McDonald's Nuggets: Playoff idea, Michigan's big week, more
This week’s edition of McDonald's Nuggets includes a hypothetical postseason idea for college hoops, Michigan’s big recruiting win, the team of the week, and more gambling picks.
WHAT'S ON MY MIND: What if college hoops was like college football?
What if college basketball post-season looked like the College Football Playoff?
Right now, there are 130 college football teams that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Only four of them are chosen by a committee to play in the College Football Playoff (CFP) each year. That means one out of every 32.5 teams can potentially play for a national championship.
In college basketball, there are 347 teams in Division 1 and 68 of them are chosen by a committee to play in the NCAA Tournament. That means basically one out of every five teams makes it to the Big Dance. What if that ratio looked more like football and only 12 teams (one out of every 28.9 teams) made it to the NCAA Tournament every year?
In that scenario, last year’s NCAA Tournament teams would have been Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan State, LSU, Purdue, Houston and Texas Tech. Yes, that means Texas Tech, the runner-up for the championship, would have barely made it into the NCAA Tournament. That also means Auburn’s Final Four run never happens as the Tigers were a 5-seed. Just a crazy thought that ran through my mind while watching the CFP games last weekend.
COMMIT OF THE WEEK: Michigan doubles up
In the last column two weeks ago, I talked about the possibility of Juwan Howard adding two pretty important pieces to his program. Well, it happened, and it happened a little quicker than I thought it would as both Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams committed to Michigan.
With the most recent additions, Michigan now has commitments from five-star forward Isaiah Todd and four-star point guard Zeb Jackson to go along with Dickinson and Williams, who are both four-star prospects. Dickinson gives Michigan a real presence inside. At 7-foot-1, he’s a capable scorer in the block offensively and he’ll do all the dirty work defensively on the boards as well as protecting the rim. Williams, a 6-foot-6 small forward, also brings a toughness to the program. He’s a very good athlete and will be a threat from three-point range as well.
What the new staff in Ann Arbor has done in putting together the No. 4 overall class is nothing short of incredible. The only schools currently ranked ahead of Michigan are Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina. Most people expected Howard to recruit well because of his background and his personality, but I doubt many expected the only coaches to be ranked of him in his first year would be John Calipari, Mike Krzyzewski, and Roy Williams.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Kentucky
Coming off back-to-back losses to Utah and Ohio State, Calipari’s Kentucky team really needed a win. With Louisville coming to town, that was easier said than done, but the Wildcats made the key plays down the stretch to pull of a big overtime win.
This feels like the type of win that could be the start of Kentucky rolling through the SEC over the next couple months. Freshman guard Tyrese Maxey was an absolutely warrior for Big Blue playing 40 minutes collecting 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. His backcourt mate Ashton Hagans played 43 minutes with 8 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, but it’s his defense that makes him such a valuable player for Kentucky.
Going forward though, it’s huge if the Wildcats can get double-doubles out of Nick Richards. Kentucky needs a consistent interior presence to go along with all the backcourt firepower if they are going to make a run to Atlanta in early April.
GAMBLING PICKS
We opened with 2-2 week in the last column and we were very close to a 3-1 if Marquette could have given us one more bucket. This week’s Friday night slate is pretty strong, so let’s get right to it. I like Ohio State (-10.5) to bounce back from the loss to West Virginia with a comfortable win at home over Wisconsin. Let’s also take OVER 124 here too as I’m expecting a score in the range of 75-60. Houston (-10.5) played really well in its trip to Hawaii over Christmas break and I look for that to continue with a big home win over UCF. Let’s take Rutgers (-2.5) to win with plenty of room to spare at Nebraska. This Scarlet Knights team is tough as nails and just beat a really good Seton Hall team by 20. Sticking with favorites, I like Temple (-2) to go into Tulsa and win by a few buckets.