Big Ten Basketball December 20 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Last Night's Games

Villanova Wildcats 76, Wisconsin Badgers 66 (OT)

BoilerUp89: Villanova really tried to hand this one to Wisconsin on a silver platter. Blown 15 point lead. Missing front ends of one-and-ones. Flagrant foul late in the second half. Saving a defensive rebound to a Badger player who promptly made the layup. But Wisconsin never actually retook the lead in the second half so the fact that Villanova was late on the buzzer beater in regulation didn't matter too much. In overtime, the Wildcats came out making shots, opened up a lead, and didn't let off the gas pedal... even with 3 seconds left and a breakaway that should have been dribbled out.

Kind of...: In the NET rankings Villanova is now just ahead of Indiana, so this isn't some kind of terrible loss for Wisconsin. However, by that same metric, the Badgers are 77, which indicates a really mediocre major conference team. Which seems accurate.

UCLA Bruins 108, Cal Poly Mustangs 87

Kind of...: Cal Poly started the game off really hot from three, causing some of our readership real consternation. But UCLA weathered the barrage and range up a huge second half. Of note: Xavier Booker only logged 3 minutes of playing time.

Seattle Redhawks 70, Washington Huskies 66

BoilerUp89: Before Danny Sprinkle arrived at Washington, the Huskies had won 19 straight games in this series. They have now lost two in a row. Credit to Seattle who played loose and was always willing to make the extra pass. Fun team to watch.

Kind of...: Hannes Steinbach was 5-13 from the field and nobody else stepped up to complement Desmond Claude. Any thought that the B1G might ring up 11 or 12 NCAA bids sees put to bed before the new year.

Today's Big Ten Games

#155 Oakland Golden Grizzlies (6-6) at #9 Michigan State Spartans (10-1)

12 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: Will we see Christmas sweaters?

#337 Chicago State Cougars (2-10) at #19 Indiana Hoosiers (8-3)

1 ET, B1G+

Kind of...: What is there to say? Everybody has to fill out their school somehow.

#33 The Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2) v #24 North Carolina Tarheels (10-1)

Atlanta, CBS Sports Classic
3:30 ET, CBS/Paramount+

BoilerUp89: I've never understood why the other programs in this let OSU participate. It's a little more balanced now that St. John's has replaced UCLA, but before that happened a definite situation of one of these programs is not like the others.

Kind of...: It all goes back to the 1968 Final Four where Dean Smith led UNC past Fred Taylor's OSU squad. After the game, Smith, while powering down at least six cigarettes, told Taylor "This is your fourth Final Four of the decade, so this is a great honor for the Tar Heels. Henceforth, UNC will always treat the Buckeyes like an excellent collection of cagers." And so it was.

#61 Northwestern Wildcats (7-4) v. #58 Butler Bulldogs (8-3)

Indianapolis, Indy Classic
4 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: I'm not sure either squad is a tournament team come March, but this is a big game for both teams as they try to tack on another piece to the non-conference resume.

Kind of...: I'm relatively sure neither squad is a tournament team. Had Northwestern not gotten beat on the boards 49-25 (yes) against Virginia, this game would be a rematch of the "let's play in a ballroom in West Virginia" tournament a month ago. Butler's win over Virginia in that title game is the only win either team has over NCAA tournament-worthy opposition so far this year.

#119 Maryland Terrapins (6-5) at #23 Virginia Cavaliers (9-1)

6 ET, ESPN

MaximumSam: Pharrel Payne exited the Michigan game with a knee injury. Buzz doesn't talk injuries so worth seeing if he makes an appearance. Probably the only thing worth seeing for Maryland.

Kind of...: This was a sneaky good ACC rivalry back in the day. Virginia might be sneaky good this year. Their only loss is to Butler (see above), and they've beaten Texas and Dayton, in addition to Northwestern (see above). Maryland is not sneaky anything. There are clearly subpar.

#292 Bucknell Bison (3-9) at #20 Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2)

6 ET, BTN

Kind of...: Better than Chicago State, I guess, but, is there somebody closer to Lewisburg, PA willing to pay Bucknell for the honor?

BoilerUp89: Kind of... makes an excellent point.

#37 Auburn Tigers (8-3) v. #10 Purdue Boilermakers (10-1)

Indianapolis, Indy Classic
6:30 ET, Peacock

BoilerUp89: This is a decent double header and an easy drive for three of the four fanbases. Auburn is supposedly changing their defensive philosophy moving forward so perhaps that throws a new wrinkle into things for this game.

Kind of...: Auburn is good enough to win this is a lot of things break right. But it would be a bad look for Purdue to lose this game.

#245 Pennsylvania Quakers (6-4) at #179 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (5-6)

8 ET, BTN

BoilerUp89: Hi, Fran!

Kind of... Penn is #300 in defensive efficiency. Leopard, spots, etc.

Non-B1G Games Of Interest

#16 St. John's Red Storm (7-3) v. #25 Kentucky Wildcats (7-4), CBS Sports Classic, 12:30 ET, CBS
#98 Liberty Donkeys (7-3) at #60 Dayton Flyers (9-3), 12:30 ET, USA
#66 Colorado State Rams (9-2) at #46 Utah State Aggies (9-1), 2 ET, CBSSN
#128 Kent State Golden Flashes (9-2) at #144 UMass Minutemen (8-3), 2 ET, ESPN+
#4 Houston Cougars (10-1) at #21 Arkansas Razorbacks (9-2), 5:30 ET, CBS
#5 Duke Blue Devils (11-0) at #31 Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-3)
#80 Stanford Cardinal 99-2) v. #81 Colorado Buffaloes (10-1), Phoenix, 8 ET, ESPNU
#36 Boise State Broncos (8-3) at #93 Nevada Wolfpack (8-3), 10 ET
#51 San Diego State Aztecs (6-3) v. #6 Arizona Wildcats, Phoenix, 10:30 ET, ESPN2

Kind of...: Fairly interesting collection if you're not a CFB fan, or if those games are blowouts. Houston/Arkansas especially seems like a interesting matchup. I regret to say that I think Arkansas is a bit underrated at #21. Only loses are to Sparty (very close) and Duke.

And a pretty good day for #narratives. Houston/Arkansas used to jointly run the old Southwest Conference. Duke and Texas Tech met in the NCAA tournament a few years ago in Krzyzewski's last year. Stanford and Colorado can discuss bolting the Pac-12.

But let's take some time to note that Mountain West play begins in earnest. If anybody tells you they know what to expect, they're a liar. Probably won't be a one-bid league, but that's still on the table. But probably not looking at four (or more) bids like has happened each of the last four years. KenPom has 8 teams between 40 and 100. Torvik does too (well, he has Boise at 36, so between 36 and 100). NET has seven. This screams wide open! A couple will probably fall off, but keep an eye on things. If nothing else, it might lead to the best set of quarterfinals in any conference tournament this March.

Four different teams--SDSU, Boise State, New Mexico, Utah State--have won an outright regular-season title the last four years. If you want that trend to continue, then Colorado State, with first-year HC (and March legend) Ali Farokhmanesh, is probably your best bet. But keep an eye on defending champ New Mexico. Eric Olen is in his first year after building up UC-San Diego and recent results--routing Santa Clara, a road win over VCU--suggest he's not a one-trick pony.