I was waaay off about Kentucky.

[Hanmudog]

I thought they were overrated coming into the year but after seeing them last night I think they are the front runner for the national championship. Their freshmen are not like normal freshmen. They are built like NBA players already. John Wall is one and done for sure because he surely will be the number one pick.
After seeing them it makes you realize the gap in talent from the very top teams (Duke,UK,UConn,etc.) to what we have at MSU. We have a solid team that may finish in the top 25 but we are a long way from top 5 level.

 

[Hanmudog]

I thought they were overrated coming into the year but after seeing them last night I think they are the front runner for the national championship. Their freshmen are not like normal freshmen. They are built like NBA players already. John Wall is one and done for sure because he surely will be the number one pick.
After seeing them it makes you realize the gap in talent from the very top teams (Duke,UK,UConn,etc.) to what we have at MSU. We have a solid team that may finish in the top 25 but we are a long way from top 5 level.

 

[Hanmudog]

I thought they were overrated coming into the year but after seeing them last night I think they are the front runner for the national championship. Their freshmen are not like normal freshmen. They are built like NBA players already. John Wall is one and done for sure because he surely will be the number one pick.
After seeing them it makes you realize the gap in talent from the very top teams (Duke,UK,UConn,etc.) to what we have at MSU. We have a solid team that may finish in the top 25 but we are a long way from top 5 level.

 

[fishwater99]

We will never be a top 5 team year after year, best we can hope for is top 25. You can see the difference in players, but there is also a gap between coaching at those schools and at MSU. No way Stans would have coached us back in the 2nd half like Cali did last night. If we can beat Depaul and UCLA then there is hope for this team. We get Reik on the court after those two also.

 

[seshomoru]

Nine wins in, and the basketball world is starting to go ape **** over this Kentucky team. 30 wins into Memphis's last four seasons and people were still second guessing how good they were.

 

[Coach34]

Just add this to the list...

 

[Hanmudog]

Just add this to the list...

You picked State to win 30 games this year and said John Pelprey was a good coach. Along with proclaiming the greatness of Les Miles and the averageness of Anthony Dixon and the superiority of Lee over Relf.
My Rider prediction pales in comparison to you Nostradamus34.

 

[RobbieRandolph]

nt

 

[alabamadog]

that doesn't expect Riek to contribute very much this year?

 

[patdog]

and will probably be worse. He's a project with a real high potential upside for the future, but he could just as easily never contribute for us much at all.</p>

 

[Irondawg]

Kentucky was very impressive. They've got the makings of a great team b/c they have two dominant players in Patterson and Wall and then a lot of other very good pieces.

I was watching the game and it dawned on me how much more physical their players look than MSU's. Their freshmen look much stronger than our Jr's and Sr's.

 

[Coach34]

1. Pelphrey has a player problem- not a coaching problem. And that may very well be his undoing 2. Miles is Lsu's all-time winningest coach...and this season he still has the program ranked higher than Saban did in his last season when Saban went 0-3 vs ranked teams 3. Dixon stepped it up. I was wrong about him 4. If Relf plays the whole season, we still don't win anymore than we did. Teams being able to scout his limited group of plays would have shut him down after a few games

 

[Hanmudog]

1. Pelphrey has a player problem- not a coaching problem. And that may very well be his undoing 2. Miles is Lsu's all-time winningest coach...and this season he still has the program ranked higher than Saban did in his last season when Saban went 0-3 vs ranked teams 3. Dixon stepped it up. I was wrong about him 4. If Relf plays the whole season, we still don't win anymore than we did. Teams being able to scout his limited group of plays would have shut him down after a few games

Pelphrey has done a **** job so far at Arkansas but you cannot bring yourself to admit it. Even Pelphrey's mom would say he has done a bad job. Funny how you don't seem to blame the coach for the player's problems when it happens elsewhere. Hmmmm, I wonder why?

 

[KurtRambis4]

Saban is a better head coach than Les. End of story.

 

[BriantheDawg]

Memphis claims 3 Final Fours, 2 of which have been taken away from them because they cheated. That leaves one Final Four - the same # we have. Memphis would like the college basketball world to think they're big time, but in reality, they are just a CUSA team that can't win big without cheating.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

He went 2 and freakin 14 in the SEC last year. Stansbury started 5 new starters in the 2005-2006 season. That team went 15-15 overall and 5-11 in the league. You will NEVER see Stansbury go 2-14. Arkansas didn't have any serious injuries either. Arkansas has more to offer, facility wise and more national recognition than MSU, and Stansbury will never go 2-14.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

He went 2 and freakin 14 in the SEC last year. Stansbury started 5 new starters in the 2005-2006 season. That team went 15-15 overall and 5-11 in the league. You will NEVER see Stansbury go 2-14. Arkansas didn't have any serious injuries either. Arkansas has more to offer, facility wise and more national recognition than MSU, and Stansbury will never go 2-14.

 

[Dawg E Style]

Stans > Pelphrey

 

[seshomoru]

Memphis claims 3 Final Fours, 2 of which have been taken away from them because they cheated. That leaves one Final Four - the same # we have. Memphis would like the college basketball world to think they're big time, but in reality, they are just a CUSA team that can't win big without cheating.

Kentucky just hired the coach of one of those Final Four teams, so they must think that he can either get away with the cheating in Lexington, or they just think he's good. For the record, it was Rose who cheated on the ACT, not Memphis.

As for claiming Kentucky is an elite program and Memphis is not, well you're just proving my point. Memphis has been the team getting the top seeds in the tourney the past couple of years, not Kentucky.

 

[Agentdog]

I'm betting Pelphry is history after this year. Some people use the players with problems excuse. However, many are now starting to rebutt with he is 3 seasons in and those are his players. I don't follow them close enough to know who he has or has not brought in. But the product on the floor has gotten worse. No matter the case, when Arkansas fans start grumbling, you can bet the end is near. That is one university that will fire anyone and waste no time doing it.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....the Broncs are 6-4. Wins - State, Lehigh, Florida A&M, Binghamton, St. Joseph's, and Marist. Their win over us is their only road win, aside from a neutral site win over Florida A&M. Losses - Virginia, Kentucky, Sam Houston State, La Salle.

Again, I'd hate to be the 5 against that 12.

 

[patdog]

According to you, both Heath and Pelphrey are much better coaches than Stans is. How could they have possibly let a good program with plenty of resources fall so far?</p>

 

[BriantheDawg]

my point, though, was that Memphis didn't get the respect that UK is getting because they are not an elite program like many of their fans want to believe they are. That, and the terrible schedule they played makes it tough to judge how good a team really is/was, especially when they only had 3 decent wins the entire season.

 

[Hanmudog]

....the Broncs are 6-4. Wins - State, Lehigh, Florida A&M, Binghamton, St. Joseph's, and Marist. Their win over us is their only road win, aside from a neutral site win over Florida A&M. Losses - Virginia, Kentucky, Sam Houston State, La Salle.

Again, I'd hate to be the 5 against that 12.

I acknowledged that I blew that prediction. I promise to wait more than one game to proclaim how good a team is from now on. Rider did look good that game though. They could not freaking miss. Of course they were unguarded .

 

[Hanmudog]

According to you, both Heath and Pelphrey are much better coaches than Stans is. How could they have possibly let a good program with plenty of resources fall so far?</p>

If Arkansas has the facilities and has had good players and great fan support along with two alledgedly good coaches. WHy do they still suck?

 

[seshomoru]

my point, though, was that Memphis didn't get the respect that UK is getting because they are not an elite program like many of their fans want to believe they are. That, and the terrible schedule they played makes it tough to judge how good a team really is/was.

Dude, first off, they didn't play a terrible schedule. Their OOC was typically brutal. Second of all, you are making my point for me. Despite winning a **** ton of basketball games, no one would give them credit for being an elite program, despite the results over the last four years to validate it. Now, as of today, they aren't elite, but nine wins into a season with Rose and CDR, people weren't fellating Memphis. They were downing CUSA, which for some reason was supposed to mean Memphis wasn't that good.

Nine games into this season, the entire basketball world is about to kneel before Kentucky and ask if we should pray to them or suck them off.

 

[BriantheDawg]

were UT, Gonzaga & Maryland. And the Maryland win was in the Tourney. The other decent teams they played, they lost - Xavier, GTown, Syracuse & Mizzou (in the Tourney). 3-4 against the only decent competition you play is not good no matter how you try to spin it. And if you call playing 5 good teams all season long 'brutal', then I don't know what else to say here.

 

[jakldawg]

Mainly because it's the same thing with them. Every. Damn. Year. As soon as the leaves start to change color, people start predicting how the big blue will end up in the Final Four. Local sports talk radio descends into an unlistenable homer-fest. You see 3 or 4 Cats-specific pre-season magazines on every newsstand, and I seriously doubt any of them came close to predicting last year right. There were people who booked hotel rooms in Indy when coach Cal was hired. They had thousands of people show up just to watch a practice. On their arch-rival's home court. What I'm saying is-it's a rich stew full of crazy every season.
It just looks like this year they actually <span style="font-style: italic;">are</span> badass. I just hope Wall and Cousins are 1-and-done types.

 

[seshomoru]

I call this brutal compared to most:

08-09: Xavier, Gtown, Syracuse, Cincy, Tennessee, Gonzaga

07-08: Oklahoma, Uconn, USC, Cincy, Gtown, Arizona, Gonzaga, Tennessee

06-07: Oklahoma, Gtech, Kentucky, UT, Ole Miss, Arizona, Gonzaga, Cincy

05-06: Bama, UCLA, Duke, Cincy, Ole Miss, Gonzaga, Texas, Tennessee

Last year was the worst OOC they had played in a while. And my point remains: tough out of conference, tons of wins, high seeds, a sweet sixteen, two elite eights, and a national championship game appearance. Yet they were still questioned, and Kentucky, with Memphis's old coach, gets a blowjob nine games into the season.

 

[8dog]

when does a coach actually have coach problems in your world?

The answer is never when you have backed them.

 

[hullabaloodog]

It's not that it "may very well be his undoing." It IS his undoing. He has no control over his players, and is a mediocre floor coach at best.

 

[patdog]

when every single criticism you can possibly make of Stans can be made even moreso of Pelphrey. Can't win in the postseason? Pelphrey is a whopping 1-3 in postseason play. Can't handle players egos? Stans has never had a team fall apart like Arkansas has the past 2 years.

 

[Stormrider81]

There are legitimate criticisms to be made of Stansbury. The problem with Peaches is two-fold: he not only make the legitimate ones but fabricates more that are ridiculous and he doesn't apply the same standards to other coaches. It's ok for Pelphrey to have player problems, or for Brady to miss the NCAAs for years at a time or go one and done there, or for Gottfried to finish behind us in the West, or any other number of scenarios but let Stansbury do the same and he's the worst coach ever, needs to be fired, etc. It's ridiculous. All I'm asking is to apply the same standards to everyone only adjusting to the benefits/disadvantages of the particular school he works for.

 

[Stormrider81]

until these past two years at Bama. 16-0 the past two seasons in the SEC. Come on, that's incredible. Two back to back 12-0 seasons heading into the SEC title game, an SEC title, and almost an assured national title. That's incredible impressive, especially considering that Bama had floundered around in mediocrity for the past decade or so.

Meanwhile, Les Miles took over a team stocked with talent and hasn't had a season with less than 2 losses. Even their national title was more good timing than anything. Any other year during his tenure and they would not have played for that national title. Then he followed up that title with a 5 loss season (3-5 in the SEC) and a 3 loss season. Add to that the idiotic loss to Ole Miss and other hair brain junk he's done and you can easily come to the conclusion that he's just not as good as Saban. Were Saban still in Baton Rouge there is no doubt that he would have a better record than Miles.

 

[Coach34]

it was brought to your attention Saban was 0-3 vs ranked teams his last year at LSU and finished ranked lower than LSU this season...

Yeah, LSU is really sliding under Miles

 

[Coach34]

simply from the fact I've never seen Pelphrey trying to run a pick and roll against a 2-3 zone...that may be the single dumbest thing I've seen a basketball do...and he did it a few times in San Juan...a damn Jr high coach wouldnt do that

Corky from Life Goes On wouldnt have done that...but I got my DVR set for today in case he does it again

 

[8dog]

so whatever.

The posts and evidence against Miles makes you argument laughable.

Who cares if they are ranked 13th? That just shows that no one else watches them play either. They were 5-3 in the conference with 4 wins over teams that didn't finish .500 in the conference. He hasn't beaten a ranked team in the regular season in 2 years.

8-8 brother. 8-8. And 1 foot away from 7-9.

Miles is an average coach that has turned LSU into an average program.

The only proof you need is that next year, no one is going to mindlessly mark our game in BR as an L.

LSU is not sliding. It has slid.

 

[Stormrider81]

Let's base our opinion of a coach solely on a call in some game. Yep, that makes sense. Run down Stansbury for winning the West and then claim a coach that finished 2-14 in the same year and has started off 4-5 this season is better? Pelphrey is not a better coach than Stansbury and I'll base that simply on the facts which are indisputable.

 

[paindonthurt_]

Yes Kentucky has a wad of smoke being blew up there *** right now b/c they are Kentucky, but 1. they have earned that over the years. 2. they are good.

 

[Hanmudog]

simply from the fact I've never seen Pelphrey trying to run a pick and roll against a 2-3 zone...that may be the single dumbest thing I've seen a basketball do...and he did it a few times in San Juan...a damn Jr high coach wouldnt do that

Corky from Life Goes On wouldnt have done that...but I got my DVR set for today in case he does it again

You won't find a single person in the state of Arkansas that will say Pelphrey is better than Stansbury.

The miniscule amount of credibility you had just got flushed down the toilet with that statement.