Republic of Open Threads: December 29th Basketball

Yesterday

Maryland Terrapins 73, Old Dominion Monarchs 58

Kind of...: The NCAA has allowed Baylor to add to its roster a player who was drafted in 2023 and has been playing overseas since.

Oregon Ducks 80, Omaha Mavericks 57

MaximumSam: Ducks verses Waddles was a huge disappoint, as Waddles had as many fouls (4) as points. Early reports are saying the refs bet heavily against the Waddles.

Kind of...: I don't know if this is a tipping point, much less THE tipping point, but it certainly got my attention (and Tom Izzo's, too!).

Today

#351 North Carolina Central Eagles at #130 Penn State Nittany Lions

1 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: The Nits need a cupcake more than anybody after losing by 34 to Pitt. The Eagles have a grand total of zero wins over Division 1 teams, but do have wins over Bluefield State, Toccoa Falls, Carolina U, and Mid-Atlantic Christ.

Kind of...: The hollowing out of college sports didn't happen all at once. And it's been a long time coming. The NCAA, for so long an arbitrary tyrant, is now critically weak, though feckless as always.

#210 Southern Jaguars at #10 Illinois Fighting Illini

3 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: We did see Southern before, when they gave Washington all they wanted in a double overtime thriller. Of course they also lost to Baylor by 44, so they can't all be thrillers.

Kind of...: Unfortunately, that essentially means rule by conference commissioners and TV execs. Congratulations sports fans! You're now in the era of open warlordism. Just don't fool yourself that there aren't also "barbarians" at the gate. (Just keep in mind that term's history, evolved meaning, and who tends to use it.)

#308 UMass Lowell River Hawks at #18 Iowa Hawkeyes

5 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: I appreciate the River Hawks for a good mascot. River hawks are actual creatures, usually called ospreys. Hawkeyes are not actual creatures, despite Herky being a hawk. Though I suppose a white guy parading around the court as a Native American would be frowned upon these days.

Kind of...: Yes, players should be paid. And, yes, they should be allowed to transfer. Beyond such obvious acknowledgements, does anybody want to defend where we're at right now?

#60 McNeese Cowboys at #1 Michigan Wolverines

7 pm, B1G+

MaximumSam: Picture this. Little McNeese State, not at all a bad team, challenges the behemoth Wolverines in the second half. Fourteen people try to watch B1G+ at the same time, causing servers to crash across the midwest. This leads to rolling blackouts across every Big Ten state, and the entire grid fails by Tuesday morning. This could be the beginning of the end, folks...

Kind of...: Maybe I'm naive, but it seems to me that Seinfeld's "rooting for laundry" bit wasn't completely true about college sports, at least at one time. Part of the reason I liked college sports better than pro. Hard to argue against it now.

#123 Kent State Golden Flashes at #8 Purdue Boilermakers

7 pm, B1G+

MaximumSam: I hope the B1G+ IT people don't take today off.

Kind of...: I fully supported NIL and am totally open to something like the transfer portal. One of the worst things about college sports "back in the day" was the cult of the coach, especially those who were essentially tyrants who knew they controlled almost all their "student-athletes" for a four year stretch. No going back to that. Nor should there be.

#173 Cornell Big Red at #12 Michigan State Spartans

7 pm, FS1

MaximumSam: Watch out for forward Gioacchino Panzini! Mama mia! Sprinkle me with mozzarella!

Kind of...: But I can't get out of my head that NC State made the Final Four on a Cinderella run in 2024 with a starting lineup, none of whom were on the roster the year before. (That's not Cinderella. It's a hot streak at the craps table.)

#354 Delaware State Hornets at #194 Rutgers Scarlet Knights

7 pm, BTN

MaximumSam: Somehow Michigan and Purdue are buried on the Plus and the BTN gets this game. The Hornets are coming off a hard fought win over Holy Family. I was disappointed to find that Holy Family uses Tigers as a mascot. Come on, you call your university Holy Family and then grab the most generic mascot in the world? How about the Holy Family Sword of Jesus?

Kind of...: And then the coach lasted one more year before the money brokers decided to hire a guy who was on a wiretap endorsing something akin to bribery.

#353 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at #87 Minnesota Golden Gophers

9 pm, BTN

Kind of...: I don't day trade, and I don't want watching college sports with any sort of team allegiance to feel like I'm picking stocks. But would it really be odd for a CBB or CFB coach to slip and refer to his roster as a portfolio at this point?

#114 Utah Utes at #50 Washington Huskies

11 pm, FS1

MaximumSam: If you are staying up late you can see Old Friend Seydou Traore, formerly of Iowa. Utah is in the first year under Alex Jensen, who was an NBA assistant for years but was also the D-League Coach of the Year in 2013. Now that's a resume builder.

Kind of...: I'm not a boomer, but I'm not that young, either. I know these aren't the thoughts of somebody young. And I'm not denying the quality of the product on the field/court (KenPom beats this drum continually, and he's not wrong). But if that's the #1 concern, then I really should just cancel BTN+ and replace it with League Pass, right?