Three games at the same time today was great practice for the necessary flipping skills needed for March Madness!
Firstly a contested game with Oregon outlasting UCLA today at Pauley Pavilion. Bottom line with UCLA is that Head Coach is leading the And-1 Mix Tape Team of the NCAA! They're chalk full of talent and equally lacking the needed discipline to make any noise in the Pac-12. For every one fantastic score or effort by UCLA there is 2 or 3 lazy and effortless plays. Case in point a killer drive and dunk by UCLA was immediately followed by an Oregon dunk three seconds later as UCLA was too busy punching their chests and, as Paulsen says, doing their best Terrell Owens impression of, "Love me a lot of me"
UCLA freshman stand out Muhammed was taken out of the starting line up due to being late for a team meeting. Oregon was patient and took advantage of easy hoops for an easy victory today.
Then there was the most electrifying two hours of the day with Syracuse stealing a road win outta KFC Yum Center v. Louisville. The second half was a flat out street fight! Both sides playing suffocating defense yet the other team grinding out contested treys and garbage hoops in the paint. It was a classic mano a mano Big East matchup!
Louisville slipped in the last minute with two costly turnovers that show their vulnerability while being a Top 5 quality team.
Finally a classic MVC match up with Wichita State eeking out a three point dub at home to Creighton. The Shockers are gonna be scary if Carl Hall is their friggin sixth man. He brought his hard hat and lunch bucket and outlasted Greg McDermott and the Creighton Blue Jays.
McDermott is the real deal but lack of guard play may hinder a deep run for Creighton.
Many apologies folks...it's late January and nary a College Hoops take....so here's one to get things started.
First off, wide open year this year. Anybody's ball game. Indiana and Louisville are in the next level zone by themselves but there is little separation from the peloton from teams like Florida's batty defense, Syracuse's/KU's depth and Michigan's backcourt. Have no fear College Crazy's as this bike race is infused with Rabid fans, Rabid Vitales and Pure 100% Madness ala the ending of the St Mary's at BYU game earlier this week:
There is no 14 year contrived fairy tale filled with lies, livestrong hypocrisy and needles in the bum. Just pure unadulterated Madness! The NCAA saves the hypocrisy for Football however, but back to Madness......
How great is that!?!? Dellavedova giving us some early Madness, although a lot left to be desired by the play-by-play announcer with the awkward pause after the buzzer beater. Hey ESPNU Slug, put the headset down and head back to Gus Johnson U!
St Mary's Madness mixes in well with the gambling Madness that Iowa State at Kansas demonstrated this past week as well. Iowa State, a 12 point dawg at KU, is winning by a good chunk looking to be a an easy cover on the road. But alas young Straight-Jacketeteers, KU hits a buzzer beater to the game to send to overtime. KU goes up by 15 in OT looking like they'll cover, only to have Iowa State to eventually backdoor cover. Betting Madness!!
Here's some quick takes for today's games:
Nebraska +4 at Penn State: this game has already tipped off. Nebraska has a new coach and a new scrappy attitude. They covered easily on the road at the Izzone losing by 10 to Michigan State with an 18-pt spread. i've kept track of their results and they keep it tight v. the big teams, while Penn State is still reeling from loss of all star starters 2 years ago with no recruiting class to rebuild with and a new Coach. At time of posting, Penn State was up by 5 just before halftime.
Kansas -9 @ Texas: KU's Bill Self has this team with no bonafide superstar but depth coming outta the Fog's ears! Ben McLemore is carrying this deep squad with great road victories to speak of. Texas is reeling with no Myck Kabongo still serving his bogus suspension and Head Recruiter, Rick Barnes is calling out players for lack of play. I'm laying ched on this game as all signs point to KU and the betting handicappers blessed it with a non double-digit home dawg spread. The Betting Gods would taser me from Mount Spreadlympus if I didn't bet this!
Purdue -4 vs. West Virginia: The Huggy Bear is reeling with a barely .500 Mountaineers this year. They have lost to pretty much every big-name and somewhat-big-name team on their sked. I put Purdue in my parlay but not any single units since there is little scout on the Boilermakers.
Fantastic game to watch for fan purposes will be Creighton at Wichita State! K-Smack what's a Shocker? I don't get it! Creighton is lead by McDermott and the Shockers always offer up rough nose bangin in the blocks!
Syracuse +7 @ Louisville: Louisville came into the year over-valued from their Final 4 run last March and with most major players returning except for their 3-pt shooters. However, Gorgui "The Shot Blocking Fui" Dieng is a menace in the paint and PG Peyton Siva has turned the "Guys named Peyton Corner" along with Manning in that he can deliver as a killer. The Cuse is deep as usual, and 7 points seems too much to give this huge Big East match-up!
Some more takes: Michigan State has started off well this year with great point guard play from Keith Appling, but right when we thought the drama era was over with the likes of Chris Allen and Korie Lucsious gone, but Adrien Payne and Branden Dawson had playing time cut by the Izzo after a hotel fight earlier in the week. Come on players! Know what you got in the Izzo.....just play damn it! He'll take you to the Final 4 Promised Land if you drop the E! True Hollywood Story making and start with the Hard Hat-Lunch Bucket-Blood-Sweat-n-Tears making!
Gonzaga @ Butler tonight! Gonna be epic. The biggest blind side since an Apollo Creed hook to Rocky's bad left eye, is Gonzaga big man Kelly Olynyk! After a year being mishandled by Mark Few, Kelly is busting out with 30 point games and unstoppable offense! He's a match up problem for teams with a wing game in a 7-foot body! Gonzaga has size with Elias Harris, Sam Dower and Big Poland, Przemak "The Prisimatic" Karnowski. Plus they're led by their little Bulldog PG in Kevin Pangos! He'll hit clutch J's and long range treys err day in the Kennel and in yo Face!!!!!! The Butler this year is Trey city but offer little size outside of Andrew Smith. Gymrat, Rotnei Clarke is out for the Butler tonight, so Gonzaga should come with the win, but gonna just be a fan with these two Mid-Major-Major Powerhouses in historical Hinkle Fieldhouse!
