What game are you watching tonight?

[Billy Dat]

It occurs to me that a thread like this might be a fun way for us to give each other a head-up about what great games might be worth watching any given night in either college or the NBA.

Tonight, Tuesday 12/8, it's the Warriors on the road vs the Pacers. The Warriors streak and Steph Curry's play have kind of moved into uncharted territory and the Pacers are playing well. Of course, you have to have NBA TV.

In college, there is UConn v Maryland for your hate watching pleasure. The best game is probably Virginia (10) vs West Virginia (14)

[bluedev_92]

Good idea for a thread. Think I'll go with the Virginia - West Virginia game. That should be a fun one to watch.

[freshmanjs]

Florida - Miami. A good chance to check out Mike White's team and one of the better teams in the ACC.

[uh_no]

lets go huskies :)

hopefully the break will prevent another 3 point loss....

plus no love for sulaimon.

[Troublemaker]

Good idea for a thread. Think I'll go with the Virginia - West Virginia game. That should be a fun one to watch.

Yeah, the contrast in styles (fast vs slow, aggressive D vs conservative D) will be be intriguing.

[Olympic Fan]

I'm a college basketball guy, so I'll watch any college game over any pro game.

Tonight, I'll be switching back and forth between Miami-Florida and Virginia-West Virginia at 7 p.m. (with maybe a peek at Xavier-Wright State ... I know that should be a blowout, but I want to get a look at what seems to be a pretty good Xavier team).

At 9 p.m., I'll watch Michigan-SMU, although at 9:30, I'll start switching to Maryland-UConn.

A pretty good night of hoops, especially since with Duke off, no pressure, just entertainment.

[Dukehky]

The answer for me is always Golden State unless Duke is on. Steph is the best show in sports right now.

[Bob Green]

The best game is probably Virginia (10) vs West Virginia (14)

This is the one I will watch. Virginia needs better performances from their interior players.

[COYS]

The answer for me is always Golden State unless Duke is on. Steph is the best show in sports right now.

I'm in this camp, too. And I have no love for the Warriors (no real disdain, either). What the Warriors are doing is unprecedented with the possible exception of the '96 Bulls. What Steph Curry and his thin, 6'3'' frame are capable of in a league full of some of the biggest, fastest athletes in the world is incredible. And his teammates, other than the pigeon, are also pretty fun to watch, especially Draymond Green. I've been watching every Golden State game that I'm still awake for. Basketball at the highest level.

[rasputin]

I'll be watching the football game between the Steelers and the Raiders. You know, from when Bradshaw was passing the ball to Fuqua, and Franco Harris wound up catching it after Fuqua collided with Tatum. The Immaculate Reception.

[-jk]

Va-WVa or Md-Ucons. Both quite relevant here near the Beltway!

-jk

[Bob Green]

West Virginia had a double digit lead but Virginia was able to cut it to six points by playing a strong final two minutes of the half. The Cavaliers had 11 turnovers which led to a lot of easy points for WVU. Mountaineers look like a hard nosed defensive team.

[Duke95]

Va-WVa or Md-Ucons. Both quite relevant here near the Beltway!

-jk

Yep. Watching these as well.

[Dukehky]

The Dubs scored 80 in the FIRST HALF!!! Klay hit 10 threes tonight. Worth it, rather than watching UVA play some slugfest. I hate watching Virginia play. The only redeeming quality is Brogdon who should shoot more and more often, then they could be tolerable.

[sagegrouse]

Virginia stormed back after trailing West Virginia by 12 points in the first half, winning by 16. Miami had a solid 11-point win over Florida.

Good results for the ACC.

[awhom111]

I rarely just sit down and watch a game, but there was an interesting slate tonight.

Of course, I watched some of my Warriors. A couple games not mentioned above that I have kept an eye on are Wojo's Marquette hosting San Jose State and Gonzaga having a tougher than expected time with Montana. The ESPNU slate is also relevant for scouting the ACC. I wanted to catch a few minutes of Penn State-George Washington because George Washington has an interesting roster, but did not get the chance. Hopefully there are also good Duke moments in this late NBATV game.

The Warriors are off tomorrow, so any time I have for basketball will be college with a possible exception for some D League time. BC at Providence, UNLV at Wichita State, and Dayton at Vanderbilt are probably the most interesting to me.

[JNort]

I'm in this camp, too. And I have no love for the Warriors (no real disdain, either). What the Warriors are doing is unprecedented with the possible exception of the '96 Bulls. What Steph Curry and his thin, 6'3'' frame are capable of in a league full of some of the biggest, fastest athletes in the world is incredible. And his teammates, other than the pigeon, are also pretty fun to watch, especially Draymond Green. I've been watching every Golden State game that I'm still awake for. Basketball at the highest level.

I like Barnes as an NBA player tbh. I just don't understand how anyone can see Draymond on their tv screen and not wanna puke. The man is the ultimate in easy to hate for me. Yells way to much, shoots to much, talks to much, over valued, plays ugly, and has an ego to rival Trump.

[Neals384]

Late the the party here...I watched my Alma Mater, Stony Brook, hang tough with Notre Dame for 25 minutes: 42-46 with 15 to go, before losing by 25. Very entertaining; neither team played much defense. Auguste and Jackson had strong games for ND. Stony Brook actually has a very good team for their conference (America East, less than mid-major). Starters shot almost 50% but they have a weak bench. Starter Jameel Warney blocked his 200th in the first half, and recorded his 1,000th rebound on the very next play. But he was bothered by Auguste's length and athleticism.

[Billy Dat]

Late the the party here...
Late to the party with a 1AM time stamp, as Yogi the Berra would say, it gets late early where you are, Nelas384. Props to Stony Brook for hanging tough.

TONIGHT - 12/9

Knicks vs Jazz - come on, this has to be #1 on everyone's list, right? OK, maybe not, but it does give me a chance to see Rodney and Quinn for the first time this year and see if the Knicks can show some grit at the start of a West Coast swing.

Lots of highly ranked teams are playing exam time fodder tonight...Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Michigan State.

The Dayton v Vandy game should be entertaining. Anyone wanting to check out ACC should see if BC v Providence is on the air as POY candidate Kris Dunn of PC is mighty fun to watch.

[left_hook_lacey]

The answer for me is always Golden State unless Duke is on. Steph is the best show in sports right now.


I agree. I watched the Warriors again last night, and it looked like GS was playing against its bench in a walk-through. They have the perfect combination of talent that is well-coached and unselfish. Add in their absolute dead-eye 3 point shooters and they are scary good.

This is the most entertaining aspect going in sports right now, as Dukehky noted. 23 games in and not one single loss. Barring some kind of injury or other phenomenon, GS is in a good position to top the record-setting 96 Bulls that went 72-10 in the regular season. Well, in as good a position as anyone has been since 96 I suppose.

The Warriors would have to go 50-9 for the rest of the season, which would be quite remarkable in and of itself, but looks quite doable considering how they're playing. But as we all know, nothing is ever guaranteed in sports.



Perhaps this deserves its own thread? The "Can Golden State be unbelievaBULL" thread? No?

[BD80]

I'll be watching the football game between the Steelers and the Raiders. You know, from when Bradshaw was passing the ball to Fuqua, and Franco Harris wound up catching it after Fuqua collided with Tatum. The Immaculate Reception.

I was at that game. It was so long ago, I had hair.

[weezie]

None of you boys were watching the Victoria's Secret fashion show?! All sports, Frontline and History Channel for you eggheads, eh? :cool:

[BD80]

None of you boys were watching the Victoria's Secret fashion show?! All sports, Frontline and History Channel for you eggheads, eh? :cool:

None of the models had reached middle school by the turn of the millennium and none weigh more than 103 lbs.

The History Channel? Now that's just insulting.

[awhom111]

According to the listings that I have, there are only four college games on TV on Thursday. Iowa-Iowa State is interesting and I will be keeping an eye on Southern-Wyoming. The Knicks-Kings game is one of those where literally anything could happen.

[YmoBeThere]

Unfortunately, I watched another Vandy loss last night. They are 1-3 in the games I've watched. None of the losses have been bad, with the Kansas game being the closest to it. But it is frustrating to see a junior and sophmore team that doesn't appear to be learning from their mistakes.

Perhaps what I'm saying is that I'm just not sold on Kevin Stallings.

[OldPhiKap]

The History Channel? Now that's just insulting.

But don't you want to know how aliens built the Great Pyramids, or the secret life of Adolph Hitler?

[left_hook_lacey]

But don't you want to know how aliens built the Great Pyramids, or the secret life of Adolph Hitler?

Don't forget the Holy Grail that is buried on Oak Island, and the presidents book of secrets that outlines a plan for the Illuminatti to institute a NWO.

[Indoor66]

Don't forget the Holy Grail that is buried on Oak Island, and the presidents book of secrets that outlines a plan for the Illuminatti to institute a NWO.

It is a shame that The History Channel has become a parody of itself. I would enjoy programming that dealt with legitimate history in a meaningful way. It would be much more enjoyable than all the "reality" jokes that are on now.

[elvis14]

The answer for me is always Golden State unless Duke is on. Steph is the best show in sports right now.

I'm a little late to this thread but just wanted to add another "me too" to Dukehy's response. Steph is worth staying up late to watch. He won the MVP and the NBA championship last year then he shows up this year and takes his game to a whole new level? Really? Wow. Love the little guy taking to the big guys angle as well (all 5'7" of me loves that). Great piece on Steph this morning on Sportscenter as well.

[Billy Dat]

12/10 - kind of a sleepy slate

I will be sleepy as I try to see if the Knicks can somehow manage a decent effort on the road vs the Kings. I hope to see Seth Curry in action but based on the fact that he hasn't played in the past 3 games and he's currently 3rd on the depth chart, I don't think I'll see him.

Clips v Bulls is an interesting match-up of playoff teams from opposite conferences - that one's a national game on TNT.

[Olympic Fan]

You're right ... a kind of slow Thursday night.

I'll definitely check on Iowa State-Iowa at 7:30 ... and I'll try to find Washington State at Idaho (I think it should be on one of the Pac 12 channels).

Other than that ... I'll probably try to find a Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel.

[Billy Dat]

You're right ... a kind of slow Thursday night.

When the NFL is on, everyone else tends to try and stay out of the way.

[aswewere]

7:00 PM ET

 SECN
Women's game we play both this season.





Louisville


(3-4, 1-1 away)







8 Kentucky


(7-0, 5-0 Home)







Memorial Coliseum (KY)

Lexington, Kentucky


É Buy on StubHub






Players to Watch



Briahanna Jackson
LOU - G
21.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 3.0 APG


Evelyn Akhator
UK - F
12.6 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 0.3 APG

[Olympic Fan]

You're right ... a kind of slow Thursday night.

I'll definitely check on Iowa State-Iowa at 7:30 ... and I'll try to find Washington State at Idaho (I think it should be on one of the Pac 12 channels).

Other than that ... I'll probably try to find a Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel.

Actually, ESPN has its college football awards show on tonight. Jeremy Cash is up for several national awards -- maybe as national defensive player of the year?

Plus, the Walter Camp All-American team -- the first of the five teams that make up the consensus All-American team (along with AP, the Football Coaches, the Football Writers and The Sporting News) -- will be announced during the show. Important for Cash, Skura and maybe Edwards as a return specialist to make this team.

I'll be watching some of that.

[CameronBlue]

The History Channel? Now that's just insulting.

So they didn't consult you for the eye-witness account, huh? Yeah I kindof get that.

[awhom111]

Friday night is even slower on the college side. UConn and FSU on the women's side is interesting for scouting purposes even if it is not useful for unpredictability.

I will of course be watching at least some of the Warriors.

The D League on YouTube is also a viable option.

Another interesting sporting event with some Duke implications is the CONCACAF U-20s Women's Semifinal, on FS2 around 9:00pm ET. Incoming midfielder Ella Stevens came off the bench in the last game and bagged a goal. The backup goalkeeper for the United States is also coming to Duke.


You're right ... a kind of slow Thursday night.

I'll definitely check on Iowa State-Iowa at 7:30 ... and I'll try to find Washington State at Idaho (I think it should be on one of the Pac 12 channels).

Other than that ... I'll probably try to find a Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel.

At Idaho means that Idaho controls the broadcast, so it is actually on Altitude.

[CDu]

Hope y'all didn't watch the abomination that was the Bulls/Clips game. It was close, but man was it bad. Both teams were on the back end of a back to back, and boy did it show.

[Olympic Fan]

Hope y'all didn't watch the abomination that was the Bulls/Clips game. It was close, but man was it bad. Both teams were on the back end of a back to back, and boy did it show.

You should have stuck to college basketball -- Iowa at Iowa State was a great game ... Iowa up 20 on the road midway through the second half, when Iowa State starts coming back. They cut it to 71-70 with just over five minutes left to play. But Iowa surges again and is up 82-74 with the ball at about the two minute mark.

Iowa misses the first shot on the one-and-one twice, turns it over twice and Iowa State scores nine straight points to take an 83-82 lead with 10 seconds left. Iowa comes down and gets a decent 3-point shot from their best 3-point shooter, but it rims out.

Fans of the No. 5 team in the nation rush the court to celebrate their homecourt win over an unranked opponent.

[luvdahops]

Hope y'all didn't watch the abomination that was the Bulls/Clips game. It was close, but man was it bad. Both teams were on the back end of a back to back, and boy did it show.

I was there in person, and it was indeed pretty bad. The Bulls did show some improvement on defense, and Hoiberg seems to have woken up to the reality that a Gasol-Mirotic - or even worse, Gasol-Mirotic-McDermott - frontcourt is just way too vulnerable on that end. But their offense remains in disarray, with a lot of forced shots and turnovers (especially by Rose) and multiple possessions in the fourth where Jimmy Butler did not even touch the ball. Which is just inexcusable.

The Clippers got off to a strong start, but then saw their second unit get outplayed badly, and the starters could not regain any momentum in the second or most of the third quarters. But the Griffin ejection, coupled with the Bulls typical late 3rd and 4th quarter implosion, seemed to energize them. The Bulls were fortunate to hold on.

JJ's shot was off last night but he still managed to get plenty of good looks in the flow of the LA offense despite the defensive attention paid to him by the Bulls. Austin did not look good at all, especially as a de facto backup PG. He penetrated OK but could not finish, and was caught in the air with nothing to do a few times. Also had a terrible time staying with Aaron Brooks.

[Billy Dat]

This Warriors v Celtics double OT is awesome. Everyone is exhausted, like Rocky 2. Warriors up 3 with 18 secs left. Boston ball. Crowder makes tough lay-up to cut it to 1. They foul Steph. He goes 2-2. Ws up 3. Heinson is the most ridiculously biased home color man in the league. Draymond has the first 5x5 in 3 years...more then 5 each points, assists, boards, blocks and steals. 13 secs left. Crowder misses a 3. Iggy board and he's fouled. 5 secs left. Iggy goes 2-2. Ballgame! Streak survives..124-119 double OT!

[awhom111]

I will not get to watch much on Saturday, but if I could.

My Warriors have the second half of what is turning out to be a grueling back to back.

Some college games of interest:
Marquette vs Wisconsin, 1:30pm ESPN2
Utah vs Wichita State, 3:30pm ESPN2
Cincinnati vs Xavier, 5:30pm FOX
Oregon vs Boise State, 7:00pm CBSSN
UC Irvine vs Utah State, 9:00pm ROOT
UCLA vs Gonzaga 10:00pm ESPN2

I would watch St. Mary's vs Cal and Dartmouth vs Stanford, but no luck on the channel for me.

There are some other good college sports to watch. Army-Navy of course, but also one of my subtle favorite sports days of the year, the volleyball quarterfinals.

[Troublemaker]

3:30pm ESPN2 - Utah at Wichita St - gotta scout Utah in prep for Duke's MSG game with them

5:15pm ESPN - Texas vs UNC - Rick Barnes is gone, but will Texas continue to be a nightmare for the Heels?

[CDu]

Gonna be tough to stay inside given 70 degree temps this weekend. But both the UU/WSU and UT/UNC-CH games look enticing.

[Olympic Fan]

I will not get to watch much on Saturday, but if I could.

My Warriors have the second half of what is turning out to be a grueling back to back.

Some college games of interest:
Marquette vs Wisconsin, 1:30pm ESPN2
Utah vs Wichita State, 3:30pm ESPN2
Cincinnati vs Xavier, 5:30pm FOX
Oregon vs Boise State, 7:00pm CBSSN
UC Irvine vs Utah State, 9:00pm ROOT
UCLA vs Gonzaga 10:00pm ESPN2

I would watch St. Mary's vs Cal and Dartmouth vs Stanford, but no luck on the channel for me.

There are some other good college sports to watch. Army-Navy of course, but also one of my subtle favorite sports days of the year, the volleyball quarterfinals.

GREAT day for college basketball watching --- the games you mentioned, of course, but also Arizona State at Kentucky (3:15 ESPN), Ohio State at UConn (noon CBS), Kansas State at Texas A&M (5:30 SEC), Florida at Michigan State (6 p.m. ESPN2), Oregon State at Kansas (8 p.m. ESPN2) and, as Troublemaker noted, UNC at Texas (ESPN 5:15 p.m.) -- although I don't expect this Texas team to be much of a threat to this UNC team. Maybe in a year or two, Shaka will be in position to torture the probation weakened Cheats, but not this year.

I would recommend Cincinnati at Xavier -- for my money, the second-best rivalry in college basketball -- in terms of intensity and drama, it rivals Duke-UNCheat ... it just falls a bit short in terms of national impact. Utah-Wichita State is big to give us a clue as to how good Utah is (Wichita has Van Vleet back and they look like the top 10 team they were supposed to be). UCLA, trying to build on their Kentucky upset, against the Zags, who don't face that many significant tests -- pretty soon they'll be in conference, coasting to the NCAA Tournament. Finally, two important games for K's protégés -- Wojo gets a shot at in-state rival Wisconsin, and Bobby takes on Calipari and the 'Cats.

I will check Army Navy football a bit (I love watching Navy play), but otherwise about 12 straight hours of watching hoops!

[Billy Dat]

I would recommend Cincinnati at Xavier -- for my money, the second-best rivalry in college basketball -- in terms of intensity and drama, it rivals Duke-UNCheat ... it just falls a bit short in terms of national impact.

The college basketball scribes and pundits have been talking up Xavier as a dark horse Final Four squad. I want to see what they are all about.

[Henderson]

I would recommend Cincinnati at Xavier -- for my money, the second-best rivalry in college basketball -- in terms of intensity and drama, it rivals Duke-UNCheat ... it just falls a bit short in terms of national impact.

I don't know about second best, but it's one of those great local rivalries. They've got a private vs. public, outskirts vs. city, high SAT vs. "what's an SAT?" aspect to it.

I lived in Cincy for years and had fan-friends from both schools. They got up for the games and joisted on game day, but it didn't feel like anyone's car might be keyed. Maybe it was because most years very little was at stake or one team was just too dominant for the other team's fans to care.

If Cincy and Xavier played each other deep in the tourney, you might see some keys.

[OldPhiKap]

Army - Navy.

God Bless America.

[diablesseblu]

Just watched Wojo's team beat Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. Terrific to watch.

[Ichabod Drain]

Just watched Wojo's team beat Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. Terrific to watch.

Great win. Ellenson is terrific. It's great for Wojo to land such a talented player so quickly at Marquette. Kids a stud.

[OldPhiKap]

Great win. Ellenson is terrific. It's great for Wojo to land such a talented player so quickly at Marquette. Kids a stud.

But I thought Wojo couldn't coach big men. Must be Tiny Thor getting 'er done.

[devildeac]

Army - Navy.

God Bless America.

Wonder if either team will have to go to the Air (Force) if they fall behind...

[Bob Green]

Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds has rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns in the 1st half but Army leads 17-14. The Black Knights get the ball to start the 2nd half so Navy needs to ratchet up the defense a notch or two.

Go NAVY!

[Bob Green]

Navy wins! Navy wins!! Navy wins!!!

[Olympic Fan]

Wonder if either team will have to go to the Air (Force) if they fall behind...

Funny you should mention this, but as Navy was edging Army for the 14th straight year on the gridiron, Army was beating Air Force in hoops. Total overlap.

Pretty poor scheduling -- I wonder how many Army fans were watching the basketball game?

Some great hoops so far -- Bryant almost upsets Providence (although Kris Dunn missed the game), Marquette getting a huge win at Wisconsin. Texas and UNC battling to the wire . Florida down just two at the half at Michigan State. Xavier maintaining a small lead on Cincy ...

[Wander]

UNC loses with the ball leaving Texas Dude's hand at 0.000000001 seconds. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Indoor66]

Suck it up cheaters!

[hallcity]

It's a wonderful day. Tar Holes lose at the buzzer to Texas!

[91devil]

That was one heck of a game.

[devildeac]

It's a wonderful day. Tar Heels lose at the buzzer to Texas!

And Texas wasn't even offside...

[subzero02]

Gonzaga ucla could be a good one... I'll be rooting for the bucks vs. GSW tonight.

[burnspbesq]

Gonzaga ucla could be a good one... I'll be rooting for the bucks vs. GSW tonight.

It is a good one. Tight all the way.

[Olympic Fan]

And UCLA pulls it out at the end ... Gonzaga really missed their big man -- Karnowski, who missed the game. The Zags got hammered down low.

[awhom111]

I guess I will take a few days off from the NBA starting Sunday.

The most interesting game to me will be Stanford-Texas on the women's side. Syracuse-St. John's will be a good early 12:00pm game on FS1. North Carolina State-South Florida may be worth watching for conference purposes on ESPNU at 4:00pm. Chicago State-Northwestern at 7:00pm on BTN and Wyoming-New Mexico State at 9:00pm on ESPN College Extra and a few RSNs will be the late games I keep an eye on. For the Aggies, Pascal Siakam is a good player that most people are not familiar with and Tanveer Bhullar has been getting a reasonable amount of playing time.

A national championship will be awarded too as both teams are likely to still be recovering from extra soccer on Friday.

[Billy Dat]

The college basketball scribes and pundits have been talking up Xavier as a dark horse Final Four squad. I want to see what they are all about.

I was impressed with Xavier. They have size, spread the court, let it fly from 3, are active on D...they are a handful.

As for Warriors v Bucks, an amazing streak comes to and end. They kept pointing out that the Bucks also stopped the Lakers record streak of 33. That was the way to get the Warriors, catch them on the second night of a road back to back after they had gone to double OT.

I was psyched to see the Knicks end their road skid with a hard fought win over the Blazers. At one point, Mason, Gerald and Lance were all on the court at the same time. I love when that happens.
Lance hit some big shots down the stretch, including a few 3s!

For today, I don't have NBA League Pass so there are no nationally televised games. There's also a paucity of college games. I guess I am supposed to watch the NFL.

[Olympic Fan]

For today, I don't have NBA League Pass so there are no nationally televised games. There's also a paucity of college games. I guess I am supposed to watch the NFL.

There are eight ACC games, including a renewal of the old Syracuse-St. John's rivalry ... a lot better option than the NFL ...

[burnspbesq]

Gus Johnson and Raf have the call on the Cuse - St. John's game. Fun? Fun!

[Olympic Fan]

Real bad performance by the 'Cuse ...

they've lost 3 of their last 4. At least two of the losses have come with Hopkins on the bench. Not sure about the Wisconsin loss in the ACC/Big Ten.

Just curious -- will the wins and losses count on Beohiem's record?

[devildeac]

Real bad performance by the 'Cuse ...

they've lost 3 of their last 4. At least two of the losses have come with Hopkins on the bench. Not sure about the Wisconsin loss in the ACC/Big Ten.

Just curious -- will the wins and losses count on Beohiem's record?

Nah, they go on Gaudet's record :rolleyes: .

(ducks, covers, runs)

[awhom111]

Tomorrow is also pretty barren with only one national NBA game and not a lot on the college front.

[Billy Dat]

Tomorrow is also pretty barren with only one national NBA game and not a lot on the college front.

I hear you, it may be the year that I need to give myself NBA League Pass as a holiday gift. My fear has always been that if I do so, I'll stop reading.

Since my only local option is Nets v Magic...maybe it's time to start talking about the Spurs now that the Warriors streak is over. They are 20-5 and have changed their style of play, again, to go with their new free agent coup, LMA. I have not seen them play in weeks and would love to see them battle Quin and the Spurs-influenced Jazz tonight.

Can we fans be given the holiday gift of health for the Spurs and Warriors so that we can see them meet in the playoffs, is that too much to ask?

[awhom111]

Besides our game, the game I am paying most attention to on Tuesday is DePaul at Stanford (10:00pm FS1), with possible morbid curiousity towards TAMU-CC at Wisconsin (9:00pm BTN). VCU at Georgia Tech at 9:00pm on ESPN2 is also a conference foe of interest.

[Olympic Fan]

I hope to get home from Duke-Georgia Southern in time to see the second half of the Georgia Tech-VCU game (9 p.m. ESPN2). Tech has been a little better than advertised this season. It will be interesting to see them against a team we struggled to beat.

Not a lot of great games on tonight.

[awhom111]

Besides the next game for the Warriors, the most intriguing game Wednesday night is Tennessee-Stanford on the women's side at 9:00pm ET on ESPNU.

The men's game of greatest interest to me is Arizona State-UNLV at 10:00pm ET on CBSSN. Mississippi STate-Florida State at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2 will also be insightful and LSU games (hosting Gardner-Webb at 7:00pm ET on SECN) have suddently become must-watch games.

[Billy Dat]

Besides the next game for the Warriors, the most intriguing game Wednesday night is Tennessee-Stanford on the women's side at 9:00pm ET on ESPNU.

The men's game of greatest interest to me is Arizona State-UNLV at 10:00pm ET on CBSSN. Mississippi STate-Florida State at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2 will also be insightful and LSU games (hosting Gardner-Webb at 7:00pm ET on SECN) have suddently become must-watch games.

I've got Knicks v TWolves of interest to only me, likely, although it will feature some KAT v P.Ziddy match-ups - some early rookie of the year race intrigue.

Thanks for the heads-up on ASU v UNLV, Bobby has gotten that squad off on the right foot and UNLV's Zimmerman is a potential 1st rounder this spring (so say the draftniks).

Nice moment in that Cavs win over the Celtics last night when LBJ ran over to the kid they were honoring (Special Olympian) and gave him some words of encouragement, a head-rub, later a pair of his shoes, etc. It's getting a little dusty in here..
http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/12/16/lebron-james-game-shoes-special-olympics-star-video

[Olympic Fan]

A lot of hoops tonight (Wednesday), but not many compelling games.

UNC and Louisville are in action, but both have gimmies at home. A decent (for their level) High Point team will test an erratic NC State team in Raleigh and a so-so Miss State team takes on FSU in Tallahassee.

The best game of the night might by UNC conqueror Northern Iowa at Ohio State. If it were an UNI, I'd definitely favor Panthers. But in Columbus, the young Buckeyes certainly have a chance.

[tbyers11]

A lot of hoops tonight (Wednesday), but not many compelling games.

The best game of the night might by UNC conqueror Northern Iowa at Ohio State. If it were an UNI, I'd definitely favor Panthers. But in Columbus, the young Buckeyes certainly have a chance.

That's Northern Illinois (NIU) not Northern Iowa (UNI) at Ohio State. However, the Huskies are giving the Buckeyes a game trailing by only 2, 33-31, at half

[OldPhiKap]

USA-China women's soccer friendly. May be the worst-looking field I have ever seen.

[brevity]

USA-China women's soccer friendly. May be the worst-looking field I have ever seen.

Worse than Tulane's football field?

5782

https://mobile.twitter.com/_Andrew_Lopez/status/677298027984482304

Hmm, maybe. Here in New Orleans a "groundskeeper" is a person who collects used chicory coffee. (And a "pothole" is where a carafe leaks out chicory coffee.)

I had an opportunity to see Abby Wambach's finale but other stupid duties intrude.

[SCMatt33]

A lot of hoops tonight (Wednesday), but not many compelling games.

UNC and Louisville are in action, but both have gimmies at home. A decent (for their level) High Point team will test an erratic NC State team in Raleigh and a so-so Miss State team takes on FSU in Tallahassee.

The best game of the night might by UNC conqueror Northern Iowa at Ohio State. If it were an UNI, I'd definitely favor Panthers. But in Columbus, the young Buckeyes certainly have a chance.

That NC State game ended up being pretty compelling after all. Tied with less than a minute left, NC State had a chance to go 2 for 1, but didn't get a shot off while using almost the entire shot clock giving High Point the ball with the shot clock off. After a timeout, however, Cody Martin stole the inbounds pass clean and got fouled on a break. His foot was stepped on on the way down and he turned his ankle and couldn't shoot. Since it was originally a defensive possession, Beejay Anya was on the floor (a terrible foul shooter) and was picked by High Point to take the shots. He missed both terribly, but Maverick Rowan came from outside the three point line to steal the rebound. After an NC State timeout, Cat Barber had not much going and actually ran into his own screener. After that whole circus, he still got off a step back three and nailed it. Not the best of final minutes on both sides, but certainly entertaining and a needed win for State at home.

[Olympic Fan]

That NC State game ended up being pretty compelling after all. Tied with less than a minute left, NC State had a chance to go 2 for 1, but didn't get a shot off while using almost the entire shot clock giving High Point the ball with the shot clock off. After a timeout, however, Cody Martin stole the inbounds pass clean and got fouled on a break. His foot was stepped on on the way down and he turned his ankle and couldn't shoot. Since it was originally a defensive possession, Beejay Anya was on the floor (a terrible foul shooter) and was picked by High Point to take the shots. He missed both terribly, but Maverick Rowan came from outside the three point line to steal the rebound. After an NC State timeout, Cat Barber had not much going and actually ran into his own screener. After that whole circus, he still got off a step back three and nailed it. Not the best of final minutes on both sides, but certainly entertaining and a needed win for State at home.

The Martin injury could be a killer for State. They are so shorthanded anyway with Henderson out. If Martin's ankle injury is serious, the Pack may be playing walk-ons soon. They've got to play at Missouri Saturday and have a home game with UNC Greensboro (which just lost by 10 at Wake) on Tuesday night.

tbyers11 was right that I misread the schedule -- it was Northern Illinois and not Northern Iowa at Ohio State. Still a pretty good game for about 33 minutes ...

I watched FSU struggle for about 15 minutes against Mississippi State, but the 'Noles finished the half strong them dominated the second half for an easy win over a lower echelon SEC team.

[awhom111]

The Kyrie-turn is not happening Thursday, so scratch the NBA off my list. Marshall vs West Virginia is at least a rivalry on ESPNU at 7:00pm ET. Hampton at SMU at 7:00pm ET on ESPN College Extra may also be interesting, because SMU is having an unusual season.

After the women's game, I will opt for volleyball for the rest of the night. I may not care for any of the teams in the Final Four, but it still is my sport.

[elvis14]

Golden State was worth watching again last night. Clay had 43 and Draymond Green had a triple double and they both sat the 4th quarter.

[Olympic Fan]

The Kyrie-turn is not happening Thursday, so scratch the NBA off my list. Marshall vs West Virginia is at least a rivalry on ESPNU at 7:00pm ET. Hampton at SMU at 7:00pm ET on ESPN College Extra may also be interesting, because SMU is having an unusual season.

I agree that West Virginia at Marshall is the best game of the night because its a great in-state rivalry, but Marshall is not very good this seasom.

SMU -- it will become a big story as their wins mount, but a large part of that is their schedule -- they've played two top 100 teams (according to Pomeroy) this season -- both at home. They do have a good win over No. 36 Michigan ... and they barely edged No. 95 Yale. They really don't have many tests coming up -- maybe a trip to so-so Tulsa until early January, when they get Cincinnati -- at home.

The fact that they are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament adds another element to the story. Isn't this the last game that Larry Brown has to miss?

[Wander]

The Kyrie-turn is not happening Thursday, so scratch the NBA off my list. Marshall vs West Virginia is at least a rivalry on ESPNU at 7:00pm ET. Hampton at SMU at 7:00pm ET on ESPN College Extra may also be interesting, because SMU is having an unusual season.

After the women's game, I will opt for volleyball for the rest of the night. I may not care for any of the teams in the Final Four, but it still is my sport.



I agree that West Virginia at Marshall is the best game of the night because its a great in-state rivalry, but Marshall is not very good this seasom.

SMU -- it will become a big story as their wins mount, but a large part of that is their schedule -- they've played two top 100 teams (according to Pomeroy) this season -- both at home. They do have a good win over No. 36 Michigan ... and they barely edged No. 95 Yale. They really don't have many tests coming up -- maybe a trip to so-so Tulsa until early January, when they get Cincinnati -- at home.

The fact that they are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament adds another element to the story. Isn't this the last game that Larry Brown has to miss?


You are both incorrect. The only correct answer to "what are you watching tonight" is "tonight I am watching Rey and Finn beat on some stormtroopers."

[Olympic Fan]

You are both incorrect. The only correct answer to "what are you watching tonight" is "tonight I am watching Rey and Finn beat on some stormtroopers."

Sorry, not a Star Wars geek ... I'll catch it when it shows up on cable (unless there is some college basketball on TV at the same time).

[Wander]

Sorry, not a Star Wars geek ... I'll catch it when it shows up on cable (unless there is some college basketball on TV at the same time).

My response:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQng5RjNVGk

[Olympic Fan]

My response:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQng5RjNVGk

I've seen Star Wars ... that's why I'm not so hyped up for another lame episode in a series that has gone straight downhill since The Empire Strikes Back.

I'd rather watch the How I Met Your Mother re-run that you quote from than any of the last four Star Wars movies.

[Indoor66]

I've seen Star Wars ... that's why I'm not so hyped up for another lame episode in a series that has gone straight downhill since The Empire Strikes Back.

I'd rather watch the How I Met Your Mother re-run that you quote from than any of the last four Star Wars movies.

Movie meet shark - last time around.

[n8lbs]

I've seen Star Wars ... that's why I'm not so hyped up for another lame episode in a series that has gone straight downhill since The Empire Strikes Back.

I'd rather watch the How I Met Your Mother re-run that you quote from than any of the last four Star Wars movies.

Not trying to derail, but if you've seen A New Hope, you've seen The Force Awakens.

[OldPhiKap]

Just turned it on, but are the Rams and the Bucs playing in their jammies? Primary color overload, looks like a Wiggles concert if Greg and Murray split off.

Where's Jeff?

[awhom111]

Friday's slate of college games is hard to write a case for, although Ole Miss-Memphis could be interesting at 8:00pm ET on ESPNEWS. I will probably catch some of Buck-Warriors II: The Revenge, but if there is a college event to watch, it may be the DIII Football Championship on ESPNU at 7:00pm ET.

Also, go NorCal schools in the high school championships.


You are both incorrect. The only correct answer to "what are you watching tonight" is "tonight I am watching Rey and Finn beat on some stormtroopers."

Not a lot of urgency to watch this although I will at some point. Wish it could be at the old Coronet here in San Francisco, but that was literally turned into a nursing home, which I think says something about the movie series that is the only reason people have particularly fond memories of it. Are the new movies even canon? Episodes 1-3 have questions in that regard.

[Olympic Fan]

Friday's slate of college games is hard to write a case for, although Ole Miss-Memphis could be interesting at 8:00pm ET on ESPNEWS.

Are you kidding? How about unbeaten South Carolina at Clemson at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

And I want to keep an eye on Wake -- although they should beat Coastal Carolina in Joel -- Jerry Palm has them as a No. 8 seed in his latest mock bracket. If Danny Manning can finish at that level, he's got to be the frontrunner for ACC COY.

At 9 p.m., I want to catch Long Beach State at Oregon to get a look at the team we will be playing on Dec. 30.

PS Wander, I didn't see Star Wars Thursday night, but I did watch the special Star Wars episode of the Big Bang Theory. Let's just say that I tend to side with Will Wheaton when it comes to the new Star Wars

[arnie]

I didn't see Star Wars Thursday night, but I did watch the special Star Wars episode of the Big Bang Theory. Let's just say that I tend to side with Will Wheaton when it comes to the new Star Wars

Spock ears and all.

[Clay Feet POF]

I really like this Thread, look forward to it every day. Thanks for Presenting.

[Wander]

Are you kidding? How about unbeaten South Carolina at Clemson at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

And I want to keep an eye on Wake -- although they should beat Coastal Carolina in Joel -- Jerry Palm has them as a No. 8 seed in his latest mock bracket. If Danny Manning can finish at that level, he's got to be the frontrunner for ACC COY.

At 9 p.m., I want to catch Long Beach State at Oregon to get a look at the team we will be playing on Dec. 30.

PS Wander, I didn't see Star Wars Thursday night, but I did watch the special Star Wars episode of the Big Bang Theory. Let's just say that I tend to side with Will Wheaton when it comes to the new Star Wars

My controversial statement of the day is that BBT is vastly overrated. The greatness of HIMYM is how well it captures the spirit of growing up (in greatly exaggerated form, obviously). In contrast, nobody acts like the BBT characters, and I say that as someone in science. They're not relatable at all.

I suspect South Carolina vs Clemson is a battle of two NIT teams. Though I do enjoy keeping track of the undefeateds at this point of the season.

[Billy Dat]

12/18 - Clips v Spurs, that's good eats.

JJ's been playing really well.

[Olympic Fan]

My controversial statement of the day is that BBT is vastly overrated. The greatness of HIMYM is how well it captures the spirit of growing up (in greatly exaggerated form, obviously). In contrast, nobody acts like the BBT characters, and I say that as someone in science. They're not relatable at all.

I suspect South Carolina vs Clemson is a battle of two NIT teams. Though I do enjoy keeping track of the undefeateds at this point of the season.

I don't want to derail this thread -- but you really think Barney Stinson is any more realistic or relatable than Sheldon Cooper? And BTW, as a geek myself (just not a Star Wars geek) I know very many people who are almost exactly like the BBT characters (other than Sheldon). Heck, just look at the obsession with the new Star Wars movie by so many posters on this board for examples (for the record, I prefer HIMYM, but I also like BBT).

But I do think you are right that Clemson-South Carolina might be two NIT teams. In fact, I think Clemson would be very lucky to get to the NIT this season. That doesn't mean it's not going to be an entertaining game.

[awhom111]

Plenty of games for Saturday. Unfortunately, one of the best may be at the same time as ours, Villanova at Virginia on ESPN2. Wichita State at Seton Hall will broadcast on FOX at that time as well. At 2:00pm ET, Indiana vs Notre Dame on ESPN2 and Northwestern at DePaul on FS1 may be worth watching. The other half of the Crossroads Classic is at 5:00pm ET on BTN with Purdue and Butler. Baylor at Texas A&M will be on ESPNU at 9:00pm. ESPN2 is pretty much a day's worth of interest to me. After the two early basketball games, the DII Football Championship runs at 4:00pm ET. The Volleyball Championship will be contested after that at 7:30pm ET. Then come two basketball games, UNLV at Arizona at 9:30pm ET and Texas at Stanford at 11:30pm ET.

In terms of other college sports, the return of a MEAC-SWAC game will be intriguing on ABC at 12:00pm ET with the Celebration Bowl. The actual bowls are a mixed bag. New Mexico-Arizona is probably only a chance to showcase Bob Davie's job with the Lobos. BYU-Utah will be interesting. App State plays in their first ever bowl against Ohio. Georgia State and San Jose State has turned out to be one of the tack on bowls. Louisiana Tech-Arkansas State closes out the day.


Are you kidding? How about unbeaten South Carolina at Clemson at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

And I want to keep an eye on Wake -- although they should beat Coastal Carolina in Joel -- Jerry Palm has them as a No. 8 seed in his latest mock bracket. If Danny Manning can finish at that level, he's got to be the frontrunner for ACC COY.

At 9 p.m., I want to catch Long Beach State at Oregon to get a look at the team we will be playing on Dec. 30.

PS Wander, I didn't see Star Wars Thursday night, but I did watch the special Star Wars episode of the Big Bang Theory. Let's just say that I tend to side with Will Wheaton when it comes to the new Star Wars

I suppose I should turn off my hide web exclusive games when I take a look at the listings. I use this site, for anyone interested:
http://mattsarzsports.com/Season/Contents/basketball201516

I do wonder what the best matchup of the year will be among games not televised anywhere.

[awhom111]

I should probably apologize to Northern Iowa, which has not given me any reasons to doubt them this season, and Tennessee for not mentioning their games.

Good thing Duke is playing Sunday, because unless your local NBA team is playing, there is not that much else to look forward to watching. Pitt-Davidson on ESPNU at 12:00pm ET might be the only one with neutral interest.

[aswewere]

Duke @ Kentucky 7 pm SEC NET WORK Women

[awhom111]

A relatively good Monday of college sports, including Florida State-Arizona State on the women's side at 5:00pm ET on ESPNU.

Games that interest me include:
Chicago State at Marquette, 7:00pm ET FS1
Sacred Heart at Northwestern, 7:00pm ET BTN
Oregon at Alabama, 9:00pm ET ESPNU

It is way too early to be playing conference games, but the WCC will start tomorrow. Pepperdine at Gonzaga at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2 and USF at St. Mary's at 10:00pm ET on a handful of RSNs will be the ones I check out. I would also take a peak at Sacramento State at Stanford at 11:00pm ET if I had Pac 12 Network.

[awhom111]

I forgot to offer an opinion on today's bowl. Unlike most others, it does have a nice storyline with Willie Taggart. Time in Miami has to be fun for the players at least. The game will probably still get ridiculous ratings despite being in the middle of the day.

Also, the late national NBATV game, Thunder-Clippers, might be worth watching at 10:30pm ET.

[Billy Dat]

I will add to awhom111's recs with the following nationally televised games:

-Providence v UMass
IF Kris Dunn is playing (he's missed a few games in a row), you should check him out, and his teammate Ben Bentil is fun to watch, too. Considering he'll be working back into the line-up, don't expect greatness, but you should make a point to try and watch all the potential All Americans.

-WVU vs Eastern Kentucky
WVU is currently #20 and I haven't seen them play yet

-Knicks v Magic
What's more riveting then the battle for the 8th Eastern Conference playoff spot 4 months before that conversation even has any relevance?

[elvis14]

I will add to awhom111's recs with the following nationally televised games:

-Providence v UMass
IF Kris Dunn is playing (he's missed a few games in a row), you should check him out, and his teammate Ben Bentil is fun to watch, too. Considering he'll be working back into the line-up, don't expect greatness, but you should make a point to try and watch all the potential All Americans.

-WVU vs Eastern Kentucky
WVU is currently #20 and I haven't seen them play yet

-Knicks v Magic
What's more riveting then the battle for the 8th Eastern Conference playoff spot 4 months before that conversation even has any relevance?

Can't really come up with a reason to watch the Knicks-Magic game but I'll tune in for Singler (and his supporting cast in OKC) vs. JJ+Austin (and their supporting cast). Of course I think watching JJ, Blake, Jordan, Paul, Westbrook, Durant is good fun. Those guys can play and several are a highlight reel play waiting to happen at all times.

[weezie]

I guess it's my sad lot to watch some pitiful saint vs Lion.

Way too much Lion on national teevee this year.

[awhom111]

I will focus on the college sports for Tuesday because there are some solid looking games:
UALR at Texas Tech, 3:00pm ET Various RSNs
BYU vs Harvard, 4:30pm ET ESPNU
Iowa State at Cincinnati, 7:00pm ET ESPN2
Xavier at Wake Forest, 7:00pm ET RSNs/ESPN College Extra
Vanderbilt at Purdue, 8:00pm ET BTN
Cal at Virginia, 9:00pm ET ESPN2
George Washington at DePaul 9:00pm ET FS1
St. John's vs South Carolina 9:00pm ET CBSSN
Oklahoma vs Washington State, 11:00pm ESPNU
Kansas at San Diego State, 11:00pm ET CBSSN

Conference-wise people might also be inclined to take a peek at Miami at La Salle, which is on CBSSN at 5:00pm ET, and Clemson at Georgia at 6:00pm ET on SECN.

The first bowl of the day is Utah State-Akron in Boise at 3:30pm ET, which should be solid, but without too many storylines. The second one, Toledo-Temple in Boca Raton at 7:00pm ET is between teams that at one point thought that they would have particularly magical seasons. ESPN could air bowl games between teams in their Bottom 10 and still get ratings.

[awhom111]

Sorry Oakland. Apparently your game was worth watching.

I am not sure about some of these tournament matchups, so I will just go with the known games on Wednesday. New Mexico State at Baylor on RSNs at 8:00pm ET, Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga on ESPN College Extra and a handful of other channels at 9:00pm ET, and St. Mary's at Santa Clara on various RSNs at 11:00pm ET stick jout to me. There are also a few ACC teams in action. The Warriors are playing so I may watch some of them.

In the ESPN bowl fun, Boise State-Northern Illinois in San Diego at 4:30pm ET could be pretty good with Bowling Green-Georgia Southern in Mobile at 8:00pm ET might not be at that level.

[awhom111]

There is not a lot of competitive basketball being played anywhere on the planet tomorrow.

The two bowl games are in places that are a lot warmer than wherever most of us are right now. Middle Tennessee State and Western Michigan are in the Bahamas at 12:00pm ET and then Cincinnati and San Diego State play in Hawaii at 8:00pm ET with both on ESPN.

[jv001]

There is not a lot of competitive basketball being played anywhere on the planet tomorrow.

The two bowl games are in places that are a lot warmer than wherever most of us are right now. Middle Tennessee State and Western Michigan are in the Bahamas at 12:00pm ET and then Cincinnati and San Diego State play in Hawaii at 8:00pm ET with both on ESPN.

Even though it's supposed to be 73-75 here in Winston Salem, I still long for the good old days when I was stationed at the Schofield Barracks in Honolulu. Then I was blessed to go back 4 times in my life span and it was just as beautiful then as in my Army days. Good memories. Merry Christmas whatever the weather is wherever you are. God bless and GoDuke!

[awhom111]

Obviously the NBA games on Christmas tend to be pretty good matchups.

The final day of the college tournament in Hawaii has some pretty intriguing games:
New Mexico-Washington State, 1:00pm ET ESPN3
BYU-Northern Iowa, 3:30pm ET ESPNU
Auburn-Hawaii, 6:30pm ET ESPN2
Harvard-Oklahoma, 9:00pm ET ESPN2

[sagegrouse]

Obviously the NBA games on Christmas tend to be pretty good matchups.

The final day of the college tournament in Hawaii has some pretty intriguing games:
New Mexico-Washington State, 1:00pm ET ESPN3
BYU-Northern Iowa, 3:30pm ET ESPNU
Auburn-Hawaii, 6:30pm ET ESPN2
Harvard-Oklahoma, 9:00pm ET ESPN2

Let's note that Tommy Amaker's Harvard team is in the finals of the Diamond Head Classic, playing #3 Oklahoma. And... this is a down year for Harvard. The Crimson beat both BYU and Auburn in previous matches.

Go, Crimson!

[awhom111]

Besides our bowl game, we have the ESPN Saturday quadrupleheader. UConn-Marshall at 11:00am is not particularly intriguing and neither is Southern Miss-Washginton after that. Tulsa-Virginia Tech in the third slot would probably not be that great without the Beamer storyline. UCLA closes the day, but probably wonder how they ended up playing a 5-7 team in Nebraska. The Sun Bowl after the day's lone college basketball game might be interesting between Miami and Washington State although it will run against our game. There is also a full slate of NBA games with an NBATV game at 7:00pm ET along with whatever you may get locally. Of course Boxing Day is also known for other sports around the world.

[subzero02]

Harvard looked more than respectable versus Oklahoma... they led at halftime and trimmed a 20 or so point second half lead down to a few possession game. Buddy Hield for Oklahoma is quite the player to say the least.... he scored from everywhere on the court and was efficient in doing so.

[awhom111]

Sunday is still not a heavy schedule, but a decent one for us keeping track of the coaching ranks. Wojo hosts Marquette at 2:00pm ET on FS1, Chris hosts Loyola (MD) on BTN at 8:00pm ET, and then Johnny hosts NAIA school Carroll at 9:00pm ET on PAC12.

[brevity]

Wojo hosts Marquette at 2:00pm ET on FS1...

I'd want to see this. Marquette taking on their own coach? I think Wojo can beat 'em. Even if the players try to improvise, it doesn't matter, because nothing surprises Wojo (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?33527-The-Jabari-Parker-draft-vigil&p=723377#post723377).

Looks like Marquette is actually playing Presbyterian. Some of you may recall when Presbyterian visited the Dean Dome in 2009, and Roy Williams had a Presbyterian fan ejected (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2009/12/620003303/1#.Vn-JKrYrLDc) for drinking Roy's private stash of Coca-Cola, or something.

[awhom111]

On the Monday NBA slate, I hope to catch a few minutes of the NorCal battle, which may or may not involve Curry on Curry violence.

Besides our game, none of the college games hold much interest to me. New Mexico State-Wichita State on various RSNs and ESPN College Extra is probably next on my list, but it is the same time as our game. The most intriguing college game of the day may be UConn-Maryland on the women's side on ESPN2 at 7:30pm ET.


I'd want to see this. Marquette taking on their own coach? I think Wojo can beat 'em. Even if the players try to improvise, it doesn't matter, because nothing surprises Wojo (http://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?33527-The-Jabari-Parker-draft-vigil&p=723377#post723377).

Looks like Marquette is actually playing Presbyterian. Some of you may recall when Presbyterian visited the Dean Dome in 2009, and Roy Williams had a Presbyterian fan ejected (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2009/12/620003303/1#.Vn-JKrYrLDc) for drinking Roy's private stash of Coca-Cola, or something.

I should probably avoid posting while tired. Or just stick to lists with no narrative.

[awhom111]

I feel like I am slipping in this thread these days. Let's what I can drum up for Tuesday, besides the Duke game (subscribers only):

Bowl Games:
Air Force-Cal would be an interesting game at 2:00pm ET on ESPN if not for the whole during the work day thing.
Russell Athletic Bowl? Never heard of it, but it may or may not be at 5:30pm ET on ESPN.
Texas Tech-LSU to close the day at 9:00pm ET on ESPN is interesting because it feels like the Raiders did well to get here while the Tigers are disappointed to drop this far.
Nevada-Colorado is intersting on a number of levels, not just as a matchup of teams from the same conference (who did not play in the regular season), but also as a bowl without a single television outlet, instead being on a mishmash of local broadcast stadions and a few RSNs at 7:30pm ET.

NBA:
Bucks-Thunder is a decent NBATV game at 8:00pm ET. Anything else you get will depend on your local teams.

NCAA MBB (all times ET):
FSU-Florida, 7:00pm ESPN2
Wake Forest-LSU, 7:00pm ESPNU
Purdue-Wisconsin, 7:00pm BTN
UConn-Texas, 9:00pm ESPN2
UC Irvine-Kansas 9:00pm ESPNU
Michigan State-Iowa 9:00pm BTN

Those are the highlights to me, with UC Irvine being a cool team to check out with Mamadou N'Diaye and Luke Nelson. There are a few more conference related games with Liberty-Notre Dame at 5:00pm on ESPNU and Northeastern-NC State on the RSNs/ESPN College Extra. Another wildcard game is George Washington-Central Florida at 7:00pm on a few RSNs and local stations as well as online.

[weezie]

Seats behind, northeastern bench @ ncsu are empty. I wish they'd invited me.

[Merlindevildog91]

Watching Wake-LSU. Since this is a family board, I won't say what the announcers' thoughts are on Ben Simmons, but they probably had to change their underwear at the half.

[awhom111]

Wednesday Bowl Games (Quadrupleheader on ESPN, times ET):
Memphis-Auburn, 12:00pm: Can Memphis beat another SEC team? Does Auburn wish they were playing in any other state?
Mississippi State-NC State, 3:30pm: Interesting conference tie-in. Should be a good crowd.
Louisville-Texas A&M, 7:00pm: Another conference tie-in. Will Texas A&M have more quarterbacks than Baylor?
USC-Wisconsin, 10:30pm: Fight On! (I am biased)

NBA:
There is an NBATV doubleheader, Lakers-Celtics at 7:30pm (hopefully Ryan Kelly plays?) then Nuggets-Trailblazers at 10:00pm (not much neutral interest for the board without the two Duke guys).
I will be catching some of the Warriors-Mavericks game as there are locally available games around the country.

NCAA MBB:
Since December 30th is apparently now a holiday too, there are plenty of daytime games, including ours. Unfortunately another game of potential interest is right at the same time. Here are some games that have caught my eye as conference season starts in many leagues:
West Virginia-Virginia Tech, 12:00pm ESPNU
Michigan-Illinois, 3:00pm ESPN2
Northwetern-Nebraska, 4:00pm ESPNU
Oakland (not making this mistake twice)-Virginia, 6:00pm ESPNU
Seton Hall-Marquette, 7:00pm FS1
Arkansas-Dayton, 8:00pm CBSSN
Syracuse-Pitt, 9:00pm ESPN2
Nevada-New Mexico, 9:00pm ROOT
Wyoming-San Diego State, 10:00pm CBSSN
Fresno State-UNLV, 11:00pm ESPNU

[brevity]

Watching Wake-LSU. Since this is a family board, I won't say what the announcers' thoughts are on Ben Simmons, but they probably had to change their underwear at the half.

Wake's SB Nation site got cheeky in its postgame coverage (http://www.bloggersodear.com/2015/12/29/10686286/wake-defeats-lsu-in-2-hour-ben-simmons-documentary-on-espnu-BEN-SIMMONS).


A two hour Ben Simmons documentary was airing from 7-9 on ESPNU and somehow a basketball game between Wake Forest and LSU broke out.

[JNort]

Wake's SB Nation site got cheeky in its postgame coverage (http://www.bloggersodear.com/2015/12/29/10686286/wake-defeats-lsu-in-2-hour-ben-simmons-documentary-on-espnu-BEN-SIMMONS).

I must agree with them though... Simmons is amazing, to bad he is with LSU

[awhom111]

The bowl games speak for themselves on Thursday on ESPN with Florida State-Houston at 12:00pm, Clemson-Oklahoma at 4:00pm, and Michigan State-Alabama at 8:00pm.

The NBA slate is light with no national games, but I will hope the Warriors do a little better in Houston.

There are some decent college basketball games along with the Duke game. The first game of the FS1 Big East double header, Xavier-Villanova at 12:00pm could be pretty good. Providence-Butler at 2:30pm on CBSSN also looks good. Wofford-Harvard will be on NESN at 2:30pm as well. A couple of WCC games may be of interest later as Gonzaga-Santa Clara is on a few RSNs as well as ESPN College Extra. BYU-St. Mary's at 11:00pm ET on ESPNU may be what you need to help get over the finish line of staying up past midnight.

[Turk]

Went to Syracuse @ Pitt last night. Still doesn't feel like an ACC game to me, even less so with Boeheim still in the time-out chair. Syracuse had a six point lead in the second half but couldn't hold it. Pitt is a little bigger and deeper, and both Syracuse bigs got into foul trouble. Cooney and Gbinjie played well but couldn't get anything to drop down the stretch. Decent showing from the "Oakland Zoo" even though the students are still on Christmas break.

I understand upper-level tickets are still available for the Duke game on Feb 28. Those seats aren't bad!

[awhom111]

Might as well talk about Friday now. Perhaps the most intriguing basketball game of the day will be on the women's side with FSU-Louisville being on ESPNU at 4:00pm ET. There will also be a local slate of NBA games with no national broadcasts. Utah-Stanford on ESPNU at 9:00pm ET is the probably the most interesting men's game with UCLA-Washington on FS1 at 11:00pm ET possibly worth a look.

The silly simultaneous three B1G-SEC games will not be happening this year with the bowls starting on ESPN2 at 12:00pm ET with Northwestern-Tennessee. The other game between the conferences is plenty intriguing with Michigan-Florida on ABC at 1:00pm ET. Then we get ESPN's New Year's Six games that are actually on New Year's Day. Notre Dame-Ohio State kicks it off at 1:00pm ET, then the good old Rose Bowl at 5:00pm ET features Iowa-Stanford. The day closes with Oklahoma State-Ole Miss at 8:30pm ET, which to me is the least intersting of the six games.

[Olympic Fan]

Might as well talk about Friday now. Perhaps the most intriguing basketball game of the day will be on the women's side with FSU-Louisville being on ESPNU at 4:00pm ET. There will also be a local slate of NBA games with no national broadcasts. Utah-Stanford on ESPNU at 9:00pm ET is the probably the most interesting men's game with UCLA-Washington on FS1 at 11:00pm ET possibly worth a look.

The silly simultaneous three B1G-SEC games will not be happening this year with the bowls starting on ESPN2 at 12:00pm ET with Northwestern-Tennessee. The other game between the conferences is plenty intriguing with Michigan-Florida on ABC at 1:00pm ET. Then we get ESPN's New Year's Six games that are actually on New Year's Day. Notre Dame-Ohio State kicks it off at 1:00pm ET, then the good old Rose Bowl at 5:00pm ET features Iowa-Stanford. The day closes with Oklahoma State-Ole Miss at 8:30pm ET, which to me is the least intersting of the six games.

I'll probably be watching the football games from noon to 9 p.m., when I'll switch my primary focus to the back-to-back Pac 12 basketball games.

I'll go back to college basketball fulltime Saturday ...

[Tripping William]

College football through confetti. Jimmy Kimmel and Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong told me it would be so awesome.

[awhom111]

It is another busy Saturday with the rest of the bowls on ESPN. The other B1G-SEC game is Penn State-Georgia at 12:00pm. Kansas State-Arkansas at 3:20pm is probably an underrated matchup. Oregon-TCU is the latest in missing quarterbacks at 6:45pm. The actual "bowl" season finished at 10:15pm with Arizona State-West Virginia as the bowl winning percentage trophy could be up for grabs.

There are two national NBATV games, as Phoenix-Sacramento at 5:00pm is followed by Houston-San Antonio at 8:30pm. I will be hoping my Warriors have a few more players at 10:30pm against the Nuggets.

On the women's side, Ohio State-Maryland at 12:00pm on CBS is worth a watch.

Some good games will probably run against ours, but here is what I will be keeping an eye on all day long:
Florida State-Clemson, 12:00pm RSN/ESPN College Extra
Butler-Xavier, 1:00pm FS1
Tennessee-Auburn, 2:00pm CBS
NC State-Virginia Tech, 2:00pm RSN/ESPN College Extra
Syracuse-Miami, 2:30pm ACCN/ESPN College Extra
Baylor-Kansas, 4:00pm CBS
Portland-Santa Clara, 4:00pm RSN
Notre Dame-Virginia, 5:00pm ESPN2
Marquette-Georgetown, 5:30pm FS1
Iowa-Purdue, 6:00pm BTN
Wyoming-Nevada, 6:00pm ROOT
BYU-Pacific, 6:00pm RSN
Iowa State-Oklahoma, 7:00pm ESPN2
Maryland-Northwestern, 8:00pm BTN
LSU-Vanderbilt, 9:00pm ESPN2
Gonzaga-USF, 11:00pm ESPN2

[BD80]

Watching Cleveland St v Oakland right now.

I want to see as much of the Vikings as I can before the NCAA drops the hammer for unc's transgressions.

[awhom111]

Sundays have a ton of premier women's basketball matchups. Besides ours, I am keeping an eye on Nebraska-Northwestern at 2:30pm on BTN, Oklahoma-Baylor at 4:30pm on FS1, and Georgia-Texas A&M at 5:00pm on SECN.

Of course there is NFL action and locally available NBA games.

In men's basketball, Arizona-Arizona State on FS1 at 2:00pm is a good early test for Bobby Hurley. Oregon-Oregon State is on FS1 at 7:00pm, ACC Sunday starts with Wake Forest-Louisville at 8:00pm on ESPNU, and then Johnny Dawkins and Stanford have a just as important game against Colorado at 10:00pm on ESPNU. If I had Pac 12 Network, USC-Washington at 3:00pm, Utah-Cal at 7:30pm, and UCLA-Washington State at 9:30pm would all be worth watching if for nothing else to see short turnarounds after overtime games.

[burnspbesq]

Insomniac Special: Gonzaga came from 14 back to force OT at USF.

[awhom111]

Clearly the most intriguing question of Monday is not whether any walk-ons will be left to fend for themselves in Florida, but what will happen in the following game on ESPN, Oklahoma-Kansas at 9:00pm. The next most interesting game to me is Tennessee-Missouri on the women's side on SECN at 7:00pm. It will also be interesting to see if there is any continued bounce for Virginia Tech against Virginia at 9:00pm on ESPN2.

There is an NBATV doubleheader with Indiana-Miami at 7:30pm and then Memphis-Portland at 10:00pm. I will of course try to check on the Warriors against Charlotte with however many players we have left. There are a number of other locally broadcast games.

I will also try to catch a bit of my Avalanche on NBCSN since I rarely get the chance to watch them being out of market.

[hallcity]

Hurley got tossed out of the ASU-Arizona game today for too much complaining about the officiating. I'm sure that wasn't his goal but that sort of fire may still be useful in developing his program.

[CameronDuke]

Tonight, seemingly many people will tune into the #2 Oklahoma at #1 Kansas game, but I think the home team Jayhawks will take that one pretty fairly. They are a 7.5 point favorite.

I think one of the two unranked home ACC teams will win tonight. Everyone held serve at home in the ACC this weekend, except Boston College who lost to Duke. I think FSU may upset UNC tonight in Tallahassee. However, the game I am most intrigued by is #4 Virginia traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia to take on their in-state rivals, Virginia Tech. Buzz Williams and his boys took down NC State in OT Saturday in Blacksburg and I have to think he will have the Hokies focused for this early season opportunity to secure a victory over #4 Virginia. Virginia is currently a 12.5 point favorite but I think this one will be closer than that. It will be very interesting to me to see if Buzz Williams can make some noise tonight and start the ACC season 2-0. If so, the Hokies can shake things up a bit early in the conference standings. Cassell Coliseum, when filled to capacity, is a loud place to play and provides a very stiff test to road teams. They will be fired up tonight. The Cavaliers at Virginia Tech the past two seasons have shot 34.7% in a 50-47 win last season and 39.2% in a 57-53 win in 2014. Virginia has started slow two of their last three games out, too. Virginia trailed at the half at home vs California (a game they ended up winning in OT vs. Cal), and they also trailed at the half at home against Oakland. I gotta think the Hokies have a good shot tonight.

[CameronDuke]

After getting off to a slow start, FSU narrowed the gap and trails UNC in Tallahassee 41-37 at the half. Should be an exciting second half.

[weezie]

My goodness! Bob Hudgins might as well start wearing a mountaineer mu mu or maybe a tarp.... He's gigantic!

[Newton_14]

My goodness! Bob Hudgins might as well start wearing a mountaineer mu mu or maybe a tarp... He's gigantic!


Bryce Johnson has 37 points and 23 rebounds for the cheats. dude is killing it...

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

OU/Kansas looks like the real deal early. These teams look like thoroughbreds compared to most of the early season teams I have seen thus far

[awhom111]

There is another NBATV doubleheader on Tuesday with Buck-Bulls at 8:00pm and Warriors-Lakers at 10:30pm. There are only a couple of other locally available games.

I would not call the college slate that great. I will probably check out Marquette-Providence on FS1 at 7:00pm, Clemson-Syracuse on ACCN/ESPN College Extra at 8:00pm, and Boise State-Utah State at CBSSN on 10:00pm.

Other games of wider interest include the ESPN doubleheader of Wisconsin-Indiana and Kentucky-LSU, the SECN doubleheader of South Carolina-Auburn and Vanderbilt-Arkansas, VCU-St. Joe's on various syndicated packages at 7:00pm, Temple-UConn at 8:00pm on CBSSN, Butler-DePaul on various RSNs at 8:00pm, Kansas State-Texas on LHN, and Nebraska-Iowa at 9:00pm on BTN.

[CameronDuke]

Possibly too early yet to declare an Upset Alert, but #4 UVA is down 26-21 at halftime to Virginia Tech on the road in Blacksburg, Virginia currently. This marks the 3rd time in 4 games UVA has trailed at the half. The other two times, UVA was playing at home and ended up coming back and defeating California in OT and Oakland. They are truly a second half team and it will be interesting to see if Buzz Williams can come up with a second half game plan to neutralize Gill, Brogdon, and Perrantes for UVA. Virginia Tech needs to keep getting UVA into foul trouble in the second half and also hit their free throws. I've been impressed with sophomore guard Justin Bibbs for Virginia Tech. He can really stroke it from deep. Buzz needs to find some open looks in the second half for him to extend this lead and pull off the upset.

[wilson]

My goodness! Bob Hudgins might as well start wearing a mountaineer mu mu or maybe a tarp... He's gigantic!
What, the Hefty bag he already wears isn't good enough for you?
5833

[CameronDuke]

All knotted up at 43-43 in Blacksburg, Virginia currently between #4 Virginia and Virginia Tech at the 2nd half, under 12 media timeout.

[CameronDuke]

Still knotted up, now at 50-50 at the under 8 media timeout in the 2nd half in Blacksburg, Virginia between #4 Virginia and Virginia Tech. These next two approximate 4 minute stretches will be some high intensity basketball! I am already a big fan of Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams! He got after it at Marquette and is coaching his heart out tonight for the Hokies!

[CameronDuke]

At the under 4 media timeout, Virginia Tech leads #4 Virginia 59-55. This is going to go down to the wire. The Hokies have played their hearts out all night and it would be really neat to see them pull off this upset. Zach LeDay and Justin Bibbs have really impressed me tonight for the Hokies.

[Troublemaker]

Conference road games are no joke. VaTech's supposed to be the 2nd-worst team in the league.

[CameronDuke]

Virginia Tech pulls off the upset for Buzz Williams. They defeated #4 Virginia 70-68.

[CameronDuke]

The Duke at Wake Forest game is going to be huge Wednesday night, but the Virginia Tech at Duke game this Saturday will be against your current ACC leaders - the Virginia Tech Hokies at 2-0 who have pulled off wins at home against NC State and Virginia. Huge week of ACC hoops for Duke!

[Wander]

We should just fast forward to March, because we're not going to see another regular season game as good as Kansas-Oklahoma.

[subzero02]

When I watch Buddy Hield, I am reminded of Austin Rivers... he's a better finisher though.

[dukelifer]

When I watch Buddy Hield, I am reminded of Austin Rivers... he's a better finisher though.

He is amazing - much better handle than Austin. Heck of a game!

[SCMatt33]

Feel bad for Hield. Two turnovers on the last two full length possessions are going to haunt him for awhile. Serious question though, how was it not illegal when the Kansas player encroached over the sideline on that inbounds play when OU was down 1. Hield looked to try and back up, but couldn't with the scorers table there. Would he have been able to draw a foul (personal or tech, not sure which) if he instead held his ground and the Kansas player touched him or the ball before inbounding it?

[TexHawk]

Feel bad for Hield. Two turnovers on the last two full length possessions are going to haunt him for awhile. Serious question though, how was it not illegal when the Kansas player encroached over the sideline on that inbounds play when OU was down 1. Hield looked to try and back up, but couldn't with the scorers table there. Would he have been able to draw a foul (personal or tech, not sure which) if he instead held his ground and the Kansas player touched him or the ball before inbounding it?

Yes, it's a technical foul if Mason touches the ball or player out of bounds. Or at least it was when I played eons ago. When I was the inbounder being guarded closely, I used to stick the ball out almost into the defender's chest. Most defensive players are conditioned to grab it or knock it away. Got my team a few free throws before the opposition wised up.

[fan345678]

This is interesting. Playing catch-up to Virginia the last couple of years has been frustrating because Virginia simply does not lose games to inferior conference foes. It's actually been pretty remarkable. Virginia's only regular season ACC losses the last two years are as follows:

2013-14
@Duke
@Maryland (after Virginia had clinched the regular season title)

2014-15
Duke
@Louisville (after Virginia had clinched the regular season title and had lost Anderson to injury)

Virginia finally-- FINALLY-- lost one of those "ACC grind" games.

[Billy Dat]

We should just fast forward to March, because we're not going to see another regular season game as good as Kansas-Oklahoma.

It was EPIC. Hield was incredible. Once Woodard (who kept hitting huge shots) fouled out in the 3rd OT, OU didn't have enough offense. Spangler, who had hit a ton of shots in the second half, was passing up open 3 after open 3, it was insane, and Cousins gave them ZERO. Huge credit to Ellis, Mason, Graham and Selden who all played really really well for Kansas. Lucas also came off the bench to make big plays, especially in one of the OTs. When we complain about K's use of the bench, I don't think Kruger made a sub for the final 20 minutes (5 regulation and 15 OT) until Woodard fouled out. Both of those teams are title worthy...tough veteran squads who defend and can shoot, and Kansas has the plus that Ellis is going to be able to beat nearly everyone guarding him. Despite Hield's 47, which were spectacular, he may have had 60 if Mason hadn't been attached to him for the final 30 minutes of the game. Mason is one tough mother. While the later 2 OTs resembled the "can they still stand" final rounds of the Thrilla in Manilla, it was still captivating.

[Billy Dat]

I also enjoyed the schadenfreude of it overshadowing Brice Johnson's 39 and 23 which, any other night in practically any other season, is THE college basketball story of the evening. By the time Brice was done with his 10 or 12th post-game interview and been through his texts and @mentions, KU v OU was probably coming down the stretch and he realized that he was being upstaged. Still though, the dude balled out, and he put up those stats in regulation. Sadly, the Heels also look title worthy. Berry's emergence has been big for them.

[CameronDuke]

This is interesting. Playing catch-up to Virginia the last couple of years has been frustrating because Virginia simply does not lose games to inferior conference foes. It's actually been pretty remarkable. Virginia's only regular season ACC losses the last two years are as follows:

2013-14
@Duke
@Maryland (after Virginia had clinched the regular season title)

2014-15
Duke
@Louisville (after Virginia had clinched the regular season title and had lost Anderson to injury)

Virginia finally-- FINALLY-- lost one of those "ACC grind" games.

I said nearly this exact same thing last night after Virginia lost to Virginia Tech. So many times in the last two seasons (when they went 16-2 in the conference both years), they found ways to win these close ACC games against teams they probably should beat. Their style of play lends to small margins of error by both squads - Virginia can't get too far behind because their methodical offense makes it arduous to undertake a large comeback. Also, their opponent can't get too far behind because Virginia will milk the clock on offense and force long possessions on defense.

This type of early season loss will really shake up the standings at the top of the league in March. I think it will be extremely difficult for Virginia to go 15-1 in their last 16 ACC games to repeat another 16-2 performance. I think it's reasonable to think Virginia loses maybe four or so ACC games this season.

[Wander]

Despite Hield's 47, which were spectacular, he may have had 60 if Mason hadn't been attached to him for the final 30 minutes of the game. Mason is one tough mother.

Is it possible to have played good defense on someone who scored 46 points? I say yes. I agree Mason was good.

[Troublemaker]

I said nearly this exact same thing last night after Virginia lost to Virginia Tech. So many times in the last two seasons (when they went 16-2 in the conference both years), they found ways to win these close ACC games against teams they probably should beat. Their style of play lends to small margins of error by both squads - Virginia can't get too far behind because their methodical offense makes it arduous to undertake a large comeback. Also, their opponent can't get too far behind because Virginia will milk the clock on offense and force long possessions on defense.

This type of early season loss will really shake up the standings at the top of the league in March. I think it will be extremely difficult for Virginia to go 15-1 in their last 16 ACC games to repeat another 16-2 performance. I think it's reasonable to think Virginia loses maybe four or so ACC games this season.

I think UVA would be thrilled with 14-4. I'll cross-post with another thread:


UVA really misses ACC DPOY Darion Atkins inside and also big, physical, athletic Justin Anderson on the wing. They're still a good defense but I have doubts about whether they can improve into a typical UVA great defense with current personnel. To a certain extent, freedom of movement rules have affected them as well.

They've shot really well from three so far this season in order to have a (currently) top 5 offense. But man, once Perrantes comes back down to Earth from his 59% mark on threes, I think we could be looking at a 3rd or 4th place ACC team. I wish Amile were healthy. I would just about guarantee we would've finished ahead of them (and may still).

[BD80]

... I'll cross-post with another thread:

Is that sort of thing allowed on this site?

[Indoor66]

Is that sort of thing allowed on this site?

There is a law against this, as well as it being immoral.

[Troublemaker]

Is that sort of thing allowed on this site?


There is a law against this, as well as it being immoral.

Pssh, I'm a trans-poster and my post was stunning and brave.

But seriously, it probably makes sense if this thread focuses more on non-conference and NBA, while the ACC thread focuses on ACC.

[barjwr]

When I watch Buddy Hield, I am reminded of Austin Rivers... he's a better finisher though.

I found myself thinking of Calbert Cheney from the Indiana teams of the early 1990s: similar spring in his step, good mid-range as well as 3-pt range, and can get to the basket. I was also particularly impressed by his demeanor, both during and after the game. No chest-thumping over his huge night, and he was smiling after it was all over, seeming to recognize what an awesome game it had been.

[crimsonandblue]

I found myself thinking of Calbert Cheney from the Indiana teams of the early 1990s: similar spring in his step, good mid-range as well as 3-pt range, and can get to the basket. I was also particularly impressed by his demeanor, both during and after the game. No chest-thumping over his huge night, and he was smiling after it was all over, seeming to recognize what an awesome game it had been.

A good comparison, albeit a righty (pretty sure Cheney was a leftie). Hield is a little broader and longer, but otherwise really close. And Cheney seemed similarly poised and classy. Hield is a lot of fun to watch.

[Billy Dat]

Tonight - 1/5/16

Ben Simmons vs Kentucky - ESPN 9PM
Marquette vs Providence - Fox Sports 1 - Dunn has been on a tear and Wojo's squad is reeling and desperately needs a big league win
Knicks v Hawks - Jeff Teague vs Jose Calderon, a PG match-up for the ages!
Warriors v Lakers - NBA TV - I want to see Byron Scott explain why the 3 isn't important after GS hits about 20 against his team and wins by 30

[weezie]

I found myself thinking of Calbert Cheney from the Indiana teams of the early 1990s...

Wow, now that's a memory. Great spot!

[Billy Dat]

I found myself thinking of Calbert Cheney from the Indiana teams of the early 1990s: similar spring in his step, good mid-range as well as 3-pt range, and can get to the basket. I was also particularly impressed by his demeanor, both during and after the game. No chest-thumping over his huge night, and he was smiling after it was all over, seeming to recognize what an awesome game it had been.

A lot of people used to compare Rodney Hood to Cal Cheney.

[CDu]

I will be watching Jabari Parker for the first time since his Duke days as his Bucks take on the Bulls (NBATV, 8pm). And maybe I will even get to see MP1 make an appearance. Hoping for both to play great... but for the Bucks to fall short to the Bulls.

[awhom111]

There are two Duke events at the same time, which limits some of the bandwidth for other options. There is an NBA doubleheader on ESPN with Knicks-Heat at 7:00pm and Grizzlies-Thunder at 9:30pm to go along with whatever you have available locally.

College-wise Georgia Tech-Pitt on the ACC RSN/ESPN College Extra package and Seton Hall-Villanova on FS1 are probably the best games running concurrently with ours. Cal-Oregon on ESPN2 at 9:00pm, Ohio State-Northwestern at 9:00pm on BTN, UNLV-Colorado State at 10:00pm on CBSSN, and Stanford-Oregon State at 11:00pm on ESPNU may all be worth a look.

[Indoor66]

There are two Duke events at the same time, which limits some of the bandwidth for other options. There is an NBA doubleheader on ESPN with Knicks-Heat at 7:00pm and Grizzlies-Thunder at 9:30pm to go along with whatever you have available locally.

I watch a lot of NBA and run into a lot of two-fer Duke Event nights. It is fun. Of course, the Heat are, much of the time, a Three-For-One treat with Lu Deng, McRoberts and Justise (though McBob is injured right now). I'm glad to be in Heat country and get all of their games in both real time and replay - with Heat announcers.

[Wander]

It'd be super lame for Ben Simmons to not be in the NCAA tournament, so it's nice to see LSU start conference play with two wins against two of the better SEC teams. They really need to finish with a good conference record given how awful their noncon performance was (though they do get a chance at Oklahoma later).

[awhom111]

It's a Thursday with a Duke event, although it is online, so multi-screening is easier to do. One part of the TNT NBA doubleheader may be better than the other with Celtics-Bulls at 8:00pm and Lakers-Kings at 10:30pm.

On the men's college front, there are a number of interesting games at 7:00pm with Cincinnati-SMU on ESPN, Louisville-North Carolina State on ESPN2, Michigan-Purdue on ESPNU, and Notre Dame-Boston College on the ACC RSNs packpage. Arizona-UCLA is worth a watch on ESPN2 at 9:00pm and possibly also Santa Clara-BYU at 11:00pm. I will be checking out some of a couple games on RSNs with USF-San Diego at 10:00pm amd UC Davis-UC Irvine at 10:30pm. If I had Pac 12 Network, I would watch Arizona State-USC at 10:30pm.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

It's a Thursday with a Duke event, although it is online, so multi-screening is easier to do. One part of the TNT NBA doubleheader may be better than the other with Celtics-Bulls at 8:00pm and Lakers-Kings at 10:30pm.

On the men's college front, there are a number of interesting games at 7:00pm with Cincinnati-SMU on ESPN, Louisville-North Carolina State on ESPN2, Michigan-Purdue on ESPNU, and Notre Dame-Boston College on the ACC RSNs packpage. Arizona-UCLA is worth a watch on ESPN2 at 9:00pm and possibly also Santa Clara-BYU at 11:00pm. I will be checking out some of a couple games on RSNs with USF-San Diego at 10:00pm amd UC Davis-UC Irvine at 10:30pm. If I had Pac 12 Network, I would watch Arizona State-USC at 10:30pm.

Louisville v NCSU sounds pretty compelling. Haven't seen much of the Pack this year, but always like the chance to see the Old ACC flex a bit.

[CDu]

It's a Thursday with a Duke event, although it is online, so multi-screening is easier to do. One part of the TNT NBA doubleheader may be better than the other with Celtics-Bulls at 8:00pm and Lakers-Kings at 10:30pm.

On the men's college front, there are a number of interesting games at 7:00pm with Cincinnati-SMU on ESPN, Louisville-North Carolina State on ESPN2, Michigan-Purdue on ESPNU, and Notre Dame-Boston College on the ACC RSNs packpage. Arizona-UCLA is worth a watch on ESPN2 at 9:00pm and possibly also Santa Clara-BYU at 11:00pm. I will be checking out some of a couple games on RSNs with USF-San Diego at 10:00pm amd UC Davis-UC Irvine at 10:30pm. If I had Pac 12 Network, I would watch Arizona State-USC at 10:30pm.

The Celtics/Bulls game should be a score-fest. I'll be watching that one, but keeping tabs on the Louisville/NCSU game and the ND/BC games via the interwebs.

[awhom111]

Friday actually has a couple of decent college games. Oakland is apparently appointment viewing now and they host Valparaiso on ESPN2 at 7:00pm. Utah-Colorado is suddenly a critical game for Utah and will be on FS1 at 9:00pm.

The ESPN NBA doubleheader could end up being a bit one-sided with Cavaliers-Timberwolves at 8:00pm and Thunder-Lakers at 10:30pm.

[awhom111]

There are those NFL playoff games tomorrow, but one football game I will keep an eye on after our basketball game is the FCS Championship on ESPN2 at 12:00pm ET. When non-sports fans ask who won the national championship, I may or may not tell the winner of this game. There are no national NBA games so whatever is locally available may be worth watching (more Curry on Curry violence in my case).

Here are some other college games that have caught my attention:
Maryland-Wisconsin, 1:00pm ESPN (which I hope goes into 50 million overtimes for ESPN)
St. John's-Marquette, 2:00pm RSNs
Virginia-Georgia Tech, 2:00pm ACCN
Dartmouth-Harvard, 2:00pm NESN
Northwestern-Minnesota, 2:30pm BTN
Baylor-Iowa State, 3:00pm ESPN2
Vanderbilt-South Carolina, 3:00pm ESPNU
Pitt-Notre Dame, 4:00pm ACC RSNs
St. Mary's-Pepperdine, 4:00pm RSNs
Kansas State-Oklahoma, 4:30pm ESPNEWS
Florida State-Miami, 5:00pm ESPN2
UNLV-Wyoming, 6:00pm CBSSN
Memphis-UConn, 7:00pm ESPN2
Portland-Gonzaga, 8:00pm RSNs
USF-BYU, 9:00pm BYUTV
Santa Clara-San Diego, 10:00pm RSNs
UC Riverside-UC Irvine 11:00pm ESPNU

The Pac 12 Network games are all pretty good, but I won't be able to see them. (Washington-Washington State 3:00pm, Arizona Staet-UCLA 5:00pm, Arizona-USC 7:00pm, Cal-Oregon State 9:30pm) There is also a prominent game not on my list because I will not watch any of it unless I know the outcome is not in doubt and in the direction I desire.

[awhom111]

There is more NFL action and a national NBATV game, but there is plenty of college stuff to watch.

There's a Duke game among a number of good games on the women's side. The game that we competing with for the TV slot, UNC-Notre Dame on ESPN2 at 1:00pm should be interesting and UConn has their toughest conference game at South Florida at 5:00pm on ESPN.

On the men's side, Louisville-Clemson at 12:00pm on the ACC RSN package at 12:00pm and North Carolina State-Wake Forest on ESPNU at 8:00pm are worthy conference games. Also of interest are Central Florida-SMU at 4:00pm on ESNPU, Villanova-Butler at 7:30pm on FS1, and Stanford-Oregon at 10:00pm on ESPNU.

[awhom111]

There is not much counter-programming for the football game tomorrow, which you can see in every possible way on the ESPN Family of networks.

Locally, I get Heat-Warriors, which should be good.

The most appealing college game is probably the Monmouth bench at Fairfield at 7:00pm on SNY and ESPN3.

[awhom111]

I may sneak in some hockey, but there is a full slate of NBA games with a pretty intriguing NBATV opener of Bulls-Bucks and 8:00pm and then a much less interesting one in the second game of the doubleheader with Pelicans-Lakers at 10:30pm.

The first college game of the day may by a surprisingly good one with DePaul-Xavier starting the FS1 Big East doubleheader at 6:30pm. Miami-Virginia is a shockingly good game for ESPNU at 7:00pm. The ESPN2 game at that time, Kansas-West Virginia is also interesting. Of interest to us would be Wisconsin-Northwestern on BTN at 7:00pm. George Washington-UMass on some RSNs and Davidson-Dayton at 8:00pm on CBSSN will probably get at least a look from me. At 9:00pm, Maryland-Michigan on ESPN should be good, Iowa State-Texas on ESPN2 is worth a look, and Arkansas-Missouri at least has a storyline. Of the two Mountain West games, New Mexico-UNLV is nowhere near as good as it might have been a few years ago, but the storylines on CBSSN at 10:00pm are worth watching.

[awhom111]

Wednesday's ESPN NBA doubleheader is pretty good. Pacers-Celtics at 8:00pm and then Heat-Clippers at 10:30pm.

There aren't that many good games at the same time as ours with Boston College-Syracuse on the ACC RSN package at least having conference implications. Wojo is in the second game of the FS1 Big East doubleheader, visiting Villanova at 8:30pm. Oklahoma-Oklahoma State on ESPNU and South Carolina-Alabama on SECN are good 9:00pm games. There are three ACC games in that timeslot, Wake Forest-Virginia Tech on the RSNs and a split OTA syndication of FSU-North Carolina State and Georgia Tech-Notre Dame. I will keep an eye on San Diego State-Colorado State on CBSSN at 10:00pm and then USC-UCLA on ESPN2 and Oregon State Colorado on ESPNU at 11:00pm.

[awhom111]

There's a bonus NBA game with Raptors-Magic at 3:00pm on NBATV. The first game of the TNT doubleheader is certainly worth watching with Cavaliers-Spurs at 8:00pm. Lakers-Warriors is the other one at 10:30pm.

Duke is playing, but there are some great games on the men's side too. One more mention on the women's side as South Carolina-Kentucky on SECN at 7:00pm will likely be good but ugly. The ESPN doubleheader of Iowa-Michigan State at 7:00pm and Pitt-Louisville at 9:00pm should be pretty good. If you get Pac 12 Networks, Washington State-Arizona State at 8:00pm and Oregon-Utah at 10:00pm should be good. BYU-Gonzaga at 9:00pm on ESPN2, Washington-Arizona at 9:00pm on FS1, and Cal-Stanford at 11:00pm on FS1 are all worth watching with Pacific-St. Mary's on ESPNU at 11:00pm being a game I will check if I have time.

[awhom111]

Friday's college schedule is pretty light, but George Washington-Dayton on ESPN2 at 7:00pm could be fantastic. Monmouth's bench visits Iona at 9:00pm on ESPNU.

The ESPN NBA doubleheader is Minnesota-Oklahoma City at 7:00pm and Cleveland-Houston at 9:30pm, which is pretty solid.

[Avvocato]

For anyone up, I'm watching Jayson Tatum's Chaminade team play on CBS Sports Network. First Quarter just ended.

[awhom111]

Saturday will of course also have NFL games and locally available NBA games, but there is plenty on the college side.

There is an obvious choice of a game to watch before ours, but there is also Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech on the ACC RSNs and Syracuse-Wake Forest on ACC OTAs. There are more ACC games on at the same time as ours, Boston College-Pitt on the RSNs and Miami-Clemson on the OTAs. Xavier-Marquette on FS1 is another game I would take a look at if I did not have something else to watch. Right after us on ESPN2 is West Virginia-Oklahoma, which should be good. Games I plan on at least glancing at for the rest of the day include Wyoming-New Mexico at 4:00pm on CBSSN, Pepperdine-USF on a few RSNs at 4:00pm, San Diego-Gonzaga at 8:00pm on RSNs/ESPN College Extra, Penn State-Northwestern at 8:30pm on ESPNU, San Diego State-Boise State on ESPN2 at 10:00pm, and Loyola Marymount-Santa Clara at 11:00pm on a few RSNs. If I had Pac 12 Network, Washington-Arizona State at 7:00pm and Washington State-Arizona at 9:30pm would probably be worth a look.

[subzero02]

Thanks for the breakdown awhom

[Bob Green]

I'm going to watch State at Carolina and hope the Wolfpack can keep it interesting. After the Duke vs. Notre Dame game, it is all about the NFL Play-offs! Can Kansas City knock off New England?

[Olympic Fan]

Friday's college schedule is pretty light, but George Washington-Dayton on ESPN2 at 7:00pm could be fantastic. Monmouth's bench visits Iona at 9:00pm on ESPNU.


I didn't watch it, but I wish I had. First, Monmouth beat Iona 110-102 to give the Gaels their first conference loss, so it must have been a heck of a game. Secondly, a lot of bad blood between the two teams -- a year ago in their conference tournament, the Iona coach and Monmouth coach got into it and never apologized for their dustup. Last week, the Iona coach ripped the kids on the Monmouth bench who have become so famous for their bench celebrations. Thirdly, after the game last night, the two teams got into a scuffle leaving the floor -- one Monmouth player ended up with a badly swollen nose. Suspensions are likely to result.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14579908/iona-gaels-monmouth-hawks-fight-game

[wavedukefan70s]

Maryland is up 40 with 9 minutes left over ohio wow.
If we cant win the natty .id like maryland to win it.i know, i know.id love to see rasheed get a ring.

[dukelion]

Now that's a bad loss by Kentucky.

Auburn ranked 180ish in KenPom....ouch

[awhom111]

Sunday offers more NFL and NBA games.

Duke is playing, but it is online only, leaving more room to watch other stuff. Miami and the fighting Syvias on the ACC RSN package at 12:30pm is the only other ACC game. The BTN doubleheader of Northwestern-Maryland at 12:00pm and Purdue-Ohio State at 2:00pm should be good. The ESPN2 doubleheader is the one that is really worth watching as Texas A&M-South Carolina is at 1:00pm and Baylor-Texas is at 3:00pm.

On the men's side, the later games are probably worth watching. Michigan-Iowa at 4:30pm on BTN, Virginia-FSU at 6:30pm on ESPNU, Oregon-Colorado at 7:00pm on Pac 12 Networks, and Oregon State-Utah at 8:30pm on ESPNU close the day.

[devildeac]

I was thinking I'd try to watch a replay of a MBB game that occurred in CIS today about 2 PM :rolleyes: .

[awhom111]

Monday is a good day for NBA games with their annual slate of games on this day. Pelicans-Grizzlies is on ESPN at 2:30pm and Magic-Hawks is on NBATV at 5:00pm. The TNT doubleheader is pretty great with Warriors-Cavaliers at 8:00pm and then Rockets-Clippers at 10:30pm. There are also a number of locally available games.

The next best college game is the one after ours on ESPN, Oklahoma-Iowa State. Another game in Durham may be worth a watch, Hampton-NC Central at 9:00pm on ESPNU. Unfortunately Notre Dame-Tennessee on the women's side would be worth watching if it was not on at the time as our game on ESPN2.

[CameronDuke]

FSU just beat UVA 69-62 in Tallahassee, Florida as another ACC team held serve at home. Tough start to the season for UVA who is now 13-4 overall and 2-3 in the ACC. They were the defending two time ACC regular season champs with consecutive 16-2 seasons.

The ACC is crazy this year!

[Doria]

Michigan State losing to Wisconsin, too... But the bizarre game award for the weekend (I think Monmoth was during the week) goes to the Oregon State/Utah game being essentially decided when Oregon State's player was ejected for tripping a ref. I guess a runner's up award might be awarded to the decidedly not tall Ulis out-rebounding his entire frontcourt in their loss at Auburn; I hate KY as much as anyone, but I have to feel for Ulis.

[Bob Green]

In a moment of insanity, Oregon State player Jarmal Reid deliberately trips the referee earning a technical foul and ejection:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14593534/jarmal-reid-oregon-state-beavers-ejected-tripping-referee

Check out his eyes, Reid looks right at the ref before sticking out his foot and tripping him.

[awhom111]

Tuesday is light on the NBA front with three local only games and Timberwolves-Pelicans on NBATV at 8:00pm.

The first college game of the day should be solid enough as Butler-Providence is on FS1 at 6:30pm. Northwestern-Maryland at 8:00pm on BTN will be of interest with usually boring Houston-SMU on ESPNU and Alabama-Auburn on SECN in the 9:00pm timeslot being a little more interesting this season. The ACC network is a split affair with Clemson-Virginia and North Carolina State-Pitt both at 8:00pm. The day closes with Fresno State-San Diego State on ESPNU at 11:00pm, which could be pretty good.

Of course there is also plenty of Australian Open Tennis for nightime viewing.

[Furniture]

I'm watching the Kansas v OS game...

[CameronDuke]

Virginia leads Clemson at the half 31-28 in Charlottesville, Virginia. In a shocker, NC State is up 44-19 at the half at Pitt.

[DukieInKansas]

I'm watching the Kansas v OS game...

Cowpokes be beating up some Jayhawks. There will not me joy in Kansas tonight.

[duke4ever19]

Virginia leads Clemson at the half 31-28 in Charlottesville, Virginia. In a shocker, NC State is up 44-19 at the half at Pitt.

That's right, N.C. State, get it all out of your system before this weekend.

[CameronDuke]

Clemson is starting to come back down to earth and play like, well, Clemson tonight. They're down 11 at Virginia late in the second half.

[awhom111]

Wednesday is full of NBA games, including the ESPN doubleheader of Warriors-Bulls at 8:00pm and Hawks-Blazers at 10:30pm.

There are four ACC games of varying interest, including the RSN syndicated package doubleheader of Virginia Tech-Notre Dame and Miami-Boston College with FSU-Louisville on ESPNU at 9:00pm. I am clearly not very good at picking potential upsets right now, but I will keep an eye on Texas-West Virginia on ESPNU at 8:00pm, Kansas State-Baylor on ESPNEWS at 8:15pm and DePaul-Marquette at 8:00pm on FS1. The late ESPNU game at 11:00pm, UCLA-Oregon State is worth watching too.

[CameronDuke]

Final from Charlottesville, Virginia: UVA 69, Clemson 62.

I'm not sold on Clemson. I think they go on a skid the second half of their league season. Virginia has a pretty manageable league schedule left.

[CameronDuke]

NC State just finished a thorough shellacking at Pitt, winning 78-61 against the Panthers.

[Wahoo2000]

Final from Charlottesville, Virginia: UVA 69, Clemson 62.

I'm not sold on Clemson. I think they go on a skid the second half of their league season. Virginia has a pretty manageable league schedule left.

Clemson was VERY solid tonight. We were lucky to pull it out despite some sketchy FT shooting down the stretch. We're not the same team this year either though. Athletic talent and skill is close to last year's squad, but the "want to", especially on defense, just isn't the same.

Starting to think Carolina runs away with the regular season. The next 5-6 teams after that could all beat anyone (or lose to anyone) on any given day.

[Troublemaker]

Darn, Collins' Northwestern team just lost in OT at Maryland.

That could've been a nice NCAA resume win.

NW has never made the NCAA tourney, but Chris might have them on the bubble this year.

[CameronDuke]

I agree that UNC will run away with the ACC this year. Kind of like how Virginia did the last two seasons. I think UNC goes something like 16-2 in the league this year.

I don't agree that Clemson looked solid tonight though. They got owned on the glass 32-21 and had 2 offensive boards. Credit UVA's frontcourt for some of that. They also shot just 8-24 from 3 and fouled Virginia guards driving to the rim way too much rather than staying in front of them, especially at crunch time. They got to the line 6 times while allowing Virginia to shoot 22 free throws. They were out scored 15-6 at the line. That was really the huge difference in the game's final score. They shot some extremely deep, ill advised 3s at crunch time as well with 20-25 seconds left on the shot clock rather than working for a better shot when they cut it to 3. They looked a bit undisciplined near the end of the game on offense.

London Perrantes is an 87% free throw shooter and was 2-7 tonight. If he shoots his average from the charity stripe Virginia wins this one by double digits. The final score was closer than this game really was. Virginia went up 13 with under ten minutes left and got lackadaisical. I agree that Virginia looks uninspired and lacks intensity at times.

Virginia is not nearly as good as they were the last two years but I still think they finish in the top 4 of the league at 13-5 or so.

[CameronDuke]

Some may call me crazy but I still think the ebbs and flows of the season will all average out and the cream will rise to the top and the averages will play out in the league standings. No one is as good or bad as they seem right now and talent will rise to the top. I still think the top five in the league are UNC, Duke, Virginia, Louisville, and Pitt. By the end of the year, I'd be surprised to see Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, or Notre Dame in the top 5 of the league honestly.

[Wahoo2000]

Some may call me crazy but I still think the ebbs and flows of the season will all average out and the cream will rise to the top and the averages will play out in the league standings. No one is as good or bad as they seem right now and talent will rise to the top. I still think the top five in the league are UNC, Duke, Virginia, Louisville, and Pitt. By the end of the year, I'd be surprised to see Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, or Notre Dame in the top 5 of the league honestly.

Agree with pretty much all of this. Actually I'm surprised at how long it's taking the better (supposedly) teams to settle in, especially given that they're not really beating up on each other. The majority of losses those top teams have suffered thus far are NOT to each other. They still have a lot of games to play head to head, which may make it a little tougher to really separate from the rest of the league. I'll be surprised if there's more than 1 team outside of Carolina that goes 13-5 or better. I think there will be a little bit of a logjam of teams between 10-8 and 12-6, with a bunch of those teams being within 1 game of each other headed into the final game of the regular season.

There will definitely be some wars fighting for the top-4 ACC tourney byes.

[awhom111]

Duke is playing, but that is online only so more than one screen can be used. Speaking of online only events, Real Madrid-Barcelona in EuroLeague will be on ESPN3 at 2:45pm ET.

The first game of the TNT NBA doubleheader is probably going to be better as Clippers-Cavaliers is at 8:00pm and Spurs-Suns is at 10:30pm.

The college games at 7:00pm are pretty rough tomorrow. I will mostly keep an eye on games in this half of the country. Arizona State-Cal at 9:00pm and Utah-Washington State at 11:00pm is a solid FS1 doubleheader. There are three solid WCC games at 11:00pm with Gonzaga-St. Mary's on ESPNU and USF-Santa Clara and BYU-Loyola Marymount on RSNs. If I had Pac 12 Network, USC-Oregon at 9:00pm and Arizona-Stanford at 11:00pm would be worth a look.

[awhom111]

It's the usual light Friday slate on the college side with Rhode Island-George Washington on ESPN2 at 7:00pm perhaps being the one to watch. Maybe Friday MAAC games are the basketball version of MAC-tion?

The ESPN NBA doubleheader looks pretty good with Heat-Raptors at 8:00pm and Pacers-Warriors at 10:30pm and there are plenty of locally broadcast games.

[awhom111]

I am waiting for the ESPN conspiracy that they forced the Cavs to make a coaching change to add more spice to the first ABC Saturday NBA game. Of course there will also be some locally televised games even though two games have been moved.

I think I am operating from an up to date schedule after all of the weather issues, but apologies if there are any issues with this list:
Oklahoma-Baylor ESPN 12:00pm
Northwestern-Indiana ESPN2 12:00pm
Wake Forest-Miami and Boston College-Notre Dame ACCN split coverage/ESPN College Extra 12:00pm
UCLA-Oregon CBS 4:00pm
Louisville-Georgia Tech ESPN2 4:00pm
Pitt-FSU ACCN 4:00pm
Utah State-San Diego State CBSSN 6:00pm
BYU-Pepperdine BYUTV 8:00pm
Marquette-St. John's CBSSN 8:00pm
Arizona-Cal ESPN 8:30pm
UNLV-Nevada ESPNU 10:00pm
Portland-St. Mary's RSNs 11:00pm

Also Arizona State-Stanford at 11:00pm is certainly worth a watch if you have Pac 12 Network.

[awhom111]

It's a light NBA calendar on Sunday with the NFL drawing the main focus.

Of course there is a big Duke game on the women's side.

Again, I think this is the most updated TV schedule after weather issues with games I have an interest in including:
SMU-Temple ESPN2 12:00pm
Providence-Villanova FOX 1:00pm
Purdue-Iowa BTN 1:00pm
Syracuse-Virginia ESPN2 7:00pm
Utah-Washington ESPNU 8:30pm

[SFDukie]

Just watched Johnny Dawkins' Cardinals beat Bobby Hurley's Sun Devils on a layup with less than 5 seconds left. The Sun Devils had made a furious rally to take the lead only to lose in the last seconds.

[CameronDuke]

Two huge ACC games today. UNC travels to Virginia Tech, and the Hokies have been extremely hot so far in league play. The line is UNC -10.5. I'll take UNC in that one 86-71.

Syracuse also travels to Virginia. Virginia is -9.5. I'll take Virginia big in that one. 78-63 in favor of Virginia is my prediction.

[CameronDuke]

I have heard that Syracuse is still stuck in New York at their university with the Richmond, Virginia airport and Charlottesville, Virginia airport both closed due to snow. They are attempting to make it to Charlottesville, Virginia for a 7 pm tip at UVA tonight.

[CameronDuke]

At halftime in Blacksburg, Virginia, it's UNC 39, Virginia Tech 34.

[burnspbesq]

Two good ones to wrap up the weekend.

Hoos win a tough one late against Cuse.

U-Dub and U-Tah tied at the half.

[awhom111]

These ACC Big 12 doubleheaders have been pretty good and Monday should be no exception with Kansas-Iowa State following us. Unfortunately, attention on the men's games removes a chance to watch some good games on the women's side so Tennessee-Kentucky on ESPN2 and Louisville-Syracuse on the ACC RSNs at the same time as our game will not get much attention. The most anticipated NBA game is obviously the late NBATV game of Spurs-Warriors at 10:30pm, but there is also Timberwolves-Cavaliers at 7:00pm and whatever you get locally.

[Billy Dat]

These ACC Big 12 doubleheaders have been pretty good and Monday should be no exception with Kansas-Iowa State following us. Unfortunately, attention on the men's games removes a chance to watch some good games on the women's side so Tennessee-Kentucky on ESPN2 and Louisville-Syracuse on the ACC RSNs at the same time as our game will not get much attention. The most anticipated NBA game is obviously the late NBATV game of Spurs-Warriors at 10:30pm, but there is also Timberwolves-Cavaliers at 7:00pm and whatever you get locally.

Duke Miami from 7-9
GSW - Spurs from 10:30 - as long as I last
I guess I'll peek in on Kansas and Iowa state in between depending on my post Duke/Miami mood...

[awhom111]

Tuesday's NBA doubleheader is Thunder-Knicks at 7:30pm and Mavericks-Lakers at 10:30pm with a healthy dose of local games too.

On the college side, we get one ACC game, FSU-Boston College at 7:00pm on ESPNU. I would not clasiffy any of the games as must see besides Xavier-Providence on FS1 at 8:30pm as many of them seem to favor one team, but I am sure there will be upsets to watch. I may be opting to catch a few minutes of hockey later in the day.

[CameronDuke]

Up 10 with under ten minutes left, and 8 with two minutes left, Wake Forest just gave up a corner 3, banked off the glass to Virginia at the buzzer to lose 72-71 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Danny Manning hasn't blown the doors off the joint so far at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are now 10-10 overall, and 1-7 in the ACC in Manning's first year. Remember when some were saying Wake was a threat this year and vastly improved? I'm not seeing it yet. I'd be surprised if Wake wins 7 games in the league at this point.

[Olympic Fan]

Amazing finish --

http://espn.go.com/ncb/video?gameId=400839337

Virginia hit four 3-pointers in the last 57 seconds, three in the last 17 seconds and two in the last five seconds ...

[awhom111]

Wednesday's national ESPN NBA games are pretty solid with Rockets-Spurs at 8:00pm and Mavericks-Warriors at 10:30pm plus whatever local stuff is on where you live.

On the college side, we have Pitt-Clemson on the ACC RSNs at 7:00pm and split ACC network coverage between Georgia Tech-North Carolina State and Louisville-Virginia Tech at 8:00pm. Other games of interest include Stetson-Marquette at 9:00pm on FS1, Stanford-Coorado on Pac 12 Network at 9:00pm, Cal-Utah at 11:00pm on ESPNU, and Boise State-UNLV on CBSSN at 11:00pm.

I may try to sneak in some hockey again.

[Clay Feet POF]

Wednesday's national ESPN NBA games are pretty solid with Rockets-Spurs at 8:00pm and Mavericks-Warriors at 10:30pm plus whatever local stuff is on where you live.

On the college side, we have Pitt-Clemson on the ACC RSNs at 7:00pm and split ACC network coverage between Georgia Tech-North Carolina State and Louisville-Virginia Tech at 8:00pm. Other games of interest include Stetson-Marquette at 9:00pm on FS1, Stanford-Coorado on Pac 12 Network at 9:00pm, Cal-Utah at 11:00pm on ESPNU, and Boise State-UNLV on CBSSN at 11:00pm.

I may try to sneak in some hockey again.

Thanks for doing This!

[awhom111]

Duke is playing Thursday, but it is online only again so that should leave a screen open.

The TNT NBA doubleheader is Knicks-Raptors at 8:00pm which should be good and Bulls-Lakers at 10:30pm which may or may not be competitive.

Notre Dame-Syracuse on ESPN2 at 7:00pm is a pretty good lone ACC game to have.

I will also keep an eye on the following:
Iowa-Maryland 7:00pm ESPN
Michigan State-Northwestern 9:00pm ESPN
Oregon-Arizona 9:00pm ESPN
Richmond-George Washington 9:00pm ESPNU
Santa Clara-Gonzaga 9:00pm RSNs/ESPN College Extra
Washington-UCLA 10:00pm FS1
Loyola Marymount0-BYU 11:00pm ESPNU

The Pac 12 Network games are not that great, but Oregon State-Arizona State at 8:30pm at least has Duke ties.

[CameronDuke]

NC State lost again last night, at home to Georgia Tech. NC State is now 11-10, 1-7 and hosts Miami Saturday before traveling to FSU and Duke. I think if NC State can avoid being 1-10 in the league and get to 2-9, that'll be considered a success for them.

[Furniture]

Missing watching our Duke team at the moment but the Maryland Iowa game was great. Rasheed was really good (imho).

[awhom111]

The Friday college slate is not particularly long, but VCU-Davidson at 6:00pm on ESPN2 may be worth a look (yay conference expansion!).

The NBA national doubleheader is on NBATV and it is Rockets-Thunder at 8:00pm and Lakers-Clippers at 10:30pm so there are at least storylines. Of course there is the usual large slate of local games.

[awhom111]

Saturday brings another interesting ABC NBA game at the Spurs visit the Cavaliers at 8:30pm. There are a handful of locally available games as I look forward to Warriors-76ers at 5:00pm.

ESPN has a SEC-Big 12 quadrupleheader starting at 12:00pm with the games all looking like good matchups. Among undercard games, Vanderbilt-Texas at 12:00pm on ESPN2 looks like the pick of the bunch. The SEC may be hurt by not having South Carolina participating as they play Alabama at 6:00pm on SECN.

On the ACC slate, the last game will probably be unwatchable, but the earlier games all have interesting storylines. Georgia Tech-Syracuse on ESPNU and Clemson-FSU on the ACC RSNs kick off action at 12:00pm. Virginia-Louisville is the headliner on CBS at 1:00pm and Miami-North Carolina State is on the ACC OTAs at 3:00pm.

Other games of interest to me throughout the day include:
Butler-Marquette FS1 12:00pm
Colorado State-Wyoming ROOT 6:00pm
San Diego State-UNLV CBSSN 8:00pm
USF-Gonzaga RSNs 8:00pm
Pepperdine-BYU 10:00pm ESPN2
UC Santa Barbara-UC Irvine 10:00pm ESPNU
St. Mary's-Pacific 11:00pm RSNs

I can't see them, but the Pac 12 Network schedule is pretty good. Surprises Washington and USC start the day at 3:00pm, Stanford-Utah is next at 5:00pm, Washington State-UCLA runs at 7:00pm, and Oregon State-Arizona closes things at 9:30pm.

[Olympic Fan]

Watching the LSU-Oklahoma game, I've now seen Ben Simmons in three games -- all three went to the wire.

Two common threads:

(1) LSU lost all three

(2) at crunch time, Simmons didn't want the ball

ESPN continues to push this kind for national player of the year, yet he (1) can't shoot; and (2) disappears at crunch time.

I'm sure he's a great talent and will be the No. 1 pick in the draft, but to push such a flawed player on a mediocre team for NPOY is a joke.

[CDu]

Watching the LSU-Oklahoma game, I've now seen Ben Simmons in three games -- all three went to the wire.

Two common threads:

(1) LSU lost all three

(2) at crunch time, Simmons didn't want the ball

ESPN continues to push this kind for national player of the year, yet he (1) can't shoot; and (2) disappears at crunch time.

I'm sure he's a great talent and will be the No. 1 pick in the draft, but to push such a flawed player on a mediocre team for NPOY is a joke.

Part of it is that Simmons can't shoot. But a big part of it is that LSU's coach can't coach. He is a "roll the balls out and let'em play" coach.

Simmons is an amazing talent, but he can't shoot. He does literally everything else exceptionally well, but that is a big hole in his game. He will have to improve that at the next level.

[westwall]

Watching the Kentucky at Kansas game -- and I certainly am not a Kentucky fan -- but would Kansas have won in overtime if Kentucky's entire front court (Lee, Willis, Labissiere and Poytress) had not fouled out?? I saw a lot of contact that could easily have been called against Kansas, but wasn't. But contact was readily called against Kentucky.

Calipari might have been right to complain.

[Newton_14]

Watching the Kentucky at Kansas game -- and I certainly am not a Kentucky fan -- but would Kansas have won in overtime if Kentucky's entire front court (Lee, Willis, Labissiere and Poytress) had not fouled out?? I saw a lot of contact that could easily have been called against Kansas, but wasn't. But contact was readily called against Kentucky.

Calipari might have been right to complain.

Yeah it certainly helped Kansas for sure, especially in OT when UK was pretty undermanned. Good game to watch though and I was certainly pulling for Kansas. I was surprised to see this game in midseason vs prior to conference play. It certainly lived up to the billing. I imagine a Final 8 or FF game would look similar.

[vick]

Watching the LSU-Oklahoma game, I've now seen Ben Simmons in three games -- all three went to the wire.

Two common threads:

(1) LSU lost all three

(2) at crunch time, Simmons didn't want the ball

ESPN continues to push this kind for national player of the year, yet he (1) can't shoot; and (2) disappears at crunch time.

I'm sure he's a great talent and will be the No. 1 pick in the draft, but to push such a flawed player on a mediocre team for NPOY is a joke.

Does anyone seriously doubt that Hield will win NPOY, barring a collapse or injury (or maybe Valentine playing out of his mind in February)?

[westwall]

Does anyone seriously doubt that Hield will win NPOY, barring a collapse or injury (or maybe Valentine playing out of his mind in February)?

Perhaps you are correct, but like Simmons tonight, Hield was a decoy who did not take the big shot at "crunch time".

[Olympic Fan]

Perhaps you are correct, but like Simmons tonight, Hield was a decoy who did not take the big shot at "crunch time".

Really ... he scored 32 points, including the 3-pointer that first gave Oklahoma the lead with 90 seconds left.

Some decoy.

[awhom111]

It's a day of all star games on Sunday with the NHL doing anything for ratings, although they probably should have avoided the Pro Bowl to maximize those numbers. People will say the Pro Bowl had lower than expected ratings, but compare it to nearly any other sporting event in the United States for the entire season and it will look pretty great, especially with nothing at stake. Also on the other sports front, the United States takes on Iceland in the Camp Cupcake Friendly at 4:00pm on ESPN2.

On the NBA front, we get three national games with Bulls-Clippers on ABC at 3:30pm, Celtics-Magic on NBATV at 6:00pm, and Timberwolves-Trailblazers at 9:00pm. There are a few locally available games, including Warriors-Knicks for me.

It is an unusually poor slate of games in women's college basketball with South Carolina-Texas A&M on ESPN2 at 6:00pm probably being the best.

On the other hand, it is a stronger than usual set of games in men's college basketball. There are two ACC games, Wake Forest-Notre Dame on the ACC OTA package at 1:00pm and Virginia Tech-Pitt on ESPNU at 6:30pm. Coaching reasons have me keeping an eye on Northwestern-Iowa at 3:00pm on BTN and Oregon-Arizona State closing the day on ESPNU at 8:30pm. Cal-Colorado at 5:00pm on FS1 could also be worth watching.

[Indoor66]

Really ... he scored 32 points, including the 3-pointer that first gave Oklahoma the lead with 90 seconds left.

Some decoy.

Don't you use armed decoys?

[CDu]

I think Hield is the runaway favorite for NPoY. He is scoring 26ppg for the number 1 team, and seems to come up big in all the close games. Valentine has a case, too, but Hield's scoring prowess is hard to ignore.

[westwall]

Really ... he scored 32 points, including the 3-pointer that first gave Oklahoma the lead with 90 seconds left.

Some decoy.

Yes, Hield scored 32, but my point was that neither Simmons nor Hield attempted a shot in the last 1:40, when the game was very much in doubt (in Oklahoma's case, Cousins took and made the last two FGs that secured the win). Since both Simmons and Hield are the iconic players on their teams, and sure to be the targets of the opposing team in the waning seconds, coaching decisions may have lead to each serving as a decoy in order to provide (hopefully) open shots for the other players. (And I realize that this may be giving undue credit to one or more of the coaches.)

[Bob Green]

I'm going to watch Rasheed Sulaimon and Maryland take on Ohio State on CBS. The game just tipped.

[Bob Green]

Halftime: Maryland 37, Ohio State 31

Sulaimon has not scored however he has four assists and two steals. Probably not a popular sentiment here on DBR but Maryland is a very good team. They are big inside with Diamond Stone and Robert Carter, and talented in the backcourt with Melo Trimble and Sulaimon. Versatile Jake Layman completes the starting five. Layman leads the team in scoring at the half with 12 points.

[awhom111]

I will go ahead and mention Monday now.

There is a Duke game at an earlier than usual time. There is another ACC women's basketball game which should be pretty good as Syracuse visits Miami at 7:00pm on the ACC RSNs. The other ESPN2 game is Arizona State-Oregon State at 11:00pm ET. Let me also take the opportunity to pre-complain about all of the networks descending on this area for the Super Bowl. Thankfully it looks like at some coverage will originate from San Jose, which is at least a bigger city and closer to the actual venue, not to mention has more space, more people, is more safe, and is harder to cause disruptions to on a daily basis.

I will not be watching the first game of ESPN Big Monday, but Texas-Baylor at 9:00pm should be interesting even if the teams are not quite ranked as highly as those in some recent Big 12 Monday games. The other ACC game, North Carolina State-FSU at 9:00pm on ESPNU is also worth a watch along with the other prominent game of Texas schools (sorry Sam Houston State-Lamar), SMU-Houston at 8:00pm on CBSSN.

There is another NBATV doubleheader as Cavaliers-Pacers at 7:00pm and Bucks-Kings at 10:00pm both have Duke ties if not varying degrees of other interest. The usual amount of locally available games are there too.

[subzero02]

Redick is playing the best basketball of his NBA career... he has his college swagger again and his confidence is compounding. I think the support he receives from his teammates is a key factor in his level of play. He never had a good chemistry with Nelson in Orlando but he is a perfect fit in Los angeles.

[Indoor66]

Redick is playing the best basketball of his NBA career... he has his college swagger again and his confidence is compounding. I think the support he receives from his teammates is a key factor in his level of play. He never had a good chemistry with Nelson in Orlando but he is a perfect fit in Los angeles.

Nobody has good chemistry with Nelson, not even Nelson! :mad::cool:

[awhom111]

Two of the five NBA games are on NBATV with Heat-Rockets at 8:00pm and Timberwolves-Lakers at 10:30pm.

None of the 7:00pm games are intriguing to me. For first halves before our game, we have a split ACC Network (why do thse still happen?) of Virginia Tech-Syracuse and Clemson-Wake Forest as well as UNLV-New Mexico on CBSSN. Unfortunately the other ESPN games on our timeslot happen to be the good ones with Indiana-Michigan on ESPN and West Virginia-Iowa State on ESPN2. Wyoming-Air Force on ROOT Sports would also be one that I would usually check out if we were not playing. The game to close the day between Colorado State and San Diego State on ESPN2 at 11:00pm could be good.

[awhom111]

I will be avoiding the big ESPN games like the plague on Wednesday with their announcer swap. Fortunately, I will have the option to watch Warriors-Wizards locally as well at 8:00pm with Timberwolves-Clippers being the other game involved.

Notre Dame-Miami will be part of the announcer swap on ESPN2 at 7:00pm, but there is also Boston College-Virginia on the ACC RSNs for conference interest.

Some other college games I will keep an eye on include Marquette-Seton Hall on FS1 at 8:30pm an Arizona State-Washington at 11:00pm on ESPNU

[dukelifer]

I will be avoiding the big ESPN games like the plague on Wednesday with their announcer swap. Fortunately, I will have the option to watch Warriors-Wizards locally as well at 8:00pm with Timberwolves-Clippers being the other game involved.

Notre Dame-Miami will be part of the announcer swap on ESPN2 at 7:00pm, but there is also Boston College-Virginia on the ACC RSNs for conference interest.

Some other college games I will keep an eye on include Marquette-Seton Hall on FS1 at 8:30pm an Arizona State-Washington at 11:00pm on ESPNU

Steph Curry is ridiculous. 7 3's is one quarter and most off one foot falling to the side. 36 in the half - 13 out of 14 shooting. Just not fair. He has made great basketball players look average.

[awhom111]

Widespread national NBA coverage continues with two of the four Thursday games available on TNT with Knicks-Pistons at 7:00pm and Lakers-Pelicans at 9:30pm, neither of which are great, but both still probably worth a look.

The college slate seems pretty weak, especially early. At 9:00pm, Colorado-Oregon on FS1, Minnesota-Northwestern on BTN, and St. Mary's-BYU on BYUTV have caught my eye. Utah-Oregon State at 11:00pm is also worth a watch while UCLA-USC at 10:30pm is a good option for anyone with Pac 12 Network.

Less choices early mean a chance to focus on Duke. Also on the women's side is Kentucky-South Carolina on SECN at 7:00pm

[awhom111]

Friday Ivy League Basketball is heating up. Columbia-Yale at 5:00pm on FS1 should actually be pretty good. Harvard-Princeton is on ESPNU at 7:00pm.

The ESPN NBA games are pretty good too with Pacers-Hawks at 7:00pm and Spurs-Mavericks at 7:30pm with a number of locally available games too.