Armadillo: Friday's six-pack
Finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the best college point guard:
— Nigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga
— Monte Morris, Iowa State
— Frank Mason, Kansas
— De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky
— Melo Trimble, Maryland
— Joel Berry, North Carolina
— Dennis Smith, NC State
— Lonzo Ball, UCLA
— Jalen Brunson, Villanova
— Markelle Fultz, Washington
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Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: College basketball thoughts
Thursday night’s card of college basketball wasn’t a good set of games. Here is some info from both Wednesday/Thursday’s college hoop games.
Late Update:
Most of Thursday’s best action was after midnight:
— UTEP 63, UAB 59— Other than Middle Tennessee State, C-USA isn’t very good.
— Cal Poly 74, Cal-Davis 70— Fairly big upset in the Big West.
— Oregon 71, Arizona State 70— Sun Devils played their hearts out, came up little short.
— St Mary’s 74, Pacific 70— Gaels got up 17 fairly early, then let gritty Pacific back in it.
— California 77, Utah 75, 2OT’s— Utah didn’t score in last 3:26 of regulation.
— Gonzaga 85, BYU 75— Zags remain undefeated; they’re 23-0, and haven’t trailed once in their last 13 games.
13) Belmont 81, Murray State 69— Bruins are now 11-0 in OVC; this was Rick Byrd’s first win at Murray State- tough place to play. Going forward, Belmont still has to win OVC tourney to get into the NCAA’s, so there will be pressure on them in the conference tournament, even though they’re unbeaten in league play.
12) TCU 86, Kansas State 80 OT— Horned Frogs are 4-5 in Big X, which doesn’t seem like much, until you realize that TCU was 8-64 in conference games the last four years. Jamie Dixon is in the chase for National Coach of the Year.
11) VCU 81, Richmond 74— This is a crosstown rivalry that is fun to watch; Spiders have closed the gap with VCU this year in terms of athleticism, but Spiders’ bounciest guys are freshmen. Rematch is February 17, a Friday night with no NBA games that night. Good TV exposure.
10) Florida 93, Missouri 54— Mizzou is awful, just a terrible team. Let me be the first person to promote NC-Wilmington coach Kevin Keatts for the Missouri job. He is a Pitino protege, and he has built UNCW up into a CAA power in only three years. Tigers need a new direction.
9) Charleston 67, NC-Wilmington 66- Speaking of which, Keatts’ Seahawks got beat last night, are now tied for first in CAA with Charleston.
8) Arizona 71, Oregon State 54— Beavers led by a hoop at halftime, but then reality set in. Sean Miller signed a contract extension thru 2022 this week, a reward for the great job he’s done this season. Oregon State needs to get healthier and more experienced.
7) Mike Krzyzewski will be back on the bench for Duke Saturday when the Blue Devils host the skidding Pitt Panthers. Duke was 4-3 in his absence.
6) Indiana 110, Penn State 102 3OT’s— You lose in triple OT and shoot 17-29 on foul line, you have no one to blame but yourself.
5) USC 82, Washington 74— Huskies ended first half on 15-0 run, led by 10 at half, but Trojans had solid comeback— this was an uplifting win for them. Washington is where LSU was LY; they have a great freshman but their team stinks and Fultz will be in the NBA at this time next season.
4) Syracuse 100, NC State 93 OT— John Gillon was 9-10 on arc, 14-14 on foul line; how good would Colorado State be if they had him this year? Gillon has 56 points in his last two games, going 27-28 on the charity stripe.
Gillon is on his third college, by the way; he played a year at Little Rock, two at Colorado State and now Syracuse. You have to wonder about guys like that- do they just bolt at the first sign of adversity? Katin Reinhardt is also a 3-school guy, playing for Marquette this season, after playing for UNLV/USC.
3) Kansas 73, Baylor 68— Game was 64-all with 2:40 left; Baylor is better than people think. Jayhawks are very hard to beat at home.
2) Game of the Night: Towson 104, Drexel 103, 2OT’s— Towson was 37-50 on the foul line; Davis had 19 points, 17 rebounds in 34 minutes and he didn’t start.
1— Nebraska retired Cavaliers’ coach Tyronn Lue’s #10 jersey at halftime of their game with Michigan State last night. Last 12 months have been pretty good for coach Lue.