Time always tells.jjgold said:
And that game was a tourney, on a neutral court, in Vegas.
Not to mention, a weaker Illinois team beat Cincy by over 20 in last year's NCAA tourney. I think Cincy would stand very little chance of winning if they should have the misfortune of meeting Illinois in this year's tourney again. They just don't have the backcourt to keep up.
Anything can happen come March (or before then), but Illinois is clearly #1 and UNC is #2.
I agree that Cincy and Syracuse look good, but both have bad histories with good teams. I'm a Cuse fan, so I hope things work out. But they have some holes -- mainly whether Edelin returns to top form or not. If Edelin has put his demons behind him and stays in Jim B.'s good favor, I'll take Cuse against anyone come tourney time because they play the style of ball that will give them the opportunity to win at the end.
I agree that Cincy and Syracuse look good, but both have bad histories with good teams. I'm a Cuse fan, so I hope things work out. But they have some holes -- mainly whether Edelin returns to top form or not. If Edelin has put his demons behind him and stays in Jim B.'s good favor, I'll take Cuse against anyone come tourney time because they play the style of ball that will give them the opportunity to win at the end.
After watching the UNC game and the Kansas game I would tend to agree with Apollo on the rankings....Kansas had their hands full with ISU and UNC has a play that is unreal; the fast break fake pull-up jumper with a mid-court pass to the trailing guard for a dunk or lay-up...I don't see a way to defend it, plus their 3 pt shooting is crazy. I would like to see a few UNC road games before I put them in the Final Four.
The RPI has Kansas up in top 5 I believe, but they played all those games at home and struggled against the South Carolina's and Pacific's. I think they'll fall flat eventually. Plus, they never would have got out of Kentucky with a W on Sunday if Kentucky wasn't ice cold from the field. Tubby starts using the trap earlier, it would have been a different result. But you have to make shots to set up the trap, so ...
As for UNC, the thing that I can't get over is just how athletic they are. It shows more on defense than on offense. They are running and gunning all set up by their defense. But they won't make it through ACC play undefeated just as Illinois won't through Big 10 play either. None of these teams are elite.
FWIW: A buddy sat close to the UNC bench during the Santa Clara lose in the Bay Area before UNC went to Hawaii for the tourney. I called him the next day and was like "How they F--K did they lose that game." He said they got manhandled all over the court and looked lost without Felton. I still don't believe it seeing how Santa Clara has played since, but just goes to show anything can happen ... as we all know.
As for UNC, the thing that I can't get over is just how athletic they are. It shows more on defense than on offense. They are running and gunning all set up by their defense. But they won't make it through ACC play undefeated just as Illinois won't through Big 10 play either. None of these teams are elite.
FWIW: A buddy sat close to the UNC bench during the Santa Clara lose in the Bay Area before UNC went to Hawaii for the tourney. I called him the next day and was like "How they F--K did they lose that game." He said they got manhandled all over the court and looked lost without Felton. I still don't believe it seeing how Santa Clara has played since, but just goes to show anything can happen ... as we all know.
