Gwmayhem wrote:

Maryland is certainly not one of the 20 best teams in the nation right now.  However, they are much improved with far better coaching than Manning or the final Turgeon seasons had provided.  While they could take their lumps in the Big 10, I still see them as a team that will go dancing.

This is what I meant. When you've watched turgeon do absolutely nothing with rosters that could've made it deep into March year in and year out (sans 1 lucky sweet 16 appearance) a decent coaching job looks incredible. I do think they go dancing. Maybe even win one or 2. Something to build off of at the least

The thing about Rutgers is, I keep expecting a big drop off after they lose key players,(because it doesn't appear as if they are signing highly touted players out of high school or the portal) but Pikiel, Hobbs, TJ Thompson and co. keep producing good teams. Whoever they bring in, plays hard and plays smart!!

Things could go from worse to a lot worse (or worser if that's a word! lol) for Georgetown tonight as they travel to Storrs to face #2 UConn, who is 12-0. Georgetown is actually a 20 POINT UNDERDOG in this one!! Even though Georgetown broke their consecutive games losing streak this year, their Big East losing streak remains intact. The game is at 6:30 on FS1. 

Oklahoma plays Florida tonight at 9:30 on ESPN2, we'll see if Bamisile can crack the rotation. 

Last edited by Thomas (12/20/2022 12:54 pm)

Despite Georgetown being bad and UConn being good I'm not surprised that the Hoyas managed to cover. Felt like the Huskies being 20+ point favorites was too high a number and Georgetown usually manages to cover the spread during Big East play despite always losing. Almost-GW transfer Joey Calcaterra had 14 off the bench for UConn.

Providence-#24 Marquette may have been the best game I've watched this year. Providence somehow managed to blow an 8 point lead in OT #1 but eventually won in double overtime. Tyler Kolek being such an impactful player for Marquette is truly amazing. I thought he was good at Mason but wasn't sure how that would translate to the Big East.

Old friend Jameer Nelson Jr. had the game winning tip-in for Delaware yesterday. The Blue Hens defeated Rider 60-59. JNJ finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. Seems like he has a good shot at first team CAA. Happy for him.

Joe is continuing to ride the pine at Oklahoma. I just hope he was promised he would get to play more next year because he will have to sit out an additional year if he re-enters the portal. I continue to shake my head why he chose OU of all schools based on his playing style...

It was a bad day for the SEC:
Ole Miss lost to North Alabama 66-65 which I believe was the first P6 win for the Lions since they recently went D1. I feel like Mississippi should be better than they are.

Texas A&M lost to Wofford 67-62. Buzz hasn't been able to turn it around in College Station so far. I have always liked the offense Wofford runs. I believe their coach was recently suspended for overexerting players or something like that so even more amazing that they were able to pull off the W.

#15 Mississippi State lost their first game of the year to a veteran Drake squad. That may indirectly have been the best thing to happen to the A10, as Drake had recently just lost to Richmond and St. Louis in succession. Richmond has been very erratic recently - they either blow teams out or get blown out badly. Drake may end up being a good W for SLU, the team that probably has the best shot at an at-large at this point.

Speaking of the A10, nice to see teams go 2-0 today. UMass was losing to a bad Dartmouth team that had four players out due to illness so good that they were able to come out strong after halftime. Dayton blew out Alcorn State by 40+. Good to see. Alcorn can be feisty at times. The Flyers recently had two players enter the transfer portal so maybe those guys were impacting team chemistry.

Maryland-Eastern Shore beat Temple 86-78. I guess all Philadelphia area teams are just terrible this year. Temple has been playing like other A10 teams this year with losses to Wagner and now UMES.

#22 Miami (FL) beat #6 UVA 66-64. I just cannot buy UVA as a title contender despite Bennett showing he can do it. Seeing Virginia lose on the road as the #6 ranked team in the country also brought back fond memories.

Louisville lost to Lipscomb 75-67. Louisville's forward-heavy roster is somehow an even more extreme version of GW's. At least they aren't Cal I guess.

#11 Gonzaga beat Montana by 10. Given Montana is mediocre at best the Zags probably should have won by more. This year's team just doesn't seem good enough defensively to be the team that finally wins the title.

Amazing New Mexico is undefeated on the year given they were an absolute dumpster fire just a couple seasons back. The transfer portal era has really changed the rebuild time but credit Richard Pitino for turning it around so quickly. He couldn't figure it out at Minnesota but UNM may be a better job/easier to win at.

IUPUI beat new to D1 Texas A&M-Commerce by 10 at home for their first D1 win of the year. Only mentioning this because I'm stunned that IUPUI is still the worst team in D1. You would think it's not an impossible task to recruit to Indianapolis but perhaps there are financial issues there or something.
 

31.5 point underdogs Eastern Illinois beat Iowa, the biggest upset in college basketball history


underdogs of 30 or more points were previously 0-558 

How big an upset was this? even with the win they are #349 out of 365 KenPom teams
 

Georgetown actually had a 7 or 8 point lead in the 2nd half, but still lost by 11. I thought the 20 point spread was a little high too but I knew UConn had the firepower(combined with Georgetown's lack of defense and selfish play) to beat Georgetown by 35+. Georgetown plays DePaul next, that will be one of the few opportunities for them to pick up a conference win.  

GWRising, I turned the Arizona State-San Francisco game on shortly after it started when I saw the score, SF just pummeled them from he opening tip. I was surprised to see that the game was played on San Francisco's home court because I always assume that BCS schools are terrified of playing true road games against capable non-BCS schools. San Francisco had them down by almost 50 in the second half! I guess Bobby Hurley learned his lesson last night and we won't be seeing his teams play road games like that ever again!!

Gonzaga's win extended their 72 game home winning streak tied with UNLV (1974-78) among the longest in NCAA history. It's the longest streak in the sport  since the expansion of the NCAA tournament in 1985 

The Dude wrote:

Gonzaga won tonight 122-40

 the A10 slate kicked off tonight, Davidson beat Fordham, who had started the year 12-1.

 

I mean a quick look at their schedule would tell you they were the fakest 12-1 team ever

Mentzinger wrote:

Skittles wrote:

I mean a quick look at their schedule would tell you they were the fakest 12-1 team ever

LOL. You sure?

2005-06 27-3/16-0 A-10 (1st)
Head Coach: Karl Hobbs
Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions
NCAA Tournament Second Round

First 13 games

Date . . . . . . . Opponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Result
11/23 . . . . . . . Kennesaw State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 87-42
11/26 . . . . . . . Norfolk State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 80-69
11/30 . . . . . . . St. Francis (PA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 85-68
12/2 . . . . . . . . Boston University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 75-62
12/5 . . . . . . . . vs. #21 Maryland 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 78-70
12/8 . . . . . . . . Florida International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 70-45
12/10 . . . . . . . at Morgan State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 102-75
12/17 . . . . . . . UMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 98-72
12/30 . . . . . . . at #19 NC State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L, 79-58
1/4 . . . . . . . . . . at Temple* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 72-60
1/7 . . . . . . . . . . at Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (OT) W, 79-73
1/11 . . . . . . . . Saint Louis* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (OT) W, 69-64
1/14 . . . . . . . . Saint Joseph’s* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W, 82-70

That UMD win against a ranked team is more impressive than this 12-1 squads resume

Michigan loses to Central Michigan! WOAH

How big an upset?  Central Michigan had a KenPom of 296 before the game
 

Maryland struggling at Michigan- 13 points at the half!!!!