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More great news for our schedule...
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RPI looks good for the AAC so far ... six in the top 70 ... unfortunately four at 256 or worse. Surprised Houston and Tulsa are so low.
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"7 college basketball teams with the most to prove in December" - The Comeback
By Jesse Kramer
Posted: December 1, 2017
"The college basketball season is only three weeks young, but plenty of teams have already begun building strong resumes for the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Although there’s always chances for high-major teams to pick up quality wins in conference play, we’ve also seen the committee in years past put an emphasis on non-conference performance even for the big programs.
December is a big month. It’s a chance for those who started slow to regain their feet before conference play. For those who fared better in November, it’s a chance to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.
Here’s a look at seven teams with the most to prove as we wrap up 2017....
Cincinnati
This should be Mick Cronin’s best team at Cincinnati, and the undefeated Bearcats could be national title contenders. But their toughest opponent so far has been Wyoming, a borderline top 100 team. Saturday begins a four-game stretch that features No. 21 Xavier, No. 6 Florida, Mississippi State and UCLA. Can Cincinnati win three out of four or even sweep?
The Bearcats have a deep backcourt and a pair of terrific bigs in Gary Clark and Kyle Washington. They’re scoring more efficiently than previous Cronin teams, and they’re also playing at a much faster pace on offense, which is fun for us fans. It’ll be good for college basketball if the Bearcats are a legit top 10 team. Saturday’s Crosstown Classic with Xavier on FS1 is must-watch TV.
Oklahoma
After a down 2016-17, Oklahoma has a potential Top 25 this year led by freshman stud Trae Young, who’s averaging 28.2 points and 8.6 and doing it efficiently. The Sooners have played two games against potential NCAA Tournament teams — Arkansas and Oregon — and went 1-1.
Young was awesome in both games and dropped 43 points in the win over Oregon, but he’ll face his tougher head-to-head challenges this month in USC’s Jordan McLaughlin and Wichita State’s Landry Shamet. Even Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh and TCU’s Jaylen Fisher will present some new challenges for the freshman point guard. Plus, with the exception of Northwestern, these are legitimate top 30 opponents in games away from home. Oklahoma has some solid players around Young, but it’s pretty clear this team makes any big runs in the Big 12 or NCAA Tournament, he’ll be the one doing most of the damage. It’s time to see how he does against top competition.
Oklahoma State
Can the Big 12 get eight (or even nine?!) teams to the NCAA Tournament? It’s going to come down to Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Kansas State doesn’t have much doing in December aside from games at Vanderbilt and Iowa State, but Oklahoma State has plenty going on.
The Cowboys get a huge opportunity hosting Wichita State, which is still without star wing Markis McDuffie, on Dec. 9. Later in the month they’ll get two more KenPom top 40 opponents, facing Florida State and opening Big 12 play against West Virginia. In Oklahoma State’s only game against the KenPom top 150, it lost to Texas A&M. Not only are the Aggies one of the nation’s top teams, but Cowboys leading scorer Jeffrey Carroll made his season debut that night after a suspension and showed some rust with four points on 2-for-12 shooting. Granted he hasn’t faced a defense like that since, Carroll is averaging 19.7 points on 47.4 percent shooting.
The Cowboys have an entertaining pair in Carroll and sophomore point guard Brandon Averette. By the end of the month we’ll have a better idea if that duo is good enough for the Big 12 to make NCAA Tournament history...."
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"Opinion: The OSU basketball team has done its part, the fans have not" - Student Media at Oklahoma State University
Marshall Scott, Opinion Editor
Dec 3, 2017 - 6:50pm cst
"Cameron McGriff skyed through Gallagher-Iba Arena and threw down a monstrous windmill dunk, but few were there to see it.
The Oklahoma State men's basketball team defeated Mississippi Valley State 83-62 Sunday in front of 4,564 people. The Cowboys moved to 7-1 this season as they prepare to host No. 8 Wichita State on Saturday.
OSU crowds have averaged 4,547 people this season, including OSU’s exhibition game against Arkansas-Monticello. Across social media, the Cowboy “faithful” have had a few excuses as to why attending basketball games has been difficult.
...Even Wichita State, which has an enrollment of about 10,000 less than OSU, is averaging 9,439 people a game.
Saturday, however, when the one-loss Cowboys do play a top-tier opponent, there are no more excuses.
“As we continue to play better, and probably as we play better competition, they’ll show up more,” Boynton said. “We show up and try to play the best every day because that’s our responsibility. We hope our fans will not just show up when we’re playing certain teams because in some ways that’s sending a message they’re not necessarily coming to watch us.”Comment
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We're averaging 9439/game? Did somebody do some math wrong?Deuces Valley.
... No really, deuces.
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"Enjoy the ride."
- a smart manComment
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People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. -Isaac Asimov
Originally posted by C0|dB|00ded
Who else posts fake **** all day in order to maintain the acrimony? Wingnuts, that's who.Comment
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I think that many of these fanbases suck when it comes to basketball. I am thankful for the great fanbase that WSU has for men’s basketball. We have a special thing here.Originally posted by WuShock Reaper View Post"Opinion: The OSU basketball team has done its part, the fans have not" - Student Media at Oklahoma State University
Marshall Scott, Opinion Editor
Dec 3, 2017 - 6:50pm cst
"Cameron McGriff skyed through Gallagher-Iba Arena and threw down a monstrous windmill dunk, but few were there to see it.
The Oklahoma State men's basketball team defeated Mississippi Valley State 83-62 Sunday in front of 4,564 people. The Cowboys moved to 7-1 this season as they prepare to host No. 8 Wichita State on Saturday.
OSU crowds have averaged 4,547 people this season, including OSU’s exhibition game against Arkansas-Monticello. Across social media, the Cowboy “faithful” have had a few excuses as to why attending basketball games has been difficult.
...Even Wichita State, which has an enrollment of about 10,000 less than OSU, is averaging 9,439 people a game.
Saturday, however, when the one-loss Cowboys do play a top-tier opponent, there are no more excuses.
“As we continue to play better, and probably as we play better competition, they’ll show up more,” Boynton said. “We show up and try to play the best every day because that’s our responsibility. We hope our fans will not just show up when we’re playing certain teams because in some ways that’s sending a message they’re not necessarily coming to watch us.”
That said, people generally don’t get too interested to watch games against clearly-inferior competition. When will people who work in college hoops realize that?
Pepperdine
Charlotte
Oral Roberts
Houston Baptist
Austin Peay
Mississippi Valley State
I saw the comment that they want it to be about watching OSU and not just who they play, but seriously? You’d have to be the biggest OSU fan ever to get jacked about that slate.78-65Comment
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Last year, we paid a lot of money and then after our OOC schedule, we played Drake, ISUB, MSU, Evansville, Bradley (do I need to go on). I enjoy watching basketball but now with the prices where they are, and will continue to be, I deserve better teams in the OOC and most of the teams seem to be better in the American (we will see for sure). I have several friends who just get tickets with Spirit, etc. so they go, except those seats are still empty when we play Savannah State etc.(this year not as much, but it will get to that again). Season ticket holders like me come to every game, not just the so called big games. Those other corporate tickets are periodically still empty although with a Top 10 team not as much as last year and prior to that.Originally posted by WuShock16 View PostComment
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You could be like Kentucky and have the following schedule:
Thomas More
Morehead State
Centre College
Utah Valley State
KU - lost this one
East Tenn State
Troy
Ft. Wayne
Illinois - Chicago
Harvard
Monmouth
Honestly, UK shouldn't even be ranked until they start playing, and beating, some real teams.
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They don't play a true road game until January. You can't be a Top 20 team without proving you can win on the road and UK should be ranked accordingly.Originally posted by Dan View PostComment
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I think a lot of them may be sorry not to be at least challenged in the OOC. I'm not sure how much the team learns from Fort Wayne and Troy. I hate our loss to ND but I think it provided a really valuable lesson which at least one of the guys pointed out later in an interview. 'It wasn't a loss, it was a lesson.' I would think Cinncinati could have benefited from some challenge before facing Xavier.Comment
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There's literally no reason to be sorry if you still get a 2 seed out of the deal.Originally posted by Windiwu View PostComment
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The *sorry* is from not knowing quite what your team identity is going to be if all you play are cupcakes. You play all those cupcakes then suddenly your first conference games are on the road at Baylor and then OKC . At least KU played Kentucky so they had that for a challenge.Originally posted by Cdizzle View PostComment
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Looks like Houston couldn't make the Toyota Center work.
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