bierce

I'm guessing they and their fans will break down long before going to Knoxville on Nov. 1.

BTW, South Carolina will be looking to get a third straight home win against a bubble team when it plays Georgia tomorrow. The Gamecocks were blasted in the other Columbia by Missouri between the wins over Texas and Arky.

Jordan isn't joking about McCollum playing guys very heavy minutes. Stirtz averages OVER 40 minutes per game against D1 opponents. He's played 45 minutes in 5 games this year. Another guy played no less than 37 minutes in all but two games against D1 opponents, and in both of those he was in foul trouble.

There has to be a picture on the internet somewhere of someone mainlining college basketball film and stats.

Wake down 81-47. NIT bound absent winning conference tournament. Wake was arguable screwed by the committee twice, but I don't think missing the tournament 5 straight years was what Wake had in mind when it hired Forbes. Texas, Georgia, Indiana, UNC, Boise State, and WVU on the road tomorrow. Arky @ Vandy and Nebraska @ tOSU are the double bubble games.

He's only a 155 mile drive away. Maybe he has mellowed with age. For that matter, Weltlich is only 81.

Not even the most recent of successful hires by P5 schools of coaches who never coached P5 before--Hurley, Oats, Lloyd, Otzelberger, Scheyer, Golden, and McCasland. It's too early to tell about May and Byington, but they might make the list, as should Dennis Gates if if last year if proven to be just a blip. I don't think that much of Jans, but a lot of people on this thread do for some reason, and I would remind them that he never coached P5 before being hired by Mississippi State. There is one man involved in this process that does not have his job on the line, and that is CDC. I am sure he wants to get this right for the sake of getting this right, but I also think he has so much cred with the administration and the boosters that I can't believe that he is under any pressure to get this right to save his job, so here is hoping he makes what is truly the right choice instead of a safer one.

Drake had its third near miss yesterday, needing OT to win at home over a Missouri State team that finished 2-18 in conference. Because P5 bubble teams are playing so middlin' of late, I am tempted to give Drake an at large bid, but after yesterday's escape, being in a one point game in the final minute against Evansville, and needing OT to beat No Iowa in its last 3 games, I can't really say for certain that I would or that the committee should. But it went undefeated in non-conference action, beat Vandy on a neutral floor, and beat K State in Kansas City, so why not? Only game of interest to bubble watchers tonight is Wake Forest @ Duke. WF is desperate after going 1-3 over a four game stretch that included home losses to FSU and VIrginia and a road loss to NC State. Only win in there was the 11 point win over SMU in Dallas. WF did win its last game 74-71 over Notre Dame, but that only made it look worse.

Heard it on the Goodman piece.

Hey, on another board long ago, posters nominated me for head coach, and I did not hesitate to tell them we would finish the year 1-17 in conference with the sole win coming on the night I was home sick and an assistant took over.

I think it will be hard to get Otzelberger away ISU. He and his wife have roots in the midwest, and both are heroes in Ames. Otzelberger has spent his entire life in Wisconsin, Iowa, or South Dakota save two years as an assistant at a JC in Florida, two years as an assistant at UDub, and two years as a head coach at UNLV. They have three children ages 6-10, so maybe they won't want to move. He's already approaching god-like status in Ames, and Hilton is packed every game with an extremely enthusiastic crowd. But we have a lot more money. I like Otzelberger for several reasons, many of which Gerry and Mark mentioned, but what they haven't mentioned is the fact he adapted playing style to the players and environments in which he was coaching. He began his HC career in the Summit League, a league notorious for spread it out and jack up the three. His team was the best at that after his three years there. He really wasn't at UNLV long enough to create a real identity. He inherited a mess that returned only 2 starters and 2 significant bench players, and he lost 5 of his top 8 in minutes played after the first year. At ISU he has created a team that focuses on half-court pressure defense to force turnovers and transition scores. This is the first year ISU has not lead the Big 12 in defensive turnover percentage. I guess Sampson was embarrassed about finishing second at it last year.

My apologies for missing that one. Got too distracted by the Quin Snyder chatter that immediately followed on the thread.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/indiana-coach-search-tommy-lloyd-wins-with-efficiency-on-both-ends-of-the-floor/ar-AA1A0Ic9 Embedded in the link above is a video with Jeff Goodman discussing candidates for Indiana. Of particular note is his comment about Otzelberger's buyout at the 2:28 mark. Goodman says it is around only 4 million.

Because who doesn't like

There is more strangeness to the Indiana story. When Indiana was selected to host early rounds in the NIT near the end of Crean's tenure, the AD refused to allow Indiana to host a game, claiming an NIT game would diminish the legacy of Assembly Hall. This proved to be nothing more than a jerkwad move to denigrate the coach. Assembly Hall was previously the venue for Indiana's first three NIT games in 1985 under Bobby Knight. Indiana still thinks itself as all that, when it clearly isn't, but the team has played well since Woodson announced he is stepping down.

We're now out in all reasonable probability. Our only chance might be winning four straight, which would mean winning at Mississippi State, home against OU, a first round SEC tournament game against Arkansas or Georgia, and a second round SEC tournament game against Tennessee or Missouri. In other words, an illusory promise. But I'm still interested in who will and who won't make the tournament, so forgive me if continue this thread, basketball junkie that I am. WVU was clobbered by BYU last night in a late game. It has now lost 7 of its last 8 games against tournament teams, and it has lost them by an average of 13+ points. Still in the field thanks to 5 q1 wins, some of which were really, really good, but now at serious risk. A loss at Utah Tuesday will put it in serious jeopardy. San Diego State beat Wyoming 72-69, staying firmly in the field even if only a 10 seed. UC San Diego won by a bazillion. At this point, I am definitely of a mind the committee should select UC San Diego, VCU, and maybe Drake, even if they lose in their conference tournaments. That could change if they suffer a bad loss in the interim before the conference tournament, but the worst of the P5 contenders aren't showing much reason to include them, with the exception of Indiana, which has gone 4-2 since Woodson announced he would step down, with wins @ Michigan State and home over Purdue and the two losses were close losses to projected 4 and 6 seeds.

Florida. Anybody else was either before UCLA's run or a team that has won only one title. Unless you want to count Louisville, since Krum won two in the 80s, and the Pitino coached team had its title vacated.

So we are hiring Wade after all.

It's also misleading. McCasland's teams have never played at a fast pace. Tech is extremely efficient on offense this year (due in large part to Hawkins being such a great penetrator and distributor), but it is not all that prolific at scoring. In fact, it is playing games at the fourth slowest pace in Big 12 games.

Wake Forest beat ND 74-71 Boise State won 66-61 against a team that triggered an investigation about gambling. We're going to be looking up at about 6-8 teams ahead of us for the last spot in the tournament if we don't have a miraculous second half like we did against A&M.

Indiana won on the road by 16. Vandy beat Missouri by 4 in OT. Boise State in a one point game midway through the second half.

I've already buried SMU, but now you can dig up the casket, seal it in lead, and drop it to the bottom of the ocean. Stanford wins by 5 after Raynaud scored on a putback slam with 8.7 seconds left. I thought it was strange for SMU to let Stanford run the shot clock out with a 3 point lead and 37 seconds left in the game.

Xavier 83 Creighton 61. Expect Xavier to appear on a lot of brackets Monday.

Not a bubble game, but Tennessee just pulled off a near miracle victory over Bama. Started with a four point play the hard way, getting a bucket, missing the ft, getting fouled on the rebound, making both. Then it tied up Bama near the end of the shot clock, forcing Bama to inbound, and it got a 5 second violation. Then it hit a 30 footer at the buzzer to win 79-76.

Xavier leading Creighton 42-27 at the half. If it keeps this kind of lead, it will start appearing on a lot of brackets, and if it follows it up with a win @ Butler, it will likely get back in the field.