John Clay's Sidelines

Let’s throw Mark Gottfried some credit. Numerous eyebrows were raised when our good friend Debbie Yow plucked the former Alabama head coach to be her new basketball coach at North Carolina State. More remember Yow’s accusatory rant against Gary Williams, her former coach at Maryland, whom Yow believed was trying to circumvent her search in Raleigh, than they do wo was actually hired for the job.

Anyway, here we are on Jan. 26 and Gottfried has the Wolfpack 4-1 heading into tonight’s matchup with North Carolina. State is but a half-game behind Duke and Florida State in the ACC standings. Gottfried’s team is on a three-game win streak as it plays in Chapel Hill. Check it out at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Tonight’s college basketball schedule on TV:

• 7:00 North Carolina-North Carolina State (ESPN)
• 7:00 Florida-Ole Miss (ESPN2)
• 7:00 Nebraska-Iowa (ESPNU)
• 7:00 Navy-Lehigh (CBS Sports)
• 9:00 Indiana-Wisconsin (ESPN2)
• 9:00 Boston College-Virginia (ESPNU)
• 10:30 Washington State-Arizona (FSN)
• 11:00 Gonzaga-Portland (ESPN2)

When it comes to college basketball on television, it’s former Kentucky coach night. At 7 p.m., you can tune in and find out if Rick Pitino has enough healthy bodies to put on the floor for Louisville to play Villanova. At 8:30, watch Tubby Smith and his Minnesota Gophers attempt to survive the Izzone. Then at 9 p.m., watch Billy Gillispie continue his search for his first Big 12 win at Texas Tech.

If ESPN’s 30 for 30 would do an Eddie Sutton documentary, the night would be set.

There are nine AP Top 25 teams in action tonight, including No. 4 Ohio State, No. 8 Duke and No. 10 Michigan State.

Here’s a look at what’s next for the Top 25:

(AP photo)

If, for some reason, you don’t want to check out Tennessee-Vanderbilt tonight on the tube, you can keep it on ESPN for the Super Tuesday double header where Michigan meets Matt Painter (above) and Purdue at 7, followed by Kentucky-Georgia at 9.

Jimmy Dykes alert: He’s the color analyst on the Cats and Dawgs.

There are five AP Top 25 teams in action, including Kentucky (1), Baylor (6), San Diego State (13), Marquette (17) and Michigan (20).

Click the continue line to get the charts.

Continue reading ‘Tonight’s TV college hoops schedule and Top 25 roundup’

Full slate of games on Saturday. Kentucky-Alabama is a noon game on CBS. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel are the broadcast team. Two of the most disappointing Big East teams, Louisville and Pittsburgh, meet in the ESPN GameDay game.

College basketball recommendations for tonight:

• 1. Vanderbilt at Alabama – Watch Vandy’s Kevin Stallings attempt to coach when his mind is consumed with the fact that Kentucky doesn’t have to play a Thursday/Saturday rotation. (I’ll Tivo 30 Rock.)
• 2. North Carolina at Virginia Tech – If the Tar Heels lose again tonight, will Roy Williams just leave his walk-ons in Blacksburg?
• 3. Wake Forest at Duke – Wake has absolutely no shot in this game. You’ve been warned.

Here are your hoops on the tube tonight:

• Michigan State at Michigan (7:00-ESPN): Could be a huge game in the Big 10 with Michigan State and Illinois tied atop the Big 10 at 4-1 and Ohio State and Michigan right behind at 4-2. Michigan is coming off a home loss to Iowa. The Wolverines are expected to get Jon Horford back from injury, but probably not tonight.
• Georgetown at DePaul (7:00-ESPN2): Quick turnaround for Georgetown, which beat St. John’s 69-49 on Sunday. At 4-2, the Hoyas are in a five-way tie for third in the Big East behind Syracuse (7-0) and surprising Cincinnati (4-1). DePaul is 1-4 in the league after falling at Louisville on Saturday.
• Auburn at LSU (7:00-ESPNU): If LSU has any hope of being an NCAA Tournament team, Trent Johnson’s club must take care of visiting Auburn. LSU is coming off back-to-back road losses at Alabama and Arkansas. After tonight, it travels to Florida and Mississippi State. Auburn won its first league game, beating Ole Miss in double overtime on Saturday.
• Iowa at Purdue (8:00-Big 10): Fresh off a 75-59 win over Michigan, Fran “I’ll Slam A Chair If I Want” McCaffery leads Iowa into West Lafayette to meet the Boilermakers. Purdue is coming off tough 67-62 loss to visiting Wisconsin.
• Arkansas at Kentucky (9:00-ESPN): The host Cats will be looking for their 46th straight home win, their 45th at Rupp Arena. In fact, John Calipari has never lost in the friendly confines as the UK coach. First-year Arkansas coach Mike Anderson is 1-1 against the Cats as a head coach. His UAB team upset top-seed Kentucky in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Arkansas wants to run, run, run. Note: Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes and Shannon Spake comprise the broadcast team tonight.
• Maryland at Florida State (9:00-ESPNU): Can the Seminoles build off the devastation they threw down at North Carolina last Saturday, winning by 33? Leonard Hamilton’s team has won two straight in ACC play. Maryland has won nine of its last 10, but not against the strongest of schedules.

About last night in college hoops:

• Kansas 92, Baylor 74 – Kansas handed visiting Baylor its first loss of the season. Thomas Robinson scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but the real star was senior guard Tyshawn Taylor, who scored 28. Taylor was 10-of-14 from the floor and made four threes. The Jayhawks shot 57.4 percent.
• Syracuse 71, Pittsburgh 63 – The Orange improved to 20-0 for the first time in school history and Jim Boeheim won his 876th game, tying him with UK’s Adolph Rupp for fourth on the all-time win list. Dion Waiters led Syracuse with 16 points. Pittsburgh lost its seventh straight, six of those in Big East play.
• Marquette 74, Louisville 63 – The host Golden Eagles spotted U of L an early 18-2 lead, then roared back to take the win. Louisville was called for 20 fouls, to just 12 for Marquette. So the winners were 16-of-18 from the foul line. Louisville was just four-of-10. Rick Pitino’s club has lost five of its last seven.
• Missouri 70, Texas A&M 51 – Michael Dixon came off the bench to score 18 points and lead Mizzou to its 17th win in 18 games. Missouri and Baylor are now each 4-1, a game behind first-place Kansas (5-0) in the Big 12.