2023-2024 College Basketball Discussion Thread

[GeorgiaModerate]

The new season starts three weeks from tomorrow! Ken Pomeroy's initial ratings are up at https://kenpom.com/.  His top 10:

1. Purdue
2. Kansas
3. Houston
4. UConn
5. Gonzaga
6. Arizona
7. Baylor
8. Tennessee
9. Duke
10. Alabama

[GeorgiaModerate]

The initial AP Top 10:

1. Kansas (46 first place votes)
2. Duke (11)
3. Purdue (3)
4. Michigan State (1)
5. Marquette
6. UConn (2)
7. Houston
8. Creighton
9. Tennessee
10. Florida Atlantic

I think FAU is getting way too much credit for last year's Final Four run, in which they got some incredibly lucky breaks.  I just don't see them as a Top 10 team.

[GeorgiaModerate]

St. John's, now coached by Rick Pitino, managed to lose an exhibition to Division II Pace University, 63-59.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The regular season starts tomorrow! Several of the top 25 are in action, but the only one with a competitive opponent is #21 USC vs Kansas State in Las Vegas.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#4 Michigan State, a 16.5-point favorite, lost its home opener to James Madison, 79-76 in OT.  It was just the second win ever for JMU over a Top 25 team; the previous one was over #19 Cal in 1992.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1722088322321764856

Someone check on ER.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Tonight's the first night with a number of interesting games between good teams.  The slate includes:

#12 Arizona @ #2 Duke
UCF @ #13 Miami
#15 Texas A&M @ Ohio State
#9 Tennessee @ Wisconsin
#17 San Diego State @ BYU
Virginia @ Florida
Memphis @ Missouri

[GeorgiaModerate]

Arizona goes into Cameron and knocks off Duke, 78-73.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In more of the usual early-season fun, Nicholls won at LSU on a last-second 3-pointer, while West Virginia lost at home to Monmouth by 8.  Also, don't sleep on Memphis; they went to Missouri last night and won by 15 (after trailing by 14 in the first half).  Deep team loaded with solid, experienced transfers.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#23 St. Mary's blew a 14-point second half lead at home and fell to Weber State 61-57. Ouch.

[GeorgiaModerate]

A pretty good slate tonight.  In addition to the Champions Classic in Chicago (Duke-Michigan State and Kentucky-Kansas) there are some other interesting games:

Marquette @ Illinois
Texas A&M @ SMU
Iowa @ Creighton

[GeorgiaModerate]

Missouri trailed 59-39 at Minnesota with 11 minutes left -- and then went on a 31-9 run to win it 70-68.  Missouri's win probability when they were behind by 20 was 0.6%.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#10 FAU falls at home to Bryant, which was 1-3 coming in.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In the semifinals of the Maui Invitational (possibly the most loaded early-season tournament ever), #4 Marquette clobbered #1 Kansas 73-59, while #2 Purdue held off #7 Tennessee 71-67.  Purdue and Marquette will play for the tournament championship at 5pm (EST) today, and the winner will very likely be ranked #1 next week.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#1 Purdue lost at Northwestern last night, 92-88 in OT.  Purdue is now tied for last place in the Big Ten.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Kentucky loses at home to UNC Wilmington, 80-73.

[GeorgiaModerate]

How many teams trail by 5 with under 3 seconds left, and go on to win -- without even needing overtime!?  That's what Vermont did against Yale last night. 

Yale hit two free throws to go up 65-60 with 3 seconds left.  Vermont responded with a layup with 0.6 left, cutting it to 65-62.  While trying to inbound the ball, Yale committed an offensive foul and gave the ball back to Vermont under their own basket.  They got it in to a shooter who launched a successful 3-pointer and was fouled on the shot.  He made the FT, and the 4-point play gave Vermont a 66-65 win.  Incidentally, the same Yale player committed both of the late fouls.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The Jimmy V Classic in MSG tonight has a couple of really interesting games: #11 FAU vs #20 Illinois, and #9 North Carolina vs #5 UConn.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#25 Northwestern lost at home to 3-9 Chicago State (a 23-point underdog) last night, 75-73.

[GeorgiaModerate]

A terrific slate of early-season basketball this weekend, starting with tonight's UConn-Gonzaga matchup.  Tomorrow the headliner is #1 Arizona vs #3 Purdue, but there are a bunch of other interesting games:

LSU-Texas
Kansas-Indiana
Baylor-Michigan State
Texas A&M-Houston
Clemson-Memphis
FAU-St. Bonaventure
North Carolina-Kentucky
Alabama-Creighton
NC State-Tennessee

[GeorgiaModerate]

We're down from seven to five unbeaten teams today as Baylor was clobbered at Michigan State while Clemson lost at Memphis.  And it might be four soon, as Arizona is in a lot of trouble at Purdue.  (The others: Houston, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and James Madison.)

[GeorgiaModerate]

There are now three unbeaten teams left (Houston, Ole Miss, and James Madison) after Oklahoma lost to North Carolina last night.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Here's a really weird metric stat that happened in Sunday's game between Nebraska and Kansas State.  Entering the game, Nebraska's Kenpom rating was 62 and KSU's was 46.  The final score: Nebraska 62, KSU 46.  This is the first time ever that both teams in a game have scored exactly their pregame rating.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In the Letdown category, #7 FAU followed up their thrilling 2OT win over Arizona by...losing to 5-9 Florida Gulf Coast.

[GeorgiaModerate]

And then there were two -- undefeated teams, that is, as James Madison was upset at Southern Miss.  And there might be only one after tonight, as Ole Miss is a big underdog at Tennessee.  The remaining one (Houston) had less than no trouble in its first-ever Big 12 game, beating West Virginia 89-55.