MN WildcatWed, November 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM UTC·9 min readMORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST MORE FEAST
You ever have that moment where you look around and wonder if it’s only you left?
Yeah, me neither.
Here is what I wrote yesterday—drafted on Monday night—about the Players Era Festival:
Maryland Terrapins 74, UNLV Rebels 67
There were approximately 50 people in the stands for this game. How is this tournament—with its NIL payouts enticing teams and the Big XII taking an ownership stake and promising 8 teams yearly—going to ever be profitable? Is the Saudi PIF involved?
Jesus, that’s totally going to be it, isn’t it?
Well, dear reader:
This is your reminder that you get this website and those fucking prescient takes for absolutely goddamn free.
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Bonesaw Invitational Players Era Festival, Brought to You by the PIF#7 Michigan Wolverines 102, #21 Auburn Tigers 72
#12 Gonzaga Bulldogs 100, Maryland Terrapins 61
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 68, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 63
San Diego State Aztecs 97, Oregon Ducks 80
What to make of all of these things, collectively? Well, the Big Ten the football conference and the Big Ten the basketball conference might just be rather similar—extremely top-heavy (Purdue and Michigan), with a lot of “ehhhh” beneath them.
Some of that, here, was matchup: Maryland shouldn’t be in the same zip code as Gonzaga.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSome of that, here, was mediocrity: Rutgers is terrible and shouldn’t be allowed outside New Jersey on principle.
Some of that, here, was that Oregon is just not very good.
And man, did we see in Vegas that there might not be as many bids for the conference as the 11-12 Lunardi is currently projecting. (Oregon as a 9-seed! In The Crown, maybe!)
Also: Michigan should be a Top 5 team by next week. Goddamn.
Fort Myers Tip-Off#11 Michigan State Spartans 89, East Carolina Pirates 56
This is a dumb, contrived tournament. If you want MSU and UNC to play a neutral site, just do that. There was no reason this had to happen.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMaui InvitationalUSC Trojans 83, Seton Hall Pirates 81
Another good, nail-biter win for a USC team that’s going to play itself firmly into the Dance if it’s not careful. I don’t know how they keep doing it, but I’m sure it’s fine. The Trojans get old Pac-12 friend Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils today in the title game.
Acrisure ClassicIowa Hawkeyes 74, Ole Miss Rebels 69
Bennett Stirtz scored 29 points and turned the ball over once. He was 6/8 from deep—though just 9/20 from the field. Only one other Hawkeye, frosh forward Cooper Koch, scored in double-digits (he had a 14 and 10 double-double).
I don’t know how Iowa’s doing it or if it’s sustainable, but Ben McCollum’s playing the right notes right now.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd also: fuck Chris Beard.
Mizzen+Main Empire ClassicCalifornia Golden Bears 80, #18 UCLA Bruins 72
OH YEAH THAT’S MAD DOG’S MUSIC
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Look, UCLA was missing both Tyler Bilodeau and lost Donovan Dent late to injury. But the Bruins’ offense looked anemic and its defense—Mick Cronin cited just 20 deflections in his postgame comments—struggled with a Cal offense that found its hot shooting.
That this was a neutral-site instead of a home-and-home was dumb, but it was a fun enough atmosphere in San Francisco and a loss that, for UCLA, should spark a little searching. They’ve got a week to get healthy, which they desperately need—it’s at Washington, vs. Oregon, vs. Gonzaga, and vs. Arizona State over two weeks beginning on December 3.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAll the Rest#25 Indiana Hoosiers 86, Kansas State Wildcats 69
A nice home win for the Hoosiers, who held PJ Haggerty to 16 points and forced him into 6 turnovers. Indiana shot 29 free throws in this sloppy whistle-fest and made 22—Reed Bailey was 13/15 from the line by himself, while Tayton Conerway turned it over 7 times out of the Hoosiers’ 17 giveaways (to 19 for K-State).
Not pretty, and still not a team with a huge inside presence to test Indiana, but a good win.
Ohio State Buckeyes 113, Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers 60
Penn State Nittany Lions 96, Boston Terriers 87
Penn State did not lose this basketball game and forced Boston to play at their tempo, and let’s let that be the end of it.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNebraska Cornhuskers 80, Winthrop Eagles 73
31 for Rienk Mast on 7/10 shooting from deep is a hell of a night, and the Huskers needed damn near every bit of it. Winthrop shoots the goddamn ball aggressively, and the Huskies responded in kind in a clang-fest: Winthrop was 13/42 from deep, while Nebraska was 13/38. That’s 26/80, by my public school math, and that’s a lot.
Not a clean game on the glass from Nebraska, who trailed by four at halftime and allowed 17 of a possible 45 offensive boards, but a win over a Big South contender who will hover around the Kenpom Top 100 for a while.
What’s next?
Maui Invitational Championship
USC Trojans vs. Arizona State Sun Devils1:30pm | ESPN | USC -5.5 | O/U 164.5
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI guess I’m a little curious why ESPN would put this as a 1:30pm tip—9:30am local time!—but I’m not the one who makes decisions, I’m just a guy overseeing a crumbling blog empire.
Anyway, I remain firmly convinced that the Mussel Man cannot keep getting away with this, but until proven otherwise, I’ll take the Trojans by 2.
Bonesaw Jamboree
Championship#7 Michigan Wolverines vs. #12 Gonzaga Bulldogs8:30pm | TNT | Zags -1.5 | O/U 161.5 | MGM Grand Garden
Yeah, I mean, this is about as good as it gets for this tournament. Both these teams ran it up on their opponents to earn(?) their place in the finals, and this is—annoyingly—a really interesting matchup: Graham Ike and Braden Huff have the size and physicality to not be cowed by Michigan’s frontcourt, but Yaxel & Co. are just playing that well right now.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSome sort of consolation bullshitMaryland Terrapins vs. #8 Alabama Crimson Tide10:59pm | TNT | Bama -13.5 | O/U 164.5 | MGM Grand Garden
The idea that Maryland gets to be the sacrificial lamb in the follow-up game played in the MGM Grand Garden is, for some reason, really amusing to me. The Turtles went out west and got to play zero games at a time remotely palatable for their fans back east, instead tipping off at midnight each night.
As a conossieur of terrible basketball, I love it. As a miser and sadist who holds no love for the Terrapins, I love it even more.
Acrisure Classic Championship
Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Grand Canyon Lopes8:30pm | CBSSN | Iowa -8.5 | O/U 147
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSomewhere around the third Big Hearted IIPA last night, I stopped paying attention to Grand Canyon’s win over Utah, but the Utes are only the fourth-best team in the state this year—Utah Valley is sneaky fun and decent—so this is about as good as the Acrisure could’ve gotten in their championship.
The Lopes play defense and get a nightly double-double out of Nana Owusu-Anane, but they are offensively-challenged—0/10 from three last night! it was horrible!—and might well play right into Iowa’s plodding, greasy, chewing tobacco-stained hands.
Sure, I woke up and had another Big Hearted, why do you ask?
Also, old friend Wilhelm Breidenbach starts for the Lopes, so let’s enjoy one last go-round with our furry, bespectacled old friend.
Here’s your open thread for the day’s hoops. Games start as early as 10am down in Fort Myers with Troy-Saint Francis and VMI-Bowling Green, if you’re one of the seven people who subscribes to FloCollege.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOtherwise, some things of note (and I’ve bolded games of interest):
Coconut Hoops
Toledo vs. Belmont [12:30pm, FloCollege]
Oral Bob’s vs. Rice [2:30pm, FloCollege]
Kennesaw vs. FGCU [6pm, FloCollege]
Battle 4 Atlantis
#24 Vanderbilt vs. Western Kentucky [11am, ESPN]
VCU vs. South Florida [1:30pm, ESPN2] — two faaaaast teams. Point total is 172.5 (VCU -2.5). Should be fun!
Virginia Tech vs. Colorado State [4pm, ESPNU]
Saint Mary’s vs. Wichita State [6:30pm, ESPN2]
Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events
Towson vs. UC San Diego [11am, ESPN2]
FuckLiberty vs. Bradley [1:30pm, ESPNU]
Vermont vs. Princeton [4pm, ESPN+]
Rhode Island vs. Temple [6:30pm, ESPNU]
Bonesaw Invitational
Syracuse vs. #15 Iowa State [12pm, TNT]
Notre Dame vs. #3 Houston [2:30pm, TNT]
Kansas vs. #17 Tennessee [6pm, TNT].
#14 St. John’s vs. #21 Auburn ewwwww [7pm, truTV]
Baylor vs. San Diego State [9:30pm, truTV]
Maui Invitational — all the rest
Seton Hall vs. Washington State [4:30pm, ESPN2]
#23 NC State vs. Texas [8:30pm, ESPN2]
Boise State vs. Chaminade [10:59pm, ESPN2]
Acrisure Holiday Invitational, not to be confused with the other Acrisure Thing
Loyola vs. San Jose State [1pm, truTV] — Loyola is 1-6(!!!!) so far. Goddamn. And our old friend Tim Miles is scuffling along at 2-4 in San Jose. Ew. I can’t wait to watch this.
Northern Iowa vs. Tulsa [3:30pm, truTV, Championship Game] — UNI, meanwhile, is 6-0 with wins over Irvine and Loyola. Tulsa’s only got a 1-point loss to K-State and has beaten Rhode Island and Oral Bob’s House of Learnin’. Evenly matched teams, should be a great mid-major showdown.
Acrisure Series, YET ANOTHER ACRISURE TOURNAMENT, but only one game?
Pepperdine vs. Fresno State [6pm, CBSSN]
Acrisure Classic, what the fuck are we doing here
Utah vs. Ole Miss [10:59pm, CBSSN]
Holiday Hoops — in Boise, Idaho!
Sam Houston vs. Idaho State [5:30pm, ESPN+]
CSU Northridge vs. Idaho [8pm, ESPN+]
Just Good, Old-Fashioned Basketball
UMass Lowell at Stonehill [11am, NEC Front Row] — maybe the worst game of the day. On a free streaming platform. I cannot wait.
Brown at New Hampshire [12pm, ESPN+]
UIC at Robert Morris [1pm, ESPN+]
Appalachian State vs. Mercer [1pm, ESPN+]
Omaha vs. FIU [1pm, ESPN+]
UNC Greensboro at Miami-Ohio [1pm, ESPN+]
Army vs. Fairleigh Dickinson [1pm, NEC Front Row]
Columbia at Fairfield [6pm, ESPN+]
Indiana State at Louisiana Tech [6:30pm, ESPN+]
Southern Illinois at Memphis [7pm, ESPN+]
SEMO State at Northern Arizona [7pm, ESPN+]
Long Beach State at Portland [9pm, ESPN+]
Behave.
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