The Road To The Final Four...The College Basketball Thread

[Radiobarry]

The college basketball season is well under way. Which team is your favorite? Mine is UCLA, and coming off their loss in the championship game a year ago expectations are raised once again in Westwood...and Ben Howland's team has already scored a rather impressive early season tournament win.

USC has a beautiful new building on campus...and a lot of folks there are finally finding out that they play basketball at that school, too. They can't use the dumpy old Sports Arena as their reason for not attending games any more.

Can Florida repeat? What about the traditional powers like Duke?

How has the NBA one-year rule changed college hoops, if at all? Would you rather have a superstar player at your school for one or two years max, or...like the Florida model...a team of good players staying all four years?

Here's the thread for college basketball junkies who count the days til March Madness...

--Barry

[stinkerbell]

I'm a UNC fan through and through, but I've been known to also cheer for DUKE.

Doesn't make any sense, but I live in Oregon right now, so I can get away with it. If I still lived in NC, no way would I cheer for Duke.

Basically I just love the ACC....except NC State. I hate them. Old habits die hard.

[kylelicious]

I'm a UNC fan through and through, but I've been known to also cheer for DUKE.

huh?! sorry, that cant happen. it's not natural! the 2 schools are supposed to hate each other!! that's like a kkk member being the president of a tupac fanclub. it just doesnt happen.

i like gonzaga!! i started following them in middle school and have watched them ever since. they are currently ranked 23, but since they just beat #2 UNC (oh yeah!!!), they should make a huge jump.

if i had to pick who was gonna win it all, i would have to take florida. noah is a beast!! they look pretty unstoppable right now, but who knows what will happen? that's what's so good about college ball, nothing is a sure thing.

[stinkerbell]

huh?! sorry, that cant happen. it's not natural! the 2 schools are supposed to hate each other!! that's like a kkk member being the president of a tupac fanclub. it just doesnt happen.

Weird. I was going to say I'm silently cheering on Gonzaga since they beat UNC. I've had a hard time NOT cheering for them the last few years. They're like mountain men from nowheresville. Good stuff.

I've been out of NC for 20 years, so that's why I can be a closet Duke fan. It's not like anyone in Oregon cares who I like. It's not like anyone in Oregon understands a true college rivalry. Everything here is so lame sports-wise. So I don't feel to Biggie Smalls-ish here. I'm safe.

And Noah's a beast. He single-handedly killed my bracket last year. But he was so much fun to watch.

[Radiobarry]

Weird. I was going to say I'm silently cheering on Gonzaga since they beat UNC. I've had a hard time NOT cheering for them the last few years. They're like mountain men from nowheresville. Good stuff.

Adam Morrison's Zags career ending as he sat on the court after a furious UCLA comeback...acting like the game was over when there was still time on the clock...a favorite Gonzaga moment

[stinkerbell]

Adam Morrison's Zags career ending as he sat on the court after a furious UCLA comeback...acting like the game was over when there was still time on the clock...a favorite Gonzaga moment

That was hilarious. I've never put money on the Zags. Sometimes that works out for me, sometimes it doesn't. I would never tell my husband that I kinda root for them, since I have nothing but great disdain for any teams west of the Mississippi.

[kylelicious]

that's one thing i have never swayed on. being a CA bay area sports fan, i've always heard people say "i like the raiders and the 49ers" and stuff like that. i cant buy into that, the teams are supposed to hate each other! my favorite thing about sports are the rivalries. that's what it's all about! the passion & hate between two teams and their fans is a beautiful thing. red sox-yanks, ohio st-michigan, duke-unc; i get shivers in spine thinking about these teams. man, i need a life...

how can anyone not like zaga? little school in washington who is a giant killer. coach few is a genius! i still cant believe how they went out against ucla last march. it sucked seeing adam morrison leaving like that.

and i feel you on the whole "nobody understands a true college rivalry" thing. i live in LA. the fans here are the most fair-weather fans ever. 2 years ago you could walk into any clippers game, now they are selling out left and right. why? because they are winning.

and noah didnt kill my brackey last year, george mason did.

[kylelicious]

Adam Morrison's Zags career ending as he sat on the court after a furious UCLA comeback...acting like the game was over when there was still time on the clock...a favorite Gonzaga moment

i never doubt morrison. i watched him since he was a blad headed freshman and he always played harder than anyone on the court and put everything he had into the game. morrison did get up and he played 'til the buzzer in that game.

[Mac Daddy]

GO NINERS! WHOO HOOO!!!!



I think Cal State Long Beach has been to the big dance a total of....um....

once.


So ya never know. In the mean time, I'll be watching UCLA with interest as they are off to the best start in years. Uconn has also been one of my favorites as one of my good friends is an alumnus and a rabid fan. (Thousands of $$$ for the tickets and hotel in San Antonio.)


Get this: He won a breakfast with John Wooden a couple of years ago in a contest, and went Wooden's local hang out to meet him, and Coach invited him back to his apartment to talk a bit more and to show him some of his past trophies, etc.

Pretty cool, eh?

[BDBopper]

Do yourself a faovr folks and go to Yahoo Sports or SI.com and look at the scores from the first month of games. Notice how several smaller schools are winning against larger schools in power conferences. This may mean nothing come a few months from now but I think this is a trend. While I think th 1 year rule for the NBA (as well as being able to draft kids out of high school) has cheapened the NBA, that rule has made college basketball much more competitive. things are more even and I think we are going to see many more George Masons' in future Final Fours.

Bring it on I love College hoops. this is such an awesome time of year...College football rivalries and bowls, and College Hoops starting up!

[kylelicious]

While I think th 1 year rule for the NBA (as well as being able to draft kids out of high school) has cheapened the NBA, that rule has made college basketball much more competitive. things are more even and I think we are going to see many more George Masons' in future Final Fours.

cheapened the nba? i disagree. how many high school players who go straight to the nba either take a long time to develop or never do well? kwame brown, tyson chandler, robert swift, etc. all of those guys could have benefited greatly from learning from a college coach. college basketball will really polish a player's fundamentals and make him into a better player. in college fundamentals are stressed, in the nba you are expected to have the fundamentals mastered. i am aware that there are a lot of great players who skipped college; kobe, lebron, garnett, etc. as well as those guys play, i think that they could be a little better if they went to college.

did anyone catch kansas beating florida!? that's a HUGE win for the jayhawks! they needed something like this after losing to oral roberts last week. huge win for kansas and big loss for florida.

[BDBopper]

What I was trying to say is that if the NBA was not allowing teams to draft High school kids or players that haven't completed two-three years of college that the NBA would be a better league and that College Basketball would be less competitive all around. Where are these kids going to go? they certainly are not going to choose Butler, Creighton, George Mason, Utah State, etc. they are going to go to Duke, Carolina, Kansas, Georgetown, Syracuse, UCLA, Kentucky, etc-in other words traditional basketball powerhouses.

The smaller schools now have a better chance of competing and results on the court are confirming that.

[kylelicious]

What I was trying to say is that if the NBA was not allowing teams to draft High school kids or players that haven't completed two-three years of college that the NBA would be a better league and that College Basketball would be less competitive all around. Where are these kids going to go? they certainly are not going to choose Butler, Creighton, George Mason, Utah State, etc. they are going to go to Duke, Carolina, Kansas, Georgetown, Syracuse, UCLA, Kentucky, etc-in other words traditional basketball powerhouses.

The smaller schools now have a better chance of competing and results on the court are confirming that.

i think it is making the nba better and college more competitive. the rule could be longer, but i think that a lot of ball players will end up staying longer because their draft stock will dip if they only have a so-so year at college.

and marquee players sometimes do end up at smaller schools. i.e. dwayne wade (marquette), adam morrison (gonzaga), andrew bogut (utah). those schools are big, but they are certainly not powerhouses. the small schools will definitely catch a superstar or two because of this rule. sometimes players don't become great until a few years in college.

[BDBopper]

Would you explain to me how the NBA is better by allowing kids from High School who don't have the chance to grow and develop in college ball? Do you think the elite NBA teams of this generation would have a good chance to beat say the Celtics or the Lakers of the 1980's? I think today's teams would fall flat on their faces against competition like that.

[kylelicious]

Would you explain to me how the NBA is better by allowing kids from High School who don't have the chance to grow and develop in college ball? Do you think the elite NBA teams of this generation would have a good chance to beat say the Celtics or the Lakers of the 1980's? I think today's teams would fall flat on their faces against competition like that.

uhhhh, the nba isnt allowing kids from high school anymore.

are you even aware of the rule in place? the nba just put a new rule in place that says a player must be 19 years old and one year removed from high school. thus, it forces the players to go to at least one year of college.

how do you not understand that this makes the nba better? it backs up everything you are saying. the kids are learning better basketball in college and moving on to the nba later.

i dont know if you're not understanding me or if i'm not understanding you, but i was responding to where you said this:

What I was trying to say is that if the NBA was not allowing teams to draft High school kids or players that haven't completed two-three years of college that the NBA would be a better league and that College Basketball would be less competitive all around. Where are these kids going to go? they certainly are not going to choose Butler, Creighton, George Mason, Utah State, etc. they are going to go to Duke, Carolina, Kansas, Georgetown, Syracuse, UCLA, Kentucky, etc-in other words traditional basketball powerhouses.

they're not allowing high school kids in the league.

it would make college basketball less competitive??

i dont get it.