WVU gets a shot at Ohio State at the end of the month. Hopefully the Mountaineers will have the starting backcourt on the floor again by then. If so, the Buckeyes are in trouble...

SF Husky Wrote:Dude you expect all the bottom of the BE to beat all top 25 teams too? That's asking a lot. Any team Depaul plays we might as well put a L next to it cause they suck. Cincy lost to a top 9 team in Xavier so there is no shame in that.

Not saying that Cincy last night or West Virginia last Tuesday "should" have won, but...

If the league wants to lay claim to the title of greatest conference ever (that means top to bottom, not just top heavy), then teams like the Eers find ways to beat Davidson (which they almost did without injured Ruoff and Mazzula) or teams like Cincy find ways to actually go out and beat their main OOC rivals on their own home floor, especially when they have become the decided underdogs in this series over the past decade and a half (let's be honest, they came out flat, not prepared, and looked like crap for most of that game).

Still, as I cited in the post you are responding to, the main culprits are Pitt and Louisville where both squads knew they had Top 10 teams coming back and yet scheduled as though they were middle of the road Big East teams.

Cheers,
Neil

BJUnklFkr Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Cincy lost to a top 9 team in Xavier so there is no shame in that.

Actually we stunk up the court. I'm not happy at all about it.

I counted 11 good minutes in the 40 played.

I realize you guys are without Cashmere Wright and know that Cronin can recruit, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if that guy knows his 'x's and 'o's and is capable of truly coaching the Bearcats back to prominence in bb.

Cheers,
Neil

omnicarrier Wrote:Still, as I cited in the post you are responding to, the main culprits are Pitt and Louisville where both squads knew they had Top 10 teams coming back and yet scheduled as though they were middle of the road Big East teams.

Agreed. Who the hell were those teams Pitt and UL played? I saw an ESPN report at halftime that UL was tied to Austin P or something and I said WHAT? Anyway, they certainly should have played some better teams.

Meanwhile, UCONN will be on the road next week against #3 Gonzanga. It will be a very tough game since all the stars are now lined correctly for the Zags. Thank god we got Stanley Robinson back for this one.

omnicarrier Wrote:I realize you guys are without Cashmere Wright and know that Cronin can recruit, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if that guy knows his 'x's and 'o's and is capable of truly coaching the Bearcats back to prominence in bb.

Cheers,
Neil

UC is 6-2. One of their losses was to the 9th ranked team in the country. Two years ago he beat a similar Xavier team with a lot less talent than he has now.

I think it's a little early to worry about Cronin's coaching ability. UC will be fine.

bearcatfan Wrote:

omnicarrier Wrote:I realize you guys are without Cashmere Wright and know that Cronin can recruit, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if that guy knows his 'x's and 'o's and is capable of truly coaching the Bearcats back to prominence in bb.

Cheers,
Neil

UC is 6-2. One of their losses was to the 9th ranked team in the country. Two years ago he beat a similar Xavier team with a lot less talent than he has now.

I think it's a little early to worry about Cronin's coaching ability. UC will be fine.

Hey, I'm sure you know the Bearcats better than I do, but last night I saw a team that was totally unprepared to play a team that looked to be way better coached than UC, despite not having greater talent than the team they beat.

I still think you guys have a good shot at possibly being Big East #10 which should make you a good NCAA bubble team. Best of luck the rest of the way.

Cheers,
Neil

omnicarrier Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Dude you expect all the bottom of the BE to beat all top 25 teams too? That's asking a lot. Any team Depaul plays we might as well put a L next to it cause they suck. Cincy lost to a top 9 team in Xavier so there is no shame in that.

Not saying that Cincy last night or West Virginia last Tuesday "should" have won, but...

You can't hold WVU's loss to Davidson against the confernce or WVU. Davison won a squeaker to a team without it's starting backcourt. Of course the media made almost no mention of that, and it was only the Mountaineers futility from the free throw line allowed Davidson to escape with a win.

I wouldn't brag about any wins like that, especially if I were from a team with one of the best ball players in the nation.

Let WVU play Davidson again, with both teams at full strength, and see how it turns out. It might happen in the NCAA tourney. I sure hope so...

bitcruncher Wrote:

omnicarrier Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Dude you expect all the bottom of the BE to beat all top 25 teams too? That's asking a lot. Any team Depaul plays we might as well put a L next to it cause they suck. Cincy lost to a top 9 team in Xavier so there is no shame in that.

Not saying that Cincy last night or West Virginia last Tuesday "should" have won, but...

You can't hold WVU's loss to Davidson against the confernce or WVU. Davison won a squeaker to a team without it's starting backcourt. Of course the media made almost no mention of that, and it was only the Mountaineers futility from the free throw line allowed Davidson to escape with a win.

I wouldn't brag about any wins like that, especially if I were from a team with one of the best ball players in the nation.

Let WVU play Davidson again, with both teams at full strength, and see how it turns out. It might happen in the NCAA tourney. I sure hope so...

Ummm...I believe I mentioned the fact that West Virginia was without Ruoff and Mazzula. And you guys still had a shot of winning that game at the end. It was a great job by the Eers. But ultimately, it still goes down as a loss.

Cheers,
Neil

You may have mentioned it. But the media conveniently ignored that fact in the post game articles on Davidson. It was only mentioned in stories written from a WVU perspective. Davisdon, and the media didn't mention it once...

SF Husky Wrote:Agreed. Who the hell were those teams Pitt and UL played? I saw an ESPN report at halftime that UL was tied to Austin P or something and I said WHAT? Anyway, they certainly should have played some better teams.

Austin Peay was a tournament team last year and usually finishes at the top of the Ohio Valley conference. As for being close at half, I don't know why you'd be suprised. A lot of Big East teams have had very close games to lesser opponenets this year.

#2 UConn was tied with Buffalo at half.
#2 UConn lead LaSalle by 6 points at half.
#16 G'Town lead Wichita St by 4 at half.
WVU was down to CSU by 4 at the half.
WVU was down by 8 to Duquense at the half.
Syracuse was down to Richmond by 7 at the half.
#20 Syracuse was down by 5 to Cornell at half.
#6 Pitt was beating Miami(OH) by 5 at the half.

Personally, I think Pitino knew what he was doing when he made the schedule. Samardo is a beast on offense but both he and Jennings are struggling defensively and against the double team. My guess is the schedule was made the way it was (increasing difficultly without any top 25s) because Pitino was worried about having two freshman centers. The WKU embarassment, IMO, highlights this fact.

The thing that hurts more is when teams like UofL lose to teams they should beat (WKU) IMO.

omnicarrier Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:

omnicarrier Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Dude you expect all the bottom of the BE to beat all top 25 teams too? That's asking a lot. Any team Depaul plays we might as well put a L next to it cause they suck. Cincy lost to a top 9 team in Xavier so there is no shame in that.

Not saying that Cincy last night or West Virginia last Tuesday "should" have won, but...

You can't hold WVU's loss to Davidson against the confernce or WVU. Davison won a squeaker to a team without it's starting backcourt. Of course the media made almost no mention of that, and it was only the Mountaineers futility from the free throw line allowed Davidson to escape with a win.

I wouldn't brag about any wins like that, especially if I were from a team with one of the best ball players in the nation.

Let WVU play Davidson again, with both teams at full strength, and see how it turns out. It might happen in the NCAA tourney. I sure hope so...

Ummm...I believe I mentioned the fact that West Virginia was without Ruoff and Mazzula. And you guys still had a shot of winning that game at the end. It was a great job by the Eers. But ultimately, it still goes down as a loss.

Cheers,
Neil

I could be wrong, but I thought the Domes capacity was down to maybe 49,300 or something like that. With the renovation, I was sure it was reduced to a hair below 50,000.

UofL07 Wrote:

SF Husky Wrote:Agreed. Who the hell were those teams Pitt and UL played? I saw an ESPN report at halftime that UL was tied to Austin P or something and I said WHAT? Anyway, they certainly should have played some better teams.

Austin Peay was a tournament team last year and usually finishes at the top of the Ohio Valley conference. As for being close at half, I don't know why you'd be suprised. A lot of Big East teams have had very close games to lesser opponenets this year.

#2 UConn was tied with Buffalo at half.
#2 UConn lead LaSalle by 6 points at half.
#16 G'Town lead Wichita St by 4 at half.
WVU was down to CSU by 4 at the half.
WVU was down by 8 to Duquense at the half.
Syracuse was down to Richmond by 7 at the half.
#20 Syracuse was down by 5 to Cornell at half.
#6 Pitt was beating Miami(OH) by 5 at the half.

Personally, I think Pitino knew what he was doing when he made the schedule. Samardo is a beast on offense but both he and Jennings are struggling defensively and against the double team. My guess is the schedule was made the way it was (increasing difficultly without any top 25s) because Pitino was worried about having two freshman centers. The WKU embarassment, IMO, highlights this fact.

The thing that hurts more is when teams like UofL lose to teams they should beat (WKU) IMO.

I know in the case of Syracuse they won all those games because they are undefeated. But I was wondering about these tight first half games that sometimes turn into blowouts or convincing wins in the second like Syr this weekend.
I'm wondering if coaches are playing soft first halfs instead of showing their hand too early and allowing the "mid-major" to make adjustments. Then in the second half you come out with all guns blazing.

Two good wins by the Big East today over ranked teams that gets them back over .500 in this category. But the ACC still leads with a 6-3 record in this category.

Congrats to the Cuse and the Huskies.

Big Ten came up huge today as well.

While it is still too early to say who will go dancing, the plain truth of the matter is, so far the ACC, Big East, and Big Ten are basically equal at this time with the Big 12 not too far behind. SEC and Pac-10 are pathetic though.

Cheers,
Neil

Just perusing the scoreboards today, it looks as though the BE was involved in 12 ooc games today, and went 9-3. Not too bad, but whats going on with Louisville? I know they have had some hiccups the last couple years early in the season, but this is getting to be somewhat embarrasing. They were picked to possibly win the league. Thy still can, but they make it hard on themselves.
Like last year, they will get things turned around, just in time for league play.

cuseroc Wrote:Just perusing the scoreboards today, it looks as though the BE was involved in 12 ooc games today, and went 9-3. Not too bad, but whats going on with Louisville? I know they have had some hiccups the last couple years early in the season, but this is getting to be somewhat embarrasing. They were picked to possibly win the league. Thy still can, but they make it hard on themselves.
Like last year, they will get things turned around, just in time for league play.

I think Minnesota was just a bad match-up for the Cards and that the Gophers are one of those "under the radar" type teams that could ultimately prove to be quite good as the season progresses.

But the loss still hurts because it gives another Big Ten team legitimacy. They now have 5 of 11 teams with a Top 25 victory. The Big East tops that with 6, but that's 6 out of 16.

Seton Hall is going to have to get some huge wins in conference to make up for that loss to IUPUI today.

Cheers,
Neil

Let's hope the Mountaineers take the Buckeyes down a notch next week...

cuseroc Wrote:Just perusing the scoreboards today, it looks as though the BE was involved in 12 ooc games today, and went 9-3. Not too bad, but whats going on with Louisville? I know they have had some hiccups the last couple years early in the season, but this is getting to be somewhat embarrasing. They were picked to possibly win the league. Thy still can, but they make it hard on themselves.
Like last year, they will get things turned around, just in time for league play.

Tough loss by UL today. Unfortunately the Cards are a little overrated right now. They will probably play better as the season goes on, but now its not going so well. Good thing Cuse and UCONN won for the BE today.

Great win by West Virginia today over the Buckeyes.

Brings the Big East's record to 11-8 against Top 25 competition and takes the lead in this category back from the ACC which stumbled last week with tough losses by FSU and NCState to Pitt and Marquette.

Also this wins gives the Big East seven different teams with wins against Top 25 OOC competition with Pitt, Louisville, and Nova the three teams that have yet to gain such a victory.

While it is still way too early, today's win by the Eers only enhances the conference's chances of getting 9 NCAA bids. The ACC and Big Ten will also be strongly represented in March as well.

Cheers,
Neil

Today's win by WVU certainly enhances the Mountaineers chances of making the dance...