Games to Watch - Week of Dec. 8th

Outside of some small conference tournaments and made-for-TV one-day basketball extravaganzas, there really isn't much on the schedule. Most teams appear to be slowing it down in preparation for the conference season. Still, there's meaningful college b-ball games to be played if you search. Take a look:

Mon, Dec. 8th

Marques Maybin Classic

Lamar v. Louisville - It's a slow day in college basketball when this game is the best game on the slate.

Tues, Dec 9th

Jimmy V Classic

Davidson v. West Virginia - The Mountaineers were somewhat of a question mark coming into the season, and their performance so far this year has made them... well... still a question mark. Expect questions to be answered Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Wildcats try again to get a good looking non-conference win. And if you think Davidson's a lock for the tourney at the moment... think again. With no signature out of conference win at the moment, any slip up in the Southern, particularly the tournament, and there may be no Stephen Curry in the NCAAs. But that's a long shot at best.

Texas v. Villanova - I enjoy watching Scotty Reynolds play, but him and the Wildcats have their work cut out for them against a very good Texas team, especially defensively on the perimeter. Villanova has a lot of guys that can score, and they've spread the wealth pretty well this year, but it will be interesting to see how they operate against the Longhorns. Villanova's first true test of the season.

Virginia Tech v. Georgia - The Hokies NEED this win to have a somewhat legit tourney resume. Otherwise, they're really going to have to take care of business in conference .

Wed., Dec 10th

Cal v. Utah - A battle of a couple of borderline tournament teams. Cal got blasted at Missouri on Sunday and really could've used a stronger performance. Utah has had some ugly losses so far this year but there are decent wins to be had in the Mountain West. Both teams have plenty of room to move up in terms of conference standing, so there's quality wins to be had. But they both could really use a decent non conference win as well.

Dayton v. Creighton - For Dayton, this would be the icing on the cake to a very good non-conference performance in a conference where nobody seems willing to get good non-conference wins. For Creighton, it's likely either win this or win the Missouri Valley. If I were the Bluejays, I'd go with the former. Just to be safe

San Diego St. v. Arizona - Okay, this is my one shameless plug for the year for the Aztecs. If they do well, more will be coming. But anyway... this team played Arizona St. well early in the year, they just beat San Diego, and it's not like anyone's running away with the Mountain West (well, maybe BYU, but nobody's unbeatable in this conference). If they win this game, could they make an at-large bid run? Meanwhile, this would be an important win for Arizona at the start of what looks like a brutal non-conference run (Gonzaga, @ UNLV, Kansas, then Weber State to close the non-conf season).

Gonzaga v. Washington St. - Hoops fun on the west coast. I don't see Washington St. hanging in this game for long, but if they can slow the game down and keep it in the 50s, anything is possible.

Thurs., Dec. 11th

St Joseph's v. Villanova - More non-conference tests for the Wildcats. And St. Joe's... I know you guys are under .500, but it's not like the Atlantic 10 is blowing anyone out of the water here. Or maybe they're just saving it all for Xavier and Dayton in conference play. Another possibility

Fri., Dec. 12th

Drake Invitational

Stephen F. Austin v. North Dakota St., Georgia Southern v. Drake - Okay, there are literally 8 games on the college b-ball schedule. Go out and party or something. But if you really want to know what's going on in college basketball, this tournament actually has some half-decent teams in it. Might be fun to check the scores afterward or something.

Sat., Dec. 13th

Tennessee v. Temple - You know, one of these days I'll stop talking about these Atlantic 10 teams as legit at-large teams.

Memphis v. Georgetown - The game where we found out Memphis was for real last year. Will we find out if one of these teams is for real this year?

Utah v. Oklahoma - Another opportunity for the Utes, in case they didn't get the Cal game. But if they have trouble beating Cal, how are they going to expect to stop Blake Griffin and the Sooners?

Xavier v. Cincinnati - The Bearcats just beat two NCAA tournament worthy opponents in back-to-back games (well, maybe UNLV and UAB won't be tournament teams, but they'll be borderline, and that's important for ranking purposes). The biggest issue standing in their way is their conference. At this point I'd say they're favored to win 9 games in the Big East, and that's giving them home v. Georgetown and Seton Hall. Wins will be hard to come by in conference, and if they end up 8-10, the committee might not give them the benefit of the doubt. A win over the Musketeers would make it awfully difficult for the committee to do that, though.

Texas A&M v. Alabama - We may be looking at only 3 bids from the SEC this year. Meanwhile, the Big 12 has as many as 9 teams that could make cases for the tournament (Nebraska and Oklahoma St. are probably stretching it, but at least they don't have any ugly losses at this point), including this Aggies team.

Butler v. Ohio State - Another battle of the unbeatens. I'm expecting Ohio State to run away with this one, but then again, people have been hating on Butler all season long and they just beat the Horizon League favorites Cleveland State on their floor, so this Bulldogs team is going to come ready to play.

St. Mary's v. San Diego State - Okay, I swear THIS is the last time I needlessly hype the Aztecs. Plus St. Mary's is playing, and they can use all the semi-decent non-conference wins they can get before WCC play starts up.

John Wooden Classic

UCLA v. DePaul - Probably won't be a close game, but how can I not recognize one the greatest college basketball coach of all time in a college basketball blog?

San Diego v. Oregon - NIT showdown if I ever saw one.

South Alabama v. Mississippi St. - See above

Miss Valley St. v. Houston - And in this week's episode of "Miss Valley St. gets annihilated by a major D-I basketball program," the Delta Devils lost to Creighton and Kentucky, both by over 20 points, to fall to 0-10 on the year. And if that wasn't bad enough, both Grambling State and Alcorn State picked up wins, meaning now only SEVEN of the ten teams in the conference have one win or less. Bottom line... this conference is starting to pull away from Miss Valley St. They need to get this thing under control before it's too late.

Sun., Dec. 14th

Gonzaga v. Arizona - Geez, Gonzaga knows how to assemble a non-conference schedule. They still have this game, UConn, Utah, and Tennessee left on their schedule after taking down Oklahoma St., Maryland, and Tennessee earlier in the year. And it's not their fault IU's program went down the tubes and that doesn't look like a "good win". And NONE of these games are at home. Teams are still scared to go play the Zags in Spokane. Give credit to Mark Few... this guy's not afraid to load up his non-conference schedule and take on the best, and his team is responding. He has to get mentioned as one of the best college coaches in the game today.