Posts Tagged ‘Matt Painter’

Revisiting My Preseason Predictions

Published by Source on March 21st, 2012

With the regular season finished and postseason tournaments in full swing, it is time to take a look back at the predictions I posted the day before this college basketball season began. I went game-by-game to predict wins and losses, tallied them up and listed the teams from 1-12. Needless to say, I did not do that well.

The first thing that jumps out is that the B1G really beat up on each other in conference play, with a lot of teams at the top of the standings losing to teams at the bottom. No team dominated the season the way that I (and many others) expected Ohio State to do.

It was not all bad, though, as I was pretty spot on with my non-conference records. For most teams, I only missed 2 or 3 non-conference games (I missed 4 for Penn State, but was perfect for Minnesota and only missed 1 each for Michigan State, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin). Below, you will see a couple different lists. The first is the side-by-side of my predicted conference standings and the actual conference standings. Next, you will see a team-by-team breakdown of the records I predicted so that you can see how wrong/right I was. NOTE: I do not include conference tournament games, as those would have been impossible to predict before the season. NOTE 2: 3-way tie in actual B1G standings, but I listed the 3 teams in the order they were seeded in the conference tournament.

PREDICTED:                       ACTUAL:

1 – Ohio State                  T-1 – Michigan State

2 – Michigan                   T-1 – Michigan

3 – Wisconsin                 T-1 – Ohio State

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Posted in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Up First For Purdue: Saint Mary’s Gaels (27-5)

Published by Source on March 15th, 2012

Robbie Hummel’s final season in West Lafayette surely did not go as well as he had hoped, but the Purdue Boilermakers (21-12) find themselves back in the NCAA Tournament with an at-large 10-seed. Waiting for them in the first round (Omaha, Nebraska) are the Saint Mary’s Gaels (27-5), the WCC regular season and tournament champions. The game is Friday night at 7:27pm/6:27cst on TruTV.

Who are they?

Despite their conference affiliation, Saint Mary’s has made the case in the past few seasons that they are more than just a mid-major program. The Gaels held a pretty consistent spot in the Top 25 rankings this season and have emerged as a legitimate contender to Gonzaga’s WCC dominance. The Gaels, who split the regular season series with the Zags, took down their rival in a great overtime conference championship game back on March 5th. They missed the tournament last year, but were a Sweet 16 team back in 2010 as a 10-seed. This will be the Gaels fourth trip to the Dance in the last seven seasons.

What about their coach?

Randy Bennett has been the head coach at Saint Mary’s since 2001 and in that time he has taken the Gaels from a 9-20 dud to a conference season/tournament champion and consistent NCAA Tournament participant. Bennett has (by far) the most NCAA tournament appearances than any other Saint Mary’s coach, as the program had only been invited three times in its history before his arrival. Before this job, Bennett had a long career as a top flight assistant coach, including stops at St. Louis and Pepperdine under Lorenzo Romar. Once this season is over, his name will surely be linked to any number of open high-major jobs. While no Pac-12 jobs have opened up thus far, Mississippi State, Illinois, Nebraska and South Carolina have already released their head coaches this offseason.

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The 2012 NCAA Bracket is out!

Published by Source on March 12th, 2012

Congrats to all 68 teams that were fortunate enough to have their name called tonight! Six teams from the B1G received spots in the field, as well as local Big East teams Marquette and Notre Dame. Below, you will find a breakdown of who is playing who, where they are playing, and what day the game is on.

UPDATE: Times/broadcasts have been added at the end of each game description.

Michigan State – The Spartans got the 4th 1-seed in this year’s field after beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in this afternoon’s conference title game. Tom Izzo leads his Michigan State squad into the NCAA Tournament for the 15th straight season and this is the 4th time that they have been a 1-seed in that span. This year, the Spartans sit atop the West Region and will face NEC Champion LIU-Brookyln in the first round (Columbis, OH). A first round win will result in a match-up with either Memphis or Saint Louis over the weekend. [9:20pm/8:20cst on TBS]

Ohio State – Despite losing in the conference title game, the Buckeyes were given a 2-seed in this year’s East Regional (Syracuse is the 1). They will face off with 15-seed MAAC winner Loyola (MD) in the first round and would face either 7-seed Gonzaga or 10-seed West Virginia after that. Those games will be played in Pittsburgh. This is the 6th NCAA berth in head coach Thad Matta’s 8 seasons in Columbus and the 3rd time the Buckeyes have been a 2-seed in that time. They were also a top seed twice, including last season. [9:50/8:50p on TNT]

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Posted in featured, Indiana, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Southern Illinois fires Chris Lowery

Published by Source on March 3rd, 2012

Southern Illinois has cut ties with it’s head men’s basketball coach, Chris Lowery, following a disappointing 8-23 season. Lowery was fired on Friday evening, just a day after the Salukis were eliminated from the Missouri Valley Conference tournament , losing 66-51 to Indiana State.

Lowery’s tenure in Carbondale started on an incredibly high note. The Evansville-native was able to build off of the success of the previous two SIU head coaches, Bruce Weber and Matt Painter, and led the Salukis to 3 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2007, the SIU advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in school history. Lowery’s teams won the MVC regular season in 2005 and 2007, as well as the conference tournament in 2006. The Salukis followed their Sweet Sixteen appearance with a disappointing 2nd-round NIT exit in 2008 and would never again reach the post-season with Lowery at the head.

In his eight seasons coaching at his alma mater, Lowery held a 145-115 record and a 77-67 MVC record. In his first season (2004-05), Lowery was recognized as the MVC Coach of the Year. The Salukis finished 8th or lower in the Valley in each of the last three seasons.

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New Fighting Irish commit: VJ Beachem (2013)

Published by Source on October 17th, 2011

VJ Beachem (New Haven, Indiana) became the first member of Mike Brey’s 2013 recruiting class when he made the call for Notre Dame a couple weeks ago. The 4-star prospect is ranked #72 overall by Rivals, and the #13 small forward in the class. Beachem had additional offers from Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota and Butler, but was being recruited be a number of other basketball powers, most notably Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State.

Beachem is a long and athletic wing who averaged 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists as a sophomore last season. His previous school, Fort Wayne Harding, closed down after last year and Beachem is now in his first year at New Haven.

Once merely a perimeter threat, Beachem has added several new dimensions to his game. He had a fantastic summer playing for the Eric Gordon All-Stars AAU squad, alongside two future Hoosiers (Collin Hartman and Devin Davis), one Boilermaker (Basil Smotherman) and one Wolverine (Zak Irvin). In July, Beachem told Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.com that he was often hearing it from his teammates to join them at the next level.

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Posted in featured, Notre Dame, Purdue
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Newest Boilermaker commit: AJ Hammons (2012)

Published by Source on October 14th, 2011

By: Eric Gardner

Late last night, Purdue got a commitment for Oak Hill Academy’s A.J. Hammons.  A.J. is originally from Gary, IN and moved to Carmel, IN before heading out to Virginia.  He was down to Minnesota, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Purdue before last night.  Hammons, at least for the past few months, has been a Purdue lean with the outside chance of going to Minnesota.  Purdue has actually been on him since his freshman year at Carmel High School.  His family is still in the Carmel area and he plays on Spiece’s AAU team out of Fort Wayne.  We have heard reports that he really would like to come closer to home and I think in the end that gave Purdue the overwhelming advantage.

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AJ Hammons to Purdue

Published by Source on October 14th, 2011

AJ Hammons, an Oak Hill Academy senior originally from Carmel, Indiana, has committed to Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers. The news was broken last night by ESPN’s Dave Telep. According to Telep, Purdue’s 2012 class now ranks 9th in the nation with the addition of Hammons.

Hammons, who chose Purdue over Cincinnati and Minnesota, is rated a 3-star prospect by Rivals.com and is ranked #123rd overall in the class. He joins 4-star prospects Ronnie Johnson (#91 overall) and Jay Simpson (#101), plus fellow 3-star Rapheal Davis (#106) as solid four-man recruiting class for the Boilers.

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Gary Harris updates

Published by Source on October 4th, 2011

Gary Harris is one of the top uncommitted players in the class of 2012. His recruitment has been a long one, with “favorites” shifting from one school to the next on a weekly basis.

Harris set up three official visits to Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State, the schools thought to be his final three options. That visit to Purdue took place this past weekend, while the Indiana (Oct. 15) and Michigan State (Nov. 5) are still forthcoming.

Last week, it was reported that Kentucky had become a serious player in Harris’ recruitment. The news today is that the Hamilton Southeastern senior star will take an official visit to Lexington on the weekend of October 22nd, in between his visits to IU and MSU.

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Posted in featured, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue
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Louisville and Kentucky Visit Gary Harris

Published by Source on September 20th, 2011

By: Eric Gardner, Purdue contributor

Late Monday, the news came through the Twitter feeds and blogs that Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari had a surprise in-home visit with Indianapolis-native Gary Harris.  This definitely is surprising but not shocking.  One thing you can say about Kentucky is they have the ability to pull off a commitment at the last second and if you have been following the Gary Harris recruitment, you know that this is way late in the game.

In the past two weeks, Gary has had not only Kentucky but also Louisville stop by for an in-home visit.  The main players to this point have been Indiana, Purdue, and Michigan State but Gary has stated that there may be other schools that can still join in his list.  Those three main schools have all already set up official visits for the next two months.  It will be interesting to see if Louisville and/or Kentucky can score a visit, as well.  Not much has been made about the Louisville visit but from all inclinations it went okay.  Now that Kentucky got a chance to sit down with the Harris family we will just have to wait and see what comes of it in the next few weeks.

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Posted in Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue
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B1G / Chicago Recruiting Tidbits – Friday 9/16

Published by Source on September 16th, 2011

Every Friday we will release a list of small recruiting news “nuggets” or “tidbits” they deserve mention on this site but do not necessarily require full articles. Here is this Friday’s edition of Recruiting Tidbits:

* DePaul has added a late member to its 2011 recruiting class in JUCO point guard Worrell Clahar. The 6-foot junior comes to Chicago from Lawson State CC (Alabama) and will have 2 years of eligibility with the Blue Demons. The commitment actually happened over Labor Day weekend, but got lost in the shuffle by yours truly. Apologies on that one!

* Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy was the place to be for college coaches on Wednesday night as all eyes were on 2013 star Jabari Parker. In the house to see Parker were head coaches and/or assistants from over 20 D1 schools, headlined by Mike Krzyzewski (plus 2 Duke assistants), Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Thad Matta (plus assistant), Bill Self (plus assistant), Bruce Weber (plus assistant), Oliver Purnell and Larry Krystkowiak (Utah). Several other local schools were represented, including Chicago State, UIC, Valpo, Illinois State and Northern Illinois. The workout also featured Marquette commit and Steve Taylor (2012) and Texas A&M verbal Kendrick Nunn (2013).

* Indiana commitment Peter Jurkin (2012) has been out of basketball for most of the last year with a stress fracture in his leg. Inside The Hall is reporting that Jurkin is now back at full strength after missing most of his junior season and the entire AAU evaluation period.

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Posted in Chicago HS Prospects, DePaul, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Mid Major, Ohio State, Purdue
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