2019-2020 College Basketball Discussion and Pick 'em Thread

[America Needs Jesus Christ]

I know I haven't been making picks (I'll start in conference play), but I'm coming here to note that this was Duke's first home non-conference loss in almost 20 years!  And, the way it happened was insane- kind of like how I always imagined the finish of the first 16-over-1 upset, instead of a 20 point final that lacked any real drama!

[JGibson]

I know I haven't been making picks (I'll start in conference play), but I'm coming here to note that this was Duke's first home non-conference loss in almost 20 years!  And, the way it happened was insane- kind of like how I always imagined the finish of the first 16-over-1 upset, instead of a 20 point final that lacked any real drama!

It's a good day in America when Puke loses.

[JGibson]

Week 4

Friday, November 29
DePaul @ Minnesota – 2pm
Western Kentucky vs. #2 Louisville – 4pm
#20 Tennessee vs. Florida State – 6pm – CBSSN
UAB @ #9 Kentucky – 6pm – SECN
Missouri State @ LSU – 7pm – SECN
#21 VCU vs. Purdue – 8:30pm – CBSSN
#15 Utah State @ Saint Mary’s – 10:30pm – ESPNU
San Francisco @ Hawaii – 11:00pm

Saturday, November 30
UNC-Greensboro @ Georgetown – 1pm
Princeton @ Bucknell – 1pm
South Dakota @ Northern Arizona – 1pm
Boston College @ Richmond – 1:30pm – NBCSN
East Tennessee State @ Little Rock – 2pm – ESPN+
ECU @ James Madison – 3pm
Northern Kentucky @ Arkansas – 4pm – SECN
Evansville @ IUPUI – 6pm – ESPN+
St. Francis @ St. Joseph’s – 6pm – ESPN+
Tulsa @ Vanderbilt – 7pm –SECN
Green Bay @ Montana State – 7pm
Belmont @ MTSU – 7:30pm
Samford @ Louisiana Tech – 8pm

Sunday, December 1
Rhode Island @ West Virginia – 1pm
Vermont @ Yale – 2pm – ESPN+
Southern Utah @ Loyola-Marymount – 3pm
St. Bonaventure vs. San Diego – 8pm

[GeorgiaModerate]

Duke was a 27.5 point favorite, making this the largest D1 upset in at least 15 years.

[Terry the Fat Shark]

Week 4

Friday, November 29
DePaul @ Minnesota – 2pm
Western Kentucky vs. #2 Louisville – 4pm
#20 Tennessee vs. Florida State – 6pm – CBSSN
UAB @ #9 Kentucky – 6pm – SECN
Missouri State @ LSU – 7pm – SECN
#21 VCU vs. Purdue – 8:30pm – CBSSN
#15 Utah State @ Saint Mary’s – 10:30pm – ESPNU
San Francisco @ Hawaii – 11:00pm

Saturday, November 30
UNC-Greensboro @ Georgetown – 1pm
Princeton @ Bucknell – 1pm
South Dakota @ Northern Arizona – 1pm
Boston College @ Richmond – 1:30pm – NBCSN
East Tennessee State @ Little Rock – 2pm – ESPN+
ECU @ James Madison – 3pm
Northern Kentucky @ Arkansas – 4pm – SECN
Evansville @ IUPUI – 6pm – ESPN+
St. Francis @ St. Joseph’s – 6pm – ESPN+
Tulsa @ Vanderbilt – 7pm –SECN
Green Bay @ Montana State – 7pm
Belmont @ MTSU – 7:30pm
Samford @ Louisiana Tech – 8pm

Sunday, December 1
Rhode Island @ West Virginia – 1pm
Vermont @ Yale – 2pm – ESPN+
Southern Utah @ Loyola-Marymount – 3pm
St. Bonaventure vs. San Diego – 8pm

[YE]

DePaul
Louisville
Tennessee
Kentucky
LSU
VCU
Utah State
USF

Georgetown
Bucknell
Southern Dakokta
Richmond
ETSU
ECU
Akransas
IUPI
St. Joseph's
Vanderbilt
Green Bay
Belmont
Louisiana Tech

Rhode Island
Vermont
LMU
St Bonaventure

[GeorgiaModerate]

DePaul @ Minnesota
Western Kentucky vs. Louisville
Tennessee vs. Florida State
UAB @ Kentucky
Missouri State @ LSU
VCU vs. Purdue
Utah State @ Saint Mary’s
San Francisco @ Hawaii

UNC-Greensboro @ Georgetown
Princeton @ Bucknell
South Dakota @ Northern Arizona
Boston College @ Richmond
East Tennessee State @ Little Rock
ECU @ James Madison
Northern Kentucky @ Arkansas
Evansville @ IUPUI
St. Francis @ St. Joseph’s  (holy war?)
Tulsa @ Vanderbilt
Green Bay @ Montana State
Belmont @ MTSU
Samford @ Louisiana Tech

Rhode Island @ West Virginia
Vermont @ Yale
Southern Utah @ Loyola-Marymount
St. Bonaventure vs. San Diego

[GeorgiaModerate]

A couple of terrific simultaneous games just about wore out the remote: Gonzaga over Oregon by 1 in OT in a game that went down to the wire, while Memphis (minus Wiseman and another starter) nearly blew a 20-point lead but held on to beat NC State.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

DePaul @ Minnesota
Western Kentucky vs. Louisville
Tennessee vs. Florida State
UAB @ Kentucky
Missouri State @ LSU
VCU vs. Purdue
Utah State @ Saint Mary’s
San Francisco @ Hawaii

UNC-Greensboro @ Georgetown
Princeton @ Bucknell
South Dakota @ Northern Arizona
Boston College @ Richmond
East Tennessee State @ Little Rock
ECU @ James Madison
Northern Kentucky @ Arkansas
Evansville @ IUPUI -- urgh
St. Francis @ St. Joseph’s
Tulsa @ Vanderbilt
Green Bay @ Montana State
Belmont @ MTSU
Samford @ Louisiana Tech

Rhode Island @ West Virginia
Vermont @ Yale
Southern Utah @ Loyola-Marymount
St. Bonaventure vs. San Diego

[DINGO Joe]

DePaul wins. Duke loses in Cameron to Some Dead Guy.

God is great.

In my bracket, three schools played their way out today, and DePaul is now the last team in.

The player who hit the winning shot for Stephen F. Austin, Nathan Bain, is from the Bahamas and he and his family lost everything to Hurricane Dorian.  A Go Fund Me had been set up by Stephen F. Austin (which can be done under NCAA rules) to help his family and had a kind of paltry $2,000 before the winning shot, it now has $132,000+, mainly driven by people who like seeing Duke lose. 

[GeorgiaModerate]

DePaul @ Minnesota
Western Kentucky vs. Louisville
Tennessee vs. Florida State
UAB @ Kentucky
Missouri State @ LSU
VCU vs. Purdue
Utah State @ Saint Mary’s
San Francisco @ Hawaii

UNC-Greensboro @ Georgetown
Princeton @ Bucknell
South Dakota @ Northern Arizona
Boston College @ Richmond
East Tennessee State @ Little Rock
ECU @ James Madison
Northern Kentucky @ Arkansas
Evansville @ IUPUI -- urgh
St. Francis @ St. Joseph’s
Tulsa @ Vanderbilt
Green Bay @ Montana State
Belmont @ MTSU
Samford @ Louisiana Tech

Rhode Island @ West Virginia
Vermont @ Yale
Southern Utah @ Loyola-Marymount
St. Bonaventure vs. San Diego

Our picks are exactly the same except for Princeton-Bucknell.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Our picks are exactly the same except for Princeton-Bucknell.

Haha! And LMU where I accidentally selected both. I think it will get more controversial when conference play begins.

I was tempted by ECU, IUPUI Green Bay and Tulsa. The little guys outside of the top 2 in their conferences are a lot tougher to watch in basketball.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Our picks are exactly the same except for Princeton-Bucknell.

Haha! And LMU where I accidentally selected both. I think it will get more controversial when conference play begins.

I was tempted by ECU, IUPUI Green Bay and Tulsa. The little guys outside of the top 2 in their conferences are a lot tougher to watch in basketball.

Glad you mentioned the double-pick.  I saw Southern Utah bolded and put that in the spreadsheet, and didn't notice LMU was also bolded.

General note: I try to double-check all entries (I simply missed the double-pick), but if people omit games from their list, or list a game with no teams bolded, that's considered to be no pick unless they correct it.  If anyone finds an incorrect number in the weekly results, let me know and I'll go back and check again.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Thinking about Loyola Marymount, does anyone else remember the crazy teams they had under coach Paul Westhead in the late 80's and early 90's?  Those have to be the most entertaining teams I've ever seen in 50+ years of watching college basketball.  Westhead recruited excellent shooters and got them into top physical condition.  Their philosophy was to run at top speed the whole game and shoot 3-pointers as quickly as possible; defense was an afterthought.  They typically scored well over 100 a game, often in the 140's or 150's, and I recall one game where they scored over 180.  

They're most famous for the 1989-1990 season, featuring stars Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, which was marred by Gathers's tragic death after collapsing during the WCC tournament.  That team went to the Elite Eight, losing to eventual champion UNLV.  During the tournament they beat defending national champion Michigan, who tried to run with them but lost 149-115.  IIRC Michigan shot over 60% for the game, outrebounded LMU by 30...and still lost by 34!  

That season also featured a nationally televised game with LSU, which had star Chris Jackson and a 17-year-old freshman named Shaquille O'Neal.  LSU was one of the few teams athletic enough to keep up with LMU and won 148-141 in OT, in what has to be the most fun game I've ever watched.  Replays come up occasionally on the SEC network, and are worth catching.

Here's an article about that team and their style: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/03/05/loyola-marymount-hank-gathers-death-25-years-bo-kimble-paul-westhead/24447175/.

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 4 RESULTS

sjoyce won the week by a 2-game margin and sneaks into the overall lead.

18 sjoyce
16 dfw, Illiniwek
15 Sprouts
13 GeorgiaModerate
12 Jgibson, YE

The average score was 14.6, the worst so far.

There were 7 unanimous picks, 5 of them correct:

Louisville-Western Kentucky
Kentucky-UAB
Georgetown-UNC Greensboro (wrong)
South Dakota-Northern Arizona (wrong)
Arkanas-Northern Kentucky
Belmont-Middle Tennessee
La. Tech-Samford

There were 8 picks with a single dissenter:

DePaul-Minnesota
LSU-Missouri State
Richmond-Boston College
East Tenn. State-Little Rock
St. Francis-St. Joseph's (dissenter was right)
Vanderbilt-Tulsa (dissenter was right)
West Virginia-Rhode Island
Vermont-Yale (dissenter was right)

Overall results:

69 sjoyce
68 dfw
67 Sprouts, YE
66 Illiniwek
62 GeorgiaModerate
57 JGibson
52 RINO Tom
36 Sunrise

[Gulf Coastal Elite]

Week 5:

Friday, December 6
#1 Duke @ VA Tech – 6pm – ACCN
Providence @ Rhode Island – 6pm – ESPN2
USC @ TCU – 8pm – 8pm

Saturday, December 7
#14 Arizona @ #19 Baylor – 11am – ESPNU
Penn State @ #10 Ohio State – 11am – BTN
#24 Florida @ Butler – 11am – FOX
Syracuse @ Georgia Tech – 11am – ACCN
WVU @ St. John’s – 11am – FS1
NC State @ Wake – 1pm – ACCN
Davidson @ Northeastern – 3pm
Indiana @ Wisconsin – 3:30pm – BTN
Illinois @ #5 Maryland – 4pm – ESPN2
Cincy @ #25 Xavier – 4pm – FS1
#21 Colorado @ #4 Kansas – 6pm – ESPN2
Arkansas @ WKU – 6:30pm – CBSSN
Mizzou @ Temple – 6:30pm – ESPNU
Marquette @ K-State – 8pm – ESPN2
Georgetown @ SMU – 8:30pm – ESPNU

Sunday, December 8
Houston @ South Carolina – 11am – ESPNU
Wichita State @ Oklahoma State – 1pm – ESPNU
#6 UNC @ #7 UVA – 3pm – ACCN
Dayton vs. Saint Mary’s – 3pm – ESPNU
LA Tech @ Sam Houston State – 4:30pm
#8 Gonzaga @ #23 Washington – 6pm – ESPN2
#13 Seton Hall @ Iowa State – 8pm – ESPN2

[JGibson]

Week 5:

Friday, December 6
#1 Duke @ VA Tech – 6pm – ACCN
Providence @ Rhode Island – 6pm – ESPN2
USC @ TCU – 8pm – 8pm

Saturday, December 7
#14 Arizona @ #19 Baylor – 11am – ESPNU
Penn State @ #10 Ohio State – 11am – BTN
#24 Florida @ Butler – 11am – FOX
Syracuse @ Georgia Tech – 11am – ACCN
WVU @ St. John’s – 11am – FS1
NC State @ Wake – 1pm – ACCN
Davidson @ Northeastern – 3pm
Indiana @ Wisconsin – 3:30pm – BTN
Illinois @ #5 Maryland – 4pm – ESPN2
Cincy @ #25 Xavier – 4pm – FS1
#21 Colorado @ #4 Kansas – 6pm – ESPN2
Arkansas @ WKU – 6:30pm – CBSSN
Mizzou @ Temple – 6:30pm – ESPNU
Marquette @ K-State – 8pm – ESPN2
Georgetown @ SMU – 8:30pm – ESPNU

Sunday, December 8
Houston @ South Carolina – 11am – ESPNU
Wichita State @ Oklahoma State – 1pm – ESPNU
#6 UNC @ #7 UVA – 3pm – ACCN
Dayton vs. Saint Mary’s – 3pm – ESPNU
LA Tech @ Sam Houston State – 4:30pm
#8 Gonzaga @ #23 Washington – 6pm – ESPN2
#13 Seton Hall @ Iowa State – 8pm – ESPN2

[Illiniwek]

Week 5:

Friday, December 6
#1 Duke @ VA Tech – 6pm – ACCN
Providence @ Rhode Island – 6pm – ESPN2
USC @ TCU – 8pm – 8pm

Saturday, December 7
#14 Arizona @ #19 Baylor – 11am – ESPNU
Penn State @ #10 Ohio State – 11am – BTN
#24 Florida @ Butler – 11am – FOX
Syracuse @ Georgia Tech – 11am – ACCN
WVU @ St. John’s – 11am – FS1
NC State @ Wake – 1pm – ACCN
Davidson @ Northeastern – 3pm
Indiana @ Wisconsin – 3:30pm – BTN
Illinois @ #5 Maryland – 4pm – ESPN2
Cincy @ #25 Xavier – 4pm – FS1
#21 Colorado @ #4 Kansas – 6pm – ESPN2
Arkansas @ WKU – 6:30pm – CBSSN
Mizzou @ Temple – 6:30pm – ESPNU
Marquette @ K-State – 8pm – ESPN2
Georgetown @ SMU – 8:30pm – ESPNU

Sunday, December 8
Houston @ South Carolina – 11am – ESPNU
Wichita State @ Oklahoma State – 1pm – ESPNU
#6 UNC @ #7 UVA – 3pm – ACCN
Dayton vs. Saint Mary’s – 3pm – ESPNU
LA Tech @ Sam Houston State – 4:30pm
#8 Gonzaga @ #23 Washington – 6pm – ESPN2
#13 Seton Hall @ Iowa State – 8pm – ESPN2

[GeorgiaModerate]

Almost, but not quite, a Sportscenter moment: Illinois gradually claws back from 27 down against Miami...has the ball down 1 with the shot clock off...player drives for the potential winning shot...and commits a charge (a blatant charge, not a ticky-tack call).

[RINO Tom]

^ Lost faith in our coaching staff last night ... WTF was that effort coming out of the gate in the first half?!  All the comeback does is show us how talented we are and how good we should be ... also that last play was just pathetic.  That's what we had drawn up?

This team has the pieces, but I am - for the first time - not sold on Underwood being a good hire at all.

[RINO Tom]

FRIDAY 12/6
#10 Duke at Virginia Tech
Providence at Rhode Island
USC at TCU

SATURDAY 12/7
#12 Arizona at #18 Baylor
Penn State at #10 Ohio State
#17 Florida at #24 Butler
Syracuse at Georgia Tech
West Virginia at St. John’s
NC State at Wake Forest
Davidson at Northeastern
Indiana at Wisconsin
Illinois at #3 Maryland
Cincinnati at Xavier
#20 Colorado at #2 Kansas
Arkansas at Western Kentucky
Missouri at Temple
Marquette at Kansas State
Georgetown at SMU

SUNDAY 12/8
Houston at South Carolina
Wichita State at Oklahoma State
#7 North Carolina at #5 Virginia
Dayton vs. Saint Mary’s
Louisiana Tech at Sam Houston State
#9 Gonzaga at #23 Washington
#16 Seton Hall at Iowa State

[YE]

Duke
Providence
USC

Arizona
Ohio State
Butler
Syracuse
West Virginia
Wake Forest
Davidson
Wisconsin
Maryland
Xavier
Kansas
Arkansas
Missouri
Marquette
SMU

Houston
Oklahoma State
Virginia
Saint Mary's
Sam Houston State
Gonzaga
Seton Hall

Boring slate of games this week for me at least.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Either Purdue is much better or Virginia is much worse than I thought.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Either Purdue is much better or Virginia is much worse than I thought.

Virginia is absolutely garbage (compared to the standard they have set for themselves). I don't see how they could be considered a top 25 team when there is no talent on the roster, just a system defense. I had them 27th entering the day. They'll be fine by virtue of a soft conference. Highly reminiscent of last year's Villanova.

[ON Progressive]

Utah came back from 16 down in the second half to beat BYU 102-95.

It's always fun watching BYU lose to us, no matter the sport!