Monday, November 17, 2014

ESPN Tip-Off marathon viewer guide

In ESPN's efforts to take over the world, we have another marathon of games tonight and tomorrow.  Here's the guide on the games that will matter, and the games that won't.

Monday:
Miami at Florida (7PM) - Likely a Florida blowout win, house money chance for Miami
SMU at Gonzaga (11PM) - Highlighted in my daily posts, this is a big game for both teams - more for seeding than anything else, but still worth a lot
Detroit at Oregon (11PM) - meh

Tuesday:
Auburn at Colorado (1AM) - Bruce Pearl's gonna need a year to build this thing up.  Skip
New Mexico St at St Mary's (3AM) - This will be a good game, and mandatory for St Mary's
High Point at Hawaii (5AM) - yawn
Iona at Wofford (7AM) - Actually...kinda of a decent game.  Wofford is the SoCon favorite and Iona is probably the MAAC co-faves with Siena.  Pecking order game here
Northern Iowa @ Stephen F Austin (9AM) - MASSIVE GAME for both.  SFA has SoS problems every year, so hanging a signature win on the board in the non-con will be worth plenty.  UNI is a bubble team itself, and a road win is a road win
Manhattan @ UMass (11AM) - UMass should win, could be a good spot for a mid-day nap after Iona/Woffrd and UNI/SFA
Baylor @ South Carolina (noon) - Should be safe to nap here too, expect Baylor to blow USC out
Wichita St vs. Memphis (2PM) - Pecking order game
Utah @ San Diego St (4PM) - Another pecking order game.  Remember, the definition of a pecking order game - a game between two likely tournament teams, where the result doesn't matter for the bubble but does matter for the seedings
Toledo @ VCU (6PM) - Toledo is a contender in the MAC, not likely to contend for an at-large berth...unless they win this
Michigan St vs. Duke (7PM) - I suppose maybe this is a good game
Marquette @ Ohio St (730PM) - pass
Kansas vs. Kentucky (930PM) - Let's see if I'm right about these two teams
Texas Tech @ LSU (930PM) - LSU has to win this game if they're serious about being a NCAA team

My suggestion:
Monday night, stay up late for SMU/Gonzaga.  If you can do NMSU and St Mary's, do it, but the weak may consider a few straight hours of sleep if needed.  Wake up early for the end of Iona/Wofford and UNI/SFA.  That's a good stretch of basketball to watch.  Use the mid-morning to regroup if you need it, because once you hit 2PM, you need to watch to the end of the day.

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