We’ll see. Historically the Illini have played really well in Lansing and have fared pretty well against Izzo teams overall. The Illini are young and rely on jump shots, but they are also really, really long, hustle on defense and have a deep bench. I haven’t watched enough MSU yet this season to really form an strong opinion, but the Illini are pretty good inside and Tisdale and Mike Davis probably outmatch the Spartans under the hoop looking at the numbers. We’ll see if McCamey can avoid doing anything stupid.
Pretty down year for the SEC so far. Only Tennessee is ranked, and then not much longer since they lost to UK while at #24. Strange not seeing Florida, Kentucky, etc in the top 25.
Jodie Meeks is THE MAN.
That record was set by Dan Issel in 1970. Meeks also set the school record for 3-pointers in a single game previously held by Tony Delk.
No doubt that Meeks is the man, but…I hope that the role players step up when Meeks and Patterson (the OTHER man!) have bad games/foul trouble, etc.
Only time will tell, but this year’s version of the UK Wildcats is certainly exciting to watch now, and can score with anyone, but if they don’t get that turnover bug under control they will be an early exit from the Dance, which I fully expect them to make.
While I"m not too optimistic, I’d really like to see Arizona State win against UCLA tomorrow. If ASU wants to be a ranked team, you’ve got to beat…somebody!
Up at the half…shooting well so far, both teams were sloppy with the ball in the first half.
Go Illini!
Can we say I’m happy that ASU beat…somebody!!!
Great win.
It wasn’t the prettiest game you’ll ever see, but Michigan State gutted one out. I don’t think State will run the table on the Big Ten, but I think the regular season title is ours. Win that and/or the tournament, a #1 seed is a real possibility. Then if they can draw the Dayton-Indianapolis-Detroit tourney sites, who knows?
Louisville with a nice win over #1 ranked Pitt yesterday. The Big East has what, NINE ranked teams right now? Yeesh.
UCLA is trying very hard to choke away a game against Washington State. But they didn’t. Washington State called time out at the wrong time. They could have had a tie, but called timeout. Then they blew their inbound play.
Still, an interesting game. I figured it would be a blowout.
I can feel this thread heating up. I can also feel the UK Wildcats sneaking up on peeps. So far unbeaten in SEC play, JUST out of the rankings with four losses (3 to ranked teams)…keep it rolling Billy G!
And Dale, thanks for the help keeping this thread alive. I don’t get to see much if any west coast ball, so your contributions are great. Keeps me informed about the inferior coast when it comes to bball!
Pac 10 first place battle today. UCLA on the road against Washington. UCLA can’t pull another half ass effort like they did against WSU. I think the Bruins will come back strong and knock off Washington. If you’re going to win a conference title, you’ve got to win a few games on the road.
University of Arizona needs to bounce back today as well and beat Houston in a non-conference game. Arizona has been inconsistent all year and they need to get on track now.
Looks like UCLA is going to lose this one. They’re down 77-66 in the last two minutes. Arizona State is probably the most likely team to win the Pac 10. ASU, Washington, and UCLA all look good for NCAA tourney bids. Probably Cal and Stanford as well and maybe USC.
UK is now 5-0 in SEC play, winning a tough road game against Alabama. Damn, check out some of these stats on Kentucky (these were prior to the Tennesse game a week ago, but they still stand, especially those blocks!)
Jodie Meeks leads the Southeastern Conference and ranks fifth nationally in scoring (24.2 ppg).
Patrick Patterson ranks second in the nation in FG percentage (70.9) and 33rd in rebounding (9.3).
Patterson is the only player in the SEC to rank in the top five in scoring (4th - 18.9) and rebounding (3rd - 9.3).
UK ranks third in the country in blocked shots per game (7.5) while ranking fourth nationally in field goal percentage (50.5), sixth in free throw percentage (78.7) and ninth in assists/game (17.9).
Patrick Patterson has recorded nine double-doubles this season (in 15 games!!) and 15 in his career, tying him for 22nd on UK’s all-time double-doubles list.
Kentucky is 50-24 all-time in SEC road openers.
UK is 11-0 when leading at the half this season.
The Wildcats are 11-0 this season when limiting the opponent under 40 percent from the field.
The only thing holding the Cats back is turnovers. They had like 23 today, which is about 13 too many!
Mizzou after a pretty lackluster performance against the Illini, have really turned it on. They seem perfectly capable on making a run into the Dance.
Duke will be the new number one after the beat-down they gave Maryland today. This of course will mean nothing to the Duke faithful if they don’t beat UNC in a couple of weeks.
I agree with all the above except for the USC pick. I think with their tough remaining schedule they won’t crack the twenty win mark. The Pac-10 isn’t exactly the toughest conference either, and I think that will hurt their RPI.
USC might get hot in the Pac 10 tournament. They benefit from basically playing at home. But, they’re a toss up at best. No OJ Mayo this year.
This is getting ugly very quick. The University of Arizona is getting beaten badly by Houston in a non conference game.
Arizona will be the #1 program looking for a coach after this season. This is a program that will attract attention.
Who can come into Arizona and get them back to the NCAA tournament and the top of the Pac 10?
The Illini dominated the Cheeseheads today for the second home win since the frustrating loss to the Spartans. We go on the road to Minny this week and that game will be key. The Illini tend to struggle in Minneapolis for some reason and the Gophers are a bit of a mystery. We should learn a lot about both teams on Thursday.
The Illini broke into the top 25 this week in spite of the loss last Saturday and with back-to-back dominating wins could creep up the charts come Monday. With the ongoing success of Clemson, Mizzou, Michigan, Purdue and MSU the Illini’s key wins and losses look pretty good. If we can avenge the losses to the Michigan teams at home we’ll be in good shape for a plum NCAA seed.
Yeah, I’d say your boys are headed to a 5 seed (unless they end up winning the conference tourney) .