Hoopy Thanksgiving

Sorry for the terribly corny title.

I will be in full Thanksgiving travel mode starting today, so this could be it until Sunday or Monday. At that point, we can probably put together an "at-large watch" board comprised of some teams who have done some early season resume building.

Last Night's GOI
--at St. Mary's 99, Oregon 87. The Gaels led throughout and put up a staggering 61 points in the second half. Attendance: 3,500. Last year's avg: 2,474.
--Missouri 84, Maryland 70. Tigers have made folks take notice in KC...and there is reason to be concerned about the Terps.
--UCLA 68, Michigan State 63. This one will sting Sparty for awhile. They led nearly the entire game before the Bruins dug it out in the waning minutes. A neutral court win over UCLA is the kind of win that makes hay on Selection Sunday.
--Duke 79, Illinois 66. Illini had a good start, but it was all Duke for the last 3/4 of the contest.
--Marquette 91, Oklahoma State 61. Marquette played a stellar game, but it's time for honesty: the Cowboys are not good right now.

Turkey GOI
Wed
--Georgetown at Ball State. No one expects the Fighting Lettermans to win, but we will check attendance here.
--Rhode Island at Boston College. URI is good (5-0). They can show the nation with a win here.
--Louisville at UNLV. Huge home game for the Rebels.
--Michigan vs Butler. The Great Alaska Shootout tips off tonight.
--Duke vs Marquette. For all the Maui marbles.
--Syracuse vs Ohio State. Both have a lot to prove, and can do so in the PNIT.
--Texas A&M vs Washington. Ditto for these two.
Thurs
--Western Kentucky vs Gonzaga. Both have dominated early competition. Zags are a pretty heavy favorite going into this one.
--George Mason vs Kansas State. Both have high hopes and both need to win these kind of games if they have at-large hopes.
--Villanova at UCF. Attendance watch.
Friday
--Florida State at Florida. In-state rivarly alert! Tebow will prove to be too much.
--MASSIVE Early Season Tourney action!
Saturday
--Nebraska at Creighton. In-state rivalry alert!
--New Orleans at Tulane. In-city rivalry alert!
--Nevada at UNLV. In-state rivalry alert!
--More massive tourney action!
Sunday
--Air Force at Washington State. Sludgy pace, beautiful offense.
--Final games of the T-giving tourneys.

Early Season Event Guide

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some links to many of the top early season events for 2007. This comes in handy when planning visits to faraway (or close-to-home) Thanksgiving get-togethers. There is nothing quite like watching Butler or WKU or Siena try to take down a BCS team while suffering (reveling in?) the effects of a turkey coma enhanced with an insulin-spiking pumpkin pie overload. That combo makes one's pancreas curse like Bob Knight after a home loss to Baylor, but it is a November hoops rite of passage.

So, here's to profanity-spouting pancreases everywhere! Enjoy!

Nov 8, 9/15,16: 2k Sports Classic

Nov 12-14/21, 23: Preseason NIT.

Nov 12, 13/19, 20: CBE Classic.

Nov 16-19: Paradise Jam

Nov 15-16, 18: Puerto Rico Shootout

Nov 15-18: Top of the World Classic

Nov 19-21: Maui Invitational

Nov 20-24: Great Alaska Shootout

Nov 22, 23, 25: Anaheim Classic

Nov 22, 23, 25: Old Spice Classic

Nov 17, 18/23, 24: Las Vegas Invitational

Nov26-28: Big Ten/ACC Challenge