SB Nation User Blog: T.H.

Game Thread: Michigan State

T.H. — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:45:53 -0000

Michigan's own Saturday Looks Good to Me.

John Gasaway's Take on Duke-Purdue

T.H. — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:05:08 -0000

John Gasaway's Take on Duke-Purdue

Mentioned here not so much for the game analysis as the closing paragraphs. Possibly the biggest story of the ACC season will be Duke's perimeter defense, and what happens when it hits a UNC team that doesn't rely in the slightest on perimeter shooting.

Somebody's Going to Charlotte, Somebody's Going to Get Screwed

T.H. — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:02:42 -0000

The ACC's top two sub-BCS bowls have gone ahead and picked their teams, with Georgia Tech going to the Peach and Clemson headed to the Gator. That's 7-5, bowl-eligible only after its final game, coach-firing, technically 5th in the Atlantic Division Clemson, taking one of the ACC's most prestigious slots, and the only one against a Big 12 team for the next two years. Just a friendly reminder that the football postseason is just broken at the top, it's rotten all the way down the line; Clemson leapt at least three more worthy teams because a bowl organizer somewhere thinks it's 1982.

And this isn't sour grapes from a Carolina fan; UNC played their way out of a Gator Bowl slot weeks ago. It's more embarrassment for the ACC, who will now send the loser of the conference championship to at best Orlando, (the 4th bowl in the pecking order) although more likely one of the three bowls that follow it.

(A digression to explain that last bit: Due to previous years where embarrassingly overqualified teams were shunted off to meaningless bowls for financial considerations, the ACC reached a compromise similar to the "Everyone's a Winner!" mentality of youth rec sports. The Music City, Meineke and Emerald bowls all simultaneously pick teams, and everyone kind of just hopes they all want different teams and that the ACC is cool with it. If anyone turns out to be a buzzkill, the bowls choose in order of Music City, Meineke, and Emerald.)

UNC, by the way, is pretty much a lock for Charlotte, where they'll meet Pittsburgh. Unsurprisingly, the ACC Championship game is looking to be a bigger financial failure than last year, due to it featuring the exact same two teams and the fact that it is pretty much meaningless as far as these things go; either your team of choice will win and you'd rather go to the Orange Bowl, or you'll face the double ignominy of a loss and an exile to Nashville. Can't imagine why no one's snapping up those ducats.

10 Teams and None of Them Want to Spend December in D.C.

T.H. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:19:35 -0000

10 Teams and None of Them Want to Spend December in D.C.

I can imagine why this "tradition" is preferable to a reasonable postseason.

Michigan State: Is This the Best the Big Ten Can Do?

T.H. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:18:56 -0000

The Big Ten / ACC Challenge, currently underway with Wisconsin squeaking by Virginia Tech, typically tries to pit teams of equal talent level against one another. And with UNC starting the season as consensus number one and a scary, scary juggernaut, the Heels drew Michigan State. The Spartans are currently 12th in the nation, and 4-1 with a loss to (unranked, unimpressive) Maryland. This, of course, brings us to the subject question - is Michigan State the best the Big Ten has to offer?

Technically no, as they're currently two spots behind Purdue in the polls. The Boilermakers are also 4-1, but their loss was a respectable overtime battle with Oklahoma; it's much to early in the season to judge between the two. Looking at Michigan State in isolation, however, doesn't impress.

Although Andy Katz swears up and down that the Spartans are a threat, and this is a team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen last season. On top of that, they only lost two players, sixth man Drew Naymick, and point guard Drew Neitzel. Make that point guard, multiple award-winning, and all-around put the team on his back Drew Neitzel. Neitzel took more shots than anyone else on the team; he took more three pointers than the rest of the team combined. The two guys expecting to replace his behind-the-arc prowess, Chris Allen and the awesomely-named Korie Lucious, are averaging 18 and 8 minutes a game respectively.

Stripped of the perimeter game that has carried the team for the last three years, Michigan State relies on undersized junior Raymar Morgan for scoring and the even tinier point guard Kalin Lucas, who is all drive and not a deep threat. The Spartans have one player taller than 6'8" with any significant floor time, they'll be trying to outrun the Heels, and that won't work well.

I'll come out and say it - this year's Spartans won't have as much success as last year's. They're young, and missing some pieces at the moment. The good news is most of the team will return next season, and should cohere into something nice by 2010. This year in Detroit, however, we won't see that team. We'll see the team that fell to recently twice-crushed Maryland, and that team shouldn't give Carolina much trouble.

Department of Blog Corrections

T.H. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:04:42 -0000

I may have, on multiple occasions, implied if not outright stated, that there was no way the ACC would have nine bowl-eligible teams, the number required to fill their last tie-in obligation with the Congressional Bowl. And to be fair, the ACC did not end up with nine teams with six or more wins.

They got ten. Somebody is in for a miserable Navy Christmas in D.C.

When ACC Roulette Comes Up Double Zero

T.H. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:35:08 -0000

Matt Hinton would rather see Georgia Tech in Tampa than the Hokies:

So three months later, as Georgia Tech's "quirky" offense rolled up 86 points and 882 yards rushing in consecutive wins over Miami and Georgia, the Hokies had the luxury of just doing what they do; specifically, surviving lackluster offensive performances against the two worst teams in the conference, Duke and Virginia, to wrap up another division championship. Georgia Tech has a better overall record (9-3 to VT's 8-4), will be ranked higher than the Hokies for the third week in a row, just earned the ACC's best non-conference win of the season and, after what the Jackets have done offensively on national television the last two weeks, might constitute an actual draw for the dreaded conference championship next week. The Jackets also beat the Atlantic Division champion, whether it's Boston College or Florida State. For the first time all year, an ACC team looks like it's separated itself from the pack.

But: 20-17 after three turnovers in September. A tiebreaker rule is a tiebreaker rule.

And while I don't want to see Virginia Tech in another Championship game either - I'd prefer a team in blue that could beat State - that's rather a selective reading of the season. GaTech wouldn't have fallen victim to the tiebreaker if they'd managed more than showing up against the Heels, and the fact that VaTech lost three of their last five is mitigated by their quarterback injuries and the fact that they did knock off another contending Atlantic Division team in Maryland.

This isn't one of those situations where the best team is left out. It's a situation where there's no best team, just a melange of average teams being stirred around, where a different one rises to the top every Saturday. Face it, every ACC team had more than enough opportunities to play their way into Tampa; the fact that none did so doesn't eliminate the fact that somebody has to go - they've already put the deposit down on the venue. So yes, it will be another dull game, followed by another year seeing that damn picture. It's what to expect when you have a conference all playing at the same level with no one excelling. Just remember the next time you see it on an SEC bog, the ACC went 3-1 against them Saturday, all in games the SEC should have won. Leave our Southern brethren to their hurt.

Game Thread: UNC-Asheville

T.H. — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:32:26 -0000

Eh. I woke up with this song in my head this morning.

Game Thread: Duke

T.H. — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:08:15 -0000

John Darnielle remains the best thing about Durham at the moment.

Game Thread: Notre Dame

T.H. — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:15:09 -0000