The Picks!
Well, a possible timing error helped me break even for the week. Apparently it was a good week for the Techs, as I missed both of those games to drop to 0-2 on the week before the Illini and the Blue Devils(that I really don't like picking) pulled off wins to even me out for the week.
I kept at .500 with a 6-6 record in these picks so far, but I like to look at more recent trends. Just as people look at the Dallas Mavericks and say "Since their 0-4 start, they've been near unbeatable at 35-5," I'm going to say since my bad week of 0-4 I've been 6-2!!
Do I smell a ring in my future?
Alright, time for the picks!
We've got a lot of great games this week, and because of that, I'm expanding the normal four picks to six! It's a 50% bonus week! (Kinda like occasionally when you buy shampoo or deodorant and they give you the bigger bottle/container for the same price you're used to paying for.)
The games:
All on Saturday
#4 North Carolina @ #19 Arizona
George Mason @ James Madison
Western Illinois @ Missouri-Kansas City
Monday: Illinois-Chicago @ #11 Butler
Tuesday: Michigan State @ Illinois
Wednesday: #3 Wisconsin @ #24 Indiana
The picks!
North Carolina is the #1 team in the nation in Sagarin's rankings, #4 in the RPI, Coaches' poll and AP poll. Arizona is very good as well, but only outranks UNC in the RPI right now, where they are impressively ranked #2 behind only UCLA. Arizona does return their top scorer to this game though after he sat out last game(amazing how Lute Olson suspends him for a game against Arizona State, who they beat 71-47 WITHOUT Williams, but lets him come back for UNC) for a rules violation.
Overall, despite Williams coming back and the fact that Arizona has the home court, I'm going with the team I love to hate. Roy Williams and those damn North Carolina Tarheels are my projected winner.
Next is the battle of founding fathers! The amazing Fightin' George Masons who beat UConn last year in the regional final to advance to the Final Four vs. The Fightin' James Madisons, whose biggest win is completely unknown to everyone except themselves. Regardless, what we have here is a battle of the founder of the Bill of Rights vs. the writer of the Constitution(Never thought you'd get a history lesson from this site, did you?). Gotta go with the more important and bigger work. The Bill of Rights, as important as it is, is an addition onto the Constitution, so despite the stats that say otherwise(such as Sagarin's rankings that have GMU 94th overall compared to Madison's 291st), I'm going with the Fighting James Madisons to pull the upset at home.
The following is a game that only matters a small sector of the population, but I'm among it. As a graduate of the fine institution of Western Illinois University, this game matters. Western Illinois is competing to be the worst team in college hoops this year, and we HAVE to have this loss if we have a shot. We're currently 335th in the RPI out of 336 teams and are projected to move up a few spots to 331. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! The Kangaroos of Kansas City MUST win in order to keep us in the running for that coveted #336 spot. So out of necessity, I'm picking UMKC to defend their home court
Monday and Tuesday's chosen games are rematches of previous picks, where I went 1-1. UIC defeated Butler last time they played, in overtime at home. Well, it's revenge time. Butler, who is by far the superior team and still ranked #11th in the nation and 23rd in the RPI, will win this time. If not, I vow to never pick another Butler game this season until I have to turn in brackets for the NCAA Tourney, which unless I REALLY curse them, they should be part of. I am also picking Illinois to defend its home court against Michigan State. These two are basically each other's biggest rivals in the Big 10, even though not for geographic reasons, but because they seem to be about equally good or bad over the Self and Weber years at Illinois. MSU won at home, now I expect so will the Illini.
Finally, Wednesday's game. This will make one friend of mine who is a Wisconsin alum very nervous, as I've picked another Wisconsin game. Last time it worked out for him as I chose Ohio State over Wisconsin in my terrible, to be forgotten, 0-4 week. But this time, on the road against #24 Indiana, I'm siding with the Wisconsin Badgers. I'd love to say it's because WIsconsin is the better team, but I'm really going to say it because in my office at work, there is a stuffed badger on the file cabinet not too far from me, which is apparently the office mascot/thing to scare people with. There's no stuffed Hoosier(but man THAT would actually scare some people.)
The recap!
The home teams go 4-2 with top ranked teams North Carolina and Wisconsin being strong enough to win on the road.
North Carolina over Arizona
James Madison over George Mason(yeah, this is probably stupid)
UMKC over WIU
Butler over UIC
Illinois over MSU
Wisconsin over Indiana
Anyone ballsy enough, make some picks in my comments. If you're willing to post picks fairly regularly, I'll post your results against mine. No picking games after they've been tipped though.
I kept at .500 with a 6-6 record in these picks so far, but I like to look at more recent trends. Just as people look at the Dallas Mavericks and say "Since their 0-4 start, they've been near unbeatable at 35-5," I'm going to say since my bad week of 0-4 I've been 6-2!!
Do I smell a ring in my future?
Alright, time for the picks!
We've got a lot of great games this week, and because of that, I'm expanding the normal four picks to six! It's a 50% bonus week! (Kinda like occasionally when you buy shampoo or deodorant and they give you the bigger bottle/container for the same price you're used to paying for.)
The games:
All on Saturday
#4 North Carolina @ #19 Arizona
George Mason @ James Madison
Western Illinois @ Missouri-Kansas City
Monday: Illinois-Chicago @ #11 Butler
Tuesday: Michigan State @ Illinois
Wednesday: #3 Wisconsin @ #24 Indiana
The picks!
North Carolina is the #1 team in the nation in Sagarin's rankings, #4 in the RPI, Coaches' poll and AP poll. Arizona is very good as well, but only outranks UNC in the RPI right now, where they are impressively ranked #2 behind only UCLA. Arizona does return their top scorer to this game though after he sat out last game(amazing how Lute Olson suspends him for a game against Arizona State, who they beat 71-47 WITHOUT Williams, but lets him come back for UNC) for a rules violation.
Overall, despite Williams coming back and the fact that Arizona has the home court, I'm going with the team I love to hate. Roy Williams and those damn North Carolina Tarheels are my projected winner.
Next is the battle of founding fathers! The amazing Fightin' George Masons who beat UConn last year in the regional final to advance to the Final Four vs. The Fightin' James Madisons, whose biggest win is completely unknown to everyone except themselves. Regardless, what we have here is a battle of the founder of the Bill of Rights vs. the writer of the Constitution(Never thought you'd get a history lesson from this site, did you?). Gotta go with the more important and bigger work. The Bill of Rights, as important as it is, is an addition onto the Constitution, so despite the stats that say otherwise(such as Sagarin's rankings that have GMU 94th overall compared to Madison's 291st), I'm going with the Fighting James Madisons to pull the upset at home.
The following is a game that only matters a small sector of the population, but I'm among it. As a graduate of the fine institution of Western Illinois University, this game matters. Western Illinois is competing to be the worst team in college hoops this year, and we HAVE to have this loss if we have a shot. We're currently 335th in the RPI out of 336 teams and are projected to move up a few spots to 331. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN! The Kangaroos of Kansas City MUST win in order to keep us in the running for that coveted #336 spot. So out of necessity, I'm picking UMKC to defend their home court
Monday and Tuesday's chosen games are rematches of previous picks, where I went 1-1. UIC defeated Butler last time they played, in overtime at home. Well, it's revenge time. Butler, who is by far the superior team and still ranked #11th in the nation and 23rd in the RPI, will win this time. If not, I vow to never pick another Butler game this season until I have to turn in brackets for the NCAA Tourney, which unless I REALLY curse them, they should be part of. I am also picking Illinois to defend its home court against Michigan State. These two are basically each other's biggest rivals in the Big 10, even though not for geographic reasons, but because they seem to be about equally good or bad over the Self and Weber years at Illinois. MSU won at home, now I expect so will the Illini.
Finally, Wednesday's game. This will make one friend of mine who is a Wisconsin alum very nervous, as I've picked another Wisconsin game. Last time it worked out for him as I chose Ohio State over Wisconsin in my terrible, to be forgotten, 0-4 week. But this time, on the road against #24 Indiana, I'm siding with the Wisconsin Badgers. I'd love to say it's because WIsconsin is the better team, but I'm really going to say it because in my office at work, there is a stuffed badger on the file cabinet not too far from me, which is apparently the office mascot/thing to scare people with. There's no stuffed Hoosier(but man THAT would actually scare some people.)
The recap!
The home teams go 4-2 with top ranked teams North Carolina and Wisconsin being strong enough to win on the road.
North Carolina over Arizona
James Madison over George Mason(yeah, this is probably stupid)
UMKC over WIU
Butler over UIC
Illinois over MSU
Wisconsin over Indiana
Anyone ballsy enough, make some picks in my comments. If you're willing to post picks fairly regularly, I'll post your results against mine. No picking games after they've been tipped though.
Labels: Butler, Hoops Challenge, Illinois, WIU
posted by Matt at 7:56 AM
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