Gotta enjoy every win this year since South Carolina is so young. That being said, Sam Muldrow is a man 16 pts, 14 boards, a steal, and 10 mother fucking blocks. Also consider SC your sleeper team in your NIT pool. (I said we were young.)
Wow. As an Ohio State guy, it makes me sad to see Michigan State's current state of suckage. Izzo is a great coach, and in terms of talent, the team seems like they should (theoretically) be pretty well off. What the eff is going on? It seems mental mistakes on the court are killing them more than anything. And speaking of which, how 'bout them Buckeyes? Sullinger is a monster and a probable top-5 draft pick. I've read buzz about him going #1, but I don't know if I really see it. There may not be a clear LeBron-caliber player in this draft, but Jones, Sullinger, Irving and even Enes Kanter are all guys who could really evolve into something pretty damn good. Lighty, Buford and Diebler are all 3-point threats, and with solid post and kick-out games, this OSU team is definitely better than the last squad that went to the National Championship game. Does that mean we win this year? Well... probably not. Choking and Columbus generally go hand-in-hand. But at least this year ought to be a decent step forward in future recruiting.
1,181 days... bitch. Took you long enough. You ever get to that point where you lose something that meant so much to you, and you're forced to search elsewhere for the beauty and meaning in life? That's pretty much how I feel right now. What a fucking nightmare of a season. Maybe we can schedule a quick home game with New Jersey Technincal Institute just so we can lose to them by 45 points and really send the message home. We fucking suck. Can't even begin to describe how frustrating this team is this year. It's a goddamn joke.
Kemba couldn't bail out UConn today and they lost to Louisville by one in double OT. Next up for UConn, Syracuse. The Big East is brutal this year, no easy games (Except Depaul).
Big East has gotten reaaaaaaaaaaaaaal interesting the past week. A lot of Top ten team losing, mostly on the road. Granted, not all huge "upsets" as UL, ND, and Georgetown were ranked, but: Providence beats Nova ND beats Pitt UL beats UConn Georgetown beats Nova Seton Hall beats Cuse Marquette beats Cuse Nova has lost two in a row, Cuse 4 in a row, and Georgetown (who looked like they were in horrible shape a week or two ago) have won 4 straight. St. John's are interesting for the first time in a decade. Sure, by themselves, none are than huge of a deal. But that's a lot of top ten losses collectively, and it's looking like the Big East is increasingly wide open at the moment.
All these posts, and no one mentions Jimmer Fredette? An ordinary-looking, ordinary height (only 6' 2"), unathletic, slow white guy, who is a New York Mormon playing for BYU...and is a completely insane, unstoppable scorer that beats top teams all by himself. Jimmy Chitwood doesn't have shit on the Jimmer.
Sure, and Kemba Walker will almost certainly make a better pro. But Kemba is a super-skilled black New York City point guard, with many players similar to him already in the NBA. He is great, but not as unusual in terms of look, pedigree, and game as Jimmer.
Honestly? Jimmer Fredette dropping buckets is just same old, same old. It's not that I'm not impressed; it's just that it's not newsworthy. But as far as "top teams," they've beat two top 25 teams in Fredette's entire career. And one of them was when he was a freshman off the bench. So while I respect the way he puts the Mormons on his shoulders, it's not exactly toppling giants.
The fourth-ranked team in the country, undefeated at 21-0, with several NBA prospects being defeated by a single guy on the ninth-ranked team is not newsworthy? A player launching himself from early second rounder to late lottery in a single game is "not newsworthy"?! Are you just joking, or actually serious? If the latter, then what the hell qualifies as "newsworthy" to you in college basketball? Dude, let's not get into a pissing contest about conferences. It's freaking dumb. Yeah, most of BYU's opponents aren't very good, but this game was different, because SDSU is excellent and loaded with top talent. That's what makes the game special and significant, in addition to Jimmer scoring 42 of his team's 71 points to beat a top team.
You got exactly the opposite of what I meant out of my post. I'm very, very impressed by Fredette. What I said was meant as a compliment to his game. Look at it this way: when Kobe/LeBron/whoever drops a bunch on a team, are you surprised? Is it "Holy shit, I totally didn't see that coming!"? No, it's Kobe being Kobe. Similarly, Fredette is a top-notch gunner who doesn't have a lot of help around him. So when he scores in bunches, I'm impressed, but not surprised. We're not talking about some chump. We're talking about the nation's leading scorer, and someone who lit up last March. By not newsworthy, I mean that it's what he did last year. I noticed last year. In fact, I think you can find a post somewhere on here with me raving about Fredette and saying he was potentially the Stephen Curry of last year's tournament. It's not that it isn't impressive; just that he has been this good for a long time, and if someone's just noticing it now, they've been sleeping. In conference tournament/NCAA tournament time last season, he dropped over 30 in 4 straight games. If anyone is just noticing Jimmer Fredette now, it's their own damn fault. Nothing about his performance against SDSU surprises me.
I'm only noticing right now, but that's because I don't follow NCAA Basketball all that closely. Nevertheless, looking back at his previous big games, the one against SDSU is his best one yet. He has never had that complete of an offensive performance against a squad that good. And I hope things don't get to the point where a 42 point performance in a win over the 4th best team in the country becomes rote and boring.
Two points: SDSU isn't the 4th best team in the country, and they weren't when they played. They were a top-15 types. Among the teams better than they? BYU. The fact that Jimmer is only 6'2 is somewhat unusual, but lets not pretend that unathletic, white, profilic scorers are somehow new in college basketball. Unrelated: Duke is fucking deep. If they can get Irving back to near-full strength, they have to be easy favorites to repeat.
They're not, but there's some special things working in Jimmer's favor; 1. He is short. Not a 6' 8" forward like Adam Morrison, but just 6' 2". 2. He doesn't play for Duke. 3. He has a badass name. 4. He is an honest-to-God Mormon. 5. He beat a legit top team by himself. Bill Simmons interlude aside, I haven't been this excited about a mass scorer at the college level since...Stephen Curry! Yeah, Curry had way more pro potential, but still, the excitement of "holy shit, this tiny, unathletic dude is going to win games ALL BY HIMSELF" is the same.
And Duke gets PWNED by St. John's. Woohoo!!! Take that you arrogant Devil cunts. Maybe my older brother will quit running his mouth now. St. Johns needs to be ranked after today. Wow.
Well, at the same time, 7 of their last 8 have been against ranked teams (and Cincinatti is #26 in votes last poll). Winning three of those is respectable. The middle of the pack in the Big East isn't fucking around this year. We could see ten Big East teams in the tournament in March.