TV What to Watch: Wednesday January 17, 2007

*** all times pacific; add +3 for eastern ***
*** predictions are not the most likely/logical outcomes ***

4pm, Game of the day, on ESPN, North Carolina at Clemson. Both teams are smarting from a loss, Clemson lost a shootout at Maryland, North Carolina got embarassed by Virginia Tech before waking up and making Seth Greenberg and the Hokie Nation sweat and immediately do their Coca Cola routine to prevent a loss. This would be a statement win for Clemson. As they have shown with Maryland, they are not shy about an up-and-down run and gun game. If this North Carolina team wasn't so young, I would predict a win for them. But if they play anywhere near the level they played during their comeback at Blacksburg, Carolina will win. I give them a small edge despite the risk of angering Clemson fans :-)

4pm, Watching paint dry game, Illinois at Minnesota, on ESPN2. Sorry Big 10 (Big Eleven) but you have a reputation for unwatchable grinder slugfests who are unbearable to watch for anyone who is not emotionally invested in the outcome (eg fans of the team). Ohio State is not enough...

5pm, 730pm, 12am, 5am, Houston at Rice on CSTV. You can't miss it, even if you try as it airs four times in 12 hours. Player of the year candidate Morris Almond faces the crazy 3-point shooting weave of Turnaround Tom. Should be an entertaining game. Prediction: Houston in double overtime!

1040pm, 940am, College Gamenight, on ESPN

12am (midnight), High school game, Verona (not the Italian Euroleague basketball team), vs Randolph on Fox College Sports. At this moment I do not know if any high-major recruits are playing in this game. I don't even know what city/state it is at. Will update the post if I find out...

Repeats: Oregon State at Arizona State (both teams tried hard to lose the game), Gonzaga at Santa Clara (acrylic sweater night at SCU), both on FCS, UAB at Memphis (blowout as I predicted), Hoop Hall classic triple header repeat on CSTV, and USC vs UCLA from Feb-2000 on Fox College Sports (FCS).


Sneak peek at Thursday

7am Thursday: 1-hour drive-thru game on ESPN-Classic, from the 1987 Tip-Off Classic, North Carolina at Syracuse.

11am Thursday, 2-hour edit of the 1994 Wake Forest - Duke game on ESPN Classic. The 11am slot features classic games of matchups played later in the day. Great idea by ESPN!

Four Pac-10 games on FSN and Fox College Sports

6pm, Oak Hill at Simeon on ESPN. Derrick Rose one of the top 5 players in the class of 2007 faces Oak Hill which shouldn't really be considered a high-school since they are like a prep school but only use players with high-school eligibility. But that's another story. Some people consider Derrick Rose to be the #1 player in the case, ahead of OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon et al. I do not (at least not just yet). The game will be called by the dynamic duo of Dave Revsine and Doug "do-it-all" Gotlieb.