What's your predictions for next week's Big Ten/ACC Challenge? Wisconsin v. Florida State Illinois v. Maryland Michigan v. NC State Ohio State v. UNC Michigan State v. Boston College Purdue v. Virginia Indiana v. Duke Penn State v. Georgia Tech Iowa v. Virgina Tech Northwestern v. Miami Minnesota v. Clemson ACC wins 6-5
Wisconsin v. Florida State Illinois v. Maryland Michigan v. NC State Ohio State v. UNC Michigan State v. Boston College Purdue v. Virginia Indiana v. Duke Penn State v. Georgia Tech Iowa v. Virgina Tech Northwestern v. Miami Minnesota v. Clemson 7-4 ACC
Wisconsin (better friggin win) vs Florida State Illinois v. Maryland Michigan v. NC State Ohio State v. UNC Michigan State v. Boston College Purdue v. Virginia Indiana v. Duke Penn State v. Georgia Tech Iowa v. Virgina Tech Northwestern v. Miami Minnesota v. Clemson 7-4 ACC
Wisconsin vs Florida State Illinois v. Maryland Michigan v. NC State Ohio State v. UNC Michigan State v. Boston College Purdue v. Virginia Indiana v. Duke Penn State v. Georgia Tech Iowa v. Virgina Tech Northwestern v. Miami Minnesota v. Clemson 6-5 ACC
Wisconsin vs Florida State Illinois v. Maryland Michigan v. NC State Ohio State v. UNC Michigan State v. Boston College Purdue v. Virginia Indiana v. Duke Penn State v. Georgia Tech Iowa v. Virgina Tech Northwestern v. Miami Minnesota v. Clemson 7-4 ACC; horrible year for the Big 10 and a great year for the ACC. If Oden were healthy though...
@ all the media hating on the Big 10 once again. It's clear that the ACC is yet again the better conference. But one thing I've always thought funny is that everyone loves to get down on the Big 10 this time of year cuz of the tourney, but you know what? At least they're man enough to challenge the mighty ACC every year. No one else is. Probably just self-justification, but I think it's at least worth noting. Relatively solid performance tonight for Bucky, we got some really just awful calls against us, especially at home early in the year. The only thing that I don't like is, yet again, when FSU went to the press, Kam just started turning it over like an 8th grader. Other than that, we forced a ton of turnovers, contested just about every shot, and actually got Butch and Taylor to knock down open shots. We'll need more solid performances like this against Pitt and the rest of the tough teams we've got coming up.
The end of the Indiana game was awful. No one wanted to shoot a 3 to tie the game up. How about that facial by Thornton (FSU), straight up nasty!?! I agree with you guys, this tournament is lopsided in the ACC's favor. I think MSU and Ohio State can win tonight to bring some respectability to the Big 10.
I loved that; we were all focused on Tucker, cuz he was down and writhing in pain, and then you hear the FSU guys start hootin' and hollerin', and no one even really saw the dunk (at least where I was at ). So I get home, turn on Sportscenter, and there it is, the biggest play that will involve the Badgers all freakin year, and it's Steimsma getting posterized on a 5-4 break while our superstar is bleeding out of his eye and no foul or stoppage of play is called Gotta love it. It was a terrific dunk, no two ways about it, and Greg got owned. It had to be against the Badgers. I swear, teams bust out their best hightlights against us, just to make us appear even more pasty white and lame to the rest of the nation
You can take solice in the fact Wisconsin won and Tucker had a monster second half with his one eye. BTW - Is this the last year of this tournament since there will be a Big 10 v. Pac 10 tourney next season?
I'm not 100% sure one way or the other on that, Shape. I've not heard anything about this being the last year, but I'd imagine it will be. On to tonight's action... Right now it's about 8 minutes left in the 1st half and OSU is up on UNC by 10 points. Buckeyes seem like they haven't missed a 3 yet, so you know they'll come back down to earth later on and UNC will make a big run. The one thing that I am having a hard time understanding is the tempo of the game and Roy Williams. Dickie V is raving about the tempo of the game, which has been fast with a ton of shots and many 3 pointers, and saying how great it is and how awesome it is that Williams wants his team to get 100 possesions in a game. Um, correct me if I'm wrong here, but don't you want to get quality possesions from your uber young team, not worry about how fast your frosh 1 can push it down court and/or the number of overall posessions you get? This is why Roy Williams, in my mind, will never be a great game coach. The guy is all about getting the best players and making sure they go out and put on a show, but I see very little attention do detail with this team. Obviously they're very young, but they're rushing shots, they aren't running off screens, they aren't rebounding all that well (probably a side effect of pushing the tempo), and they have had as many out-of-control drives to the rack as they've had good, open shots. I know I differ from UNC's game plan fundamentally; I favor a style of play that values posessions, looks for good shots, defends and rebounds, and to me whenever I've seen a Roy Williams coached team, it looks like I'm watching Street Ball. Maybe I'm overly critical of the guy and his team, but this is not smart basketball right now. It appears to me that if Williams didn't have the kind of unreal depth he has, his team would get run out of the gym on a nightly basis, because they're just not playing smart, winning type basketball. I guess I'm just a Big 10 guy who will never understand why teams play that style. But when you rely on the fact that you have more talent on your bench every night than the other team, not the fact that your kids play a better, smarter brand of ball than their opponents, well, I guess you're setting yourself up to look like a real jackass every now and then. EDIT: It's in the closing minutes of the 1st half now, and Ohio State has gotten into foul trouble and is turned the ball over on 3 consecutive posessions. Here's that UNC run; let's see how the Buckeyes respond when the Heels take a lead.
The Buckeyes has really impressed me...especially from the 3 point range. The problem I see with them is they are no where near as deep as UNC...especially without Mr. Oden, and if they get into foul trouble, which four players already have two, then they could be in for a long 2nd half. UNC must come out in the 2nd half and set a presence inside with Hansbrough, which will open up their outside jumper. No matter what happens, I see an exciting 2nd half!
^ Mr. Oden, I presume? LOL It definitely was an exciting first half because of all the threes, and UNC started playing smarter as the half wore down. I agree that OSU is going to run out of energy, though, because UNC is arguably the deepest team in the nation, playing at home, and OSU has very little depth right now. It will be very interesting to see if the Buckeyes can gut this one out; I doubt they'll be able to against the waves of Tarheels Williams is gonna throw at them, but it'd sure be a statement win if they did!
<div class="quote_poster">Schaddy Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">^ Mr. Oden, I presume? LOL It definitely was an exciting first half because of all the threes, and UNC started playing smarter as the half wore down. I agree that OSU is going to run out of energy, though, because UNC is arguably the deepest team in the nation, playing at home, and OSU has very little depth right now. It will be very interesting to see if the Buckeyes can gut this one out; I doubt they'll be able to against the waves of Tarheels Williams is gonna throw at them, but it'd sure be a statement win if they did! </div> I'm half asleep man. UNC is on a 12-2 run to start the second half.
<div class="quote_poster">UKFan33 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm half asleep man. UNC is on a 12-2 run to start the second half.</div> Yup, this is what I think a lot of people knew was coming when OSU started off the game so hot. You can't keep UNC down forever.
