WOW! I just didn't see this happening...

Jees...0-5 in some form or fashion. Rough start. It's pretty much only me anyway, so I don't feel so badly, but definitely a rough start to the 2008-09 college hoops season. Nothing else this week. Maybe something next week, as conference play begins. But I kind of hope we are off until January 2nd or after. I usually relish the chance to have as many System Plays as possible in each season, but this poor start has me needing a week or two off. Pathetic. I guess that's what happens when you modify something that works. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Still, the original System is 0-2 as well, so only 3 of the 5 losses were forced plays. Bottom line is, I suck and you're an idiot if you follow my lead! Hopefully, 2009 turns this around and we go on a major run in January!

READ MY LIPS, the System will not go 0-5! WISCO -1

I cannot even believe we are in this situation! I mean, can we go 0-3 (Tomae) or 0-5 (Knappers) to start the season? I mean, crashing at the end of the year is normal. But at the beginning of the year? I am perplexed by this development. But I am not scared of it!

As you can clearly see here to the left, Bo Ryan and his team wants you to also READ my lips, we will not go 0-for! Tonight we break out of this funk against highly rated Texas. But winning on the road in Madison is never an easy feat, even for teams loaded with talent. I will lay the point and expect Wisco to hold serve and allow us to finally get on the left side of the win/loss column!

WTF?! ACC Again? - NC STATE (even)

OK, for starters, what the fuck is the ACC doing in whatever limited plays we even have to consider right now?! I am going to post this for the record, but due to the official 0-2 start to Tomae's System, everyone else layed off this one, but I liked the game. I like NC State at home where they are off to a 5-0 start (7-1 overall). Technically, Marquette is unranked in the AP Poll, which is behind the originial methodolgy of this system. But they are 25th ranked in the ESPN/Coaches Poll, and I like some other factors including Marquette lost by 12 at Tennessee last week and then followed that up by expending energy to beat Western Carolina at home just three days ago. Don't get me wrong, Marquette is a very good team that Tom Crean left behind (when he took the Indiana job) with the stellar trio of senior guards Jerel McNeal, Dominick James, and Wesley Matthews. Not to mention sharp-shooting forward Lazar Hayward. That crew will keep this team in any game.

But most importantly, who doesn't love Sidney Lowe's fashion sensabilities? This guy's got the best sport jacket collection this side of Bruce Pearl! His Wolfpack red is somehow more respectable than that Rocky Top, Volunteer orange. Anyway, I digress, as Tennessee has nothing to do with this whatsoever. I just like to rant on them sometimes. Anyway, I think NC State plays tough at home tonight. Lowe is an up-and-coming young coach in the ACC and this team is loaded, led by talented upper classmen, guard Courtney Fells and forward Brandon Costner. The line is even and Raleigh is a tough place to win after a long week on the road and a short amount of rest since Marquette's last game; I'll take the Wolfpack in this one.

Getting Our Ass's Kicked!

We are getting hammered to begin the season! Very unusual as I would say normally the System has gotten off to very hot starts and comes back to Earth in the final month of the season. But hopefully this poor start will be an abberation and this will rectify itself in the coming weeks, especially as we get plays more regularly once conference play begins. Another theory I will offer up is that possibly Miami, FL is a "System Play Killer" who just won't allow the system to win a game it is involved with, regardless of which side they are on! We have now lost playing both on them and against them in our first two true System Plays of the year so far. Since Miami, FL will continue to be in and out of the Top 25 all year long, hopefully they will get some chances in ACC conference play to right their poor record on our behalf.

Few Plays To Date, But Found One Today - MIAMI, FL -3

Not many System Plays at all this non-conference season so far, but it looks like we have one today in unranked Miami, FL hosting #25 (in both polls) Clemson to kick off their ACC conference schedule. This trend usually picks up in conference play, but this is an unusually light non-conference slate of System Plays.

'The Mad Bomber' Jack McClinton anchors Miami's offense and hopes to give us a victory today by more than the 3 points they are laying currently. No doubt Clemson is a dangerous team as well, and the three-headed monster of KC Rivers, Trevor Booker, and Terrence Ogelsby leads the way for Oliver Purnell's team. Miami went into Kentucky and spoiled the season opening System Play, so hopefully they can defend home court tonight and bring us back into the Win Column.

Tomae's First Official Play...KENTUCKY WILDCATS -3

Looks like Kentucky will be that first official Tomae System Play of the season. All systems point to go (no pun intended). This Kentucky team is a relative unknown, with only Patrick Patterson in the middle and Jodie Meeks in the back court, that I remember, anyway. The rest of Billy Gillespie's squad must be young players and transfers I am not familiar with. Regardless, they are 3 point favorites today at home in Rupp Arena vs. a Miami, FL team that had a rough outting at home vs. Ohio State the other night as their star, Jack McClinton, took a swing at an OSU player and got tossed a few minutes into the game after a red hot 4-4 from behind the arc start! Hopefully he cools off today as he is back in the lineup.

Brief Explanation of Tomae vs. Knappers

Tomae's System Plays are the original and many are loyalists (some may say fundamentalists) are faithful to his AP Poll ONLY methodology. The Knappers' System Plays reach a little more and include both the AP Poll AND the ESPN/Coaches Poll when deciding on potential System Plays. Some years that includes a bunch of extra winning plays in the equation with only nominal losses also included. Other years it is a wash and you lose a few units on the vig. Take this to heart when making decisions on how to utilize this system and I also wanted readers to understand that this is the distinction between the CURRENT RECORD section on the top right of this blog. Thanks, and good luck!

UPDATE - The Knappers has requested that I take his name off the 'alternate' system plays, so I have changed it to Bob-O's System Plays, for those plays I am told I force by including the ESPN/USA Today Poll in the System as well as Tomae's traditional AP Poll take on this.

Slight miscalculation...

So I was a little excited that word of a System Play, our first of this year, was upon us. I was busy at work and did not have time to check the facts behind this play. When I checked the spread, I saw Wisco was ranked, but I did not check to see in which poll they are ranked. I trusted one of my key associates to inform me accurately and completely. Apparently, The Grand Master of The System uses the AP Poll only and does not acknowledge the ESPN/Coaches Poll for use in The System. Myself and a few disciples utilize both polls. Wisco dropped out of the AP Poll and is only ranked in the ESPN/Coaches Poll. I will note the rankings and polls going forward, in case that determines whether or not you choose to play that game. Sorry for any confusion. Who the hell am I kidding anyway? It's not like anyone is actually reading this fucking blog...

First System Play of the '08-'09 Season!

Fellas, it is upon us - the first System Play of the 2008-2009 college hoops season! We waited all morning for the updated (Dec 1st) Top 25 rankings, and Wisconsin, even after a 19 point loss at home to UCONN, still hung around in the rankings at #22 to go into Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, VA tonight and are 3 point underdogs to unranked Virginia Tech.

ESPN's preview of the game is linked and part of it is pasted below. I hope to do some write-ups on these games before they happen, but my main goal here at this site is to post the System Play well before the game tips off and to track their record throughout the season. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=283360259:

"Wisconsin hasn't fared well in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, particularly on the road.
Looking for their first road win in six tries in the Challenge, the No. 25 Badgers visit Virginia Tech on Monday.

Wisconsin (5-1) is in the midst of a tough stretch for its young team. After playing in the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands last week, the Badgers will play their next two on the road, including visiting in-state rival Marquette on Saturday."

Also, I will point out that VA Tech has been solid the past few years and has three scorers currently averaging over 16 ppg in returing starter AD Vassallo, as well as Jeff Allen and Malcolm Delaney. These guys are tough to beat at home and their past ACC experience will only help them to protect that home court advantage when playing out of conference foes. Wisco is also a solid team also with returning starters from last year like Trevon Hughes and Joel Krabenhoft and their system slows the game down, allows for them to stay close with more talented teams, and need to score just 50 points to stay close to their opponents because they don't give up much above 60 ppg as a team. All this just means points may be tough to come by tonight, but bottom line is we like the ACC home team here to win a close one. Plus, you have to love the Jewish coach, Seth Greenberg, on the sideline for VA Tech!

Good luck and here's to hoping that we get off to a 1-0 start to the System this year!