Welcome to the latest edition of Talking Hoops With Ted Sarandis. It hasn’t been all that long since our last podcast, but there are a few things to talk about since that time as conference play picks up.
Our first subject is a great game in Ann Arbor on Thursday night between Purdue and Michigan. Michigan won in double overtime, but Purdue had a chance to win at the end of regulation, so this was a real missed opportunity for them. Michigan, meanwhile won without Isaiah Livers, who remains out with a groin injury. We also talk a little about the rest of the Big Ten, including Rutgers’ play and the depth of the conference.
From there we talk about two traditionally great programs that are falling on hard times this season. Could North Carolina and Syracuse be on their way to a losing season? It would be shocking enough for one of them to have such a season, but both in the same year? It could happen. While Syracuse has been trending down for a few years, largely coinciding with the departure of Mike Hopkins to become the head coach at Washington, North Carolina won a national championship less than three years ago. This also spurs some talk about the ACC, which is down this year.
We then get into some of Wednesday night’s results, with a quick mention of undefeated teams Auburn and San Diego State, but more about teams like Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Duquesne and Illinois who had notable wins on the night.
Finally, we talk about Texas, who has now lost three of four including to Oklahoma at home. The Longhorns had a promising start to the season and still have a nice record, but they need to start winning some games, especially against better teams as they are trending in the wrong direction and may need a little more than just their early win at Purdue.
We close by looking ahead to some interesting games, including a big one on Friday night as Butler visits a resurgent Providence team, which also spurs some conversation about the Big East.
We hope you enjoy the podcast and share it with your fellow college basketball fans. Be sure to tune in again next week when talk about college basketball once again.
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