Obviously this is some sort of technical problem on Rivals.com, but it still gave me a little chuckle.
Here is what you seen when you head over to main messageboard list of the Rutgers Rivals site
Anyway, here is their “Official Prediction Thread” of the Providence game, if you want to get a read on how they view their team and the upcoming game.
Every time I’ve watched a Rutgers game over the past few seasons (which isn’t too much, since I’m not really into rubbernecking), I always thought that coach Fred Hill reminded me of someone — but I just couldn’t put my finger on who.
It finally came to me last night. After all, I spent my entire 6th and 7th grade years constantly watching Beavis & Butthead episodes (and I turned out OK, right? Note: rhetorical question). Like nonstop. Oh early 90’s, did I heart you.
Fred Hill is none other than Principal McVicker from the aforementioned MTV Classic.
You be the (Mike) Judge
What do you think?
Here is a really cool fan video of the student section trying to distract a Pittsburgh player from making a foul shot. This idea was given to them by coach Keno Davis, who employed the idea last year at Drake.
Ok, so the Pitt guy here makes the foul shot, but he must have some Matrix-like ability to slow down time to be able to concentrate. But, you get the idea.
Thanks to Sue for sending this in!
Lucky and Unlucky: Measuring the Breaks by John Gasaway
Measuring that role with some degree of precision was of course pioneered by Bill James in baseball and has more recently been brought to college hoops by my Basketball Prospectus colleague, Ken Pomeroy. Where Ken’s luck stat takes in the entire season, however, my own hand-crafted measure is restricted to conference play, giving us a look at how the ball has bounced for major-conference teams over the past couple months only.
In back of this measure are the last 219 conference seasons played by the 73 teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC between 2006 and last year. A team’s “luck” is measured here according to how far their conference record exceeds or falls short of what would be expected given their per-possession scoring margin.
Just making his list at #8 is the Friars
Providence (Actual: 9-7; Predicted: 7-9). Losing last week on the road to Louisville and at home against Notre Dame by 18 and 19 points respectively didn’t do wonders for the scoring margin of a group that just knocked off the (soon to be former) number-one team.
I love numbers and all, but come on now.
H/T Matt Berk
FIRST FOUR OUT
Minnesota
PROVIDENCE
Cincinnati
Maryland
Funny enough, ESPN shows one commment (I guess the most recent one?) from “ESPN Conversation”. What was the comment when I loaded the page?
giam3232
What more does providence have to do? They beat the (then) #15 team in the country, they beat the #1 team in the country, they are going to finish with 10 big east wins, they swept fellow big east bubble team Cincinnati, and youre putting teams like Florida and Penn State in over them?? Thats a joke Mr. Lunardi.
Right on giam3232.
So with 5 days in between the Pittsburgh upset and the Friars’ next game at Rutgers, we have a lot of time to reflect on the game — and you know what? This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day, so I am going to keep posting stuff about it while I have the chance — at least until the weekend starts and we get into Rutgers mode.
I got a lot of amazing pictures sent to me from people who were at the game. I combined them all into a set onto a Flickr set.
You can check out the full set here.
Thank you Tim Farrell, Joey Palermino, Sue, Xskix598, Matthew Storm (for the screen grabs), and Friars93 for your great pics! If anyone wants to add to this collection, just send them in to friarblog-at-gmail-dot-com.
Watching the game on television, I couldn’t even imagine how fun it must have been to storm the court. Some students and fans sent in some blurbs
Ryan Eaton
I was like the 2nd or 3rd kid on the floor and i got tackled while hugging jeff x and ended up on top of the mascot in a sandwich getting trampled for a little bit then I proceeded to get like 5 calls saying I was on TV.
Trevor Bettencourt
all i remember from rushing the court was seeing jon kale at the bottom of the pile and and then people picking up xavier it was nuts losing my hat was worth it
i still cant belive it we upset #1
Frequent commentor XskiX598 posted this right after the game
I was in that melee. My ribs are sore. An old man got run over — a good samaritian saved him from getting trampled. And it was just nuts
Even our beloved mascot Friar Dom got in the mix
The ESPN video says it all. I was one of the first ones out there, got up for two seconds, and then absolutely trampled. Aside from the five guys piled on top of me, it turned out awesome after that. I got on the scorer’s table and surveyed the madness. I bowed to the fans, thanked them, and got the crowd on the court even more loud. It was unreal.
Definitely an unbelievable night. Thanks everyone for sharing.
Now let’s beat Rutgers and make this game even more unforgettable!
Here is an awesome screen grab of Jonathan Kale hugging Geoff McDermott amongst the storming students. If this does not make you at least misty eyed, well then you are dead inside.
Here are some more links that have been trickling in throughout the day. Much like mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, I can’t get enough of this! Bring on the leftovers!!
There was some talk last week about how Jim Calhoun said that the 18 game league schedule was doing more harm than good.
“The league and the number of games, the only way is to cut it back, there’s no other way possible,” the UConn coach said. “I disagree with the 18 games. I think we’re paying too great a price to our teams. And we’re 24-2. We’re probably going to the NCAA tournament. I’m not moaning. I’m looking at it (from) an overview from a guy who’s 23 years in the league and loves the league and wants to see every team have a fair chance. … The games are fair. The officiating has been very good all year. I was upset the other night because it was a different type of game but beyond that, it’s been great all year.
“But I want to see our teams and our coaches and our players succeed. I think the 18-game schedule is prohibitive.
In Andy Katz’s latest blog entry, he thinks it helps more teams get in.
Any Big East coach who wants to go back to 16 league games should take this into consideration: Playing the two more games to reach 18 helps more teams get into the field. Let’s just take Notre Dame for example. The Irish are 7-8 in the Big East, with the possibility of 7-9 if they lose at Connecticut on Saturday. If there were only 16 league games, then the Irish would have a tougher time getting an NCAA bid. But Notre Dame has two more chances to get wins. Obviously, the Irish wouldn’t have two more home games since they would have already played eight home games in a scenario with 16 league games. Still, the two games remaining with Villanova and St. John’s give the Irish a chance to get a bid. Also, look at Providence and its remaining games. PC is 17-11 overall and 9-7 in the Big East after the win over Pitt. Claiming one more road win, even at Rutgers, to reach 10 conference wins would carry more weight than 9-7. So, even if the Friars split the two remaining road games with Rutgers and Villanova, a 10-8 Big East record would help them get a bid. The Big East has to get all its teams on nationally, as well, multiple times. In a 16-game schedule, that becomes tougher. Don’t expect the 18-game schedule to shrink to 16 anytime soon.
by Ray Floriani
Ray has been a basketball writer for over 25 years, and was named the 1999 NIT Media Man of the Year. You can find more of Ray’s writing at Basketball Times, Hoopville, and College Chalk Talk.
Following Providence’s upset win over Pitt on Tuesday, a number of interested parties, including Villanova by the Numbers’ Grey Cat, asked my opinion of the contest. I did not want to use the age old football coaches mantra, “I have to see the tape”, but did expressing interest in reviewing a tempo free box score. Some notes on PC’s 81-73 victory.
The Friars pushed the pace. Pitt is a 67 possession team in conference play. Providence got the contest to 72 possessions. That does not sound significant but those 5 possessions add up. Another factor in facing a power team like Pitt is get them out of a half court grind it out setting. Get the game in the open floor which PC did.
Care of the ball. Providence had a superlative turnover rate of 12%. On the other side, Jamie Dixon’s Panthers checked in at a poor 25% TO rate. On the season Pitt’s TO rate is 16% so this was a tough one for Dixon and company.
Pitt’s offensive points per possession is 1.15. Against PC it was 1.01, see turnover rate and 47% effective field goal percentage as factors. Providence is a 1.05 points per possession on offense that exploded for a gaudy 1.14. Again, see TO rate plus 53% effective field goal percentage.
Overall Pitt was subpar on offense and defense. But don’t blame it on ‘Fat Tuesday’ or dead any spots on the Dunkin Donuts Center floor. Providence did a great job on both ends and the major reason behind Pitt’s struggles.
On that night yours truly was covering Syracuse’s thorough dismantling of St. John’s at MSG. Ran into Bob Wenzel doing color work. He agreed the Pitt loss was a good ‘coaching tool’. Not saying the Panthers came to Providence complacent. Still, the game serves as a reminder of the cliché’ ‘there are no nights off in the Big East’.
