2011/12 Observation Deck

[KG215]

That's honestly a solid OOC win for Duke. You won't see it highlighted on tourney resumes or whatever, but it is. People forget Belmont won 30 games last year because they played Wisconsin in the tourney and that snail pace flex offense Wisky runs is just tough w/o experience against.

Great showing from Belmont as well, 1 point loss at Cameron, for a mid-major that's a pretty nice seed builder for the tourney. Gonna have to check this game out on ESPN3 later in the weekend, both teams really did come out with some good positives.

I expected Belmont to play Duke tough. I didn't expect them to damn near win, but I thought a 507 point game was possible. Like you said, 30 win team with everyone back. They are a very good mid-major.

[KG215]

Finally got to watch the UNC game. I can't take much away from it. Apparently most of the game-time temperature was int he mid to high 60's which I'm sure had an effect on both teams. There was a chance of rain all night, meaning the air was already a little damp, and it obviously caused a very slippery playing surface. It also looked like the whole playing outside thing played into some very poor shooting for both teams, even if it was more of a mental thing.

All in all, I though UNC looked really sluggish but still managed to win semi-comfortably. We were down 19-14 and then outscored Michigan State 22-6 to close the half and never looked back. I think there was a pretty good stretch of the second half we led by 15-20 points. The one disappointing thing is how bad Michigan State killed us on the glass. They had 20 offensive rebounds to our 20 defensive rebounds at one point in the second half. We clean up the glass better on defense and we win by 25.

I was sitting there watching the game, though, and the whole time it felt like this really grand scrimmage. Like there was so much more going on than just a game and I'm not so sure that wasn't a bit distracting for the players, too. I don't know, it just had a really weird feel to it from start to finish, and I have hard time taking much from it. Now the players get to get back on a plane, fly 4,000 miles cross country, and play UNCA in two days. I expect a bit of a sluggish start to that one due to the rigorous travel schedule.

[noob cake]

That's honestly a solid OOC win for Duke. You won't see it highlighted on tourney resumes or whatever, but it is. People forget Belmont won 30 games last year because they played Wisconsin in the tourney and that snail pace flex offense Wisky runs is just tough w/o experience against.

Great showing from Belmont as well, 1 point loss at Cameron, for a mid-major that's a pretty nice seed builder for the tourney. Gonna have to check this game out on ESPN3 later in the weekend, both teams really did come out with some good positives.

Belmont is really good. They returned basically their whole team from last year, and are underranked top 30 in all human and computer rankings.

Whisky offense is just plain stupid to watch and play against.

[Grinder]

Cleveland State is thoroughly outplaying Vandy on the road right now. They're a team to watch out for, lots of experienced players and tough defense.

[KG215]

I know Vanderbilt didn't have Festus Ezili, but damn. Cleveland State owned Vandy at Vandy. And like you said Grinder, Cleveland State is a very good mid-major. But still, Vandy is supposed to be a darkhorse Final Four team.

Unless Vanderbilt completely tanks this season, this is a huge resume win for Cleveland State. It's just November 13th, but this is a game Cleveland State can hang their hat on in March when it's tourney selection time and they're potentially a bubble team.

[KG215]

Heels up 9-8 early on. I'm expecting a flat and slow start in the first half. They got done with the Carrier Classic on Friday night, flew through the night straight to Asheville, and in less than 48 hours are playing another game.

[KG215]

God we looks sluggish. We've missed about five 1-3 foot chippies in our last two or three possessions.

[chips93]

kendall marshall playing great so far. has 6 dimes 12 mins into the game, and it feels like he should have even more.

[KG215]

kendall marshall playing great so far. has 6 dimes 12 mins into the game, and it feels like he should have even more.

He should. Zeller missed a wide-open dunk that came off a pass from Marshall in the fastbreak, and we've missed at least four or five other chippies, several of which would have resulted in a Marshall assist.

[Grinder]

I know Vanderbilt didn't have Festus Ezili, but damn. Cleveland State owned Vandy at Vandy. And like you said Grinder, Cleveland State is a very good mid-major. But still, Vandy is supposed to be a darkhorse Final Four team.

Unless Vanderbilt completely tanks this season, this is a huge resume win for Cleveland State. It's just November 13th, but this is a game Cleveland State can hang their hat on in March when it's tourney selection time and they're potentially a bubble team.

Vandy looked awful today, turned the ball over an ungodly number of times and had no real strategy on offense. I'm sure Festus Ezeli will help them a lot, but their guard play was just abysmal and will need to improve if they want to be in the conversation for a deep run in the NCAA tourney.


Love watching Kendall Marshall play btw. John Henson's jumper looks a lot better this year too

[KG215]

Yeah, Kendall is so much fun to watch. UNC has woken up a bit to start the second half. Marshall now has 12 assists and 0 turnovers.

In the first half we were playing very sluggishly on defense. Asheville was plying a four out-one in on offense and we just weren't defending with much intensity. We've picked up the intensity much more to my liking int he second half and have already turned a nine point halftime lead into a 20 point lead five minutes into the second half.

I know Asheville is one of the favorites in the Big South along with Coastal Carolina and VMI, but I wasn't too happy with a nine point halftime lead.

[InspiredLebowski]

Calbert Cheaney's on the Indiana staff now. If you've ever seen The Wire, he's starting to look A LOT like Bunny Colvin.

[KG215]

And now Asheville is going beserk from three point land. Only up 13. We deserve to be called overrated by the scoreboard watchers. I've got some decent excuses, but we should have still won this game by 25-30.

[ukfan22]

And now Asheville is going beserk from three point land. Only up 13. We deserve to be called overrated by the scoreboard watchers. I've got some decent excuses, but we should have still won this game by 25-30.

I only watched a little, but you all looked fine

less than 48 hours after the Carrier game, on the road, they didn't really threaten you

As far as Vandy goes, it's embarrassing for the league and I'm pretty annoyed.

[KG215]

I only watched a little, but you all looked fine

less than 48 hours after the Carrier game, on the road, they didn't really threaten you

As far as Vandy goes, it's embarrassing for the league and I'm pretty annoyed.

Yeah, all-in-all you can't take away a lot from it. They kept it close in the 1st half by getting some generous homer calls that kept them on the FT line. In the second half, we got up by about 20 and they started hitting three pointers.

On top of that, Asheville was opening up their new gym, you knew they were going to be up for that game with a lot of in-state kids wanting to "prove themselves" against UNC. And it's not like their an awful "cupcake". They won the Big South last year and are the favorites this year. Under normal circumstances we should still beat them by 30+ but I'll give our guys a pass on this one after playing a game in San Diego less than 48 hours ago.

Roy is from Asheville and wanted to be nice and let them open up their new gym against UNC, but he probably should have schedule the game four or five days after the Carrier Classic. We'll learn a lot more about UNC during the South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky stretch starting November 30th.