Three Point Range

The Big Ten has certainly bounced back from a down year last year, where they had four representatives in March and most traditional powers, like Wisconsin and Indiana, experienced massive down years. This season, there are a lot of very competitive teams and the league figures to have 7-9 bids in March. As always, I would love to discuss the Big Ten on Twitter @ThreePointRange, and I tweet out a lot of live thoughts there, so be sure to follow me. Thoughts - Nebraska is in a pretty bad spot right now. The Cornhuskers are on a four game losing streak and have lost 6 of their last eight, and they just lost forward Isaac Copeland for the rest of the year, which is a huge blow to Tim Miles and company. The Huskers were by no means a deep team, and I don't think they have the depth to withstand this injury to such a key player. The Big Ten offers no easy games, and Nebraska has some tough games coming up with Maryland and Purdue coming up on then schedule. I really think they could ...

There are some exciting games coming up this week in the ACC, with multiple top 25 matchups coming in the week ahead. There are a lot of quality teams, so there are always good matchups, although the conference isn't as deep as it has been. I'm also tweeting about the ACC on Twitter @ThreePointRange, so if you want to discuss it, that's a great place to do it. Thoughts - You gotta feel for Marcquise Reed and Clemson. The senior laden group came into the season with high expectations, and I will get into the Tigers a little more later, but it looked as if they were going to get a big win at North Carolina State. They were up three with 14 seconds left when Reed, a 82% foul shooter this season, got sent to the line. He missed both. Clemson chose to foul up three, a strategy I don't love but that's beside the point, and the Pack made both. Reed got sent back to the foul line, up one, with seven seconds to go. He once again missed both free throws, and Braxton Beverl...

The SEC/Big 12 Challenge was slightly disappointing, but still fun nonetheless. I enjoyed watching all these games, and I really love the inter-conference challenges. They give a lot of great matchups in the non-conference, and always provide some fun matchups and this was no exception. I'll goo through each game and look at how my predictions stacked up, and then give 3 winners and losers from the event. If you want to discuss the Challenge, hit me up on Twitter @ThreePointRange, and let me know your winners and losers. Results Iowa State @ Mississippi Final Score:  Iowa State 87-73 Mississippi My Prediction:  Iowa State 84-80 Mississippi How I Did:  I think I did alright here, although I missed on how good Iowa State is. I've been on board with this team ever since they beat Kansas, and ever since, I've been fully on board. I also think this was a step back for Mississippi's defense, and I'm slightly worried about the Rebels, although I still think they can ...

It was another exciting week in college basketball, with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge providing some excellent game, and conference play continues to go on. We are slowly but surely approaching Selection Sunday, which is both exciting and disappointing, but I have my updated as I really think I'm starting to get a good feel for where a lot of these teams are going to be for the rest of the season. As always, I'm always down to discuss my rankings and all things college basketball on Twitter @ThreePointRange, so be sure to let me know your thoughts. Top 25 1. Tennessee (1) Record: 18-1, 6-0 Last Week: W 88-83 (OT) @ Vanderbilt, W 83-66 vs West Virginia This Week: 1/29 @ South Carolina, 2/2 @ Texas A&M 2. Duke (2) Record:17-2, 6-1 Last Week: W 79-64 @ Pittsburgh, W 66-53 vs Georgia Tech This Week: 1/28 @ Notre Dame, 2/2 vs St. John's 3. Virginia (3) Record: 18-1, 6-1 Last Week: W 68-45 vs Wake Forest, W 82-55 @ Notre Dame This Week: 1/29 @ North Carolina State...

The Big East is always one of the most fun conferences to watch, and this year it is incredibly competitive, with 6 teams sitting on 4 losses at the moment, and it produces some of the best games in the country. I really love watching it as every game is always exciting, and I don't think enough people watch the conference overall. Here's all my thoughts on the conference, and I always love to discuss the conference on Twitter @ThreePointRange, especially as things ramp up during conference play. Thoughts - Villanova has started off conference play undefeated, and a huge reason for that has been the play of their two senior stars, Phil Booth and Eric Paschall. They are both inside the top 10 in scoring in the Big East, with Booth scoring 18.4 points a game and Paschall 16.9. Booth has been absolutely amazing at points this season, almost single-handedly winning games for the Wildcats, like when he scored 28 in a win over Creighton. Paschall is no slouch either, having scored...

The SEC/Big 12 Challenge is in the middle of January, unlike all of the other premier non-conference matchups, and I kind of like the set up. I'll be breaking down every game in the challenge here, and giving my thoughts on what to look for in every game. I'll be posting a review of this, including a look at how I did with my predictions, on Monday, so be sure to come back then. Also, follow me @ThreePointRange on Twitter for live thoughts on the games throughout the day. Iowa State @ Mississippi In arguably the best matchup of the day, the Cyclones come to Mississippi in the a battle of the backcourts. Both of these teams have incredibly talented perimeter players, with Marial Shayok of the Cyclones, who leads the Big 12 in scoring, and Breein Tyree, who is second in the SEC in PPG. This game could very well come down to who makes more threes, which is a recipe for a very fun game, and I'd highly recommend watching. They are both top 30 offensive units, and while Iowa S...

The SEC has long been known as a football conference and Kentucky, but this season, some of the top teams of the country reside in the conference. They may not be top to bottom as good as some of the other conferences, but there is a reasonable argument to be made that the top team in the nation as well as four to five more top 25 squads. Some of the best basketball in the nation is played down south, and it is a very fun conference to watch. Thoughts - Tennessee is currently ranked number one in the country, both by the AP Poll and myself , and it's not hard to see why. They are headlined by Player of the Year candidate Grant Williams, and they have an extremely underrated backcourt. However, I wanted to focus on Kyle Alexander, the starting center for the Vols. He isn't really a big time scorer so he isn't talked about as much as some of his teammates, but he is a very important piece to this team. He is a very good defender, pulling down 7.6 rebounds a game and blocki...

The Big 12 continues to churn out good games and upsets, with no game being a sure thing. Who saw Baylor being 4-2 and sitting at third in the conference? Or West Virginia struggling this badly, but having their lone win coming over Kansas? The Iowa State-Kansas series produced two of the better games of the year thus far, and nearly ever game comes down to the wire. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the conference on Twitter @ThreePointRange, and feel free to interact with me there, and  if you feel so inclined, ask a question, and you could get featured in a blog as two people did this time. Thoughts - Texas Tech has one of the best defenses in the nation, ranking first in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom, and holding every opponent sans Baylor to under one point per possession so far this season. However, their offense really needs some work. Outside of Jarrett Culver, who is on a different level than his teammates, scoring 18.7 points a game, getting 7.1 rebounds, and...

The Big Ten has been such a bloodbath this season, with a lot of teams beating each other up. There are a lot of really good games night in, night out, and while it has a reputation as a defensive league, there is some really good offense here and lots of interesting storylines, including a battle at the top, a ton of parity, and an intense conference player of the year race. Let me know your thoughts on the league @ThreePointRange and enjoy Big Ten hoops. Thoughts - Nojel Eastern has really turned into a huge piece of Purdue's success. His offensive game isn't anything to write home about, but his defense is so key. He draws the opposing teams' best perimeter player, and he's thrived as a stopper. In their 16 point win over Iowa, he completely neutralized Jordan Bohannon and took the Hawkeyes out of everything they wanted to do. More recently, he held Romeo Langford to 2-10 shooting for 4 points in a 15 point victory over the Hoosiers. He's 6'6" and pla...