KEY GAMES TODAY:

Marquette vs. Vanderbilt, 6:30 PM EST, CBSSN

Both teams projected to be on the bubble this season. Both lost some key pieces to the NBA last year, and Vandy obviously lost their coach... but gained Bryce Drew, which is a net positive IMO. Kind of weird to already talk about the tournament, but this is the type of game you want to win if you want to make the tournament-- because if your opponent fails to make the tourney, optics will call it a "bad loss."

Lots of shooting bound to happen, as neither team has a ton of depth inside or a predilection for pounding the ball inside and crashing the glass. Real coin flip. Market opened at Vandy -3.5, now it's at Marquette by 1.5-2 points. That trend scares me away from picking Marquette. In the battle of the Lukes, I'll go with Kornet, though it pains me to pick against Wojo.

Arizona vs. Michigan State, 7 PM EST, ESPN

Hot to pick against Arizona right now, with Ray Smith forced into early retirement by injuries (PAY THE PLAYERS) and Allonzo Trier missing some if not all of the season due to suspension for an unknown reason, rumored to be PED use. However, they have a highly touted trio of freshmen just like Michigan State-- and one of them, Lauri Markkanen, is an absolute matchup nightmare for MSU. It'll be interesting to see just how ready Cassius Winston is for Michigan State-- I imagine Parker Jackson-Cartwright will be overmatched on defense against him, so I wonder if the Kobi Simmons era will begin sooner than some maybe expected (at least for this particular matchup). Michigan State is a one-point favorite... but I'll take Arizona here. I think they win the boards which would help them win the game.

Indiana vs. Kansas, 9 PM EST, ESPN

Game of the night/weekend. Best game until Kansas plays Duke in a few days. I don't think the 6-point Kansas spread is fair. Indiana was one of the best teams in the country the last couple of months of last year. Inside, Kansas can't match up against Thomas Bryant. Indiana should feed the big fella early and often, as Bragg and Lucas would really have their hands full against a future lotto pick down low. On the wing, there will be a coming-out party tonight, either for frosh phenom Josh Jackson or for potential breakout star OG Anunoby for Indiana. They should guard one another-- and while Jackson's upside is really high, I wouldn't be surprised if Anunoby's experience and superior shooting touch gives him a slight upper hand. However, it'll come down to the back court. Mason and Graham crushed in the Big 12 last year, whereas James Blackmon was sort of famously awful on defense last season, especially highlighted in the loss to Duke, one of the most embarrassing displays by a team of tremendous talent that I've ever seen. Backcourt will be Indiana's biggest question-- Newkirk should be better defensively than Yogi, but Mason and Graham have the potential to win games by themselves, and I don't see Indiana's backcourt fixing that. I'd take Kansas for the win but Indiana to cover the spread.

Let's go.

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Langford and Harris starting really well too. Taking it to Arizona.

Not one thing missing on this roster. It's gonna be a fun year.

Frank Howard is a new man, and a breakout year is coming.

Most competent we've looked in a few years.

I'm glad to see he may end his career as a truly strong college player. Cheatham is still grossly underrated, and that young kid Hauser looks confident with his jumper. And Vandy last year was one of the best perimeter defenses in the country. Very strong start.

Brett Nelson (remember him?) helped him to retool his shot and it made a big difference, but more important it was clear that something clicked in how he reads the game. On offense, he's become really good at picking his spots--still gambles on defense a lot, but it sure worked for him last night.

Vandy looked like trash though, so I'm trying to keep my optimism in check.

They've been live-by-the-3 etc for a while now, so when shit goes south, it can go very south... I was mostly just surprised by the defense, which was strong last year, and Bryce has been a good defensive coach for a while now too. Wade Baldwin was a player I loved last year... but was he really the *entire* perimeter? Like... really?

Interesting to see where they go. And yeah, as I said on our Big East preview, I like Marquette to have a real shot at landing on the right side of the bubble. This win was obviously a huge first step.

Young Gunna! Grew 2 inches since arriving on campus. He's making Nickens expendable. Instead of doing the running man challenge all summer, he shoulda been doing the dribbling and defensive slide challenge.

He can play.

Terrible news for Arizona.

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/15/13/73/3456728/3/628x471.jpg

Haven't brought it in like 2 years actually.

If he plays Duke and Tatum isn't healthy, he might go off.

But that's just it. I saw him a bit on the circuit last summer against equal or similar talent , and I wasn' t impressed .

He's too raw at this point, man. He played 17 without Tatum in the game-- and got a foul every 4 minutes. Against Marist. Defending no one of consequence.

Between this and the UA/MSU game, this has been a great night to kick off the year.

Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf looking solid...


Bruins back in the game..

One of the weirdest games/outcomes you could imagine. Washington had a 66% eFG to Yale's 51%, blocked 15 shots to Yale's 0...and managed to lose by 8 and I'm not sure they were even ever within one possession.

Romar!

Such a weird thing at UW. You can't really get rid of Romar, cuz dude brings in *serious* recruiting talent... but if he doesn't do shit with it, does the talent even matter?

thanks for noticing how much he sucks, i guess?

Howie, you get those stats when you can't coach defense or hire someone who can. UW used to be a defensive juggernaut when they were on their '04-'11 run of tourney appearances.

since? straight to fucking hell. i can't even watch no more i get too mad because it's too obvious.

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!

FUCK.

he had em ballin up to about 2010

but, what's the point when the rest of the players, who do have talent but need coaching and care aren't being developed, and the stars are just ticking off games on the calendar until the NBA draft.

i mean, i think the fan base is scared that if you fire him you lose his recruiting with him (i still don't understand some of these guys coming here for HIM) and maybe you do, but i think i'd rather have someone who can "coach up" a bunch of 3-star try-hards into a team that can win games and play defense rather watch the #1 pick put up numbers for 4 months while the other players give up easy buckets and don't improve while in the program.

sometimes you gotta take a step back to take two forward.

that said, if you hire the RIGHT guy, you should still be able to get talent.

I also say that with full intentions sliding through a crack to get Porter in blue.

112 against NC State tonight

It won't build the case for CU as much as Wisky did, but good win nonetheless

very deep Jay squad, will be interesting to see if Ole Miss tries to run with them

And I had Creighton ranked in my Top 20. I just thought Wisconsin was ready to win the Big 10 this season. Then they settled for jumpshots that whole fucking game. They took 24 2s and 39 3s, and they have one of the best frontcourts in the Big 10-- maybe in the country-- in Happ and Hayes. Maybe the interior defense deserves some credit too, but it seemed to me (and I was admittedly distracted also watching Duke on the next TV over) that Wisconsin just played soft as shit offensively.

And yeah, State never plays defense or forces turnovers. It's been a pretty consistent Gott criticism, and it'll be the same again this year. They have a lot of hype due to Smith, Yurtseven, and Kapita, and I've no doubt they'll win some games, but if they play against a team with an efficient offense, the way McDermott usually has his team playing, they don't really have a real chance.

It'll be tough for Creighton to win the Big East, but I had them finishing third in my preseason rankings, and all it'd take is one or two key wins for them and losses for others to move them up to second (I don't see them passing Villanova, but Xavier seems vulnerable on the inside, which would be good news for Creighton's slashers).

We're undefeated, but we've played nothing but small schools.


I think we're playing an AAU team this week.