Waning interest in college hoops

[Goober McTuber]

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team had just beaten the No. 2 team in the nation, and Indiana coach Tom Crean couldn’t get through the postgame handshake line quick enough.

Crean’s blow-by handshake caught UW coach Bo Ryan off guard and was one of the lasting images from the Badgers’ shocking 64-59 victory over the Hoosiers last January at Assembly Hall.

When the teams met two months later in a Big Ten Conference tournament semifinal, Crean was much more gracious in defeat despite falling to 3-14 all-time vs. Crean, including 0-10 at Indiana. He gave Ryan a hug and the two spent more than 30 seconds together, with Crean doing most of the talking.

The lovefest continued on Monday morning when Crean praised Ryan and the No. 3 Badgers (16-0, 3-0 Big Ten), who will play the Hoosiers (11-5, 1-2) Tuesday night at Assembly Hall.

“I have great respect for him, I always have,” said Crean, who was 3-4 against UW during his time at Marquette. "I think what I respect about him is he’s one of the great competitors around, and I think he’d be the kind of person that would compete in anything and want to win and I think you have to respect that.

“He’s always been very gracious to me, and I hope he would feel for the most part I have been with him. I have tremendous respect for that entire program. That’s a team when you watch him coach and when you watch them play, you absolutely see his competitiveness, you see his diligence. All those attributes that you would want to say, ‘That’s what a great team looks like,’ I think you can start with Bo, and that’s what a great coach looks like.”

Earlier in the teleconference, Crean spoke about the challenge of stopping UW's efficient offense. The Badgers are averaging a league-leading 82.0 points in Big Ten play.

“They’re not an above-average passing team, they are a great passing team," Crean said. “Where they are so efficient and where they have hurt us in the past and where they’ve hurt so many others is when the game gets into rotation and you’re constantly helping and over-helping or trying to stop the dribble or stop this or stop that, they are such a great passing team. They not only make the next pass, but the pass after that and, if need be, the pass after that.

“The thing about them is they’re so efficient with the ball, it’s the old (Princeton coach) Pete Carril comment that the quality of the shot is directly related to the quality of the pass. And that’s exactly what you see with Wisconsin.”

Suck it, bitches.

[Screw_Michigan]

Nice rivalry you got there, Sally. Too bad nobody gives two Tarddowen cranks.

[Goober McTuber]

Jealousy is not an attractive emotion.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Going back to this, I would add . . .

Some valid arguments that I borrowed from another site...

A) The economy. A night at a college game is pretty damned expensive. (At least major colleges. You can still go to a west coast game for $12 and $5 for your kids.) Throw in parking and concessions, and it is easy to spend $200 taking a couple of kids to the game.

B) Season ticket holders. Because of the huge cost in acquiring season tickets, a large portion of season ticket holders are companies and very rich folks. They just don't mind buying tickets they don't use.

C) TV is cheap and easy. No traffic. No uncomfortable seats. Almost every game is televised.

D) Competition. With the proliferation of sports networks, there is a massive amount of sports on TV. It makes every event seem less special.

E) Player turnover. With transfers and early exits, the attachment to the players is less. Who can get all the excited about one & done's when you know he will be gone at the end of the year? The pleasure of watching kids develop over 4 years is greatly reduced.

F) Cynicism. The idealist view of the student athlete is gone. The massive money in college hoops, makes it seem like everyone is for sale.

G) Same suspects every year. Honestly, how excited do you get watching Duke and Kentucky year after year at the top of the rankings.

H) Kentucky. The obscenity that is Kentucky basketball is enough to turn me off to the sport all by itself.

I) Lack of fundamentals. Kids may enjoy AAU basketball with dunks and no defense, but after a while it just looks like a pinball machine. If you love that, you can watch the NBA, where it is done by better athletes.

J) Realignment. There's been some significant realignment in recent years, and the realignment has been to the benefit of college football. College basketball, not so much. Realignment has killed some significant rivalries (e.g., Kansas-Missouri, Texas-Texas A&M, Pitt-West Virginia, Syracuse-Georgetown, just off the top of my head). College hoops might not be as rivalry-driven as is college football, but it still doesn't help the game to see rivalries like those die.

From a personal standpoint (and yes, I know I'm pretty much the only one in here who feels this way), I was a huge fan of the old Big East. Essentially, that conference has now been split into two conferences and a portion of a third (ACC has Pitt, Syracuse, ND, and beginning next year, Louisville).

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Suck it, bitches.

Well done, asshat.

[Screw_Michigan]

LOL, indeed.

[Goober McTuber]

Hoosiers were fired up. Wisky would run out to an 8 or 10 point lead and Indiana would come storming back. Fine game, I have no problems with a loss in Bloomington. And I think Traevon Jackson could use a little less playing time.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Wisky's scoring output may be up, but they still struggle against athletic teams and they're still too reliant on the 3. Michigan abused them off the dribble.

Meanwhile, MSU is rolling without Payne. Hopefully he's back by next Saturday for the showdown against UofM. Skunkbears have a tough Iowa team at home this week while MSU has Indiana at the Breslin. Decent chance both teams will be undefeated in B1G play for that one.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

And I think Traevon Jackson could use a little less playing time.

That guy sucks. Why does Bo play Gasser and Jackson at the same time? Can Gasser not run the point?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I will say, the one improvement college basketball has made is the new block/charge rule. They aren't letting flopping asshats get away with their bullshit anymore. I used to hate how a guy had a clear drive to the lane, and some out-of-position defender would slide over at the last possible second and take the charge. This is probably why Duke has taken a step back this year.

[Goober McTuber]

And I think Traevon Jackson could use a little less playing time.

That guy sucks. Why does Bo play Gasser and Jackson at the same time? Can Gasser not run the point?

I don't get it. Jackson moved to the point out of necessity last year when Gasser went down, and filled in admirably. He should have been moved back to the 2 guard spot this year along with Brust. Bo is very loyal to his players, obviously to a fault.

[Screw_Michigan]

Which means he's not that good of a coach. Fuck off already.

[Goober McTuber]

Which means he's not that good of a coach. Fuck off already.

What team is it you're cheering for again? I mean, this week?

[Screw_Michigan]

Ask me later when I'm not balls deep in your old lady.

[Goober McTuber]

Ask me later when I'm not balls deep in your old lady.

Really? That's your comeback? That you somehow upped your game and were able to score with a 50-year-old woman? I had no idea she was that charitable, but God bless her heart.

So, what team are you pimping this week?

[Screw_Michigan]

You mean the team I have season tickets for?

[Goober McTuber]

Is it a men's team?

[Screw_Michigan]

Have I implied otherwise?

[Goober McTuber]

One never knows with you. Balls are not even a dependable indicator.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Guys, guys, guys. Is this really necessary?

:|

[Goober McTuber]

Guys, guys, guys. Is this really necessary?

:|

We could all just agree that Bo is the early odds on favorite for Coach of the Year?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Nah. He just lost to back to back unranked teams. I'd lean more toward Fran McCaffery.

[Screw_Michigan]

We could all just agree that Bo is the early odds on favorite for Coach of the Year?

Gregg Marshall, then Mike Lonergan, if he keeps it up.

[The Seer]

Well, apparently I can't read. I could have sworn you said they made 1 S16. They made 5. At least I can admit when I am being a retard. The rest of you fukks should try it sometime.

Serves me right for wandering into this shit forum.

Eject.

Rack Suckaholic for getting over on Gobbles McTubesteak.

What was that you were saying Screwball? Did you have trouble following along with that ballsack repeatedly blocking your vision? Go fuck yourself you cretinous douchenozzle.

[Left Seater]

The author left out my #1: game has become a 2.5 hour free-throw shooting contest. I don't want to see things I can do. I want to see things I can't do.

Bingo! This is will be the downfall of college basketball. I have seen maybe five games total this season, two live and three on TV. RICE sucks so not much to discuss plus none of y'all care about them even if they were competitive in conference. Of the 5 games I have watched three were not basketball by any stretch of imagination.

In one of the RICE games a total of 65 fouls were called. Many were 50 feet or more from the basket.

In the RICE vs UTSA game, RICE had committed 4 team fouls in the first 15 minutes of the second half. They finished the second half with 14 team fouls.

The worst one though was Kansas vs Texas. The final 5 minutes took more than 30 minutes to play. Kansas was averaging a foul every 21 seconds over 4 minutes of game time. Add to that Texas swapping defensive players for foul shooters damn near every possession. Then mix in the 8 TOs taken in that span and it was closer to a skills competition (3 point and free throw) than basketball.

Now that I have bitched, here is my solution.

1) Officials have to stop anticipating fouls and actually call what they see. Two replays in the Rice vs UTSA showed the RICE player trying to foul but actually never touching the UTSA player.

2) Officials have to call intentional fouls. Far too often a defender will be behind the player with the ball and will just reach over the offensive players should and slap his upper arm. The defender clearly wasn't trying to make a steal, he was just trying to foul. Call it as such.

3) Keep track of team fouls beyond 10. At say 13 and 16 team fouls take a TO from the guilty as well as giving the opponent the two free throws. At 18 or more give the offended team 3 free throws.


Terry, what makes you think Texas vs Texas ATM was any sort of a basketball rivalry? Tony Barone finds that amusing though. Hell, Aggie fans didn't even know ATM had a basketball team for years. Texas recently had a streak of 35 out of 40 or some such nonsense.