[Mr quint]

Memphis lost again, this time to East Carolina. There are just too many of these piling up.

And Louisville lost to Pitt.

 

[umainealum]

Kind of an interesting TV day with no games being broadcast on the ESPN network of channels. ESPN2 will have the UConn women at 5, ESPNU will have a bunch of boys high school games and then tonight ESPN/ESPN2 will be dedicated to the NFL Wild Card game. Anyway, games tip off at noon on this MLK day:

FOX
Noon - #7 Purdue @ #25 Illinois
2:30 pm - Notre Dame @ Howard

CBSSN
2 pm - George Mason @ George Washington
4 pm - LaSalle @ St Joseph's
7 pm - Delaware @ Northeastern
9 pm - UNLV @ San Jose State

BTN
6 pm - Indiana @ Nebraska


ESPN+ Streaming
2 pm - Tennessee Tech @ Tennessee State
4 pm - Penn @ Princeton
4:30 pm - Murray State @ Eastern Illinois
5 pm - Yale @ Brown
7 pm - Mercer @ The Citadel
7 pm - Belmont @ SIU-Edwardsville
7 pm - Harvard @ Dartmouth
7 pm - Kennesaw State @ North Florida
7:30 pm - Lamar @ Stephen F Austin
8 pm - Idaho @ Northern Arizona
8 pm - Drake @ Southern Illinois
9 pm - Portland State @ Southern Utah
9 pm - Weber State @ Idaho State
10 pm - Seattle @ Cal Baptist

ESPN3 Streaming
4 pm - UMBC @ Stony Brook

Lots of other games today with no streaming listed, including several in the 4 pm time slot.

 

[umainealum]

So, in other news that is NOT related to conference realignment, that was one heck of a game between Purdue and Illinois. It went to 2 OT's with the Boilermakers winning on the road. That was the Illini's first Big Ten loss of the year. I could see both of those teams making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. Course, given their histories, I could also see them losing in the 1st weekend of play.

Anyway...

 

[umainealum]

Here are the games for the day, which feature 12 Top 25 programs. The Ohio State/IUPUI game on the Big Ten Network was added on the 10th after both programs had 3 games canceled due to covid pauses:

ESPN2
5 pm - #5 Baylor @ West Virginia
7 pm - Maryland @ Michigan

BTN
7 pm - IUPUI @ #19 Ohio State
9 pm - #8 Wisconsin @ Northwestern

ESPN
7 pm - #7 Kansas @ Oklahoma
9 pm - #6 Duke @ Florida State

FS1
7 pm - Butler @ #25 UConn

CBSSN
7 pm - Davidson @ VCU
9 pm - Air Force @ Boise State
11 pm - Utah State @ Fresno State

ACCN
7 pm - North Carolina @ Miami
9 pm - Clemson @ Syracuse

SECN
7 pm - South Carolina @ Arkansas
9 pm - #24 Tennessee @ Vanderbilt

ESPNU
7 pm - Missouri @ Ole Miss
9 pm - #15 Iowa State @ #18 Texas Tech

Longhorn Network
8:30 pm - Kansas State @ #23 Texas


ESPN+ streaming:
2 pm - Canisius @ St Peter's

7 pm start time
St Bonaventure @ Dayton
UCF @ East Carolina
Florida Gulf Coast @ Stetson
Jacksonville @ Liberty
Lipscomb @ Eastern Kentucky
North Alabama @ Bellarmine
Kent State @ Eastern Michigan

8 pm start time
South Florida @ #10 Houston
#22 Loyola Chicago @ Evansville
Richmond @ Fordham
Jacksonville State @ Central Arkansas

10 pm - Cal Poly @ Cal State Bakersfield

ESPN3 streaming
6 pm - Western Michigan @ Akron

7 pm start time
Iona @ Monmouth
Niagara @ Manhattan
Ball State @ Toledo
Ohio @ Miami (OH)

8 pm - Bowling Green @ Northern Illinois



3 games postponed today: #21 Providence @ Seton Hall, Central Michigan @ Buffalo and UNLV @ San Diego State

 

[umainealum]

Last night in the Big East:

1. Marquette with a big win at #11 Villanova last night.
2. #20 Xavier escapted DePaul, 68-67. Nice to see DePaul being competitive again
3. St John's got blown out at Creighton.
4. The Johnnies, along with Seton Hall, looked like NCAA tourney teams for sure but they are in trouble now.

In the Big Ten, Rutgers got a big win over Iowa in what might have been the ugliest game I have ever seen. Final score was 48-46. The officiating was very suspect and the teams played like crap. Rutgers gets away with so many physical plays that are almost borderline dirty.

Wyoming ran their record to 14-2, 3-0 in Mountain West action. Surely I'm not the only one that immediately thinks "Fennis Dembo" when seeing Wyoming men's basketball.

 

[Mr quint]

It feels like the ACC is running a contest to see who can be the most disappointing team. Louisville, UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech all in the mix. Pitt is horrible, but they are supposed to be horrible. NC State stinks. BC, Notre Dame. Syracuse.

 

[umainealum]

It feels like the ACC is running a contest to see who can be the most disappointing team. Louisville, UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech all in the mix. Pitt is horrible, but they are supposed to be horrible. NC State stinks. BC, Notre Dame. Syracuse.

Seriously, they are a horrible conference right now. They currently have 5 teams in the latest bracketology (2 seed - Duke; 8 seed - Miami; 9 seed - North Carolina; 10 seed - Wake Forest; 12 seed - Florida State). FSU held on to a 1-pt win over Miami to move up a few spots on the curve while the 'Canes probably dropped a whole seed line. To me, the SEC is a far better conference this year but only has 6 teams in, but does have the top 3 in the "First Four Out" category.

I kinda feel like Wake Forest is a pretender. Sure, they are 16-4, but their non-conf victories are:

William & Mary
Western Carolina
Charleston Southern
North Carolina A&T
Kennesaw State
Oregon State (OT by 3 on neutral court)
Northwestern (OT by 4)
South Carolina Upstate
VMI (by 7 after being down by 13 at the half)
Charlotte (by 3)

All those wins were at home or neutral court site. Their only non-conference blemish is vs LSU by 14 on a neutral court. Thus, they did not play a single true road game in the non-conference portion of their schedule.

In the ACC, they are 6-3 with wins at VA Tech, vs Florida State, vs Syracuse, @ UVa, @ GA Tech, vs North Carolina. However, they have lost at Louisville, at Miami and vs Duke.

This is one of those instances where I really hope a top mid-major that gets upset in their conference tourney would get an at-large bid over this ACC team that

 

[umainealum]

Man, Marquette might be the hottest team in the country right now. Not only are they riding a 6-game winning streak after today's victory, they are doing it against the best of the Big East. Their 6 wins are:

vs #16 Providence, 88-56
@ Georgetown, 92-64
vs DePaul, 87-76
vs #20 Seton Hall, 73-72
@ #11 Villanova, 57-54
vs #20 Xavier, 75-64

That might be the best win streak in the nation this season with 4 wins over Top 20 teams. They have blown teams out and won nail-biters. In addition, they have gone from an 8-6 NCAA Tourney afterthought to a 14-6 team that has undoubtedly placed themselves on the 6th - 8th seed lines. They don't have a bad loss on the year with their losses being:

vs #22 St Bonaventure, 70-54
@ #23 Wisconsin, 89-76
vs #4 UCLA, 67-56
@ #22 Xavier, 80-71
vs UConn, 78-70
vs Creighton, 75-69

Interestingly, those last 4 losses were in a row (was also a postponed game vs St John's in there among those losses) and came just before this 6-game winning streak.

Lunardi has them as a 7-seed and climbing up. Looks like Shaka is beginning to get that mojo back that he had at VCU but lost somewhere along the highway from Richmond, VA to Austin, TX.

 

[umainealum]

Figure we may as well get some CAA chatter in this thread as it has permeated pretty much every other thread. Couple of things tonight:

1. Towson (15-6, 6-2) won at Delaware (14-7, 5-3) to take over sole possession of 2nd place in the league
2. Northeastern lost at home to UNC-Wilmington. The Huskies are now winless in the CAA at 0-8 and 6-13 overall. They have really fallen. On the flip side, Wilmington is undefeated and leading the conference.

 

[umainealum]

There are tons of games on the docket for tomorrow. Some may end up getting postponed due to the weather, but the day is absolutely loaded from noon until about 2 am Sunday morning. I my math was right, 18 of the top 25 teams will be in action and many of them are part of the Big XII/SEC Challenge taking place. Those might be the best conferences this year so those matchups might be fun. In addition, there are some nice rivalry games like Michigan/Michigan State and Richmond/VCU.

Anyway, there are just way too many to list. It will be a fun day of hoops.

 

[Mr quint]

Watching Jeff Boals’ Ohio team against Buffalo right now. It’s probably the third time I’ve seen them this year because the MAC does the Friday thing when the schedule is a little less crowded. Just like last year, they are legit. Nobody wants to see that crew on their seed line in March. But Toledo blasted them recently, so there’s another really good team. Rematch coming soon.

Also, under the radar on ESPN+ tomorrow at 5 is Morehead versus Murray. Both undefeated in the OVC. That league never fails to deliver some great matchups every year. Kind of bummed that it‘s getting splintered.

 

[umainealum]

Watching Jeff Boals’ Ohio team against Buffalo right now. It’s probably the third time I’ve seen them this year because the MAC does the Friday thing when the schedule is a little less crowded. Just like last year, they are legit. Nobody wants to see that crew on their seed line in March. But Toledo blasted them recently, so there’s another really good team. Rematch coming soon.

Also, under the radar on ESPN+ tomorrow at 5 is Morehead versus Murray. Both undefeated in the OVC. That league never fails to deliver some great matchups every year. Kind of bummed that it‘s getting splintered.

I am watching that game as well. Ohio is pretty darn good. Buffalo trying to get back in it but not sure they have time.

 

[catpower]

I thought this was interesting, former UMBC assistant Griff Aldrich has Longwood at 8-0 in league play, 16-5 overall. That's pretty good for a place that has pretty little basketball history. They've gone the transfer route which has worked out pretty well for them.

 

[ball_of_rubber]

I had a slight chuckle.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1489101020017963009

 

[umainealum]

There is a massive game in the Mountain West tonight as Boise State (17-4, 8-0) plays at Wyoming (17-3, 6-1). This is a make-up game from a January postponement. These 2 teams just played in Boise 9 days and the Broncos won 65-62. That is Wyoming's only loss since a December 22nd neutral court game vs Stanford. Boise State, on the other hand, has not lost since November 30th and is riding a 14-game winning streak, second only to #1 Auburn.

 

[Aceinthehole]

ICYM - Northeast Conference Announces Disciplinary Actions Following Bryant-LIU Men's Basketball Game

Northeast Conference Announces Disciplinary Actions Following Bryant-LIU Men's Basketball Game

Somerset. NJ -- In accordance with Northeast Conference (NEC) sportsmanship principles, NEC Commissioner Noreen Morris has announced disciplinary actions following a series of incidents involving the Bryant and LIU men's basketball teams on Sunday.

northeastconference.org

 

[umainealum]

ICYM - Northeast Conference Announces Disciplinary Actions Following Bryant-LIU Men's Basketball Game

Northeast Conference Announces Disciplinary Actions Following Bryant-LIU Men's Basketball Game

Somerset. NJ -- In accordance with Northeast Conference (NEC) sportsmanship principles, NEC Commissioner Noreen Morris has announced disciplinary actions following a series of incidents involving the Bryant and LIU men's basketball teams on Sunday.

northeastconference.org

Whoa, what happened?

 

[Aceinthehole]

Whoa, what happened?

IMHO - QU/Rutgers transfer Peter Kiss is a punk and Grasso enables him. LIU was frustrated, tempered flared and the refs lost all control of the game. Embarrassing for both teams and the league.

There was a bench clearing brawl at the U-16 TO, a halftime kerfuffle in the hallway, and unsportsmanlike conduct to end of the game.

You can watch a replay on NEC Front Row, but it is painful to sit through.

NEC Front Row

Long Island University vs. Bryant - Game Summary - January 30, 2022 - ESPN

Get a summary of the Long Island University Sharks vs. Bryant Bulldogs basketball game

www.espn.com

 

[umainealum]

Boy, even the announcers were talking bad about Kiss. The thing I took from this was the fact that Long Island University is now known as the Sharks! I don't think I ever knew the name changed after the 2 campuses combined. I just thought they were still the Blackbirds.

Edit - Man, you can just tell how much of a punk he is. And there was so much talking and crazy stuff all game long. It was kinda nuts. I'm not even to half time yet.

 

[Aceinthehole]

Very unfortunate that LIU changed their colors and mascot when the merged the Brooklyn and Post athletic programs. Blackbirds was a unique and historic name, plus the color scheme black/white just meshed kinda like the Brooklyn Nets. The LIU Sharks look like a create-your-own team in a EA sports video game.

I let everyone make their own judgement about Kiss and Grasso. Kiss is Uber talented, but his attitude has worn thin throughout the league. I never like Grasso as a player at Quinnipiac and I think some of his gimmicks (like offering 500+ kids) was stupid. He has built a good team for sure, but he's hard to root for.

I'm all in on Wagner this year. Bashir Mason and Alex Morales deserve the spotlight of a NCAA trip.

This year would have been a great regular season 4-team Northeast midmajor classic like this:

Wagner (NEC) vs. Iona (MAAC)
Vermont (AE) vs. Princeton (Ivy)