Something we can all agree on? Forum

[im_blue]

I don't suppose you remember the game in cleveland last yr vs. the lakers? I believe they were undefeated at home before we rolled through. In all honesty, the cavs are the only real scare for the lakers and I do respect their team a lot. Fortunately, they seem to match up much better with the Lakers than the Magic so I can envision a realistic scenario where the Lakers won't have to play them again this yr...

Cleveland has Shaq this year and Orlando lost Turkoglu, so it's less of a mismatch (on paper anyway) than last year. I think Cleveland has a real chance at the Finals, maybe even the whole thing.

No one "lost" Turkoglu. For every 3 pointer he hit, he let a guy just blow right by him or threw a layup off the top of the backboard while out of control. I'll take zombie Vinsanity, thanks.

So you're saying Vinsanity plays better defense than Turkoglu? Or that his offense more than makes up for his defense?

[stratocophic]

I don't suppose you remember the game in cleveland last yr vs. the lakers? I believe they were undefeated at home before we rolled through. In all honesty, the cavs are the only real scare for the lakers and I do respect their team a lot. Fortunately, they seem to match up much better with the Lakers than the Magic so I can envision a realistic scenario where the Lakers won't have to play them again this yr...

Cleveland has Shaq this year and Orlando lost Turkoglu, so it's less of a mismatch (on paper anyway) than last year. I think Cleveland has a real chance at the Finals, maybe even the whole thing.

No one "lost" Turkoglu. For every 3 pointer he hit, he let a guy just blow right by him or threw a layup off the top of the backboard while out of control. I'll take zombie Vinsanity, thanks.

So you're saying Vinsanity plays better defense than Turkoglu? Or that his offense more than makes up for his defense?

Really either. He's not been the enormous liability people expected, at the very least, and he's fast enough to keep up with guys that left Hedo in the dust. His offensive potential is also great enough to mitigate any defensive issues. TBF, all of this depends on how consistent he is. First part of the season, not so much. Lately... I'll definitely take him over Turkoglu.

[ravens20]

I'm taking credit for popularizing T13. Spread it.

It is alarming how quickly it has spread from just you, to a large and growing number of TLSers.

this thread is the reason why TLS = death...

IMHO this is how the ranking should look to appease TLSers:

HYS
CC
V
M
N
PB
(NW)
D
C
G

Not that I agree with this in any way, but the Virginia/Michigan Trolling is becoming ridiculous.

TLS Loves:
HYS, Virgina, Michigan, Chicago

TLS Hates:
NYU, Duke, CORNELL, and Georgetown

TLS is pretty indifferent towards:
Boalt and Penn

All you UVA and UM lovers (Especially UVA) need to start a thread and stick to it because nobody else cares how good you think the school is. Actually, that comes off a little harsh. It is a great school, you should be proud of it. But for the love of god, stop trying to compare it to every school ranked above that you can find some sort of criticism with. Just because USNWR doesn't agree with your rankings doesn't mean you need to find any excuse (placement statistics cough cough) to pour your heart out over your insecurities.

They are all great...nobody at HYSCCN should be giving anybody else in the T14 lip service over the quality of their program. Let me repeat, they are ALL excellent schools. Debating whether UVA (or any other school for that matter) should be considered equivalent to all the schools EXCEPT HYSCC is ridiculous. You should NOT CARE. We all want to go to great schools and each of the ones we are ranking should be considered one.

In addition, I would think it obvious that each of these programs has its pros and cons. Nobody should be debating this. Simply put, the pros and cons that USNWR weighs gives rise to the current rankings. They are not ranking which school is "better" per se; so, I think it would be ok if we stopped ranking which schools are "better."

I really hate trolling a thread in the manner I am doing now, but seeing something like "Something we can all agree on?" only to come to a thread that I know very few people are going to agree on is pretty frustrating. Especially since there are several other threads that are currently debating this very topic.

Stop trolling the school you think is best because if you have any confidence in yourself, at all, you will be successful coming from any of these elite programs.

please /thread

+1000. Seriously guys...this is what you came up for in a thread that EVERYONE can agree on?

P.S. Why is it always the UVA students?

[darknightbegins]

don't suppose you remember the game in cleveland last yr vs. the lakers? I believe they were undefeated at home before we rolled through. In all honesty, the cavs are the only real scare for the lakers and I do respect their team a lot. Fortunately, they seem to match up much better with the Lakers than the Magic so I can envision a realistic scenario where the Lakers won't have to play them again this yr...

Look that Cavs are getting homecourt short of an implosion. Want to know why? Because they play in a shit conference. If you put the Lakers or Nuggets in the Leastern Conference either team likely has 50 wins by now. Look at the Cavs own divison. Bulls 29-27, Bucks 27-28, Pistons 21-35 and Pacers 19-37 plus the cavs get to play the Nets 3 or 4 times this year. Outside the Magic, Celtics and Hawks the Cavs play no one in their conference that is worth a shit.

[Tofu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7XmL3O4F0

hooray!

[darknightbegins]

Another day another game winning shot for the Mamba...just another day at the office.

[ravens20]

As for the NBA discussion:

The most likely scenario is the Lakers vs the Cavs. My prediction is that the winner of the NBA Finals will be whoever ends up with homecourt advantage. Why? Because of the 2-3-2 finals format that greatly favors the team with the better record. The teams are even enough that nobody is likely to win three in a row, which is what the team with the worse record has to do (in addition to stealing one of the first two games) to avoid playing two straight closeout games on the road. In the last 10 years, the only teams to win without homecourt are the Detroit Pistons ('04) and the Miami Heat ('06). The format is a huge reason that there are almost never game 7s in the NBA Finals.

Here is an article written last year that goes into this phenomenon in greater detail, if you are interested:
http://www.vegasexperts.com/articles/Ha ... etball.asp

All that being said, Lakers are still the team to beat. They might be able to beat Cleveland without home court, but my guess is that Cleveland NEEDS to have four games at home to have a real shot at beating LA.

Of course, there are still other teams in the mix:
-The Magic still match up well against Cleveland, but the additions of Shaq to guard Howard and length on the perimeter (with Parker, Moon, Williams) have mitigated some of the main things that Orlando was able to do last year (not to mention that they lost a 6-10 playmaker in Hedo). On the offensive end, the addition of Jamison and Shaq have really opened up the Cavs offense from the Lebron isos of last year. Still, the Magic are the deepest team in the league and are capable of either raining down a barrage of threes or having Howard do his Superman impression on any given night.
-The Nuggets have a legitimate superstar, tons of firepower, and a good bit of grit. Their weakness is frontcourt depth...after Nene, KMart, and Anderson (all of whom are both injury and foul-prone) they don't really have anyone.
-Dallas looks scary...they are deep, talented at multiple positions, and experienced. That trade was just awesome.
-Utah...they are going to miss giving away Ronnie Brewer for nothing.
-Celtics...just look too old and banged up to survive four grueling playoff rounds. Still have the talent though for sure.
-Hawks...match up fantastically against the Celtics but terribly against Orlando and CLeveland.

[darknightbegins]

Since when has Shaq ever been a great defender? Jamison sucks on defense which is one of the reasons why the Cavs are 1-3 since the trade. They have no one to really match up with Lewis unless you want to be James on him.

Mavericks aren't getting out of the West. Lakers always seem to own their ass and that Howard trade wasn't that big of a deal. Plus I would bet on Denver taking the Mavs out in a 7 game series.

Celtics are just too old and injured. Garnett is a 12-15 points per game and 8-10 rebound guy at this stage in his career. When I saw Lewis blow by Garnett for a game winning layup a few weeks ago is the moment I lost faith that the Celtics could come out of the Least.

[TheWire]

I'm taking credit for popularizing T13. Spread it.

It is alarming how quickly it has spread from just you, to a large and growing number of TLSers.

this thread is the reason why TLS = death...

IMHO this is how the ranking should look to appease TLSers:

HYS
CC
V
M
N
PB
(NW)
D
C
G

Not that I agree with this in any way, but the Virginia/Michigan Trolling is becoming ridiculous.

TLS Loves:
HYS, Virgina, Michigan, Chicago

TLS Hates:
NYU, Duke, CORNELL, and Georgetown

TLS is pretty indifferent towards:
Boalt and Penn

All you UVA and UM lovers (Especially UVA) need to start a thread and stick to it because nobody else cares how good you think the school is. Actually, that comes off a little harsh. It is a great school, you should be proud of it. But for the love of god, stop trying to compare it to every school ranked above that you can find some sort of criticism with. Just because USNWR doesn't agree with your rankings doesn't mean you need to find any excuse (placement statistics cough cough) to pour your heart out over your insecurities.

They are all great...nobody at HYSCCN should be giving anybody else in the T14 lip service over the quality of their program. Let me repeat, they are ALL excellent schools. Debating whether UVA (or any other school for that matter) should be considered equivalent to all the schools EXCEPT HYSCC is ridiculous. You should NOT CARE. We all want to go to great schools and each of the ones we are ranking should be considered one.

In addition, I would think it obvious that each of these programs has its pros and cons. Nobody should be debating this. Simply put, the pros and cons that USNWR weighs gives rise to the current rankings. They are not ranking which school is "better" per se; so, I think it would be ok if we stopped ranking which schools are "better."

I really hate trolling a thread in the manner I am doing now, but seeing something like "Something we can all agree on?" only to come to a thread that I know very few people are going to agree on is pretty frustrating. Especially since there are several other threads that are currently debating this very topic.

Stop trolling the school you think is best because if you have any confidence in yourself, at all, you will be successful coming from any of these elite programs.

please /thread

+1000. Seriously guys...this is what you came up for in a thread that EVERYONE can agree on?

P.S. Why is it always the UVA students?

Nice NBA breakdown...you hit a lot of accurate points.

As for the UVA thing, I think it is because UVA may have the least lay prestige of the major programs, so they feel it necessary to troll these forums and make a name for themselves...

[98234872348]

Agreeing: you're doing it wrong.

[RVP11]

Play-by-play:

1. OP posts some ranks that everyone really can agree on. (And nice to see. A year ago I felt alone in my belief that NMVPBDCN were peer schools.)

2. Someone posts some ridiculous rankings in a thinly veiled attempt at trolling against UVA.

3. No one from UVA disputes it or even posts in the thread.

4. Everyone har-hars about how UVA people troll for their school so much.

[ausoccer19]

IMHO, Pietrus was the difference maker in the eastern finals last year. Coming off the bench, the guy was lights out shooting well over 50% from three-land, adding around 3 or 4 3pt FG's a game. Same can be said of Lee, Lewis, and Hedo. The chances of the entire team shooting from deep with the same % is highly unlikely. The Magic is certainly capable of doing so, but it's unlikely, especially with Cleveland's added length on the perimeter as stated before. No, Jamison isn't that great of a defender, but if he can keep a hand in Lewis' face on the perimeter and keep him from shooting the 3 ball, I'll let him drive into LeBron and Shaq all day. Clearly, I'm just slightly biased being a Cleveland boy, but last year the teams were extremely evenly matched, and I think the Cavs have done more to improve themselves than the Magic.
Last point, yes the Cavs are 1-3 with Jamison, but they started 3-3 with Shaq and Parker, after they had all preseason, then headed to the best record in the league thus far. Give Antawn a few games to figure out the structure and they'll be rolling by playoff time. Plus, anyone who plays for Mike Brown becomes a better defender...

[darknightbegins]

Are you really going to try and rep Mike Brown? Mike Brown is one of the worst coaches in the NBA. He has to have one of the dullest offenses in the NBA. He has one of the best play makers in the league in Lebron James and what does Mike Brown run when he needs a basket?

::Time out, Cavs down 1, 20 seconds to go inside the huddle::

Mike Brown: "Alright guys, we need a basket. Here is the play, everyone clear out and we are going to give James at the top of the key. Everyone stay out of his way and only move into the post to rebound after James has taken a shot. Alright James...rest is up to you."

I'd wet my pants if Lebron went to NY. He and D'Antoni...I can only imagine what kind of plays we would see every night.

[ughOSU]

Which fortunately doesn't matter as it seems that Cleveland is incapable of beating the Orlando Magic. Luckily, we surely have home-court advantage against them...

"Incapable" would mean that they are not capable of beating them, right? As in didn't beat them twice already this season on 11/11/09 and 2/11/10? That would be embarrassing for you if Cleveland beat the Magic on both those dates.

[nealric]

I'm taking credit for popularizing T13. Spread it.

Egregious anti-GULC trolling in light of the recent Amlaw numbers. I am prepared to create a T15 category and letting Vandy in if they promise to play nice in the sandbox.

[Rawlsian]

don't suppose you remember the game in cleveland last yr vs. the lakers? I believe they were undefeated at home before we rolled through. In all honesty, the cavs are the only real scare for the lakers and I do respect their team a lot. Fortunately, they seem to match up much better with the Lakers than the Magic so I can envision a realistic scenario where the Lakers won't have to play them again this yr...

Look that Cavs are getting homecourt short of an implosion. Want to know why? Because they play in a shit conference. If you put the Lakers or Nuggets in the Leastern Conference either team likely has 50 wins by now. Look at the Cavs own divison. Bulls 29-27, Bucks 27-28, Pistons 21-35 and Pacers 19-37 plus the cavs get to play the Nets 3 or 4 times this year. Outside the Magic, Celtics and Hawks the Cavs play no one in their conference that is worth a shit.

Have you looked at Cleveland's record vs the west? Here's a HW assignment: find out which team in the NBA--east and west--has the best record versus western conference teams.

[narkizopoint]

So judging by the post count itt I guess the answer to the question is a big fat "NO"

[agentzer0]

As for the NBA discussion:

The most likely scenario is the Lakers vs the Cavs. My prediction is that the winner of the NBA Finals will be whoever ends up with homecourt advantage. Why? Because of the 2-3-2 finals format that greatly favors the team with the better record. The teams are even enough that nobody is likely to win three in a row, which is what the team with the worse record has to do (in addition to stealing one of the first two games) to avoid playing two straight closeout games on the road. In the last 10 years, the only teams to win without homecourt are the Detroit Pistons ('04) and the Miami Heat ('06). The format is a huge reason that there are almost never game 7s in the NBA Finals.

Here is an article written last year that goes into this phenomenon in greater detail, if you are interested:
http://www.vegasexperts.com/articles/Ha ... etball.asp

All that being said, Lakers are still the team to beat. They might be able to beat Cleveland without home court, but my guess is that Cleveland NEEDS to have four games at home to have a real shot at beating LA.

Of course, there are still other teams in the mix:
-The Magic still match up well against Cleveland, but the additions of Shaq to guard Howard and length on the perimeter (with Parker, Moon, Williams) have mitigated some of the main things that Orlando was able to do last year (not to mention that they lost a 6-10 playmaker in Hedo). On the offensive end, the addition of Jamison and Shaq have really opened up the Cavs offense from the Lebron isos of last year. Still, the Magic are the deepest team in the league and are capable of either raining down a barrage of threes or having Howard do his Superman impression on any given night.
-The Nuggets have a legitimate superstar, tons of firepower, and a good bit of grit. Their weakness is frontcourt depth...after Nene, KMart, and Anderson (all of whom are both injury and foul-prone) they don't really have anyone.
-Dallas looks scary...they are deep, talented at multiple positions, and experienced. That trade was just awesome.
-Utah...they are going to miss giving away Ronnie Brewer for nothing.
-Celtics...just look too old and banged up to survive four grueling playoff rounds. Still have the talent though for sure.
-Hawks...match up fantastically against the Celtics but terribly against Orlando and CLeveland.

subtle anti-Kevin Durant trolling...

[09042014]

I'm taking credit for popularizing T13. Spread it.

Egregious anti-GULC trolling in light of the recent Amlaw numbers. I am prepared to create a T15 category and letting Vandy in if they promise to play nice in the sandbox.

LOL I googled Amlaw placement to make sure it was the same as NLJ, and it led me to your post on LSD.

GTown did well because DC didn't no offer. Wait until numbers come out about 2L SA rates at GULC. It won't be pretty.

[ughOSU]

NBA finals will be Cavs-Nuggets. The LA Fakers can't beat either of those teams (they're 0-5 against them).

[ausoccer19]

Fair enough with the lack of offense down the stretch. And yes that is something that irritates the s**t out of me. It wouldn't be as bad if LeBron would just drive when they run an iso for him considering he's the best finisher in the game, but he's only an average shooter and yet they allow him to launch jump shots with the game on the line. Similarly, the Lakers often run isos for Kobe, but he's a much better pull up jumper. Agreed though, with the amount of shooters the Cavs have (Parker, Williams, Gibson, occasionally West and now potentially Jamison), the final five should be three of them, LeBron, and Varejao to rebound.

That said, I was referring moreso to the defensive end of the floor. The Cavs are one of the better defensive teams in the league, and that is something they pride themselves in. Rarely do they win when giving up 95 points, hence losing 3 or 4, and that's because D is usually a primary focus that has lacked the last few games. After another week perhaps, once eveyone is back in sync from the break and a new starter, i think things will be fine. But, as always, just MHO. There's a reason I'm not on any coaching staff in the league, or at all for that matter

[nealric]

GTown did well because DC didn't no offer. Wait until numbers come out about 2L SA rates at GULC. It won't be pretty.

I've not seen any evidence that the no-offer rate was substantially in DC than NYC. Besides, there are collectively more GULC grads in the Philly/NYC/Boston markets than there are in the DC market.

LOL I googled Amlaw placement to make sure it was the same as NLJ, and it led me to your post on LSD.

Yeah, my bad on that one. They are the same company though.

[jlnoa0915]

Wait, so you're telling me Cooley isn't ranked #1?

[slider]

Play-by-play:

1. OP posts some ranks that everyone really can agree on. (And nice to see. A year ago I felt alone in my belief that NMVPBDCN were peer schools.)

2. Someone posts some ridiculous rankings in a thinly veiled attempt at trolling against UVA.

3. No one from UVA disputes it or even posts in the thread.

4. Everyone har-hars about how UVA people troll for their school so much.

TITCR

[stratocophic]

I'm taking credit for popularizing T13. Spread it.

Egregious anti-GULC trolling in light of the recent Amlaw numbers. I am prepared to create a T15 category and letting Vandy in if they promise to play nice in the sandbox.

BP's never going to allow a T15, not if GTown's in it. Allowances may be made for a T14 including Vandy, but smart money says it's not happening either.

TBF, this started long before the numbers came out, as in December or January.