Season starts tonight. Gonzaga is the consensus #1 team, with UCLA far behind at #2. Texas with a new coach and pretty much a completely new roster, but a talented roster and Longhorns start the season with high expectations for the season and the tournament. Kansas is Kansas Villanova is back in the mix Michigan and Purdue are the best of the Big 10. I saw something where Purdue had more top 100 players (3) than anybody. Coach K's final season, Duke as always has a lot of young talent who haven't played college basketball. North Carolina without Roy Williams on the bench for the first time in a long time, but with talent. Kentucky is the top SEC Team as usual. Last year wasn't a great year for the ACC, but I saw today that they are predicted to have 8 NCAA teams this season. Irish have a number or new players and hopefully a revitalized Mike Brey. Maybe we can make it to the tournament. We do have a good core of Seniors who much was expected of when they were recruited, they have been ok but not great. This is their last rodeo hopefully they can blend with the new talent, esp the transfer from Yale at the Post. Maui Invitational always one of the best pre-season tourney's will be played in Las Vegas this year.
We open here at home this evening vs Akron. Should be an interesting season, We will play Duke, Kentucky, Xavier and several tournaments in November. If coach Holtmann can maximize the different personnel , we could be a serious contender in the conference.
I have no idea what state the Aggie rebuild is in. Hopefully the season will be a pleasant surprise for me.
Buckeyes defeat Akron Zips 67-66 by the skin of their teeth in our opening game. We led by 8 points at the half, but Akron battled back and took the lead, a nip and tuck game for both squads. Akron has 20 or more wins in several recent seasons. They played hard and almost won the game. Holtmann chose a play involving Malaki Branham, who received the inbound paa and flipped a high pass to Sed Key, who dropped the ball in the hoop as time expired.
With a granddaughter at the Naval Academy, I find myself following Navy sports. I see that they upset preseason #25 Virginia 66-58 last night.
I hadn't really been looking at the basketball schedule, but a big one Sat night for the Longhorns. They travel to Spokane to take on the #1 ranked Zags! Texas has so many new players and a new coach it might be a pretty rough game vs a Gonzaga team that is veteran and has a long time coach on the bench in Mark Few.
Gators beat FSU this afternoon. They had won 7 straight over us and were a small favorite today. Think we may have a pretty decent team this year.
Watched Purdue play Indiana State. Was very encouraged by how they looked. We’ll find out Saturday when we play North Carolina.
Terry, you had a rough weekend with Texas BB and FB. Perhaps you can take a bit of solace in #25 Texas' upset of #3 Stanford in Women's BB.
I don't think any Texas fan thought that we could go to Spokane and upset Gonzaga. They have a veteran team, returning core of NBA players. Texas isn't quite there yet, but they might by the end of the season
We managed to best Bowling Green (MAC) last night in a home game 89-58. Next game in Cincinnati Thursday evening will be our first real test vs Xavier. GO Bucks!
Not great news for Coach K! Two Duke basketball players face charges related to a driving while impaired arrest Sunday, according to The News & Observer. The grandson of legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, Michael Savarino, was arrested on suspicion of DWI, and star Duke freshman Paolo Banchero has been charged with aiding and abetting DWI, a charge given to individuals in North Carolina who knowingly encourage, aid, advise or instigate another person to drive or attempt to drive while impaired, according to court records obtained by The News & Observer. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's grandson and star freshman Paolo Banchero face charges related to DWI, per report
Just finished watching Seton Hall upset Michigan in Ann Arbor in the Gavitt games. Close all the way and came down to the final minutes and who had the ball. Great game to watch.
Houston Cougars served notice that last season was no fluke, by beating UVA the 2019 NCAA Champion handily at home. Kelvin Sampson who has been successful where ever he's been but has had NCAA problems seems to have found the right place and is playing by the rules.
I know that the portal has a big impact on college basketball, players want to play. A lot of coaches rarely go past 8 or 9 players at the most so there are kids sitting on the bench who just won't get to play. So they usually transfer after the season to someplace they feel that they can have a shot at playing. This week a starting PG for Ga.Tech women entered the portal, she was doing well nobody knows exactly why she quit on the team this soon. She can play next year but she now has to sit. Also a player on UConn women's team after looking at the rotation for the 1st 3 games decided to enter the portal, again can't play anymore this year. I don't get it why these two players decided that if they can't play as much as they anticipated that they would rather quit the team. As I said I get it why they want to transfer, but after a couple of games? I guess the only reason to announce early is that they can now contact other programs and go visit them, and make a decision so they can enroll for the Spring semester and get going on the new team. I don't know if they can play in the Spring 2022. It would seem like they couldn't/shouldn't but I don't know the fine print on the 1 time transfer/immediate eligibility.
Ohio State loses to Xavier in Cincinnati 71 65 in the Gavitt games. Their ability to score in the paint was the difference. They led from the very start and never looked back. We were only down by three, but could get any closer down the stretch.