College Basketball 23-24

[unclevlad]

Season's tipped off.  Right now, the games largely don't even count as cupcakes...lots of em are cotton candy.  Barely more than exhibition games.

 

Locally...some may remember that NMSU shut down its entire basketball program midseason, after serious, severe allegations arose.  The other shoe dropped today.

 

3 former players were charged with multiple felony charges (including a second degree charge) of criminal sexual assault and false imprisonment. 13 charges were filed against 2 of the defendants;  11 against the 3rd.

 

The university is also facing another round of lawsuits...some were settled over the summer...related to this.

 

The new head coach, Jason Wooten, has his work cut out for him.  I personally hope the new players realize that they'll be under a microscope. 

 

https://www.abqjournal.com/sports/two-more-nmsu-basketball-players-student-manager-claim-sexual-assault-guns-in-locker-room/article_f4217b32-7d01-11ee-9637-079d7750e545.html

https://www.ktsm.com/sports/college-sports/nmsu/three-former-nm-state-basketball-players-charged-with-multiple-felony-sex-crimes/ 

[Pariah]

One game that was not cotton candy: Colorado stuns No. 1 LSU as Tigers become first reigning women's champion to lose opener since 1995

 

 

[unclevlad]

There's a few higher-end matchups, both men's and women's basketball...but there are far more like a game that actually just finished...John Brown University at Baylor.  The visitors are a very small (<2500 students) college in Arkansas that plays at the NAIA level.  There are 48 men's games scheduled, so 96 teams.  ESPN lists all of em.  Almost all the time, they'll provide a link to each team's profile...almost.

 

19 of em don't have links.  Odds are, you've never heard of any of em, unless they happen to be in your back yard.  

[unclevlad]

Wow, we haven't used this in a while...

 

Well, the preseason is over, conference play is now in full gear.  And such a gear.  #1, #2, #3, and #5 have all lost, in conference games, this week.

 

Kansas lost to Central Florida, tonight.

 

Yes, that's a conference game.  And yes, I've a a really hard time wrapping my head around that too.

[Pariah]

BYU's non-conference season was fantastic. They went 12-1, with the only loss on the road to the hated Utes.

 

The Cougars are now 0-2 in Big 12 play, after losses to Cincinnati at home and Baylor on the road.

 

It's like football season all over again.

[unclevlad]

Nugget from SVP right now.

 

Conference season is in full swing, so lots more wild results.  Going into the slate tonight, in games where an AP Top 10 team is playing on the road against an unranked team, the Top 10 team was 22-27.

 

This is top 10 vs. unranked...and well under .500.  The last 2 years, the top 10 team basically won 3 of 4.

 

 

[unclevlad]

Oh man.....

 

Just saw this.  Liberty here in Cruces, playing NMSU.  They miss a shot, NMSU gets the board...and an NMSU player throws a forearm *squarely* into the face of a Liberty player.  He's ejected of course...

 

But cripes...right now?  On THIS team, after the utter fiasco that forced the school to shut the whole program down, got the coach fired *for cause*, and forced a *completely* new team...every player either got transferred, or arrested on serious felony charges.  The Aggies weren't the laughingstock of college sports because there was absolutely NOTHING funny about it.

 

Kid, you cannot do that.  I seriously doubt the conference will do anything, because I expect the school to suspend him for several games.

 

EDIT:  here's the video.  Replay starts at about 45 seconds in, which makes it REALLY obvious.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39441895/new-mexico-state-robert-carpenter-ejected-punch-vs-liberty

[Pariah]

10 hours ago, unclevlad said:

I seriously doubt the conference will do anything, because I expect the school to suspend him for several games.

 

If I were the coach or AD, I'd be tempted to suspend him for several games ... and then list him as a healthy scratch for the rest. And then invite him to my office to talk about the many wonderful opportunities offered by the transfer portal. 

[unclevlad]

Continuing the surprise struggles of Gonzaga...Saint Mary's goes into the Kennel and beats them.  Saint Mary's now has a 2 game lead in the conference, and Gonzaga still lacks a Quad 1 win.  That resume point alone strongly suggests they'll need to win the conference tourney to get a bid, at least right now...they've got some more Quad 1 games to come. 

 

Zag fans are seriously ragged off and throw trash on the floor a couple of times in the last minute.  Commentators are saying from the amount...it SHOULD be a T, but it was a 3 point game, and a dead ball tech would be shots and the ball, I think.  That would be a killer.

 

But man, this game got *wrecked* because of replay reviews.  Over...and over...and over.  FAR, far too many, and they take too long.  

 

It totally seems refs are using the replay in college as a crutch.  

[unclevlad]

Interesting points made during studio show just now.

 

The OSU men's basketball coach was fired today.  His track record wasn't great;  4 times in the NCAA tourney, 3 times losing in the second round, the other time losing in the 1st round *as a #2 seed.*  That's still rare, and really bad.  Then no tournament last year cuz they went 5-15 in conference.  This year...lost 9 of his last 11.

 

The timing is what Farnham and Greenberg examined.  Their position:  because of the transfer portal.  The firing itself, because patience is virtually non-existent...and the lack of success in the tourney doesn't give any leash.  The timing is due to the portal.  The portal opens up right after the regular season ends...so if you only fire the coach after the season, you're gonna have no time to convince your players to stay, AND you'll lose potential transfers because they won't make the move when there's no head coach named.  Firing during the season at least allows lines of communication to be open, and the new coach can be in place faster.

 

That makes a lot of sense.  College basketball actually only *has* one portal window, too.  College football splits its 45 days, there's a 15 day window in the spring, along with the postseason window.

[Starlord]

Caitlin Clark is 8 pts away....

[unclevlad]

So, in his first game as OSU's interim coach, all Jake Diebler managed to do was win a home game.

 

Against #2 Purdue.

 

That's not the way to manage expectations, I'd say.......

[unclevlad]

Ugly...

 

That was Monday.  Conference handed out punishments today.  4 players (3 AM-C, 1 IW) suspended for 3 games;  3 other IW players suspended 2 games, and 1 other AM-C for 1 game.

 

[unclevlad]

The tournament selection commttee released its initial top 16 a week ago.

 

Since then, 9 of them have lost a game.  That's how insane a season it's been.  #1 UConn got mugged at Creighton...but the Blue Jays were #15 at the time.  #2 Purdue lost to an Ohio State team that fired its coach for being 4-11 in conference.

 

UConn has 2 losses;  Purdue and Houston, 3.  Dayton at #16 has 4...but no one else in the top 25 has fewer than 5 losses.  Some of this is, Dayton, Colorado State, and Saint Mary's are the only non-Power 6 (Big East counts in hoops) teams.  The mid-majors are almost totally shut out of the rankings this year.  That might, in part, be due to cannibalization by the conferences.  

[unclevlad]

If you follow college hoops, you've presumably heard about the court storm after Wake Forest beat Duke, in which one of Duke's players accidentally got banged around and took an apparently minor knee injury.  It's re-ignited the debate big time, including the issue that the ACC has no policy on court storms.

 

So tonight, at the Kentucky-MIssissippi State game...with 5 minutes to go, MSU had a small lead at a timeout.  During that timeout, the PA announcer told the crowd, "Court storms will not be tolerated."  Jimmy Dykes went on from there and discussed the proposal that the Kentucky AD has....that if a school has a court storming, the next season, in that sport, they lose a home game.  It becomes a road or maybe neutral site game.  

 

I love this idea.  Feels perfect.  Costs the school the revenue from a game and the promo aspects.  And the cost to travel to the other site...which presumably would be mildly remote.  If, for example, if UCLA or USC had one, the "remote site" wouldn't be any of the half-dozen other basketball arenas in the LA area.  Punishes the fans, who lose a chance to see their team.  

[Pariah]

After being ranked in the Top 25 since November, BYU dropped to first among "Others receiving votes" this week. I don't expect the Cougars will be unranked for long.

 

BYU stuns No. 7 Kansas, snapping Jayhawks' 67-game home winning streak against unranked teams

[unclevlad]

Saw that score, figured you'd want the honors.   INSANE year in college hoops.  There were over 20 million brackets entered last year.  Out of 1920 total points possible (10 points for each 1st round, 20 for each 2nd round, 40 for 3rd, etc...so it's 320 points per round)...2 people scored 1600.  HEAVILY back-loaded...early misses, but on teams that fell relatively early on anyway.  The winner missed 8 first-round and 6 second-round games...but 3 of 4 in the elite 8, both semis teams, and the champs.

 

More broadly...20 million brackets, and only 45 of em scored 1500 or better.

 

My feeling is, this year...it's gonna be worse.  Mentioned earlier...Houston, UConn, Purdue, 3 losses today.  They're clearly separate...because #4 through #17 all have at least 6...and South Carolina, #18 in AP/coaches polls...has a computer ranking of 58.  It seems almost every night, there's an upset like BYU over Kansas...altho this one was exceptional because it was in Lawrence.  The upsets have generally had the unranked teams at home.

 

I'm still NOT expecting to do a bracket this year.  The last few years, by and large, it's been like bowling blindfolded.  There's no skill;  it's guesswork.  You HAVE to pick upsets, and you have to pick the RIGHT upsets.  There's no pattern, no principle, and no rational approach.  Yeah, sure, that sounds like sour grapes...but the results of ALL the brackets prove my point.

[unclevlad]

Oh my, the craziness has started.

 

In the power conferences, this is the last week of the regular season...Duke-Carolina round 2 highlights Saturday, for example, on the last day of the ACC regular season.  Several conferences are into their tournaments, tho;  a couple have already started, and several start over the next couple days.  These also tend to be the one-bid leagues, which make for much more drama...for these teams, getting into the tournament is HUGE.

 

So...the Atlantic Sun started actually yesterday.  Tonight it was #1 Eastern Kentucky vs. #10 Jacksonville.  

 

Jacksonville 67, EKU 65.  OUCH!  Quick scan of the play by play says it was incredibly close;  I didn't see a lead of more than 3 for either team at any point in the second half. 

 

This isn't a bid stealing league...Lipscomb has the 'best' BPI at 148, so at best, I suspect they're looking at a 15 seed, no matter who wins.

 

Several of the conference final games are Sunday...almost certainly because ESPN asks them to.  And probably pays them a nice chunk, to have some interesting games without interfering with the big boys.

 

EDIT:  and just now on SVP, same conference, #7 North Alabama beats #3 Lipscomb.  Lipscomb hits a 3 to tie with 4 seconds left, North Alabama takes it full court, hits a buzzer beater to win.  So now, whoever wins the tourney?  Best RPI left is, I think, worse than 180...so most likely, Dayton-bound.

[unclevlad]

Oh my lord...talk about a game where a mercy rule would've been nice...

 

West Coast Conference tourney.  It's the 6 vs. 9 game, Pepperdine vs. Pacific.  9 team lead, tho...more on that in a bit.

 

With 8 minutes left in the first half, Pepperdine led 39-2.

 

No typo.  

 

First half ended 56-9.

 

There's no pep talk possible for the team that's behind 47 at halftime.  Of course, the fact that they were 0-16 during the conference regular season makes any pep talk difficult...

 

I would not be surprised to hear Pacific is going to be looking for a new coach.  0-16 in conference, 6-25 overall before this, then a total embarassment...

[unclevlad]

Gambling authorities are investigating several games involving Temple basketball, where there were significant bets quite late, that dramatically shifted betting lines that had no clear justification, like an injury.  One example of several reported in The Athletic:

 

Quote

On Feb. 28, Temple hosted Rice. The game’s point total opened at 144 before being bet up to 145. Then, in the hours before the game, the total was bet down from 145 to 140.5 — an indication that bettors suddenly had reason to believe one or both teams would not score as much as oddsmakers expected. Additionally, after opening at 68, the first-half point total steadily dropped to 66.5 throughout the day — and over the two hours before game time, the total dropped quickly from 66.5 to 64. The score at halftime was 28-19 (47 points), and Temple won the game 65-43 (108 total points).

 

No allegations yet, as it's too early in the process.  And unfortunately, it's not surprising if it's, say, some student manager getting paid to give out insider info.  Sportsbooks are huge now.

[Pariah]

After Big XII coaches picked BYU to finish 13th in the 14-team league, the Cougars open the Big XII tournament today as the #5 seed. for reference, the #6 seed is Kansas.

 

It's been a great season for the BYU men. The Cougars hold the ignominious distinction of being the team with the most NCAA tournament appearances without reaching the Final Four.  They're currenty projected as a #4 in the West. Could this be the year?

[Pariah]

Here's a rather bizarre story from the women's side. After Utah State's blowout loss in the first round of the MWC women's tournament, Aggie coach Kayla Ard was asked in the press conference how she planned to rebuild.  Her response:

 

Quote

 

"I'm not going to be rebuilding," she said. "I just coached my last game at Utah State. I spoke with (athletics director Diana Sabau) and they're going in a different direction and I respect her decision and I hope they get a really good coach in."

 

She paused a little, then said, "I'm assuming that's going to be the last question."

 

 

She announced her own firing.

 

Wow.

 

Utah State coach Kayla Ard announces her firing in postgame news conference

[unclevlad]

Today sees the big conferences' tournaments move into high gear.  Several had their early round games;  Big 12 has 14 teams this year, so 11-14 played to eliminate 2 to get to 12.  4 games today, top 4 seeds get byes to the quarters.  A-10, ACC, American, Pac 12, Big East...it's wall to wall basketball, with multiple games on FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS SN, and USA Network, plus BTN, Pac 12, and ESPN+, and a couple on Peacock.  I count 43 games today...starting right about now (9:30 Mountain) and running all day...last tip is the 4th Pac 12 game, scheduled for 9:30 PM.

 

Utah State coach...her record was awful.  24-90 over 4 years, 5-25 this year.  So it's understandable, and suggests the decision was made some time ago.  Can argue the AD basically let her have the season with the players.

[unclevlad]

52 games today.

 

The most important...

 

Texas Tech 81, BYU 67.  

 

If they were a 4?  This might knock them down into the dreaded 5 seed...12's beat 5's MUCH more often than 13's beat 4's.

 

This is one of my favorite sites to seek out...ODD little factoids.

https://mcubed.net/ncaab/seeds.shtml

 

For example, the 8-9 game is pretty much a tossup, as you'd expect.  But in the second round?  The 8 seed beats the 1 seed more than twice as often.  

 

Elsewhere...one of the bigger surprises, in the ACC.  #2 Duke, looking at a #2 or #3 in the tournament...falls to NC State, the conference 10 seed, and nowhere close to making it, even with this result.  NC State tried to give the game back...Duke scores to cut the lead to 5 with about 40 seconds left.  They press.  NC State breaks it...relayed up court, then to the bucket where their center has a gimme dunk.

 

He misses it.  AND hangs on the rim...which gets a goaltending call...and continues to do so with one hand, which gets a *technical foul*.  Not quite as bad as it could've been...it's only 1 shot, and given that there was no possession (debatable if there's a goaltending call, but it's what they ruled and no one seemed to complain)...so it stayed a 2 possession game.  NC State also missed 6 of 7 free throws in a stretch.  But Duke only gets it to 2, NC State does hit a couple FTs when needed, and win by 5.

 

Anyone can lose at any time....................

 

 

[unclevlad]

The Utah State women's coach appears to have company.  Stanford fired their men's coach this evening, right after losing in the Pac-12 tourney.  No tourney trips in 8 years;  best record in the conference was 11-7, and the Pac-12's been a weak conference throughout that period, IIRC.  8-12 this year...10th out of 12 teams.  The Pac-12 had 6 teams at 9-11 or 8-12...sounds like the NFC last season.  

 

Saw several other coaches got fired today.