College basketball started Monday with an avalanche of games; no one and I emphasize NO ONE knows very much right now, and that includes the coaches, so I’ll watch a ton of games and we’ll gradually learn stuff.
There are six D-I teams with no returning players from last year, none. Players transfer at an alarming rate, so the pre-Christmas games are used to figure things out. We’ll be watching a boatload of games as we gather knowledge. November used to be a fun time to pick games; the more experienced teams cleaned up. It ain’t so easy anymore.
There are 364 Division I teams now; the Final Four is in San Antonio this year. Here are some notes from the first night of the road to the Alamo.
— FS1 did an unusual thing and cut in/out of all the Big East teams playing Monday; none of them were playing anyone good, but all the teams got some TV exposure.
Big East teams went 8-0, but four of the wins were by 7 or less points. It takes teams time to develop chemistry and you really can’t measure how that happens.
— Gonzaga 101, Baylor 63- Zags bamboozled Baylor; they made 13-31 on the arc- they looked so good they’re overrated now. Baylor was 3-21 on the arc; they beat Gonzaga in the national title game four years ago. This game was their comeuppance for that.
— Ohio State 80, Texas 72- High-level game in Las Vegas; Buckeyes made 14-28 on the arc, Texas was 7-28. Ohio State’s subs outscored the Texas bench, 33-10.
— MAC/Sun Belt Challenge
Sun Belt teams were all home; they went 8-4 in these games, with favorites going 7-5 ATS.
— Oklahoma State 89, Green Bay 76— Doug Gottlieb played his college ball at Oklahoma State, then became a TV/radio personality. Now he’s coaching Green Bay and his first game with the Phoenix was in his old college arena.
74-possession game, fast pace. Both teams shot over 45% on the arc.
— They had a tripleheader of games at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota:
Santa Clara 85, Saint Louis 78
Billikens’ best player, Robbie Avila, hurt his ankle, played only 29:00.
Both teams took more 3-point shots than 2-point shots.
Charleston 90, Southern Illinois 80
Chris Mack’s Cougars shot 62.9% inside the arc.
SIU was +8 in turnovers, but shot only 5-21 on the arc.
South Dakota State 80, McNeese State 73
Jackrabbits were a 10-point underdog in their home state.
Game was 33-33 at halftime.
McNeese started five seniors; this will hurt their seeding in March, assuming they win the Southland title.
Lot of information to go thru; we’ll do some more tomorrow.
Famous birthdays, November 5th:
Kellen Winslow, 67
Lloyd Moseby, 65
Tatum O’Neal, 61
Famke Janssen, 60
Todd Collins, 53
Johnny Damon, 51
Jerry Stackhouse, 50
Jason Kelce, 37
Jon Gray, 33
Odell Beckham, 32
— Chiefs 30, Buccaneers 24 OT
Kansas City converted 12-18 third down plays.
Chiefs ran 83 plays for 384 yards, Bucs 52 for 284.
TE Kelce caught 14 passes for 100 yards.
Chiefs are 8-0, but they’re 4-3-1 against the spread.
Tampa Bay lost for fourth time in last five games.
Bucs drove 81 yards, forced OT on a TD with 0:27 left.
Tampa Bay’s last six games went over the total.
Bucs are 9-2 ATS last 11 games as a road underdog.
— NFC teams are 25-20 against AFC teams this season.
— New Orleans Saints fired coach Dennis Allen Monday; Saints lost their last seven games, after winning 47-10/44-19 in Weeks 1-2. Losing to Carolina gets you fired.
Allen was 18-25 in 2.5 years with the Saints; teen years ago, when the Raiders fired him after an 0-4 start, Derek Carr was the QB for that team, too.
— Las Vegas Raiders fired OC Luke Getsy and two other assistant coaches; Raiders have lost five games in a row, using three different QB’s. They also fired their offensive line coach and their QB coach. Getsy was in his first year with Las Vegas; not a lot of patience there.
— Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has a hamstring injury that is said to be worse than first feared; he is expected to miss multiple games, maybe even go on IR, which would mean missing 4+ games. Dallas is 3-5 and coach Mike McCarthy’s job is in jeopardy.
— NFL flexed the Jets-Colts game off of Sunday night in Week 11, replacing it with Bengals-Chargers. Good news for Jets fans; it’ll be lot warmer for the 1:00 game than a night game.
— Bears, Steelers are only two NFL teams that hasn’t played a divisional game yet.
— We mentioned yesterday that Detroit played its first seven games indoors, before they won in Green Bay Sunday. Last NFL team to play their first seven games indoors? The 1998 Saints, coached by Mike Ditka. Saints were 4-3 in the indoor games, but wound up with a 6-10 record.
— Tennessee Titans (16-1) scored the first touchdown Sunday; yes, you can bet on that.