1 - On Selection Sunday, either Colorado, Iowa State or Nebraska makes it into the Field of 68 ... or 72 ... or 113 ... whatever it is now. Which team makes the cut?
2 - Between the team you chose in (1) and Kansas State, only one team makes the field. Which one is it? (See what I did there? That was like choose-your-own-adventure s*** right there.)
3 - In his last five no-big-brace-on-hand games, Phil Pressey is averaging 11 points, six assists, and two steals per game. What is Phlip's ceiling at this point What per-game stats might he attain by the end of his senior season?
4 - Britney Spears' new single is called "Hold It Against Me." Good lord ... what's her next single going to be called? And keep it PG-13(ish).
ZouDave: 1 - Colorado of those 3. And I still have my doubts that will happen.
2 - KSU. Next question.
3 - Man, I don't know. It's so hard to tell in a system like Mizzou's because we may never ask him to be our leading scorer. His assist numbers can be astronomic, that's for sure. Could be possibly make a run at Bobby Hurley's 1076? If he has the right scorers with him in this system, yes he could. But that basically means averaging about 9 per game over his career if he plays 30 games/season. I don't know if he can quiet get there. But it may not be out of the question to think he could be just the 4th person in NCAA history to reach 1000 assists. Do that while averaging between 10-15 ppg, you're talking about a pretty amazing player.
4 - She peaked, in this capacity, with her song "If You Seek Amy". She won't top that.
Doug: 1 - Right now... Nebraska. They have wins over Colorado and Iowa State, so that gives the Huskers a leg up at the moment, and I think they'll maintain that advantage through the season.
2 - No question, Nebraska. Doc Sadler, while certainly not as GQ-looking as Frank Martin, has a solid defensive system in place and the players are buying in to it. I think Martin has a defense he'd like the Wildcats to play, but they're not, and they don't have the offensive fire power to make up for that fact.
3 - I imagine he'll probably bump the points per game up another 5 to 6, but the assists will probably remain about the same, if not dropping a little bit.
4 - Hold It Against Me Part II (No, Not That, I Mean Your Penis)
(An hour later...)
Bill C.: A real barn-burner we've got going today...
ZouDave: says the guy who hasn't even answered his own questions
Bill C.: I'm just happy to have internet right now.
Doug: This is like watching Nebraska play basketball... slow and ugly.
ZouDave: did you just call me slow and ugly? I wish I could take umbrage with that, so really all I can say is: rude.
Doug: I meant the Round Table in general... but, sure, you'll do.
ZouDave: is Columbia really that bad at providing internet? There seems to be massive internet problems for you and others in that city about once every other month. I can count on one hand the number of outages I've had with TWC since I got Roadrunner.....in 1999!
Bill C.: Columbia's internet is turrible, but in this case my issues come in the form of my work computer crashing and, in the interim, my use of a five-year old laptop.
ZouDave: Sweet! Crank that 512MB of RAM up for all it's worth!
ghtd36: Good morrow, gentlemen. I recently took the plunge with Netflix -- a joint account with the girlfriend (WHO SAYS I'M AFRAID OF COMMITMENT?!?). And wow, has it transformed my life. Shows that I never watched are now required viewing. First up is Arrested Development (yes, I've never seen it, stop TV bullying me) and Dexter. It's awesome.
[THIS ROUNDTABLE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY NETFLIX. NETFLIX: IT'S THAT THING WHERE YOU PAY MONEY AND YOU GET MOVIES AND STUFF. NO, NOT LIKE BLOCKBUSTER.]
1- I'm going to say Colorado, only because they've got the best player -- Burks -- on those three teams. And you know...I'm starting to buy what Tad Boyle is selling. He's not going to get on that elite Big XII coach's level anytime soon (a la Self, Anderson, Barnes, Martin[?]), but, well, suffice to say that I'm happy that Colorado is leaving the conference if only because I don't want to see what that program will be in five years.
Speaking of elite coaches, remember when Jeff Capel was a hot name in the coaching world? Good times.
Related: Pat Knight is so fired.
2 - Kansas State. Frank Martin will right the ship by yelling at the steering wheel.
3 - As I said in yesterday's Links comments, Pressey's current career arc -- though totally unsustainable -- is frighteningly fun. He could be Melvin Booker v2.0, with better assist numbers and better defense. I mean...is 15 points, 10 assists, and two steals per game totally out of the question? It's lofty, sure, but I don't think it's totally unattainable. And if it ends up being 16/8/1.5 or 14/10/2? Uh, done. Think Chris Corchiani, 1991: 16.3 points, 9.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 2.9 steals. That would be the hottest thing ever.
4 - A remake of The Wonders' song "That Thing You Do" with the added parenthetical "(With Your Sex-Doin' Parts)".
ghtd36: Well yeah he's not going to get on the Big XII Elite Coaching list...he won't be coaching in the Big XII in 3 more months!
Bill C.: Yeah, Netflix Instant is incredible. I was a bit disappointed to see just how long it takes movies to get to the Instant stage, but it's amazing for TV shows. We've plowed through all the No Reservations and Party Down episodes we haven't seen, we'll probably go back through Arrested Development again just for fun, and we'll probably take the hint and plow through Dexter and, apparently, Bones (Netflix swears we'll love it!) after that. And since we officially will not be Mediacom customers after next Tuesday (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), we might not even have to take random days off from Instant because of the lack of Internet!
ZouDave: If possible, get Freaks and Geeks. It's only one season of hour-long episodes, but it's brilliant and the talent they had in that show in 2000 was unreal. I didn't personally discover the show until about 6 months ago, but I could watch the episodes over and over again. Really wish that show had gotten a 2nd season.
Bill C.: We actually plowed through all of those episodes the LAST time we were Netflix subscribers (a couple of years ago)...might be about time for a rewatch. They really were great/awkward...
Michael Atchison: Sorry, been at a meeting and then at a bookstore blowing through a holiday gift card (and then some). I have a lot of reading to do.
1. I’m tempted to say Colorado for the same reason Tepper did. Neither Nebraska nor Iowa State has a weapon anything like Burks. But Pomeroy currently has the Buffs a distant third in that group. I’m tempted to say Iowa State because I think Fred Hoiberg may indeed be a wizard, and because Diante Garrett, Melvin Ejim, Scott Christoperson, Jamie Vanderbeeken and Jake Anderson are a completely legit (if smallish) starting five. All that said, I’m going to go with Colorado because they already have the road win at KSU, the resume win against Mizzou and another solid one over Oklahoma State.
2. I’ll take Colorado because they’ve already beaten the Cats at the Octagon, and frankly (see what I did there?) I’m not sure that K-State’s problems are fixable. I wish John Feinstein were following the team around this year, because I’m guessing there’s a great book in KSU’s season. It’s reminiscent of Mizzou’s colossal crash of 2004.
3. I’ve already written somewhere around here that Flip will break Anthony Peeler’s career assist record. I don’t know if he’s going to be a titanic scorer because I fully expect him to be surrounded by other capable scorers throughout his career, but I wouldn’t be at all shocked if, as a senior, his averages looked something like 15 points, 7.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
4. A cover of the Gleaming Spires’ new wave smash "Are You Ready For The Sex Girls?".
ZouDave: That song was in the Lambda Lambda Lambda party scene of Revenge of the Nerds.
I AM ZOUDAVE, MASTER OF MOVIE TRIVA! BOW BEFORE ME!!!!!!!!
ghtd36: Omega Mu got a bad rap, man. They're sweet girls.
(Two hours later...)
Doug: Wow... who do you guys play this weekend?
Bill C.: I tend to look at it like we've already played our early-week game, therefore it's like a roundtable bye week.
(We play Iowa State on Saturday.)
Michael Atchison: We’d be wise not to sleep on Iowa State. All five of their starters average in double figures. You can’t just take one thing away from them and expect to win. But if you are going to take one thing away from them, it better be Diante Garrett. And someone needs to keep a lid on Scott Chistopherson.
ZouDave: it's not like we need a plan to beat the devil...
Doug: Should we maybe talk about Texas becoming more insanely rich?
ghtd36: Oh, and this from Twitter and the venerable friend of Rock M Nation, Kat Luchessi (well, that's to say that we think she's neat):
"today in class, a kid said his favorite @mizzoufootball blog was @rockmnation. #ouch"
There's so much to digest here -- specifically, I don't necessarily view RMN as a competitor of the official MU blog or WeAreMizzou.com -- but, in the end, my reaction is probably this:
