Duke upsets Virginia. We officially have chaos!

No kidding. Duke, then Indiana the only undefeated team left ? Is it basketball season ?

I strongly agree with Moranis about the importance of those big non-conference matchups that the blue-bloods have been able to schedule without it ruining their season if they lost. The Vols have had great rivalry series with Notre Dame, UCLA and Penn State in the past that have gone by the wayside. Tennessee still plays an annual out-of-conference opponent, usually a good team, but with the SEC going to a 9-game conference schedule, the future of even those games is in some doubt. Greed for more money is destroying a once great sport.

Duke upsets Virginia. We officially have chaos!

I don't think that one is all that chaotic unless not having an ACC champ makes the committee more strongly look at Miami.  James Madison will just be in as the 5th conference champ along with Tulane as the 4th conference champ as there is no way 8-5 Duke should jump ahead of those teams which were ranked last week and won their conference championships this week.

I do wonder what they will do with Ohio State. Do they just drop to 2 or does Georgia and maybe Texas Tech move ahead of them?  I know OSU won't drop past 4, but I can see arguments for 2, 3, or 4.  I think they will be 3 with Georgia at 2 and Tech at 4.  The only other real intrigue is 9 and 10.  What do they do with Bama, ND, and Miami (I'd have Tezas in that mix, but I don't think the committee will)?  That is the most interesting thing to me

I was listening to a podcast about the Raptors success. They were talking about the team's pace. Apparently, the Raptors are (1) way out in front of everyone in terms of early offense / fast break points but are (2) only middle of the pack in terms of pace.

This is because when they don't have the early offensive opportunities they pull it back out and are slow and methodical in the halfcourt.

So the pace stat is deceptive for them.

Maybe something like that is going on for the Celtics as well.

Quote from: ozgod on Yesterday at 01:38:54 PM

Quote from: Phantom255x on Yesterday at 10:30:20 AM

I wonder what's up with Boucher. I know he didn't look good earlier in the year but it seems like he just doesn't play at all anymore even in garbage time. In fact he's now had 5 DNPs in a row. I still think they should try him again and see if he can offer something. He looked like a solid player in Toronto and I still see potential in him, and certainly more than Tillman/Garza at this point

They're seeing something we aren't, and if I had to take a wild guess it's probably either attitude, unwillingness to buy into the overall game plan (i.e. play defense), or entitlement because he's a vet. Those are usually the reasons players get frozen out.

It's also possible that he's not in their plans long term, he was signed as insurance for injuries, and they want to develop the guys who will be contributing to this team in the future - the young guys. Like Blake Griffin never played, except when people were injured, or it was a specific situation like a SEGABABA, or something like that.

It's understandable as fans that we want to put in the best tool in our toolbox for a specific situation, when they might be trying to expand the number of tools they have.

With regards to Tillman/Garza, if I had to (wild) guess again what they see in those two that they don't in Boucher, it's size - as in weight. Neither are great switchable perimeter defenders, but we already have those in Minott, Walsh and Hugo, but other than Q we don't have big bodies to defend againsts post ups and play drop coverage, and that's probably where those two have value. Kind of leaves Boucher the odd man out.

Part of it is just that all of Minott, Hugo, Scheierman and Walsh have been good. Part of it is also that Boucher is 32 years old and on a 1 year deal, he's just not nearly as part pf their long-term plans as these other guys.

Boucher is also just not very good, which is why he?s on a one year minimum deal. Didn?t like that signing and I liked the Garza signing even less.

TP for another great game thread FL.   keep the win streak going