Monthly Archives: February 2005

It used to be that the tournament committee would use conference record as a handy tool to separate bubble teams within the same conference. It made sense – the team that does better in a group of 16 to 18 common games has proven to be better. But that was before we had mega-conferences and […]

I’ll admit it. I am in love with blocked shots. Dominating shot blockers are rare, and teams that have one seem to be very good defensively as a team. But this was just my subjective opinion until today, when we can look at (on the stats page) how often each of the 330 D1 teams […]

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with West Virginia all season. More like a love-ignore relationship. I forecasted good things for them before the season. I founded the D’Or Fischer fan club after the 10-0 start. Then I sheepishly had to abandon the Mountaineers (and the game diary concept) after it became apparent they were a […]

What do you do when the national coach of the year does a better coaching job the next season? Well, you don’t make him coach of the year, that we know. It’s just not possible. But there are certain honors one can receive that exceed what any group of sportswriters can bestow. One of those […]

Half-heartedly, I provide another look at the bubble. I’m getting the impression that folks out there care as little as I do. Last week I left Saint Mary’s off the bubble list and received no complaints, despite the fact that nearly every other projection has them in. The Gaels have two top 100 wins to […]

High Five

The five most interesting games from the weekend: 5) Old Dominion 82, William & Mary 66. The game itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy. However, in the midst of Bracket Buster Saturday, one of the nation’s hottest mid-majors, ODU, was stuck playing a conference game against a team around 300 in the RPI. 4) Arizona 91, Oregon […]

It’s been hard to get motivated to update the stats page this morning. First, there is the matter of Ike Diogu hitting his 200th free throw of the season in Arizona State’s 75-73 win over Oregon State last night. Diogu squandered an opportunity to pad his total by missing seven of his 15 attempts. Ike […]

You’re starting to hear it more and more. Oh, how those power conferences have really fallen. Finally, the little guy will get his revenge. The Chinese recently celebrated the Year of the Rooster and college hoops observers are starting to hail the Year of the Catamounts, Salukis, and Monarchs. These statements have been driven in […]

No-Hitters

When you don’t have anything to say, let the readers say it for you… Ken, Just saw your column commenting on Seth Davis saying Illinois "needed" a loss. Someone should ask Seth how teams with 1 loss have won since undefeated IU. Based on the teams I read about in the Final Four program in […]

Begrudgingly, I submit my look at the at-large picture. In my patented piecemeal approach, I am adding bubble teams this week. This is probably more for my benefit than yours, so if you think I’ve missed something – maybe I have! Drop me a line to let me know. I’ve had to ax three teams […]