Official 2020 College Basketball Thread
 

Luka Garza has decided to return to Iowa for his senior year.

This makes Iowa a legit National championship contender. We have our all time leading 3 point shooter back from an injury as well as a couple others that were hurt. We can go 10 deep with legit D1 players. ANd Garza averaged about 25 and 13.

I am soooooo excited about this decision. Makes 2020 so much better.

AyoD coming back to Illinois too so they're loaded. It could be a fun BIG season if it can take place.

I guess this is the best place to post this...

Just saw the terrible news that Michael Ojo, former FSU center, died of a heart attack at age 27 in Serbia. What a great dude he was. He also had one of the best bodies I've ever seen on an athlete, so it's hard to believe how he died. Damn. RIP.

An Indiana bubble for Madness?


NCAA relocating 2021 Division I men's basketball championship sites | NCAA.com

It feels like this season, at least the early part, is going to be a disaster. Already a ton of cancellations/switches for early tournaments and I see that Ole Miss and UF have shut things down this week.

Probably not the ideal time to start traveling 300+ teams to start a season.

Damn, didn't realize it was this bad already. And I believe Duke just announced a positive.

Programs on pause due to COVID-19:

Bethune Cookman
UMES
Ivy
Bama St
Iona
Winthrop
Niagara
Albany
Stetson
Siena
SIU
Syracuse
UVM
Loyola-Chi
UMass
Delaware
RMU
Creighton
DePaul
SBU
Binghamton
YSU
SD
Wright St
Akron
NCCU
CSU
CSF
ISU
Manhattan
Milwaukee
Bellarmine
UF
Denver

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 23, 2020

Wichita State men's basketball coach Gregg Marshall resigns after abuse investigation

Sounds like a quality guy.

Tennessee just shut down too.

Good riddance, but what does this even mean? "and Marshall telling Erik Stevenson that he was "afraid of brothers, guys raised by their grandparents eating PB&Js."

B1G marathon tomorrow (Wed.). Starting at 10 am and going into the night.

Iowa plays at 2 I believe, if you are interested in seeing the #5 team in the nation play. Still excited by that. Beat UNC and Gonzaga and we touch #1, which hasnt happened since 87, I believe.

How many get postponed or cancelled today? O/U is 2.5

Yeah, things not trending so great.

I'm completely intrigued by Iowa. This may be the best offensive team in the nation and one of the worst defensively. They should be very entertaining and I expect they'll overwhelm most teams. I think they're my pick in a very good and tight BiG with Illinois right behind.

edit: Also, I'm looking forward to hearing McCaffery berating refs in empty arenas. Iowa is the team to watch...

According to KenPom, this year Iowa is ranked 2nd in the nation in AdjO and 72nd in AdjD. Makes for a fun team to watch, I agree.

I am so excited about this season. I can barely contain myself. Im hoping since football is making it, BB will as well. There so many less people around, that it should be easier to manage.

Shaka Smart with hair just doesn't look right

Bill Walton is a really annoying announcer.

Iowa 3, Wisconsin 4, Illinois 5, MSU 8

B1G is going to be a battle.

Out of them teams the only one that will end up in the top 10 is Illinois. Iowa while loaded on offense still wont play defense(they gave up 67 and 76 to NC Central and Southern for cripes sake), Wisconsin will be efficient but wont be able to beat the good teams and Michigan State is in a reloading year(top 20 but not top 10).

I will not stand for this slander of a national treasure.

he really is and as someone who went to a PAC 12 school I am subjected to him far too much

You have to be in the right mood for him IMO. As far as a serious analyst he is not that.

Today during one of the games.

Bill Walton "That is the best I have seen number 5 play"

Another announcer "Well Bill, you are spot on once again, that is his 2nd career college game"

I like milk and cream soda.


Are those your two favorite beverages?

Well no, I'm not binary so I like many beverages.


:banghead:
(this is yesterdays comments)

Yes. I watched that game. He just can’t stay on topic. And then he makes some grand pronouncement then back to stream of consciousness about his dogs.

It has to be next to impossible to be his broadcast partner

You are absolutely correct. I have moved on from having serious analysis from my broadcast teams. I appreciate it when it is there but expecting it consistently has proven to be unreasonable for most broadcast teams. For me, Walton is entertainment while giving me one or two bits of basketball knowledge. For college basketball, that is good enough for me.

I loved it. The announcer then got on him later when he said "that was one of the 8 worst possessions in the history of Providence basketball" by saying "I thought you didn't rank things, you were not binary. "

Outstanding

I made a similar comment to a friend of mine the other day. His style and anecdotes are just too much all over for me. Seems like he's gotten more and more out there as the seasons pass.

I do not disagree about Iowa's defense. But has improved the last 2 seasons.

I believe they are learning a system and it may take a bit. I will agree or disagree with you after the UNC and Gonzaga games.

While our defense is ranked in the 70s, our offense is ranked #2 according to KenPom.

Offense can be a great defense.

I'm perfectly fine with him for PAC-12/WCC after dark games, but I imagine it would be a different story if I actually cared about one of the teams playing.

This is accurate

Exactaly right..

RU at #24 after not getting to play in their first tourney in decades. Hopefully they can follow up on it.

bill walton is an enjoyable commentator when it's not your team playing

Bill Walton commentating on a game where IU was looking terrible made the night doubly miserable for me last night. I considered watching without sound.

Walton started out as a decent color commentator, but he's digressed over the years, and is totally whacked at this point. It's like watching a Mystery Science Theater 3000 telecast of a college basketball game.

Great game between the Longhorns and Tar Heels for the Maui Tournament title (in Asheville, NC). Texas wins with a shot with 0.1 sec left.

That’s the tenth time Texas and UNC have played each other in the last 25 years. Texas has won nine of those games.

Jalen Suggs went down and it looks like it's possibly achilles. Doesn't look good.

EDIT: Seems to be doing ok. He's up and walking in the tunnel.

heres a script of the two pbp commentators.


Bill Walton: And then Jerry Garcia and I, right after the show at Shea Stadium, we were craving peanut butter M&M's, and we walked down to the local bodega, have you heard of these things, they're unique to New York City-

Jason Benetti: Timeout, Indiana.

Iowa has 3 6'10" guys that can play.

If we can shore up our perimeter defense, look out.

Garza cannot be guarded by anyone in the nation. The guy is the best payer in the nation. He may not be an NBA guy, but he is a fantastic college guy.

When Iowas 3 point shooters get going (there are 3 or 4 of those), watch out.
And our PG just passed BJ armsrong on the all time assist board. The BJ armstrong that won NBA titles.

Iowa is legut. And next week tells the truth. UNC on Tuesday, ISU on Friday. Then NIU and Gonzaga.

I cannot wait for us to ne ranked #1

Gonna be a fun one (in a world without Covid, I would trek over for it). The matchup really seems to pit strengths against strengths.

UNC visits Iowa tonight at 6:35 on ESPN. I am really stoked about this one.

Ft. Hays State win over K-State is gonna make me promote them to D1 in my FBCB file, lol. What a weird year for sports.

Division II Fort Hays State stuns Kansas State without two key members of its basketball coaching staff

Iowa beats UNC, 93-80. Iowa was up the whole game pretty much. UNC did take a lead when it was int he 50s, but they did not really have a chance.
Garza was not his usual self, so Weiskamp, Frederick, and Bohanon bang home 3s all over the place. That is what Iowa really is, a 3 point shooting team.

I expect Iowa to lose to Gonzaga by double digits next week. I didn't think Mark Few could top his 2017 squad but this is probably the best Gonzaga team I've ever seen.

Iowa currently has the 2nd rated offense but 73rd rated defense on KenPom. They've also played a cakewalk schedule, I don't think this UNC team is very good either.

And it turns out that headline was awkwardly worded. I initially figured it was K-State playing while down a few coaches.

Nope.

Also, this historical note. K-State is the first major conference team to lose at home to a non-D1 team since Texas Tech lost to Texas A&M Corpus Christi Dec. 18, 2000.

I looked it up. That probation-depleted TT team finished up 9-19 and coach James Dickey was fired at the end of the season. His replacement was Bobby Knight.

Even with no fans at the RAC, Rutgers manages a late surge to beat Syracuse 79-69. I was watching when RU was down like 65-62 with a few left to play, but we totally dominated in the last few minutes. First win against Cuse since 2003.

No way Iowa loses to Gonzaga by double digits.

Iowa just layed 93 on the 16th ranked team. No matter how you feel, the voters feel UNC was a top 20 team.

Iowa has multiple ways to beat you. Double down on Garza and here comes the rain of 3s. Guard the perimeter and here comes Garza with 40. Pick your poison.

I would rather outscore teams then play slog ball and watch 56-50 games. Give me 90 points a game and let them score 80. A win is a win.

Iowa is a dynamic team and the best Iowa team since, ever? And that is comparing them to a team with 2 NBA players (87) and one with one of the best PGs in his generation (80).

Iowa currently has two wing players shooting over 50% from 3. That will not be sustainable. They've also played a cupcake schedule and they're the only team in the top 10 whose defense is rated outside of the top 50 (71). Mostly attributed to how awful Garza's defense is.

This is also the same trainwreck of last year's UNC team minus Cole Anthony plus more freshmen. That team last year stayed in the top 10 for 5 weeks before finishing sub 500.

What you will see Gonzaga do (since they have an actual modern basketball team unlike UNC) is spread the floor and abuse Garza in the pick and roll. On defense all of their guys can switch and guard multiple positions, Garza will get his 35-40 points, everyone else will get run off the 3-point line. UNC couldn't do that because they have actual midgets and big slow guys trying to run at the perimeter.

dola Iowa is the only team in the current updated KenPom top 25 to have a defense rated outside of the top 50 lol.