2011-2012 College Basketball

[AmericanHotspur]

As my twitter feed last night showed me, college basketball has begun!!! I have Always enjoyed it more than NBA basketball and there is nothing like March Madness: Only the World Cup rivals it for me in terms of excitement.

If any of you haven't noticed, my location is Durham, North Carolina: pretty much the most college basketball crazy town in the U.S of A. Duke University is my home-town team and the team I support. It's absolutely insane over here once basketball gets going. Reason why? 8 miles over is the number 1 ranked team in the nation, University of North Carolina. The fan split is about half and half here and I imagine it's something like the Spurs-Arsenal rivalry over in London in terms of intensity, although I believe Duke-UNC is the best

Anyways, discuss college basketball here, because with no NBA it's pretty much the only basketball over here.

P.S. Duke 2-0! Austin Rivers is looking more and more like one of the best recruits we've ever had.

[BlueCrew LA]

I honestly thought about starting this last night with the Carrier game, I think I got side tracked. I'm more of a NBA fan, Lakers and that, but I like College Basketball. It's pretty much all we have out here in Vegas for sport and when I go home I catch USC games. USC and UNLV actually play each other in a couple weeks, I got my tickets. Strangely, it's going to be at the Orleans Arena and not the Thomas and Mack.

I've always been a fan of Duke basketball. Not really to the level of USC athletics because that's my school, but I'm casually a fan of the program. Especially when you consider how that state is dominated by Tarheel fans. I admire the success Coach K has had.

Ironically, UNLV actually just stole a recruit away from USC, Katin Reinhardt. He's a Mater Dei kid too so that's a big steal, Mater Dei is like a pipeline to USC.

[AmericanHotspur]

I honestly thought about starting this last night with the Carrier game, I think I got side tracked. I'm more of a NBA fan, Lakers and that, but I like College Basketball. It's pretty much all we have out here in Vegas for sport and when I go home I catch USC games. USC and UNLV actually play each other in a couple weeks, I got my tickets. Strangely, it's going to be at the Orleans Arena and not the Thomas and Mack.

I've always been a fan of Duke basketball. Not really to the level of USC athletics because that's my school, but I'm casually a fan of the program. Especially when you consider how that state is dominated by Tarheel fans. I admire the success Coach K has had.

Ironically, UNLV actually just stole a recruit away from USC, Katin Reinhardt. He's a Mater Dei kid too so that's a big steal, Mater Dei is like a pipeline to USC.

I have to say, UNLV and USC are two teams I know almost nothing about. I can tell you UNLV were good in the 90s and that O.J. Mayo got some benefits, but that's it. I thinkg you have coped ok without Floyd though.

And, that's pretty interesting that you like Duke. They're very easy to hate: the snooty rich kid school, always the favorites, the fact our pro players haven't been that great, and the fact that pretty much every coaching record is going to be held by Coach K soon.
It's pretty funny living in Durham, last night my twitter was pretty much dominated by "UNC can't win on land, so they have to go to sea" and lame trash-talk like that. Then the "oh Duke is terrible, only won by one against Belmont" and then me going "I wish Tottenham played tomorrow..."

The rivalry is fierce for sure.

[BlueCrew LA]

I have to say, UNLV and USC are two teams I know almost nothing about. I can tell you UNLV were good in the 90s and that O.J. Mayo got some benefits, but that's it. I thinkg you have coped ok without Floyd though.

Never heard of them....

And, that's pretty interesting that you like Duke. They're very easy to hate: the snooty rich kid school, always the favorites, the fact our pro players haven't been that great, and the fact that pretty much every coaching record is going to be held by Coach K soon.
It's pretty funny living in Durham, last night my twitter was pretty much dominated by "UNC can't win on land, so they have to go to sea" and lame trash-talk like that. Then the "oh Duke is terrible, only won by one against Belmont" and then me going "I wish Tottenham played tomorrow..."

The rivalry is fierce for sure.

I don't know if you heard but..... I went to USC.

..... Seriously though, I like because for some reason the media perception of Duke is that they're the bandwagon team, yet nobody ever says that about UNC. Just a personal opinion but they seem to have much more bandwagon fans and get more positive media coverage, sort of like the Steelers.

Also, I find it hard to support a team that wears that shade of blue. I hate it when Spurs have powder blue kits.

[1van]

cool stuff... if one has the sources to do something like this why not then..

[AmericanHotspur]

I don't know if you heard but..... I went to USC.

..... Seriously though, I like because for some reason the media perception of Duke is that they're the bandwagon team, yet nobody ever says that about UNC. Just a personal opinion but they seem to have much more bandwagon fans and get more positive media coverage, sort of like the Steelers.

Also, I find it hard to support a team that wears that shade of blue. I hate it when Spurs have powder blue kits.

I agree with the USC/Duke comparison, very apt. I just feel like people hate Duke a lot more than USC.

And as for the positive media coverage, oh my god do I agree. UNC suddenly becomes America's team when they play Duke. TBH they're better than us this year and under Roy they've been very good. But to me it seems like Duke can never be underdogs and when we lose it's "What went wrong for duke" rather than "what a performance from their opponents!"

But, I'm not so sure whether your media favoring UNC thing is always apt. Ever heard of ol' Dickie V?

And I can't bring myself to hate UNC, I just can't. I'm not one for negative support usually (hopes no one brings up the I Hate Liverpool thread) and when UNC won the title in 2009 I celebrated with my friends, I wasn't gonna be a dick about it. As long as the title stays in the Triangle I can't be mad. There's not much I can hate about them, a lot of my closest friends support them and it's a great university and campus. Although I hate that shade of blue too..

Another reason I can't hate UNC is that in the back of my mind I know I'll probably end up going to school there... It's the best state university in NC and probably one of the top 5 in the country. And since I'm not going to get a sports scholarship we'll have to pay. And to send not just me, but my twin brother as well, to college out of state? Not a chance. So it's UNC or bust probably...

[BlueCrew LA]

Another reason I can't hate UNC is that in the back of my mind I know I'll probably end up going to school there... It's the best state university in NC and probably one of the top 5 in the country. And since I'm not going to get a sports scholarship we'll have to pay. And to send not just me, but my twin brother as well, to college out of state? Not a chance. So it's UNC or bust probably...

Nothing wrong with that....

North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Cal are some of the best public universities out there.

[BlueCrew LA]

One of the only good things about ESPN is the Tip Off Marathon and it starts tonight (for me its tonight, midnight on the east coast), 24 hours of College Basketball.

Game-by-game preview of the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon - ESPN

[stroud_jm]

Well, I hate Duke. Grew up a Carolina fan, went to NC State, so changed allegiance. When I was young, there were no Duke fans in North Carolina outside Durham, which is why I hate them. Anyway, college basketball is one of my two sports loves, in fact, other than football, its the only sport I care about. So looking forward to this thread. I've often thought that this time of year, with all the holiday tournaments, is almost as entertaining as March.

Tight one for the Dookies against Belmont the other night, @AmericanHotspur .

[BlueCrew LA]

USC 61-64 Nebraska (2OT)
UNLV 71-67 Nevada

UNLV almost threw it away at the end and USC were just terrible. It's a miracle we pushed them to 2 OT's.

[USspur]

What a game the Carrier Classic was. MSU played with so much emotion and heart it was ridiculous, out-rebounding a team that is basically sending its front court directly to the nba says a lot about it imo. Last year that type of passion was never seen. The seniors enjoyed knowing they had a preseason #2 ranking and decided to smoke hella weed instead of putting in the effort on game day. Summers was a magician out there as he would disappear during games and kalin never seemed to get back to where he was before his injury. IMO we are the 2nd best team in the big10 and could definitely make a run in the tourney (as Izzo usually does).

The game tomorrow night will be huge and I think that if we can play like we did for spurts against unc for longer periods and more consistently we can win. I really hope we dont let Coach K get his record setting win against us.

As to the who do i dislike more duke or usc, i have gotta say duke.

GO GREEN! GO WHITE! GO STATE!

[AmericanHotspur]

Well, I hate Duke. Grew up a Carolina fan, went to NC State, so changed allegiance. When I was young, there were no Duke fans in North Carolina outside Durham, which is why I hate them. Anyway, college basketball is one of my two sports loves, in fact, other than football, its the only sport I care about. So looking forward to this thread. I've often thought that this time of year, with all the holiday tournaments, is almost as entertaining as March.

Tight one for the Dookies against Belmont the other night, @AmericanHotspur .

This'll be fun

[AmericanHotspur]

Well we aren't playing so well. IMO we aren't gonna be close to the ACC title if we keep it up.

I swear if we lose this... And ruin Coach K's record? sigh...

P.S. Austin Rivers is the first person I've ever seen play competitive basketball wearing cool greys.

[BlueCrew LA]

Surely that was a walk at the end of the Duke v Kansas game.....

[AmericanHotspur]

Surely that was a walk at the end of the Duke v Kansas game.....

lol. You have no idea. My family is over here for Thanksgiving and we were watching the game last night, it got pretty intense. See, he's from Kansas and an alum so huge KU fan and when Curry walked, passed, and Carlton Banks (aka Tyler Thornton) made that incredible 3 as the shot clock ran out, he was screaming at the refs. It was pretty funny actually, as I had to do the kind of "satisfied smirk" thing because I had no argument to say it wasn't a walk. Luckily the referee saw it Duke's way.

All I can say is a win is a win is a win