2019-2020 College Basketball Discussion and Pick 'em Thread

[GeorgiaModerate]

Two games down and everyone has at least one loss already.  Looks like it's going to be one of those weeks.

[GeorgiaModerate]

At the half, Villanova trails by 12 at home to Creighton.

[GeorgiaModerate]

What the heck is going on in the Big East?  Their three ranked teams (Villanova, Butler, and Seton Hall) all lost at home to unranked opponents.

[GeorgiaModerate]

A Houston player just got tossed for biting a Cincinnati player on the leg.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Nice job.  Are you going to post updates regularly?

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 13 RESULTS

A tight battle for first this week, with sjoyce winning by a hair.

17 sjoyce
16 GeorgiaModerate
15 Illiniwek, Sprouts
13 JGibson
11 YE (didn't pick Friday games)

The average score was 14.5, not great but a lot better than last week.

Unanimous picks:

Rhode Island-VCU
Villanova-Creighton (wrong)
Ohio State-Indiana
Louisvile-N.C. State
Gonzaga-San Francisco
Floria State-Va. Tech
Duke-Syracuse
St. John's-Georgetown (wrong)

Games with one dissenter:

Akron-Kent State (dissenter was right)
Michigan State-Wisconsin (dissenter was right)
Marquette-DePaul
Alabama-Arkansas (dissenter was right)
Boise State-Nevada

Overall results:

206 Sprouts
203 sjoyce
198 GeorgiaModerate
189 Illiniwek
180 JGibson
152 dfw
138 YE
98 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise

[GeorgiaModerate]

There are five weeks left in the regular season.  I assume that will be the end of the current pick'em game.  After that...

Picking the conference tournaments seems to be too difficult.  We'd probably just have to pick the winner for each conference (or the top 25 conferences) in advance.  This would require getting picks in very early in the week, because some of the conferences start super early.  So I think we should skip this week in the contest, although I might post my tournament picks for fun.

Then we come to the NCAA's.   Any thoughts on running a bracket contest?

[GeorgiaModerate]

sjoyce, are you going to post a slate of games for this week?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Since sjoyce hasn't done it, I'll post a list of 25 games for this week.  No Friday games since it's already Wednesday.

WEEK #14 (Times EST)

Saturday, Feb. 8:

#18 LSU @ #11 Auburn 12:00 ESPN
#16 Michigan State @ Michigan 12:00 Fox
Depaul @ Georgetown 12:00
SMU @ Temple 12:00
#15 Kentucky @ Tennessee 1:00 CBS
Texas A&M @ South Carolina 1:00 SECN
St. Louis @ #6 Dayton 2:00 CBSSN
Florida @ Ole Miss 2:00 ESPN2
#13 West Virginia @ Oklahoma 2:00 ESPNU
#12 Seton Hall @ #10 Villanova 2:30 Fox
St. Bonaventure @ Duquesne 3:00
Texas Tech @ Texas 4:00 ESPN2
Sam Houston State @ Nicholls 4:00
Alabama @ Georgia 6:00 SECN
#7 Duke @ North Carolina, 6:00 ESPN
Stanford @ #24 Colorado 6:00 PAC12
Kansas State @ Iowa State 8:00 ESPN2
#2 Gonzaga @ St. Mary's 10:00 ESPN
#14 Oregon @ Oregon State 10:30 PAC12

Sunday, Feb. 9:

#19 Butler @ Marquette 12:00 FS1
Cincinnati @ Connecticut 12:00 CBSSN
Ohio State @ Wisconsin 1:00 CBS
Wichita State @ #25 Houston 3:00 ESPN
Notre Dame @ Clemson 6:00 ACCN
Washington @ Washington State 6:00 ESPNU

[GeorgiaModerate]

At the half, Purdue leads Iowa 61-36.  Big Ten teams don't usually score 61 in a full game.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#18 LSU @ #11 Auburn 12:00 ESPN
#16 Michigan State @ Michigan 12:00 Fox
Depaul @ Georgetown 12:00
SMU @ Temple 12:00
#15 Kentucky @ Tennessee 1:00 CBS
Texas A&M @ South Carolina 1:00 SECN
St. Louis @ #6 Dayton 2:00 CBSSN
Florida @ Ole Miss 2:00 ESPN2
#13 West Virginia @ Oklahoma 2:00 ESPNU
#12 Seton Hall @ #10 Villanova 2:30 Fox
St. Bonaventure @ Duquesne 3:00
Texas Tech @ Texas 4:00 ESPN2
Sam Houston State @ Nicholls 4:00
Alabama @ Georgia 6:00 SECN
#7 Duke @ North Carolina, 6:00 ESPN
Stanford @ #24 Colorado 6:00 PAC12
Kansas State @ Iowa State 8:00 ESPN2
#2 Gonzaga @ St. Mary's 10:00 ESPN
#14 Oregon @ Oregon State 10:30 PAC12

#19 Butler @ Marquette 12:00 FS1
Cincinnati @ Connecticut 12:00 CBSSN
Ohio State @ Wisconsin 1:00 CBS
Wichita State @ #25 Houston 3:00 ESPN
Notre Dame @ Clemson 6:00 ACCN
Washington @ Washington State 6:00 ESPNU

[GeorgiaModerate]

Temple was down 17 at the half but came back to beat SMU in OT.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/BradCav2/status/1226163101894049792?s=19
This tweet is exactly how I've felt for weeks at this point except that it excludes Memphis from a team that will 'fall out' (I've already had them out). Oklahoma picked up a shocking win today so that may no longer be completely true. Florida may replace them on the list!

Arizona State, however, may come at the expense of USC. Big data point coming soon!

Memphis is certainly out after today.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Duke-UNC going to OT after a furious Duke comeback to tie it at the end of regulation.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Duke, with a huge assist from the refs, beats UNC 98-96 in OT.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The AAC contenders (except Houston, which is pretty much a lock) have not had a good weekend.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The AAC contenders (except Houston, which is pretty much a lock) have not had a good weekend.

I don't know why I associate you with Memphis fandom for basketball. Do you have a mid-major team given the state of Georgia and Tech basketball?

The really evil side of me really wants UConn to steal a bid one last time in place of all three/four of the bubble contenders. The summer Twitter war of AAC fans saying that their conference was about to overtake the Big East as a conference this year (as a proof of UConn's stupidity) justly infuriated me. (You are obviously a lot more reasonable and logical person than those Ultras, but I just want the conference to start to be overtaken by the depth of the A-10 and have more in common with the WCC - no harm/offense to you).

UConn has the money, desire, fans and coach to be successful. And very soon they will have the conference and conference mates.

Among mid-majors, I like Georgia State and Kennesaw State (as well as being local, I have family ties to both).

Regarding Memphis (State), I've followed them in basketball on and off for decades.  I have many relatives in the city and spent a lot of time there when I was young, although I haven't visited it in the last 25 or 30 years.  I became a fan during the Larry Finch era (when he was a player, not coach!) when they had a superb team that lost in the national championship game to UCLA and Bill Walton's legendary 44-point performance.  Over the subsequent years, I loved their intense rivalry with Louisville that carried through several conferences.  It's too bad the two schools eventually went separate ways.

This year, they're obviously a disappointment compared to expectations, but given the Wiseman situation and the injuries they've sustained it's not surprising.  It's also quite obvious that Penny Hardaway is still learning as a coach.  I think he has the potential to be a very good college coach, but it's going to take at least a few more years.

But yes, it's certainly true that the AAC < Big East, and this would have been true even if Memphis had lived up to the preseason hype.  UConn's decision was a good one for them, given their relative priority of football and basketball.  In the long run, it's probably good for AAC football as well, if the conference can find a decent replacement.

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 14 RESULTS

JGibson had a 3-game lead after yesterday, but Sprouts swept today (except for Notre Dame, which everybody missed) to pull into a tie.

16 JGibson, Sprouts
14 GeorgiaModerate, YE
12 Illiniwek

The average score was 14.4, down a hair from last week.

Unanimous picks:

South Carolina-Texas A&M
West Virginia-Oklahoma (wrong)
Duke-North Carolina
Colorado-Stanford
Iowa State-Kansas State
Wisconsin-Ohio State
Clemson-Notre Dame (wrong)

Games with one dissenter:

LSU-Auburn (dissenter was right)
Georgetown-DePaul
Kentucky-Tennessee
Dayton-St. Louis
Villanova-Seton Hall (dissenter was right)
Texas Tech-Texas
Nicholls-Sam Houston State
Oregon-Oregon State (dissenter was right)
Houston-Wichita State
Washington-Washington State (dissenter was right)

Overall results:

222 Sprouts
212 GeorgiaModerate
203 sjoyce
201 Illiniwek
196 JGibson
152 dfw, YE
98 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise

[GeorgiaModerate]

#22 Illinois @ Rutgers – 3:30pm – BTN Big game. Have to take care of business if we want to compete for the conference.

There's a 5-point penalty for each additional effect, so Illinois needs to win by 15.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Vandy leads Kentucky by 9 at the half.  Somebody check on Extreme.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Creighton won at Seton Hall.  The Big East has just been crazy this year.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Akron
Canisius

Ohio State
Texas Tech
Arkansas Little Rock
UTSA
West Virginia
LSU
Richmond
Rutgers
Maryland
SMU
New Mexico
Yale
Seton Hall
Northern Iowa
Towson
Virginia
Gonzaga
Colorado
Washington
Portland State
Arizona
Eastern Washington

Minnesota

You've got both teams in Portland State-E. Washington listed (and neither from UCI-Hawaii).

[GeorgiaModerate]

Friday, February 14th
Akron @ Central Michigan – 6pm – ESPNU
Monmouth @ Canisius – 6pm – ESPN3

Saturday, February 15th
Purdue @ Ohio State – 11am – FOX
#24 Texas Tech @ Oklahoma State – 12pm – CBS
Little Rock @ UT Arlington – 2pm – ESPN+
Western Kentucky @ UTSA – 2pm
#14 West Virginia @ #1 Baylor – 3pm – ESPN+
#25 LSU @ Alabama – 3pm – ESPN2
VCU @ Richmond – 3pm – CBSSN
#22 Illinois @ Rutgers – 3:30pm – BTN
#9 Maryland @ Michigan State – 5pm – ESPN2
#20 Houston @ SMU – 5pm – ESPNU
UNLV @ New Mexico – 5pm – CBSSN
Yale @ Penn – 5pm – ESPN+
#10 Seton Hall @ Providence – 7pm – CBSSN
Northern Iowa @ Loyola Chicago – 7pm – ESPN2
Towson @ James Madison – 7pm
Virginia @ North Carolina – 7pm – ESPN
#2 Gonzaga @ Pepperdine – 9pm
#16 Colorado @ Oregon State – 9pm – S1
Washington @ UCLA – 9pm
Eastern Washington @ Portland State – 9:05pm
Arizona @ Stanford – 9:30pm – PAC12
UC Irvine @ Hawai’i – 11pm – ESPN2

Sunday, February 16th
#21 Iowa @ Minnesota – 12pm – FS1

[GeorgiaModerate]

This is going to be an interesting week.  With five players so far, we only have two unanimous picks (Gonzaga and Texas Tech).

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 15 RESULTS

JGibson won the week, in large part due to being the sole correct picker on three games.

17 JGibson
15 Illiniwek
12 Sprouts, YE
11 GeorgiaModerate (Oregon State?  What was I thinking?)

There were only two unanimous picks:

Texas Tech-Oklahoma State (wrong)
Gonzaga-Pepperdine

Games with a single dissenter (asterisk = dissenter was right):

Akron-Central Michigan
Canisius-Monmouth (*)
Ohio State-Purdue
Western Kentucky-UTSA
Baylor-West Virginia
Richmond-VCU
Rutgers-Illinois
Houston-SMU (*)
New Mexico-UNLV (*)
Seton Hall-Providence (*)
Towson-James Madison
Colorado-Oregon State
Portland State-Eastern Washington (*)
Hawaii-UC Irvine (*)

The average score was 13.4, not one of our better weeks.

Overall standings:

234 Sprouts
223 GeorgiaModerate
216 Illiniwek
213 JGibson
203 sjoyce
164 YE
152 dfw
98 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise