SB Nation User Blog: ConnorOSU

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em: Week 6 Picks

ConnorOSU — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:32:14 -0000

Here we are in Week 6 of College Basketball. The slate features a few great games on Saturday, but there is also a couple easy wins on the board as well.

You've got about 23 hours to make your first pick. I wanted to get it up there because it is one of the few TV games during the week. So, here are your Week 6 Picks. All times are Pacific.

Texas-Pan American @ Texas, Tuesday, 5:00 PM

Michigan @ Kansas, Saturday, 9:00 AM

North Carolina vs Texas, Saturday, 11:00 AM

Gonzaga vs Duke, Saturday, 1:00 PM

Austin Peay @ Kentucky, Saturday, 1:00 PM

Since Texas is up there twice, please refer to them in the comments section as "Texas-Tuesday" or "Texas-Saturday."

Don't forget that even if you miss some games, you can still make your picks. Just the games that have been played before won't count.

Remember to rank your picks on a confidence scale of one to five, with five being the most confident and one being the least. Also, if you miss the first game, then the scale is four to one and so on. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

I'll have the standings up on either Saturday or Sunday.

Happy Picking!

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em Standings: Week 5

ConnorOSU — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:40:27 -0000

A very intense week in the College Basketball Pick'Em wrapped up with Georgetown defeating Washington 74-66 on Saturday. However, I posted that it was a home game for the Huskies, when it really was at a neutral site. Therefore, everyone recieved a win with the confidence points they put on it.

In other action, Butler defeated Ohio State 74-66 on Saturday morning. On Thursday night, Syracuse went down to Tampa and defeated the Florida Gators, 85-73. In one of the best games so far this season, Kentucky defeated Connecticut 64-61 in New York City. And on Tuesday, Georgetown knocked off Butler by a final score of 72-65.

So, here are your Week 5 standings:

Place                Name                         Total Score

1st                     ConnorOSU              73 Points
2nd                    C_hawkfan              62 Points
T3                      The VD Special         60 Points
T3                     Figgi4life                  60 Points
5th                    Jimmy James           57 Points
6th                    Jake Bertalotto        39 Points
T7                     sdfan21                     36 Points
T7                     cloudydays                36 Points
9th                    cmr                           30 Points
10th                 Tortuga12                 24 Points

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em: Week 5 Picks

ConnorOSU — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:41:19 -0000

Here we are in Week 5 of College Basketball. The slate is full of great games, with all of them on TV and matching Top 25 teams against each other.

I'll apologize in advance for the lack of time to make your picks this week. I was swamped all day and just remembered to post these. Anyways, you've got about 23 hours to make your first pick. So without further to do, here are your Week 5 Picks. All times are Pacific.

Butler vs Georgetown, Tuesday, 4:00 PM

Kentucky vs Connecticut, Wednesday, 6:30 PM

Syracuse vs Florida, Thursday, 6:00 PM

Ohio State @ Butler, Saturday, 9:00 AM

Georgetown @ Washington, Saturday, 11:00 AM

Since Butler is up there twice, please refer to them in the comments section as "Butler-Tuesday" or "Butler-Saturday." Also, Georgetown is up there twice so please refer to them as "Georgetown-Tuesday" or "Georgetown-Saturday."

Don't forget that even if you miss some games, you can still make your picks. Just the games that have been played before won't count.

Remember to rank your picks on a confidence scale of one to five, with five being the most confident and one being the least. Also, if you miss the first game, then the scale is four to one and so on. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

I'll have the standings up on either Saturday or Sunday.

Happy Picking!

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em Standings: Week 4

ConnorOSU — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:27:47 -0000

A fairly normal week in the College Basketball Pick'Em wrapped up today with Kansas defeating UCLA, 77-59. The week began with North Carolina defeating Michigan State 89-82. Following that, Kansas demolished Alcorn State, and Texas defeated USC. On Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats defeated North Carolina 68-66.

So far, I am in the lead by 5 points against the next highest participant. But because I can't win the prize, C_hawkfan has the lead.

So without further to do, here are your Week 4 standings:

Place        Name                       Total Score

1st            ConnorOSU             58 Points
2nd          C_hawkfan               53 Points
3rd            The VD Special        51 Points
4th            Jimmy James          49 Points
5th           Figgi4life                 45 Points
6th            sdfan21                   31 Points
7th            cmr                         30 Points
8th            Jake Bertalotto         27 Points
9th            Tortuga12                24 Points
10th         cloudydays               22 Points

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Building the Dam Bowl

ConnorOSU — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:03:35 -0000

Because I really don't want to study for Finals and the hype of Selection Sunday has gotten to me, I decided to make my own Bowl Game. I mean if Little Caesars can have it's own Bowl Game, then so can Building the Dam. http://www.littlecaesarspizzabowl.com/

So now with that out of the way, I've decided to challenge the Macho Rhino Bowl and invite Notre Dame and UCLA. What is the Macho Rhino Bowl you ask? Well you can read about it right here:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/302839-will-notre-dame-play-ucla-in-the-2009-macho-rhino-bowl

The invitation is open until 12:00 PM Pacific Time on Monday, December 7th. Hopefully they’ll accept and we’ll have a great inaugural Building the Dam Bowl brought to you by Buildingthedam.com.

First let me give you details on the Building the Dam Bowl. I’m proposing it be played December 25, 2009 at PGE Park in Portland, Oregon with a 4:30 PM Pacific kickoff. Christmas Day will be great for this game to get recognition, as it will be the only College Football game that day. The time is great as well because it leads into the Trail Blazers game that night across the city.

Why both teams should accept this invitation:

-I know Notre Dame has already declined a Bowl Invitation, but that was before the Building the Dam Bowl existed.

-A performance based payout. In these tough economic times, don’t pass up a chance at earning more money. The winner of this game will take home 45% of the revenue generated from ticket sales, merchandise and broadcasting. The loser will get 30%. With your tremendous fan bases, this could be one of the better non-BCS payouts this year.

-It’ll be nationally televised. Since Notre Dame is involved, NBC and ESPN will simulcast the game. ESPN's coverage will lead right into the Trail Blazers game that night, and NBC's coverage will lead into the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

-In this age of the internet and blogging, recruits will love to play for the teams that participated in the first ever Blog Sponsered Bowl Game.

-You will make history as the first two teams to compete in this bowl game.

-It will be the final Football game at PGE Park before the stadium becomes a Soccer Field.

-Most importantly, you can end the season a winner. The victorious team leaves 7-6 and has a good feeling about the year.

Here’s a tenative itinerary for Building the Dam Bowl Week:

December 20 – We invite both teams to fly into the best airport in the nation (PDX) to start the festivities. We’ll host a dinner for both teams before allowing teams to enjoy the nightlife of Portland.

December 21 - Teams will practice in the day time, followed by a dinner with Building the Dam writers Jake Bertalotto, The VD Special, Andy Panda, RVM, and ConnorOSU. They will learn how to run a blog and create fake Bowl Games. The highlight of the night will include a guest appearence by Noghri_ViR. He will inform everyone on how to score interviews with hot ESPN employes. It will be a very educational evening.

December 22 - Building the Dam Party –The highlight of bowl week as we let both teams cut loose at our own party. Teams will have an awesome time partying and inter-mingling before the huge game.

December 23 – Teams will be bussed to the Oregon Coast for a day at the beach.

December 24 – Media Day- Teams will address the media before enjoying the rest of their Christmas Eve.

December 25 – GAMEDAY (Kickoff at 4:30 PM Pacific). After the game the teams will attend the 2nd Half of the Trail Blazers-Nuggets game in the Suite Level. A monster after-party following the game with hundreds of friends and fans to finish the holiday.

December 26 – We will host a "Thank You" Brunch for both teams before they head back home to thank them for a great week and spectacular bowl game.

You both have until Noon Pacific on Monday, December 7 to take advantage of this invitation. Do you want to risk what not playing in a bowl game will do for your program? Please e-mail your confirmation of participation in the Building the Dam Bowl to bowl@BuildingtheDam.com.

I’m excited about trying to get this bowl started and think we’ll have a tremendous match-up with these two programs. We need your support so if you’re interested in helping or sponsoring the bowl contact us at bowl@BuildingtheDam.com and we’ll get back in contact with you shortly.

That’s all I have for now. I need to get to work contacting the local community for sponsors, television networks to broadcast the game, a multi-billion dollar company to present/bring/sponsor or however you’d like the headline to read to invest in this awesome opportunity, and of course get the people in charge of PGE Park to loan us the field for a day.

Special thanks to Macho Rhino over at the Bleacher Report for the idea. May the best bowl win.

Poll

Would you play in the Building the Dam Bowl?

Game 7 Preview and Open Thread: Cal State Bakersfield

ConnorOSU — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:11:38 -0000

While you are filling out your Bowl Selections and watching the NFL games, why not tune in for some Beaver Basketball?

Cal State Bakersfield @ OSU - 2:00 P.M. - Gill Coliseum - Listen on KPAM 860

The Beavers enter today's game with a record of 3-3 after defeating Colorado on Friday night.

The Beavers were down 5 at halftime against the Buffaloes before the Beavers came back. Oregon State outscored Colorado by 10 points in the 2nd Half en route to their 74-69 win.

Calvin Haynes and Seth Tarver lead the way for the Beavers, with Haynes recording 19 points and Tarver recording 14.

The most amazing stat of the game came in the last four minutes for the Beavers. Oregon State went 10 for 10 from the Free Throw Line in those final minutes to ice the victory. In the first twenty minutes of action, Oregon State went 9 for 16 from the Charity Stripe. If the Beavers can continue to hit their Free Thorws, then we have a serious shot at the NIT or NCAA's.

The Road Runners come into the game with a record of 1-4 after defeating Utah Valley and losing to Santa Clara, UCLA, Cal State Northridge, and UC Riverside. Trent Blakley and Donavan Bragg have lead the way for CSBU, with Blakley averaging 17.2 points per game so far and Bragg with 11.8. In my mind though, the key to this game will be controlling Forward Santwon Latunde. Santwon has averaged 9.4 points per game so far this season.

Cal State Bakersfield is a Divison I Independent school.

Tip-off is set for 2:00 PM at Gill Coliseum.

--Connor (ConnorOSU@gmail.com)

Arizona to the Holiday Bowl

ConnorOSU — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:52:30 -0000

Arizona to the Holiday Bowl

Looks like the Wildcats are headed to San Diego. However, this was posted last night, and I thought the commitee voted on who went today. Hopefully this is wrong.

Go Beavers!

Connor's thoughts on the Oregon Game

ConnorOSU — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:33:31 -0000

The Ducks defeated Oregon State 37-33 on a cold, clear Thursday night in Eugene. Here are my thoughts on the game.

Quarterback

On the biggest and brightest stage of the season, Sean Canfield proved that he was the best Quarterback in the Pac-10 despite the loss. Sean completed 24 of 36 passes, 206 yards, 2 touchdowns, and only took 2 sacks. His throws were crisp and solid, and I can only remember one time when he missed his target.

Masoli is a great player, but if I am voting for All Pac-10 QB, you have to give the nod to Sean.

Running Backs

Despite being bottled up all night long, Jacquizz was always there when we needed to punch it in or get an important yard. The younger brother rushed for 64 yards on 16 carries, but he only found the end zone once.

It definitely won't be a game that Jacquizz wants to remember, but he was there when we needed him, and that's what I'll remember most.

Recievers

Despite only having one touchdown, James Rodgers had one of his best games of the year. In his final game at Autzen Stadium, James Rodgers recorded 10 catches for 139 yards. His younger brother Jacquizz came out of the backfield for 7 catches and 73 yards, while Damola Adeniji had two catches for 29 yards.

Sparsely used backup Casey Kjos had the best game of his career with 2 catches for 18 yards and one touchdown. Markus Wheaton, Joe Halahuni, and Brady Camp all had one catch.

It wasn't a great day for the wideouts, but they got the job done when they needed to.

O-Line

I thought Mike Cavanaugh's bunch did a great job against the Ducks tough D-Line. Up until the 4th Quarter, they did an awesome job of protecting Sean Canfield. The one thing they could of done better was opening up better holes for Quizz, but we know the Duck Defense was zeroed in on him the whole time.

Defense

Despite a shaky 1st Quarter, the Beaver D regrouped and held the explosive Duck Offense to 23 points the rest of the game. They forced two turnovers, one intereception and one fumble, and held Jeremiah Masoli to only 40 yards on the ground.

I was extremely impressed with the way our guys played on Thursday night. We'll need those kind of performances if we are going to become a threat in the Pac-10 each year.

Speical Teams

Justin Kahut had a great night against the Ducks, knocking in 4 Field Goals and 3 Extra Points. His kickoffs were also solid. Despite his 15 yard punt, Johnny Hekker also had a good game. The returners didn't do anything special, but James Rodgers had a couple solid ones.

Oregon

The Ducks had another wondeful showing in Eugene on Thursday night. In the 1st Quarter, their Offense looked virtually unstoppable with LaMichael James and Jeremiah Masoli running circles around the Beaver Defense. Masoli went 14 for 21 with one interception, one touchdown, and 201 yards.

James rushed for 166 yards on 25 carriesand three touchdowns. Previously suspended Running Back LeGarrete Blount rushed for 51 yards and one touchdown on 9 carries.

The Ducks were as good as everyone thought they were going to be, and I think it says a lot about the Beavers that we only lost by four.

The Crowd

The Autzen Stadium crowd of 59,595 was the largest ever to attend a Spoting Event in the state of Oregon. It was very loud and racuous as expected, but I thought the Beavers did a good job of not having too many False Starts. It was nice to see the big section of Beaver fans along with the Marching Band.

I thought it was very cool when our Offense would get a First Down and the only noise you could hear was the First Down Chant coming from our section.

Short Pac-10 Recap

Washington-The Huskies played some of their best Football of the season with their 42-10 beatdown of California.
Oregon-The Ducks clinched their Rose Bowl bid with a 37-33 win over Oregon State. Ohio State is next.
Oregon State-The Beavers fell 37-33 in Eugene. Next up for OSU is either a Vegas or Emerald Bowl bid.
California-The inconsistent Golden Bears got hammered by the Huskies on a Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
USC-The Trojans dropped all the way to sixth place after falling to Arizona on a Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Arizona-The Wildcats all but locked up a Holiday Bowl bid with a 21-17 win against USC.

Pac-10 Power Rankings

1. Oregon
2. Arizona
3. Oregon State
4. Stanford
5. Washington
6. California
7. USC
8. UCLA
9. Arizona State
10. Washington State

Final Thoughts

It was unfortunate that a team had to lose on Thursday night. Both teams played their hearts out but in the end Oregon got the win. I think that if these teams played 10 times they would slpit it 5 to 5. You can be sad and depressed that we lost, but also be happy that the Civil War came down to this. Be happy that we've got one great Football team, and that we have one of the best and classiest coaches in the nation.

Our season is not done, we still have one last game to cheer our hearts out for this magnificent team.

Today's Poll

Who was Oregon State's MVP of the Civil War?

Poll

Who was Oregon State's MVP of the Civil War?

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em: Week 4 Picks

ConnorOSU — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:50:18 -0000

Here we are in Week 4 of College Basketball. There are a few great games this week, but they will be over-shadowed by some great Football.

I'm cutting it a little bit close with the first matchup, but we have to have the National Championship rematch up. Anyways, you've got just about 24 hours to make your first pick. So without further to do, here are your Week 4 Picks. All times are Pacific.

Michigan State @ North Carolina, Tuesday, 6:00 PM

Alcorn State @ Kansas, Wednesday, 5:00 PM

USC @ Texas, Thursday, 6:00 PM

North Carolina @ Kentucky, Saturday, 9:30 AM

Kansas @ UCLA, Sunday, 2:30 PM

Since North Carolina is up there twice, pleae refer to them in the comments section as "North Carolina-Tuesday" or "North Carolina-Saturday." Also, Kansas is up there twice so please refer to them as "Kansas-Wednesday" or Kansas-Sunday."

The Michigan State-North Carolina game should be awesome on Tuesday night. Your annual win of the week comes on Wednesday night with Alcorn State-Kansas. USC-Texas should be a pretty interesting matchup, along with the fact that it is on TV and is part of the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series, I felt like I had to include it.

On Saturday, before the big Alabama-Florida game on the gridiorn you can tune in for the North Carolina-Kentucky game on the hardwood. Finally, the struggling Bruins welcome in the Jayhawks to Pauley Pavilion. Expect it to be close for a half, and who knows, if the Bruins catch fire they could upset top-ranked Kansas.

Don't forget that even if you miss some games, you can still make your picks. Just the games that have been played before won't count.

Remember to rank your picks on a confidence scale of one to five, with five being the most confident and one being the least. Also, if you miss the first game, then the scale is four to one and so on. Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

I'll have the standings up on either Sunday or Monday.

Happy Picking!

BTD College Basketball Pick'Em Standings: Week 3

ConnorOSU — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:29:36 -0000

A fairly normal week in the College Basketball Pick'Em wrapped up today with Texas defeating Rice, 77-59. We saw a minor upset earlier in the week with Minnesota defeating Butler. Congrats to C_hawkfan for being the only participant to predict that.

The other upset came on Friday night, with Florida knocking off Michigan State. However, I posted that it was a home game for the Spartans, when it really was at a neutral site. Therefore, everyone recieved a win with the confidence points they put on it.

So without further to do, here are your Week 3 standings:

Place        Name                       Total Score

1st             ConnorOSU             43 Points
2nd            C_hawkfan                40 Points
3rd            Jimmy James            38 Points
4th            The VD Special         37 Points
5th            Figgi4life                   33 Points
6th            Jake Bertalotto          27 Points
7th            Tortuga12                 24 Points
8th            cloudydays               22 Points
9th            cmr                         19 Points
10th          sdfan21                   16 Points