College Hoops Thread 2011-2012

[The Poet]

We move into the backend of the Top 25 with a name normally seen much closer to the roof:


# 13 - Kansas = The Jayhawks have been bitten heavily of late by early withdrawals, and they've also had personal personnel problems to deal with too. Already a pair of players have been shut down for their first two exhibition games. Those are of course meaningless, but it's not a good sign. I feel confident Bill Self will do his best with what he has, and we'll see if they move up, or crash.

# 14 -Xavier = I have a lot of respect for the Musketeer program, and for the A-10 at large. They have a few good guards, and a few transfers from other schools to give them depth and experience. But to be among the top 15? With a suspension for their center Frease, and star guard Holloway sitting out their opener for a "violation"? In a league with Temple, Richmond, Duquesne, GW, RIU, St. Bonnies, UMass, La Salle, and Sts. Louis oad Joe's? Plus non-conference foes Georgia, Vandy, Purdue, Butler, Cincy, Zags, and Memphis on their plate? Hey, if they stay where they are in the polls, they with EARN it!

# 15 - Wisconsin = The Badgers will coast . . . well, plod, actually . . . through their first few weeks of cupcakes, but will get an early quiz when they visit Chapel Hill 11/30. Were I Bo Ryan, I might let PG Jordan Taylor wear sneakers for that one, but everybody else should be in Wolverines: If they try to run with the Heels, the game's already over. I can see the boys from Madison competing for the Big Seventy-Eight regular season witn OSU, the Michigan schools, and maybe Purdue, but I'll believe they'll be a national contender when it happens.

# 16 - Arizona = This sounds about right to me, with 'Zona being a Sweet Sixteen come March. If I remember correctly, the Desert 'Cats did a lot better last year than was expected, so they might even move up. This can occur with a team that's been there before, and though I don't much care for the program I am glad to see SOME Pac-47 teams get some respect. Speaking of which:

# 17 - UCLA = Remember these guys? I've been told they used to win a game or three from time to time. In a way, it's good to see them get at least partway back. In another way, I'm not so pleased. See, the joke around my alma mater is that the Blue-and-Gold is Carolina Lite, what with the Wear twins getting back on the court this year, and He-Whose-Name-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned maybe playing for the Bruins next year . . . MAYBE, if he plays well enough to get off the bench, and if he doesn't go crying home to Mommie once again. As with those other fuzzy creatures above, the Badgers, I can see UCLA competing in conference, though maybe not outside of it. And maybe not even that, when you consider that they have NO HOME GAMES this year: Pauley is closed for renovations, and not only will John Wooden not be in the stands, his name won't be on the court as well.

# 18 - Michigan = These guys started off like crap last year, and turned it around to get up as high as decent. To tell you the truth, I don't know which team will show up this season, and I'm not sure anybody will until the dust clears next spring. The Logans haven't scheduled much out-of-conference (Memphis, UVA, Bradley being the only potential non-pastry squads), so we may not know much at all until league play is well under way. For some reason, I see them going down instead of moving up, but as I said, who knows?


That's about all I can handle for one day, and I wanna go out and have a short smoke before the sun goes down. Pipe up and pipe in, brothers, and I'll be back later.

Originally Posted by The Poet

We move into the backend of the Top 25 with a name normally seen much closer to the roof:


# 16 - Arizona = This sounds about right to me, with 'Zona being a Sweet Sixteen come March. If I remember correctly, the Desert 'Cats did a lot better last year than was expected, so they might even move up. This can occur with a team that's been there before, and though I don't much care for the program I am glad to see SOME Pac-47 teams get some respect. Speaking of which:

# 17 - UCLA = Remember these guys? I've been told they used to win a game or three from time to time. In a way, it's good to see them get at least partway back. In another way, I'm not so pleased. See, the joke around my alma mater is that the Blue-and-Gold is Carolina Lite, what with the Wear twins getting back on the court this year, and He-Whose-Name-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned maybe playing for the Bruins next year . . . MAYBE, if he plays well enough to get off the bench, and if he doesn't go crying home to Mommie once again. As with those other fuzzy creatures above, the Badgers, I can see UCLA competing in conference, though maybe not outside of it. And maybe not even that, when you consider that they have NO HOME GAMES this year: Pauley is closed for renovations, and not only will John Wooden not be in the stands, his name won't be on the court as well.


That's about all I can handle for one day, and I wanna go out and have a short smoke before the sun goes down. Pipe up and pipe in, brothers, and I'll be back later.

Huge UCLA fan here...

Funny seeing your take on the UNC transfers to the Bruins. I think most fans view taking Drew II as a mixed bag...his attitude problems are well documented (as well as his overbearing mother), but so far the Wears are getting pretty good reviews. David looks to be playing a lot of time at the 3 this year since our frontcourt is so loaded, the major question is whether or not he can guard the position. And Howland absolutely LOVES the Wears.

The game plan is going to be simple this year...feed the bigs. Josh Smith looks about the same weight as last year, which isn't good since he's probably at least 50 lbs over where he should be. However, even at 365 lbs (or whatever he is) I don't think there are many players in the country that can stop him if he can stay out of foul trouble. He went for 26 pts (on 14 of 18 free throw shooting) in our first exhibition win over the weekend.

Regarding Arizona...I think they are going to miss Derrick Williams A LOT. I've seen both their exhibitions and the opener against Valpo..they really don't have a guy outside of the freshman Nick Johnson who seems like he wants the ball in his hands. I see them losing a lot of games early but getting better by the end of the season as the freshmen gain more experience. Keep in mind, they've already lost to Division 2 Seattle Pacific in their opening exhibition game.

I think Cal or Washington will be challenging UCLA for the Pac 12 title this year, not Arizona.

Good thread, I'll definitely be following.

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by Mutombo

Huge UCLA fan here...

Funny seeing your take on the UNC transfers to the Bruins. I think most fans view taking Drew II as a mixed bag...his attitude problems are well documented (as well as his overbearing mother), but so far the Wears are getting pretty good reviews. David looks to be playing a lot of time at the 3 this year since our frontcourt is so loaded, the major question is whether or not he can guard the position. And Howland absolutely LOVES the Wears.

The game plan is going to be simple this year...feed the bigs. Josh Smith looks about the same weight as last year, which isn't good since he's probably at least 50 lbs over where he should be. However, even at 365 lbs (or whatever he is) I don't think there are many players in the country that can stop him if he can stay out of foul trouble. He went for 26 pts (on 14 of 18 free throw shooting) in our first exhibition win over the weekend.

Regarding Arizona...I think they are going to miss Derrick Williams A LOT. I've seen both their exhibitions and the opener against Valpo..they really don't have a guy outside of the freshman Nick Johnson who seems like he wants the ball in his hands. I see them losing a lot of games early but getting better by the end of the season as the freshmen gain more experience. Keep in mind, they've already lost to Division 2 Seattle Pacific in their opening exhibition game.

I think Cal or Washington will be challenging UCLA for the Pac 12 title this year, not Arizona.

Good thread, I'll definitely be following.

I myself would like to see the Bruins get back to, at least, relevance, though I don't desire (nor anticipate) their long-gone dominance occurring again. As for the "Carolina Lite" observation, let me say this: I had little problem with the Wear twins leaving UNC. I thought it put last year's squad in a bind, what with them being thin down low, but if they felt Chapel Hill was not right for them, they were right. We don't want players who aren't happy to be there. And even though their departure was a surprise, they at least waited until the end of the season before they sprung the news. However, when it comes to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, to split in the middle of a campaign, in his junior year, solely because he lost his job to a better player, and felt he hadn't received the respect he hadn't earned on the court, and because he allowed his parents to tweet and chirp about how great he was . . . well, that's just wrong on many levels.

Unless both his attitude and his game changes a lot, I can't see him being more than a back-up for UCLA next year. His problems at Carolina were that he played east-west, not north-south, which killed the secondary break, and he was reluctant to make the pass to the scorers, which meant they got it too late to take advantage of position before the defense recovered. He-Who-Etc. was a game-changer . . . for the opposition.

I also think Smith will be your key post-player, and if the Wears can be "Plumlee-like" subs for 15-20 minutes a game each, you should be OK. And I also think Arizona might struggle some, and would not be shocked if they fell out of the rankings for a while.

Regular update ASAP.

Originally Posted by The Poet

I myself would like to see the Bruins get back to, at least, relevance, though I don't desire (nor anticipate) their long-gone dominance occurring again. As for the "Carolina Lite" observation, let me say this: I had little problem with the Wear twins leaving UNC. I thought it put last year's squad in a bind, what with them being thin down low, but if they felt Chapel Hill was not right for them, they were right. We don't want players who aren't happy to be there. And even though their departure was a surprise, they at least waited until the end of the season before they sprung the news. However, when it comes to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, to split in the middle of a campaign, in his junior year, solely because he lost his job to a better player, and felt he hadn't received the respect he hadn't earned on the court, and because he allowed his parents to tweet and chirp about how great he was . . . well, that's just wrong on many levels.

Unless both his attitude and his game changes a lot, I can't see him being more than a back-up for UCLA next year. His problems at Carolina were that he played east-west, not north-south, which killed the secondary break, and he was reluctant to make the pass to the scorers, which meant they got it too late to take advantage of position before the defense recovered. He-Who-Etc. was a game-changer . . . for the opposition.

I also think Smith will be your key post-player, and if the Wears can be "Plumlee-like" subs for 15-20 minutes a game each, you should be OK. And I also think Arizona might struggle some, and would not be shocked if they fell out of the rankings for a while.

Regular update ASAP.

I agree, the way Drew left UNC raises a lot of red flags. A lot of UCLA fans said that we shouldn't have taken him just because of the way he handled his departure from UNC.

I expect him to be the primary backup next year behind incoming freshman Kyle Anderson. Drew is the only pure PG on the roster, so he's bound to play a pretty large role in the backcourt. I think he will be better in Howland's half court offense than he was in Roy's fast break offense, though.

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by Mutombo

I agree, the way Drew left UNC raises a lot of red flags. A lot of UCLA fans said that we shouldn't have taken him just because of the way he handled his departure from UNC.

I expect him to be the primary backup next year behind incoming freshman Kyle Anderson. Drew is the only pure PG on the roster, so he's bound to play a pretty large role in the backcourt. I think he will be better in Howland's half court offense than he was in Roy's fast break offense, though.

Yes, He-Who-Etc. may do better in a half-court game, IF he gives up the ball to the right scorer at the right time. He was inconsistent at Carolina, however. One can give him a pass on his freshman year, as he understandably got little time playing behind Ty Lawson. In his other 1 1/2 seasons, he'd have one good game (say, 20 pts., 7 assts.), one "meh" game (8 and 5 with 4 TOs), and one stinker (4 and 3, and 7 TOs). At UNC, we don't expect the PG to score, but the rest just did not cut it. That, along with both his and his parents attitudes that his struggles was Roy's fault, not his, and that this was preventing him from becoming a superstar lottery pick, was the reason he lost his starting position to Kendall Marshall. It is likely also the main reason Harrison Barnes had such a slow start offensively at Chapel Hill. He-Who would NOT pass Barnes the ball, maybe thinking that would dim He-Who's light in contrast. Kendall had no such delusions, and accepted the team concept, so subsequently Barnes' game exploded in the second half of the season.

Update soon.