2019-2020 College Basketball Discussion and Pick 'em Thread

[GeorgiaModerate]

Penn State, playing its first game as a Top 10 team since 1996, lost at home to Illinois, which had lost its previous four games.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Incredible finish in UCF-Cincinnati.  UCF was up by 2 in double OT on the road, but Cincinnati's Jarron Cumberland hit a shot from beyond half-court...just AFTER the buzzer.  UCF with the upset!

[GeorgiaModerate]

VCU @ Saint Louis - It's SAINT Louis, please. It's not stylized Loyola (CHI). It's not stylized N. Iowa. Show some respect for Louis IX - Please!

I dunno, it's hard to show much respect for a school with a funny-looking imaginary mascot.

WEEK 16 (not 15)

Penn @ Dartmouth
VCU @ Louis IX

#3 Kansas @ #1 Baylor
#19 Marquette @ Providence
#22 Houston @ Memphis - Quentin Grimes is hurt and doubtful to play, so taking a chance here
Michigan @ Purdue
#12 Villanova @ Xavier
Loyola @ Missouri State
#8 FSU @ NC State
Oklahoma @ OK State
Rhode Island @ Davidson
Florida @ #10 Kentucky
Hofstra @ Delaware
LSU @ South Carolina
Texas Tech @ Iowa State
Alabama @ Mississippi
#14 Oregon @ #24 Arizona - What's happened to Oregon?
Georgetown @ DePaul
#2 Gonzaga @ #23 BYU

#9 Penn State @ Indiana
Wichita State @ Cincinnati
Rutgers @ Wisconsin
#7 Maryland @ Ohio State
#21 Butler @ #15 Creighton
USC @ Utah

[GeorgiaModerate]

It figures.  The one time I pick Penn to win, they lose to 9-14 Dartmouth.

On the plus side, everybody else picked Penn too, so it doesn't make much difference.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Thursday night...

With 11:30 left in the game, Murray State led Eastern Illinois 50-23.

Final: Eastern Illinois 63, Murray State 60.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/28747528/eastern-illinois-erases-27-point-second-half-deficit-win-buzzer

[GeorgiaModerate]

What a game between Kansas and Baylor so far.  Kansas had led most of the way, but Baylor is on a comeback and trails by 3 with 3+ minutes left.

[GeorgiaModerate]

It appears that Bad Purdue has shown up today.

[GeorgiaModerate]

At halftime, undefeated San Diego State is down by 12 at home to 14-14 UNLV.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Good job picking BYU, YE.  I really thought about it (especially given my home team bias) but chickened out in the end.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Sprouts, do you think Memphis has any shot at an at-large bid at this point?

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 16 RESULTS

I went worst-to-first this week by being the only correct picker in three games (Indiana, Memphis, Missouri State) and made a dent in Sprouts's overall lead.

15 GeorgiaModerate
14 YE
13 Illiniwek
11 sjoyce,Sprouts
8 JGibson

The average score was 12.0, which is almost the worst of the season.

There were three unanimous picks, only one of which was correct!

Penn-Dartmouth (wrong)
Saint Louis-VCU
Delaware-Hofstra (wrong)

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

Houston-Memphis (*)
Purdue-Michigan (*)
Loyola-Missouri State (*)
Kentucky-Florida
Texas Tech-Iowa State
Gonzaga-BYU (*)
Penn State-Indiana (*)
Wisconsin-Rutgers
Creighton-Butler

Overall standings:

245 Sprouts
238 GeorgiaModerate
229 Illiniwek
221 JGibson
214 sjoyce
178 YE
152 dfw
98 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise

[GeorgiaModerate]

I've just now gotten around to setting up the spreadsheet (it's been one of those weeks), and noticed there are only 24 games on the list.

ETA: JGibson, you have a game with both teams picked.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'll pick Northern Kentucky and Texas State for now, will do the others later tonight or tomorrow morning.

[GeorgiaModerate]

The rest of my picks:

#9 Penn State @ #20 Iowa – 11am – BTN
#8 Florida State @ Clemson – 1pm – ACCNX
Florida @ Tennessee – 1pm
Akron @ Buffalo – 1pm – ESPN3
#16 Seton Hall @ #19 Marquette – 1:30pm – FOX
Oklahoma @ #17 West Virginia – 3pm – ESPN2
Notre Dame @ Wake – 3pm – ACCNX
UNC-Greensboro @ Chattanooga – 3:30pm – ESPN+
#6 Duke @ Virginia – 5pm – ESPN
Penn @ Brown – 5pm – ESPN+
Arkansas @ Georgia – 5pm – SECN
Loyola @ Bradley – 6pm – ESPN3
#4 San Diego State @ Nevada – 7pm
Michigan State @ #7 Maryland – 7pm – ESPN
South Carolina @ Alabama – 7:30pm – SECN
Saint Mary’s @ #2 Gonzaga – 9pm

#15 Creighton @ St. John’s – 11am – FS1
Xavier @ Georgetown – 1pm – CBS
Saint Louis @ Rhode Island – 1pm – ESPNU
Michigan @ #25 Ohio State – 3pm – CBS
Wichita State @ SMU – 3pm – ESPNU
#18 Colorado @ Stanford – 5pm – ESPNU

[GeorgiaModerate]

I've done amateur Bracketology for many years (since I was a kid).  Tomorrow, I'm going to do my initial projections and will post them here, if y'all like!

Go for it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Two Top 25 teams (Villanova and Texas Tech) have already lost at home to underdogs today.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Florida St and Baylor both in big trouble on the road.  Kind of funny if Clemson beats Duke, Louisville and FSU, but has no chance at a bid unless they run the tourney (meaning probably beating two of them again).

FSU and Baylor both lost.  Lots of close ones today.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Chaos continues.  Duke and West Virginia also lost.  San Diego State is down 9 at the half on the road.

[GeorgiaModerate]

One thing that's clear is that we've done a lot worse picking basketball than football.  Is basketball just inherently more variable?  Or maybe particularly so this year?

[GeorgiaModerate]

What the heck happened in Wichita State-SMU?  The last score I saw had Wichita down 50-26, then then ended up winning 66-62.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Sorry, the only thing I remember from the 67-68 season was the famous Astrodome game in which Houston and Elvin Hayes broke a 47-game winning streak by UCLA (featuring Lew Alcindor, before he was Kareem).  UCLA later avenged this loss in the Final Four.

I vaguely remember the '69 tournament, and definitely the 1970 one featuring the championship game between UCLA (now led by Sidney Wicks, Alcindor having gone to the Bucks) over Artis Gilmore's Jacksonville.

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 17 RESULTS

JGibson won the week, while Sprouts likely sewed up the overall title.

14 JGibson
12 GeorgiaModerate, Sprouts
11 sjoyce
9 Illiniwek
(only 24 games this week)

The average score was 11.6, which in percentage terms is about the same as the last couple weeks.

Unanimous picks:

Northern Kentucky-Wright State (wrong)
Texas State-UTA
FSU-Clemson (wrong)
Marquette-Seton Hall (wrong)
Duke-Virginia (wrong)
Penn-Brown
San Diego State-Nevada
Gonzaga-St. Mary's
Creighton-St. John's (wrong)

Games with one dissenter (asterisk = dissenter was right):

UNC Greensboro-Chattanooga (*)
Georgia-Arkansas
Alabama-South Carolina
Ohio State-Michigan

Overall standings, with one week to go:

257 Sprouts
250 GeorgiaModerate
238 Illiniwek
235 JGibson
225 sjoyce
178 YE
152 dfw
98 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise

[GeorgiaModerate]

Not only were the primaries a disaster, Oklahoma lost to Texas in a heartbreaker. Really ugly and defensively fought game but we missed 2 FT's (despite shooting 21/29 from the line on the game and getting 27 more FT attempts than Texas) late and Matt Coleman sunk the game winning 3 with .4 seconds

Texas had only two FT attempts?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Picks for tonight: Bowling Green, Duquesne, and Indiana State.  I'll do the others later or tomorrow morning.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Well, I've started out a sterling 0-3 (at least I'm not the only one).  Here are the rest of my picks:

#14 Villanova @ Georgetown
#24 Wisconsin @ Indiana
Marquette @ St. John’s
#4 Baylor @ West Virginia
#6 Kentucky @ Florida
#1 Kansas @ Texas Tech
#8 Seton Hall @ #11 Creighton
#5 Western Carolina vs. #4 Mercer
Alabama @ Missouri
UCLA @ USC
#10 Louisville @ #22 Virginia
North Carolina @ #12 Duke
Yale @ Harvard
SMU @ South Florida
Western Kentucky @ Florida International
Butler @ Xavier
Stanford @ #13 Oregon

#25 Michigan @ #9 Maryland
#19 Ohio State @ #16 Michigan State
#18 Iowa @ #23 Illinois
#4 Nebraska-Omaha vs #5 Oral Roberts
#6 Northeastern vs. #3 Towson