B1G/NCAA basketball

[Dr. Strangelove]

UTEP suspends three players for gambling...FBI is involved...the spectre of a point-shaving scandal is looming in the background

http://college-basketball.si.com/2014/01/07/utep-basketball-suspends-three-for-gambling/

[entropy]

still waiting on something about the SEC

[The Oracle]

In a basketball thread? Where have you ever seen such a thing?

[hack]

Sorry I missed MSU/OSU. I lost an argument tonight and we watched the final of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy instead. Saw MSU up 17 in the second; wow. Quite the finish, from the highlights. One good thing about only playing OSU once this year is we only have to be play Craft once more, save for possibly in the postseason. Will be glad to see the back of that crafty fucker.

I still don't get how OSU's competing with the roster they have, but they are. Bottom line. Impressive to go into EL and come back like that.

[iam416]

They were pretty terrible. Way too many turnovers. However, last season when they were god-awful on the road, they lost by 20+ early season at Illinois. Two seasons ago Wisky ran them 71-49. Tonight they managed to fight back against a top 5 team on the road.

I actually like where they are this season more than I did same time last season. They don't have a go-to scorer, but they do have a lot of guys who can score. I think the offense will get more consistent as the season presses forward.

In the meantime, I'm all for "B10 Officiating" -- but holy hell, as bad as EL is, it ain't f'n Beirut. The thing is, when set the tone of the game early, there's really no going back -- and then it sort of snowballs. Guys know they're getting smacked (and smacking the shit out of the opponents) and there's no call -- only gets worse. Definitely a war zone game.

[hack]

Two seasons ago Wisky ran them 71-49. Tonight they managed to fight back against a top 5 team on the road.

Yes precisely. Good on them.

[iam416]

Also, the final play in regulation was fucking insane. OSU was soooooooooo close to stealing an invaluable road win on that.

[hack]

Sounds like big parts of the whole game were fucking insane. Sorry I missed it.

[iam416]

Eh, it was weird game. No real trading punches -- more like trading huge flurries.

OSU had 21 TOs and MSU shot 11 of 19 on threes. Small miracle it got to OT.

Couple OSU-related things:

Brandon Dawson is a nightmare defensive matchup for LQR. LQR doesn't have the athleticism to deal with him effectively.

Amir Williams is slowly progressing toward a solid pivot player. He's never going to be great. My upside hope for him was that he'd turn into Terrence Dials by this his senior year. He'll probably be a bit short of that, but he's considerably better than he was last year and I actually like when he is in the game.

Marc Loving got some huge minutes last night. He was ok. Some good; some bad. But, I think he's trending toward solid contributor by March. Matta playing him down the stretch at EL says a lot.

Just 15 more regular season games of Aaron Craft makes me very sad. He'll be the most debilitating loss to the program since Mike Conley left a year earlier than expected crushing the hopes of the 2007-08 team (NIT Champs, Baby!).

[hack]

Yes he will. Good riddance. I hope he finds his way as a specialist in the NBA.

[*JD*]

The next Eric Snow!

[Dr. Strangelove]

The Week Ahead

Sunday (1/12)
Illinois @ Northwestern
Iowa @ Ohio State
Nebraska @ Purdue

Tuesday (1/14)
Indiana v. Wisconsin
Michigan v. Penn State

Wednesday (1/15)
Illinois v. Purdue
Michigan State @ Northwestern

Thursday (1/16)
Minnesota v. Ohio State

Saturday (1/18 )
Illinois v. Michigan State
Indiana v. Northwestern
Michigan @ Wisconsin
Penn State @ Purdue

[The Oracle]

I said it when Miles took over Nebraska, he's going to get them competitive very quickly and I think he's already done it. They're going to be a tough out at home. He's been recruiting pretty damn good for being who they are. If he gets a 3 star guy to turn out to be a stud they could be a borderline tourney team in the next few years.

[WM Wolverine]

They impressed me when we played them. I don't have much of a clue of their players eligibility so I don't know how well stocked they are for the future but they look to be competitive in most games this season.

[The Oracle]

GREAT win by Iowa in Columbus today. Gonna be a tough out this year and this conference is gonna be brutal as usual.