Your Basketball Team's Update Thread

[Birds of B'more]

Indiana upsets #1 Kentucky on a buzzer-beater, 73-72.

#2 Ohio State loses at #13 Kansas without Sullinger, 78-67.

[Birds of B'more]

I'm not even going to comment on this game right now. Just go to ESPN and you'll see what happened. A great 48 hours, 39.9 minutes of basketball was just wiped clean because of the brawl.

Truly embarrassed.

Gates and Mbodj are absolute thugs. I understand they were probably still riled up, but some of the post game comments by the players were disappointing. Especially the Xavier player who referred to themselves as "gangsters." I wouldn't have put them in front of the media while they were in that state of mind.

[CT203]

Gates and Mbodj are absolute thugs. I understand they were probably still riled up' date=' but some of the post game comments by the players were disappointing. Especially the Xavier player who referred to themselves as "gangsters." I wouldn't have put them in front of the media while they were in that state of mind.[/quote']

they are all thugs. Tu is as much guilty as gates and the reason the brawl started. If he wasn't barking at the cinci bench that brawl doesn't occur.

so glad kentucky lost. Creen getting indiana back to respectability

[PrivateO]

Gates and Mbodj are absolute thugs. I understand they were probably still riled up' date=' but some of the post game comments by the players were disappointing. Especially the Xavier player who referred to themselves as "gangsters." I wouldn't have put them in front of the media while they were in that state of mind.[/quote']

While I think the media is blowing the whole "gangsters" thing out of proportion, it was just stupid for Tu and Mark to talk about this. But like you said, why in the hell were they allowed to take questions from the press is beyond me? There is way too much adrenaline in those two.

CT, if anyone is the reason the brawl started, it was Wells coming in to defend Holloway. Both teams were jawing at each other all game. I'm not going to defend Xavier here. But this is one of, if not, the most heated rivalries in the country. Not only the fans, but the players truly hate each other. Every game is always chippy, but clearly never to this scale. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if they cancel the Shootout for a few years because of this incident.

It's a shame too, because that's the best we've played all season. Dez Wells had a stellar game, as did Frease, Lyons, and Holloway. Nancy Gates is a thug who probably shouldn't see another minute this year, regardless of how long the suspension is (it should be 10). Let's see if Mick Cronin will stand by his words from the postgame press conference. The guy that stomped on Frease's face should be gone for the rest of the season. I think Dez will get 5 games (he automatically gets one as he was ejected from the game), Mark gets 2 or 3, and Tu gets one. If the A10 doesn't suspend Tu, I hope Chris Mack will to send a message. This team has swagger, but it turned to thuggery today. I don't want to have that reputation. That isn't the Xavier way.

I really wish Holloway and Lyons weren't allowed to speak after the game. While the brawl obviously sucks, their comments are killing Xavier in the social/media world right now. I'm just hoping the suspensions come tomorrow and this thing passes quickly by without too much more news.

[PrivateO]

Father Graham and XU's statement:

“Xavier University takes very seriously the unsportsmanlike events which occurred at the close of today’s Crosstown Shootout. This behavior was not representative of Xavier’s standards and has no place in intercollegiate athletics. Our basketball program is expected to, and has for so many years now, represented the highest ideals of sportsmanship and ethical conduct. We are reviewing the incident in its entirety and, in conjunction with the Atlantic 10 Conference, will take appropriate action. We regret that this incident happened and apologize to our loyal fans, the Xavier family and the entire Cincinnati community."

Also announced is a press conference with Chris Mack tomorrow.

Dr. Gregory Williams, President of UC:

"I'm extremely disappointed with what happened at the end of today's Crosstown Shootout. I am reviewing this situation with (athletic director) Whit Babcock and (UC men's basketball head coach) Mick Cronin and we are working to ensure this will never happen again. I appreciate Coach Cronin's strong post-game comments and I want to support his position that this behavior is not what we expect of representatives of the University of Cincinnati. We will thoroughly investigate this incident and will act swiftly and firmly. We hold our student-athletes to a high standard and this behavior will not be tolerated."

[PrivateO]

Gates, Mdobj, and Ellis suspended for 6 games. Guyn gets one.

Not nearly enough for Gates or Mdobj. Mick Cronin is a damn hypocrite. I knew that press conference stuff yesterday he spewed was BS.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Gates, Mdobj, and Ellis suspended for 6 games. Guyn gets one.

Not nearly enough for Gates or Mdobj. Mick Cronin is a damn hypocrite. I knew that press conference stuff yesterday he spewed was BS.

Nice to see not much has changed at Cincinnati since Bob Thuggins was there.

[PrivateO]

Xavier Suspensions:

Wells/Amos: 4 games

Lyons: 2 games

Holloway: 1 game

Seems very fair to me. Bobinski (our AD), Mack, and Holloway held a press conference moments ago, making statements, apologizing, and fielding questions from reporters. I'm very happy with how Xavier showed themselves today, especially after all of the debacles yesterday. They definitely came out looking better than Cincinnati, in my opinion.

These next few games are going to be tough. 60% of our starting lineup will be out against Oral Roberts next Sunday. When the team heads to Hawaii on the 22nd, it will face a tough Long Beach St. without Lyons and Wells. Let's hope the depth guys step up.

[hoosiers]

The Hoosiers are ranked again - first time since the 2008 team that had Gordon, DJ White, Crawford and a few other talents. That team disintegrated when Sampson was fired, Gordon and White went pro and the remaining guys transferred or were kicked off the team for various academic and other embarrassing issues.

Crean has built the program back to respectability and the latest sign was an instant-classic win against arch-rival and #1 Kentucky on Saturday. Incredibly, I had to miss the game, but I caught it on espn3 later on Saturday night and hoosiernation has been euphoric since (see the youtube videos of the response in the NYC bar Traffic or the alumni bar near the Bloomington campus Nicks) after Watford made his shot.

With a strong recruiting class coming, next year's team should be ranked from the start and may be destined for top 10 status at some point. Not sure if IU can win on the road enough to stay ranked for long this year, but it is a good feeling to be relevant again.

[PrivateO]

The Hoosiers are ranked again - first time since the 2008 team that had Gordon, DJ White, Crawford and a few other talents. That team disintegrated when Sampson was fired, Gordon and White went pro and the remaining guys transferred or were kicked off the team for various academic and other embarrassing issues.

Crean has built the program back to respectability and the latest sign was an instant-classic win against arch-rival and #1 Kentucky on Saturday. Incredibly, I had to miss the game, but I caught it on espn3 later on Saturday night and hoosiernation has been euphoric since (see the youtube videos of the response in the NYC bar Traffic or the alumni bar near the Bloomington campus Nicks) after Watford made his shot.

With a strong recruiting class coming, next year's team should be ranked from the start and may be destined for top 10 status at some point. Not sure if IU can win on the road enough to stay ranked for long this year, but it is a good feeling to be relevant again.

IU is gonna be good for a while. Though I doubt it would happen (I heard Crean is not too fond of Mack for "poaching on his [indiana state recruiting] territory"), I'd love to start a home-and-home with the Hoosiers.

[PrivateO]

Well, we got spanked last Sunday by Oral Roberts without Holloway, Wells, or Lyons. We just lost to Long Beach St. in the Diamond Head Classic without Wells or Lyons. Tomorrow, we face either Auburn/Hawaii with Lyons.

I expected a loss today vs. LBSU, but the Musketeers have just played beyond bad these past two games. Just no life shown by the team at all.

[SteveA]

An update on the Hokies:

We are 10-3. The three teams that beat us (Syracuse, Kansas State, and Minnesota) are a combined 35-3. Unfortunately, the ten teams we've beaten are mostly crap. Oklahoma State, who is down this year, is probably the best of the bunch. We beat them in a tournament in New York and will play them again in a scheduled game in Blacksburg on New Year's Eve Day. The good news is that we didn't stumble against any of the patsies on our schedule, as we have in the past. In fact, not even any close calls against lesser division teams, which is more than anyone in the ACC except us, Duke, UNC, and maybe UNC can say. And the patsies weren't all pathetic... St Bonaventure, who we beat by 9, is 6-5 and lost to NCState by 2. Norfolk State, who we beat by 13, is 9-5 and lost to highly ranked Marquette by just 2 points. Campbell, who we beat by 25, is 8-5 and beat Iowa by 16.

Some notes on the teams:

-- Freshman forward Dorian Finney-Smith is turning out to be everything we hoped. He's "long", he's an excellent defender and GREAT rebounder, a decent shooter, unselfish (if anything he needs to shoot more).

-- Erick Green established himself as an ACC caliber point guard in the 2nd half of last season, and he has continued to play well this year.

-- Freshman PG Marquis Rankin missed the first few weeks with an injury, but he has been a very pleasant surprise now that he's gotten some playing time. He comes off the bench and gives us solid minutes at PG, I can't remember the last time we were two deep at PG. No longer will EG have to play 40 minutes every game in conference play, or will we suffer quite as badly when Green is sitting.

-- Freshman Robert Brown has been a pleasant surprise, running the point when Green needs a rest (so he won't have to play nearly every minute like last year), coming up with some key 3 pointers, and looking very good on defense. He was not as highly touted as some of our other freshmen but he looks very good.

-- Forward Cedarian Raines, who missed most of the past two seasons with foot injuries, is healthy and grabbing reobunds and generally contributing to our toughness on defense, which is something coach Greenberg stresses.

That's the good news. All the news hasn't been good:

-- Dorenzo Hudson, who missed all last year with an injury, has not yet returned to the form that made him 2nd team all-ACC two years ago. He is still starting, but his contributions have been occasional at best.

-- Backup G Ty Garland has quit the team and will transfer. He actually started the first game of the season at PG when Green was hurt and Brown was also hurt; but with Green healthy and Brown emerging as a starter as a freshman, Garland is unhappy with playing time and is going to transfer. He is a little guy but he was fearless driving to the hoop, but in the end I guess his size prevented him from being good defense, and his selfishness prevented him from being a distributor-type point guard. I still think he could have been a good shooter off the bench because he is a threat to shoot from outside as well as to penetrate, but it is what it is. He's gone. The [second consecutive] season ending injury to JT Thompson, and the departure of Garland, has cut down on our depth but fortunately we have a bit more depth this year than in recent seasons.

-- Victor Davila, as a senior is -- still Victor Davila. Every once in a while he'll grab 10 or 15 rebounds and singlehandedly help Tech win a game, and get that little hook shot going and put up 15 points. But most of the rest of the time the ball will be bouncing off his hands of stone or his feet and into the opponents' hands, and that horrible free throw delivery means teams know who to foul when they need to. Maybe we fans are too hard on him because we see that he has the POTENTIAL to be better than he actually is. But he's a senior, and if he doesn't get there now, as in 11 days from now when ACC play starts, he never will.

The good news that's also bad news is that the ACC is very soft at the bottom this year:

-- BC has lost to Holy Cross by 22, to UMass by 36!, New Mexico by 18, Penn State by 8, Boston U by 24, and needed OT to beat UC Riverside. Also lost by 18 to New Mexico and 11 to St Louis, but those are quality teams.

-- Clemson has lost to Hawaii, UTEP, Coastal Carolina, as well as College of Charleston (who is actually pretty tough)

-- Georgia Tech has lost to Mercer, Tulane, and Northwestern, as well as St Joe's and LSU

-- Maryland has lost by 26 to Iona, only beat 1-10 Mount St Mary's by 3, only beat 3-9 Florida International by 4, and only beat 3-11 Radford by 5

Those teams are going to drag down the RPIs of everyone else in the ACC this year, and there will be fewer opportunities than normal to pick up the coveted "top 50 RPI wins" that the committee looks at come Selection Sunday. The Hokies were unable to pick up any of those in non-conference play, as we had chances to beat KSU & Minnesota but fell just short in both of them (and we led Syracuse for the first 25 minutes of the game as well before their fantastic defense just wore us down and we couldn't shoot over their zone anymore). So I think we are going to finish in the top half of the ACC, but once again will probably be on the bubble at selection time, for the fifth consecutive year.

[CT203]

Don't overlook iona. They are a very good team and have a chance at being in the top 25 at some point this year

They are without a doubt the 2nd best team in the state of new york

[SteveA]

Don't overlook iona. They are a very good team and have a chance at being in the top 25 at some point this year

They are without a doubt the 2nd best team in the state of new york

You're right, but 26 is still a lot of points to lose by. And don't sleep on our own hometown Loyola Greyhounds in the MAAC; ex-Terp assistant Jimmy Patsos has a great team this year. They could give Iona a run for their money.

[PrivateO]

You're right, but 26 is still a lot of points to lose by. And don't sleep on our own hometown Loyola Greyhounds in the MAAC; ex-Terp assistant Jimmy Patsos has a great team this year. They could give Iona a run for their money.

Fairfield, Loyola, and Iona will be fun to watch this season in MAAC play.