So this is going to be short....I don't have much to say. I am just...stunned.
First, #1 Kansas loses to KSU. More like gets demolished. KSU played like the top ranked KSU from the beginning of the season.
Second, #2 Texas falls to Nebraska. WHAT? How in the world did that happen? I am not exactly sure. It seems some of Texas's weaknesses were put on display.
Third, #3 Ohio State loses to Purdue. At Ohio State, Purdue got beaten so badly it was ridiculous. Especially since they are ranked. But thankfully, they played defense this time. And it got them the win!
Fourth, #4 Pitt loses to St. John's, a team that should already be ranked in the top 20. It was an insane game. But St. John's stepped it up in the end and won on a shot that went in with under 2 seconds left. Crazy right?
-The only team in the top 5 to NOT lose this week was Duke.
I am not sure how the rankings will fall tomorrow, but Duke should regain their #1 ranking from the beginning of the season. It's like March Madness has begun already with all these top teams falling.
1 month til March Madness!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
As We Get Closer to March Madness
So....Let's see what has gone on in the last week and a half of basketball. There have been huge upsets and some amazing games.
My #1 game: Duke vs. UNC. This isn't because I'm a Duke fan, but because it was an epic game. The first half was UNC domination. They were outplaying Duke and every ball was going their way. Duke was down 14 at the end of the first half. Second half was the complete opposite. Duke came out on fire. Nolan Smith and Seth Curry stepped it up. They could do no wrong. It was Duke's biggest halftime comeback since 1959. That game was just incredible. To see a team as good as UNC lose their lead says a lot about Duke. They are resilient and don't give up. They are slowly but surely improving...
My #2 game: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin. Whether the experts think it was an upset doesn't matter. Ohio State may not have been my #1 team, but they were playing pretty well, no matter if they were barely escaping losses. This was an upset to me. I wasn't sure if anyone in the Big Ten could beat them, even though I knew teams outside of the Big Ten could. This was definitely an upset to me.
My #3 game: Kansas vs. Kansas State: HUGE upset! Kansas had just become #1. How in the world Kansas State managed to outplay is beyond belief. I was pretty sure that Kansas State was on the way to the NIT with the way they'd been playing. They really needed a win like this to keep their hopes up of making it the NCAA tournament. Kansas still wouldn't be my #1. I don't think I have one at the moment....Congrats KSU. It's about time you showed up.
My #4 game: Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt. This was an amazing game. Close the entire way. But the BETTER team came out on top. I am tired of Kentucky being overrated honestly. They are super inconsistent, hence 7 losses. There are a few teams that are in the top 25 that don't belong. I'm not sure Vandy belongs either. But it was a hard fought SEC game. Congrats to Vandy.
My #5 and last amazing game: Texas vs. Baylor. Great, great game. Honestly, Baylor should have won. Don't get me wrong, Texas, as of late, is playing better than most teams out there. Let's just say, at Texas, the refs always do a great job of taking momentum out of the game. And they sure did against Baylor. I honestly can't congratulate Texas on this win. They a) didn't deserve it and b) someone definitely paid the refs. Sorry. But that was one of the worst called Texas games I've seen in a while.
And as for the rankings: I would NEVER have put Kansas as #1. Personally, it's not always about your record. I believe a team in the Big East that is in the top 10 deserves to be #1, like Pitt for instance. They are a very strong team in the BEST conference in the country. Neither Texas nor Ohio State are in a strong enough conference to be #1. I may love Duke, but I don't think they deserve the #1 spot either. I go, like I said, with Pitt or ND. However, they still aren't dominant teams, so I have a few teams that I think are equal. Here they are:
Pitt, Duke, ND, Georgetown, UConn, and probably Texas. All ranked in the top 15.
Here are a few teams that need to be kicked out of the top 10: BYU and SDSU. They are in a crappy conference and their only competition is each other. Ridiculous.
Now, who should be kicked out of the top 15? Florida, Arizona, and Purdue.
And last a few teams who should be kicked out of the top 25? Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, Utah State, Xavier, and Temple.
So who should be let in? Florida State, Baylor, Kansas State, St. John's, and West Virginia.
Well that's all for now. Countdown to March Madness is on!
My #1 game: Duke vs. UNC. This isn't because I'm a Duke fan, but because it was an epic game. The first half was UNC domination. They were outplaying Duke and every ball was going their way. Duke was down 14 at the end of the first half. Second half was the complete opposite. Duke came out on fire. Nolan Smith and Seth Curry stepped it up. They could do no wrong. It was Duke's biggest halftime comeback since 1959. That game was just incredible. To see a team as good as UNC lose their lead says a lot about Duke. They are resilient and don't give up. They are slowly but surely improving...
My #2 game: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin. Whether the experts think it was an upset doesn't matter. Ohio State may not have been my #1 team, but they were playing pretty well, no matter if they were barely escaping losses. This was an upset to me. I wasn't sure if anyone in the Big Ten could beat them, even though I knew teams outside of the Big Ten could. This was definitely an upset to me.
My #3 game: Kansas vs. Kansas State: HUGE upset! Kansas had just become #1. How in the world Kansas State managed to outplay is beyond belief. I was pretty sure that Kansas State was on the way to the NIT with the way they'd been playing. They really needed a win like this to keep their hopes up of making it the NCAA tournament. Kansas still wouldn't be my #1. I don't think I have one at the moment....Congrats KSU. It's about time you showed up.
My #4 game: Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt. This was an amazing game. Close the entire way. But the BETTER team came out on top. I am tired of Kentucky being overrated honestly. They are super inconsistent, hence 7 losses. There are a few teams that are in the top 25 that don't belong. I'm not sure Vandy belongs either. But it was a hard fought SEC game. Congrats to Vandy.
My #5 and last amazing game: Texas vs. Baylor. Great, great game. Honestly, Baylor should have won. Don't get me wrong, Texas, as of late, is playing better than most teams out there. Let's just say, at Texas, the refs always do a great job of taking momentum out of the game. And they sure did against Baylor. I honestly can't congratulate Texas on this win. They a) didn't deserve it and b) someone definitely paid the refs. Sorry. But that was one of the worst called Texas games I've seen in a while.
And as for the rankings: I would NEVER have put Kansas as #1. Personally, it's not always about your record. I believe a team in the Big East that is in the top 10 deserves to be #1, like Pitt for instance. They are a very strong team in the BEST conference in the country. Neither Texas nor Ohio State are in a strong enough conference to be #1. I may love Duke, but I don't think they deserve the #1 spot either. I go, like I said, with Pitt or ND. However, they still aren't dominant teams, so I have a few teams that I think are equal. Here they are:
Pitt, Duke, ND, Georgetown, UConn, and probably Texas. All ranked in the top 15.
Here are a few teams that need to be kicked out of the top 10: BYU and SDSU. They are in a crappy conference and their only competition is each other. Ridiculous.
Now, who should be kicked out of the top 15? Florida, Arizona, and Purdue.
And last a few teams who should be kicked out of the top 25? Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, Utah State, Xavier, and Temple.
So who should be let in? Florida State, Baylor, Kansas State, St. John's, and West Virginia.
Well that's all for now. Countdown to March Madness is on!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Upsets? Yes
Well, as another week and a half of basketball has gone by, I still see no clear favorite to win. There's been a ton of upsets lately.
-UConn losing to Syracuse. Okay, this may not sound like much of an upset to you, but UConn had been on fire. Walker was on his way to most likely being player of the year. But UConn may not be able to win without him. He has to score double digits for UConn to win. Not really surprising though.
-Kentucky losing again to another unranked SEC team. Nothing else really needs to be said does it? They have talent, but have now lost 5 games. They have so many pieces but fail to put them together. Sounds vaguely like this year's and last year's UNC doesn't it? We'll see if they decide to show up in the end.
-Duke losing to St. John's. It is clear that they have 2 very consistent players in Singler and Smith. But the fact that their supporting cast has not shown up consistenly is causing them to not play up to their potential. But that loss a year ago on the same day sparked the run to the championship title. It is just up to the supporting cast to show up. Otherwise, they don't stand a chance. They need a team effort, not just a Singler and Smith effort.
-Notre Dame losing to Marquette and St. John's. Well I don't really know what to say. It's like Syracuse. Going from playing great one game to awful the next. I had put Notre Dame in my top 5, but they are undeserving of it as of late. Notre Dame is another team that needs to play together. Let's see if that's what they decide to do.
-Pitt losing to Notre Dame. Okay, this really isn't an upset to me. 2 teams of equal talent, yes I said equal, battling against each other. But in the rankings it is an upset. Pitt just doesn't seem to play with the same intensity that Notre Dame plays with. Pitt is good, but it is up the players if they want to become great.
-SDSU losing to BYU. Also not what most people would call an upset. But SDSU hadn't lost a game until them. I am slightly surprised that they lost though, because I don't see BYU as a super strong team. One player can't create a team. SDSU plays a team game, which is the opposite of BYU. So, I guess we can just pass off one game as a fluke.
-Purdue losing to Wisconsin. Very very surprising. Purdue is a really good team with very talented players. Wisconsin is a so so team that really shouldn't be ranked. The one thing that seems to be laking with Purdue is defense. It seems that they have lost the true meaning of defense. If they want to be a contender for the title, they have to play lock down defense.
Well, those are the biggest ones of the week for me. Every team is consistently NOT consistent. It seems that this season will be one that is tight til the very end. Whoever emerges on top might not be necessarily the best team, but one that plays the hardest and plays together. Isn't that what championship team should be? March Madness is a month and a half away. May the best TEAM win. The countdown is on!
-UConn losing to Syracuse. Okay, this may not sound like much of an upset to you, but UConn had been on fire. Walker was on his way to most likely being player of the year. But UConn may not be able to win without him. He has to score double digits for UConn to win. Not really surprising though.
-Kentucky losing again to another unranked SEC team. Nothing else really needs to be said does it? They have talent, but have now lost 5 games. They have so many pieces but fail to put them together. Sounds vaguely like this year's and last year's UNC doesn't it? We'll see if they decide to show up in the end.
-Duke losing to St. John's. It is clear that they have 2 very consistent players in Singler and Smith. But the fact that their supporting cast has not shown up consistenly is causing them to not play up to their potential. But that loss a year ago on the same day sparked the run to the championship title. It is just up to the supporting cast to show up. Otherwise, they don't stand a chance. They need a team effort, not just a Singler and Smith effort.
-Notre Dame losing to Marquette and St. John's. Well I don't really know what to say. It's like Syracuse. Going from playing great one game to awful the next. I had put Notre Dame in my top 5, but they are undeserving of it as of late. Notre Dame is another team that needs to play together. Let's see if that's what they decide to do.
-Pitt losing to Notre Dame. Okay, this really isn't an upset to me. 2 teams of equal talent, yes I said equal, battling against each other. But in the rankings it is an upset. Pitt just doesn't seem to play with the same intensity that Notre Dame plays with. Pitt is good, but it is up the players if they want to become great.
-SDSU losing to BYU. Also not what most people would call an upset. But SDSU hadn't lost a game until them. I am slightly surprised that they lost though, because I don't see BYU as a super strong team. One player can't create a team. SDSU plays a team game, which is the opposite of BYU. So, I guess we can just pass off one game as a fluke.
-Purdue losing to Wisconsin. Very very surprising. Purdue is a really good team with very talented players. Wisconsin is a so so team that really shouldn't be ranked. The one thing that seems to be laking with Purdue is defense. It seems that they have lost the true meaning of defense. If they want to be a contender for the title, they have to play lock down defense.
Well, those are the biggest ones of the week for me. Every team is consistently NOT consistent. It seems that this season will be one that is tight til the very end. Whoever emerges on top might not be necessarily the best team, but one that plays the hardest and plays together. Isn't that what championship team should be? March Madness is a month and a half away. May the best TEAM win. The countdown is on!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)