I see that Duke has suspended serial tripper Grayson Allen indefinitely. Coach K said right after the game he would review but that he would not react to outside pressure and would do what he thought best. Now he says after reviewing the situation it's unacceptable and he's taking action and suspending Allen. :?
This is going to sound initially weird, but stick with me. It's not the tripping I have an issue with, but I do have an issue with the absolute emotional meltdown the kid had after all was said and done. The tripping is bad, obviously. Good competitors sometimes let their emotions get away from them and do stupid things. We have officials for just this reason. However, that psychotic break that Grayson showed really concerned me for the young man.
Longhorns lost to Kent State last night at home. Grumblings are beginning for Shaka Smart. He didn't help himself with the Big Cigars with his post election comments on Trump winning the election, and now sitting at .500 and facing a pretty good B12 basketball slate. Some are saying that he's not a good enough gameday coach to survive a B12 slate and his recruiting isn't good enough at this point to overwhelm it with talent.
:idea: UCLA lost in Oregon at the buzzer last night. I was flipping back-and-forth on the TV watching that game along with the Texas A&M bowl game. IMHO the Bruins got beat on defense. It's a very young (and cocky) team that looked lazy on defense in the first half and lazy on the boards all night.
That's what makes College Basketball great, losing some games just happens, you don't ruin your season with 1 or 2 losses or even 3 or 4 or 5 or 6. Enjoy the season and get ready for the playoffs! I think if the Irish can hold it to 10 or fewer losses this year that will be a good season for the team and likely NCAA bid. more than 10 losses...iffy..will need a good ACC tournament and hope to be on the right side of the bubble.
I caught the last 5 minutes of the Butler upset of Villanova, Butler played a whale of a game coming down the stretch. Hinkle Field House was really rocking. Looking at the Big East, they really have a lot of depth of good teams. 'Nova, Butler, Xavier, Creighton are all very good. ACC looks like it's the old Big East reincarnated in terms of depth of good teams, some think that at least 1/2 of the ACC will get into the tourney maybe as many as 10 teams. I think the old Big East one time had 10 or 11 teams in the NCAA tourney.
Butler wins over Georgetown this afternoon. Penn State upsets Michigan State in Philadelphia. looks like Penn State might be back with their BB program.
ND downs a gritty, tough Clemson team 75-70. The game was seesaw in the 2nd half, but Matty made a great out-of-bounds pass to Vasturia for a trey and himself closed it out with a 3 to put the irish up by 5 with less than 10 seconds left. Now 3-0 in conference with 2 home wins and 1 away. V.J. Beachem came out of his funk to lead the team with 22 points including six 3-pointers. Four of 5 starters scored in double figures, including Colson (13) who also had 12 rebounds.
Looks like Baylor will be the next #1, they beat OKla State yesterday and with 'Nova's loss earlier this week it's the logical change. Gonzaga is also still undefeated and could move to #2. I see Duke's Grayson Allen, instead of tripping an opponent just kicked him (accidentally of course) in the nuts. Look out for FSU, they seem to be a very good team this year. They handled Va.Tech handily yesterday.
FSU easily handled Duke last night. Duke was a preseason top 1 or 2 depending on the poll. I watched the last 5 minutes of the game and FSU looked much better than Duke. I imagine that Kansas will be the next #1, they beat OU last night. Gonzaga keeps rolling along undefeated, I wonder if they will eventually work up to that #1 ranking.
Don, the betting line was Buckeyes by 2. (I don't understand it either...unless it's just home team advantage in the B1G)...but anyway they played a good game.
I watched much of the game. The teams looked evenly matched with OSU having the hotter hand and better defense.