Welcome to the fourth edition of your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. With January just around the corner, non-conference showdowns are about to give way to in-conference slugfests. The Murray States and Bucknells of the world are going to slip into relative obscurity for a few months while we determine whether that one team in each major conference (Arizona State, Charlotte, Iowa, Maryland, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, and Wyoming) is anywhere near as good as its inflated record. My mission is to make sure you don't lose track of the games being played this week that'll really matter in March. We'll be running this column at least every Friday until March 15 while adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker in a few weeks. Stick with us for the next 2+ months and you'll be as prepared as you can possibly be to fill out your bracket.
Friday, December 28, 2012
For the Sake of Your Bracket IV (12/28-1/3)
By: Kerrance James
Welcome to the fourth edition of your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. With January just around the corner, non-conference showdowns are about to give way to in-conference slugfests. The Murray States and Bucknells of the world are going to slip into relative obscurity for a few months while we determine whether that one team in each major conference (Arizona State, Charlotte, Iowa, Maryland, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, and Wyoming) is anywhere near as good as its inflated record. My mission is to make sure you don't lose track of the games being played this week that'll really matter in March. We'll be running this column at least every Friday until March 15 while adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker in a few weeks. Stick with us for the next 2+ months and you'll be as prepared as you can possibly be to fill out your bracket.
Friday: Detroit @ Temple (3:00), Stony Brook
@ Seton Hall (7:00 – ESPN3), Iona @ Saint Joseph’s (7:00), Baylor @ Gonzaga
(8:00 – ESPN2), Missouri @ UCLA (10:00 – ESPN2)
Welcome to the fourth edition of your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. With January just around the corner, non-conference showdowns are about to give way to in-conference slugfests. The Murray States and Bucknells of the world are going to slip into relative obscurity for a few months while we determine whether that one team in each major conference (Arizona State, Charlotte, Iowa, Maryland, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, and Wyoming) is anywhere near as good as its inflated record. My mission is to make sure you don't lose track of the games being played this week that'll really matter in March. We'll be running this column at least every Friday until March 15 while adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker in a few weeks. Stick with us for the next 2+ months and you'll be as prepared as you can possibly be to fill out your bracket.
Friday, December 21, 2012
For the Sake of Your Bracket 3.0 (12/21-12/27)
By: Kerrance James
If you haven't yet finalized when you're going where over the four day Christmas weekend, I would suggest leaving Saturday open for college hoops. It's nowhere near the best Saturday of the season, but you won't have much else to watch from Sunday-Wednesday, so make sure to soak it in while you can. If you're new to the program, my 3.5 month long mission is to have you as prepared as possible to fill out your brackets by making you aware of the upcoming games worth keeping an eye on - while frequently including predictions bound to occasionally go wrong. I'll be running this at least every Friday until Selection Sunday, along with my annual elimination style bubble tracker (targeting January 25 to start that up), so do yourself a favor and check back in every now and again. Now, on to the condensed week of games.
If you haven't yet finalized when you're going where over the four day Christmas weekend, I would suggest leaving Saturday open for college hoops. It's nowhere near the best Saturday of the season, but you won't have much else to watch from Sunday-Wednesday, so make sure to soak it in while you can. If you're new to the program, my 3.5 month long mission is to have you as prepared as possible to fill out your brackets by making you aware of the upcoming games worth keeping an eye on - while frequently including predictions bound to occasionally go wrong. I'll be running this at least every Friday until Selection Sunday, along with my annual elimination style bubble tracker (targeting January 25 to start that up), so do yourself a favor and check back in every now and again. Now, on to the condensed week of games.
Friday – Stony Brook @ Maryland (8:00 –
ESPN3), Stanford @ Northwestern (9:00 – Big Ten Network), BYU @ Baylor (9:00 –
ESPN2)
Friday, December 14, 2012
For the Sake of Your Bracket 2.0 (12/14-12/20)
By: Kerrance James
Welcome to the second edition of your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. There are 284 games in the next 7 days, and it won’t be long until we’re blessed with 300+ per week. My mission is to make sure you don’t lose track of the important ones, so here are the 35 games you’ll want to keep an eye on between now and next Friday. We’ll plan on running this column every Friday between now and March 13, while eventually (mid-January?) adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker, as well as numerous journalistic gems from Charlie (including this one from yesterday). Stick with us for the next 3 months, and you’ll be as prepared as you can possibly be to inevitably tear your bracket to pieces – but you’ll at least feel more knowledgeable doing it.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
What We Know About College Basketball Right Now
By Charlie Scaturro
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know nearly as much about college basketball as I think I do, and this harsh reality is compounded by the fact that we’re just a month into the season. At this point, we’re still trying to figure out which teams are for real, which teams are only off to an undefeated start because their schedule was front loaded with teams like Campbell, and which players have what it takes to carry their teams deep into March.
In a lot of ways, the first month of the college basketball season is like your first few classes with a new professor in college. Maybe you’ve browsed his ratemyprofessor.com page (the equivalent to looking at the pre-season Top 25), maybe the professor’s name came up at a welcome week party in between keg stands for some unknown reason, and maybe you looked over the syllabus, but you really won’t know if you have to show up to every class or actually do the assigned reading until a few weeks in. At that point, you’ve figured out if this class is going to be the bane of your existence for the next few months or if you can write your papers with minimal knowledge about the subject matter, and a feigned attempt at structuring grammatically correct sentences.
Seeing as we’re about a month into the college basketball season and conference play hasn’t started yet, I’d say we’ve had about three classes worth of knowledge about this years college basketball season; which means there’s still a lot we don’t know about the teams and players that we’ll be watching into April. That being said, here’s what we know about college basketball thus far:
In a lot of ways, the first month of the college basketball season is like your first few classes with a new professor in college. Maybe you’ve browsed his ratemyprofessor.com page (the equivalent to looking at the pre-season Top 25), maybe the professor’s name came up at a welcome week party in between keg stands for some unknown reason, and maybe you looked over the syllabus, but you really won’t know if you have to show up to every class or actually do the assigned reading until a few weeks in. At that point, you’ve figured out if this class is going to be the bane of your existence for the next few months or if you can write your papers with minimal knowledge about the subject matter, and a feigned attempt at structuring grammatically correct sentences.
Seeing as we’re about a month into the college basketball season and conference play hasn’t started yet, I’d say we’ve had about three classes worth of knowledge about this years college basketball season; which means there’s still a lot we don’t know about the teams and players that we’ll be watching into April. That being said, here’s what we know about college basketball thus far:
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
If I Was in Charge of Conference Realignment
By: Kerrance James
Realignment is inevitable. Long-standing rivalries are
100% expendable. The almighty dollar is king. The sooner you come to grips with
those facts, the less angry this completely hypothetical article will make you.
Moves and rumors of impending moves are scrolling along
the bottom line on a nearly daily basis, but where is it all going, and will it
ever end? For a while it seemed like the Big 12 would be the Power Six
conference to go under at the expense of a new Fab Five, but that may no longer
be the case. Football afterthoughts like Tulane and East Carolina are helping
keep the major conferences afloat in their journey to field 16 teams. The whole thing leaves me asking (at least) two key questions:
1.
If all this posturing is based on football
revenue, why does it look like we’re headed for 4-5 super conferences? What’s
the point in 16 team conferences if you only play 7-9 conference games per
season? Wouldn’t the ideal situation be 8 10 team conferences rather than 5 16
team conferences?
2.
Where does this leave the basketball powerhouses
without FBS football programs?
Friday, December 7, 2012
For the Sake of Your Bracket (12/7-12/13)
By: Kerrance James
Welcome to your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. There are 207 games in the next 7 days, and it won’t be long until we’re blessed with 300+ per week. My mission is to make sure you don’t lose track of the important ones, so here are the 22 games you’ll want to keep an eye on between now and next Friday. We’ll plan on running this column every Friday between now and March 13, while eventually (mid-January?) adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker, as well as numerous journalistic gems from Charlie. Stick with us for the next 3 months, and you’ll be as prepared as you can possibly be to inevitably tear your bracket to pieces – but you’ll at least feel more knowledgeable doing it.
Welcome to your one-stop shop for the upcoming week in college hoops. There are 207 games in the next 7 days, and it won’t be long until we’re blessed with 300+ per week. My mission is to make sure you don’t lose track of the important ones, so here are the 22 games you’ll want to keep an eye on between now and next Friday. We’ll plan on running this column every Friday between now and March 13, while eventually (mid-January?) adding in my annual elimination style bubble tracker, as well as numerous journalistic gems from Charlie. Stick with us for the next 3 months, and you’ll be as prepared as you can possibly be to inevitably tear your bracket to pieces – but you’ll at least feel more knowledgeable doing it.
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