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In what essentially turned into a three-point shooting contest, Northwestern was able to beat Nebraska in the battle from beyond the arc, taking down the Huskers 84-74.
The Wildcats shot 45.2 percent from three (14-31) and 12 of their first 13 shots came from beyond the arc. The Huskers relied on the three as well, hitting on 11 of 26 shots for 42.3 percent on the night.
When Christian Watford committed to Indiana University at the beginning of his senior year of high school in 2008, he dubbed himself Christian “LeagueBound” Watford on Facebook.
The Birmingham, Ala. native just might have been on to something.
Now a junior forward at Indiana, Watford has displayed tremendous progress from as recently as last season, enough so that fellow TSB contributor David Kay pegged him as the 21st pick in a 2013 NBA mock draft, the actual event occurring the summer after Watford’s graduation.
Is Watford really league-bound? And a first-round pick, at that?
Bruce Weber has his 2011-12 Fighting Illini in real good shape to make the NCAA Tournament, with his third big, signature win coming just the other night over Michigan State. Yet he’s on both the hot seat and the bad side of Illini Nation. (Much more on this in a quickly upcoming post) Why?
Style points. Illini basketball is “sexy” alright, sexy as Camryn Manheim or Kathy Bates.
Their 42-41 win over MSU was the fewest points the program has scored in a win since 1946! Even though this teams look destined to hit Black Jack (21 wins) when the regular season ends, they still have an alarming amount of similarities to the 1998-99 team coached by Lon Kruger that set the school record for losses by going 14-18.
Like many seasons before, the Wisconsin Badgers do not have a top ranked recruiting class. In fact, Rivals.com has the Badgers at 48th and Scout.com at 53rd.
It’s been a tumultuous off-season for the Badgers who have lost six assistant coaches to other jobs and now have signed one of the smallest recruiting classes ever under Head Coach Bret Bielema.
Even with the disclaimers, I wouldn’t bet against the Badgers who often exceed their expectations. Here are the notable signees (four-star recruits) who hope they can play a part in the Badgers returning to the Rose Bowl for a third year in a row. [Read more...]
The 2012 NBA Draft figures to consist of a deeper, more talented group of prospects that the 2011 class. Team needs HAVE been taken into consideration with this 2012 NBA mock draft and the order is based on the current NBA standings. Click on the players’ name for a complete, in-depth scouting report.
(By the way, The Sports Bank was graded as the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.)
UPDATED: 2/2/12
The 2012 NBA Draft figures to consist of a deeper, more talented group of prospects that the 2011 class. Team needs HAVE been taken into consideration with this 2012 NBA mock draft and the order is based off the current NBA standings. Click on the players’ name for a complete, in-depth scouting report. Check out The Sports Bank’s NFL Mock Draft as well.
(By the way, The Sports Bank was graded as the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.)
Check out our ridiculously early 2013 NBA Mock Draft.
UPDATED: 2/2/12
Urban Meyer’s first recruiting class at Ohio State is ranked 3rd or 4th in the nation, depending on who you ask. So much for being hurt by NCAA sanctions/the stain of Jim Tressel/Terrelle Pryor corruption. Meyer’s recruiting class and alleged lack of class has caught the attention of Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema.
The Badgers leader was asked Wednesday if he thought Meyer would change recruiting in the Big Ten and Bielema had some choice quotes. From CBS Chicago:
The Wolverines Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech is reason for optimism, especially considering that it came in the first year of what many U of M fans hope is a long and illustrious tenure for head coach Brady Hoke. But it would be premature to say that Michigan is now ready to compete for national championships on a yearly basis.
(guest post from Christopher Johnson, Big Ten or Bust.com)
Yet unlike the previous three years, in which wolverines’ fans despaired over the failed Rich Rod experiment, the Maize and Blue appear to be trending upward. An 11-2 season was a good start, but Hoke has continued to impress by assembling what appears to be one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
Happy National Signing Day. Northwestern’s 21 commits (the largest class of the Pat Fitzgerald era) hail from 10 states. The Wildcats signed 13 of their 21 players from three states—five from Pennsylvania, four from Illinois and four from Ohio. Scout ranks the class 5th in the Big Ten, 44th in the nation. Those numbers are higher than usual in Evanston.
In addition, Northwestern announced this past weekend the addition of highly touted wide receiver Kyle Prater (Maywood, Ill./Proviso West), who is transferring to Northwestern from USC. More on Prater here. His presence beefs up the class quite a bit. And there’s some top prospects in it, we’ll highlight the highlights of it.
Let’s start with the jewel of the class.
In our latest NCAA Tournament projection, we have the Illini as a #9 seed in the South Regional. Since February is pretty much here- time to think about who needs to shore up the old resume for selection time come March.
At 16-6, 5-4 in conference, RPI 37, SoS 26 and 5-4 and vs the RPI top 50 their profile looks very solid, but not extraordinary. Including that BAD loss at Penn State (WTF is up with that? Seriously, a top notch program like Illinois being dominated in recent years by a program which has like 15 whole fans?).
Half their wins look hideous on paper but that doesn’t really matter. This isn’t based on the polls which can be influenced by margin of victory.
The Big Ten’s leading rebounder, and best player on the nation’s 9th ranked team may be out for awhile. Michigan State forward Draymond Green seriously hurt his left leg in tonight’s mild upset loss to the Illini, and left the game with 3:50 left, unable to walk on his own power.
Green was down on the Assembly Hall floor in Champaign for quite awhile, and after examination was able to hop over on his one good leg to the MSU bench.
Entering tonight’s contest, the Michigan State-Illinois series was tied at 55. The last 13 games in the series have been decided by 10 points or less, and this was no different. And the #9 Michigan State Spartans fell to the Illinois Fighting Illini 42-41.
There was really ugly offense in the first half, by both teams. A 22-20 score is often the result when one team’s best player shoots 2-8 from the floor, and the other team’s best player sits with foul trouble. D.J. Richardson was pretty much the entire offense for Illinois in the first half, scoring 7 of the team’s 22 points.
