Sports InsideOut

Because of the long break between posts, I want to acknowledge some recent happenings in the college basketball world before I start my post. 1. Coach K Reaches One K The best college basketball coach ever gets his 1000th win, but I was not overly impressed with how they played, nor how they played in upset losses vs NC State and Miami. 2. The Big 12 continues to beat up on each other Oklahoma, a top 20 team, has lost 4 Big 12 games.  TCU, who went undefeated in non-conference, is 1-5 in conference play.  Texas Tech, who was previously 0-6 in conference, beat top 10 ranked Iowa State.  Kansas State, who was 7-6 out of conference, is 5-2 in conference play.  It is looking like Kansas will most likely win their 11th straight Big 12 title. 3. The Indiana Hoosiers announce themselves to the national scene Indiana joined the rankings this week, and proceeded to beat #13 Maryland 89-70.  I have heard both Clark Kellogg and an NBC sports writer say that IU is ...

This college basketball season has been filled with surprises, and has been filled with overrated and underrated players and teams. The Overrateds 1. Perry Ellis, F, Kansas Kansas has not played up to their potential this year, as they are seemingly laden with talent, but lost to Temple by 25 points.  Perry Ellis is the "star" of this Kansas team and is averaging a respectable  12.4 PPG.  But... Ellis should not be looked as a star, or as one of the best in the Big 12.  The problem with Perry Ellis' game is his shooting percentage.  He is shooting just 41.8% from the field, which is just terrible for a big man.  Although that is not a good rate for anyone, it especially isn't for someone who rarely makes threes.  Ellis disrupts Kansas' game flow by his bad shots and his quick contested shots.  Last season, he made nearly 55% of his shots, which was mostly because he rarely took poor shots.  This year, he has put more pressure on himself ...

1. ACC The ACC is absolutely stacked this year.  They have three top five teams (Duke, Virginia, and Louisville), as well as other ranked teams (Notre Dame and North Carolina).  The ACC has two undefeated teams (of just three remaining in all of college basketball) and Notre Dame and Louisville are one loss teams with many good wins.  The rest of the conference is not very deep, but NC State and Syracuse have looked solid, and Miami has been ranked for much of the year, and recently took Virginia to double overtime, after previously getting wins over Illinois and Florida.  Not to mention Pittsburgh is always solid.  The real big surprise in the ACC this year has been Notre Dame, led by possible POY candidate Jerian Grant, who has averaging 17.3 PPG and 6.3 APG.  They are top 5 in the country with 85 PPG, and are led by a big four that has averaged over 60 PPG this year (Grant, Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, and Pat Connaughton). Top conference players ...

Kentucky has been incredible this year.  They have been number one all year long, haven't lost a game, and have wins over perennial powers like #11 Texas, #13 Kansas, #5 Louisville, #19 North Carolina and UCLA.  And their closest game has been an 8 point win on the road against Louisville, while beating UCLA by 39, and Kansas by 32.  So many people are talking about how Kentucky will go undefeated because they have done so well, but the biggest reason they could go undefeated is that they don't have another game against a ranked team on their schedule.  Though this isn't their fault (they are the only ranked team in their conference), it could help them threaten '76 Indiana's feat as the last perfect team. Why Kentucky's Defense Has Been So Incredible Kentucky's offense has been great this year, and their talent is obviously the best in the country, but their defense is the key to their success.  Their adjusted defense rating on  kenpom.com  is numb...