https://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball/2024/06/rutgers-basketball-player-fractures-foot-heres-how-long-hell-be-out.html

It's Free Talk Friday, talk about whatever.

Remember, all other rules still apply, so try to keep it civil.

So...how's it going?

🥳

https://x.com/NUMensBball/status/1806493747225485802

Are you new to the game? Have "stupid" questions that you're too embarrassed to ask anywhere else? Ask them here! No judgment, we promise.

Source

ESPN

Tell it to my heart. Tell me I'm the only one. Is it love or just.... The Heartland Conference. Qualifying. Now.

Link to today's results - https://organizer.toornament.com/toornament/tournaments/7923072034150014976/

Link to the main hub - https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/1defy0q/introducing_the_college_basketball_world_cup_a/

Round 1:

Recap - Fairly straight forward here, lets get on to it with the main rounds

Round 2:

Group A:

Recap - Kansas runs over the group. Northern Iowa surprises a bit at a 7-3 while Drake is surprising at only 6-4.

Group B:

Recap - Actually a fairly close race here at the top. Creighton wins the group and makes the WC as expected. Oklahoma State came out of nowhere to a 7-3 record. Missouri was fairly competitive but faltered down the stretch. Iowa actually had the best point difference by far in the group, but getting swept by Creighton made it so they ultimately wouldn't qualify this round.

Group C:

Recap - Two team race at the top of the group between the old, Big 8 rivals Oklahoma and Nebraska. After splitting their series OU advanced via point difference. Wichita State's overall performance was worse(check PD) but got the sweep on St Louis to move on. Finally, SEMO gave what might be the worst performance of the tournament so far with a PD of -260. Ouch.

Group D

Recap - Damn. South Dakota State my goodness. They leapt out to a 5-0 start while group favorites Iowa State and Kansas State both stumbled against Missouri State. A 2 game lead half way to go put them into a pretty favorable looking spot. However, from there it was their turn to fall, dropping a shocker to Summit League foe Omaha, who was 0-5 coming in. They followed that up with a loss to Iowa State and from there it was a battle to the end. Neither team would drop a game going forward, bringing us to point difference to send someone to the WC. Both game up the same amount of points, but the Cyclones advanced due to scoring about 40 more. Kansas State moved on through over Missouri State due to the same reasons.

Round 3:

Recap - Man what a fun and even group. For once there's not much to say because well, otherwise I'd be typing all night. Nebraska locked this deal up with a game to spare, which they for sure did spare because South Dakota State lept back into the picture to get a win on them. Nebby's 4 out of their 5 wins came in games decided by 5 points or less, and those critical wins pushed them through into an interconference playoff game.

That's another one in the books. Moving on through are Kansas, Creighton, Oklahoma, and Iowa State, who all now await their World Cup draws. Meanwhile, Nebraska is on tap to find out who they will be facing off against for one of the final spots in the tournament. I will see you all soon for the Lonestar Draw.

All according to Jon Rothstein on Twitter

KU Home and Away: UCF, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State

Home: Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia

Away: Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, TCU, Utah

ISU Home and Away: Arizona, UCF, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado

Home: Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, TCU, Utah

Away: Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Arizona Home and Away: Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Iowa State, Texas Tech

Home: UCF, Colorado, Houston, TCU, Utah

Away: Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia

Congratulations to the Arkansas Tigers-Wildcats-Razorbacks on their continued success!

I mean, I know he sits across from him on FT but come on. This from a man what wants $25m a year. He’s not even trying to sound rational anymore.

I think Duquesne’s jerseys are just “good” C-Tier jerseys, our away unis are just plain and our home jerseys are actually a Nike template.

Which rubs me the wrong way because why should a Division-I school use the same site as high schools?

But to stop myself from getting sidetracked, I wanted to see what school needs better jerseys? Or what jersey should be brought back?

Isaiah Collier was drafted with pick #29 which is the worst draft performance since 05 #1 Josh McRoberts went 2nd round in 2007 after a injury plagued 2 year career at duke.

Other notable #1 recruits who fell- Skal Labissière #28, 2016

Nick Smith Jr #27, 2023

Who are some players who were ranked really highly, like a high 4-5 star recruit, who never panned out in college? Who do you think was the biggest bust? This is based off of rankings from high school, compared to how they performed in college, not the NBA.