College Basketball 2/23-3/1

[Crimson's Ghost]

Pitt #74 KenPom 18-10 (7-7 ACC)

Boston College 9:00 Tuesday ESPNU
@ Wake Forest 6:30 Sunday ESPNU

Pitt did what they needed to do last week. They hung tough with Virginia for most of the game, but lost. No shame in that. They did however, needed to beat Syracuse to pick up a quality road win. Pitt still has a lot of work to do, but another weeks goes by, and they are still in control of their own destiny. This week is simple; win both games. Boston College Tuesday night is against the last place team. My only worry is taking them lightly, and the crowd being light with the bad weather and the late weeknight start. Sunday at Wake Forest is going to be very tough. They have two really good players and Pitt isn't a good road team. Need to win both - no other way around it.


Penn State #105 KenPom 15-13 (3-12 Big Ten)

Iowa Saturday 6:00 ESPNU


Penn State hung around with #5 Wisconsin, but followed that up with probably their low point of the season with a 21 point loss to a bad Northwestern team on Saturday. At this point, maybe Penn State needs to win these last 3 games to make the NIT seem realistic. Not even worrying about postseason play, they just need to finish strong to have some sort of optimism from another wasted season.


Duquesne #205 KenPom 9-16 (4-10 A10)

St. Louis Wednesday 7:00
@ St. Bonaventure Saturday 4:00

Duquesne scored a big win over Dayton Saturday. The Flyers are in third place in the A-10 and may be a tournament team. Looking back at some of their games, they've played some really good teams tough at home and finally finished one out. They play last ranked St. Louis, Duquesne should probably win that one. @ St. Bonaventure Saturday is a tough one, but Duquesne only lost to them by 3 the first time. It's good to see them play good down the stretch, they have all five starters back next season.


St. Francis #234 KenPom 14-13 (8-8 NEC)

Mt. St. Mary's Thursday 7:00
@ Robert Morris 4:00

St. Francis took a bad loss by losing to last place Central Connecticut ST. They knew beating St Francis Brooklyn would be a difficult game, so they had to have that one. These are the last two games of the year and St. Francis is currently tied for 5th, if they win both of these games and get some help, they may be able to get a homecourt NEC Tournament game.

[konjo78]

OK I Havent brought this up yet but I feel its time...


Who's going to beat Kentucky? How possible is it to see them go undefeated this year?

[Crimson's Ghost]

It's very possible Kentucky goes 40-0.

A few teams that have the best chances though....

1. Wisconsin. The Badgers play good team basketball, nearly beat them last year in the final four. Kaminsky is a national player of the year candidate, Hayes and Dekker are great wings, and they have experienced guards. Wisconsin can score the basketball, everyone can pass, shoot, and handle the ball - even the 7 footer Kaminsky.

2. Virginia. Many people aren't keen on Virginia's defensive attack, but they can make the game ugly against Kentucky and they'll be a lot better when Justin Anderson is back in the lineup. The big thing with Kentucky is having size to go against their size, and UVA has that.

3. Gonzaga. The Bulldogs start 3 seniors guards, and they have the second tallest team in the nation (after Kentucky) and their big guys are definitely skilled led by a former Kentucky player, Kyle Wiltjer.

4. Duke. Duke has the big man Okafor. Two good guards in Cook and Jones, and a number of shooters.

5. Arizona. The Wildcats are super athletic and they pretty much play with one guard and four forwards.

Other than that, the next best five teams in my opinion would be Villanova, Kansas, Notre Dame, Iowa State, and Utah and I don't think any of those teams could beat them.

[El-Moldo]

At 16-10 with 5 games to go, IOWA needs this game with PSU! Unless they fall flat on their face over the next two weeks. They, along with Nebraska and Minnesota, have had disappointing seasons. For them, things looked promising around Thanksgiving.

[PortagePride]

Kentucky has had times this year where they reminded you of Florida State in college football where they barely escaped by some not so good opponents. I would not be surprised at all if they lose early in the SEC and/or NCAA tourney and not win either championship because they've shown that there is times where they either take teams lightly just aren't ready to take everyones BEST shot.

[PLDragons24]

My prediction for Kentucky is they'll win out and win the SEC tournament then they'll get knocked out of the tournament in the sweet 16 by an average team that will play the game of their lives and have a near perfect performance.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I have a hard time envisioning the final four without Kentucky being there.

They just seem bored when they play these average SEC teams, but when the expectations rise and the level of opponent is better. Kentucky puts on a show. Just ask Kansas or UCLA.

[Crimson's Ghost]

With that said, I hope they lose every game they play from here on out. It's getting annoying.

[DragonsDoExist]

SEC overall is some bad basketball. Not taking anything away from what UK has done but they aren't getting tested in conference.

[konjo78]

Kentucky might of "escaped in some games" but other teams have lost to these type of teams.... when Kentucky is at thier best they are double digits ahead of anyone else, as seen by some of the most lopsided top 10 match ups ive ever seen