A few thoughts have been driving me nuts about college hoops lately.

ACC vs Big East

I don’t want to hear anyone else going on and on about how the Big East is far and away the best conference. I’m looking at you Dick Vitale and ESPN. Let’s look at the facts. The ACC is 10-6 against the Big East this year, 40-33 against the Big East over the last five years, and 84-60 against the Big East over the last ten years.

Even if you don’t want to compare head to head, let’s check the current RPI standings to continue a purely statistical analysis. The ACC has 5 teams in the top 20 and 11/12 teams in the top 100. The Big East has 5 teams in the top 20 and 11/16 teams in the top 100. Looks pretty even to me…except for the fact that the Big East has 16 teams.

I think the two are comparable in strength, but when considering the fact that the Big East is 25% larger, I have to give a slight edge to the ACC. Heck, even Joe Lunardi is picking the ACC to get 8 NCAA tournament bids versus only 7 for the Big East.

ESPN + dook = bff 4eva

Yes, it's photoshopped. Don't sue me.

I know UNC is always a media darling, but at least we’re backing it up with talent this year. Dook on the other hand is underwhelming to the point where those geniuses in the media are grasping desperately for something good to write about.

At the beginning of the season, it was Andy Katz claiming that Brian Zoubek is “now a serviceable big man” despite the fact that he fouled out of their first game in 7 minutes and couldn’t even pull down more than 1 rebound in 3 of the first 5 games. Now you have Bobby Night and Mark Schlabach carrying on and on that moving Elliot Williams into the starting lineup has revitalized the team and they are now a final four and national championship contender.

• Nevermind that rumors were abound that he was threatening to transfer because he hadn’t played a single minute in the past two games (both losses).
• Nevermind that with this new lineup they struggled to beat a bad (13-15) St. John’s team.
• Nevermind that it took Gerald Henderson (35pts) and Jon Scheyer (30 pts, 5/10 3pt) having career nights in order to beat a sliding Wake Forest (4-4 over their last 8 games) on what is supposedly the toughest home court in America.

Now I’m happy for Elliot Williams. I really am. I know it must be frustrating to think you’re college selection might have delivered a near-mortal wound to your basketball career like several other recent highly touted dook recruits. But to instantly claim after watching the last two games that putting him the starting lineup (something which I think should have been done long ago anyway) has somehow changed this team into a championship contender really is a stretch.

This isn’t Nam, there are rules

The excessive physical play has got to stop. That’s at least 3 concussions in 3 weeks. (Tyler Hansbrough, Blake Griffin and Nolan Smith) Hansbrough and Griffin get absolutely brutalized in the post game in, game out and the calls seem to be disappearing faster than Greg Paulus’ minutes. At the same time they’re calling more non-existent touch fouls on the perimeter. What worries me is that it is going to take a horrific, career-ending injury to a star player before something is done.