Comments on: Friday News and Notes

By: Kevin in GR

Kevin in GR — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:52:19 +0000

Here’s a link to a game recap:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/la-spw-hshoops11-2009jan11,0,1367268.column?track=rss

D-Mo finished with 18pts, with only 2 in the 2nd half. He had a handful of drives down the lane in traffic (difficult shots) he missed, but I think he only took one 3pt shot.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:26:26 +0000

Thanks Kevin. I’m going to have to try to catch a replay. Sounds like Darius carried them about as far as he could.

By: Kevin in GR

Kevin in GR — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:42:39 +0000

3Q – I missed the first half of the quarter due to technical issues, sorry! D-Mo seems to be good with either hand. 43-39 with 3 to go. Tonight, his defenders have been about his same size. Time out – Now they are playing some “Eddie Money” :) Misses a 15 foot baseline shot. Now he’s looking to post up with a smaller defender on him. D-Mo with a nice assist out of the post. I don’t believe he’s been out of the game yet tonight. He shoots a deep 3 at the end of the quarter……airball :( Campbell Hall up 47-45.
4Q – This must be L.A……Now they are playing “Yesterdays’s gone” during the time out. D-Mo called for charging on a baseline drive. Great dribble drive through the lane, but couldn’t finish (We’ve seen that before!) Another missed shot in traffic for D-Mo. :( Not many, if any rebounds for him tonight. Time out: Now they are playing “Pretty young thing”..taking me back to the 80s! He tried forcing a couple things on drives which resulted in turnovers. 57-50 Campbell Hall with a little over a minute to go. D-Mo had another drive down the lane in traffic, but couldn’t finish. He seems to have great handles and vision. He had a couple drives in the last minute, but couldn’t finish in traffic. Campbell Hall wins going away 70-52.

By: Kevin in GR

Kevin in GR — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:59:19 +0000

D-Mo Game notes:
-They play “I love L.A.” as pregame music (along with “Let’s go”, the “Bulls” intro music and some other stuff I didn’t know) Where’s the pep band”? :)
-Tip off around 7:25 (10:25 EST)
-Keegan Hornbuckle on opposing team, former UM target I believe?
-D Mo hits back to back 3′s to open game. Winward jumps out to 17-5 lead with 2 min to go in 1Q. D-Mo with about 8 pt, 2 asst. Winward shooting a lot of 3′s! End of 1. D-Mo 8 pts, 3 asst.
-2Q – Driving layup for D-mo. 24-21 with 4:49 to go in half (Winward up) Campbell Hall starting to double D-Mo, forcing him to give it up. Fast break layup for D-mo, Stover with a couple blocks into the crowd but not impressed at all with him otherwise. Another 3 for D-Mo! One more lay-up in traffic for D-Mo just before half. Winward up 33-29. If my addition is right, he has 17 pts and 3 asst at half.

By: Go Blue

Go Blue — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:37:50 +0000

Nice post Avery Queen! It just goes to show that those rankings are garbage anyway you try to justify them. If you want to rank teams watch games and see who they beat and who they lose to. UM still has the best 2 wins in college basketball against teams currently in the top 10 and has zero bad losses. The Wisconsin loss will prove to be no big deal when Bo Ryan and his robots win the league again.

By: JimC

JimC — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:07:26 +0000

Even RPI which might be the most objective ranking has it’s flaws: Miami OH, at 7-5, is currently RPI #12 !!

By: Giddings

Giddings — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:43:27 +0000

I think that kenpom takes stuff like margin of victory into account, and we haven’t truly blown away many teams (I think the biggest win was over Eastern by 31). I wouldn’t be surprised if it also puts a lot of weight on defensive efficiency, which we are quite bad at.

You can probably go to the site and look it up somewhere.

By: Avery Queen

Avery Queen — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:33:08 +0000

This is unrelated but Mich is 62nd in kenpom and Niagra is 63rd. Niagra shares the same record with losses to Villanova (ok they are solid), Akron (ok not a terrible team), 4-10 Chattanooga (awful) with their best win coming over Buffalo (102 kenpom ranking).

So someone tell me how a system evaluates these two teams’ season performances essentially equally.

By: Sheryl

Sheryl — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:46:41 +0000

Here’s a Novak interview link, There is also one with JB.
http://www.mgoblue.com/Multimedia/MultimediaCenter.aspx?categoryId=81860
Hope you feel better soon Dylan!

By: Kevin in GR

Kevin in GR — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:30:38 +0000

Shephard talked about the MD game being a “turning point”, but I wasn’t able to listen to all of his reasoning why. I believe it was because there was a practice soon after that game where Beilein (uncharacteristically) really lit into the team saying this isn’t how UM plays, etc…..thus turning the loss at MD into a great teaching tool….as the next game was home v Duke and we all know what happened there!