2020-21 College Basketball Discussion and Pick'em Thread

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I don't think I've ever been so disgusted and outraged by the outcome of a sporting event, at least none with so little relevance as tonight. How do the refs call a one-and-one with ten seconds left on the tenth foul! Stolen game. Result should be overturned if they're not going to follow the rules of the game.

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FINAL: Georgia Tech 79, Kentucky 62.

Is it time for Kentucky to think about parting ways with Calipari?

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Is that supposed to be an insult aimed at me, Sprouts?

I just think GM posted this to see what you would say since Calipari is one of the most consistently successful coaches in March and has nearly $100 million left on his deal so he is so certainly not losing his job. You tend to want to chase coaches out of town at the first sign of trouble, which is both a typical professional sports thing and a typical New Yorker thing that so rarely applies in college.

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Sorry about misspelling Purdue in their matchup against Maryland.

I feel rather embarrassed about that.

https://twitter.com/3YearLetterman/status/1337806916270104579?s=20

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Another day, another blowout loss for Clemson.

They got flattened by Georgia Tech 83-65. We could be talking about Georgia Tech, ACC Champion here.

It seems like Clemson always starts out with a gaudy record and then collapses once they get into conference play.

And on the flipside, Ed Cooley yet again gets mandhandled in the non-conference schedule/early Big East schedule, only to turn it on in late January. Classic Providence winning in Omaha tonight.

They will be favored in every remaining game except for both UConn and both Villanova games though most are just by a point. Suspect they will drop three of the seven where they are favored by 2 or less but steal two from the Big Dogs (and Cats) to go 15-11 on a weak-ish bubble with a decent resume....NET doesn't love 'em yet though.

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Witchita State gonna end up in the Top 25 after this?

Doubtful. But I think they're now in the NCAA tourney as long as they avoid any stupid losses.

Torvik still fancies them as the projected 11th team out. Hard to trust it given all the Drop games you need to factor out. If they beat SMU 3x (tall ask!) and lose to Houston in the conference tournament, they are still only the 3rd team out. Crazier things have happened, but the basketball committee has less respect for the American Athletic than the football committee!

Also crazy how the league can still be ranked 7th and be a one bid league while 8th-11th may all be multi-bid (two of which have four teams with a better chance than AAC's #2)

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While I have not enjoyed this season much at all on the heel's of 2019-20's best season in 14 (or maybe even 35) years, really starting to get excited for a few critical knock-out games, starting with Saint Louis last night.

The Mountain West race is absolutely fantastic especially with these unbalanced backloaded schedules. Here's hoping San Diego State can knock Boise State down near the cut line with a sweep on their home court this weekend (right after Boise swept Utah State out on their home court) - once of the great stories of last year is deeply underrated this year!

Meanwhile last year's other great story, Dayton, is really trying to force their way back in and will need to upset the Bonnies in Upstate NY on Sunday to be playing for an At-Large spot in Brooklyn. A gaudy record but no signature win will likely mean the Bonnies are out if they lose it too. Mid-major death match!

The Louisville @ Duke loser on Saturday will also be in a very precarious position with ample but difficult opportunity on the remaining schedule, hoping both continue to drop all games and have no horse in this one! Michigan State is in a similar position to Duke of a couple weeks back, trying to find anyone to will them into the field against an extremely challenging slate - but stroking it well at the right time despite abysmal play all-around! I'll be watching all of their last 5 games.

In the Big East, we will have Villanova and Creighton square off for the second time - if they both win the games they should and there are no more COVID drops, this game should decide the 1-seed - either Creighton on a tie-breaker (16-4 over 12-3) or Villanova wins the conference outright. Zegarowski seems sure to give Villanova too much to handle on his own a la the 2014 edition of the Blue Jays, and just like that team he has such a competent pairing. If Villanova wants a title, better off hoping Xavier takes them down in Cintas first as a last ditch effort for a 5th Big East team in the field.

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I could be convinced to cheer for Michigan if JB were still the coach, but I'll keep up my incremental movement towards admiring the Zags, tyvm. I'm just in awe of what they've built. Michigan is peaking at a good time, but here's hoping for the best!

MSU on the other hand is just as likely to make a deep run with this absolute chaos! IT'S ONLY FEBRUARY!

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St. Joseph's had 3 OT losses (including Auburn!) and did lead Kansas in the second half before losing it down the stretch. Billy Lange is an outstanding coach, he should have them competitive before long. Hopefully both Daly and Funk opt to come back.

The A-10 could be quite good next year with few NBA losses if players come back.

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Obviously winning the Big East regular season title is my #1 priority in any given season (7 of the last 8 with the only non-winner coasting to a national title! Dynasty!) with the Big East Tournament title and/or Final Four being icing, but losing Collin Gillespie is not worth it. 🙏 Please be well and heal up for next season, champ 🏆 redemption for this super senior. I want to be there for your send off.

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Woah! The America East title game is UMass-Lowell (1st title appearance) and Hartford (2nd title appearance), each looking to punch their first NCAA ticket. This is the first title game without Albany or Vermont in a decade. Lowell has only been eligible for a few seasons, but Hartford has 36 years of futility to erase (T 16th longest time tenure without a bid and 25th longest drought)

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Xavier's bubble pops with a 70-69 OT loss to Butler in the Big East tournament.

An epic redux of the final completed game of the 2019-20 season in which Xavier also lost to the #10 seed to knock them out of consideration for the Big Dance before everyone was knocked out. The mulligan going awry is so sweet! They're still trying to schedule games this weekend but doubt they are going to have much luck. I guess Louisville is available for a de facto play-in game but why would Chris Mack reduce himself to that and put Xavier back on his level? Maybe Saint Louis wants to give it one last shot?

Unfortunately for Louisville, they could probably use the game. The St. John's-Seton Hall winner alone could knock them out (especially with a free shot against extremely short-handed Villanova in tow), and if not, Utah State (albeit more likely to take out a conference rival) or the AAC runner-up will have a very respectable case to knock out Louisville or Ole Miss. One last win could really prove the difference unless COVID opens up a few spots unexpectedly.

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So great to see Patrick Ewing, who was racially profiled earlier this week, honor his mentor John Thompson's memory and legacy by thumping the racist coach on the other bench and the five white players who had to sulk off the floor with their heads down with so much time slowly ticking off the clock. BIG EAST! Omaha ain't got nothing. Do they play defense in Nebraska?!

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Beavers!!!!!!! DAM NATION!

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Only Louisville is better than Wichita or Drake. Neither Wichita nor Drake are NCAA quality teams, but whatever. You can quibble over the first three replacements vs. Drake with Wichita just behind them. It's not egregious. Only Syracuse's seeding is.

Thanks Joe Biden was handing out house money for big time gambling this week. America thanks you. Very smart timing!

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Sister Jean will stop at nothing to be in the spotlight an extra day, the absolute thug.

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That was one impressive performance by Wisconsin.

I really didn't think of UNC as a quality team at all, and this still seemed like the biggest surprise of the day for me. Wisconsin did not look good anytime I saw them this year. We all knew the ACC was down, but I didn't know by quite this much. Friend made me realize Cuse just gets by with the zone...

Maybe Wisco can do us a favor and repay us for the time they very unfairly knocked us out as the top overall seed in 2017 (with the help of the NCAA penalties and a laughable seeding decision switched with 5 seed Minnesota for ratings potential). Take down the evil empire before it rises further! Baylor has not looked good lately including today. It can be done!

Arkansas was my pick for this region, and all season frankly, to be the FF Dark horse but they still have a treacherous road ahead. Nice to see them eke out a nice win against an underseeded Colgate squad. Texas Tech had a fabulous performance today but still like the Hogs to take em out. Move over Beard, Musselman is the new hot commodity in the ol Southwest. If he knocked out Nova, I'll still call it a fine season.


While the Zags and Illini look to be on an unstoppable collision path, I'm very excited to see the only actually deep and highly uncertain region finally tip off tomorrow. Hoping Hoyas and UConn deliver the goods and Rick Pitino gives the favorites all they can handle (before the Tide march forward and potentially far).

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What the hell is going on with the Illini? They're getting blown out by Loyola.

The final exorcism on the fifth Sunday of Lent, doncha know

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I went from total panic/meltdown to Matthew McConaughey smoking a cigar reaaaaal fast. Always nice when a Sunday night gets to this level of complete relaxation, especially in March.

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Porter Moser staying in North Chicago with Chicago North gone? I welcome Shaka to the Big East. Not an elite coach, but the Tier B school with moderate expectations is a good fit for him. Never liked the Woj hire. The four best jobs in the conference now have very iconic coaches that can define it for awhile and three big personalities plus one elite coach at the less prestigious jobs. (If only Xavier could get its house in order. Archie Miller!?)

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Porter Moser staying in North Chicago with Chicago North gone? I welcome Shaka to the Big East. Not an elite coach, but the Tier B school with moderate expectations is a good fit for him. Never liked the Woj hire. The four best jobs in the conference now have very iconic coaches that can define it for awhile and three big personalities plus one elite coach at the less prestigious jobs. (If only Xavier could get its house in order. Archie Miller!?)

Archie might end up across town in Cincinnati; it's rumored that UC is on the verge of firing John Brannen, and Archie has been mentioned as a possible replacement.

Good call. I was thinking earlier in the day that Ron Hunter has barely got his feet wet in Tulane but he is from Ohio and there is no doubt about who is the better program despite already being in the same conference. I was hoping he'd get a better opportunity than Tulane. But Archie fits here.

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Sadly we won't get Bemidji State-Duluth, but we will get Minnesota-Minnesota State who could take on St. Cloud State.

Bemidji spolils the opportunity at the all-Minnesota Forzen Four!

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The teams I've been rooting for in the Sweet Sixteen games are 0-7 so far...

You need to stop rooting for truck stop teams and join us in the Conference of Champions.

You ever notice how Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are ranked 48, 49 and 50 in every category of human decency?

And Tennessee is still in the SEC, right? Last time I checked, Tennessee was in the south and the east - geography was one of my three majors - but with conferences always changing, who can keep up? Apparently Clueless Joe Lunardi who said Oregon State wouldn't even be in the tournament. Tennessee and Oklahoma salute those other three states for keeping them from the bottom. No match for the Beavers, which are found in the wild in all 50 states by the way.

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Wayne Tinkle - his dad died when he was ten years old. Excuse me, his dad dropped out of school when he was ten years old. The media - whoever that is - picked him to finish 12th place in the Pac-12 this season. That's out of 12 teams total. Joe Lunardi had to practically be forced to put them as the 12th best team in the Midwest region, however that works - since when has Oregon been in the Midwest? His team comes out like they were playing in the native frigid tundra ecosystem, spotting double digits to one of the few teams to ever beat Kareem. Well at halftime Wayne Tinkle fed all that negativity to his Beavers and let the dam burst! Coach Tinkle and Coach Thompson, the ultimate fathers and teachers on-and-off the court, but ultimately just short of achieving the magical dream - a feeling I know all too well - but Dam Nation has so much to be take from this year, I knew it was special from the first time I saw this team play. Now go build on it so we can finally go back to Corvallis!

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The Definitive Ranking on Who To Cheer For in one of the worst Final Four Groupings Ever

1. Gonzaga - Mark Few is one of the finest quality coaches without a title, the most complete team without simply just recruiting the highest rated high schoolers and throwing a team of stars together. Catholic. Not ecstatic about them joining the ranks of champions, but it is deserved and so is the undefeated season, so I'll give them this one. Already a permanent superpower. Hopefully they don't make a habit of it.

2. UCLA - What's one more championship for them. Tyger Campbell has been fun to watch almost every game for two years. On the downside, an 11 seed champion would be atrocious. Mick Cronin deserves to be nowhere near a championship. So let's try to avoid this.

3. Baylor - The Drew family could use a win, but the last thing we need is these fundies becoming a perennial power. It would be awful if we avoided Texas Tech etching its name in glory only for Baylor to take the mantle.

4. Houston - The Kelvin Sampson redemption arc is the story absolutely nobody asked for. A glorified community college has no business being a power team. Any team in Texas being successful in basketball is painful enough. A mid-major city college dethroned from its ancient glory rising again over its in-state superiors makes me want to vomit. We didn't slay Phi Slamma Jamma only for them to win a title a quarter of a century later (following a period of zero NCAA wins).

I did not grow up liking Gonzaga, but there is only one team that can save us from an awfully painful fate. Go Zags!