Poll Dancing: TBI's College Basketball Top 25 (Nov. 24 Edition)

Not really much time for a witty intro or pretty pictures on this week's Poll Dancing, we're just going to hit up the Faceplants and get on with it. Strap in.


Faceplants: #17 Colorado, #20 UConn, #25 SMU
--Despite the amount of respect I have for what Larry Shyatt's building at Wyoming (and the massive mancrush TBI harbors for Larry Nance Jr.), I can't keep CU in the top 25 after the sheer ineptitude it displayed in Laramie. For UConn, it boils down to the head-to-head. I can't leave the Huskies in and keep West Virginia out...yet. As for SMU, they miss Markus Kennedy quite a bit, but they miss last year's Nic Moore just as much.

Poll Dancing: TBI's College Basketball Top 25 (Nov. 17 Edition)

We're only three days into the 2014-15 college basketball season, so why the hell not throw together a brand new Top 25 full of snap judgments and overreactions?

None of my Top 25 lost on the opening weekend, thank Buddha, but one did look very shaky against a motivated opponent at home on national TV. Of course, that team was ranked No. 25, so it's been replaced for now, but expect it to be back.

All in all, there's not much change, and I won't bother explaining the ones that stayed stable. After all, most of these teams were gobbling cupcakes over the weekend. However, I will share the rationale behind the few moves that were made, starting with our inaugural Faceplant of the new season.

All that after the jump.

TBI's College Basketball Opening Day Extravaganza: Top 25 Picks

I hate Christmas music, but the sentiment behind this song is valid for today. College basketball's opening day beats the living hell out of Christmas for me because 2 things:

1) There's a metric ton of hoops to watch;
2) No stressful shopping experiences.

As we prepare to tip the season off in some style (Texas Southern v. Eastern Washington = two potential conference champions opening the campaign), sit back and observe TBI's up-to-the-minute preseason top 25 and All-American picks after the jump.

The 2012 Bilas Invitational Tournament: South Region Rounds 1 & 2

It's been a while, but it's time to continue the tournament that pits the 2011-12 season's REAL best 68 college basketball teams against each other. Read the previous two posts for the first two regions and additional details. Let's get into some games.

Play-In Game:
Tennessee 65, LaSalle 61
The Vols only shot 37 percent (20-53) from the floor, but prevailed over LaSalle by crashing the glass and drawing contact.

Tennessee outrebounded the Explorers 37-28, with Jeronne Maymon pulling down 10 to go with his nine points. UT's other big advantage came at the foul line, where it converted 18-of-24 compared to LaSalle's 7-of-11.

A Sam Mills 3-pointer trimmed Tennessee's lead to two with just under seven minutes remaining, but the Explorers struggled to make clean stops from there. The Vols shot only 3-of-10 from the floor in the final seven minutes, but made five of six free throws

An Earl Pettis three cut the lead to 64-61 with 59 seconds left, and a miss from Maymon allowed LaSalle to come down with a chance to tie. Ramon Galloway missed a foul-line jumper with 12 seconds left, Stokes tore down the rebound and Cameron Tatum split a one-and-one to set the final margin.

LaSalle freshman forward Jerrell Wright was held to six points and four rebounds in only 14 minutes before fouling out. Pettis led all scorers with 16 points, adding five boards and four assists.

UT was led by Jordan McRae with 14 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Trae Golden added 12 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.