Any thoughts on who comes out the victor in each of these 2 games between ranked teams this week?
On Tuesday, No. 15 Memphis and No. 16 Florida meet in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
On Saturday, No. 7 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Colorado meet at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
And on Wednesday, No. 14 UNC plays UT in NC. (UT also plays Michigan St. Sat. here in Austin.)
UF beats Memphis (if they show up like they did against KU) and really think CU "can" beat OSU (if they play like they did against KU). UNC beats UT. Mich St beats UT too. Mack Brown is gone and my guess is UT is cleaning house. Barnes may be next.
You watch UF will lose to Memphis and CU will lose to OSU. It's really funny how teams show up to play KU and then tank against other teams. It's really early in the season. These same teams that are playing "well" will meet reality. The season is a marathon.
Even if Florida doesn't play with the same energy that they did against Kansas, I still think they beat Memphis. Florida is a much better team when Scottie Wilbekin plays, Casey Prather is going to have a big advantage over anyone who guards him, and I will take Donovan over Pastner on a neutral court 10/10 times. Florida could get even better when/if Chris Walker becomes eligible.
Colorado has to really take care of the ball in order to win that game. They'll have an advantage inside with Josh Scott, but they have to get him the ball first. Brian Williams will make life difficult for Spencer Dinwiddie. Marcus Smart will dominate Askia Booker. Colorado averages nearly 13 turnovers per game, and they'll probably have more than that against Oklahoma St. I'll say OSU by 9, but CU has a chance if they take care of the ball.
I think North Carolina and Michigan St win pretty easily.
@truehawk93 UT hasn't really played anybody. Barnes was BEGGING for fans to show up for the Mich. State game after Sat. night's game.
The question is did Florida and Colorado beat KU because they played well or because KU played poorly? The answer is probably a little of both but particularly in the Florida game, the ungodly number of turnover by KU in the first half killed any chance of winning. That is not to say that their defenses did not have an effect, the certainly did, but a large number of turnovers were unforced and a result of careless play. I would venture to say that if KU were to play Florida or Colorado next weekend at AFH, KU wins by double figures.
@truehawk93 - lol - are you my wife? The first sentence says UF beats Memphis and CU can beat OSU and then it's flip-flopped in the next paragraph.
Seriously, you're right on with your assessment - Everybody shows up to play KU.
Reading up on Pastner while watching this Memphis v. Florida game.
Saw that he gave $250,000 to Memphis athletic department. ↗
Also, from wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Pastner ↗ ↗
At the age of 16, the Houston Hoops AAU squad was turned over to Pastner by his father, his first job as a head coach.[7] While an AAU coach, Pastner coached future NBA players such as Emeka Okafor, T. J. Ford and Daniel Gibson.
Also, the article said this of his education:
Josh Pastner was a walk-on freshman on the 1997 NCAA championship University of Arizona basketball team. After winning the NCAA title, Pastner was able to finish his degree in only two and a half years, taking as many as 33 units per semester.[3] He earned his bachelor's degree in Family Studies from Arizona in December 1998. He finished his master's in Teaching and Teacher Education in December 1999 before beginning work on his doctorate and starting his coaching career in 2000 as a graduate-assistant under Lute Olson at Arizona.
It's interesting to see his path to coaching, knowing he wanted to do it at an early age. I wonder if his skill level on the court merited walking on that championship team, or how heavily other factors weighed in. Also, if he chose his degree in Family Studies because he believed it would help him recruit and allowed for him to more readily fast-track his degree.
Not judging. Just curious.
@KirkIsMyHinrich Florida wins, Prather with 22 on 8/13 shooting. Just saying.