So remember, read these and then consider yourself more in the know as a result. Plus, make sure to leave the poor sick monkeys alone, they’ve got more problems than Utah State’s strength of schedule (172).

[Are teams finally realizing how to contain Wake Forest hybrid guard Jeff Teague?]

[I share the frustration of March to Madness on this one. Damn Houston Baptist University]

[ k.u.chebag's doing k.u.chebag kinds of things. March 1st should be a blast]

[ Some interesting notes from A Sea of Blue on Kentucky's lackluster contest against Vanderbilt on Wednesday,

"In his last 47 minutes played, Michael Porter has committed nine turnovers, and dished out three assists (he had four turnovers in only 15 minutes of action against Vandy).”

&

“From 14:54 to 13:52 of the first half, Kentucky was whistled for FOUR fouls -- From the 14:52 to 14:21 mark of the second half, UK was again called for FOUR fouls: 1:03 of clock-time = Eight UK fouls"]

[Quiet confidence, likable cockiness, a jumper to die for, the last Curry apple sure didn't fall far from the tree]

[ Back in action for the first time in 13 weeks, UNC freshman Tyler Zeller on what a standing ovation felt like and why he fouled 4 times in 8 minutes]

[The Michigan Wolverines are now firmly back on the bubble thanks to a thorough thrashing of the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday evening, a squad going in the wrong direction (in midst of losing 4 of 5). Michigan put up 74 big ones despite only 8 points in 22 minutes from Manny Harris]

[Todd Bozeman currently is the head coach for the MEAC's first place team Morgan State (11-2). Todd has been around the block. He was once regarded as one of America's hot young coaching minds--in 1993 he led the Cal Bears (Jason Kidd) to an upset over Duke in the 2nd round but 3 years later found himself virtually banned from coaching for 10 seasons because he committed a major NCAA no-no. Now coach Bozeman is in the process of turning Morgan State around and in his spare time he dabbles in the blogosphere at Blogging with Doze]

[I don't know what exactly I was thinking at the time, but whatever intuition was seeping throughout my noggin during a muggy day in July certainly wasn't the ideal grade it needed to be]

Post from: EveryJoe

Fast Breakin’

Beilein put a penetrating point guard into the game,
can it be too much to ask
no more former walk-ons making you lame
there’s just but one guy up to the task,

But he has now fallen to third in line,
why all of the Wolvie fans wonder
could it be he needs to refine
or is this just solely Beilein’s blunder

Kelvin Grady, sophomore point guard for the Wolverines, has apparently fallen out of favor with Coach Beilein. It has gotten to the point where Grady, the only point guard who can hit the broadside of a barn and drive past defenses and dish it out (ie. make plays), is now not adept enough to get quality minutes for a team in DESPERATE need of decent point guard play.

I don’t know what lesson Beilein is trying to teach here, but it’s not working and it’s certainly holding the Wolverines back. Versus MSU, senior guard C.J. Lee (former walk-on) played 37 minutes and led the Michigan offense to 42 total points on 2 assists and 1-4 shooting. This is the guy who has taken over the main point guard duties for the team. He’s a hard worker and somebody every coach would want on their side. But he’s very limited. He does not have the quicks Grady has and certainly does not have the shot making ability either. However, Lee does not turn the ball over much at all, so he is often deemed as the safe choice. That is all fine and good except for the fact that the Wolverines have a roster full of jump shooters (save Harris and Sims) with no ability to create their own shots. Running Lee out there and then subbing in David Merritt for back up duty (former walk-on), even more limited than Lee, is a recipe for disaster, especially for the motion offense Beilein likes to run. Teams facing Michigan have figured out how to stop them– it’s by not allowing Manny Harris to penetrate (Walton and the whole Spartan D played great against him Tuesday) and pushing the offense farther and farther way from the basket because after all, Lee and Merritt do not have any penetrating skills to scare anybody. Therefore there are not a whole lot of opportunities for uncontested shots on most occasions. Most of Michigan’s offense on Tuesday came from forcing turnovers and the fine work underneath by DeShawn Sims, but not a lot of anything going TOWARDS the hoop.

Now I will point out that Grady did see the court on Tuesday night for about 7 minutes and had very little impact on the game. However his confidence has to be shot right now (DNP vs. UConn) after being demoted behind two less talented guards. But, see, according to Beilein (and I agree with coach about the defense) Lee and Merritt right now are playing better defense and there’s just not enough room at the position for Grady to see significant minutes.

But it isn’t working.

You can get away with playing 4 on 5 against Penn State (last win for Michigan-Grady just 1 minute), but against the supreme teams in the nation (UConn, MSU) it’s not going to work.

This team is falling faster than A-Rod’s credibility right now and what they really need is a offensive re-birth or something. These rotation/lineup shuffles have got to stop. Play the right people. Make sure they know their roles. Go with your most skilled guys– the players who can shoot and break down defenses.

Live with the occasional defensive lapse and the unforced turnover, insert Grady back into the rotation. He can be a difference maker on the offensive end and right now Michigan’s offense is mind-blowingly inadequate, or as Kevin would say, lousy and stinky.

Post from: EveryJoe

Paging all point guards

The blame rests at the margins of exams.

But it’s over, so all is good.

In an attempt to catch up, I have found these links to share. It’s a bit Big Ten heavy.

But it’s about time the Big Ten got some love.

*The Hooker theory, brought to you by Off The Tracks.

It would behoove you to read this fine post from a Purdue fan with clearly too much time on his hands, because, like everything in life, there will be a quiz later.

*Before the season even started, I even said that the Northwestern Wildcats would be a NIT team at the very worst. So far they are looking pretty good. But you won’t find much positivity here. Somewhat understandable however, considering Northwestern has never made the NCAA tournament.

*Best player playing for a historically black college? Elizabeth City State’s Anthony Hilliard.

*Derrick Brown, star Xavier forward who I compared to Trenton Hassell some time ago, was hurt for the very first time when he injured his ankle earlier this season. Head Coach Sean Miller says Derrick is healthier than ever,

“He’s healthier now than he ever has been; I’d almost declare the injury a non-issue at this point.

We’ve all seen him in that light and I think he’s capable of it.”

*In case you didn’t hear about it, Michigan beat yet another “top 5″ ranked team this season. The victim this time was Duke.

City Hoops: Everything Detroit Basketball, in celebration of the Michigan victory, looked back a bit on some memories and pics of Michigan guard Manny Harris’ days at Detroit Redford high school.

*Kentucky walk-on Landon Slone did against Mississippi Valley State what so many players have no difficulty in doing. He made them look silly.

“Slone’s tenacity didn’t lead to an immediate team-wide spark, but he acquitted himself quite well against the Delta Devils. The 6-foot-3 guard had an inauspicious start when a baseline jumper he took less than 30 seconds after entering the game slammed off the side of the backboard and into Perry Stevenson’s hands, resulting in a dunk.

The afternoon got much better from there. With Mississippi Valley State settled into a 2-3 zone to neutralize Patrick Patterson in the middle, Slone was able to do what he does best – bury two 3-pointers by finding the gaps in that defense.”

*Minnesota’s athletic department moved Minnesota’s Big Ten basketball opener against Michigan State to 11am, all in favor of the Minnesota football team who plays in Arizona (bowl game) at 5pm that same day. From The Barn is far from pleased.

“Those flying to Arizona obviously won’t be at The Barn on the 31st. With the now deceased 5:00 pm start, the rest of the season ticket holders, the majority of whom work, still would be able to go to the basketball game. Sneaking out an hour or two early on a quasi-holiday is not that big of a deal and the people who had planned to attend the game either made accommodations to their schedule if playing hooky was not an option. Now many of them won’t be able to go to the game.”

*If I was a projected 3rd, 4th or 5th seeded team in this season’s NCAA tourney, I would be very afraid of getting stuck playing against the Keydets.

The “Shoot the ball before you turn it over” philosophy is working.

*And finally, a player I think has gone under the radar for too long.

Burnt Orange Nation provides the insight on A.J.

“Abrams is a mediocre-to-bad shooter off of the dribble but among the best catch-and-shoot kids I’ve ever seen. It’s seriously sick how quickly and in one smooth motion he can catch the ball, make the requisite pivot, and manage to release the ball perfectly squared to the basket. If you haven’t been to the gym in a while, have someone feed you passes and try to catch-pivot-release in one motion without fading off to the side. It’s incredibly difficult.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Hookers, Keydets, and a Peeved Gopher

Here is my preview of all 11 games from August 15th. It’s so good I figured I wouldn’t revise it at all.

—-

The Atlantic Coast Conference has dominated the Big Ten in each of the 9 years of this yearly Challenge. The last two years the ACC has recorded 16 wins versus just 6 losses. The ACC’s total record is 56-30.

The Challenge tips off on the first of December with Wisconsin visiting Virginia Tech.

After the opening day game, 5 games on each of the next 2 days will take place. There are some salivating matchups for sure.

Is this the year the Big Ten will amass more than 5 wins in the challenge?

Nope.

7-4 will be the ACC’s record for this year’s challenge.

Schedule and further info can be found here.

The rundown…

Wisconsin at Virginia Tech
Everyone is back from Tech save Deron Washington. A.D. Vassalo might be the best baller most of America doesn’t know about.

On second thought, Wiscy’s Trevon Hughes might be the best unknown dude. At any rate, Tech must shoot the ball better from downtown if they are to escape Bo’s onslaught of a defense.

Edge- Wiscy

Ohio St. at Miami
The deep and deadly Hurricanes will stomp the Buckeyes, of course.

Edge- Miami

Iowa at Boston College
Both of these teams suck, but Tyrese Rice brings excitement and scoring to the game. Iowa could overtake the cellar from Indiana before it’s all said and done this year.

Edge- BC

Clemson at Illinois
Clemson returns 7 of its top 10 players from last year’s NCAA tourney team, including the Eric Piatkowski look alike, Terrence Oglesby. I vividly remember a game last year where Oglesby jacked up about 18 threes and hit about 2 of them. More accurately it was a 1 for 11 performance against Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tourney last year. Look for a strong game from Terrence.

Edge- Clemson

Duke at Purdue
This will be one of those early tests for Purdue, one in which will help sort out the veracity of the heavily pro-Purdue prognosticators.

Expect a shootout.

Edge- Purdue

Virginia at Minnesota
The teams look to be even, but the coaches are far from it.

Edge- Tubby

Indiana at Wake Forest
Wake will easily win this one. Wake looks like it could give anybody in the country problems as all five starters return and a highly touted class comes in.

Edge- Wake

Penn St. at Georgia Tech
Tech could be an ACC dark horse this year. Penn St. needs the Crispin brothers back.

Edge- GTech

Michigan at Maryland
Greivis vs Corperryale.

Michigan will turn the ball over 20 plus times but still be within 6 or 8 when it’s over.

I live in Michigan. Bet on it. No really.

Edge- Maryland

UNC at MSU (Ford Field)

MSU fans get loud. Ford Field is way bigger than the Breslin.

Unfortunately,

Hansbrough and Deon Thompson>>> Goran Suton and Marquise Gray

Edge- UNC

Florida St. at Northwestern

(Snorts and giggles)

The Seminoles will get their asses handed to them by an academic school that has had virtually no success in basketball, hence the giggling and snorting. This will feel like losing to Duke in football. Florida St. will have some mighty trouble this year, they lost too much from last year’s team. Northwestern is tough at home.

Edge- NW

The ACC, albeit not looking like a super strong conference this year, will still end up tearing apart most of the sluggish teams from the B10.

—-

Just heard ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb say that it would be more detrimental to MSU if Goran Suton missed Wednesday’s game against UNC than it would be for UNC to be without Tyler Hansbrough. Basicially Doug is saying that UNC is so good that they could still beat MSU even without T-Rex roaming around and pissing everyone off… always in the right place, always banking in those awkward shots, always being competitive, something lots of people just don’t like about him.

Bulletin Board material for Coach Tom Izzo?

Post from: EveryJoe

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Yeah I said it, DOMINATE.

– 17 UCLA turnovers mostly caused by Michigan’s feisty 1-3-1 zone defense

– DeShawn Sims abused the UCLA bigs all game long (by the way, keep Sims coming off the bench Beilein, it’s working)

– 8th grader Stu Douglass had his coming out party with 10 points and 5 feeds

– Darren Collison and Josh Shipp combined for 10 turnovers and only 1 three pointer

– Nikola Dragovic felt compelled to launch shots quite frequently. Nikola has a nice shot, but he’s no Memo Okur

– Manny Harris was 5-13 from the field, turned the ball over 4 times

Ok, maybe DOMINATE was too strong of a description.

Statement game might suffice.

That Michigan-Duke preview Kevin said I had in store for you…

Duke’s experience will propel them to a double digit victory. They played with a lot of energy against the Southern Illinois Salukis. The team is starting to gel and that Nolan Smith character will not allow the 3 guard rotation of David Merritt, C.J. Lee and Kelvin Grady to stifle Duke like they did UCLA.

As for Greg Paulus, eh, he might turn the ball over some, but he’ll probably hit some threes to make up for his dudness.

Nolan Smith going vertical

DeShawn Sims should be able to have his way again. But Manny Harris must explode for 25 plus points because Duke will certainly drain their share of triples and get their share of calls.

Duke is probably a much more disciplined defensive team than the Bruins. That alone should give them a decided edge over the young Wolverines, who, at times, got some easy baskets inside off of back door feeds and such against UCLA.

But honestly, UCLA should not have been rated #4. By the time February rolls around…? Well see.

By the way, Michigan hosts Duke on December 6th.

Note- Kevin mentioned it before, but what went on against Texas Tech and East Central is stupid.

STAT of the DAY

Texas Tech lets DII East Central put 116 on the board.

It’s so wild and insane that not even a single Mississippi Valley State joke is worthy enough to follow it.

Post from: EveryJoe

First of 2 Michigan vs. Duke Tilts (Today, 7pm)

The fourth ranked Bruins were shown up by the Michigan Wolverines 55-52 in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden in New York City a few minutes ago.

Junior forward DeShawn Sims led all scorers with 18 points for Michigan and teammate Manny Harris was held to just 15.

Darren Collison and freshman Jrue Holiday had 13 points each for UCLA. Collison missed a three-pointer with five seconds to go that sealed the win for the Wolverines.

Michigan will play Duke for the championship game tomorrow night. UCLA faces Southern Illinois, an 83-58 loser to Duke in the other semifinal, in the third place game.

That means Ryan Pravato gets to write the preview for those games. I’m going to bed.

Post from: EveryJoe

We Now Have Our Second Upset Of The Season

The Bruins are ranked fourth in the nation in both the ESPN/Coaches and Associated Press polls, while Michigan is unranked.

UCLA is being touted for having the best recruiting class in the nation, lead by McDonald’s All-American Jrue Holiday.

But don’t let the youth fool you. The Bruins are also a solid veteran team led by Preseason All-American Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, James Keefe and Alfred Aboya.

UCLA reached the semis by defeating Prairie View A&M 82-58 and Miami (Ohio) 64-59.

So far the Wolverines and second year coach John Beillein are doing a pretty good job in rebuilding a program that longs for its glory days of being one of the elite in the nations. Michigan Tech 77-55 and in a 76-56 win against Northeastern.

Sophomore guard Manny Harris has All-American, or at least All-Big 10 (plus one) written all over him. In the two wins he has averaged 28 points a game.

But two good games does not make a season. This will be the first real test of the season for the Wolverines against a UCLA team that is favored by 12 points.

The winner will play the winner of 10th ranked Duke/Southern Illinois game in the other semifinal tonight. The championship and consolation games are scheduled for Friday night.

All games will be shown on ESPN2.

Post from: EveryJoe

Game of the Day: UCLA vs. Michigan

Part of the reason is the less than desirable point guard play. Former walk-on David Merritt (now on scholarship) is still currently ahead of once prized recruit Kelvin Grady on the depth chart. We can thank Tommy Amaker for that wonderful piece of recruiting. His work has set the Michigan program back at least 4 years. But, at least he got Manny.

– Southern Illinois sneaked by Massachusetts by 7. It didn’t start out well for the Salukis however. UMass was up 11 at the half, but went cold in the 2nd. Part of the struggle was because UMass guard Chris Lowe had 10 turnovers. So maybe only Chris Lowe’s hands were cold.

Good news and bad news

The bad is that UMass didn’t get the win, and won’t advance to Madison Square Garden to face Duke. The good news is that we can say with near-absolute certainty that Chris Lowe’s worst game of the season is in the rearview mirror.

It’s remarkable that the Minutemen were even in a position to escape Carbondale, Illinois with a win over the Southern Illinois Salukis, given that Lowe, the team’s leader, committed 10 turnovers without registering a single assist.

We won’t see another game like that from Lowe again.

UMass actually had a 2 point lead with about 4 minutes to play.

So Southern Illinois will face Duke on November 20th at Madison Square Garden. Michigan will face the winner of the UCLA vs. Miami (Ohio) game (tonight at 8pm Kevin’s time) on the 20th at MSG as well.

–Keep an eye out for Kevin’s preview of the “eventual” championship game of UCLA vs. Duke.

STAT of the DAY

Crisler Arena’s paid attendance for Michigan’s tilt with Northeastern was 6,246.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Post from: EveryJoe

All the favorites advance

No surprises on the top three picks (Big Ten only releases top three teams). For 1-11, click here.

2008-09 Top Three Preseason Picks

Team, 2007-08 Final Records (Finish)
1. Purdue 25-9, 15-3 Big Ten (2nd)

2. Michigan State 27-9, 12-6 Big Ten (4th)

3. Wisconsin 31-5, 16-2 Big Ten (1st)

No B.J. Mullens? Blame the media. Or sanity.

2008-09 Big Ten Preseason All-Conference Team

Player, 2007-08 Final Stats
Manny Harris, MICH, So., G 16.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg

Raymar Morgan, MSU, Jr., F 14.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg

Robbie Hummel, PUR, So., F 11.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg

E’Twaun Moore, PUR, So., G 12.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg

Marcus Landry, WIS, Sr., F 10.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg

I’m not positive on if this is a good thing.

Robbie Hummel as the best player in the conference…

Not a good thing.

Please Raymar Morgan, Manny Harris, E’Twaun Moore or hell, even B.J. Mullens, show everyone that this conference is really not as weak as it looks right now.

2008-09 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year
Robbie Hummel, PUR

Oh, Robbie will probably have a tremendous season and make me look anything but informed.

Ha.

Some Big Ten Media Day Quotes

Tom Crean (Indiana)

On taking on a unique challenge:
“It’s just the way it worked out. In a situation where there was really no choice, there have been no regrets in any area. From taking the job or the decisions that were made, we just have to move forward. It’s not our players’, coaches’, administrators’ or fans’ fault. It just happened, so we have to deal with it.”

Todd Lickliter (Iowa)

On goals to make NCAA tournament:
“I am not going to sell anybody short, I just don’t believe in it. People say it’s a process, but what does that mean? For some people it may be a process of a day, for others a month. We are going to compete this year and I expect us to be successful. I certainly would not want to sell my guys short and not give them every opportunity. I have never gone into a situation thinking that we are not going to win. I go into every situation thinking that we will be successful. You have to do it that way. The last time Iowa tied for the Big Ten title was in ‘79, but a couple of years ago they were right there. I don’t think anybody is happy with where we are at right now, but I am proud of the things that have been accomplished. I think winning Big Ten Championships is incredibly demanding. It is a great league. We know it can be done and that is what we are shooting for.”

John Beilein (Michigan)

On practice:
“There is an amount of efficiency you can run a practice with that will hopefully transcend to games. I have a checklist of around 100 things that we are trying to do before the first game. Last year we had about 28 down pretty well before the first game. Your first year you are virtually putting in out of bounds plays the day of the first game sometimes. If you coach the only way I know how, which is fundamentally at first. ”

Tom Izzo (Michigan State)

On the emerging leadership of Kalin Lucas:
“I am surprised, but excited because that’s one of the things we really harped on last year. At the end of the year we really talked about it, that if he wants to take another step, he’s got to do a better job of taking other people with him. I think it helped him to go to the Nike camp this year and spend some time there with some of the best point guards in the country, listen to different coaches. It’s always good to get input from other coaches, media members, all the people that talk to him there. I just think he’s done a great job. You have to trust the player and the player has to trust you. I’m starting to feel that we’re getting that trust, that he understands if I’m not happy about something, it’s for him not against him.”

Matt Painter (Purdue)

On the chemistry of the team and whether Purdue has a “best player”:
“We have guys that are all-conference. We have guys that were first-team, second-team, third-team. And Keaton Grant was honorable mention, but he was our team MVP. You can’t really pick one over the other. And Robbie Hummel was Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, but I don’t know if he’s the best player on the team. Now, I’m not saying he’s not, but you can come to our practice and he might look like the best player on the team on Monday, but on Tuesday Keaton Grant will look like the best player. On Wednesday E’Twaun Moore will look like the best player on the team, on Thursday Chris Kramer will look like the best player on the team. So I think that’s a very good problem to have. I think the strength of our team lies in our balance and our unselfishness. I couldn’t even tell you who the best player on the team is. That’s something that varies from game to game, practice to practice. So it’s not something I really worry about. As a coach that’s the least of your concerns. You want your guys to be unselfish and learn to play together. A lot of other people want to establish who’s on first team, who’s on second team, who’s on third team. We just want to win, so those other things kind of get thrown out of the window.”

Bill Carmody (Northwestern)

On the team learning how to win:
“I think a lot of it has to do with the talent level and your preparation. We haven’t gotten to that point where we say, ‘OK, we’ve got to win this big one.’ We’ll see as we go. I just think that the talent level is bigger and it’s deeper. Our rotation could be nine or 10 this year and I’m like a seven-guy rotation usually. There’s not that much of our drop off. Our scrimmages of our first- and second-teams are very close all the time. That’s a good sign.”

Bigten.cstv.com

Post from: EveryJoe

Big Ten Preview

The Challenge tips off on the first of December with Wisconsin visiting Virginia Tech.

After the opening day 5 games on each of the next 2 days will take place. There are some salivating matchups for sure.

Duke at Purdue

UNC vs. MSU at Ford Field– ok, UNC at MSU

Ohio St. at Miami

Eh, I guess know “salivating” is more of a subjective take on these games.

But those three matchups just about do it for me.

Is this the year the Big Ten will amass more than 5 wins in the challenge?

Nope.

7-4 will be the ACC’s record for this year’s challenge.

The rundown…

Wisconsin at Virginia Tech
Everyone is back from Tech save Deron Washington. A.D. Vassalo might be the best baller most of America doesn’t know about.

On second thought, Wiscy’s Trevon Hughes might be the best unknown dude. At any rate, Tech must shoot the ball better from downtown if they are to escape Bo’s onslaught of a defense.

Edge- Wiscy

Ohio St. at Miami
The deep and deadly Hurricanes will stomp the Buckeyes, of course.

Edge- Miami

Iowa at Boston College
Both of these teams suck, but Tyrese Rice brings excitement and scoring to the game. Iowa could overtake the cellar from Indiana before it’s all said and done this year.

Edge- BC

Clemson at Illinois
Clemson returns 7 of its top 10 players from last year’s NCAA tourney team, including the Eric Piatkowski look alike, Terrence Oglesby. I vividly remember a game last year where Oglesby jacked up about 18 threes and hit about 2 of them. Actually it was a 1 for 11 performance against Villanova in the first round last year. Look for a strong game from Terrence.

Edge- Clemson

Duke at Purdue
This will be one of those early tests for Purdue, one in which will help sort out the veracity of the heavily pro-Purdue prognosticators.

Expect a shootout.

Edge- Purdue

Virginia at Minnesota
The teams look to be even, but the coaches are far from it.

Edge- Minny

Indiana at Wake Forest
Wake will easily win this one. Wake looks like it could give anybody in the country problems as all five starters return and a highly touted class comes in.

Edge- Wake

Penn St. at Georgia Tech
Tech could be an ACC dark horse this year. Penn St. needs the Crispin brothers back.

Edge- GTech

Michigan at Maryland
Greivis vs Corperryale.

Michigan will turn the ball over 20 plus times but still be within 6 or 8 when it’s over.

I live in Michigan. Bet on it. No really.

Edge- Maryland

UNC at MSU (Ford Field)

MSU fans get loud. Ford Field is way bigger than the Breslin.

Unfortunately,

Hansbrough and Deon Thompson>>> Goran Suton and Marquise Gray

Edge- UNC

Florida St. at Northwestern

(Snorts and giggles)

The Seminoles will get their asses handed to them by an academic school that has had virtually no success in basketball, hence the giggling and snorting. This will feel like losing to Duke in football. Florida St. will have some mighty trouble this year, they lost too much from last year’s team. Northwestern is tough at home.

Edge- NW

The ACC, albeit not looking like a super strong conference this year, will still end up tearing apart most of the sluggish teams from the B10.

Not really going out on a limb here with the history of this challenge and all, but you’ll forget about this one after you read my final two death wishes… er, predictions.

Post from: EveryJoe

Prediction 8: ACC/Big Ten Challenge