Here's a breakdown of the 19 games ESPN will be showing over the next 24 hours.
12am: Washington State @ No. 23 Gonzaga(-11)
The Cougs lost Klay Thompson to the NBA(kinda) and aren't very good. Gonzaga has some talent back and should roll pretty easily.
Watchability: 7.5
Prediction: Zags -11
2am: Northern Iowa @ St. Mary's(-11)
Can't say I know anything about either team. I wish Ali Farokmanesh(sp?) was playing, though. Two of the more well known mid-majors in the country, should be a good game filled with good white guys.
Watchability: 2(The time kills it! I wish this game was at 2PM)
Prediction: Northern Iowa +11
4am: Cal State Northridge @ Hawaii
A couple years ago, I caught a glimpse of a stud for Hawaii at about 5am. Sadly I won't see a second of this game. And there is no line. So really, nobody outside of Hawaii and Cal State No cares about this one.
Watchability: 1
Prediction: Hawaii
6am: Drexel @ Rider
Drexel is always good and Rider only lost to Pittsburgh by 8. I'm hoping to catch the end of this game over some Apple Jacks. Might have to sacrifice a shower to do so(like I've never done that before.)
Watchability: 4.5
Prediction: Dragons
8am: Morehead State @ Charleston
The only thing I know about this game is they both lost studs to the NBA. This is a game for the second shifters.
Watchability: 2
Prediction: Morehead State
10am: Kent State @ West Virginia
Kent State returns everyone, except Antonio Gates, and West Virginia is not the WVU it has been in the past couple years. Sadly, this game is not at all watchable for me, but maybe a couple gamecast updates?
Watchability: 0
Prediction: Golden Flashes win!
12pm: Belmont @ No. 10 Memphis
Belmont is a very, very good squad and of course Memphis is as well. I'm not prepared to say that Belmont wins the game, but this is no cakewalk for Memphis. If we get a little overtime, I may have a shot to catch the end.
Watchability: 4(Time slot hurts, this is a 8 or 8.5 otherwise)
Prediction: Memphis in a tight one.
2pm: San Diego State @ No. 12 Baylor
San Diego State is off the best season in program history, and this season ain't gonna match up. Baylor is loaded with NBA talent along the frontcourt and has National Championship thoughts.
Watchability: 8
Prediction: Baylor in a blowout.
4pm: Rhode Island @ Texas
Rhode Island is about as mediocre as it gets, and might not even be that good this year. Texas lost ALOT. However, they do bring in this guy.
Watchability: 6
Prediction: Texas
6pm: George Mason @ Virgina Tech
Again, neither team is expected to accomplish a whole lot this year, but this is the dinner game anyway. Nobody will be paying close attention unless its close at the end. Me included.
Watchability: 0
Prediction: I'll be attending a D3 hoops game instead.
7pm: Albany or Brown @ No. 5 Syracuse
I don't even know what Albany's mascot is, so I'll predict Brown to win that game and then get wrecked by a Cuse team that I don't think deserves their Top 5 ranking.
Watchability: 4.5 (for Rakeem Christmas alone)
Prediction: Cuse big.
7pm: No. 6 Duke vs Michigan State at MSG
Our first big time game of the marathon and I'm guaranteed to miss at least the first half. I'm pretty excited to see if Austin Rivers has "it". And this game will get alot of hype because that rat look-a-like will be going for his 903rd career win. Lets Go State!
Watchability: First Half- 0 / Second Half- 8.8
Prediction: Duke by 8
7pm: Rutgers @ Miami
Did anyone else know Jim Larranga is Miami's coach? Awesome. I actually like both of these coaches more than I like the game. I'm gonna miss most of this game, though. Oh well.
Watchability: 1
Prediction: Rutgers wins this one.
7pm: La Salle @ Villanova
A Big 5 game, love it! I'm a Nova backer, but I don't think they are going to be great this year. Wayans is a super stud and Yarou is going to be a beast this year. LaSalle isn't on the same level as Nova talent-wise and it'll show here.
Watchability: 2.5
Prediction: Nova big.
8pm: No. 8 Florida @ No. 3 Ohio State
The marquee game of the marathon. A bevy of talent on both sides. OSU has unanimous preseason All America center Jared Sullinger. And Florida has Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton and Mike Rosario in the backcourt. This game should be a great one.
Watchability: 9.5
Prediction: Florida in a squeaker.
8pm: Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Oklahoma State
I think Oklahoma State's football team will score more points this coming weekend than either of these teams tomorrow night.
Watchability: 3
Prediction: OK State
9pm: No. 2 Kentucky vs No. 11 Kansas at MSG
Another great game. Kentucky's recruiting class is unbelievable. With all due respect to UNC(who I am absolutely impressed by), the most talented team in the country hails from Lexington. I'm ecstatic to see all this talent on the court. Kansas isn't loaded like they usually are but they have talent and will absolutely give this Kentucky team a great early season test.
Watchability: 9.9
Prediction: The more experienced Jayhawks beat the more talented Wildcats.
10pm: Austin Peay @ No. 22 California
Cal is unusually talented, and should be a frontrunner to win the Pac12. Austin Peay, unless Trenton Hassell plays, is not going to be in this one.
Watchability: 5
Prediction: Cal dominates.
11pm: Colorado State at Stanford
I'll be trying to battle through this game but the combination of fatigue and a shitty game will probably have me watching whatever my girlfriend wants to, such is life.
Watchability: 3
Prediction: Sleep.
*Check back tomorrow when I post the lines for the night games. Until midnight, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2KOhEceNM
6 comments:
no way kansas beats kentucky
Let's be serious about one thing, while Florida has a really talented backcourt, they have 4 starting caliber guards when you also include Brad Beal. However, the issue will remain ball distribution which was also a problem for the Gators last year. Erving Walker can not continue to dominate the basketball with the plethora of talent on this team.
In order for this team to gel, they're going to need some time. Florida may beat Ohio State at some point this season (March), but it won't be in Novemeber.
Take the known commodity in this one (Sullinger) to beat up on a weak Gators frontcourt.
Ohio State by 14
All good points, Byron. But I think losing Lighty and Diebler is going to hurt OSU alot more than most people are thinking. Lighty was one of the best defenders in college hoops and Diebler was the best shooter in the conference.
Sullinger is obviously extremely good, and I love Craft and Buford. How will everyone else be? What guys will step up?
For Florida, the best backcourt in the country. And my bad for leaving out Beal. Their frontcourt isn't scorers, but Patric Young will be able to hold his own against Sullinger. He won't score with him, but he's not going to get dominated either.
I'll take the Gators +10.5
College basketball sucks and you wasted your time typing this.
Drew,
While I'll agree that Patric Young can match up athletically, he's not gonna be capable of handling Sullinger's post game. In fact, don't be surprised if Florida's frontcourt is in foul trouble most of the evening. Sullinger is a guy who routinely gets to the charity stripe 10-12 times a game, and not to mention the "give away" fouls when he has such dominant post position that there is no other choice.
Onto my next point, which I feel as though you are underrating. Aaron Craft is one of the best defensive guards in the country. If he is able to hound Walker most of the night and control the tempo, it's gonna be a long night for the Gators.
Thirdly, of Florida's core 4 guards, which can match up with Buford and 6'5 frame? Boynton is 6'2 at best, and Rosario is a solid 6'2. At the end of the day, Buford could prove to be a really tough guard and his lanky frame could cause problems for the Florida guards.In Buford and Lenzelle Smith, they have the size at guard to offset some of Florida's quickness.
Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
Obviously, we are on different sides here, but it's nice to have a spirited college basketball discussion.
Touche Byron. You pegged that one pretty much dead on. OSU looks every bit as good as their ranking.
And yeah, always nice to have a good, intelligent conversation with someone about college hoops. Keep it coming.
And anonymous#1, you were right. UK outclasses KU.
Anonymous#2, I love college basketball. Why do you not?
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