UNC climbing those polls, tied in the ACC. BYU ranked 3 today and set for a #1 seed in the tourney. Crazy year in CBB this year. Huge game Saturday at Mizzou for the Jayhawks.

Big one tonight for the Cats. I think we're past playing our way in, but we need this one to get a decent seed. Would really be nice to finish 10-6 in conference after a 2-5 start. Would have been a fantastic finish if it were not for that split second loss at Colorado.

Oh, and I'll be rooting for you on Saturday. Really need to knock those Tiggers out of that bye.

Go BYU, Jimmer-mania!!!!

Jimmer has no consius.

Can't wait for Jake to shut Jimmer down for the second straight year in the tourney and send the Cougars packing....

Nice W by the Wildcats last night, that's gonna help your tourney seed!

UNC is climbing nicely. A lot on the line tomorrow night and Saturday. BYU?????????? Who really watches them? Real deal or not? Story on the street for UNC is Reggie Bullock is out with a knee injury. It has been a hell of a year though.

and that is why I can't imagine any non-Mormon athlete ever going to BYU. Goodbye Final Four chances and #1 seed BYU, it was fun while it lasted. Now the Mizzou / KU game Saturday is a lot more important for MU. Nebraska is making their case for a tourney bid. UNC/Duke should be killer Sat. I'm picking UNC by 10 on that one.

Is it me or does the Big East seem like they are getting worse? This late in the season, how can you tell if the conference is good or just a bunch of mediocre teams. It's gonna be hard to pick against any Big East team in the first 2 rounds but i wouldn't be suprised if they didn't fare well the first weekend. Seems any of those teams can get beat at any time. St. Johns is looking good though, hope they aren't in KU's bracket.

Big 10 - meh.

UNC escapes last night! KU dominates.

7 point lead with less than 2 minutes. The game was in hand all night watching it, but they just kept coming. A couple of mistakes at the end of the game almost cost us. But it is on now. Saturday decides ACC regular season, ACC Coach of the Year, Undefeated home record this season, 1st place ACC tourney placement (not that significant), and if we win, looking forward to the ACC tourney and the possibility of a 2 seed in the big dance. BUT, Duke is the better team, I am just hoping we can continue to find a way to win. Bullock out for the year wiht a knee injury and down to 8 scholariships. Gonna be a FUN FUN tourney. Much better than that tournament we played last year : )

Yesssiiiiirrrrrr!!!!!!

Dear Lord, please do not put UNC in KU's bracket. Thanks.

I will second that. I want to play BYU : )

the meltdown that would follow Roy knockin KU out of the tournament would be EPIC:D

This year's NCAA is gonna be crazy! Alot of teams playing hot, alot of teams limpin in, no real favorite out there.

Beach, you are right, that would be an EPIC meltdown.

Only thing more EPIC would be KU losing to Roy's Carolina while K-State makes a Final Four run :D JACOB AND THE MIRACLES!!

It is gonna be HUGE. ACC tourney starts today. Off tomorrow for the UNC game. Kyrie liable to be coming back for dook soon. UNC as a juggernaut. CAN NOT WAIT!!! but UNC may lose in the first round, it happens : )

Or Pullen and company finally living up to the preseason expectations.

And DOWN GOES PITT!!! Looks like the tourney has started. With that loss, I will be taking Pitt to win it all. Although I was probably picking them anyway. Well, at least as runners up to the the HEELS!!!! Looks like KU is in a little battle too Ian.

yeah, KU barely squeaked by on that one. Nice finish by Walker in that Pitt game, that guy is a stud.

Eat my **** Colorado... Eat it. Higgins and Burks are ridiculous. 3 losses to CU in one season is horrific.

well, at least you helped another Big 12 team get into the tourney.

KSU and Mizzou both lose in the first round? The stars must be in alignment.

this was posted on the KU message boards after the Mizzou loss -" The average IQ of the Sprint Center will be about 50 points higher today without those banjo-picking, meth cooking, cousin loving morons around. "

too funny.

Jimmer goes for 52 and reinforces why he is the player of the year. I hope they do good against san diego st tonight, i was very nervous against new mexico.

52 is impressive, but against who!?..... Marshon Brooks tallied 52 against a much better ND team.

Jimmer can score the ball but that is it. His defense is a liability and hes a turnover machine. Great ball player, but I have a hard time giving him player of the year.... Competition is no where near what others have faced.

Thank you Isiah Thomas! If the Huskies can keep their heads on straight, they could make a good run.

Anyone know if the ncaa will be streaming every game again this year?

I cannot believe that Colorado was left out, that is insane. KU has a great bracket. Psyched!!!!

if anyone is interested, I enter the same pool every year. Last year there were 455 entries at 10 bucks each. It pays out 100%. PM me if you want to enter. Worst part is you have to pay by check.

THIS POOL PAYS OUT ALL MONEY COLLECTED. It is $10 per entry. Enter as many pools as you like. Last year we had just over 455 entries. Newcomers are always welcome so spread the word. We pay out the top 6 places. Here’s the money breakdown:
1st - 50%, 2nd - 20%, 3rd - 15%, 4th - 8%, 5th - 4% and 6th - 3%

how about that whoopin unc took from dook. Terrible game. I looked like the game in chapel hill, just reversed. We shot terrible. And got a terrible bracket. But what you gonna do. It wouldnt be fun if it was a cake walk.

Yeah, that sucked. I had money on the UNC game on Saturday too, I thought I had it locked when they came back but I missed the spread by .5 - I was really tempted to take them again Sunday, glad I didn't :) Lunardi was projecting KU, UNC, UK and Louisville in the same bracket Sunday afternoon, i was a bit nervous.

so, who's your pick to win it? I don't have to tell you mine I'm guessing. Last night first game of the tourney, first overtime! That was a great game followed by a crappy one. Got some money on USC tonight, hopefully they pull out a win.

I've got Duke winning it all. Got K-State, KU on that side of the Final Four. I like our chances once we get past tomorrow.

Switch KU with tOSU, drop Louisville and add Syracuse and you can call me worried for the Buckeyes chances. But I'd rather see them go through Syracuse and UNC on the way to a title run as opposed to Duke's "run" last year.

Survive and advance is the name of the game. It has been wild so far.

I thought for sure UNC was going down. KU has started slow in both games but ended up winning convincingly. BIG EAST!!! hahaha, what an over rated joke.

"Gone are No. 1 seeded Pitt (lost to Butler), No. 2 seeded Notre Dame (lost to Florida State), No. 3 seeded Syracuse (lost to Marquette), No. 5 seeded West Virginia (lost to Kentucky), No. 9 seeded Villanova (lost to George Mason), No. 6 seeded Cincinnati (lost to UConn), No. 6 seeded Georgetown (lost to VCU), and No. 4 seed Louisville (lost to Morehead St.).

The pile of wreckage left in the wake of the Big East's massive choke job in the 2011 NCAA tournament stretches from Washington DC to Tusla, OK.

When you consider that the only reason two Big East teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen because they had to play other Big East teams to get there, the weekend then looks even more disastrous.

If there was ever a 'big, bright moment' in college basketball where Big East haters could point to and say, 'Here! It was HERE that the Big East was shown up for the chumps they are,' it was this past weekend."

Guaranteed ESPN will be slobbing all over the Big East again next year.

I agree. They laid an egg last year. But HOW BOUT THAT ACC!!!! Down year my ass hurts. KU got a nice little gift didnt they? I would take it for sure. We got a decent one too, although Marquette is no slouch for sure, but I would rather have them then Cuse. Cant wait for Friday Night. Hopefully we will pull Kensucky in the Elite 8 IF WE MAKE IT of course. I am sure not counting on being there. And for the record, I think everyone can understand why Harrison Barnes was a preseason AA. Dude is the truth.

Harrison Barnes is crazy good. Selby isn't even starting, but he's had a tough road with NCAA and the injury.

Man, KU is looking at a cake walk to the Final Four. Can't blame them for that, but it should be easy barring a Northern Iowa type effort.

I'm still white hot irate about our game and will not be in the mood to talk about K-State sports for a while. :mad:

Dont be a complete clown. The Big East is far an away the hardest league to win in.

easily, totally unjust they didn't get all the #1 seeds.

Surely you just.

It might be the hardest league to win in, but that doesnt equal National Championships. Maybe they should come to the ACC where College Basketball is king. KU isnt too bad either Ian. But the Big East is a joke. UNC has as many titles as the entire league since 1990 and that is with the down years they experienced losing Dean Smith. Duke has more ships than the Big East since 1990. The conference is overrated in terms of how good the teams are. Maybe they have a bunch of good Top 25 teams, but they dont have the best teams in college basketball.

But, there 11th team may send us home. It is the tournament : ) UNC a 5 pt. favorite.

Are you drunk? No really you must be drunk?

Duke and North Carolina are great teams, but they cruise through the ACC. The BE is the best conference in the country and thats not even debatable. Duke and NC want ZERO part of playing week in and week out in the BE.

Found on Bearcatnews.com... interesting thoughts:
"Well, a lot of the BE results from the tournament is a matter of circumstance. The conference started out with 11 teams in the tournament, which was approximately 17% of a 64 team field, even less of a percentage if you include the "First Four". Now, IF three teams had made it to the Sweet 16 out of the Big East, then we would have had 19% of the 16-teams remaining, which would have given us a proportionally LARGER amount of teams remaining than we began with. That said, only two teams survived, meaning that our conference, represents only 12.5%. While that's definitely a step back, especially when you consider that the ACC and Big 10 have three teams still standing, statistically speaking, we're only now a bit behind our pace. Should both UConn and MU advance to the Elite 8 (unlikely, and possible that NEITHER advances), then the BE will have 25% of the 8-team field, putting us back ahead of our original trajectory. So, despite the setback, we're only a little bit behind the curve, and can still make up the ground.

Now, the circumstances that affected the BE's outcomes are:
1. Early round BE matchups (UC/UConn, Cuse/MU), which by default eliminated two teams through no fault or shortcoming of the league
2. Mid-bracket seedings such as Nova and G-Town; When you are ranked a 7,8, or 9, then a first round loss is not really an upset. Besides, Nova probably should not have made the tourney, and G-Town lost it's point guard against UC a few weeks back and he only just started to return, so it's not like either of those two teams were tournament ready.
3. Regions: UNC gets to play in Charlotte while St. John's gets shipped out to Denver, to play a team from out West? How is that fair? It's not like SJU was even in the bracket that would have ended up in Newark, so you can't say they had a chance to come home if they had won a couple. If the Johnnies had been in DC, Tampa, or even Chicago for that matter, it might have been a different story. Refute it all you want, but that stuff DOES matter. I've heard Huggins complain plenty in the past when a highly seeded UC team got knocked out in the first or second round in Boise.
4. This just happens to be a year where it seems like the underdogs are advancing at an even greater clip, and not JUST because they happen to be beating BE teams on their way to the upsets.

The fact still remains that while it seems like the Big East contingent has been literally dropping like flies in the NCAA tourney, a lot of that has to do with some unique circumstances and we're only a bit behind our own pace right now, and we have a chance to be back ahead of the pace very soon. The Big East has been well-represented in the Final Four over the years, and I suspect that we might have at least one team in it this year as well. Believe me, the conference is tough and our teams are as good, if not better, than other teams and other conferences. We translate fine into the NCAA's. Yes, it's a big blow that none of our top three seeded teams (ND, PITT, and L'Ville) made it to the regionals, but only from a perception standpoint. The reality is, that we are just slightly statistically out of line with or original allotment of teams, and we have a chance to get back on track, which is all that matters when it's all said and done."

Was UNC not a 2 seed and St. John's a 6??? Usually you don't get a lot of preference as a 6 seed.

I'm not saying that the Big East isn't a decent conference, but they are not near as good as ESPN and the East Coast media would like you to believe.

Whats better? ACC has two teams... Sec has two teams... Big 10 has two teams...

There is simply not a week in and week out tougher conference. I also firmly believe that the NCAA tournament calls games very tight... which heavily favors non BE teams. BE thrives on physicality.

Because the conference has teams that constantly beat each other with no clear superior team emerging, they are automatically better than the other conferences? Because BE refs might call games differently that is the fault of other conferences when they play? IF anything if you think that puts the BE at a disadvantage then you should be unhappy with BE refs for allowing a style of play that no other conferences allow. (FYI, i don't think the BE is any tougher than any other conf).

Anyone can win or lose on any given day - but the argument that the BE was way over-rated by the east coast biased media can't be argued after looking at their tourney performance IMO. Not saying they aren't one of the top conferences, but just that the talent level was overblown big time.

Whats a better conference and why.

I don't know how you could even judge what the "top conference" is. There are conferences that have high caliber teams like ACC, Big12, Big10 that just didn't get anywhere close to the level of attention that the BE did. It's not like the B12 fared much better in the tourney either, we only have 1 team left. Maybe Ken Pomeroy or whatever can come up with some statistical analysis that takes it all into account to figure out top to bottom which conference was the best after the tourney. I"d think early tournament losses would count against a team because how great can a team be if it's beaten by a "sub-par" team in the tourney? Hell, maybe the A10 is the best conference.

it all boils down to the fact that us non-BE conferences were just jealous of all the attention the BE got.... if it's not the BE then it's the ACC (we all know how much Dick V, Bilas and the entire ESPN crew LOVE Duke and UNC)

As an ACC person (VT student and life long Duke fan), the Big East is very very good. They have tons of good teams and its really hard to win in that conference. BUT, they are not as good as the media makes them out to be, at the expense of others. ACC in a "down year" is doing pretty well. The problem is FSU, Clemson, BC, and VT are not "basketball schools" so noone believed they were any good, and thought they were just winning because the ACC was "down." So we get no respect and only 4 teams in, while the Big East gets 11, because there were like 5 perennial "basketball schools" beating up on each other, so when other guys in the conference beat them it was a "big win." I dont buy the "no great teams in the big east" argument (at least this year), because there really arent any great teams this year in any conference, except IMO Duke pre-Kyrie injury (we'll see if he gets back to that level in the rest of the tournament). Pitt always chokes in the NCAA, but Louisville, UConn, Syracuse, etc have had plenty of tournament success, and very well could have this year. I dont think teams like Kansas, UNC, OSU etc are significantly better than the top BE teams.

Just my take. (sparknotes=the big east is really good, just not THAT good to where they are the only conference that matters, pulling respect from ACC/Big 10/Big 12)

Agreed.

I think college basketball is completely down as a whole... You look at the best players in the country and the question that surrounds all of them is, will they even make it in the NBA.

I'd bet Harrison Barnes and Perry Jones do well.

Because they let you beat each other up does not make it a tougher conference. No, we wouldnt want to play in the Big East night in and night out because of the physicality. But the Big East teams dont want to play in the ACC night in and night out either. Florida State is the real deal and as physical as you can get if you didnt see that against ND. Virginia Tech is the same and you will leave there battered. How about Blacksburg and Malcolm Delanely. You have to play Duke and UNC. You can go into the Comcast center any night of the week and have your ass handed to you and that is a rowdy crowd. You think playing in Miami or Clemson isnt tough and those boys cant ball? The best players come from the ACC year in and year out. The league is not a cakewalk anyway you want to look at it. You might think it is, but it isnt.

I am so tired of hearing basketball is down as a whole. Stop listening to the media and look at it yourself. EVERYONE balls now. All of em. You think Derrick Williams isnt going to murder in the NBA, Barnes, Nolans crossover, Kemba? I could go on and on. I will show you the Top 5 draft picks for the last couple of years and the ones coming out this year are ballers. That is why the Big East keeps getting beat. If you play college basketball today, you are nasty. Period. Have you watched Harrison Barnes play? The kid is the truth and NBA ready right now. As clutch as anyone I have ever seen and has a fade away that almost looks like Kobe. Nolan Smith is no joke. Sullinger, Lighty. Hell, Reggie Bullock is a 6'8" wing that sits on the bench at UNC. Minus the knee problems, he could play in the NBA right now. All I heard was Hansbrough sucks Hansbrough sucks. No NBA, will never score 20 pts in a game. Blah blah blah. He may be goofy when he runs, but he can play. I am sorry, the Big East is a great conference, so is the ACC, Big 12 and Big 10 and the Pac 10 and the Junior Colleges. There are no dominant players because all of them are superstars. That is why you can get lit up by anyone for 30 on one night. Of course that is drastic, not every last one of them, but parity is parity and the game gets better and better every year as do the athletes. Wait until you see James McAdoo. You heard it here first Ian, we will be cutting down the nets next year and bringing that title back to Chapel Hill in 12' from Kansas in 11': )

Ill say it again because its true. COLLEGE BASKETBALL IS DOWN and its not even debatable.

The top players in the country are just not as good as they once where. This has been a common trend recently. There is no Dwights, there is no lebrons, kenyons, iversons, duncans. Sorry but the talent has dropped.

And the ACC? Haha, ya okkkk. They are probably the 4th best conference this year. They got two top tear teams, outside of that... ya no.

You are entitled to believe it all you want, but just because you put it in caps doesnt make it true. So are you saying Florida State got lucky? I watched it and it looked to me like that third place team out of the ACC absolutely drug the 2nd best team from the BE all over the court and would do it again and twice on Sunday if needed. BE BE BE whatever. The only reason there are two BE teams in the S16 is because they lucked up playing another BE squad to get there. You do know Va Tech lost 4 scholarship players this year right? You can talk up the BE all you want, but getting murdered in the NCAA tourney two years in a row is proof positive enough. And I dont think it is UNC that doesnt want to play in the BE, I would think the BE doesnt want UNC to play with them.

The Big East has by far the most top 25 teams in the country.

Combined the Big East has a 27-15 (.643) record vs teams from the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and Pac 10. And that includes winning records vs each and every conference. And the wins are not padded by beating up the weak teams in those conferences.

The Big East has by far the most top 25 teams in the country because they have by far the biggest conference in the country would be a more accurate statement. That and the numbers are human generated, which of course brings in human error. According to Kenpom, looks like the BE is the second best conference in the nation now and not far ahead of the ACC or Big 12. But they have 7 in the top 25 on kenpom out of 16, where as the Big 10 has 5 out of 10 in the Top 25. Looks like the Big 10 is the best conference in basketball statistically. Sagarin has the Big 10 as the best also. Sorry Big East. Biggest conference but not the best. Maybe the most physical, but not the best.

Ian, tell me how much you love that picture of Tyler.

Typical unknowledgeable basketball fan.

Figured you have zero comeback for the second part of the statement. The big east has dominated other conferences.

I wouldnt call 65% domination, but if you do, so be it. That is probably why you think the Big East is the best. Delusional comes to mind. But unknowledgeable????? I love this game, the teams, rivalries and even the crazy fans like yourself that wont even look at the statistics that say the BE isnt the best team in the NCAA right now. But what do the boys that study the game like Ken Pomoroy and sagarin that develop statistical models know that the Associated Press doesnt right? On the East Coast it is quitting time, good luck to your remaining two teams, the best conference is basketball is going to need it come this weekend.

You have zero facts to support the ACC being the best conference... None. I have provided you with brilliant knowledge as to why your wrong. Your refusal to admit that is clownlike.

I think you clearly miss the point of the whole debate... which is.. The Big East is from top to bottom, hands down the best conference in college basketball. To even attempt to debate that shows lack of knowledge. With that being said, this year the BE has no standout team. Ill argue that the entire country didnt. Day in and day out there is not a single conference tougher. If you play in the BE you are playing against 11deserving tournament teams. How many in the ACC?

Saying the BE hasnt had a good tournament is fair, but lets remember 2 teams played each other. Essentially eliminating 2 BE from the sweet 16.

and giving the BE two automatic S16 teams :)

Dude, your brillian knowledge that you stole from yahoo. At least give them some credit. Here, I will post your brillian knowledge so everyone can read it for themselves instead of having you copy and paste it for them. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...ug=ycn-7659510 At the point below, that ACC was 4-6 against the BE with with games played by NC State (10th in the ACC) against Syracuse and Georgetown. Here is another link for you. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5...ences-are-even
A guess that is your dominance you were talking about. Here are the games. Now let me show you about the cupcakes you plagerized but didnt bother looking up.

11/18 UMCP loses @ Pitt 7th place against 1st - loss
11/21 NC State loses to Georgetown 10th against 8th - loss
11/21 Miami loses @ Rutgers 9th against 13th - loss
11/22 Clemson wins vs. Seton Hall 5th against 12th - win
11/27 Georgia Tech loses @ Cuse 11th against 3rd - loss
12/4 NC State loses @ Cuse 10th against 3rd - loss
12/4 Miami wins vs. West Virginia 9th against 7th - win
12/8 BC wins vs. Providence 6th against 14th - win
12/28 UNC wins @ Rutgers 1st aginst 10th - win
1/15 UMCP loses @ Nova 7th against 10th - loss
1/30 Duke loses @ St. Johns 2nd against 5th - loss

And the ACC isnt the best conference, the Big Ten is, followed by the BE. But dont let the facts and stats get in the way of your bias. I can admit the ACC isnt the best conference, lets hear you say it about the BE.

The Big Ten has 14 wins against RPI Top 25 teams in total.
The Big East has 58 wins against RPI Top 25 Teams in total.

The BE was 6-2 vs the Big 10

WVU over Purdue
ND over Wisc
Cuse over Mich
Cuse over Mich St
UConn over Mich St
St Johns over NW

yawn. I can prove you wrong all day.

just out of curiosity, how many of those 58 wins were against other ranked BE teams?

this article sums it up for me.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes...ure/#more-7295

Eric, no comment on the plaguerism word for word, or that fact that you tried to pass the info in that article as your own, even though it was written at the end of January. Ian, the kid just doesnt get it. Eric believes his anecdotal evidence that is proved by wins vs losses against another conference, regardless of the strength of the teams playing each other, is smarter than Kenpom and Sagarin. Apparently, his two eyes are better at distinguishing the best leagues then the computers that have eyes on every game. But keep up with your fanship next year Eric when you get run out of the tournament again and be sure to thank ESPN for being in your area and helping to over inflate your overrated, non championship winning, we cant ball so we beat each other up league. Ill stick to winning National Championship. And by the way Eric, the RPI sucks as a statistical tool for college basketball, which is probably why the Big Least fares so bad in the tourney every year but gets so many bids. Sagarin and Kenpom are a much better tool. Not sure how old you are, but there is still time to learn.

From Kenpom, since I am sure Eric wont read the article, but keep thumping his chest about the Big East:

“The Big East was always good, just not the best conference in the nation from top to bottom,” I was told by Ken Pomeroy, the author of the Pomeroy power ratings, one of the systems that our statistical model uses to help make its projections. “They definitely had 11 teams in the nation’s top 50. But maybe just one top 10 team, Pittsburgh. And Pitt was the weakest one-seed by a significant margin.”

Good article.

And if you will notice, I am a TAR HEEL fan and of course an ACC fanboy. But if you notice, I say the Big Ten is the best conference. It is OK to not be the best conference in basketball, really, but by looking at your profile, I dont think you are old enough to be able to eat crow like the grown folks around here. Ian, I need that eating crow picture you hit me with in 09' when KU almost lost to UNC : ) I think it is going to come in handy sometime in the near future, whether directed at myself or someone else.

I quit listening to Eric after he said that college basketball is down because there are no Lebron's out there. What school did Lebron play for? I look back through the last 20 Naismith award winners and would argue that very few of them "tore it up" in the NBA. What does how a player does in the NBA have to do with the talent of college basketball. JJ Reddick was fantastic in the college game, not so much in the NBA. Look at the NBA's stars right now, most either did not attend college or were good, not great college players.

I never tried to pass anything on as my own. Nor do I care that I used facts from a yahoo article. Facts are Facts.

Kenpom is a joke.

Post something meaningful, besides peoples opinions. I post records, wins, rankings... everything thats pure factual. Show me how the Big Ten is better. please enlighten me.

Kstate. way to miss the point. Obviously I know a little bit about lebron. I personally clowned his ass in high school. Yawn.
"Look at the NBA's stars right now, most either did not attend college or were good, not great college players."

hmm. Carmelo Anthony. Kenyon Martin. Kevin Love. Derrick Rose.......... Need I go on?

Duke and Wisconsin must play in the BE...

So, moving on, how about the Duke whooping last night. AZ could have man handled anyone in the country playing like that. D-Williams is unconscious. It sucks Nolan had to go out like that in his last game, but it is what it is. Now UConn is probably going to ruin them.

this was insane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBVFx30hzI

The tale of two games, that game was fast and fun to watch... but wow, Wisconsin was HORRIBLE