Nolan Richardson is high as bat *****...

[57stratdawg]

That much is obvious

 

[Shmuley]

Nolan has used his fortune to have those craters sanded off his face.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

his worst team would pummel this current pig group

 

[hogfan14]

his worst team would pummel this current pig group

Don't know about that. His last team here finished 13-14

 

[coach66]

As Moncrief said at the half, "college baskeball

Isn't what it used to be".

 

[rugbdawg]

Arkansas is a projected 6 seed? College basketball is horrible, horrible.

They can't shoot at all and we broke their press all day. Good teams will blow them out.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

it isnt even close

 

[hogfan14]

They can't shoot at all and we broke their press all day. Good teams will blow them out.

We are the leading scoring team in the conference, had an off shooting night though.

We're one of 4 teams in the country with 2 top 25 RPI road wins

 

[rugbdawg]

Hah. Enjoy losing in Starkville. Cause you will.

 

[skydawg1]

No offense..and this isn't sour grapes, but nobody (at least around here) is really impressed with Arkansas. You allowed Ole Miss to bitchslap you at home. The hell?

 

[hogfan14]

No offense..and this isn't sour grapes, but nobody (at least around here) is really impressed with Arkansas. You allowed Ole Miss to bitchslap you at home. The hell?

Yeah they shot about 80% in the first half lol. They almost beat Kentucky too though.

Our resume is just fine though and we're the 2nd best team in the SEC

 

[Bulldogg31]

SEC hoops is devoid of any quality offensive players, at least from the teams I've watched. The offenses lack creativity. It's basically pass it around the perimeter for while then jack up a three. Hopefully get a rebound and get fouled on the putback.

Lots of great athletes in the conference but very very few good basketball players.

 

[patdog]

COLLEGE basketball isn't what it used to be. For the most part, it's unwatchable.

 

[yee dawgy]

That was 40 minutes of hell that Nolan took credit for but Mike Anderson really created. Arkansas would have done that to some very good teams today. They're good at home and played like anybody that pays attention to college basketball and doesn't drink the koolaid expected them to play this year. Hogfan, good luck the rest of the way

 

[Sutterkane]

The tournament setup is the biggest fault of that. The tournament favors smaller schools such as mid majors, and there simply aren't large enough fanbases or money for those schools.

So, if you're a pretty good basketball player in high school, you can go be a piece of a puzzle on a bubble team or you can be a star in a small conference and win loads of games just like you did in high school. Then, all you need is to get a hot hand in March, hope for some upsets here and there and before you know it your team is in the elite 8 without playing anybody worth a damn.

This, coupled with the one and done rule has destroyed college ball. That and the NCAA completely turning their head on the sport.

 

[Dawgg]

We were talking about this at work the other day...

COLLEGE basketball isn't what it used to be. For the most part, it's unwatchable.

I remember games like UNLV vs Kentucky being appointment television.

Post-Kobe, it's been a steady decline. It's actually considered a detriment now to have more than one college season.

 

[BiscuitEater]

Expanding the NCAAT ...

The tournament setup is the biggest fault of that. The tournament favors smaller schools such as mid majors, and there simply aren't large enough fanbases or money for those schools.

to 64 teams was one of the "best decisions" the NCAA has ever done. March madness is still great. While the 'set up' allows some smaller schools to compete for the NC. The drama of those teams competing for a spot is fantastic.

Think about this ... State still only has to win four games in the SECT and get to the dance.

When kids started only sticking around for one year has been what's bad for college basketball.

 

[ckDOG]

It's awful. I want the shot clock slashed.

Force these low bball IQ AAU morons to figure out how to get shots off quicker. Get the tempo up and reward teams with talent and/or depth. It would change the game up drastically, but I may actually watch a game if this were to happen. I'd rather watch hockey or a low league soccer match than a college basketball game at the moment - even "good" games.

 

[MabenMaroon]

Force these low bball IQ AAU morons to figure out how to get shots off quicker. Get the tempo up and reward teams with talent and/or depth. It would change the game up drastically, but I may actually watch a game if this were to happen. I'd rather watch hockey or a low league soccer match than a college basketball game at the moment - even "good" games.

If the shot clock was 25 to 30 seconds we would probably be an tourney or at least a bubble team right now. I couldn't begin to count the number of times our defense has forced the opponent down to the final 5 seconds of the shot clock only for them to drain a hope and a prayer three or for us to finally foul.

 

[MabenMaroon]

bat *****?

 

[DawgatAuburn]

I remember games like UNLV vs Kentucky being appointment television.

Post-Kobe, it's been a steady decline. It's actually considered a detriment now to have more than one college season.

When? 1985? There are still great teams and great games every year. The problem for the casual fan is that there's very little continuity with the players, and for people who don't follow hoops closely every year, there's no connection to new players ever year. The great players are forced into a joke of a year when their hearts and minds are in the NBA.

I personally think the decline started in 2006 when the NBA stopped allowing high school players to enter the draft. That empowered people like Calipari to make a mockery of the term student-athlete, to the point where legitimate coaches like Coach K, Roy Williams, and Bill Self now have to play that game as well. It's either that or sit back and let Calipari win title after title.

 

[coach66]

Excellent post, Cal has done just that.

Nm

 

[Dawgg]

Like '90-'92, so yeah... that time frame... (I meant UNLV vs Arkansas, btw.)

My point being that when I was a kid in the 80's and early 90's, people actually watched regular season college basketball (and by that I mean teams other than their own)... now, people barely watch the tournament.

1. You had continuity because players stayed through their Junior years. That didn't really start to change until Garnett and Kobe in 95-96.

2. Kobe specifically because he became the de facto 'overdog' once Jordan left. Suddenly, instead of losing 2-3 years of their career playing for free, players saw college suddenly as an unnecessary risk if they were physically good enough to play in the NBA out of high school. That immediately took the best players off the table for college.

3. This led to a span from 2001-2004 where 4 straight #1 picks never played a minute of college ball: Kwame Brown, Yao Ming, Lebron James, Dwight Howard. The die was further cast that college was no longer where the 'stars of tomorrow' go to play. It was where the kids that weren't good enough to play in the NBA went to play.

4. I think they at least tried to curb this with the 1 year out rule in 2006, but all that did was create two problems: 1 and done and the farm system. This made your major recruiting pitch "I can get you into the NBA next year", which as we've stated destroyed continuity.

5. This lack of continuity cleared the way for the barrage of transfers we get every year, which also setup the 'farm system'. Look at how many transfers there are today and look at how many of them start out at a mid or lower-tier program and transfer up to a 'name brand'. So now, every year teams are 'rebuilding'. Teams are literally fielding a completely different team every season (and in our case a few short years ago, mid-season).

6. You also had European players (and American players going directly to Europe for their '1 year' rule) becoming more and more prevalent throughout the league. So college, again, isn't looked to as a pipeline to the NBA.

7. The DLeague (which can draft straight out of high school) has seen a rise in stature as more players are called from there. You've had at least a couple of owners saying that the DLeague prepares players for the NBA much better than college can.

From the moment that college basketball became an adversary talent-wise to the NBA, it was doomed. The NFL has, thus far, managed to keep kids in college at least 3 years, which has maintained college football as a watchable, viable product.

If kids start playing out of high school (or a football 'minor league' develops and maintains financial viability), you'll see the same thing happen to college football.

 

[GloryDawg]

to 64 teams was one of the "best decisions" the NCAA has ever done. March madness is still great. While the 'set up' allows some smaller schools to compete for the NC. The drama of those teams competing for a spot is fantastic.

Think about this ... State still only has to win four games in the SECT and get to the dance.

When kids started only sticking around for one year has been what's bad for college basketball.

I am totally sick of the process. Regardless someone gets left out who should have been in and someone gets in that should have been left out.
They should just let all 300 plus teams in. Rank them and the the highest rank play the lowest rank. Do it all in one night and let the highest ranked team play at home. Than take whats left and rerank them and do the process again. Do it until you are down two 64 teams or so and set the tournament up with who ever is left.

Hell it would not be that hard to do. You could get to a field of 64 teams or so in a week. This way everyone had a shot.

 

[johnson86-1]

When? 1985? There are still great teams and great games every year. The problem for the casual fan is that there's very little continuity with the players, and for people who don't follow hoops closely every year, there's no connection to new players ever year. The great players are forced into a joke of a year when their hearts and minds are in the NBA.

I personally think the decline started in 2006 when the NBA stopped allowing high school players to enter the draft. That empowered people like Calipari to make a mockery of the term student-athlete, to the point where legitimate coaches like Coach K, Roy Williams, and Bill Self now have to play that game as well. It's either that or sit back and let Calipari win title after title.

This is the answer I think. College basketball was hurting before that, but having players come for one year seems to have been much worse than allowing players to go straight to the pros. I wouldn't have thought that would be worse for the college game than missing on players all together, so maybe it's just been a coincidence, but the game got much worse after the one and done rule went into effect.

I just don't get it. You'd think as much as talent has degraded at the top, you'd just see people fielding higher IQ teams because they get a much bigger skill premium for a smaller downgrade in talent, but instead everybody is somehow going in the opposite direction, and fielding much lower IQ teams without getting a huge increase in athleticism in exchange.