February 2012
17 posts
3 tags
21 down, 3 to go
As you may have noticed, I’ve tweaked the design of this page a little, including by adding to the right sidebar a photo of the blog’s mascots, Mile High Bally and DU Bally, chillin’ with Denver’s unofficial/historical mascot, Denver Boone, at Denver’s win over North Texas on Sunday. Here’s another version of that photo:
I haven’t written my 800 Games...
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UNC eliminated; DU plays for #3 seed Sunday
After Northern Colorado lost to Weber State on Thursday — here’s my full 800GP recap of that game — the Bears were left hanging by a thread in the battle for the Big Sky’s sixth and final postseason spot. Well, on Saturday night, the thread snapped. Portland State beat Eastern Washington, 69-64, clinching third place and thus eliminating UNC from postseason contention...
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Just a Fool's Hope
Northern Colorado lost to Weber State tonight, 88-71. It was a competitive contest for most of the game, but Weber was the superior team, and pulled away in the end. A full recap will follow in a day or two. Above is a video of the team’s lone senior, Mike Proctor, getting a standing ovation — and getting teary-eyed — as he left his home floor for the last time, in the...
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Fun with KenPom percentages
I already told you about the scenarios whereby Northern Colorado could lose to Weber State tomorrow, yet still qualify for the Big Sky Tournament. But what are the odds of each scenario? To answer this question (that nobody except me was asking), we turn to the great Ken Pomeroy!
We’ll start with the simplest scenario — UNC wins its way in, with only minimal “help”...
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Talkin' Big Sky scenarios
If Northern Colorado beats Weber State at home on Thursday, the Bears have an excellent chance of making the Big Sky Tournament (only the top 6 out of 9 qualify) if they can follow up that stunner with a road win over Portland State next Tuesday (February 28). Do that, and the Bears just need Montana to win at home against depleted Montana State — a highly likely occurrence — to wrap...
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DU makes mock NCAA field, improves real SBC seed
BREAKING NEWS: Denver is in the NCAA Tournament bracket!!! Well, not the real bracket — the “mock bracket” that’s currently being constructed by journalists as part of the NCAA’s annual mock selection exercise. According to Matt Norlander and Dave Ommen, the NCAA today declared Denver the Sun Belt champion and auto-bid winner for mock selection purposes. (Auto-bid...
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Big night for Denver
Denver hosts Louisiana-Lafayette this evening at 5:00 PM in a huge game for both teams in terms of Sun Belt Tournament seeding position. To review, below are the current standings in the SBC for seeds #2 through #6. Significance: seeds #2-5 get byes into the quarterfinals; #6 does not. Also, #2 and #3 are on the opposite site of the bracket from near-certain #1 seed Middle Tennessee; #4 and #5 are...
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Collapse at EWU may doom Bears
Northern Colorado squandered a 17-point lead at Eastern Washington tonight, losing by 3 in a heartbreaker, and now the Bears probably need to stun Big Sky leader Weber State at home next Thursday night in order to qualify for the conference tournament.
Here is where things now stand. Remember, the top 6 teams make the tournament; the bottom 3 do not.
1. Weber State 13-1 (remaining games: @UNC...
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Updating the Big Sky and Sun Belt races
Both Denver and Northern Colorado took big steps forward in their respective conference races on Saturday. DU beat Florida International to stay in the thick of the race for the #3 overall seed in the Sun Belt, and just as important, avoided a slide toward the #6 seed and an opening-round game in Sun Belt. Meanwhile, UNC kept its head above water in the fight to qualify for the Big Sky tournament,...
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#ALLCAPSDAY LIVE BLOG
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 IS ALL CAPS DAY, FEATURING THE THIRD ANNUAL MID-MAJORITY ALL CAPS GAME. THIS IS A LIVE BLOG OF ALL CAPS DAY.
ALL TWEETS WITH THE HASHTAGS #ALLCAPSDAY, #ALLCAPSGAME, OR #TMM8 WILL APPEAR BELOW. ALSO APPEARING BELOW: ALL TWEETS BY, OR REFERENCING, @MIDMAJORITY OR @800GP; ALL TWEETS BY @BBSTATE, WITH FINAL SCORES; ALL TWEETS BY @SKYWAYCHICAGO, THE OFFICIAL #ALLCAPSGAME HOST;...
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Northern Colorado fights for its Big Sky life
While Denver battles for a #3 seed in the Sun Belt, and tries to at least avoid an opening-round game in the SBC tourney, Colorado’s other mid-major team, Northern Colorado — which I’ve been sorely neglecting on this blog (sorry!), due to being overly busy and barely having time to follow DU — is trying to avoid being prematurely eliminated from the postseason...
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The state of the Sun Belt race
Denver last night was unable to maintain the momentum of its huge win over Middle Tennessee State, falling 72-71 at Florida Atlantic. The Pioneers rallied from a 16-point first-half (and 15-point halftime) deficit to take a 4-point lead with 14 seconds left, but were unable to hold on as the Owls hit a late 3, Brian Stafford missed two foul shots (a rarity) and then fouled an FAU player on a...
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Return on Investment
My 800 Games Project writeup of Denver’s win over Middle Tennessee State is now online at the Mid-Majority. Unfortunately, in my rush to submit it last night, I failed to catch some errors, and more generally failed to give it a much-needed final edit that would have tightened up the piece and made it better. So I’m going to republish it here, in full, with the edits I wish I could...
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WatchDenver beat Middle Tennessee State (previously 10-0 in the Sun Belt) in the school’s first ever ESPN home game tonight, and the student section at Magness Arena was amazing — unlike anything I’ve seen at a DU basketball game before. Above is a video of the students’ reaction to the Pioneers winning the tipoff and scoring the game’s first points. The game would end...
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Denver vs. Middle Tennessee State - LIVE!
<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=995e6a805f” data-mce-href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=995e6a805f”>Denver vs. Middle Tennessee State</a>
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Denver limps into the ESPN spotlight
Denver’s season started on such a high note. The Pioneers scored huge home wins over Southern Miss and St. Mary’s (both of which have held up exceptionally well) and a breakthrough road victory at Utah State (which has not held up quite so well), ending the Aggies’ 33-game home winning streak. Just as important, the Pios passed the eye test. They looked, for the most part,...
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Before the snow storm, a snow job
The big story of this week for Denver basketball was supposed to be Saturday’s ESPN2-televised showdown with Middle Tennessee State — to be played, as it turns out, in the aftermath of the season’s biggest snowstorm.
But last night, at the tail end of an otherwise excellent game in Lafayette, Louisiana against the Ragin’ Cajuns of ULL, the referees stole the spotlight.
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