Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Midweek thoughts
It's Wednesday, and since I have a few minutes, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on what I've seen this week.
Syracuse looks terrible. It seems that teams finally have figured out the zone after all these years. The fact that McNamara isn't shooting well isn't helping matters. I do have to agree with Coach Boeheim on the schedule though, UConn, at Nova, and at Pitt is an extremely difficult stretch with not a lot of prep time.
A lot of the other brackets I've seen have Florida to a two seed. I think this may be a little too hasty. Going into Saturday night, I figured one of two things would happen. 1) UF would lose outright (which was correct) or 2) they'd win, go up to #1 and then lose tonight to South Carolina. Face it folks, now that Tennessee has a real coach, they're good. The real test is how they follow up the loss...do they flip the switch back on and get back on a roll or do they start to play inconsistently.
Miami may not be the last team in this week. Losing badly at UVa hurts their case slightly...if the Hoos two big wins hadn't been at home, I'd probably give them more consideration. (Off topic, I wonder how moving into a bigger arena will affect that program. Sure, they'll get more fans into the gym, but the atmosphere at University Hall can be intimidating.)
Manhattan lost at last-place Rider, while Iona beat Siena. Gaels now have a full game lead in the MAAC.
Miami University has lost two straight in the MAC, including last night at home to the league's new leader, Kent State. Golden Flashes are unbeaten in the conference, and look who's right behind them in the East...Ohio.
Southern Illinois beat Creighton in Carbondale. It looks like four schools in the Valley are now separating themselves from the pack, SIU, Northern Iowa, Wichita State, and Creighton. Early season darlings Missouri State, Bradley, and (most certainly) Indiana State have had some rough sledding in the league.
Tonight, I'll naturally be watching the UF-South Carolina game, while also keeping an eye on St. John's and UConn. Cincy plays at Louisville as well...good chance for the Cardinals to beat a good team. There are a couple of very intriguing bubble matchups in the Big XII...Iowa State at Missouri and Kansas at Texas A&M. BC is also at North Carolina tonight. It's a huge test for the Eagles, and they may have a difficult time after last night's tragic bus/bike accident.
Next projection on Saturday or Sunday...I may post in the meantime.
Syracuse looks terrible. It seems that teams finally have figured out the zone after all these years. The fact that McNamara isn't shooting well isn't helping matters. I do have to agree with Coach Boeheim on the schedule though, UConn, at Nova, and at Pitt is an extremely difficult stretch with not a lot of prep time.
A lot of the other brackets I've seen have Florida to a two seed. I think this may be a little too hasty. Going into Saturday night, I figured one of two things would happen. 1) UF would lose outright (which was correct) or 2) they'd win, go up to #1 and then lose tonight to South Carolina. Face it folks, now that Tennessee has a real coach, they're good. The real test is how they follow up the loss...do they flip the switch back on and get back on a roll or do they start to play inconsistently.
Miami may not be the last team in this week. Losing badly at UVa hurts their case slightly...if the Hoos two big wins hadn't been at home, I'd probably give them more consideration. (Off topic, I wonder how moving into a bigger arena will affect that program. Sure, they'll get more fans into the gym, but the atmosphere at University Hall can be intimidating.)
Manhattan lost at last-place Rider, while Iona beat Siena. Gaels now have a full game lead in the MAAC.
Miami University has lost two straight in the MAC, including last night at home to the league's new leader, Kent State. Golden Flashes are unbeaten in the conference, and look who's right behind them in the East...Ohio.
Southern Illinois beat Creighton in Carbondale. It looks like four schools in the Valley are now separating themselves from the pack, SIU, Northern Iowa, Wichita State, and Creighton. Early season darlings Missouri State, Bradley, and (most certainly) Indiana State have had some rough sledding in the league.
Tonight, I'll naturally be watching the UF-South Carolina game, while also keeping an eye on St. John's and UConn. Cincy plays at Louisville as well...good chance for the Cardinals to beat a good team. There are a couple of very intriguing bubble matchups in the Big XII...Iowa State at Missouri and Kansas at Texas A&M. BC is also at North Carolina tonight. It's a huge test for the Eagles, and they may have a difficult time after last night's tragic bus/bike accident.
Next projection on Saturday or Sunday...I may post in the meantime.
