The ending of the Little Rock-Louisiana game was umm...interesting? Little Rock was down two to the Ragin' Cajuns with the ball with the chance to tie or win the game with 12 seconds left but the power went out in the arena midway through the possession with threw the Trojans off.

Ultimately, the power came back with a few seconds left but there was hardly any time for UALR to do much by that point. Incredibly, the refs did not allow the possession to be replayed and the game ended with Louisiana-Lafayette winning by 2. If I was Darrell Walker I would have jawed with the refs until they T'd me up (granted he effectively did that, maybe the refs didn't give him a technical because they knew what they did was wrong). The scene is below.




 

dmvpiranha wrote:

The ending of the Little Rock-Louisiana game was umm...interesting? Little Rock was down two to the Ragin' Cajuns with the ball with the chance to tie or win the game with 12 seconds left but the power went out in the arena midway through the possession with threw the Trojans off.

Ultimately, the power came back with a few seconds left but there was hardly any time for UALR to do much by that point. Incredibly, the refs did not allow the possession to be replayed and the game ended with Louisiana-Lafayette winning by 2. If I was Darrell Walker I would have jawed with the refs until they T'd me up (granted he effectively did that, maybe the refs didn't give him a technical because they knew what they did was wrong). The scene is below.




 

I saw this on SportsCenter, thanks for providing a link. How could the refs not blow the whistle and stop play when the lights when out?? I also wasn't aware that former NBA player/Washington Bullet/Friend of Michael Jordan was coaching Arkansas-Little Rock.

St.Joe's won their first game of the year last night in an interesting way. They were scheduled to play #23 St.Louis, but St.Louis has COVID issues so Albany took their place, and St.Joe's won 67-64. Is the A10 allowing replacement teams in place of teams that can't play because of COVID? Maybe St.Bonaventure could have played someone in place of GW yesterday 

Maryland at  #12 Illinois   8  Big 10 Network - Maryland is 1-5 in Big 10 play, and got blown out by Iowa in their last game

St.Joe's at Davidson   7  ESPN+
Butler at St.John's      7   FS1  -  2 former Colonials going at it

Unranked for the first time since 2016, Duke lost again tonight, to Pittsburgh. they are in legit danger of missing the tourney. As is North Carolina and Kentucky has basically no chance unless they win out.

A wild year for the bluest of blue bloods
 

First, my thoughts on Duke, UNC and Kentucky...not exactly a coincidence that this is occurring during a highly unusual season.  Every coach and every player has their thoughts about playing this season during  a pandemic.  Some will try to treat this as close to "business as usual" as they possibly can.  Others will consistently question why the games are being played at all.  Coach K and Roy and in their 70's; Cal is in his 60's.  Each has won a national championship.  Each has presumably "seen it all."  My sense is that at least in the cases of Coach K and Roy, they would shut things down if it were up to them.  Not because of the makeup of their teams but legitimately over health concerns.  Cal is a bit more difficult to figure.  He's 10-12 years younger than the other two and frankly, I don't follow him and his program as closely. 

This is not at all unique to college basketball.  How else can one explain the defending WS champion Washington Nationals sinking to last place while the perennial last place Marlins reaching the playoffs, aside from the Nats not having their hearts in a truncated season while the young Marlins eager to take the field each day?

Regarding DMVPiranha's point regarding top players looking beyond the blue bloods, I would say that this shift in thinking has already begun among 5 star recruits.  Cade Cunningham is playing for Oklahoma State, Josh Christopher is at Arizona State, Makur Makur attends Howard (but has only appeared in 2 games), Evan Mobley is leading a resurgence at USC, Ziaire Williams plays for Stanford, etc.    Most are majors but none can really be considered a blueblood.

MG14 wrote:

St. John's wins by 12. 

Bolden Stats:
17 points on 6-14 shooting (5-12 from 3)
1 Rebound
3 TOs

I'm not sure how much Toro played as his only recorded stat was 1 assist. He's been averaging about 11 minutes, 2 points, and 2.5 rebounds per game. Those are sure to go down after this game. Probably not getting the playing time he thought he might get.

Not surprised on Toro. He had trouble dealing with A-10 forwards and posts last year and he went to a league that has better. This is unfortunate but was predictable. 

GWRising, the point I was making was that struggles often start at the top and trickle down.  In the case of Duke, Coach K was outspoken in questioning why they were having to have to play games.  Then, he subsequently cancelled his 4 (I think) remaining OOC games.  This is going to send a message to your team that basketball should not be prioritized in the slightest during a pandemic.  Truth is he's probably right but the schools need the money too badly not to play.  Contrast this with GW.  While JC speaks about staying safe and remaining healthy, the fact is he is often exuberant when it comes to coaching and playing basketball.  He talks about not being able to wait to coach these guys and practically boasts about the down-the-line potential of the group he has.  He wants to play as often as possible so that his team gains experience playing together. There's nothing at all wrong with a coach having this attitude either.  But, s you can see, Coach K's views about playing right now are vastly different than JC's views.  So while you say you are not saying that I claim it's the same for everyone, it's also unfair to ask why it's surprising that we are struggling if certain bluebloods are.  Very different situations.

Duke alone had 4, 5 star recruits in this class, while it is true some of the top players are spreading around, more like 1 here 1 there, and their teams aren't faring that well.

If you look at the best teams in the nation, they feature players with experience, Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa, Villanova etc

Last edited by The Dude (1/20/2021 2:46 pm)

dmvpiranha, I saw some of that Alabama game and they were up by 40 midway through the 1st half. They look like they could be a Final 4 contender with how they've been blowing out SEC teams recently.

Jair Bolden scored 21 for Butler in a 67-53 win over DePaul. He's the only former GW player doing well at his BCS school, Marfo and Toro aren't getting a lot of playing time. 

About Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky struggling, the coaches could get away with using COVID as an excuse, especially Kentucky since they pretty much had a roster overhaul and not a lot of practices, scrimmages, summer league games, etc. to get the newcomers ready. Also, the top 15, one-and-done players choosing schools like Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas, USC and Gonzaga plays a big part in the struggles as Gwmayhem and DMVPiranha pointed out. If top 10 players like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Zaire Williams and Jalen Suggs had signed with Duke, UNC or Kentucky, those schools would probably be in the top 15 right now, instead of looking like NIT teams. 

VCU at St.Bonaventure       6   CBS SportsNetwork
Rhode Island at Duquesne  6   ESPN+
St.Joe's at George Mason   7   ESPN+

Tonight's St.Louis-UMass game has been postponed. Does STL still have a COVID issue? STL has yet to play a conference game, contrast that to Rhode Island who is playing their 8th conference game tonight. 

GWRising wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

GWRising, the point I was making was that struggles often start at the top and trickle down.  In the case of Duke, Coach K was outspoken in questioning why they were having to have to play games.  Then, he subsequently cancelled his 4 (I think) remaining OOC games.  This is going to send a message to your team that basketball should not be prioritized in the slightest during a pandemic.  Truth is he's probably right but the schools need the money too badly not to play.  Contrast this with GW.  While JC speaks about staying safe and remaining healthy, the fact is he is often exuberant when it comes to coaching and playing basketball.  He talks about not being able to wait to coach these guys and practically boasts about the down-the-line potential of the group he has.  He wants to play as often as possible so that his team gains experience playing together. There's nothing at all wrong with a coach having this attitude either.  But, s you can see, Coach K's views about playing right now are vastly different than JC's views.  So while you say you are not saying that I claim it's the same for everyone, it's also unfair to ask why it's surprising that we are struggling if certain bluebloods are.  Very different situations.

 First of all, Coach K is turning into one of the biggest phonies ever. He was fine with playing this year until he discovered his team wasn't very good. Now he wants everyone to stop playing. Fairly sure if his record is bad he is going to argue for a COVID asterisk on his record this season. Remember this is the same guy, who tried to place his season record on Pete Gaudet when he missed part of a season with back trouble. As you know, more and more of his fellow coaches are recognizing this phoniness. And a few have spoken publicly.

As for JC, if I were to bet he would have been fine with not playing this season. But unlike Coach K, he's not going say well we are 3-9 and we shouldn't be playing. He is going to do the best he can do under the circumstances and take what comes. His exuberance comes from the fact he is all in for whatever he commits to and he's not making excuses.

This of course is an accusation that you could not prove in a million years.  Maybe the man is 73 years old and is concerned about his own life.  Or spreading Covid to his family?  Maybe he is concerned about his assistant coaches, his administrators, his players?  Maybe he does not perceive playing a college basketball season to be worth it in the midst of a public health crisis.

Your post reminds me of Michigan football indicating that they had some cases and might not be able to play Ohio State (which at the time meant OSU would not qualify for the conference championship game and in all likelihood, the national playoff).  This prompted Kirk Herbstreit (who I normally like) looking completely past the possibility that Michigan could actually be telling the truth and snarkly commenting that this was to get Michigan out of getting pummeled by the Bucks while getting back at their rival who they can't beat on the field.  Well, turns out the Michigan football program had over two dozen cases and did not play another game the rest of the season.

Same type of thing here.  No argument that this is turning out to be one of Coach K's more disappointing teams.  However, to assume that this is the reason why he would rather not play this year is quite a leap.  I can't say you are definitively wrong but there's no way that you are definitively correct either.