College Basketball

[catfan043]

- 8 teams in the Top 25 with 4 or more losses

- 7 teams with in the Top 25 with 3 losses

- SEC has only one team with less then 4 losses

- Big Ten only has two teams with less then 4

- ACC has only 3 teams with less then 4

- Big East only has 1 team with less then 4

- Big 12 only has 3 teams with less then 4

- Pac Ten only has 3 teams with less then 4

The most significant thing about these numbers are that it's not even February yet, so teams are going to lose more games. Everybody just seems to be beating up on each other, the talent is getting so spread out that nobody is going to be a sure thing soon.

[Will Lavender]

Florida, North Carolina.




















Everybody else.

[catfan043]

I agree only i believe UCLA should be up there as well, they have beaten two ranked teams without starters, they should be the no. 1 team in the country. Florida is still living off last year.

[My GYAADA]

I think you're on to something Catfan, but it doesn't stop with an equitable distribution of talent. I think it also reflects changes in the game with respect to players listening and buying into the program. Too many of them think they are short timers, need to show off their crossover, their drive and dunk, and their ability to shoot the 3, some of whom go to the effort of making it NBA distance. The one thing they don't want to exhibit is a willingness to play hard nosed D on every play.

There are a lot of really good coaches with "underperforming" teams and I don't think all of it is a result of the coaches forgetting how to coach. Gary Williams, Calhoun, Boeheim, Izzo, Pitinoand Smith are a few who have won it all in prior years and yet are struggling with teams that have talent. Lorenzo Romar had a stud class,has won in the past andyet has one winin the Pac-10. Lute Olsen, can coach and he can certainlycoach D, or at least he could in 1997, and his team this yearplays D like a bunch of matadors. Something is afoot, and distribution of talent may be part of it, but thenumber of "coachable" players seems to bedwindling. I don't know if it is theAAU influence, NBA dreams, the one and done mentality or putting stats and ESPN highlights ahead of team,but there are plenty of coaches expressing frustration. They all didn't forget how tocoach overnight but you can't bench all of your players either. So what do you do when large parts ofentire teams cease to listen on a national scale. I don't know the answer but it looks to melike the result is a lot of inconsistent basketball where any team can beat any other team on a given night.

[UFWildcat]

Florida isn't living off last year. They were the undisputed #1 at tournaments end a year agoand what have you seen this year to make you think any different. They have five starters that could easily go for 25 a night. UCLA is a powerful team but to make a statement like just isn't accurate.

[catfan043]

Florida RPI 26, 3-2 against RPI Top 50, 1-1 against Top 25 teams, SOS 100, 18-2

Thats not a No. 1 team in my opinion

UCLA RPI 1, 7-1 against RPI Top 50, SOS 3, 17-1

Thats a No. 1 team

[delkfor3]

Looking at "college basketball as a whole" isn't going to fix OUR problems, it's just a diversion to try and take the spotlight away from the real problem.

[Josh]

Unfortunately, some only look at this type of rational thinking as another excuse. While I still have a bad taste in my mouth about last night's game, parity is alive and well in college basketball, whether we want to accept it, get mad about it, curse and carry on, or whatever. The days of dominating are long gone for every team and every year there is a new team on top of that mountain, and yet, even they are never safe. The competitive gap in college basketball is narrowing.

[RaleighCat]

delkfor3 wrote: Looking at "college basketball as a whole" isn't going to fix OUR problems, it's just a diversion to try and take the spotlight away from the real problem.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

[delkfor3]

Scars wrote: Unfortunately, some only look at this type of rational thinking as another excuse. While I still have a bad taste in my mouth about last night's game, parity is alive and well in college basketball, whether we want to accept it, get mad about it, curse and carry on, or whatever. The days of dominating are long gone for every team and every year there is a new team on top of that mountain, and yet, even they are never safe. The competitive gap in college basketball is narrowing.

Parity isn't our problem, if we had the horses, we could rise above parity, we always have in the past. And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?

[Josh]

delkfor3 wrote: Scars wrote: Unfortunately, some only look at this type of rational thinking as another excuse. While I still have a bad taste in my mouth about last night's game, parity is alive and well in college basketball, whether we want to accept it, get mad about it, curse and carry on, or whatever. The days of dominating are long gone for every team and every year there is a new team on top of that mountain, and yet, even they are never safe. The competitive gap in college basketball is narrowing.

Parity isn't our problem, if we had the horses, we could rise above parity, we always have in the past. And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?
To me, parity is a part of the problem. It continues to grow. Someone mentioned that any team in the top 100 can beat any team in the top 25 on any given night. That's pretty much true as the level of talent is balancing out.

Teams like Florida (and UCLA, and UNC) are even struggling against teams that many think they should beat easily. They just close out their games better than we are right now. The Gators struggled a lot against both Mississippi teams, but were able to close it out better and ended up with victories. Had we closed things out better, we would have beaten Georgia.

[BamaCat86]

And without a couple of opportune whistles in the last minute, the Gators would have lost at home to UAB.

[UFWildcat]

catfan043 wrote: Florida RPI 26, 3-2 against RPI Top 50, 1-1 against Top 25 teams, SOS 100, 18-2

Thats not a No. 1 team in my opinion

UCLA RPI 1, 7-1 against RPI Top 50, SOS 3, 17-1

Thats a No. 1 team

Ahhhh....What happened to those Bruins.....

[catfan043]

Reminded me of Florida losing to Florida State

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

My GYAADA wrote: I think you're on to something Catfan, but it doesn't stop with an equitable distribution of talent. I think it also reflects changes in the game with respect to players listening and buying into the program. Too many of them think they are short timers, need to show off their crossover, their drive and dunk, and their ability to shoot the 3, some of whom go to the effort of making it NBA distance. The one thing they don't want to exhibit is a willingness to play hard nosed D on every play.

There are a lot of really good coaches with "underperforming" teams and I don't think all of it is a result of the coaches forgetting how to coach. Gary Williams, Calhoun, Boeheim, Izzo, Pitinoand Smith are a few who have won it all in prior years and yet are struggling with teams that have talent. Lorenzo Romar had a stud class,has won in the past andyet has one winin the Pac-10. Lute Olsen, can coach and he can certainlycoach D, or at least he could in 1997, and his team this yearplays D like a bunch of matadors. Something is afoot, and distribution of talent may be part of it, but thenumber of "coachable" players seems to bedwindling. I don't know if it is theAAU influence, NBA dreams, the one and done mentality or putting stats and ESPN highlights ahead of team,but there are plenty of coaches expressing frustration. They all didn't forget how tocoach overnight but you can't bench all of your players either. So what do you do when large parts ofentire teams cease to listen on a national scale. I don't know the answer but it looks to melike the result is a lot of inconsistent basketball where any team can beat any other team on a given night.





great post

[Stucat]

catfan043 wrote: I agree only i believe UCLA should be up there as well, they have beaten two ranked teams without starters, they should be the no. 1 team in the country. Florida is still living off last year.
Even though Florida had a close game against Ole Miss in my opinion Florida is playing very well and I do not believe Florida is living off of last year. Florida is doing quite well this year. By the end of March we will have our answers and I don't look for Florida to have to take a backseat to anybody especially UCLA.

[UFWildcat]

catfan043 wrote: Reminded me of Florida losing to Florida State
Not to far fetched....they were probably celebrating the football teams SEC Championship the night before and the day they lost to FSU was the day the football team found out they were going to the National Title game.

Let's see UF play FSU again....

Fluke...I think so

[Radiated]

One reason for the parity is that the kids have to play 1 year in college till they can get to the NBA. That has had an effect. It will continue to do so.

[sardiscat]

"And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?"

It has. They're back to being good this season, but UCLA and UNC have hada fair number of years in mediocrity during the past decade. UF only rose out of medicrity last season.

[UFWildcat]

sardiscat wrote: "And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?"

It has. They're back to being good this season, but UCLA and UNC have hada fair number of years in mediocrity during the past decade. UF only rose out of medicrity last season.


Very true

Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.

[poodoo]

UFWildcat wrote: sardiscat wrote: "And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?"

It has. They're back to being good this season, but UCLA and UNC have hada fair number of years in mediocrity during the past decade. UF only rose out of medicrity last season.


Very true

Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.


Excellent post, UFWildcat. I so frequently say that the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. No, the parity in college basketball today does not excuse Tubby for not signing a top power forward in recent years, for an example. It does not excuse Tubby for the long drought in Final Fours. It certainly does not excuse Tubby for our disappointing season a year ago (and I am not saying anything about this season, for this season is NOT yet over, and I have NOT given up on this team:)).

HOWEVER, to say that parity does not exist in college basketball today is denying something obvious, in my opinion. To think that competing in college basketball today is the same as it was decades ago is ridiculous, in my opinion. Looking at top 25 polls today is NOT the same as it was years ago. There are far more losses among top teams today.Too, yes, that does influence the number of total losses a really good team can endure (along with the additional number of games played during the season), which is a reason I do not get as upset as some do about double-digit losses.

Regardless, no, that does not make me happy with our current status andour not being highly ranked andour already having two losses in the SEC, including a home loss.It just means that neither extreme, thinking that Tubby has made no mistakes or has no weaknesses OR that parity does not exist in college basketball and has had no effect whatsoever on UK's current situation, makes sense to me. To me, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. GO CATS!

[NOWIS]

sardiscat wrote: "And why isn't parity hurting UF,UCLA and UNC?"

It has. They're back to being good this season, but UCLA and UNC have hada fair number of years in mediocrity during the past decade. UF only rose out of medicrity last season.

UNC anc UCLA's cure for mediocrity was firing their coach. UF's cure was hiring a hard nosed asst coach to toughen up the girlie boys.

[NOWIS]

UFWildcat wrote:


Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.

What does this "parity" mean. The top flight players still want to win championships, so they still go to the elite schools. IMO it means that player evaluation and recruiting are more important than ever. It means that game prepration and game management are more important than ever. It meant that coaches are going to have to work harder than ever to earn their money. It should not mean a shift in the power structure, if the elite programs have the elite coaches, and they get the elite players, everything remains the same.

[UFWildcat]

NOWIS wrote: UFWildcat wrote:


Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.

What does this "parity" mean. The top flight players still want to win championships, so they still go to the elite schools. IMO it means that player evaluation and recruiting are more important than ever. It means that game prepration and game management are more important than ever. It meant that coaches are going to have to work harder than ever to earn their money. It should not mean a shift in the power structure, if the elite programs have the elite coaches, and they get the elite players, everything remains the same.
It means all the SEC teams are filled with good athletes. Georgia, Auburn, Vandy are all perfect examples of parity. 5 years ago these teams didn't have these type of athletes.

[NOWIS]

UFWildcat wrote: NOWIS wrote: UFWildcat wrote:


Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.

What does this "parity" mean. The top flight players still want to win championships, so they still go to the elite schools. IMO it means that player evaluation and recruiting are more important than ever. It means that game prepration and game management are more important than ever. It meant that coaches are going to have to work harder than ever to earn their money. It should not mean a shift in the power structure, if the elite programs have the elite coaches, and they get the elite players, everything remains the same.
It means all the SEC teams are filled with good athletes. Georgia, Auburn, Vandy are all perfect examples of parity. 5 years ago these teams didn't have these type of athletes.

Yes, those teams have good athletes, but if Tubby had been doing his job we wouldn't give those teams a second thought

[UFWildcat]

That is a whole nother beast in itself.

[Radiated]

NOWIS wrote: UFWildcat wrote:


Parity is here to stay....face it.

Too many good athletes in the country these days.

Still not an excuse for Tubby though.

What does this "parity" mean. The top flight players still want to win championships, so they still go to the elite schools. IMO it means that player evaluation and recruiting are more important than ever. It means that game prepration and game management are more important than ever. It meant that coaches are going to have to work harder than ever to earn their money. It should not mean a shift in the power structure, if the elite programs have the elite coaches, and they get the elite players, everything remains the same.I totally agree. The evaluation of talent andgame prep are huge. It seems at times that we are unprepared for games. We have to make adjustments at the half. I think Tubby does a good job of coaching during games, it's those off times that hurt.

[bluegrassking]

Parity is real because of scholorship limits and broader TV coverage but it is certainly often overstated.

Seven teams with multiple Final Fours and a repeat winner in the last 10 years says the top of the game seemsfairly constant.

There is no parity among the teams that actually win championships, it's more or less the usual suspects backs this up. I don't think there are anyless oror probably any moreTOP teams than there has ever been, what has changed is our ability to stay on or near the top regardless of who else slipped in or out of the mix.

There are still the have's and have not's but the "middle class" has widened, that is the parity we are seeing, not some wild toss up where every team has an equal chance to wind up on top.

[Madiblue]

you almost have to wait and see who stays in school over the next few years, if these teams are able to keep the talent on campus for a few seasons and stock pile players, then the Tournament will once again be dominated by the traditional powers, if not then the mid level teams that have their act together will continue to create the scenarios that we have grown accustomed to, just a thought, now where we fit............