Virginia is putting on a clinic on the road against Louisville up 15. Our guys need to watch and study how disciplined Virginia is defensively. They are always thinking, alert, down in their stance, and don't make stupid mistakes or fouls.
Well coached team. Tonny Bennett would be in any elite program's list of potential coaches and he is relatively young at 47.
Been switching back and worth. - - And on a side note - -Nebraska goes into Bloomington and BEATS Indiana by 4 Nebraska was just coming off a loss to Gardner - Webb --and wins at Indiana - -ROCK CHALK AL DAY LONG BABY
@jayballer54 we should never have lost to those yahoos. But when we played them, Josh was not yet comfortable in the system, Landen had a sore foot and Devonte didn't have his cramping under control and dealt with it the whole game.
Oregon looking very good so far against UCLA. Definitely the best they have played this year.
Oregon trying to give UCLA the win.
I have been watching the UCLA - Oregon game...interesting...
And UCLA goes down. What a shot by Dillon Brooks
LOL, ummm is it just me or did Space head BILL WALTON start pulling out his crying hankie after Dillon Brooks made that 3 pt shot, instead of being a neutral commentator and starts whining about how this is in-acceptable saying Oregon ought to assessed a Technical for the fans - - even the the play by play nan explained over and over and over WHY that didn't happen, LMAO. - - and really not quite sure where Walton is getting the notion that the Pac 12 is the CONFERENCE OF CHAMPIONS lmao - - WHAAAAAA? - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
@jayballer54 Walton went full homer mode at the end.
@jayballer54 yep he was disappointed
Walton is a Bruin... and at least he doesn't hide it like Bilas does with his Duke background. Walton is also a ham.
I'm pretty sure a lot of old Bruins are coming awake now and getting emotional about UCLA basketball again. And let's welcome that. UCLA hasn't had much to get excited about for a while. I'm glad they are away from the dark cloud of Howland. And college basketball needs to scramble some of the power formations.
And... it is nice to finally see another team getting the limelight out west besides Arizona. I bet Stumpy is pooping in his trow over the UCLA ranking.
Variety is the spice of life... especially concerning college basketball.
I like Walton. His conference of champions line comes from the multiple champions in a lot of the lesser sports. I think they've won two or three championships in soccer and volleyball the last month.
A lot of people despise Walton. I love him for his tirade against Stumpy and Az several years back. It was classic..it was epic, and I wondered how he ever kept his job. I still laugh thinking about it.
Villanova squeaks by DePaul by 3. It's Conference time baby!
Hate to agree.... but I agree.
We really need to focus on the "X-factor" at some point this year. It is that little bit extra given by a team or even just one player.
Ryan did much of it last year for Nova. And the hothead, Grayson Allen, did it for Duke in their win over Wisconsin. Diving for balls, scrapping like there is no tomorrow.... it is all about lifting the level of play to a new level. Almost impossible to defend and conquer when a team or a player explodes to a higher level of play.
@drgnslayr you are absolutely right. Of anybody on our roster, I feel as though Josh could be that guy. He has the passion and great exuberance necessary for that type of play.
I think we got a few of those x factor types. If we take Self's word that Josh Jackson still has another level to get to we may see him provide that type of effort. We know he can do it, we've never had a OAD like him before
I see that in him, too. I just hope he can hurdle over his own teammates in the "pecking order" to do it. Every team has it's own chemistry. And Josh will have to be willing to step over his own teammates that have seniority. Some guys feel a bit weird doing that, it gets to how they were raised to "respect elders" etc...
But he is definitely an alpha dog. And I've been thinking exactly what Bill just said... that Josh still has another gear left. If he is able to find that gear this year, it will be next to impossible to keep us out of the Final Four. That extra gear would make Josh execute sort of like another Michael Jordan. Taking over games when needed... all by himself.
I know we like to think that this is a team game (and it is), but it is also a game of individual players. College ball doesn't always figure that out because players are coached team values more than just coaching to win however possible. The NBA is about winning. It is okay if a player goes off for 60 points as long as they win.
I hope we think a bit more like an NBA team and a bit less like a D1 team. So if any of our guys are hot on a night and the other team can't figure out how to shut him down, we need to keep feeding that guy and run up his points for that game... regardless if it is Josh or whomever. Keep going to the well.
Watched a lot of basketball last night. Here are some observations.
Started with the Florida St-Wake Forest. What a game this was for 35 minutes. Back and forth game, Danny's team looked poised to get a big victory and then the wheels fell off. I think it was a 15-0 run in about 2 minutes that just blew the game in FSU's favor. FSU is ranked and rightfully so. Big, Athletic, chalk full of Top 100 kids, Dwayne Bacon is no joke. Jonathan Isaac looks like the prototypical OAD. Crawford of Wake is like Frank Mason, bulldog- takes ill advised shots sometimes but is a player. Their leading scorer Collins- didn't show up last night which hurt them. FSU can finish in the top 4 in ACC play if they put more consistent effort together and play defense. Hamilton is known for his defense but this squad doesn't play any. FSU a sneaky team right now.
Then I watched a slew of games -Virginia-Louisville which was a non contest for most of the game before Louisville decided to play at the end but ran out of time. Caught the last 5 minutes of the Nova-Depaul game. Nova definitely took the night off, but Josh Hart was stellar when it mattered driving to the hoop and getting to the line. Watched Creighton put on an offensive show, look out for this team. All 5 starters can blitz you. The game against Nova coming up is going to be huge. When I saw the Indiana/Nebraska game close I switched to that and watched Indiana fall apart late. Lots of missed FT's from key guys, especially Thomas Bryant. Indiana was playing some guys that didn't play against KU, wondering if they have injuries. Morgan looked like he sustained a horrible shoulder injury on a play the Nebraska guy was called for a flagrant foul. Obvious call. I'm shocked Nebraska won in Assembly Hall because Nebraska is not any good. The freshman Roby made some big plays.
Then the big nightcap game with UCLA/Oregon. Oregon came to play in the first half exposing what most already know about UCLA. They play optional defense. Sometimes you don't even know if they are trying. Total offensive team. Again for big parts of the game their offense is the best in the country. They score fast, efficiently and put so much pressure on defenses. Lonzo Ball was largely absent for the 1st half and it wasn't until Oregon went cold that Ball's talent started to show. I thought Oregon was done but then they fought back and an inexcusable miss by their best FT shooter Alford gave Brooks that last second opportunity for the win. What a big time player Brooks is. Oregon is starting to come around but this was a game I thought they would play with emotion because of it being played at home and UCLA being undefeated. On the road I'm not sure Oregon will be the same team.
Good night full of hoops!
Josh Hart is the real deal and the one player Nova cannot afford to loose; with him they are contenders, without him they are a marginal top ten team.
If anyone really cares about the Conference of Champions. I googled it and it turns out to be a nickname the Pac 12 gave to itself.
Nicknamed the "Conference of Champions," the Pac-12 has won more NCAA National Team Championships than any other conference in history; the three schools with the most NCAA team championships belong to the Pac-12 (UCLA, Stanford, and USC, in that order).
Pac-12 Conference - Wikipedia
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