2024-25 College Basketball Thread

[poindexter]

Michigan State beat Maryland last night.
I had to double check the highlights. Not one stitch of green or white on Michigan State unis.

Jud Heathcoate rolls over in his grave

 

[dixiehack]

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

I just figure one of the top five will come a cropper by law of averages. My suspicion is Florida, which has the talent to win it all but thrice now has coasted into a game where they were favored by plenty and have gotten embarrashed because they believed their own press clippings.

 

[tapintoamerica]

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. Clashic 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.

Can't be surprised at any SEC team losing 3 in a row, and I don't think it's ominous. Every game is seemingly against a top-25 team. No freebies.

 

[Cosmo]

Aw man…I did my usual ships and giggles happy hour bet on a 6 pm game. Albany at UMBC. Dude from UMBC might have just broken his neck in an awkward fall. Taken off on a backboard. This is awful.

 

[Neutral Corner]

UAB - Wichita State is on. Pretty good game.

 

[dixiehack]

Even with expansion, the SEC still capped league play for women at 16 games, which means only one home-and-home series for each team. Texas and South Carolina split their pair - and have no other conference losses. ashuming both win as expected Sunday, Greg Sankey will go on SEC Network with a custom-made coin to determine the top seed for Greenville next week.

 

[tapintoamerica]

We have been saying this for a while, but the Zags remain statistical oddities. No. 8 in overall NET but 43rd in Wins Above Bubble (0.18). One ranking says they're in without giving a second thought; the other says they're the Mayors of Bubbleville.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Cal State-Bakersfield has two brothers from Atlanta on the team: Marvin McGhee III and his brother Marvin McGhee IV. That's an interesting naming convention.

 

[Batman]

Cal State-Bakersfield has two brothers from Atlanta on the team: Marvin McGhee III and his brother Marvin McGhee IV. That's an interesting naming convention.

George Foreman's kids don't see what the fuss is.

 

[Della9250]

We have been saying this for a while, but the Zags remain statistical oddities. No. 8 in overall NET but 43rd in Wins Above Bubble (0.18). One ranking says they're in without giving a second thought; the other says they're the Mayors of Bubbleville.

Like how does this make any sense in NET:

Record Road Neutral Quad 1 Quad 2 Quad 3 Quad 4

8 Gonzaga 22-8 7-2 2-4 2-6 5-2 4-0 11-0
13 Michigan St. 23-5 7-2 3-2 9-4 5-1 4-0 5-0

 

[Oz]

We have been saying this for a while, but the Zags remain statistical oddities. No. 8 in overall NET but 43rd in Wins Above Bubble (0.18). One ranking says they're in without giving a second thought; the other says they're the Mayors of Bubbleville.

FWIW, the Zags ended the day No. 9 on KenPom, where they rank 354th out of 364 teams in the Luck category.

 

[dixiehack]

At a certain point, your own lying eyes have to play some part in this or else we could just let the computers select and seed the field and not spend the money on luxury hotels and catering for the committee.