It's a fun couple of nights to ease into the college season. ACC has won every of the year -- I certainly don't see this year as an exception. Might actually be a wipe-out -- maybe the Big Ten wins just two of 'em?

In the meantime, a bit of a preview tonight as Michigan State (fresh off a upset of Texas) will take on Maryland. Good win for sparty last night.

Monday, Nov. 27
Michigan at NC State

Tuesday, Nov. 28
Maryland at Illinois
Florida State at Wisconsin
Penn State at Georgia Tech
Indiana at Duke
Miami of Florida at Northwestern

Wednesday, Nov. 29
Michigan State at Boston College
Virginia at Purdue
Iowa at Virginia Tech
Ohio State at North Carolina
Clemson at Minnesota

I'll go with Wisconsin and Michigan winning theirs. Penn State could surprise with all their returning players. But No way d'OSU can win in Chapel Hill without Oden. IU ain't gonna win at Duke. Maryland will be a tough matchup for the Illini. uva has looked good this season already.

I don't know enuf about MoF, NU, Clemson or the Goofs yet.

Ok, here are my guesses:

Monday, Nov. 27
Michigan at NC State - NC State is awful this year, Michigan wins 77-59

Tuesday, Nov. 28
Maryland at Illinois - Terps look good, Illinois is missing Randle -- Terps win 87-73
Florida State at Wisconsin - Wisconsin is too tough at home, beats FSU 72-65
Penn State at Georgia Tech - Penn State is a joke, GT is good - GT wins 89-57
Indiana at Duke - Duke doesn't look that great, but neither does Indiana -- Duke wins 76-61
Miami of Florida at Northwestern - Talk about a crappy game. Somehow Miami guts it out 73-69

Wednesday, Nov. 29
Michigan State at Boston College - BC looks awful and has lost two bad games so far at home- MSU 72-63
Virginia at Purdue - Virginia looks good, they'll take care of Purdue 83-73
Iowa at Virginia Tech - Virginia Tech will pull it back together and win a close one 68-65
Ohio State at North Carolina - If this were at OSU I'd pick them. It's not -- UNC wins 88-85
Clemson at Minnesota - Clemson topples Minny at home, wins 73-61


ACC wins again, 8-3 this time (I will say I could be totally wrong about Miami and VT but I have a good feeling about the others)

Well, NC State is bad, but Michigan is AWFUL. Halfway through this one I'm gonna have to re-adjust my prediction -- 9-2, ACC.

MD by 14 in Assembly Hall? While it's entirely possible for the Terps to emerge victorious, I don't see a 14 point margin.

I agree. The Illini do have the longest home winning streak against non conference opponents in the nation......
I guess we'll have to wait and see if the Illini can come back like they have every game so far this season.

Yeah -- Michigan really stunk up the place -- their shot selection was awful. Only reason they made a stab at comeback at all late in the game was NC State's lack of depth kept their guys on the floor a long time. Amaker needs to go.

While 9-2 is eminently possible, I'll go with a 8-3 ACC -- Wisconsin and MI State winning and possibly Illinois. Anyone else pulling it out will be lagniappe -- I wouldn't be skocked if Purdue pulled it out at home (it's one of the Big Ten's toughest venues), but uva 's offense is impressive. We know Duke is young and beatable (look what Marquette did to them) -- but hard for IU to win in Cameron. d'OSU vs. UNC will be a great game.

Minnesota is terrible; NU not that far behind. Iowa hasn't found its groove. PSU can't win its match-up on the road.

Illinois' PG (Chester Fraizer) is a D.C. native and feels slighted for not getting recruited by the Terps. He is really amp'd about this game. I think Illinois could pull this off in a packed Assembly Hall.


I'll be there, look for me on ESPN.

PSU-FSU and GT-Wisc would've been closer match-ups

Of course the first big game I ever get tickets to is our first loss to a non-conference opponent in years. Can't wait for Randle to come back.

What was that you said? I'd rather have a win, but I'll take a 4 point loss on the road to a good Tech squad. Final Score, GT 77, PSU 73.

Watching the Duke-Indiana game tonight, freshman Jon Scheyer is really hot, esp in HD. Almost sets off the gaydar. I've never been much a Duke fan, but it may be a fun four years watching him play and supposedly he can really score.

Jon's Profile on Duke Athletic Website

Go Terps...go Terps!!! 8-0 Fear the Turtle baby!!!!

Yep -- like I said earlier, PSU may surprise a bunch of teams this year -- is a good solid squad. Too bad they couldn't pull it off last night though.

Badgers were strong against FSU. Brian Butch played a great game. But what impressed me most was their passing -- nice and crisp. Led to some gerat assists. FSU's Al Thornton did his best Paul Davis imitation in the second half with his leg cramps.

In the meantime, the league got their second win, courtesy of Northwestern (a team that eeked by a North Florida team over the weekend).

Tar Heels with a big win tonight!!
Go Heels!!

Poor Indiana. Their little PG dribbeld the shot clock out but tried on that desperation 3-pter.

BC did a good job shutting Nietzel down -- he had an bad night. Key to State's loss.

UNC and d'OSU -- you guys ever hear of this thing called "Defense"?

Minnehaha is worse than I imagined. We'll see if Monson survives after this season. (I'm glad the Badgers get to play them twice!) My mantra has been for years that "You can't spell MINnesoTa without NIT" -- will now change their name to Mnessoa -- since, well, they'll even miss that.

The Ohio State-North Carolina game was a great one! Lots of up-tempo ball, but like Bucky said, the defense was a bit weak on both ends. I had to keep telling myself that I was watching mostly freshman and sophomores who focus on offense. lol. And I know that Roy Williams likes to use his bench to wear teams down, but he never used anything but man-to-man even when OSU was raining 3s on them.

OSU has the potential to be scary good with Oden. But geez, Dick Vitale, let the guy play at least one college game before you crown him player of the year!