NCAA Basketball Recap: Back to basics!
If I had any clue just how right I was going to be when I was writing my post last week, I would have put a lot more money down on some of my bets. It was a fantastic weekend for college basketball. The photo above is one of my favorite shots from Pixabay. It's the military game that Michigan State played against North Carolina several years ago. While it was the game played this weekend, it did bring back some good memories of when the Spartans were a team not to be trifled with.
Let's start at the beginning though. My niece had a high school game on Friday night that @mrsbozz and I snuggled together to watch from the comfort of our home. We sat on the couch and streamed the entire game. It was a rough one. They ended up losing, but a lot of that was due to poor officiating and some not so smart decisions on the part of the team.
Sloppy passes, poor ball handling. It was a number of things. As I said though, the calls weren't even in any way shape or form either. The other team was basically manhandling my niece and her team mates and not a single whistle was getting blown. On the other side of the ball it was a different story. My brother in law is quite vocal when it comes to things like that and I have a feeling he was probably on the verge of getting kicked out of the game. Bless him, someone needs to speak up. There are times the officials can't help it, then there are times the officials just suck and they should be held accountable.
This was definitely the latter.
I threw some money down on that #5 UConn vs. #10 Gonzaga game that I said could be good, but unfortunately, I was wrong on that one. It wasn't until later that night I discovered UConn won 76 to 63.
Saturday on the other hand was a different story. My intuition was firing on all cylinders and there were a fair number of upsets to talk about.
The first one almost came at the hands of Indiana over #2 Kansas. The Hoosiers took it to the Jayhawks and make it a heck of a game for them. I watched the entirety of that game and it wasn't until it was over that I realized I had missed the beginning of the Michigan State game.
Thankfully the magic of technology and YouTube TV allowed me to start the Baylor/MSU game from the beginning.
I've made it no secret that the Spartans have been having a rough time this year. For a team that was ranked #4 in the nation during the pre-season, they haven't been playing up to their potential. We quickly saw them fall out of the top 25 into virtual oblivion.
All that changed in a heartbeat on Saturday as they faced #6 Baylor at Little Caesars Area. Although not truly a home game it was virtually a home game for MSU and the excitement could be felt through the TV in my own living room.
State was on fire. They came out guns blazing and they didn't let up until there was just a few minutes left on the clock. It was absolutely magical to watch. I think I probably smiled the whole time the game was on.
I actually can't think of a game I have seen so many alley-oop jams in.
State easily handed Baylor their first loss of the year with an 88 to 64 beat down. Make that my first win for the day.
You might also remember I pointed out that Memphis/#13 Clemson game. Well, Memphis edged out Clemson 79 to 77 for a bit upset victory. Chalk up another one for me!
In probably the biggest match up of the day, #3 Purdue took on #1 Arizona at home in Illinois. Purdeu had a huge upset win over the #1 team 92 to 84.
Cha-ching for me!
Finally, #14 Kentucky took down #9 North Carolina in the CBS classic 87 to 83.
I had that game as part of a parlay that netted me my biggest win of the day.
On Sunday there were only two top 25 games and neither one of them were an upset. My niece also played another game and unfortunately they lost again. They were matched up against a team that has three division I commits, so they knew it was going to be a tough round.
This coming weekend we are actually driving down so I can watch her play in person. I am quite excited about that. Then it's Christmas time.
Check back tomorrow for all the football recaps from the weekend. The Lions gave us a lot to be excited about again!
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