NCAA Basketball 09-10 Thread

[SuperKevin]

The Terps are a scary team when Vasquez shoots well. I'm expecting a 6 seed and a Sweet 16 appearance

 

[Nash]

North Carolina might not even make the NIT :rofl:


Duke- L
NC State- W
@ Georgia Tech- L
@ Boston College- could go either way
Florida State- L
@ Wake Forest- L
Miami- W
@ Duke- L

that would put them at 16-15 (5-11) at best IMO

only easy wins they have left are Miami and NC State

 

[Mogriffjr]

 

[Argath]

 

[Goober]

Wisconsin beat Maryland!

 

[Goober]

Even though I can't stand Bo Ryan and watching Wisconsin, that dude's a hell of a coach. He wins regularily on an elite level with a lot of the times not really exceptional talent.

How can you hate Bo? I understand the swing offense is worse than watching paint dry for most people, but Bo rocks.

In the next 800 words, you're going to meet my new favorite coach. But first you have to guess who he is.

Hint No. 1: Nobody in any division of college basketball won a higher percentage of his games (.908) in the '90s than he did.
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Hint No. 2: Now he's got the highest winning percentage (.706) in Big Ten games of any coach in league history -- minimum five years -- and, yep, that includes Bobby Freakin' Knight.

Hint No. 3: If you stood him next to North Carolina's Roy Williams, you'd be looking at the two guys who have the highest winning percentages among coaches with more than 500 wins. Yet people would mob Williams for his autograph -- and ask to borrow this guy's Sharpie.

Who is he? Wisconsin's Bo Ryan.

I swear, you've never met anybody like him. He could talk the freckles off Opie. He once persuaded an engaged woman into calling off her wedding and marrying him instead. Thirty-two years later she's still convinced. And he can flat coach. With his patented Swing offense and his obsession with detail, he could win 20 games a year with five large parking meters. He's the most unheralded winning machine in the country and headmaster of the No. 2-ranked Badgers.

But that's not why he's my new favorite.

He's not a walking haircut, with every word he utters scripted by some VP of Athletic Communications. And he's not some wonder kid groomed under Legend A to replace Legend B and become Legend C. Ryan has socks older than Billy Donovan.

This is a guy who was a stateside Army MP during the Vietnam War, breaking up fights in Augusta, Ga., bars. "It was always the same," says Ryan, 59. "One group was saying 'great taste' and the other 'less filling.'" He also escorted convicted felons to Leavenworth. Before every trip, he'd slap a set of handcuffs on his own wrist and on the inmate's, wrinkle up his face like Christopher Walken and go, "There's a reason they picked me, y'know. I won the platoon pistol-shooting championship." That was true. What he didn't mention was that the .45 in his holster was empty.

Growing up in Chester, Pa., Ryan was so hyper that his mom put him in first grade a year early because he was driving her nuts. At Chester High, he was the only white guy on the basketball team his senior year. He still has the scar Reggie Jackson's football cleats left on him in a game against Cheltenham High. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of '60s and '70s R&B. Can name you the song, artist and flip side of any Motown record, usually in five notes or less. You think recruits' moms don't like him?

But that's not why he's my new favorite.

This is a guy who hasn't just paid his dues, he's paid the whole neighborhood's. He didn't get his chance in the big time until he was 53, gold-watch time for a lot of guys. Before Wisconsin hired him in 2001, Ryan spent a year as an assistant at College of Racine (Wis.), eight years as a Badgers assistant, 15 at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville -- where he won four national championships -- and two at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. If there were a Wisconsin-Curdville, he'd have coached there.

The man's been passed by more often than an I-80 rest stop. Wisconsin passed over him for guys like Stu Jackson and Stan Van Gundy -- who went on to win a combined 41% of their Big Ten games. All Ryan has done is win 71%. In the 63 years BB (Before Bo), Wisconsin went to the NCAAs seven times. AB? Five, with number six coming up.

This guy is loyal. In 1974 he coached the baseball team at bankrupt Racine for free because he didn't want to bail on his players. And it wasn't like he could afford it. At Platteville he was once so poor, he just missed qualifying for a free-lunch program for his five kids.

He's honest, too -- never been rung up by the NCAA. He's a guy who can work a hall full of boosters like a Roomba. And twice as cleanly.

But that's not why Bo Ryan is my new favorite.

He's my new favorite because he has hammered out the sweetest setup in husband history. His wife of 32 years, Kelly (the one he talked out of marrying someone else), has agreed to a deal. Bo has to do no dishes, no cooking, no mowing, no cleaning, no vacuuming, no lightbulb-changing, no spider killing -- nothing, "except win basketball games," she says. "As long as he keeps winning basketball games, he doesn't have to do anything around the house."

O.K., pushing around prisoners is one thing, but wives? Now that's impressive.

 

[Nash]

Bo is a great coach

 

[Point Blank]

Idk why Strickland doesn't start, Drew and the Wear twins just make me want to kill myself.

 

[goDawgs1433]

Why is it that Georgia can only seem to beat ranked teams? First GT, then Tennessee, now Vandy. If only we could finish off more games like that...

 

[Sharkweather]

Why is it that Georgia can only seem to beat ranked teams? First GT, then Tennessee, now Vandy. If only we could finish off more games like that...

2 SEC wins so far this year, if we could only play ranked SEC teams all year. Both of those wins over a ranked Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

3-6 in the last 9 games, all three wins over those three ranked teams you just mentioned.

:bizzaro:

 

[goDawgs1433]

It's scary how much talent there is in the state next year. Hell, three of the top 60 juniors in the country play on the SAME DAMN TEAM (Milton). Julian Royal, Dai-Jon Parker, and Shannon Scott - and yet that team isn't even leading its region.

Plus, you've got Kentavious Caldwell out at Greene County, Jelan Kendrick (going to Memphis) at Wheeler, and some really talented kids down south. With some success, UGA will start getting those kids...I hope.

 

[Leftwich]

NOVA VS WVU TONIGHT!!!

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris @ Pittsburgh tonight on ESPN360.

I'm hoping we keep it within 10, but my gut feeling is that we lose by 20. Very interested to see how our freshmen guards perform against a much more talented team.

And if everything works out, I should be at the game.

 

[Pitty]

Robert Morris @ Pittsburgh tonight on ESPN360.

I'm hoping we keep it within 10, but my gut feeling is that we lose by 20. Very interested to see how our freshmen guards perform against a much more talented team.

And if everything works out, I should be at the game.

Nigga, you goin' down.

 

[Leftwich]

Half hour till Nova and WVU get it on!

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

I hope Georgetown either does very well or very poorly for the rest of the season.

If they do well, Marquette's win in D.C. will greatly strengthen their resume vs. a top 10 RPI team in the country and pretty much guarantee them a spot in the tourney.

If Georgetown does poorly, Marquette has a very good chance to finish 4th in the Big East and get a double bye in the Big East tourney.

 

[Pitty]

:smug:

 

[Obst]

Always nice to see us bounce back after a tough conference loss. Still got tough road games against Pitt and Syracuse left, but I think Nova can get it done and get good momentum going into the BE tourney.

 

[Woy]

About to drive back to RMU. Will give thoughts on the game when I get back.

Congrats Pitty.

 

[Pitty]

Are Pittsburgh and Robert Morris close? What the hell is Pittsburgh doing playing RM at this time of the year anyways?

No it wasn't close 77-53. And it's just because it's a game between two city teams, and Mike Rice is a former Dixon assistant.