I’m just as excited as the next guy to watch the winningest quarterback of all time face off against the greatest barbecue connoisseur of all time, but before we dive into Super Bowl picks and prop bets, let’s preview some marquee college hoops matchups…and Wyoming. We’re finally in February–close to the greatest 3 weeks in sports.
CSU@Wyoming 2/4 and 2/6
Wyoming affirmed our beliefs that they are a young team still building toward competing in the near future. They got their keesters kicked by SDSU last week and it wasn’t close, but they still have something to prove with a visit from the Cesspool of Sin University this week. As a greedy Pokes fan, I’d love a sweep; but as a realist, a home split where we show some fight would be best case Ontario.
2/3-LSU@No.10 Bama
Alabama lost a tough one on the road @Oklahoma during the Big12/SEC challenge, which is acceptable, but hopefully the talking heads will stop calling them a Final Four team. LSU choked away a win against Texas Tech, but Mac McClung and Terrence Shannon Jr. have been breaking hearts all season long. Bama waxed the Tigers by 30 last time these two teams played and I have a feeling the line will be somewhere around Alabama -4.5 to -5.5. The Tigers will keep it close, maybe sprinkle the moneyline, but the over may be the play here. GEAUX TIGERS.
2/4-No. 7 OSU@No. 8 Iowa
I feel like the B1G has a marquee matchup every night and has been as compelling as the Big12 without the intraconference notoriety. Go ahead and give the Wooden Award to Luka Garza, it’s a no brainer, but OSU has won 6 of their last 7 with E.J. Liddell filling it up for them, including a double-double against ranked Illinois last month. It’ll be interesting to see what the line-makers say about this one, but I expect both teams to score a million.
2/5-Billy FootballvsJose Canseco R’n’R/Richmond@Dayton
Pound for pound, I’ll take the Big East and the A-10 over the Pac-12 and SEC. Both Richmond and Dayton should be tournament worthy teams, but will probably be snubbed for Arkansas or some middling program with an obnoxious coach pounding the table for them to make the tourney. I think Richmond will be favored which makes me want to take the home dawg Fliers. Meanwhile, the Rough ‘n’ Rowdy main event between Billy Football and Jose Canseco will be a must watch, and I’m hammering over .5 times Jose craps his pants in the ring. It will also be funny if a roided out Jose Canseco knocks him out in 10 seconds. Can’t wait.
2/6-No. 10 Bama@No.18 Mizzou
No.19 Wisconsin@No.12Illinois
St. Bonaventure@St. Louis
No. 21 UCLA@USC
We will learn more from Alabama with their matchup against LSU on Wednesday, but I’ll be interested to see how Mizzou bounces back from a loss at Auburn and needing overtime to beat a TCU team without a marquee win. The Tigers have a lot to prove, but I’m leaning Bama.
Wisconsin’s lineup could be in an old folks home babysitting the Chicago Bull’s starting lineup, but they still make head scratching mistakes us Wyoming fans are accustomed to this year. The Illini are finally playing up to their potential and I expect them to stay hot.
You could watch Kansas vs. West Virginia in this time slot instead of the Bonnies vs the Billikens…but you’re a loser if you do. You’d be choosing a team who laid an egg vs Tennessee and the most polarizing team in the country over a classic A-10 matchup. We know who Kansas and West Virginia are, but let’s learn a bit about some mid-majors instead.
Our night cap ends with 2 Pac-12 teams who I have no clue about. The conference struggled at the beginning of the season with Covid-19 and postponements, but finally seems to have things under control. I can already hear Bill Walton trying to justify the Pac-12 as the “conference of champions”, and annoying Dave Pasch with some irrelevant fact about Vuvuzelas while USC is down 3 with 2:15 to go. The dude’s a national treasure. UCLA I guess.
2/7 (before the Super Bowl of course) Xavier@No.3 Villanova
Xavier feels like they are getting no respect for an 11-2 team in the Big East. They were dawgs to Butler for some unknown reason last weekend and have been struggling with Covid-19 postponements. This seems like a typical spot for Xavier to pull off an upset, so I’ll go with the man in the suit pick and hammer Villanova. Regardless, this will be a great pre-game before the Big Game.
2/8 Ok. State@No. 23 Kansas
Part of the reason I didn’t choose Kansas@WVU was because I couldn’t stomach putting them on this list twice after the slobberknocking they took from Tennessee last weekend (thank you for at least putting up 60 to get to the over though, I appreciate that). Both teams are clearly going to the tournament, but gun-to-head I’d take Ok. State to make a deeper run while the Jayhawks make their routine early-round exit. I’m leaning Ok. State, but I might not touch this game.
2/9 No. 17WVU@No. 13Texas Tech
Both teams will have warm-up games after coming off losses before this matchup. There’s nothing wrong with West Virginia’s loss to Florida this last weekend, but it was a chance for them to prove themselves heading down the stretch. They have the ability to beat anybody in the country, but will struggle against teams with “lenth” and “strenth” such as Baylor. This will be another great game, but I like Tech to split the season series.
A courtesy flush:
Thank you everyone who has followed along with these ridiculous posts. We’re already at 12 blogs and I can’t wait to do more. It’s been a tough year for everyone, but I appreciate the support. As we continue to build a following, I’d like to make more content with some of you, so reach out with ideas.
The Morning Flush 