2021-22 College Basketball Thread

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Schedule for Week Seven

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Army @ South Carolina 3:00 PM ESPN/SEC+

Drake @ St. Louis 3:00 PM (in Las Vegas)

Louisville @ Kentucky 6:00 PM ESPN

Murray State @ Auburn 6:00 PM SEC

Boston College @ Wake Forest 6:00 PM ACC

Arizona @ Tennessee 7:00 PM ESPN2

Middle Tennessee @ Chattanooga 7:00 PM ESPN+

Brown @ Rhode Island 7:00 PM ESPN+

Boise State @ Washington State 8:00 PM

Clemson @ Virginia 8:00 PMACC

Virginia Tech @ Duke 9:00 PM ESPN2

Illinois @ Missouri 9:00 PM (in St. Louis)

Thursday December 23, 2021

Howard @ Yale 2:00 PM ESPN+

Fresno State @ Weber State 6:00 PM ESPN+

Butler @ St. John's 6:30 PM

Seton Hall @ DePaul 8:30 PM

[GeorgiaModerate]

Butler @ Purdue 12:00 PM FOX (in Indianapolis)

No pick.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Butler @ Purdue 12:00 PM FOX (in Indianapolis)

No pick.

I fixed it picking Purdue. Thanks for looking out for me!

[GeorgiaModerate]

As expected, Baylor is the new #1 in the AP poll -- the fourth different #1 team in four weeks!

[NewYorkExpress]

What is up with the bottom tier of the ACC?

Boston College is currently trailing 2-7 Albany (out of the America East) 35-26 at halftime.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

What is up with the bottom tier of the ACC?

Boston College is currently trailing 2-7 Albany (out of the America East) 35-26 at halftime.

Pittsburgh and Boston College, the scummiest teams in the Big East, openly chose to sacrifice the New York recruiting scene and traditional rivalries in order to get 6-8 win seasons in a barely adequate football conference. I didn't think Syracuse would reach their levels of disaster, but Jim Boeheim is down to relying on his two sons and a Villanova outcast to help him sneak into the NIT.

I wish I could explain traditional ACC powers - UVA, NC State and Georgia Tech - falling off the map...has the SEC really wrestled away control with football money and hot coaching hires?

The lack of any even adequate teams has caused the ACC's average rating to fall behind the Pac-12, a conference where 50 percent of the teams are outside the top 100 and even a 4th bid looks extremely precarious following Wazzu falling at the buzzer to South Dakota State.

[NewYorkExpress]

What is up with the bottom tier of the ACC?

Boston College is currently trailing 2-7 Albany (out of the America East) 35-26 at halftime.

Pittsburgh and Boston College, the scummiest teams in the Big East, openly chose to sacrifice the New York recruiting scene and traditional rivalries in order to get 6-8 win seasons in a barely adequate football conference. I didn't think Syracuse would reach their levels of disaster, but Jim Boeheim is down to relying on his two sons and a Villanova outcast to help him sneak into the NIT.

I wish I could explain traditional ACC powers - UVA, NC State and Georgia Tech - falling off the map...has the SEC really wrestled away control with football money and hot coaching hires?

The lack of any even adequate teams has caused the ACC's average rating to fall behind the Pac-12, a conference where 50 percent of the teams are outside the top 100 and even a 4th bid looks extremely precarious following Wazzu falling at the buzzer to South Dakota State.

Pretty much every SEC school that isn't Kentucky, Florida or Tennessee (and occasionally Auburn/LSU) usually hasn't been good at basketball. Adding Texas A&M and Missouri didn't change that, and Oklahoma isn't going to change that much either.

Texas on the hand, is a basketball power (at least at the moment), and probably is the third best team in the Big Twelve right now (behind Baylor and Kansas, though you can make a strong case that they are in fact a better team than Kansas). Adding them dramatically boosts the SEC's reputation.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

The SEC may not be traditional basketball powers but what I am saying is they changed their own fortunes for the future even excluding changes in membership.

Tennessee went out and got Hall of Famer Rick Barnes. Auburn decided Bruce Pearl was worth the baggage in order to finally be competitive. Texas A&M lured Buzz Williams out of the ACC for a massive rebuilding project. Alabama poached the 2nd hottest young coach east of the Mississippi to bring them to the next level. Arkansas got the 2nd hottest young coach west of the Mississippi. The only bigger names were scooped up by Oklahoma and Texas in anticipation of this move.

These schools are prepared to compete with Kentucky (and Florida and LSU) for the long haul.

Mississippi State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt also spent big to bring in big names though those outcomes are TBD/not looking as hot.

This is all thanks to the SEC Network making them kings.


Compare that to the ACC. Steve Forbes was a good hire. I guess Capel was OK but you really can't win at that job. Mike Young is OK but clearly not a long term solution at a program with little interest in the sport. Don't get me started on Chris Mack's underperformance. And the conference has three legends retiring to kick off the decade with hand picked replacements that could never fill their shoes.

[Pessimistic Antineutrino]

Schedule for Week Six

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Chattanooga @ Belmont 6:00 PM ESPN+

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Dartmouth @ Stanford 10:00 PM

Friday, December 17, 2021

St. Bonaventure @ Virginia Tech 4:00 PM ESPN2 (in Charlotte)

Furman @ Mississippi State 7:00 PM SEC

Villanova @ Creighton 8:00 PM

Saint Mary's @ San Diego State 10:00 PM (in Phoenix)

Saturday, December 18, 2021

Butler @ Purdue 12:00 PM FOX (in Indianapolis)

Tennessee @ Memphis 12:00 PM ESPN2 (in Nashville)

Pittsburgh @ St. John's 12:00 PM

Gonzaga @ Texas Tech 1:00 PM (in Phoenix)

TCU @ Georgetown 2:00 PM

Iona @ Seton Hall 2:30 PM (in New York)

Indiana @ Notre Dame 2:30 PM (In Indianapolis)

UCLA @ North Carolina 3:00 PM (In Las Vegas)

DePaul @ Northwestern 3:00 PM

UCF @ Florida State 3:30 PM (in Sunrise, Florida)

Penn State @ VCU 3:30 PM ESPN+

USC @ Georgia Tech 4:00 PM (in Phoenix)

Marquette @ Xavier 4:00 PM

Utah @ Missouri 4:30 PM SEC/ESPN+

Providence @ UConn 5:00 PM

Ohio State @ Kentucky 5:15 PM (in Las Vegas)

Oklahoma State @ Houston 7:00 PM ESPNU

South Carolina @ Clemson 8:00 PM ACC

Auburn @ Saint Louis 9:00 PM

Baylor @ Oregon 10:00 PM ESPN2

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Texas @ Stanford 3:00 PM ABC

Kansas State @ Nebraska 6:00 PM

San Francisco @ Arizona State 6:00 PM

[GeorgiaModerate]

The SEC may not be traditional basketball powers but what I am saying is they changed their own fortunes for the future even excluding changes in membership.

Tennessee went out and got Hall of Famer Rick Barnes. Auburn decided Bruce Pearl was worth the baggage in order to finally be competitive. Texas A&M lured Buzz Williams out of the ACC for a massive rebuilding project. Alabama poached the 2nd hottest young coach east of the Mississippi to bring them to the next level. Arkansas got the 2nd hottest young coach west of the Mississippi. The only bigger names were scooped up by Oklahoma and Texas in anticipation of this move.

These schools are prepared to compete with Kentucky (and Florida and LSU) for the long haul.

Mississippi State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt also spent big to bring in big names though those outcomes are TBD/not looking as hot.

This is all thanks to the SEC Network making them kings.


Compare that to the ACC. Steve Forbes was a good hire. I guess Capel was OK but you really can't win at that job. Mike Young is OK but clearly not a long term solution at a program with little interest in the sport. Don't get me started on Chris Mack's underperformance. And the conference has three legends retiring to kick off the decade with hand picked replacements that could never fill their shoes.

When I was growing up, SEC basketball was pretty much a joke outside of Kentucky, with Tennessee a distant second and other teams VERY occasionally being decent.  There was a joke that you could fill in the final standings at the beginning of the season: Kentucky first, Tennessee second, and eight other teams tied for last.  That was pretty consistently true year after year.  Sprouts is correct that the SEC made a major -- and largely successful -- effort to raise its basketball profile into being one of the top conferences.

(Georgia basketball is still pretty bad most of the time, though.  Did you know basketball isn't even the second most attended sport on campus after football?  It's women's gymnastics.)

[GeorgiaModerate]

Belmont tomorrow and Stanford Thursday.  I'll pick the rest later.

[NewYorkExpress]

Well, at least Louisville looks good so far tonight. Tonight they lead Southeast Louisiana 41-32 at halftime.

Problem for them is they have bad losses against Furman and DePaul, to go with their loss against Michigan State.

The Cardinal look like a bubble team at the moment.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Well, at least Louisville looks good so far tonight. Tonight they lead Southeast Louisiana 41-32 at halftime.

Problem for them is they have bad losses against Furman and DePaul, to go with their loss against Michigan State.

The Cardinal look like a bubble team at the moment.

DePaul isn't that bad a loss based on their results so far.  They're 8-1, 51st in the NET rankings, and 88th at Kenpom.

[NewYorkExpress]

Well, at least Louisville looks good so far tonight. Tonight they lead Southeast Louisiana 41-32 at halftime.

Problem for them is they have bad losses against Furman and DePaul, to go with their loss against Michigan State.

The Cardinal look like a bubble team at the moment.

DePaul isn't that bad a loss based on their results so far.  They're 8-1, 51st in the NET rankings, and 88th at Kenpom.

Given what conference DePaul plays in (the Big East is pretty good and balanced), I'd say DePaul is also a bubble team at this point, unless they do really well in conference play.

[NewYorkExpress]

In the latest chapter of The ACC suddenly sucks, VMI is leading Wake Forest 42-29 at halftime.

Meanwhile, Furman and North Carolina are tied at 39 at Halftime.

[GeorgiaModerate]

In the latest chapter of The ACC suddenly sucks, VMI is leading Wake Forest 42-29 at halftime.

Meanwhile, Furman and North Carolina are tied at 39 at Halftime.

And Clemson trails Miami 47-41 with about 15 minutes left.  Miami of Ohio, that is; not the Miami in Florida.

[NewYorkExpress]

Somehow Memphis is beating #6 Alabama.

The Tigers lead 53-42 with about thirteen minutes to go.

[JGibson]

Schedule for Week Seven

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Army @ South Carolina 3:00 PM ESPN/SEC+

Drake @ St. Louis 3:00 PM (in Las Vegas)

Louisville @ Kentucky 6:00 PM ESPN

Murray State @ Auburn 6:00 PM SEC

Boston College @ Wake Forest 6:00 PM ACC

Arizona @ Tennessee 7:00 PM ESPN2

Middle Tennessee @ Chattanooga 7:00 PM ESPN+

Brown @ Rhode Island 7:00 PM ESPN+

Boise State @ Washington State 8:00 PM

Clemson @ Virginia 8:00 PMACC

Virginia Tech @ Duke 9:00 PM ESPN2

Illinois @ Missouri 9:00 PM (in St. Louis)

Thursday December 23, 2021

Howard @ Yale 2:00 PM ESPN+

Fresno State @ Weber State 6:00 PM ESPN+

Butler @ St. John's 6:30 PM

Seton Hall @ DePaul 8:30 PM

[NewYorkExpress]

Schedule for Week Seven

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Army @ South Carolina 3:00 PM ESPN/SEC+

Drake @ St. Louis 3:00 PM (in Las Vegas)

Louisville @ Kentucky 6:00 PM ESPN

Murray State @ Auburn 6:00 PM SEC

Boston College @ Wake Forest 6:00 PM ACC

Arizona @ Tennessee 7:00 PM ESPN2

Middle Tennessee @ Chattanooga 7:00 PM ESPN+

Brown @ Rhode Island 7:00 PM ESPN+

Boise State @ Washington State 8:00 PM

Clemson @ Virginia 8:00 PMACC

Virginia Tech @ Duke 9:00 PM ESPN2

Illinois @ Missouri 9:00 PM (in St. Louis)

Thursday December 23, 2021

Howard @ Yale 2:00 PM ESPN+

Fresno State @ Weber State 6:00 PM ESPN+

Butler @ St. John's 6:30 PM

Seton Hall @ DePaul 8:30 PM

[GeorgiaModerate]

Somehow Memphis is beating #6 Alabama.

The Tigers lead 53-42 with about thirteen minutes to go.

Memphis, the same team that lost at home to Murray State in their last game, won 92-78.  That's what you call basketball schizophrenia!

[GeorgiaModerate]

Oregon State lost at home to UC Davis to fall to 1-9.  According to the NET rankings, the Beavers are the worst major conference team in the country.

[Greedo punched first]

Who will win the Oregon State-Sacramento State game on December 28?

[NewYorkExpress]

Who will win the Oregon State-Sacramento State game on December 28?

I'm thinking Sacramento State.

[Greedo punched first]

Is Oregon State really that bad? Will the Oregon State-USC game in Los Angeles be such a blowout that USC fourth string center Boubacar Coulibaly makes an appearance in the final minutes of the second half?

[GeorgiaModerate]

Is Oregon State really that bad? Will the Oregon State-USC game in Los Angeles be such a blowout that USC fourth string center Boubacar Coulibaly makes am appearance in the final minutes of the second half?

I don't know enough about them to have an opinion on the second question.  But for the first one: yes, Oregon State is really that bad.