Built Ford Tough

Crowder chucking from the perimeter. Don't like it at all, especially since his shot has been off all game long.

The misc? Sorry, I'm missing something here, haha. I do actually agree with you about the whole Canadian bias thing, although not to the extent you put it. I do believe a fully healthy Crosby is better than Malkin (not by much, though, and if Malkin can prove to be this consistent all the time I'd have no problem putting him above Crosby), but you are right with a lot of the "good ol' Canadian boy" crap that goes on. Those people really do annoy me. This isn't 20-30 years ago when Canada was clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Hell, look at the top 5 players by position (my opinion off the top of my head, no order) Goalies: Lundqvist, Rinne, Thomas, Quick, Price D-men: Chara, Weber, Lidstrom, Suter, Letang/Yandle Forwards: Malkin, Crosby, Datsyuk, Stamkos, Giroux Other than forwards, the other positions are dominated by non-Canadians. Canada has the depth that no other countries have, but they don't have a stranglehold on the elite players anymore.

Marquette looks like shit. No ball or player movement on offense, no pressure on defense, allowing easy looks both inside and out and have made 6 of their last 30 shots. Credit to Florida, though. They've continued their excellent play from the first weekend of the tournament. Beal in particular has been fantastic.

Cincy playing way too passive with Sullinger. He got his 3rd foul and ever since then they stopped putting pressure on him. They gave him way too much room on offense, are letting him establish deep post position and Gates has been shooting fadeaways over him instead of attacking him. They should've went right at him since it is well known he plays timid when he is in foul trouble.

I missed you, man. Glad to see you are back to your usual self.

Marquette playing right into Florida's hands with all of these perimeter jumpers and quick shots. They aren't getting any dribble penetration, rushing their offense and have missed 17 of their last 19 (or something like that) shots as a result. They need to get back into the aggressive, attack mode they were in earlier. Florida doing an excellent job of increasing the tempo and baiting them into these poor shots, though.

I don't deny he gets away with it, but to act like the only reason why he is a good defender is because he gets some sort of special treatment is a joke. The guy does hustle his ass off defensively and does move his feet very well. He also has very quick hands and does get a hand on the ball quite often. I don't know how the Cincy game has gone since I'm watching Florida/Marquette, but from what I have seen over the course of the season he does get away with more than other guards, but he also has developed a reputation, one that was earned, as a great defender so he gets more leeway. It happens in basically every sport. I'd still take some handchecking on the perimeter over the ticky tack bullshit that we see in the NBA anyday.

Many people believed he was the wrong coach for this team at the beginning of the season and now that the Clippers are playing very underwhelming basketball after a strong start, there are even more people wondering how much longer he has. The firing/re-signing of D'Antoni sparked even more speculation about his job secruity. So how much longer does he have? Was the loss to the lowly Hornets tonight the final straw?

Who cares? If they don't call it he is smart to keep on doing it. Or would you rather it be like the NBA where you can't breathe on somebody on the perimeter without a foul being called?

Really though, would it have made a difference? Its not like they were running any sort of sets or plays out there all game. They just swing the ball around the perimeter and launched a desperation 3 with under 5 seconds left on the shot clock. Even coming out of timeouts earlier in the game they couldn't do anything other than swing the ball around the horn and chuck up a desperation 3, which is what they did in that final possession. That was basically their answer to Cuse's zone all game. Michigan St getting dominated by Lousiville. They've been outplayed in pretty much every aspect of the game. It is almost comical watching Dieng swatting nearly everything that comes within his vicinity.

Terrible last possession by Wisconsin. They didn't get the ball inside the 3 point line other than on Taylor's near airball. Tough break for the Badgers, though. If that shot was an airball Berggren likely catches it and gets a layup. Instead, it just grazes the rim and they don't get a real 2nd chance at it. Live by the 3, die by the 3, I guess. The only reason Wisconsin was even in the game was because of 75% of their team having the shooting game of their lives.

And Radulov scores in his first game bacl.

Badgers are shooting the lights out. 13/21 from deep for them, and they still only have a 1 point lead. Berggren has been awesome for Wisconsin as well. With him on the floor I think they have outscored Syracuse by about 10 points.

Lol at Boeheim blowing off the interviewer there. Sadly, that was probably the most entertaining part of either game so far.

Wisconsin doing an excellent job of being patient against the zone. Unfortunately for them Berggren, who had 10 points and knocked down 2 3's, just picked up his 2nd foul. He was doing a great job of stretching the floor against te zone. Should be interesting to see how they attack the zone now without him on the floor.

Rather than create a new thread for each underclassmen that declares/doesn't declare, I figured I'd make this one and we can update it as more announcements are made. If a big name player does or doesn't declare, feel free to make a new thread, though. This is more for the mid/late first rounders and 2nd round prospects. In Erik Austin, G, Fr, Jackson CC (MI) Harrison Barnes, G/F, So., North Carolina Will Barton, SG, So., Memphis Bradley Beal, SG, Fr., Florida J'Covan Brown, G, Jr., Texas Dominic Cheek, G, Jr., Villanova Jared Cunningham, G, Oregon State Anthony Davis, F/C, Fr., Kentucky Andre Drummond, F/C, Fr., Connecticut Dominique Ferguson, F, So., Florida International Justin Hamilton, C, LSU Moe Harkless, F, Fr., St. John's John Henson, F, Jr., North Carolina John Jenkins, SG, Jr., Vanderbilt Perry Jones III, F, So., Baylor Terrence Jones, F, So., Kentucky Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, G/F, Fr., Kentucky Doron Lamb, SG, So., Kentucky Jeremy Lamb, SG, So., Connecticut Meyers Leonard, C, So., Illinois Damian Lillard, PG, Jr., Weber State Kendall Marshall, PG, So., North Carolina Fab Melo, C, So., Syracuse Khris Middleton, SF, Jr., Texas A&M Quincy Miller, F, Fr., Baylor Tony Mitchell, G/F, Jr., Alabama Arnett Moultrie, F/C, Jr., Mississippi State Reeves Nelson, F, Jr., UCLA Austin Rivers, G, Fr., Duke Peter Roberson, C, Jr. Grambling State Quincy Roberts, SG, Jr, Grambling State Thomas Robinson, PF, Jr., Kansas Terrence Ross, SG, So., Washington Avery Scharer, G, So., Shoreline CC (WA) Renardo Sidney, F/C, Mississippi State Jonathan Simmons, F, Jr., Houston Terrell Stoglin, G, So., Maryland Gerardo Suero, G, Jr., Albany Jared Sullinger, PF, So., Ohio State Raymond Taylor, G, Jr., Florida Atlantic Marquis Teague, PG, Fr., Kentucky Joston Thomas, F, Jr. Hawaii Hollis Thompson, F, Georgetown Richard Townsend-Gant, G, Jr., Vancounver Island University Dion Waiters, SG, So., Syracuse Maalik Wayns, PG, Jr., Villanova Royce White, F, So., Iowa State D'Angelo Williams, G, Jr. Notre Dame de Namur (CA) Tony Wroten Jr., PG, Fr., Washington Out Kenny Boynton Jr., G, Jr., Florida Trey Burke, PG, Fr., Michigan Isaiah Canaan, PG, Jr., Murray State Tim Hardaway Jr., G/F, So., Michigan Myck Kabongo, PG, Fr., Texas C.J. Leslie, F, So., North Carolina State James Michael McAdoo, PF, Fr., North Carolina C.J. McCollum, SG, Jr., Lehigh Doug McDermott, F, So., Creighton Tony Mitchell, F, So., North Texas Mike Moser, PF, So., UNLV Mason Plumlee, C, Jr., Duke Andre Roberson, F, So., Colorado Victor Rudd, F, So., South Florida Adonis Thomas, F, Fr., Memphis Deshaun Thomas, F, So., Ohio State Jeff Withey, C, Jr., Kansas Christian Watford, F, Indiana B.J. Young, G, Fr., Arkansas Patric Young, F/C, So., Florida Cody Zeller, F/C, Fr., Indiana International Prospects Furkan Aldemir, PF, Turkey Jonas Bergstedt, F, Denmark Evan Fournier, SG, France Josep Franch, PG, France Maximilian Kleber, F, Germany Lahaou Konate, G, France Mindaugas Kupsas, C, Lithuania Joffrey Lauvergne, F/C, France Abdoulaye Loum, F/C, France Nika Metreveli, F/C, Georgia Nemanja Nedovic, SG, Serbia Alen Omic, C, Slovenia Jakub Parzenski, C, Poland Sertac Sanli, C, Turkey Tomas Satoransky, G/F, Spain Tornike Shengelia, F, Georgia Matheiu Wojciechoski, G/F, France Whenever a new announcment is made, just post in here and I'll edit this to make it as up to date as possible.

Just to put an end to those rumors about him staying: http://espn.go.com/nba/draft2012/story/_/id/7723624/2012-nba-draft-kentucky-wildcats-michael-kidd-gilchrist-enter-draft-source-says

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/220007/Fernandez_To_Undergo_Back_Surgery_Done_For_Remainder_Of_Season#ixzz1pshO9wcN Good thing they just got Chandler's contract worked out.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7723121/2012-ncaa-tournament-north-carolina-tar-heels-kendall-marshall-day-day-injured-wrist

That special they aired on NBA TV Canada. There will be a part 2 coming, and it looks much more interesting than part 1.

So the D-League?

Kabongo leaning towards entering the draft, according to NBADraft.net J'Covan Brown is leaving as well, so if Kabongo does return he won't have Brown as a safety net to defer to like he did so often this season. He also won't have the leading scorer as well, so it is a double-edged sword. As for Kabongo leaving, it is a tough decision. He was very underwhelming this season and is at best a late lottery pick this year. If he goes back to school next year and has a strong season he could possibly find himself in the lottery considering next years draft is a terrible draft for point guards. On the other hand, if he does go back and has another poor season, he will see his draft stock plummet even more. He won't have the high school hype around him anymore and could find himself fall way down the board. So it is a tough decision for him. He could possibly end up making, or costing, himself millions of dollars depending on what he decides to do.

i actually think that Friday is pretty intriguing. The matchups aren't the best, but there are some storylines that are interesting. How will UNC play without Marshall or, at the very least, a half effective Marshall? Can Indiana pull off another huge upset over Kentucky? How will Thomas Robinson do against the length and athleticism on NC State? I agree that the matchups aren't great (although I think the Kansas/NC State game will be great) but I think it could be a pretty interesting day. I'm looking forward to the Marquette/Florida game the most today. Should be a great game.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_boris_diaw_spurs_bobcats_waivers032112 I actually really like the fit between Diaw and San Antonio. Charlotte wanted him to be more of a scorer but that simply isn't his game. He is a facillitator and with guys like Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Jackson, he won't be relied on to score the ball and can play the role that he does best.

Calderon since returning from injury: 94.5 ORTG, 111.8 DRTG, 50.5 TS%, 50.6 AST% Bayless starting in Calderon's abscence: 107.3 ORTG, 110 DRTG, 55.2 TS%, 59.5% These are team numbers, not individual, since the common argument is how the team runs much more smoothly with Calderon starting as opposed to Bayless. However, the numbers have shown that when Bayless starts at the point, the team is actually better offensively than when Calderon is (and not just these 2 games, but they would back that if you took the entire season as well, I'm just not going to go through all that). They have a higher ORTG, are more efficient and the ball mvoes better. Sure, Bayless may not average 9 assists a game when he starts like Calderon does, but the team as a whole moves the ball better. Calderon pounds the rock at the top of the cirle non-stop, but Bayless with swing it to DeRozan or Johnson and allow them to initiate the offense at times to give the defense a different look. The AST% difference is a reflection of this since despite not having Calderon, the Raptors still have a much higher % of assisted baskets. Defensively they aren't great, but are still better with Bayless in the starting lineup than Calderon. That shouldn't really surprise anybody since Calderon's defensive problems are well known at this point. I guess the one good thing is that Calderon is better for the tank as the team plays worse with him starting than it does with Bayless. It is very annoying having to watch Calderon pound the air out of the ball possession after possession while the better, more talented 23 year old rots away on the bench, though.