Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktDid you turn your clock forward?
Before conference tournament play began these were your top 12:
1 Kentucky (31) 30-1 775
2 Syracuse 30-1 744
3 Kansas 26-5 703
4 North Carolina 27-4 690
5 Missouri 27-4 620
6 Duke 26-5 604
7 Ohio State 25-6 568
8 Michigan State 24-7 540
9 Marquette 25-6 537
10 Murray State 30-1 526
11 Baylor 25-6 422
12 Wisconsin 23-8 417
So far, KY, agreed to be the best team in the nation, barely squeaked out a win in the SEC semifinal, Syracuse, Kansas, Duke and Marquette did not make it to their conference finals, and MO and Baylor exceeded expectations. The remaining teams have performed as expected – the Big 10 final result will not be an upset; however, if UNC loses in the ACC final, or if KY loses in the SEC final, that will be a surprise. There is no qualitative difference worth mentioning between being a one seed or a two seed in the NCAA Tournament – if form follows, you get easy sledding for the first two games. Everybody then is on even ground in the Sweet 16, because we have just seen that top 16 teams can all beat each other on a given night.
Match-ups matter. Baylor is big and fast, but has defensive lapses that a team consistent in spreading the court with good three point shooters and good passing to take advantage of spacing will exploit. Baylor cannot beat a Missouri or a Duke. Syracuse can beat anyone if they are shooting well. But they have the most trouble with a Missouri or a Duke, too, because they play zone. KY, UNC, and Kansas all play like NBA teams, although not quite as talented. Ohio St. is almost in that crowd with KY, UNC, and Kansas. Michigan State is a testament to the best coach in America, Izzo, who has good but not great talent and makes them tournament tough by the end of the year.
On another note, about human capital: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-pass-the-books-hold-the-oil.html?src=me&ref=general
My sis was graduated from Mich. St., PhD from UNC. Good luck to UNC and Mich. St. today!
Addendum: KY and UNC lost their conference finals. UNC benched one of its stars as a health precaution. Both teams are probably still “ones”. The Big Ten gives us its two premiere teams in the conference final, next.
Filed under: Basketball, education | Tagged: opening thread |
All Things in Moderation 
Kind of an interesting article on Iron Dome, a middle shield that is 90% effective where deployed. Two aspects make it interesting to me. One is the cost, it’s very expensive versus the weapons it’s defeating. Two, what will be the Palestian response? I’m guessing the Palestinians keep firing rockets to increase the Israeli’s cost, since the Seem to have a lot of martyers and resources to use.
Is there a solution that the Palestinians would accept that would stop terrorist attacks and allow for a Jewish state next door? Personally, I don’t think so.
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George, there was a solution that the PLA could have accepted, but not Hamas. So it probably meant negotiating only with West Bank, not Gaza. However, the Likud commitment to settlers in the West Bank may have killed the process for now. When the parties were negotiating, West Bank got peaceful for more than year I think.
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Oops, “middle” = “rocket”
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UNC: loses to FSU
Kentucky: loses to Vandy
St. Bonaventure? Wha’?
So lots of the faves lose in their conference semi’s (or earlier) or don’t win their conference titles. Signs of fatigue, or just trying to coast into March Madness?
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I did not see the Syracuse loss, but read that they were beaten, as they can be, by a disciplined three point shooting team that knows how to spread its offense to open seams in the zone.
Calipari says KY is not playing well because of “arrogance”. UNC definitely missed Henson, the shot blocker, who should be back. Baylor played together for one night against Kansas and they actually have the weapons in depth to match anyone. But they usually have mental lapses that the top 8 teams can exploit. When you watch MO, at first you wonder how a team that small is that good. Smart seniors, great point guard, two 45% three point shooters. They will require no shooting slumps to get to New Orleans, however. Both Ohio St. and Mich. State are for real. Duke has to shoot even better than MO to make it to N.O. I admit to not having seen Murray St. play. The Big East is a deep conference so another one of their teams, say, Louisville, could be a threat.
Kendall Marshall at UNC and Tyshawn Taylor at Kansas were rated among the top PGs pre-season. Phillip Pressey at MO was not. The first two are not in Flip’s league as playmakers. MO was supposed to be strong, but lost its center before the season began. So they have played a lineup of 4 Gs and one F, with a seven man rotation, and were undefeated outside the Big 12 Conference. Fun team to watch. In one of my brackets I will name them to go all the way.
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Mark:
I did not see the Syracuse loss, but read that they were beaten, as they can be, by a disciplined three point shooting team that knows how to spread its offense to open seams in the zone.
I watched the Cincinatti loss (as I watch every Syracuse game I possibly can). The Orange lost mainly because it took them a half to figure out how to attack Cincy’s zone defense. They spent the entire first half launching contested outside shots instead of attacking the middle, and as they weren’t shooting well from outside, they fell behind early. Cincy never really figured out how to beat the Orange zone inside, but it’s stellar 3 point shooting in the first half gave Cincy a huge cushion that the Orange weren’t quite able to overcome once they started to play in the second half and Cincy cooled down.
Of course, if you manage to shoot 60% from beyond the arc, you can probably beat anyone, but outside of that to beat Syracuse you need to get the ball into the post and either drop the ball low once Melo steps up or sink the mid-range jumper if he hangs back. If I were playing Syracuse, I would watch the second Connecticut game and the two Louisville games. Syracuse won them all, but Connecticut ripped the SU zone apart in the second half, and lost only because they ran out of time after going down 17 in the first half, and Pitino is the one coach in the country that knows how to beat the SU zone on a regular basis. Syracuse’s only regular season loss came to Notre Dame, but I wouldn’t pay any attention to that one, because Syracuse was without their 7 foot center, and ND shot the lights out from outside. Like I said, if your plan is to shoot 60% from three-point land, you probably don’t need to know how to attack the zone.
As a routinely disappointed and hence extremely pessimistic Syracuse fan, if I were advising anyone, I would have Syracuse losing in either the sweet sixteen or elite eight round. First off, Boeheim’s teams are historically very much underachievers in the NCAA tournament. That’s not just a fan’s impression. I did an analysis last year of their annual seeding versus that of the teams they lose to and the round in which they exit the tournament, and they routinely under perform. But more importantly, despite their outstanding win-loss record, they have clearly been on a downward slide since about mid-season. They dominated teams in the first half of the season, but 6 of their last 11 games were decided by 3 points or less. And several of those were against teams that are not particularly good, like Cincy and Connecticut. Be wary of picking the Orange to go too far.
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The comment I read was about Pitino’s attack on the ‘Cuse zone and I put two and two together and got five, assuming it was Louisville that had eliminated Syracuse. Mea culpa.
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Mark:
…assuming it was Louisville that had eliminated Syracuse.
Speaking of which, did you get a chance to see the uniforms Louisville was wearing? The Cardinals were wearing what Adidas called infrared, but which you and I would call…orange. Very bizarre. It would have made for a confusing night if Syracuse had advanced to play Lousiville.
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OSU relies a lot on 3-pointers and they’re comparatively young. They’ve had to do a lot of growing up this season and I’m not sure it’ll be enough.
Game just ended: MSU wins, 68-64. OSU is good at exploiting opposing team weaknesses, but MSU, in my mind, is better.
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” Is there a solution that the Palestinians would accept that would stop terrorist attacks and allow for a Jewish state next door? Personally, I don’t think so.”
Who knows? One thing that seems clear; the current Israeli strategy is not working.
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” The United States is providing funds to Israel to buy more of the made-in-Israel systems, each one of which costs more than $100 million”
Um, why us?
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I’ve already been set a quandary. I had VCU as a #12 lock to advance until they were matched up against another team I like, the #5 seeded Wichita State Shockers.
I have ISU knocking off UConn and then “shocking” the top seed. Hey, I was at Iowa State when Fred Hoiberg played and gotta give him some props. Plus, he’s got a team of transfers that is used to handling power teams. Take the ‘clones as a sleeper.
BB
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George: as a former Chemical officer I don’t believe in anything that is 90% effective in defeating incoming missiles. They’re claiming that as a palliative to civilian populations that are living in areas that will be shelled.
MsJS: this, like 2000, is MSU’s year!!!!!!
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“Um, why us?”
First, it has apparantly saved Israeli lives. Second, It’s a perfect proving ground for the system. And third, who else can subsidize such a system? If we can help defend an ally from terrorism, shouldn’t we?
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Michi,
If offered a palliative with a bomb shelter, I’ll sure as shoit take it. That being said, the missiles of concern are going to be coming from Lebanon, and the system needs tweaking and adjusting. The terrorists in Gaza are currently shooting rockets so…,
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Israel is a highly developed country with a robust economy. We are running a deficit. Do you support higher taxes in order to defend an ally from terrorism?
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The NY Times Editorial Page gets one right:
Editorial
The Power to Kill
Published: March 10, 2012
“The executive acting in secret as the police, prosecutor, jury, judge and executioner is the antithesis of due process. ”
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“Israel is a highly developed country with a robust economy. We are running a deficit. Do you support higher taxes in order to defend an ally from terrorism?”
I am not a believer in deficit spending except in times of war. I believe in a massive reduction in government spending, starting with the phaseout of all entitlements as well as huge cuts to the military. For example, I would eliminate most, if not all of the Army. I would also remove troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, accepting the inevitable genocide. I would however, continue to fund anti-missile technology as well as help Irael supplement their defenses. As for military aid we send them, if I’m not mistaken most of it is spent on US weaponry.
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Starting??? with the phaseout of all entitlements. Presumably, public education and all infrastructure spending are next on the list, to be replaced by private schools and toll roads, respectively. Please oh please oh please, get that on the platform for the Republican party.
BB
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FB:
Presumably, public education and all infrastructure spending are next on the list, to be replaced by private schools and toll roads, respectively.
Eliminating federal spending on education initiatives would hardly spell the end of public schools, most of which are funded locally.
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The source of funding, federal, state or local, is not relevant to the nature of the expenditure. A free education is an entitlement. If all entitlements should be phased out, then public schools should be on the chopping block.
You also make an unspoken distinction. Only K-12 schools have strong local funding. The University of Florida is not funded by Gainesville property taxes, other than those forborn by it being a nonprofit. Its primary funding is through the state.
Or would that be a non sequitur? 🙂
BB
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I owe FB an apology. I should have been much more specific. In my response to bsimon, I was referring to Federal Government spending. Though, I would phase out Federal Education spending.
Again, I’m very sorry for my poorly communicated post.
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Troll – Thanks for the clarification. Five years ago, I would have enthusiastically agreed with you. My mother is a semi-retired speech pathologist and I remember her talking about federally required paperwork. I believe in local control of education.
The game changer for me is having a pair of sons with autism. The pre-K program that my sons attended (Secondo for three years; Primo for two) was entirely a consequence of the Americans with Disabilities Act and funded through the Dept. of Education.
Now, my wife and I make pretty good money and we could worked something out. The thing is that we’re amateurs at dealing with developmentally delayed kids. My sons’ program was put together by pros. I would have happily paid the costs of their pre-K program, which probably amounted to $10K – $15K each.
There’s two little boys in kindergarten who are thriving right now. There’s been some hiccups, but it’s wonderful seeing my two little boys bloom. Much of that is due to federally funded programs that are locally administered.
BB
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FB:
The source of funding, federal, state or local, is not relevant to the nature of the expenditure. A free education is an entitlement. If all entitlements should be phased out, then public schools should be on the chopping block.
I thought it was pretty clear that McWing was talking about federal entitlements.
The University of Florida is not funded by Gainesville property taxes, other than those forborn by it being a nonprofit. Its primary funding is through the state.
Or, in other words, not the federal government.
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Scott – I responded to the phrase: “I believe in a massive reduction in government spending, starting with the phaseout of all entitlements as well as huge cuts to the military.”
Now, Troll further clarified his stance and I accepted that. Entitlement spending is not, however, limited to the federal government. Public funding of education is an entitlement. Even if you disagree with that assertion, Medicaid funding is a shared cost between federal and state. The same is true of education spending.
But, hey, if you simply want to bicker
BB
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FB:
I responded to the phrase: “I believe in a massive reduction in government spending, starting with the phaseout of all entitlements as well as huge cuts to the military.”
I understand. And I thought the reference to cuts to the military, as well as the context of the discussion which prompted the comment, made it obvious he was talking about the federal government. But maybe McWing and I have some sort of mind-meld thing happening that made clear to me something that was unclear to everyone else.
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Thanks for the tips on Syracuse, Scott. If only you could provide your beloved Chelsea with similar help.
Back to the NCAA….before the conference tourney I would have downgraded MSU’s chances because they lost one of their starters, Dawson, to an inury. With a team that likes to run, losing any players hurts, but especially an athletic young starter. However, they showed they can handle missing Dawson thanks to some good depth and great coaching. I do think MSU may have problems with a team like Missouri, but overall I think they got a good draw.
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I guess I don’t understand how this ” I believe in a massive reduction in government spending, starting with the phaseout of all entitlements as well as huge cuts to the military.” Fits with subsidizing a foreign power’s defense. Cut at home but continue sending money to someone who has the resources to take care of themselves? It makes no sense.
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“Cut at home but continue sending money to someone who has the resources to take care of themselves? It makes no sense.”
It has to do with what I believe the proper role and scope of government should be. For me, defense is a proper role though I would still cut military spending dramatically. Entitlement are not, in my opinion, the proper role of government. This is indeed an alien concept for many and exceedingly hard to comprehend. I don’t know how to make it clearer.
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“This is indeed an alien concept for many and exceedingly hard to comprehend. I don’t know how to make it clearer.”
My retirement, health care, and education are not of national concern.
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Tmw, I understand that our defense is a priority; I do not understand why foreign aid remains a priority when domestic entitlements do not; particularly if the defense budget is also reduced. In particular, Israel is on the other side of the world. In an environment with a drastically smaller budget – including a reduced defense budget – I don’t understand how subsidizing a country on the other side of the world that has a strong economy of its own remains a priority.
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Nova, I get that. I’m saying that Israeli taxpayers should pay for Israel’s defense. US taxpayers should pay for US defense.
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My retirement, health care, and education are not of national concern.
Collectively, there is an argument to be made that such things are of a national concern, as concerns the general citizenry, nationally. Individuals falling through gaps in national solutions to such issues are not of a national concern, so what happens to one individual is not of national concern, but how educated the populace is generally is of national concern, as would be large numbers of impoverished elderly. The quality of healthcare available is perhaps a national concern, but I’m not sure how universal coverage is of a national concern. Is there any indication that countries with universal coverage enjoy a greater GDP, more productivity, or longer lives (or longer productivity) in ways that are statistically meaningful, and adjust for immigration patterns? Individuals who would like access to healthcare, and don’t have it, are naturally concerned with their situation, but I’m not sure that’s a national concern, anymore than other forms of insurance are of national concern.
I don’t understand how subsidizing a country on the other side of the world that has a strong economy of its own remains a priority.
As a political ally is the only justification I can imagine.
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” As a political ally is the only justification I can imagine.”
I’m curious whether anyone will make that, or another, case.
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First, I just restored two comments that were in the trash. One from nova and another from Troll, if those were supposed to be there, feel free to redelete them.
Second, the only other justification is an argument that a strong Israel keeps Iran in check or otherwise increases our national security. I don’t know enough about the topic to agree with such a position, but it makes sense on a basic level.
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question: by entitlements, do you mean my social security or veterans disability benefits or my kids chapter 35 college benefits? am i to be tossed to the streets, joining thousands of other homeless veterans? without my medications, i would be dead within a year. are these the “entitlements’ you would like to see eliminated?
or deadbeat, unemployed people who can’t find jobs, do you want to eliminate their unemployment checks after all they probably only paid in for 20 years so they could use them in just such an economy as we find ourselves in? are their families to be homeless and starve? please define entitlements you would eliminate?
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Hey Scott – That works for me. The non sequitur was meant as a joke, referencing a thread in which I hope to have finally learned to get a grip.
I also think I have the perfect response for Ms. Fluke.
Rush – You pompous ass.
Cheers,
Paul
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“question: by entitlements, do you mean my social security or veterans disability benefits or my kids chapter 35 college benefits? am i to be tossed to the streets, joining thousands of other homeless veterans? without my medications, i would be dead within a year. are these the “entitlements’ you would like to see eliminated?
or deadbeat, unemployed people who can’t find jobs, do you want to eliminate their unemployment checks after all they probably only paid in for 20 years so they could use them in just such an economy as we find ourselves in? are their families to be homeless and starve? please define entitlements you would eliminate?”
Yes to all but Veteran’s benefits.
On a personal note I thank you for your service and salute and honor your sacrifice.
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please define entitlements you would eliminate?
Foreign aid, any aid to illegal immigrants (including SS and Medicare benefits they may have paid into, while working illegally), unemployment benefits after a year.
I don’t believe anyone else here used the word “deadbeat”, so I would assume, for the most part, most of the discussion here is passing value judgements on the programs themselves, not the recipients. Broadly speaking.
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I’d also end special tax breaks and subsidies (if any) to favored industries or sectors. If’n I were King.
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