College Basketball 2022-2023

[Derwood]

JFC, Oregon has the ugliest basketball floor in history.

[philosophizer75]

Yeah Oregon's floor has been that way for years. Not a fan.

[scarey]

JFC, Oregon has the ugliest basketball floor in history.

[Derwood]

Yeah Oregon's floor has been that way for years. Not a fan.

Can’t say I watch a lot of PAC basketball. I flipped to ESPN last night to try to catch some NFL highlights at that abomination was staring back at me.

It looks like the sewage system backed up and leaked onto the floor

[UMFan83]

Not particularly inspiring to see Michigan notch 5 and 4 point wins over Eastern Michigan and Ohio while getting blown out by 25 to ASU. 3 of Michigan's next 6 games are against Top 15 teams (Virginia, neutral vs Kentucky, at UNC) so this could get ugly in a hurry. Or they are mostly very inexperienced players that are trying to figure it out and they might.

[stitchface]

Not particularly inspiring to see Michigan notch 5 and 4 point wins over Eastern Michigan and Ohio while getting blown out by 25 to ASU. 3 of Michigan's next 6 games are against Top 15 teams (Virginia, neutral vs Kentucky, at UNC) so this could get ugly in a hurry. Or they are mostly very inexperienced players that are trying to figure it out and they might.

I was impressed with Virginia though I have to say Illinois pretty much lost the game with poor shot selection and sloppiness (and free throws).

[mul21]

Not particularly inspiring to see Michigan notch 5 and 4 point wins over Eastern Michigan and Ohio while getting blown out by 25 to ASU. 3 of Michigan's next 6 games are against Top 15 teams (Virginia, neutral vs Kentucky, at UNC) so this could get ugly in a hurry. Or they are mostly very inexperienced players that are trying to figure it out and they might.

I was impressed with Virginia though I have to say Illinois pretty much lost the game with poor shot selection and sloppiness (and free throws).

A lot of hero ball and individual play in the last couple minutes really cost them. You could tell they were a team that hadn't played together much in contrast to the very disciplined UVA squad. I think that's all correctable stuff and something I feel like Underwood has done well in previous years, plus as the season rolls on they'll just naturally figure out who the go to guys are in those close and late situations. Overall very encouraging weekend for me from an Illini fan perspective.

[bukie]

Louisville well on their way to finishing last place at the Maui invitational, currently 0-5 on the year, one of 13 D-1 teams that still don't have a win.

[SouthSideRyan]

Louisville well on their way to finishing last place at the Maui invitational, currently 0-5 on the year, one of 13 D-1 teams that still don't have a win.

Down to 11 now. They're not favored in an individual game on KenPom until December 14th vs Western Kentucky, though in sum numbers say they win 1 of the next 4.

Cal is in a similar position at 0-5 with their next favored game on Dec 7 against Eastern Washington

[bukie]

I'm not sure I've ever rooted so hard for Northwestern as I am now, leading the fighting Bruce Pearls 31-27 midway through the 2nd half.

[NOLA]

Louisville well on their way to finishing last place at the Maui invitational, currently 0-5 on the year, one of 13 D-1 teams that still don't have a win.

I watched Arkansas play them the other day. They are every bit as terrible as that record would indicate, and lost to someone named Bellarmine, at home.

On the flip side, that Creighton/Arkansas game in Maui was one of the most intense early season games I’ve seen in awhile. Both are legit this year.

[bukie]

UNC finally loses after not having looked very good at any point this season, and should drop from their #1 ranking caused by how good people thought they should be in August.

Question is, how far would they fall? I have a hard time seeing voters drop them more than 10 spots, but metric ratings have them more in the 20s, so I'd be curious if they nose dive.

[abmillis]

I know it would never happen, but I honestly wonder how different things would look in both college football and basketball if no ranking were someone until part way into the season. Like, 3 games in football and a month in basketball.

People would claim that the CFP rankings do this, but there's no way they don't consider the other rankings -- and plenty of that (at least toward the middle/bottom of the top 25) is skewed by the perception leading into the season.

[rawaction]

UNC finally loses after not having looked very good at any point this season, and should drop from their #1 ranking caused by how good people thought they should be in August.

Question is, how far would they fall? I have a hard time seeing voters drop them more than 10 spots, but metric ratings have them more in the 20s, so I'd be curious if they nose dive.

I was kind of hoping they would win yesterday to stay at #1 (though, IDK if they would have either way). But UNC comes to Assembly Hall on Tuesday (and play again tomorrow before traveling to Bloomington). It'll be an interesting matchup either way, and I'd imagine both could be top 10. They have the size to compete with IU. And they may be the only team that shoots worse than IU from 3 (actually IU is 90th in the country after being 200th in shooting last year). UNCs highest volume shooters are both under 25%, while at least IU has the right people shooting the most of them. Kopp is making about 1/2 of his 3s so far, which is good since that's all he brings and he was bad hitting open looks last year. Tamar Bates, thanks in part to a big game yesterday, is shooting well too. Xavier Johnson, despite the ugliest jumpshot, is shooting well too.

TJD is a little banged up, but nothing too crazy. Malik Reneau has been really good as a freshman big so far. Hood-Schifino is the anti-Johnson. He has a beautiful looking shot, but it's not going in right now. He is quite the creator and all-around player, so far though. I'd like to think his shot will start falling later in the year, which could be a huge key to IU making a tournament run.

[scarey]

It's hard to fathom the Boilermakers are set up better this year without Jaden Ivey... but boy is it nice to have an actual point guard. Edey was damn near unstoppable with the way Braden Smith was setting him up tonight. Gonzaga had no answer for it. It also helped that their perimeter shooters were hitting open looks tonight.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I genuinely have no idea which teams are legitimately good this year.

[gflore34]

It's hard to fathom the Boilermakers are set up better this year without Jaden Ivey... but boy is it nice to have an actual point guard. Edey was damn near unstoppable with the way Braden Smith was setting him up tonight. Gonzaga had no answer for it. It also helped that their perimeter shooters were hitting open looks tonight.

They were hitting from outside, it'll be interesting to see if they can handle a faster team, like say, an Illinois, when those perimeter shots are not falling. Guys like Shannon and Melendez will be laying the ball up before Edey makes it past half court. Illinois and Indiana are probably not good match ups for the Boilermakers, Michigan and Wisconsin are better match ups for them. Looking good thus far against Duke.

[bukie]

Is Purdue the #1 team tomorrow?

[scarey]

No, I expect the latter half of the top 10 personally.

Man, this is fun!

[bukie]

No, I expect the latter half of the top 10 personally.

Man, this is fun!

Who do you put above them? UNC definitely no, Kansas lost, Duke and Gonzaga lost to Purdue, Creighton and Arkansas lost, MSU lost, Kentucky and UCLA have 2 losses already, Illinois, Baylor and Indiana didn't play anybody of import this week. That leaves Houston (maybe defacto #1), Texas, Virginia, Arizona and UConn, with outside shots for Indiana, Baylor, Illinois and Tennessee staying ahead of Purdue (though I doubt Illinois gets quite that high).

Looking at efficiency-based metrics, KenPom still has a preseason component affecting rankings (to avoid early season ratings being too volatile to be reliable), and Purdue is at 9 there, behind Texas, Houston, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Gonzaga, Baylor, and Connecticut. I feel like that's kinda close, except I think Kentucky are a bit buoyed by preseason factors right now.

Sagarin's ratings are purely based on in season performance, so it's more volatile, and are only updated once a day (so today's results aren't factored in yet) and here is that top 10 coming into today:

1. Houston
2. Texas
3. Connecticut
4. Purdue
5. Indiana
6. Gonzaga
7. Baylor
8. Tennessee
9. Arizona
10. Illinois

That looks pretty good in terms of actual accomplishment, missing a bit on maybe Virginia (they're 11th, they didn't rout all their buy games so far, like I said, there's only 5 games worth of data here so far so each game provides volatility).

[bukie]

Also, fun scheduling quirk, Illinois doesn't play Purdue until March 5. IU and Illinois have been the preseason favorites, but Purdue's week at least puts them into the conversation for now (like MSU's week last week did and this week subsequently took them out of).

[scarey]

Spoiler: show

No, I expect the latter half of the top 10 personally.

Man, this is fun!

Who do you put above them? UNC definitely no, Kansas lost, Duke and Gonzaga lost to Purdue, Creighton and Arkansas lost, MSU lost, Kentucky and UCLA have 2 losses already, Illinois, Baylor and Indiana didn't play anybody of import this week. That leaves Houston (maybe defacto #1), Texas, Virginia, Arizona and UConn, with outside shots for Indiana, Baylor, Illinois and Tennessee staying ahead of Purdue (though I doubt Illinois gets quite that high).

Looking at efficiency-based metrics, KenPom still has a preseason component affecting rankings (to avoid early season ratings being too volatile to be reliable), and Purdue is at 9 there, behind Texas, Houston, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Gonzaga, Baylor, and Connecticut. I feel like that's kinda close, except I think Kentucky are a bit buoyed by preseason factors right now.

Sagarin's ratings are purely based on in season performance, so it's more volatile, and are only updated once a day (so today's results aren't factored in yet) and here is that top 10 coming into today:

1. Houston
2. Texas
3. Connecticut
4. Purdue
5. Indiana
6. Gonzaga
7. Baylor
8. Tennessee
9. Arizona
10. Illinois

That looks pretty good in terms of actual accomplishment, missing a bit on maybe Virginia (they're 11th, they didn't rout all their buy games so far, like I said, there's only 5 games worth of data here so far so each game provides volatility).

Purdue is at 9 there, behind Texas, Houston, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Gonzaga, Baylor, and Connecticut

Something close to this. I probably put Purdue ahead of UConn, Kentucky, and Gonzaga. Purdue and Baylor are probably head to head for the 5th spot.

[bukie]

Purdue up to 5th, a 19 spot rise. UNC down to 18th.

ESPN announced yesterday the B1G-ACC challenge is ending after this year (ESPN is losing the rights to broadcast he B1G which I am sure is a coincidence). Starting next season, there will be an SEC-ACC challenge, which I suppose makes more sense regionally.

As for this year's B1G-ACC challenge, the matchups for this season favor the B1G by a 10-4 margin (as the KenPom rates):

1. #122 Georgia Tech at #23 Iowa (Iowa, 91%)
2. #7 Purdue at #164 Florida State (Purdue 89%)
3. #121 Pittsburgh at #46 Northwestern (Northwestern 82%)
4. #24 Maryland at #171 Louisville (Maryland 82%)
5. #70 Syracuse at #22 Illinois (Illinois 81%)
6. #76 Wake Forest at #40 Wisconsin (Wisconsin 73%)
7. #21 North Carolina at #11 Indiana (Indiana 70%)
8. #107 Boston College at #111 Nebraska (Nebraska 61%)
9. #29 Michigan State at #78 Notre Dame (Michigan State 58%)
10. #33 Penn State at #66 Clemson (Penn State 50.3%)
11. #36 Rutgers at #44 Miami (Miami 58%)
12. #19 Ohio State at #20 Duke (Duke 61%)
13. #5 Virginia at #53 Michigan (Virginia 67%)
14. #154 Minnesota at #35 Virginia Tech (Virginia Tech 87%)

[bukie]

Louisville well on their way to finishing last place at the Maui invitational, currently 0-5 on the year, one of 13 D-1 teams that still don't have a win.

Down to 11 now. They're not favored in an individual game on KenPom until December 14th vs Western Kentucky, though in sum numbers say they win 1 of the next 4.

Cal is in a similar position at 0-5 with their next favored game on Dec 7 against Eastern Washington

Still following this, there are now only 4 teams that are winless on the year, and Louisville and Cal are two of them. One of the others (Green Bay) is favored in their next game this week, the other (Central Connecticut) is a 1-point dog in their game this week.

Cal is favored over their opponent, Eastern Washington this week, but Louisville is still not favored in a game until late next week. Louisville plays their last buy games this week, and if they can't win either of those, they won't be favored in a single game the rest of the season.

[SouthSideRyan]

It’s early so the numbers can be screwy, but Louisville is 361 out of 363 in NET. They have failed to cover a spread all season. Their next game is against 1-9 FSU which has to be a record for futility between two major conference teams