Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid, exciting time in college basketball as college
00:04football gets ready to wrap up and our focus goes to the hardcore. Let's bring in Michael
00:08DeCourcy from Sporting News and review some of the games that we saw last night. And Michael,
00:13I'm excited about this. My alma mater seems to be one of the best teams in the country,
00:17at least thus far. My Gators, they win 90 to 84 against North Carolina yesterday.
00:23They've been nothing but stellar to start the season here. And I wonder, Mike, is this legit?
00:27Is this real? Because the more they play and play against good competition, by the way,
00:33gets them ready for the SEC. Are the Gators one of those teams that we could see at the end
00:37of the regular season getting a one or a two seed in the NCAA tournament?
00:42Well, I think they're very good, but they have had the advantage of playing teams that are just
00:48below or maybe a little bit less than that, the top echelon. They'll play top echelon when they
00:55get into the SEC. Kentucky and Auburn, Alabama are all outstanding. And if they can fare well
01:02against those opponents, that would be significant for them. I like their team. They move the
01:08basketball well. They shoot it well. They have size inside. I thought they did a really nice job
01:14against Carolina of establishing what the game was going to be about. And Carolina had to be
01:19a bit frantic with their offense. I mean, they ended up scoring. Carolina scored very well.
01:25R.J. Davis got it going, but they needed to be perfect down the stretch to hang with what Florida
01:30was bringing. Carolina could not guard them without fouling. So I like their team. But one
01:36of the things about this SEC, honestly, Craig, is that the scheduling has been genius. The teams
01:43like Auburn and Alabama that can handle it have gone out and challenged the biggest heavyweights
01:48that are out there. And the teams like Florida and Oklahoma that are very good, but maybe not
01:56elite, aren't taking big risks in non-conference. And it's paying off very well for them.
02:03Yeah. So far, so good. Can't complain. Will Richards has been great. 22 points,
02:07three threes last night, eight for 10 from the field, five rebounds as well for him. All right.
02:12Now, as far as Duke's game last night against George Mason, not a surprise. They win big.
02:17Cooper Flagg, another really strong game for them. 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists,
02:22and three steals. And here we are in December, and we've got a couple of players here that are
02:28dead even to win the Wooden Award in Broom and Flagg. And, you know, we have so, so many more
02:35games to play, Mike. Like, it's really hard to handicap this. Cam Jones is still in the mix, too.
02:40But it is unusual to see two players that are this close at this time of the year. Again,
02:46we're a couple of months into the season now. Yeah. I hear a lot of conversation around games,
02:52analysts, play-by-play, saying that Jani Broome is the sort of the clubhouse leader for player
02:58of the year. But I was in Cameron Indoor Stadium when they were on the same floor,
03:02and there wasn't much doubt about which player was superior. Now, Auburn is having a superior
03:08season and probably will in the end, and that'll help Jani. It'll be interesting to see whether
03:13Cooper Flagg can justify those odds. He's going to continue to perform, there's no doubt.
03:20Can Duke justify those odds, I think, is really more the question. And with the way the ACC has
03:25performed in non-conference, I think that Duke should dominate. I don't know that they have any
03:32excuses for not putting up a really big number in terms of victories in ACC play. And if they do,
03:38then Cooper can stay in that conversation with Broome. But Auburn's going to be playing at the
03:43top of the ACC. They'll be first, second, third. They may need to be first or second in order for
03:49Jani to win the trophy, but they'll be in that neighborhood. They're an excellent team.
03:53Yeah. I want to move ahead from the ACC and take a look at their standings here,
03:58because there's one team I wanted to ask you about, which I find fascinating.
04:02So Duke is minus 230 right now to win the ACC. Pitt is right there. But Mike,
04:08the story in college sports for the conference has to be SMU, not just for the success they've
04:14had on the football field, but also on the basketball court. I mean, here they are,
04:18they're nine and two on the season as well, followed by Stanford and Clemson. And by the way,
04:23SMU, 24 to one, those odds are not all that long considering where we are in the season.
04:29It's pretty remarkable. The Stanford number really surprises me. But Kyle Smith is an
04:36outstanding coach. He's already made a huge difference there. But SMU has been one of the
04:42stories of this season. You're absolutely right, Craig. Bought their way essentially into the ACC
04:47a year ago by agreeing not to take any television payout. I believe it's for nine years. That's a
04:53long time to go without any television money. But they so desperately wanted to be at the highest
04:59level and they were not going to get their playing in the American Conference. So a smart move,
05:05certainly, if you can afford it by SMU administration. But to have this much impact,
05:11I mean, they hired Andy Enfield away from USC. Andy has been a terrific coach at FGCU as well as
05:17USC. And now at SMU, he's big on the initials, if you know what I mean. But he's done a great
05:24job with those guys early on. I think we'll see a little bit return to normalcy. I think Carolina
05:29will surge up a little bit, at least relative to the league. I'm not sure how they'll do nationally,
05:35but I think they'll get back into the thick of things as we get closer toward the end of
05:40conference play. They showed last night there's still talent there, but they're going to have
05:45to rebound better. I like what SMU has done. I like what Pitt has done. But Duke is the clear
05:51favorite, as that number describes. I'm not an odds maker, but I would say, as I mentioned before,
05:58that Duke should be looking at a significant number of conference victories. There will be
06:03leagues where, like the Big Ten, 13 or 14 might win it out of 20. But Duke should be well in advance
06:12of that when they get through league play. All right, another marquee matchup for the Wolverines
06:17on the court. Of course, after their loss to Arkansas, they now have a chance to make up
06:22for that tonight against Oklahoma. Once again, their favorites, two and a half point favorites
06:26in the Jumpman Invitational. Total of 151 and a half. They'll feel a lot better if they win this
06:31one tonight, Mike. But again, short odds on this. Yeah, it's a challenge. I mean, Oklahoma has played
06:37really well. They're an excellent team in terms of organization and playing together.
06:43What will be interesting, every team that plays Michigan has to deal with the two seven-footers.
06:48There aren't many teams that can put two seven-foot guys on the floor and not suffer defensively.
06:54But Danny Wolf is such a dynamic athlete, and then Golden, excuse me, Golden, Vlad Golden,
07:01protects the rim so well that it works. So whether Oklahoma can handle that will be interesting to
07:07watch. Mike, thanks again for coming on Newswire. Really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your week
07:11and happy holidays. Happy holidays.