a Tar Heel?

Yes. Kind of (I only attended grad school there).

[DrJay]

That's good enough. The basketball fever is kind of infectious, isn't it?

[DrJay]

Here we go again, with that rivalry that beats out UK-UL (and most others.)

[bambam]

Here we go again, with that rivalry that beats out UK-UL (and most others.)

I see Duke winning by at least 45-55 points. I think the final score will be something like 137-49.

[DrJay]

bambam is post-ictal right now.

[dukehjsteve]

AAAAAAAGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're getting Waxed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DrJay]

Gotta hand it to the Duke fans. They stayed in the game, making a helluva lot of noise, even when the Devils were down 26. I think the Smith Center would have been eerily quiet if the shoe was on the other foot.

[bambam]

Gotta hand it to the Duke fans. They stayed in the game, making a helluva lot of noise, even when the Devils were down 26. I think the Smith Center would have been eerily quiet if the shoe was on the other foot.

Yeah, they did, but you guys are better than us this year. No doubt about that - if we both play well, you should win. I thought I had the score about right for a bit there, but unfortunately, wrong color of blue.

[bambam]

Gotta hand it to the Duke fans. They stayed in the game, making a helluva lot of noise, even when the Devils were down 26. I think the Smith Center would have been eerily quiet if the shoe was on the other foot.

Our fans are our nuts but in a good way.

Thought we mighta had a shot at about 5 minutes left if Curry had made that 3 to bring the margin down to 8, but that's with the iffas, couldas, shouldas now.

[Jnathletics]

The madness has begun!!! 4 good mid major teams have punched their ticket to the dance!!!
Murray St
Creighton
Belmont
UNC ashville

My school is one win away, Tuesday night. Go Titans!!! (U of Detroit Mercy, for those who don't know.).

[DrJay]

Obviously my main wish for Xmas in March (well, actually April 2 to be precise) is a Tar Heel championship. But a close second is to see Kentucky go down in flames. Their fans (including my parents, Mom's a UK alum) possess this arrogance not balanced by an appropriate degree of humility. I (briefly) got into a FB discussion about the Bozich opinion piece linked above, and one or two UK fans were going off on how UK has the greatest all-time college basketball program and the numbers prove it and blah blah blah. Whatever. If it's NCAA titles, then it's UCLA. If not that, if some compendium of other stats (titles, Final Four appearances, NCAA tourney wins, first team All-Americans, first round NBA draft picks, etc) then I think it's a toss up between UNC and UK, with Duke and KU close behind, and who knows where to rank UCLA in that scenario. Point the UK fans miss is that there are other contenders for that mythical crown. And now, with the Calipari One-and-Done (to the NBA after one year) strategy.....well, I guess I'm naive enough to believe still in the "student" part of student-athlete, and Roy and Coach K and I'm guessing bambam and dukehjsteve feel the same way. ME: "Carolina's guys stay longer, and usually, gasp, GRADUATE. Not UK's players." MOM: "We don't care." There it is. UK fans are perfectly content to be nothing more than an NBA farm team, passing their players merrily along through Basket Weaving 101.

Rant over. I feel better.

[Jnathletics]

Obviously my main wish for Xmas in MArch (well, actually April 2 to be precise) is a Tar Heel championship. But a close second is to see Kentucky go down in flames....

Sorry, DrJay, although I can agree with your Kentucky sentiment, I can't stand them and Calipari, but it appears he (Calipari) has got the horses and team that can finally win him one. I will thoroughly enjoy when all the big names lose, but I don't believe Kentucky will be one of them.