Thursday, Nov. 19th in College Basketball

So what happened last night? Well, Butler and Northwestern fought early but once the Bulldogs shut down Michael Thompson's threes Northwestern's offense went down the tubes and Butler never really looked back. Texas cruised by Western Carolina, and Florida St., Florida, Wake Forest, and Wisconsin all won handedly as well. The best game of the night by far was Utah squeaking out a 1 point win over Utah State on the back of 22 points by junior guard Carlon Brown. Thursday actually has less games overall but conference tournaments start today, which means lots of good matchups, including the night games:

Games of the Night:

Coaches v. Cancer semifinals

Syracuse v. Cal: The first game features two teams heading in different directions in terms of preseason predictions. The Orange lost an exhibition game to a Division II squad but have looked dominant in the early CvC games. Onuaku is taking more of a leadership role after the perimeter losses Syracuse suffered in the offseason. Meanwhile, Cal was one of the expected Pac-10 favorites and cruised through their first two games (well, Murray State gave them a game) on the play of their standout guards Randle and Chritopher and forward Theo Robertson. I think Cal's not quite as good as expected, and Syracuse is going to be better than some think, but that's not enough to make me pick the Orange.

Pick: Cal 72, Syracuse 65

UNC v. Ohio State: A Big Ten fan told me at the beginning of the season that he thinks Ohio State can be a Top 5 team. You know what? I just might agree with him. Evan Turner does a bit of everything offensively and gets William Buford and Jon Diebler open shots, which they haven't been missing early on. Plus there's plenty of reasons not to pick UNC: Larry Drew could struggle in his first true test at the point, Thompson, Zeller, and Davis may struggle initally to establish consistent offense, perhaps this team is not built to run like the previous UNC dynasty was... who knows at this point.

Pick: Ohio State 76, UNC 72

Others to watch:

Dayton v. Georgia Tech: Finished this afternoon. The Flyers got what they needed to win: good offensive contributions from the bench, especially from the outside, and good defense. It didn't hurt that Lawal had 8 turnovers for the Yellow Jackets (26 overall). It's going to be a learning process for Paul Hewitt's young team.

George Mason v. Villanova: First Round Puerto Rico tip-off action is going on as I post. Early on Mason has been limiting the Nova guards offensively and has led most of the half. Nova is getting to the line but is having trouble making free throws. This would be a huge win for GMU and a legitimizing game for the Colonial.

Indiana v. Ole Miss: IU won't be as bad as last year, but they won't be all that good either. First test for the Rebels as well.

La Salle v. South Carolina: Don't let this late Charleston Classic slip by your thoughts. Both up and coming teams, and too much Devan Downey is never a bad thing. Unless you're playing the Gamecocks, of course.