Rock M Roundtable!

1 - Time for your weekly expectations question! Have the results of the last week of Big 12 basketball done much to change your perceptions of the Big 12 hierarchy?

2 - What does Missouri have to do to beat Baylor in Waco on Saturday?

3 - Self-share!, etc., but last week I shared my 100 favorite games of the 2011 season. Give me your own two or three favorites.

4 - So YouTube is attempting to launch 100 new "channels" (including one from SB Nation) with professionally-produced content. Obviously YouTube use is skyrocketing, but what is the ceiling here? Exactly how much do you see YouTube (and internet streaming in general) hurting network and/or cable television?

The Beef: 1. I don’t think my mind has changed too much about the hierarchy, in that I believe we are still probably the 3rd best team in the league when all is said and done. I think Baylor has the best athletes, but their coaching and lack of discipline is going to hold them back. And, like Bill said yesterday, you never bet against a streak. No one who is highly ranked goes into Lawrence and wins (if anyone does win there, it seems to be some sort of upset by a lesser-considered team). Now, I think kU may certainly trip up a time or two on the road (unless Taylor has turned a corner and decided he will just score 20+ per game and never try to pass, making him less likely to turn the ball over), but in the end, the road to the title will go through kU and I don’t believe anyone will knock them off. I think we will get separation by beating kSU at home and tripping up less against other folks along the way.

2. Score more points? Honestly…I really don’t know. They HAVE to hit their shots and they will HAVE to hold their own on the boards. But that is so generic that if you do that in any game, you’d probably win. They are just so long, and we are just so NOT long that I don’t see us necessarily in control of the outcome here. Strange to say that about the #5 team in the country I realize…but they are just a matchup nightmare for us in my eyes.

3. The Okie State/ISU game ranks up there for me along with some of the MAC-tion that I saw during the year. I saw a lot of the Okie State/kSU game as well, so I’d throw that in there. I did not see much of BU/TCU or MSU/Wisc, but I would certainly include them as well.

4. At this point, nothing can hurt CBS from a programming standpoint. At this point, everything hurts NBC in the same light. In the end, digital service providers will come to integrate as much online content as they can to give them the best chance of retaining as many customers as they can as others continue to cut the cord. In an increasing digital world, people connected to TV via the Coax cable in their house will slowly minimize over time (just as it did from the antenna). And while I imagine internet usage will continue to grow, I think some will realize that people are watching Youtube and their TV’s at the same time. I don’t think cable/network TV goes the way of the do-do any time soon, but it will certainly evolve.

Michael Atchison: 1. It seems that Kansas remains good at basketball. I’m not down on Baylor, though. They’re really good, but they got rattled by the run at AFH. It’s amazing how quickly the top three teams have separated themselves from everyone else. Five games in, and seven teams have been eliminated from title contention.

2. To win at Baylor, Mizzou has to make shots, get in the middle of Baylor’s zone, and find some way not to get crushed on the glass.

3. I liked the one where Missouri beat Kansas and the one where Missouri beat Texas.

4. I’m supposed to look into the future of entertainment delivery? Am I in the right place? The ceiling is high, but I still think there’s a value and attachment to mass culture that isn’t going away. People like to have shared experiences. I have no clue, really.

Doug: 1 - Based on the last week of performances, my rankings stand as 1) KU 2) MU 3) Baylor 4) Iowa State 5) K-State 6) Texas 7) Texas A&M 8) Texas Tech 9) Oklahoma 10) Oklahoma State

2 - Shockingly, Grantland of all places had a very detailed breakdown of how KU attack Baylor's zone, and man-to-man.

As the guy says, though, it's one thing to know how to break down the defense, it's another thing entirely to have the intelligence and skills to do so. I think Missouri can shoot out of a zone better than KU. But, they won't be able to attack the middle of the zone quite as well as Kansas. That said, twice now the Tigers will be coming in against a team KU railroaded the game before, and I do apologize for that.

No, I don't.

3 - Certainly, I enjoyed the Northern Illinois-KU game, if only because it was an exciting ending and the last little bit of success Kansas would have on the football field that season. And, while it wasn't a game, I really enjoyed the day immediately after the season when KU made the smart move to eat $6 million and get rid of Turner Gill.

Also, Bill, I think you have the Oklahoma-Baylor game too low. Remember, Baylor was going to play for overtime when Bob Stoops called timeout after Baylor's first knee. After that, RG3 preceded to destroy the Sooners so, so quickly.

4 - Cable is hurting itself without any help. Higher fees, poor customer services, crap DVRs (I still hate being a Comcast customer). However, the ceiling will always be, what's the quality of the videos? No offense to Bill, but if the majority of SB Nation YouTube vids are him sitting in front of a webcam talking about F/+ rankings, I don't have a lot of hope for it.

Michael Atchison: That piece is right on about how Kansas exploited Baylor’s zone. I didn’t get to see a lot of that game (I was on my way back to KC from Columbia at the start, and then putting kids to bed), but when I did watch, there was a gaping hole in the zone at the free throw line. That’s like playing no zone at all. Once you flash a guy to the middle and get him the ball, the zone is toast. And Kansas did that repeatedly.

Doug: Baylor plays zone, and really, the only reason it's moderately successful in conference play is because no one else use it for extended game action. In reality, Baylor's zone can be beaten pretty easily if you have the horses. Scott Drew just doesn't have the same suffocating zone style that Boeheim uses at Syracuse.

Also, Bill Self and Scott Drew's post-game handshake: quickest ever?

ZouDave: 1 – Well, if nothing else it tells me to not bet against a streak no matter how much I want it to end. I still absolutely expect Mizzou to finish Top 3 in conference, we have a great chance at finishing Top 2, and there’s still an outside shot we finish 1st. Saturday will do a lot to tell us where we are.

2 – Disciplined offense. Work for good shots, don’t get in a hurry, and don’t be careless. Baylor is going to score on us; their offense is too good and they’re at home so we’re not going to hold them down. But I think we can answer them by just playing smart and being what Missouri has been all year. We pass the ball extremely well and take good shots. Do that. Baylor’s defense isn’t good enough to stop us without our help.

3 – Eh…I can’t really even say. I know that Alabama vs LSU isn’t appearing anywhere on my list, either their first or second matchup.

4 – I think streaming is going to eventually give us a major change in the way cable and satellite companies provide television channels. It’s already completely feasible to dump your cable TV package in favor of having Hulu+, Netflix, Crackle, ESPN3, etc. Fox Soccer Channel already has a streaming option as well, so I can’t help but think FSN isn’t too far behind. MLB-TV gives you a great option as well. CNN, FoxNews, and other major news networks also have streaming options available for devices like the Roku (of which I own one and it’s awesome). With local channels being available OTA with a very inexpensive HDTV antenna you can get local news and other local shows without cable. Microsoft is planning something called Microsoft TV with their next iteration of the XBOX, and it’s going to include some patented DVR technology. I don’t necessarily know where YouTube fits into all of this, but I know we wouldn’t be where we are without YouTube proving the viability of on-demand video service and the potential of flash to provide HD video so easily.

Eventually, cable and satellite networks may be forced to provide a la carte channel lineups. As soon as Google Fiber is available to residents in Kansas City (soon…very soon) I will probably get completely out of the Time Warner kung-fu grip and be nothing but an internet customer.

RPT: 1. It's Kansas. It's always Kansas. Baylor and Missouri have the burden of proof.

2. Another 28-2 run wouldn't hurt. Mizzou is going to need to counter runs with runs. I don't trust the defense to slow Baylor down, so the shots better fall.

3. The one that sticks out most in my mind is Wisconsin/Michigan State, if only because I will always remember watching it at an Ohio State bar/bowling alley in Charlotte, North Carolina (what an odd arrangement of words in that sentence).

TCU-Baylor is up there as well, and give me the Toledo/Air Force Military Bowl as my wild card.

4. I fully subscribe to Mark Cuban's theory of "best screen available" when it comes to video consumption. I want my big screen HD content, unless I can only get to a computer, and if that isn't an option, I'll settle for mobile. I still can't see it as a massive threat to legacy television, especially because what's to stop DirecTV or someone else from paying YouTube to put their content on a dedicated YouTube TV channel in the future? There's dollars to be made somehow there.

SleepyFloyd7: 1 - KU won't lose at home - Baylor and Mizzou might lost a game at home. It's KU.

2 - Grow 3 inches? I'm not that optimistic about this particular basketball game.

3 - The OK State-K-State game was unbelievable. Watching those two teams throw haymakers down the stretch was unforgettable. The fact that it was going on at the same time as the Bama-LSU "Game-o-the-Century" was absolute poetry. Contrast breeds appreciation, and I appreciate touchdowns.

Honorable mention to Mizzou-UNC in the Independance Bowl which I had to watch in Spanish. The fact that I had giant Rum & Cokes lined up like planes coming into Lambert helped, I'm sure. That and Zaviar Gooden.

4 - I'm just now getting caught up on Breaking Bad on Netflix Instant. How the hell am I ever going to get caught up? The only live television I watch is Sports. I will wait to see what is worthwhile in the popular cultural zeitgeist, and consume it à la carte.

And whatever our entertainment future holds, It will be OK as long as there is CatLab:

ZouDave:

ghtd36: Ahoyhoy, gentlemen.

1 - Really, not at all. I think it's Baylor and Kansas 1-2 in some order, followed by Mizzou and Kansas State in some order, followed by, um, everyone else. The results of the past week really only served to confirm that.

2 - I'm kind of with Beef: I could lay out a plan, but it would sound exactly like how you beat ANY team. Force some turnovers. Hit your jumpers. Be at least pretty good on the boards. Also, while we're at it, show some grit and hustle and want-to and other intangibles. Take it one possession at a time.

3 - Baylor-TCU is an outstanding choice for No. 1; and the fact that it was basically the first game of the college football season made it even awesomer. Also a big fan of Oklahoma State's win over Kansas State, Wisconsin losing on a Hail Mary, and the Joe Adams punt return (not the game, just that play).

4 - Hopefully, this will force cable companies to adapt to a more a la carte system, where individuals choose which channels they want to subscribe to. For example: I do not need Fox Soccer Channel. I know, I know, I'm angering some of the soccer aficionados in here, but if I had a choice, I wouldn't pay the subscription fee to that. Yet, I'd definitely pay for HBO, Showtime, etc....except my cable bill is already so high that I can't afford those. Instead, I'm stuck watching FC Milan play Whositsville. Competition breeds better service, and hopefully this will serve as a way of letting cable companies know that the old strategy ain't working.

ZouDave: It’s Real Whositsville, sir.

Michael Atchison: Actually, Greg, I don’t think you’re ever going to get a la carte cable. It’s like Netflix or internet – paying a subscription gives you access to everything, not just the things you want to watch. I followed an interesting back-and-forth on this a few weeks ago on Andrew Sullivan’s site, and the upshot is that, at best, your cable bill might go down by 10-15% but you’d lose more than 75% of your options. You might have to pay $30 a month for ESPN alone. You probably stumble upon enjoy things that are on channels you’d never subscribe to a la carte. Would Mad Men or Breaking Bad have happened if AMC were a subscription service? I doubt it.

But back to the important stuff. Have you ever caused Mizzou to lose by not wearing a lucky shirt or by watching with the wrong group of people? I know I have. Casey caused the Packers to lose on Sunday by putting sparkles on her nails and by wearing her Clay Matthews jersey instead of her Aaron Rodgers jersey:

ZouDave: Fake. Or, at least, staged.

But my dad and I are 0-for-life if we watch a Mizzou game with his lifelong friend Joe Armstrong. We had the opportunity to watch the basketball game against Texas with him on Saturday and we declined.

You’re welcome.

Michael Atchison: I think the word you were looking for was "drunk," not "fake."

SleepyFloyd7: That reminds me not to wear my sparkle gold nail polish on Saturday morning.

ZouDave: Word is that Pinkel and Staff are in Springfield today visiting Hillcrest HS and one Dorial Green-Beckham.

DGB is supposed to visit Arkansas this weekend and Missouri next weekend, and will have a signing ceremony at Hillcrest at 3:15pm on Signing Day, 2/1/12.

DGB had a pretty good tournament at the Tournament of Champions in Springfield this past weekend. He averaged about 23ppg including a 31-point effort on the last day and added about 10rpg as well. Dorial could definitely play high level D1 basketball if he chose to.

Michael Atchison: And here’s a video that Kris (Kardashian) Jenner made for her 30th birthday:

Watch for an appearance by a certain incarcerated ex-NFL great.

For the younger crowd, here’s the inspiration:

ghtd36: Craig James is polling at 4% here in Texas. (http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2012/01/texas-senate-poll-dewhurst-leads-cruz-gains-james-struggles/)

So at least four percent of people haven't heard the vicious and untrue rumor that CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS AT SMU.

ZouDave: I can’t hear "I Love LA" without thinking of this:

Doug: "Call girls! They were call girls!"

"No, Craig, when they're dead, they're just hookers!"

ZouDave:

Archer references always get a Rec from me!

NEW SEASON STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!

Michael Atchison: In yet another non sequitur, you can now stream Craig Finn’s solo album here.

I know that at least (and perhaps, at most) Bill will be interested.