2021-22 College Basketball Thread

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEKS 2 & 3 RESULTS

Pessimistic Antineutrino and I tied for first at 17-9, two games ahead of Illiniwek.  Full results:

17 GeorgiaModerate, Pessimistic Antineutrino
15 Illiniwek
14 NY Express
12 JGibson

With so few players, most games are either unanimous or have one dissenter, so I'm not going to list those unless we start getting more players.

Year to date (43 games):

31 GeorgiaModerate   
29 Pessimistic Antineutrino   
26 Illiniwek   
25 NY Express   
22 JGibson   

[GeorgiaModerate]

Week 4 picks:

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Virginia Tech @ Maryland 7:15 PM
Louisville @ Michigan State 7:15 PM
Nebraska @ NC State 7:15 PM
UCF @ Auburn 8:00 PM SEC+/ESPN+
Florida @ Oklahoma 8:00 PM
Wichita State @ Oklahoma State 8:00 PM BIG12/ESPN+
Texas Tech @ Providence 8:30 PM FS1
Michigan @ North Carolina 9:15 PM ESPN
Wisconsin @ Georgia Tech 9:15 PM ESPN2
Colorado @ UCLA 9:30 PM
Utah @ USC 11:30 PM

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Lipscomb @ Belmont 8:00 PM ESPN+
Saint Mary's @ Utah State 9:00 PM

Friday, December 3, 2021

Kansas @ St. John's 7:00 PM FS1
Rutgers @ Illinois 7:00 PM ESPN2
Iowa @ Purdue 9:00 PM

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Memphis @ Ole Miss 12:00 PM ESPN2
Clemson @ Miami(FL) 12:00 PM ACC
Marquette @ Wisconsin 12:30 PM
San Diego State @ Michigan 1:00 PM
Tennessee @ Colorado 2:00 PM
Louisville @ NC State 2:00 PM ESPN2
Wake Forest @ Virginia Tech 2:00 PM ACC
USC @ Washington State 6:00 PM
Alabama @ Gonzaga 8:00 PM ESPN2
Iowa State @ Creighton 9:00 PM FS1
Vanderbilt @ SMU 9:00 PM ESPN+

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Northwestern @ Maryland 12:00 PM
Xavier @ Oklahoma State 5:00 PM ESPN2

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is the Pac 12 that bad in non-conference games? Will Oregon lose to Montana and/or UC Riverside?

The lower half (or two-thirds) of the conference has been pretty dire in OOC games this year.  That said, Oregon should beat both of those teams, especially Montana.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is the Pac 12 that bad in non-conference games? Will Oregon lose to Montana and/or UC Riverside?

The lower half (or two-thirds) of the conference has been pretty dire in OOC games this year.  That said, Oregon should beat both of those teams, especially Montana.

Are you going to watch the Oregon-UC Riverside game on television?

Nope.  West Coast night games are too late for me to watch.  I need my sleep.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is the Pac 12 that bad in non-conference games? Will Oregon lose to Montana and/or UC Riverside?

The lower half (or two-thirds) of the conference has been pretty dire in OOC games this year.  That said, Oregon should beat both of those teams, especially Montana.

Are you going to watch the Oregon-UC Riverside game on television?

Nope.  West Coast night games are too late for me to watch.  I need my sleep.

Do you watch games on the online network SEC Network Plus?

I could if necessary, but generally if there's a non-TV game that I want to watch that's on SECN+ it's also on ESPN+, and I'll watch it on the latter just because I'm used to it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is it an indictment of the Pac 12 if Oregon loses to Montana/UC Riverside or Oregon State loses to Sacramento State?

*shrug*.  It means the conference is having a down year, with a couple of really good teams at the top and a lousy remaining group.  It's certainly happened to other conferences before and isn't exactly a new thing for this one.  I remember during the Wooden era when the Pac-8 was known as UCLA and the Seven Dwarfs (a bit unfair to USC, which was occasionally a top-tier team).

[GeorgiaModerate]

Terrific finish in Iowa-Virginia.  The Cavaliers came all the way back from 21 down to take the lead briefly, then Iowa retook it with 8 seconds left.  Virginia had one last chance to win, but their final shot bounced off and a putback attempt was blocked.  Iowa won 75-74.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Lipscomb @ Belmont 8:00 PM ESPN+

No pick.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Syracuse and Indiana are in a shoot-out, heading to double OT tied at 97.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Duke's tenure as #1 will be brief as they fell to Ohio State 71-66 last night.  Ohio State trailed by 15 in the second half but gradually came back and finally caught up to Duke with a minute left.  The Buckeyes had a 12-0 closing run over the last 4+ minutes.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Nebraska and NC State going to triple OT.

[GeorgiaModerate]

This is an actual final score:

Washington State 51
Arizona State 29

Wazzu led 18-10 at the half.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Tonight's Washington-Arizona game has been postponed due to COVID protocols in the Huskies program.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Changing my pick in Clemson-Miami to the Hurricanes.  It was a coin flip when I picked it a few days ago, and since then Clemson lost to Rutgers while Miami won at Penn State, which is enough to tip it for me.

[GeorgiaModerate]

First non-Duke coaching change this season, as Mark Turgeon has resigned at Maryland.

My guesses for the next head Coach at Maryland:

Former Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller

Iona Head Coach Rick Pitino

South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin

Virginia Tech beat Virginia in football, and Virginia's coach resigned.

Virginia Tech beat Maryland in basketball, and Maryland's coach resigned.

If you're a coach whose job is precarious, you really don't want to play Virginia Tech.

[GeorgiaModerate]

DePaul @ Louisville 8:00 PM ACC

No pick.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Tonight's Washington-Arizona game has been postponed due to COVID protocols in the Huskies program.

Sunday’s Washington-UCLA game has been canceled for the same reason. The two teams could not arrange a date to reschedule it, so by Pac-12 rules Washington forfeits the game.

[GeorgiaModerate]

#18 Memphis might not be everything we thought it was this season. They just lost to Ole Miss today, 67-63, and on Wednesday, they lost to Georgia, 82-79.

They have a boatload of talented players but have yet to get them all to play cohesively.   If they manage to get it together, they can be a formidable team in February and March.  If they don't then I expect a very unhappy offseason for Penny Hardaway in Memphis.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Down go the Zags, 91-82! Didn’t see that coming.

[GeorgiaModerate]

WEEK 4 RESULTS

Pessimistic Antineutrino (aka "PA") won the week at 22-7, a game ahead of first-time player Orwell.  Full results:

22 Pessimistic Antineutrino
21 Orwell
20 NY Express
19 Illiniwek
18 GeorgiaModerate
15 JGibson
10 Utah Neolib

(Incidentally, you guys finally broke my streak of winning or sharing first in this pick'em, which was at nine weeks going back to last season.)

There were 6 unanimous picks:

NC State-Nebraska (in 4 OT!)
Auburn-UCF
Oklahoma State-Wichita State (wrong)
Tennessee-Colorado
Gonzaga-Alabama (wrong)
Maryland-Northwestern (wrong)

And 7 games with a single dissenter (the dissenter was wrong in all of them):

Wisconsin-Georgia Tech
UCLA-Colorado
USC-Utah
Kansas-St. John's
Illinois-Rutgers
Miami-Clemson
Michigan-San Diego State

PA takes the overall lead, two games ahead of me.  Year to date (72 games):

51 Pessimistic Antineutrino
49 GeorgiaModerate   
45 Illiniwek, NY Express
37 JGibson   
21 Orwell   
10 Utah Neolib   

[GeorgiaModerate]

Baylor @ Oregon 10:00 PM ESPN2

No pick.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Obviously things can change, but at halftime #20 Florida trails 35-25 at home to Texas Southern, which is 0-7 and #240 at Kenpom.

[GeorgiaModerate]

FINAL: Texas Southern 69, Florida 54.  That's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad loss.

[GeorgiaModerate]

There are some interesting games this week!

Wednesday:

UConn @ West Virginia 7:00 PM ESPN2
Indiana @ Wisconsin 7:00 PM
Utah State @ BYU 9:00 PM
Air Force @ Montana 9:00 PM ESPN+
Marquette @ Kansas State 9:00 PM
Michigan State @ Minnesota 9:00 PM
Wyoming @ Arizona 10:00 PM
Fresno State @ San Francisco 10:00 PM

Thursday:

Texas @ Seton Hall 6:30 PM FS1
Iowa @ Iowa State 9:00 PM ESPN2   Iowa State is much improved, but I don't think they're good enough to beat Iowa.

Friday:

Murray State @ Memphis 8:00 PM ESPN+  Memphis has problems, but not enough to lose this game.  I think.
Loyola-Chicago @ Vanderbilt 8:00 PM ESPN+/SEC+
DePaul @ Louisville 8:00 PM ACC

Saturday:

Nebraska @ Auburn 11:30 AM
Syracuse @ Georgetown 12:00 PM
Wisconsin @ Ohio State 12:00 PM
BYU @ Creighton 1:00 PM
UCLA @ Marquette 2:30 PM
Missouri @ Kansas 3:15 PM ESPN
Saint Bonaventure @ UConn 3:30 PM ESPN2
Arizona @ Illinois 5:00 PM   Toughest pick of the week.
Boston College @ Saint Louis 5:00 PM
Kentucky @ Notre Dame 5:15 PM ESPN
Minnesota @ Michigan 6:30 PM
TCU @ Texas A&M 6:30 PM SEC   Who knows?  Two teams with gaudy records against weak competition so far.
Cincinnati @ Xavier 8:30 PM FS1
Houston @ Alabama 10:00 PM ESPN2   The computers love Houston, but I have to go with the team that just beat Gonzaga.

Sunday:

Villanova @ Baylor 3:00 PM ABC
Rutgers @ Seton Hall 7:30 PM FS1

[GeorgiaModerate]

In a game that both teams deserve to lose, Texas Tech and Tennessee are headed to OT tied at 44.  Tech is shooting 29% from the field (18% from 3) while Tennessee is at 27% and 12%.

Sigh...I miss the Paul Westhead Loyola Marymount teams.