Thursday, January 27, 2011
Powerhouses
Every year in college basketball their are a few teams that dissapoint, while others surprise us. A huge dissapointment this yeart has been Michigan State, a team that made the final four last year and returned all the talent this year. They began the season ranked at number 2, but now find themselves out of the top 25. This team has been a major dissapointment. Aside from the underdogs and busts, their are powerhouses, schools that are co0nsistently good. Duke is the powerhouse of college basketball. Year after year they are a top 5 team. It truly does matter what conference you are in. This year the Big East is the best conference with seven teams in the top 25, and three in the top 10. All the teams in the big east, have tougher competition, which means they won't have as good a record as some of the WCC or Mountain West conference teams. BYU is a team that is carried by the best scorer in college basketball, Jimmer Fredette. BYU just beat number undefeated San Diego State. I am impressed with the way that BYU played, but they don't stand a chance against a powerhouse. Ohio State would roll over them, and so would Duke. Yes, what conference you play in does make a difference.
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I'd agree with your premise that smaller schools generally "don't stand a chance against a powerhouse" like Duke, only if they played a seven game series with home court advantages in college basketball like they do in the NBA. However you don’t have to look back farther than last year to see that when it comes to the NCAA tourney your assertion isn’t totally accurate. The Number one team in America last year was Kansas, they lost to Northern Iowa in the second round of the tourney. Fellow number one seed Syracuse lost to a little team from the Horizon league (Butler), a fate that Duke came inches away from sharing in the championship game last year. Virginia Commonwealth University beat Duke not so long ago in the tourney as well. BYU currently has the same record as Duke and by all rating systems out there BYU has also played a tougher schedule… I still think on a neutral floor Duke wins 65% of the time, but I don’t think those odds are too bad at all. If the little guys truly didn’t stand a chance than March would be just as dull as February..... This is Jon Hulse by the way
ReplyDeleteThey stand a chance, but if Northern Iowa played Kansas 50 times, Kansas would win 49. BYU is anchored by Jimmer, good luck going up against a team with a dominant inside presence. I can personally guarantee that BYU won't make the final four. Butler wasn't as a big of an underdog last year as you think, they began the year ranked in the top 15 and had 2 all conference players. If BYU plays Ohio State, Duke, Pitt or Kansas in the tourney I am putting all my money against BYU.
ReplyDeleteyou sound so much like your brother it's amazing... Butler had one good player, let's be clear on that, "All-Conference" in the Horizon league means nothing, BYU will have two "All-Conference" players in a far stronger MT WEST but Jimmer is all anyone will ever know. BYU's been ranked for nearly two unbroken years, Butler was for sure a bigger underdog last year then BYU will be this year (assuming BYU keeps winning).... but to be clear, I'll be betting against BYU long before they get to a contest with Ohio State or Duke, but if they end up even playing any of those teams you mentioned then it's already been a successful tourney for them and would be a fitting ending to a fun year. betting on the Dukes, Lakers and Yankees of the world is never that impressive, being a die hard supporter of the Raiders, A's, Golden State's and BYUs of the world will always earn my admiration. predicting the little guy to lose is already implied, hardly needs mentioning.
ReplyDeleteI take it back that Butler had two good players, I meant three. We all know about Gordon HAyward but the other all conference player was Matt Howard, a way better player than any of BYU's big men. That leads me to the third, Shelvin Mack to unsung hero of last years March Madness, he is a great player and was the reason that Butler was ranked so high AGAIN this year. I don't want to hear that BYU will have two conference players shocks me and is breathtaking to hear that. Hearing that come out of a BYU fan, wow what a shock! I am a Warriors fan and I will be honest and say that they only have one player deserving of an all star bid. But I'm sure you would say that beside Monta, Steph Curry and David Lee are deserving too! That's a joke! Because BYU has no inside game, they are forced to chuck up shots and hope they are hot that game. Jackson Emery is not dserving of an all conference spot, it will go to Dairese Gary a much more deserving player who helped his Lobos beat Jackson Emery's Cougars. Isn't it alittle unfair that BYU has 22 year old men playing against 18 year old kids?
ReplyDeleteBYU starting lineup: 18, 19, 21, 21, and yes Jackson Emery is 23, but as you've already established, Emery is terrible.... so where is the advantage again? or is that just the age old argument that everyone throws out in a blind rage when BYU wins? if there existed any advantage in having a player contract diseases and grow fat in a foreign country for two years don't you think every coach in the country would encourage their LDS players to do it? (universally they try to convince them to stay, they must not be aware of this advantage) our best inside presence is done for the season, he couldn't ever get his body back into shape after returning from his mission this last year, he would have been a dominate senior if he hadn't gone, our second best player this year should be Tyler Haws, but instead he's in Russia. Missions destroy continuity and often the individual player as well (athletically only of course) if Jimmer had gone on a mission he would not be an even better player now, he would be significantly worse,.. when BYU succeeds in basketball it is generally in spite of juggling missionaries, not as a result of it.... I can't tell if you really hate BYU as much as it seems like you do or if I just can't make out the tone in your writing.... but it appears Erik has done his work too well for me to try and undo it at this point.
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