Big Ten Basketball: November 7-8 Recaps, Previews, and Open Thread

Going to combine the Friday and Saturday basketball games into one thread so as to not get drowned out by football. Besides, you will all be in the football threads on Saturday anyway.

All numbers via Torvik. All predictions not financial advice.

Last Night's Games

Washington Huskies 84, Seattle Pioneers 70

MaximumSam: The Huskies had seven guys in double figures and the high scorer had 13. Just call the them the Washington Communists. Still no Desmond Claude, who is recovering from an ankle injury, but German freshman Hannes Steinbach had 13 points and 16 rebounds.

BoilerUp89: Washington opened up a 10 point lead with about 5 remaining in the first half and kept Seattle at arms length the rest of the way. The Huskies won the battle in the paint 48-28 and that was the difference.

Friday's Big Ten Games

#238 Boston Terriers (1-0) at #66 Northwestern Wildcats (1-0)

6 ET, Peacock, SPREAD NU -16.5, O/U 136.5

Kind of...: Fresh off opening the season with a win over Northeastern, BU will try to expand their empire by taking on Northwestern. I expect more resistance this time.

AlmaOtter: They also play Northern Kentucky later this year. With some luck, BU could own a good chunk of a compass!

BoilerUp89: The Terriers want to play slow and shorten the game. Freshman Sam Hughes made 5 three pointers in his first college game against Northeastern.

PerpetuallyAggrievedWildcat: Questions for the 'Cats tonight:

• Is Angelo Ciaravino dead?
• Can Northwestern shoot better than approximately 15% from deep?
• Will anyone brave Chicagoland rush hour traffic to watch Northwestern play one of the slowest teams in college basketball?

Would be great to see NU find a couple three-point shooters who can be a threat for the rest of the season. Should handle the Terriers, but I'd bet not by more than 12 or so.

#74 Georgetown Hoyas (1-0) at #42 Maryland Terrapins (1-0)

6 ET, FS1, SPREAD MD -7.5, O/U 146.5

Kind of...: Georgetown beat Morgan State but still appear to be...not so good. Important for Buzz to win this one. If you CTRL-F "georg" on KenPom's rankings, you get Georgia, George Washington, and George Mason ranked higher than Georgetown, who is higher than Georgia Tech. This is historically unusual.

MaximumSam: Old Friend Deshawn Harris-Smith already comes back to Maryland. We also get another Old Friend in former Rutgers guard Jeremiah Williams. There is even an All-Name guy in center Seal Diouf. This is everything you want in a nonconference game.

BoilerUp89: Georgetown also stomped UK in an exhibition so clearly they are better than Purdue. I keep waiting for Cooley to take off at Georgetown. If it's going to happen it will be this year. They won the Morgan State game by just 17 but Georgetown shot very poorly from three while the Bears did not.

#210 Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (0-1) at #20 The Ohio State Buckeyes (1-0)

6:30 ET, BTN, SPREAD OSU -21.5, O/U 163.5

BoilerUp89: Can the Purdue University system go 2-0 against OSU this weekend?

Kind of...: No. I would say the PFW Mastodons have the same chance of upsetting OSU as Mastodon, the social networking site, has of usurping twitter/x.

MaximumSam: This should be a much more normal experience compared to the last game. The Mastodons do have some guards in DeAndre Craig and Corey Hadnot. Corey Had Better Not go off on the Buckeyes, for my well being.

AlmaOtter: Just here to praise the Mastodons on such a fantastic nickname. More weird nicknames! More references to characters from the original Power Rangers series! Let's get a Saber Toothed-Tiger mascot out here.

#199 Oakland Golden Grizzlies (0-1) at #4 Purdue Boilermakers (1, 1-0)

7 ET, Peacock, SPREAD PUR -31.5, O/U 154.5

Kind of...: It's to Oakland's credit that they're willing to give us degens an early transitive comparison by playing both Purdue and Michigan in the season's first week. But after this, they're at Houston. GET HELP, GREG KAMPE. It's a long season, don't do this to yourself.

HoustonBoiler: It sure seems as though Oakland is looking to balance the AD budget. That said, my keys for Purdue (and they will be all season) are rebounding, ball security, and preventing dribble penetration. They really need to sharpen their play as the following game at Alabama on Thursday, November 13.

BoilerUp89: Purdue hopes to get TKR back from a minor injury so they have a game to work out the spacing with him and the centers. Gang rebounding on defense needs to be a point of emphasis as the season gets going in earnest.

PAW: There's balancing the department budget, then there's...whatever the hell this Oakland schedule is. My goodness. Close your eyes and just think, Griz: odds are you won't be anywhere shittier than West Lafayette until conference play.

#344 Western Illinois Leathernecks (0-1) at #32 Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)

7 ET, B1G+, SPREAD IOWA -29.5, O/U 145.5

Kind of...: It appears Iowa learned their lesson after losing to Eastern Illinois a few years back. Make sure you exercise care in scheduling your directional Illinois school. If you're favorite team isn't playing (mine is) and you're not interested in Maryland/G'town (I am, but my favorite team is playing...aren't you paying attention?), this would be my pick for game with most of value to glean from it. But that's like saying 5% is more than 4%.

#168 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (1-0) at #5 Illinois Fighting Illini (17, 1-0)

8:30 ET, Peacock, SPREAD ILL -29.5, O/U 159.5

Kind of...: If I had a time machine, '89 Flying Illini vs. '13 Dunk City FGCU would be cool. But I don't (that you know of), so I'll just check to boxscore to see how gruesome this gets.

BoilerUp89: Pat Chambers is still the head coach at FGCU and he's been turning them into a respectable low major in the ASUN. I don't think the Illini will have any issues here, but the Eagles could throw a scare into plenty of other B1G teams.

AlmaOtter: Ahhh '13 Dunk City. So I was applying to grad schools that spring. I desperately wanted to go to Georgetown, so much so that I picked them to win my bracket as well. I wanted the good juju. Dunk City bounced them in the first round AND I got denied on the same day. "Looks like I'm going to American Universityyyyyy!"

#287 Northern Illinois Huskies (1-0) at #30 Wisconsin Badgers (24, 1-0)

8:30 ET, BTN, SPREAD WIS -27.5, O/U 157.5

Kind of...: This should not be close. I will watch because I'm a Badger fan, and it's on BTN. I would assume only the latter applies to most of you. But, if you watch, pay attention to the Boyd/Blackwell backcourt. What's their ceiling?

AO: Sorry, KO. But this is a snuff film and BTN should put a warning label on the broadcast.

#154 Rice Owls (1-0) at #28 Oregon Ducks (1-0)

10 ET, B1G+, SPREAD ORE -14.5, O/U 146.5

Kind of...: Rice opened their season by pounding, um, "Biblical Studies" 109-38. Oregon narrowly escaped Hawaii at home. I suspect that after this game, the appropriate reaction will be "yeah, that's why don't make too many judgments based on a single data point."

AO:

#289 Pepperdine Waves (1-0) at #12 UCLA Bruins (12, 1-0)

10:30 ET, BTN, SPREAD UCLA -27.5, O/U 153.5

Kind of...: A Jim Harrick Memorial Cup semifinal (and I don't think the other one: Rhode Island vs. Georgia) will happen. Good chance to watch Donovan Dent do his thing. And is Tyler Bilodeau a breakout candidate?

BoilerUp89: I think Bilodeau already broke out. The Waves beat something called a Life Pacific by 8.

AO: Isn't Life Pacific an insurance company? These OOC games are getting ridiculous.

Friday Non-Big Ten Games of Interest

Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Rhode Island Rams, 6 ET, CBSSN
Charleston Cougars at Liberty Donkeys, 6 ET, YouTube
Kansas Jayhawks at UNC Tarheels, 7 ET, ESPN
Winthrop Eagles at George Mason Patriots, 7 ET, ESPN+
Troy Trojans at Furman Paladins, 7 ET, ESPN+
Washington State Cougars at Davidson Wildcats, 7 ET, ESPN+
VCU Rams at Utah State Aggies, 8 ET, Not Televised?
Yale Bulldogs at Navy Midshipmen, 8:30 ET, CBSSN
UAB Blazers at NC State Wolfpack, 9 ET, ACCN
McNeese Cowboys at Santa Clara Broncos, 10 ET, ESPN+
UIC Flames at Oregon State Beavers, 10 ET, ESPN+
Chattanooga Mocs at Saint Mary's Gaels, 10:30 ET, ESPN+

Kind of...: As Kansas head coach, Bill Self is 5-0 against UNC, including 4-0 in the NCAA tournament. Still doesn't mean I'm going to pay attention to these programs in November.

Saturday's Big Ten Games

#328 Alcorn State (X-X) at #78 Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0)

Noon ET, Peacock, SPREAD, O/U

Kind of...: Can Minnesota top their 23-1 start against Gardner-Webb, or had the Medved era already peaked?

#110 Penn State Nittany Lions (1-0) at #348 New Haven Chargers (0-1)

1 ET, NEC Front Row, SPREAD, O/U

BoilerUp89: New Haven plays against Columbia on Friday at 1 PM and then turns around to host Penn State the following day. Also, our good friend MNW will finally get to use that NEC Front Row subscription.

#200 FIU Panthers (1-0) at #45 Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0)

1 ET, B1G+, SPREAD, O/U

Kind of...: FIU is in the top 200 (of KenPom) and Nebraska took a while to get started against West Georgia so...maybe at least check the score at halftime?

#15 Arkansas Razorbacks (14, 1-0) at #26 Michigan State Spartans (22, 1-0)

7 ET, FOX, SPREAD MSU -1.5, O/U 155.5

Kind of...: Yeah, cool, I'll watch this instead of football. KenPom has both of this schools more than 10 spots lower in his rankings than Torvik does, but predicts a two-point game. What more do you want from November hoops?

MaximumSam: A Calipari team means heralded freshmen. This year's group includes five star combo guard Meleek Thomas, who dropped 21 points and 7 assists against Southern. Can Sparty stuff him into a locker? Torvik goes MSU, 77-75.

BoilerUp89: I know MSU is at home but they looked bad outside of Fears in the opener. I think Arkansas gets the best of them here.

AO: This might be the first Good Game of the weekend. Arkansas has nothing to fear but Fears itself! (I'll show myself out.)

Saturday Non-Big Ten Games of Interest

Alabama Crimson Tide at St. John's, Noon ET, FS1
George Washington Revolutionaries at USF Bulls, 1:30 ET, Peacock
Marshall Thundering Herd at Toledo Rockets, 2 ET, ESPN+
San Francisco Dons at Memphis Tigers, 3 ET, ESPN+
Vanderbilt Commodores at UCF Citronauts, 4 ET, ESPN+
Virginia Tech Hokies at Providence Friars, 4 ET, Peacock
San Jose State Spartans at UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 4 ET, ESPN+
Charleston Cougars v. FAU Owls, 6 ET, Youtube
Chattanooga Mocs at UNLV Running Rebels, 9 ET, Not Televised
Oklahoma at Gonzaga, 10:30 ET, ESPN2

Kind of...: Given the coaches, Bama/St. John's strikes me as more gross than Kansas/UNC. Falling asleep with Oklahoma/Gonzaga on sounds perfectly fine, though.