First in the SEC West, Last in Punctuality
10.07.04
Thumbs down to the Mississippi State athletic department. With a week left until practice begins, the Bulldogs still have not released their basketball schedule. Their key non-conference games are in Anaheim against Arizona on December 5th and at Xavier on December 18th. You'll just have to wait for the rest. They should take a cue from schools like Georgetown and Providence that are still looking to fill one game. They have posted their slate while making it clear that another game will be added soon.
Deconstructing Talking Head Myth #43
10.05.04
"offense is behind the defense early in the season"
This is not usually true. It may be true for some teams, but not for college basketball as a whole. Here's the season-to-date scoring average for Division 1 by date over the last six seasons...
2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 12/1 139.3 140.2 141.4 144.1 140.1 138.6 1/1 139.6 140.8 141.9 143.6 140.5 139.0 2/1 139.0 140.0 142.1 142.8 140.3 139.5 3/1 138.7 140.3 142.0 142.5 140.4 139.8 End 138.5 140.0 142.0 142.3 140.2 139.8
In four of the last six seasons scoring peaked sometime in late December. Only in the 98-99 season was there a noticeable increase in scoring after January 1st. So offenses may be rusty for the first few weeks of the season, but there's a 50/50 chance that defense will improve more by season's end.