Quick Hits 11/20

NBA

Note to the NBA: Stop showing the same teams over and over again! Every year, the geniuses that set the NBA’s TV schedule select about 6-10 teams to play on TV everyday. This year, the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Nuggets, Bulls, Blazers, Heat, Rockets, Mavs, Cavs Spurs and Suns are always on TV.

Good teams from last year, like the Hornets, Raptors and Jazz, and up-and-coming teams like Atlanta and the Knicks (yes, they seems to be playing exciting ball under D’Antoni) are never one. I would love to write about what’s wrong with the 5-5 Hornets, but I’ve only seen them play once; a Saturday night game on NBA TV versus the Heat, which they won.

C’mon Stern, give the fans some diversity on the tube.

NCAA Football

In college football, Newton’s law is the law of the land, especially if BCS implications are on the line. I’m bringing this up to foreshadow what might (and probably will) happen if Texas Tech loses on the road against Oklahoma on Saturday. Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma would then finish with one loss a piece, to each other, which basically says that they are fairly even – which they are.

Their fate would then be determined by the pollsters and computers, via the BCS, to see which team would square off against Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game with the BCS title on the line.

I love it. Because the team that will probably come out on top is the team that actually played tough non-conference competition. Without the BCS, teams would just load up on creampuffs and I-AA (I’m still against the whole FBS and FCS b.s.) schools in non-conference play. At least this system forces teams to schedule decent competition, or face the wrath of Jeff Sagarin.

Texas Tech played four non-conference games: 2 home games against I-AA competition (Eastern Washington from the Big Sky, whom they defeated 49-24, and UMASS from the CAA, whom they defeated 56-14), played Nevada on the road (35-19) and crushed SMU at home (43-7). That’s horrible.

Texas played no I-AA schools in their four non-conference games. They had a road romp over UTEP, 42-13, and three home victories over Florida Atlantic, Rice and Arkansas, all with the score of 52-10. Rice is 1st in their division in Conference USA.

Oklahoma crushed one of the worst teams in I-AA, Chattanooga (57-2), whipped possible Big East champ Cincinnati at home (52-26), crushed Pac-10 doormat Washington on the road (55-14) and handled #24 TCU (35-10) at home.

So if Texas Tech loses, they’re done. That creates an interesting scenario between Texas and Oklahoma. Texas defeated Oklahoma and played no I-AA schools. This should give them the edge in the polls, but who knows how the computer will rank Oklahoma’s victories over TCU and ‘Nati.

Florida vs. Texas in the national championship? Sounds good to me.