November Hoops

...Does Florida State matchup with Florida? No. Does Florida match up with Ohio State? No. Does Florida State matchup with Ohio State? Absolutely. It’s clear that Ohio State is probably the better of the two squads that face off tonight but catching this many points at home holds some value. This is one of the few teams in the country (of the bigger conferences) that have as big of guards as Ohio State has. They aren’t as flashy or as good of shooters, but they are just athletic. In the paint, FSU boasts more strength, length, and athleticism. It will take a really big performance for Florida State to come up with a win here, but not as big as some people think. Ohio State has looked awful in their recent games, albeit against lesser competition, it still doesn’t bode well to be playing bad basketball and going on the road into hostile territory. Their two most recent wins against Miami OH and Morehead State are the two toughest defenses they have played thus far this year and they put up 66 and 64. Florida State is a lot better than its performance on Sunday. Defense will be the key in this matchup, and FSU’s defense is one of the best, if not, the best in the country by year’s end. If I had a set of balls, I’d bet it. I still feel really strong about the spot that New Mexico State has here tonight with revenge, prep time, being home finally, etc…and had it stayed at the three possessions it came out as I might have made it worth my time, and I could regret not playing them with the numerous advantages, but I think the better spot to play on this team will be on this Saturday and next Saturday when it gets another rivalry home and home with New Mexico. I guess the one thing that really turned me off was Tim Floyd being on the opponent’s sideline. He’s played games this year where he has played one style for one half, and then another half he’ll switch it up. With NMST getting a week of prep, I’m not sure he comes out in something totally different than he did the first time. And that’s not going to be a good thing with a struggling offense in NMST. Get home, get acclimated, and show your true colors in your next home game on Saturday versus another rival (that should fly over any total). Missouri has yet to see an offense anywhere close to what Georgetown will bring to town with its guards and while it’s a home game away from home game type atmosphere here, I’m going to side with the Big East. I don’t think Missouri is good enough at this point to come into the game as the #8 team in the country despite an excellent recruiting class and some juco transfers that can play some ball. They still lost three seniors who were a big part of this basketball team and I’ll always side with the better guards let alone a battle tested Big East School. Illini players appear to be jacked up. Illini fans appear to be jacked up. I said it yesterday, you can’t be “too” jacked up and come out of the gates firing and un-disciplined as they have in past years. It scares me. A majority of people (including players) are treating this as a revenge game from the 2005 title game for some reason, but I’m not sure why as Illinois got revenge the following season in November from that game. I just don’t like the spot for Illinois. I don’t like the entire week actually. If they come out with one win I’ll be happy, two means they’re a real contender and have taken a step forward from past year’s usual debacles in these types of games. If Illinois tries to run with them, Bruce Weber’s an idiot. I touched on Saint Louis and Portland’s weird three-point shooting contingencies yesterday, I’m staying away. STL has yet to lose a game by more than two, and this is the first time they’re travelling and it’s not a short trip. I want to see Portland come out of the gate and make a few three’s just to see how STL responds to being out of a game early. I mentioned the Washington/LBST total yesterday as well and will play it as a lean only. I am a little lenient of Dan Monson not wanting to run against Washington here (who would), but considering he chose to run with Texas, Kentucky, Duke, and West Virginia last year, then I guess he’s going to run tonight. Sticking to my guns, Washington should be able to put up 90-100 in this one if they can nut-up after their most recent losses...

...This needed a paragraph of its own. Coming into the year Bradley was supposed to be a squad that had a chance to make a run at the MVC crown with its top three returning scorers and seniors from a year ago coming back to the squad in Warren, Maniscalco, and Brown. In early November, after a little practice time, it was announced that Taylor Brown would miss the year due to heart problems, and while it was not mentioned anywhere that his loss would be a key part of this team’s success, it surely has been. They won their first three games by a combined 6 points and two of those games come at home where they rarely lose. They went on the road to a neutral site tournament and beat USC, and then turned around and lost to TCU, came home and lost what many would call the worst loss in history to slight rival Eastern Illinois from the OVC. Upon leaving for this trip to Western Carolina, Bradley has just announced that Sam Maniscalco will miss the rest of the season with a left ankle injury. Maniscalco rarely shows up in any stat category but if you remember my views on Bradley for the past five years, the PG spot at Bradley is not only the key to their success, but it has been the focal point of Jim Les’ coaching since I have known him. In 2008, PG star Daniel Ruffin was injured towards the end of the year and Bradley dropped three straight games (two conference games and a MVC conference tourney game) before getting him back and getting into the CBI tournament only to lose to Tulsa in the title game. Had he been healthy, Bradley was probably a lock for the tournament with one more victory. Enough of the past, now Bradley goes on the road where it doesn’t have its home court advantage to produce victories based on adrenaline alone and is forced to play without a player that has meant so much to the team for the past three years, much less it’s only PG that it’s known since the departure of Ruffin. Initially as I thought the loss to Eastern Illinois would be a boost going on the road here, I now think it’s a disaster waiting to happen without Maniscalco. Maniscalco had 10 points in the loss to WCU last year and Brown had 18. Furthermore, Maniscalco was Bradley’s best “guard” defender. Western Carolina is no world beater coming from the SOCON, and they did lose a majority of last year’s squad, but those people that they lost were post-forwards. They still have their guard oriented attack in place as they have been known for the past few years, and one of those guards includes Dikembe Mutumbo’s nephew. Bradley’s weakness is no inside game. Western Carolina’s weakness is defending the inside game. With the loss of Maniscalco, Western Carolina’s strength of pressuring guards and forcing turnovers (they excelled at this last year, 11th in country I believe) only gets greater. Yes, Bradley is playing with revenge from the bracket buster game last year but there is one person that will be on the court tonight that played meaningful minutes in that game from last year and that is Warren, and he can’t do everything by himself, and he is not the best of ball handlers either. This is a first true road game for Bradley and they’ll have to do it without their best ball handler, their defensive superstar, their only PG, and most importantly, their leader.

GL

Some of those names and memories make me want to sniffle....Pidi!!! Pittsburg Phil?! Where in the world did they go????