Christmas Day and the Big Ten stuffed basketball sock?
Kentucky vs. Louisville, and no one is ranked?
Will Gonzaga meet Virginia in Fort Worth, Texas, for a top-25 match that didn’t even exist seven days ago?
Yes, it’s still 2021. Chaotic, weird, unprecedented, tomorrow is never sure of 2021. Anyway, one more week, so there’s still time for some last snail things to happen. One can know by looking at the remaining programming, which contains several reminders of the strangeness of these times.
We can count the last seven days of college basketball, one at a time, until midnight on New Year’s Eve. That’s when 2021, hopefully, can come to give us some normalcy, or at least an NCAA tournament.
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I’ve never been to a Christmas day like this at the Big Ten. Four games, from noon to night. This scheduling decision was made as the teams stayed together in their bubble, anyway.
“If we’re going to be here during the break, we’re going to have to play,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, whose Hawkeyes will be in Minnesota for the holidays. “I think all coaches in America want their kids to have the opportunity to be home for Christmas and be with their families. I think all coaches want to be with their family. We won’t be.
“It’s a unique year.”
According to Minnesota sports information, this will be the first time a Gopher team will play Christmas in any sport.
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The Christmas headliner will be the first game, with No. 9 from Wisconsin to No. 12 from Michigan State, two shows that have never played Christmas in their history. They will come from different directions. The Badgers came out smashing Louisville with an offensive (the 85-48 explosion was their biggest against a ranked rival in school history) and subdued Nebraska with the defense. Michigan State comes from a 79-65 northwest pick that Tom Izzo called “One of the most inept performances of my 26 years.”
The other two starters on the holiday menu are Maryland in Purdue and Michigan in Nebraska. One of the eight teams – the name will not be mentioned to protect the surprise – has collected videos of family members to show the players and coaches at Christmas.
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Kentucky in Louisville on December 26th. This game has become a family show during the holidays, but it’s not: neither is rated, and that hasn’t happened in 13 years. The Cardinals, up to eight players on scholarships due to injuries and the virus protocol, suffered the worst loss in the program in more than 60 years against Wisconsin, but bounced back to beat Pittsburgh, which was also shortened. Kentucky has had 1 to 5 for the first time since the 1920s, and John Calipari only had to ask one of his freshmen to run out of program time. The Wildcats haven’t won a game in a month and were finally 320th in the nation in three-point shots and 300th in assist. These are unstable days at Bluegrass.
But not in Gonzaga, where the top-ranked Zags total 94.7 points per game. This includes a 96-point average that smokes the scoreboard against the top three opponents of 15 (Kansas, West Virginia and Iowa) they have already surpassed. Only two other teams in history got three wins in their first four games against the top 15 teams in the Associated Press; UCLA 1968-69 and Indiana 1974-75. Gonzaga heads to Fort Worth (one of those last-minute appointments so popular these days, as schools frantically try to repair their fractured schedules) to put all this offense against the No. 16 defensive forms. Virginia. The Cavaliers soon struggled with the loss of San Francisco and the flight of overtime against Kent State. Presumably, his defense will come out, because he always does. Tony Bennett will discover much more.
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Evansville, Southern Illinois, on December 27th. Of note are the Salukis. They have just finished the longest winning streak in the country without conferences in 59 games, fighting Butler and knocking down the Bulldogs. If they win Evansville, they will be 7-0 for the first time since 1947.
DePaul a Providence. DePaul had 10 games canceled or postponed before finally opening the season Wednesday night against Western Illinois. Another example of the uneven path this season: starting Wednesday, Big East teammate Demons of Blue East, St. John’s, he had already played ten games. On December 27, DePaul finally travels to the conference. May be.
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Fresno State in Colorado State on December 28th. Fresno State, the team with three feet of 7, leads the world in defense of the percentage of field goals, allowing 31% of shots, which is positive in the Arctic. Okay, maybe he’s come up against opponents named William Jessup and Fresno Pacific, as all of the Bulldogs ’Division I games have been wiped out. So this is your DI and Mountain West opener. Colorado State is 3-1, but against the defense of Fresno State will want to prevent the ugliness of the game from being repeated in Saint Mary’s. The Rams lost 53-33 for their second-lowest total in the shooting clock era, and had four more changes than field goals.
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3
Pittsburgh to Duke on December 29th. Then, Duke will only have played one game in 20 days, presumably the time for Mike Krzyzewski to continue playing with his team, catering to the needs of the youngsters. Nine different players have already started. The Blue Devils 3-2, which went nearly 20 years without losing a game at home to a non-conference rival, fell two in eight days. Again, the opponents were Illinois and Michigan State. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has not won at the Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1979. The Panthers are 5-2 and have shown early juices with wins over Northwestern and Miami, but now they face all adversity. Justin Champagnie, averaging nearly 18 points and 12 rebounds, has been sidelined for weeks with a knee injury. Second-scorer Au’Diese Toney lost the loss to Louisville on Tuesday with a bad ankle. Coach Jeff Capel tested positive for the virus. Other than that, Pitt had a wave week
2
Tennessee in Missouri on December 30th. For a team chosen to finish 10th in the SEC, Missouri’s actions have gone to Pluto. The Tigers won 6-0 at Oregon and Illinois qualifiers, went on to defeat Wichita State and won Tuesday against Bradley with a conventional 3-point play in the final second. This week they have shot up not getting a vote in the AP’s No. 14 preseason poll. Tennessee enters Wednesday night’s game with South Carolina Upstate with a 5-0 record and a margin of victory average of 29.8. This carnage has been done with balance, as seven different volunteers distribute between 12.2 and 7.8 points per game.
1
Spend New Year’s Eve with the Pac-12. Six conference games are scheduled, at least until the results of the virus tests are returned. The first month has been a bit messy for the league.
The Pac-12 is 0-6 against opponents ranked outside the conference.
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Oregon, which hosts California on Dec. 31, is currently the only team with a place in the AP poll, at No. 25. Last week, the Pac-12 had no one in the top 25. The Ducks ’favorite and the league’s preseason playoff game plays Wednesday night in an initial clash. The Bruins have lost against San Diego State and Ohio State, and almost Pepperdine.
Arizona State, second in the Pac-12 and previously one of the top 25 teams, is now 4-3 and has just lost to UTEP by 13 points, running out of points in the final 5:34 and losing 17 of 18 of the 3-point line. “We have to decide if that’s important enough to compromise the emotional attack so that he looks like he’s really interested in playing and competing hard throughout the game,” coach Bobby Hurley said after that. “For 20 minutes, it was mysterious how inept we were to compete and give energy.”
On December 31, the state of Arizona will go to Washington state. The Cougars are 7-0, pending Wednesday night’s game with Northwestern State. By the way, this will be Northwestern State’s fifth game in six days, in four different gyms. Trying to get the most out of basketball, the Demons started Friday in Tulsa, then Saturday in the state of Missouri, and went to Gonzaga’s No. 1 spot for two games Monday and Tuesday. If it’s Wednesday, it must be Pullman. They have lost the first four games by 27, 27, 38 and 17.
But this 2021, just being able to play is a victory. One of the reasons college basketball, and almost everyone else, will be thrilled to see it in 2021.
