Virginia plays Duke in house of horrors tonight; Alabama wins another BCS title and what would an 8-team playoff have looked like?
VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
No. 16 Virginia at No. 8 Duke 9 p.m. ESPN
The Cavaliers face their toughest test of the season tonight when they face Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, which has been a house of horrors for UVa -- and most teams for that matter. Virginia hasn't won there since 1995. No doubt UVa will likely have to play its best game of the season to come out of there with a victory. Duke is 13-2, with a blowout loss at Ohio State and a loss at Temple on Jan. 4. The Blue Devils struggled in their last game against Georgia Tech but won in Atlanta, 81-74. So UVa can win this game, but it will be very hard at Duke. The Devils have been sharp at home. They've barely been challenged. I expect them to come out looking really good after a couple of lackluster road performances. Duke already has plenty of great victories on its resume this season, including wins over Michigan State, Michigan, and Kansas. The Devils topped the Jayhawks in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational title.
Duke is led in scoring by true freshman Austin Rivers, son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers is recording 14.7 points per game while junior Seth Curry -- who played at Liberty his freshman year and beat Virginia -- is averaging 12.9 points per game.
The Cavaliers will have to be great on offense tonight. Only Seattle has been able to score more than 60 points this season against Virginia and the Hoos have held their last four opponents to 42, 50, 52, and 51 points. I expect Duke to crack 60 tonight and I think Virginia will have to get to 65, maybe 70 points if it hopes to win. UVa played Duke very tough at Cameron last year and even held a nine-point second-half lead with 16 minutes remaining before losing 76-60.
Virginia is 14-1 and 1-0 in the ACC so a loss wouldn't be devastating. A win would do wonders for its tournament resume but I think people around the country will be impressed if Virginia just plays Duke tough and loses by less than 10 points. Hopefully the boys can put up a good showing.
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BCS TITLE GAME - WHAT WOULD MY EIGHT-TEAM PLAYOFF HAVE LOOKED LIKE?
The college football season ended Monday with an uninspiring 21-0 Alabama win over LSU. The Tigers struggled mightily on offense and the Crimson Tide showed that they probably were the best team in college football this season despite the November overtime loss to LSU. The key word is "probably." We'll never know how an offense like Stanford's or Oklahoma State's would have matched up with a defense like Alabama's or LSU's.
Last year, I set up both an eight-team and 16-team playoff based on the conference champions and BCS standings. Here's what this year's version of my eight-team playoff would have looked like, for the first round.
1. LSU (SEC champion)
vs.
8. West Virginia (Big East champion)
4. Stanford (wild card)
vs.
5. Oregon (Pac 12 champion)
2. Alabama (wild card)
vs.
7. Clemson (ACC champion)
3. Oklahoma State (Big 12 champion)
vs.
6. Wisconsin (Big Ten champion)
The seeding is based on the BCS rankings before the bowl games and the top two teams who didn't win their conference fill out the rest of the bracket (Bama and Stanford). How fun would those games have been to watch? We would get rematches of games played earlier in the year -- LSU vs. West Virginia and Stanford vs.Oregon, plus I bet Oklahoma State and Wisconsin would have put on a great offensive show. Each game can be sponsored by a company, so each game is essentially like a bowl game. I really like this format. I don't know why it wouldn't be used. Money would be flowing out the ear holes of teams' helmets. The rest of the teams which were at least 6-6 could still play all their bowl games like they do now. Only the top 8 would be in the playoff. I feel like there would be less hassling over the BCS then. There would be a more legitimate playoff to determine the national champion. Sure, there would still be arguments over the rankings and who gets the wild card spots, but I think it is better to have that argument than to argue about who gets into one game to determine the champion. Lots of people thought Oklahoma State or Stanford deserved to be in it this year. In the playoff format, they would have gotten a chance to prove they belonged.
No. 16 Virginia at No. 8 Duke 9 p.m. ESPN
The Cavaliers face their toughest test of the season tonight when they face Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, which has been a house of horrors for UVa -- and most teams for that matter. Virginia hasn't won there since 1995. No doubt UVa will likely have to play its best game of the season to come out of there with a victory. Duke is 13-2, with a blowout loss at Ohio State and a loss at Temple on Jan. 4. The Blue Devils struggled in their last game against Georgia Tech but won in Atlanta, 81-74. So UVa can win this game, but it will be very hard at Duke. The Devils have been sharp at home. They've barely been challenged. I expect them to come out looking really good after a couple of lackluster road performances. Duke already has plenty of great victories on its resume this season, including wins over Michigan State, Michigan, and Kansas. The Devils topped the Jayhawks in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational title.
Duke is led in scoring by true freshman Austin Rivers, son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers is recording 14.7 points per game while junior Seth Curry -- who played at Liberty his freshman year and beat Virginia -- is averaging 12.9 points per game.
The Cavaliers will have to be great on offense tonight. Only Seattle has been able to score more than 60 points this season against Virginia and the Hoos have held their last four opponents to 42, 50, 52, and 51 points. I expect Duke to crack 60 tonight and I think Virginia will have to get to 65, maybe 70 points if it hopes to win. UVa played Duke very tough at Cameron last year and even held a nine-point second-half lead with 16 minutes remaining before losing 76-60.
Virginia is 14-1 and 1-0 in the ACC so a loss wouldn't be devastating. A win would do wonders for its tournament resume but I think people around the country will be impressed if Virginia just plays Duke tough and loses by less than 10 points. Hopefully the boys can put up a good showing.
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BCS TITLE GAME - WHAT WOULD MY EIGHT-TEAM PLAYOFF HAVE LOOKED LIKE?
The college football season ended Monday with an uninspiring 21-0 Alabama win over LSU. The Tigers struggled mightily on offense and the Crimson Tide showed that they probably were the best team in college football this season despite the November overtime loss to LSU. The key word is "probably." We'll never know how an offense like Stanford's or Oklahoma State's would have matched up with a defense like Alabama's or LSU's.
Last year, I set up both an eight-team and 16-team playoff based on the conference champions and BCS standings. Here's what this year's version of my eight-team playoff would have looked like, for the first round.
1. LSU (SEC champion)
vs.
8. West Virginia (Big East champion)
4. Stanford (wild card)
vs.
5. Oregon (Pac 12 champion)
2. Alabama (wild card)
vs.
7. Clemson (ACC champion)
3. Oklahoma State (Big 12 champion)
vs.
6. Wisconsin (Big Ten champion)
The seeding is based on the BCS rankings before the bowl games and the top two teams who didn't win their conference fill out the rest of the bracket (Bama and Stanford). How fun would those games have been to watch? We would get rematches of games played earlier in the year -- LSU vs. West Virginia and Stanford vs.Oregon, plus I bet Oklahoma State and Wisconsin would have put on a great offensive show. Each game can be sponsored by a company, so each game is essentially like a bowl game. I really like this format. I don't know why it wouldn't be used. Money would be flowing out the ear holes of teams' helmets. The rest of the teams which were at least 6-6 could still play all their bowl games like they do now. Only the top 8 would be in the playoff. I feel like there would be less hassling over the BCS then. There would be a more legitimate playoff to determine the national champion. Sure, there would still be arguments over the rankings and who gets the wild card spots, but I think it is better to have that argument than to argue about who gets into one game to determine the champion. Lots of people thought Oklahoma State or Stanford deserved to be in it this year. In the playoff format, they would have gotten a chance to prove they belonged.
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