Re: 2014-15 Opponents Thread: How are they doing?

[Geezaldinho]

I saw it live and in replay, and did not think it was flagrant by NCAA definition.

( video here) https://vine.co/v/O1LwlZBzda3


Hmmm. By definition it is at least flagrant 1.

“Personal foul- Flagrant 1. (Rule 4-15.2.c.1). It is a flagrant 1 personal foul to cause excessive contact with an opponent.”

Excerpt From: NCAA. “2014 and 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Rules.”

We know the defender caused the contact because a foul was called.
We know it was excessive because Perkins had to leave the game with a broken jaw, and because the defender  didn't have to raise his leg in order to commit the foul.

flagrant 2 adds two conditions.

“Flagrant 2 personal foul. A flagrant 2 personal foul is a personal foul that involves contact with an opponent that is not only excessive, but also severe or extreme while the ball is live.”

Excerpt From: NCAA. “2014 and 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Rules.”

Again, breaking a guy's jaw is by definition excessive, severe, and extreme. It probably ended the kid's season and was pretty obviously very serious. The announcer uses the word BOOM and you can hear gasps. The guy is talking about the rising leg extension. There was no attempt to withdraw the leg from the face.  It looks rather like he tried the kick to prevent the baseline drive Perkins had position for.  I'm pretty sure homocide isn't the standard.

This leaves only whether the ball was live. Did you hear a whistle?


After all the discussion in the last couple years about concussions and head trauma this shouldn't even be a talking point. This would be an ejection in football and those guys wear helmets.

[Geezaldinho]

Figured it out.

Makeup call. http://deadspin.com/the-art-of-screwing-up-how-ncaa-refs-live-with-their-m-471284937

[pilotram]

Pacific loses to my Rams in the semifinal of the Great Alaskan Shootout. Pacific climbed back in it after being dominated in the first half. Better than I thought they were.

[Guest]

BYU by 10 over Utah State on the road tonight to improve to 6-2 on the year. Gonzaga was losing to SE LA at halftime but blasted them in the second half for their seventh win in as many games.

@ESPNLunardi updated his seed list yesterday. Gonzaga a 2 seed, BYU an 11 seed, SMC among his "first four out." Both BYU and SMC have a big couple of weeks upcoming with some chances at some non-conference wins that would strengthen their tournament resume.

[DoubleDipper]

Both BYU and SMC have a big couple of weeks upcoming with some chances at some non-conference wins that would strengthen their tournament resume.

And Gonzaga, too.

Before WCC play begins on December 27th, GU plays Arizona, WSU, and UCLA; SMC plays Boise St., Creighton, N. Arizona, and St. John's; BYU faces Utah, Stanford, and UMass.  

Those three schools deserve to be in the upper echelons in the WCC, and without a doubt, GU is a top-10 team.

[Guest]

And Gonzaga, too...Those three schools deserve to be in the upper echelons in the WCC, and without a doubt, GU is a top-10 team.

Yeah, I was more concerned with BYU and SMC as bubble teams. Gonzaga's "just" playing for seeding at this point, you know they're going to be there in March. I didn't realize GU played at UCLA as well, though.

Speaking of the "upper echelons of the WCC" - Rev mentioned on the coach's show that he thought Valparaiso would battle for a top-three finish in our conference. Lofty praise.

Tonight's games besides UP/PSU - USF @ Colorado, LMU @ USC. Also of interest, UNLV @ Arizona State.

[PilotNut]

Busy night tonight:

Concordia (OR) lost at Oregon, 94-63.
SJSU remains winless against D-I teams, losing to UC Davis tonight.
SIUE lost at home to SIU, 79-67.
Valpo beat EKU, 72-66
OSU beat MVSU in Corvallis 74-50
Sac State is 4-1, and beat Utah Valley 65-56 last night.
UNLV is 4-2, losing 77-55 @ ASU.
....and in the big one, Montana State beat South Dakota School of Mines, 79-41.

We really need our competition to start winning some of their other games to help our RPI. Tonight's win will help... as would a win over OSU!

[Geezaldinho]

You forgot Murray St. beat Bethel 102-66

[Guest]

We really need our competition to start winning some of their other games to help our RPI.  Tonight's win will help... as would a win over OSU!

Then there's future opponent Sac State losing tonight to Abilene Christian, one of the worst D1 teams in the country (349th out of 351 teams heading into Thursday). That won't help.

Looking like SDSU will pull out a low-scoring win over San Diego.

Current RPI improves marginally from .5255 to .5277 thanks to wins by DePaul, Pepperdine (over Northridge), and Houston. Good old RPI, making Houston's win over UTPA relevant.

[DoubleDipper]

Looking like SDSU will pull out a low-scoring win over San Diego.

USD is favored to knock off the Pilots in the first game of the WCC season on 12/27.....and I can see why.  USD was very good a against and much bigger/athletic #13 SDSU last night in their city rivalry game (SDSU has now won 9 straight).  

USD had the same problem the Pilots faced against Valpo....they did not get to the foul line.  Last night SDSU had 27 opportunities at the line; the Toreros had only 6, but still lost by only nine, 57-48. When UP lost to Valpo, UP had 7 free throw attempts.

KonPom's computer currently has UP finishing at 8-10 in WCC play, tied for 6th with PU.  Alec and others have to get to the line to have success during WCC play!

[DoubleDipper]

Interesting....of the 7 WCC teams that play today, only Gonzaga is NOT favored to win their game by the odds-makers in Las Vegas:

UOP @ Idaho St. by 3
SCU @ San Jose St. by 3.5
SMC over Boise St. by 6
PU @ Cal St. Fullerton by 3
BYU over Hawaii by 16.5
Arizona over GU by 5 (On ESPN @ 2:15)
UP over Oregon St. by 6.5

[Guest]

GU beat the spread, losing 66-63 in OT. They were up 6 with a couple minutes to go, but couldn't finish. Too bad.

[Geezaldinho]

They had lots of trouble scoring in the last five minutes of regulation.

Sabonis was a bit of a liability with his defense and turnover.

[PilotNut]

USD just took UCLA to the final minute before losing at Pauley, 75-68.

[NoPoNeighbor]

Tough week for the WCC. Five losses to Pac12 teams:

LMU loses to USC
USF loses to Colorado
GU loses to Arizona in OT
UP loses to Oregon State in OT
USD loses to UCLA

[PurplePrideTrumpet]

PSU lost at UC Riverside after the UP game, so they were on a 3-game losing streak when I went to see them play CSU-Bakersfield today. Despite their best efforts to get in the holiday spirit and give the CSUB the game after building a 10-point lead several times, the Vikings won by 6. Douglas had 3 points in 13 minutes off the bench. Cason didn't dress with a foot problem.

[Guest]

WCC passed the A10 today for seventh in the conference rankings on KenPom...and it hasn't even registered Gonzaga's road thumping of UCLA yet.

[DoubleDipper]

I've now had the opportunity to watch all of the WCC teams in action, and after watching Pepperdine's very good performance at ASU before losing by 7, believe the Pilots are now rank at #8 ahead of only Pacific and LMU.  

As Dean pointed out, the WCC now ranks at the 7th best conference in the nation....there's a good reason for that.  The other conferences are not having off years, the WCC is STRONG....and the Pilots are going to have really work hard and get some breaks between now and March if the team is to avoid a Friday night play-in game in Las Vegas on March 6.

GU, BYU, SMC, SCU, SDU, have all been very impressive over the last couple of weeks.....regardless of wins and losses. USF lost at home to a VERY tough Eastern Washington team....but they were still playing well....EWU is just a better team at this point in the season.  UW is favored by 7 at home to EWU this afternoon (5 PM), but it could be much closer.

Watched OSU handily beat Miss. St. Friday night.  The Beavers are tough, relentless defenders.  I know everyone is feeling a little down after the Pilots loss to OSU, but it could be the better team actually won that game.

[Guest]

I've now had the opportunity to watch all of the WCC teams in action, and after watching Pepperdine's very good performance at ASU before losing by 7, believe the Pilots are now rank at #8 ahead of only Pacific and LMU.

Kind of hard to argue with that right now. Pilots #8 in the WCC by almost every measure that's out there....KenPom, Sagarin, even RPI.

By the way, Murray State had an away win over a very good Evansville team last night. So that win over the Racers might look better and better as the season goes on.

[Geezaldinho]

We still have two team that haven't won a game.

[Guest]

We still have two team that haven't won a game.

Holy crap...I looked up San Jose State as one of the winless teams, saw that five of their top SIX minute-getters from the UP game didn't play last game, and found this.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/14/san-jose-state-adds-two-football-players-to-roster-after-suspending-five-players-indefinitely/

[Geezaldinho]

Haha. Wow!

And the two football players played real minutes.

One of them, Winston, played 21 minutes at the point and hit a three to bring it within two with Seven minutes left.

Then he piled it on the suspended players by thanking the coach for letting him play.

http://www.sjsuspartans.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/121314aab.html

The other player played 30 minutes!

[DoubleDipper]

We still have two teams that haven't won a game.

Yeah, I looked at that in making my evaluation of UP as a current 8th place team.

San Jose St. - 0
SIU-Edw. - 0
Murray St. - 4
Drake - 1
PSU - 4 (Including SIU-Edw. in OT)

I just watched 2-win Montana St. stay very close to a very, very good Wyoming team in Laramie before finally losing by 9.....but the game was much closer than that.

I saw the second half of the Seattle U vs. San Jose St. game....have to admit I was rooting for the football players; you've got to admire guys who will step up for their school when asked!

[DoubleDipper]

USF lost at home to a VERY tough Eastern Washington team....but they were still playing well....EWU is just a better team at this point in the season.  UW is favored by 7 at home to EWU this afternoon (5 PM), but it could be much closer.

EWU led the entire game until 1 minute to go when undefeated UW hit back-to-back 3's to pull it out.  Very disappointing for the Eagles....but they are good!

[Guest]

Lunardi put out his latest S curve today. WCC down to a two-bid league as SMC's home loss to Boise State knocked the Gaels to the "next four out."

BYU hanging on by the skin of its teeth - wins over Stanford and UMass are desperately needed for this team.

Gonzaga a 3 seed.