— Every year, one of my best resources for studying college basketball has always been the Blue Ribbon Yearbook- I’m talking 20 years, at least. Great book, full of information.
This year, with all the BS around college/semi-pro sports, they delayed putting the book out- as of today, my book is supposed to come in the mail next week. Not good.
I’ll have to use a marker to add/cross out players as they become eligible/ineligible.
— Back when I picked games on this blog, we made hay before Christmas; knowing which teams were most experienced was a huge help. Won a lot of picks using that information.
Now? Not so much; teams totally change from year to year. Northern Illinois has a new coach and NO PLAYERS who were on the team last year. Teams with no kids who got poached means that no other teams wanted their players.
How talented are the new players? There is no metric that measures talent.
— Valparaiso 83, Purdue 80, 2OT
Purdue is 0-2 for the first time since 1976. I had a full head of hair in 1976.
Purdue led by 15 late in the first half.
Rakim Chaney scored 35 points, had six assists for the Crusaders.
— Saint Louis 90, Missouri 84
Newly-eligible Robbie Avila didn’t play for Saint Louis.
Billikens shot 14-25 behind the arc.
Saint Louis led 49-38 at the half, hung on for the win.
— UConn 85, Michigan 77
Huskies get revenge for losing last year’s national title game.
UConn was 30-36 on foul line, Michigan 18-23.
Big downgrade at coach for Michigan, from Dusty May to Mike Boynton.
— Indiana State 69, Ball State 66
Ball State led by 15 with 14:22 left in the game.
Cardinals were only 15-26 on the foul line.
Both teams started three seniors.
— San Diego 96, Tarleton State 90, OT
Tarleton shot 63% inside arc, led by 15 late in first half.
Toreros shot 12-28 on arc, scored 1.21 ppp.
San Diego was 34-39 on foul line, Tarleton was 26-39.
— Famous birthdays, November 7th:
Jim Kaat, 88
Buck Martinez, 78
Elvis Peacock, 70
Greg Dreiling, 64
Glendon Rusch, 52
Kris Benson, 52
Sonny Gray, 37
Cason Wallace, 23
— Five retired major league umpires have filed a federal lawsuit against MLB, claiming the league wrongfully underpaid them under its umpires’ retirement income plan.
Joe West (worked a record 5,480 games)
Gerry Davis
Tom Hallion
Larry Vanover
Jerry Layne……….those are the five umpires.
— This season, NFL underdogs of 7+ points are 20-7-3 ATS.
— In his great career, Warriors star Steph Curry has had 155 games where he made 7+ 3-pointers. He is the greatest shooter ever.
— SMU 51, Virginia Tech 28
QB Jennings threw for 350 yards, four TD’s.
Mustangs outgained Tech, 569-417.
SMU is 7-2, Hokies are 6-3.
— East Carolina 20, South Florida 17
Pirates kicked a 55-yard FG with 0:02 left for the win.
ECU was 6-15 on third down, South Florida 1-10.
Game was 10-10 at halftime.
— Illinois 24, Nebraska 13
Illini won their 4th game in a row; they’re bowl eligible.
Nebraska lost its fourth game in a row, after a 5-0 start.
Cornhuskers outgained Illinois 426-376 but had 82 penalty yards.
— New Mexico 31, Nevada 3
8-1 Lobos led 14-3 at half; they’re #22 in the country.
Lobos ran ball 45 times for 213 yards; they were 9-16 on third down.
New Mexico outgained the Wolf Pack, 374-97.
