2024-25 College Basketball Thread

Yeah that’s really what Pitino is a proxy for - one or more big boosters willing to spend at parity with the State U schools regularly in the rankings.

Villanova probably needs a coaching change to have a shot at turning it around but I don’t think they’re a lost cause at all. Georgetown needs a whale like the Johnnies have or otherwise the losing seasons have piled up enough to calcify them as a has-been. I don’t think Seton Hall or Providence can afford the price of poker in this world.

 

Nate Silver just punched a puppy, and you know why.

 

Northwestern women's basketball elected not to go to Los Angeles for their games against UCLA and USC back in January when the wildfires were at their height.

Their reward? Forfeits in the Big Ten standings. Just announced today.

I get the logistical problem of trying to reschedule those games (I also get that Northwestern would have been dump trucked in both games, but that's hardly relevant), but this just seems unnecessarily obtuse. Just don't count the games at all. It wouldn't affect the 1-2 race between the two LA schools at the top of the league and is unlikely to have helped Northwestern make the Big Ten Tournament on the other end.

 

DePaul has not been mediocre. Remarkably wretched.

 

The Crosstabs might be another option.

 

Sparty blows a late lead @ Maryland, then wins on a 60-footer at the buzzer.

Michigan State wins but sure plays some ugly-ass basketball.

 

Just noticed that they've lost ≥ 13 in four straight years. This version has been more watchable than the recent predecessors. Normally, I'd say they'd be a decent dark horse Final Four pick. But the SEC has so damned many teams.

 

I’m starting to think only 4-6 SEC teams make it past the first weekend. Maybe as few as three.

 

They'll get more than that if projections holds -- seven are viewed as top three seeds. There would need to be major upsets for them to under perform

 

Kentucky and Texas A&M are presumably the last two teams held in that high regard but both are struggling right now.

UK might be able to turn it around if it can get everyone healthy but Jaxson Robinson’s wrist didn’t hold up in his first game back and he didn’t play after halftime at Oklahoma. Without him the Cats become very thin very fast at the point and even with him the defense has been poor. Classic high ceiling, low floor team.

A&M has lost three in a row and the offense is regressing over the course of the season. The Aggies love and die by being foul merchants and making the game as ugly as possible. I don’t know that they will get as generous a whistle from officials not used to their style and the returns have been diminishing anyway. Wade Taylor IV is supposed to be the glue guy but the chemistry just seems off the last month-plus.

That leaves five high-end contenders, three of whom could end up a No. 1 seed. But it feels a little bit too much to expect chalk to hold everywhere and thus me penciling in downside risk.

 

It seems pretty obvious at this point that Auburn, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee will be either a 1 or a 2, so if none of them make it past the opening weekend something went very wrong.

For the likes of A&M and Kentucky, I get the feeling they aren't going to be downgraded that much because their overall metrics are going to be good and "everyone" agrees the league is the best in the country.

 

Don’t sleep on Mizzou making some tourney noise. This team is well rounded.