Teams that Hold onto the Ball

One of the best ways to spot a good offensive college basketball team is by their turnover ratio. The good teams know how to hold onto the ball, how to keep the other team from getting fast-break points, how to find the open man, etc. Basically, the teams that have low turnover percentages are going to be the least likely to suffer an upset, and they’re usually some of the best teams in the country. Today’s stats ranking comes almost exclusively from BasketballProspectus.com’s “turnover percentage” rankings, though slightly modified by the Final Four Blog using a secret recipe.

TOP TEN HOOPS TEAMS THAT GET A GRIP (ON THE BALL) – January 17, 2008

1. Texas
2. Butler
3. Oregon
4. Houston
5. Tennessee
6. Ole Miss
7. Alabama
8. U Mass
9. Washington St.
10. Fresno St.

If you get to see one of these teams in action, make sure to watch how they distribute, control their possessions and frustrate defenses with their lack of mistakes. To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 17, 2008 - Post a comment

Boston College Takes Down No. 21 Miami

The Boston College Eagles got an upset win over the Miami Hurricanes last night in Boston. BC rode a game-high 20 points from guard Rakim Sanders to get a 76 to 66 win over one of their ACC rivals. The win moves BC to 12-3 and lowers Miami to 14-2. The loss might remove Miami from the AP Top 25 rankings, and might be enough to get Boston College a few more votes, perhaps even get a ranking of their own.

Boston College came into the game off of a huge 112-73 win over Wake Forest on the 12th of January, so right now they are looking very good. The Eagles will play an away game at Virginia on Saturday and will have an away game against North Carolina on the 31st. There are lots of games yet to be played, but for now the Eagles are in good shape. Although they lost Dudley to the NBA draft after last season, they have found a defensive presence down low in Tyrelle Blair, who blocked five shots in last night’s game.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 16, 2008 - Post a comment

Best Games to Have Already Gotten Tickets For

There are a lot of great basketball games going on tonight, so we hope you have your tickets already bought and paid for. If you don’t there’s still time to get some tickets from the good people selling them at StubHub. Here’s a rundown of a few of the best games for which to get tickets, as determined by the Final Four Blog.

BEST GAMES TO ALREADY HAVE TICKETS FOR, TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2008

5. Notre Dame-Cincinnati: Notre Dame has a 30-game home win streak on the line.
4. Miami-Boston College: Who is the best in the ACC chase pack?
3. Wisconsin-Penn State: The Badgers could move up the rankings with a win.
2. N.C. State-Clemson: Besides Duke and UNC, Clemson is the best in the ACC.
1. Ohio State-Michigan State: The national runner-up plays the No. 11.

There’s not much time left, so make sure to see one of these, or any of the other exciting matchups in college basketball tonight.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 15, 2008 - Post a comment

Checking Out the Weekly Watch

ESPN has a feature every week about the best and brightest in the college basketball world called the Weekly Watch. We’ve talked about it before here at the Final Four Blog because it’s a really concise way to get a lot of information you’ll need when you get into a college basketball discussion at your office water cooler. Check out the page if you need to get all of the info. One thing that was interesting- since we like polls and rankings that are outside the box- is ESPN’s own anti-poll poll. It’s called “Top 10 Outside The Polls To Watch.” Since it’s probably not good to copy and paste it here at the Final Four Blog, you’re going to have to go to ESPN to look at it.

But as with all interesting college basketball weekly wrap-ups, there is a nice video of Bob Knight. The Texas Tech-saw Massacre-er has a video on the ESPN page where he’s talking to reporters about his team’s loss to Oklahoma State. Knight isn’t in the best of moods, obviously, but there’s nothing too YouTube-worhty about the video. Sometimes the bloggers like to write a Knight tirade before it happens. Time is on our side, though.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 14, 2008 - Post a comment

Washington State Beats USC

The Washington State Cougars beat the University of Southern California Trojans last night, improving the record of the Cougars to 14-0. The Wazzu are one of only a few, including Memphis and North Carolina, unbeaten teams left in D-I hoops. You can catch the recap of the Washington State-USC game here. This story is worth covering because the Cougars seem to be rising to the basketball elite after years of playing at the bottom of the Pac-10. They did well in the tournament last year, and this year they are proving that it was no fluke.

While there were big expectations for many Pac-10 teams coming into the season, some have fallen short of them. USC is included in the disappointing bunch. At 9-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play, USC isn’t looking good at all. It was thought that O.J. Mayo would be the biggest thing since Mustard, but Mayo hasn’t been able to get many wins for the Men of Troy this season. In the Pac-10 Stanford is doing well, as is UCLA, and Arizona State has come out of nowhere to be a top contender in the conference.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 11, 2008 - Post a comment

College Hoops Teams Relying on Threes

Sometimes your NCAA basketball team can get by with a flurry of three pointers, but usually that kind of strategy can only work for an underdog in a one-game situation. For most of the best teams in D-I hoops, a system of getting to the basket or a developed post game is necessary for long term success. But that kind of thing is boring. We like threes here at the Final Four Blog. There’s nothing better than a team that can get hot from behind the arc and take on the best in the nation. So that’s why we’ve developed a list of the teams that rely on the three point shot for the highest percentage of their offense. These are the teams that live and die downtown. It’s mainly pulled from the raw data at BasketballProspectus.com, combined with the Final Four Blog’s own secret recipe.

TOP TEN TEAMS THAT ARE (LIVING AND DYING) BY THE THREE
AS OF 01/10/08

1. Butler
2. New Hampshire
3. Valparaiso
4. Drake
5. Bradley
6. Air Force
7. Fresno St.
8. Detroit
9. Troy
10. Houston

This list doesn’t necessarily determine what teams are being successful from three point range, just what teams are using the three the most. If you like long-shots, then check out these teams by getting NCAA basketball tickets at StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 10, 2008 - Post a comment

College Basketball Stock Market

If your college basketball team were a stock, bond or security, would you want to buy or sell? If your conference was a mutual fund, would you buy, or continue looking for something with more upward potential? That’s how you might look at things after reading “Hoop Thoughts” by Seth Davis of SportsIllustrated.com. Davis has some pretty good cases for you to buy, sell and hold until the market settles down. Is your team a sell? Take a look at the article to find out.

This idea of making teams like stocks is interesting. It gives the Final Four Blog another idea. What if we packaged a bunch of stocks together to make mutual fund options for hypothetical college hoops traders. You could package whole conferences, in which case you’d want to buy the ACC and sell the Pac-10 right now. Or you could package different categories, such as a Tobacco Road Mutual Fund, or an All-California Mutual Fund (say, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Cal, UC Santa Barbara, SDSU, San Diego, Saint Mary’s). Sound like a good idea? It’s so good that this might just show up in a Final Four Blog real soon.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 9, 2008 - Post a comment

Kansas State Holds Opponent to Soccer-Like Score

Kansas State held their opponents to just four points in the second half of their game last night. The Jayhawks played Savannah State, beating them 85-25 and setting two records in the process. The four points and 4.3 percent shooting that Savannah State accrued in the second half set an NCAA record low for both of those stats since the shot clock was introduced. Savannah State scored 21 first half points, but only managed one field goal- a three pointer- in the last half f play. Incredibly, Savannah State (8-13) is not lack for some good shooters. Although their scorers are not averaging double digit nightly totals, their three point ace is hitting at above 50% this season.

Kansas State is a good team, but the 1-23 shooting of Savannah State has to be something of an anomaly, and not the complete suffocation of K-State D. Interestingly enough, the previous records that were re-set last night were accomplished earlier in the season by two other teams. Let’s hope that there are no more records like this broken this season, because although it’s good to report for Final Four Bloggers, it’s not good for players who have to sit on long bus rides back to school, or ticket buyers who like to see offense.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 8, 2008 - Post a comment

New Rankings Out: UNC Still on Top

The ninth versions of the regular season NCAA Men’s Basketball AP and Coaches Polls are out today. The top spot in the AP Poll has remained the same, North Carolina, despite the fact that they did get a big scare over the weekend. In fact, the top nine spots were exactly the same as they were one week ago. Check this out:

LAST WEEK

1. North Carolina
2. Memphis
3. Kansas
4. Washington State
5. UCLA
6. Michigan State
7. Georgetown
8. Tennessee
9. Duke

THIS WEEK

1. North Carolina
2. Memphis
3. Kansas
4. Washington State
5. UCLA
6. Michigan State
7. Georgetown
8. Tennessee
9. Duke

NEXT WEEK

See “This Week”

Is it wrong to desire some action? Is it wrong to want to see some of the top teams fall from grace, or for some of the bottom teams to make it to the top? Perhaps, but at this rate we will never find out what that’s like.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 7, 2008 - Post a comment

The Most Unlucky NCAA Basketball Teams

Just like yesterday, the Final Four Blog is going to give you an alternative poll, only this one will be for the purposes of ranking the most “unlucky” basketball teams in the NCAA. “Luck” is determined by a formula worked out by the hoops stats guru Ken Pomeroy at BasketballProspectus.com. The Final Four Blog is using his method, which basically is a deviation of a team’s winning percentage currently from their expected winning percentage, plus our own, in-house recipe that’s Cheney-style secret. Here’s the list. Enjoy.

TOP TEN MOST UNLUCKY NCAA BASKETBALL TEAMS

1. Southern Mississippi
2. New Mexico State
3. Kentucky
4. Saint Joseph’s
5. Maryland
6. Harvard
7. Hawaii
8. Missouri
9. Montana
10. Mississippi State

Like luck usually works, this list is bound to change. Teams that start out fast can finish slow and vise versa. If your team made this list, think of it as a compliment. They’ll probably do better in the second half of the season.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on January 4, 2008 - Post a comment


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