The GVG Report

I love college basketball. It's a very exciting game with some great players.

I was watching Villanova play Syracuse last weekend and Villanova got out to a huge 20 point lead with about 19 minutes to go. Everyone was nervous to see if they could hold on to the lead. I wasn't nervous because I knew Nova would win. In fact, when it hit the 18 minute mark, I said "game over, what else is on?" Why was the game over you ask?

Well, that leads me to my theory which I will continue to test out over the next few weeks.

Theory: If a ranked team is winning by as many or more points than there are minutes left in the game, the game is over. The winning team will win.

I studied 19 games last weekend to see if this held true.

Game1: Perdue vs Illinois Illinois was winning by 12 with 10:16 to go and won 66-48. Correct.

Game 2: Louisville vs St Johns Louisville was winning by 7 with 5:53 to go. Final score 60 - 47, Correct.

Game 3: Boston College vs Wake Forest Wake was winning by 10 with 8:20 to go. Final score 93 - 76. Correct.

Game 4: Washington vs Stanford Washington was winning by 13 with 11:23 to go. Final score 75 - 68. Correct.

Game 5: Syracuse vs Villanova Villanova was winning by 20 with 18:57 to go. Final score 102 - 85. Correct.

Game 6: Notre Dame vs UCLA UCLA was winning by 17 with 15:57 to go. Final score 89 - 63. Correct.

Game 7: Miami (FL) vs Duke Miami was winning by 3 with 1:41 to go. Final score 69 - 68 in OT. WRONG.

Game 8: Colorado vs Oklahoma Oklahoma was winning by 11 with 8:56 to go. Final score 77 - 72. Correct.

Game 9: Texas vs Nebraska Nebraska was winning by 4 with 0:52 to go. Final score 58 - 55. Correct.

Game 10: Pittsburgh vs DePaul Pittsburgh was winning by 16 with 14:44 to go. Final score 92 - 69. Correct.

Game 11: Oklahoma State vs Kansas Kansas was winning by 16 with 14:18 to go. Final score 78 - 67. Correct.

Game 12: Virginia vs North Carolina North Carolina was winning by 15 with 13:19 to go. Final score 76 - 61. Correct.

Game 13: Michigan vs Connecticut UConn was winning by 10 with 7:30 to go. Final score 69 - 61. Correct.

Game 14: Xavier vs Duquesne Duquesne was winning by 14 with 12:34 to go. Final score 72 - 68. Correct.

Game 15: FSU vs Clemson Clemson was winning by 18 with 16:57 to go. Final score 65 - 61. WRONG.

Game 16: Minnesota vs Ohio State Ohio State was winning by 10 with 8:50 to go. Final score 64 - 58. Correct.

Game 17: Arizona State vs Oregon State Arizona was winning by 11 with 9:55 to go. Final score 49 - 38. Correct.

Game 18: Memphis vs Gonzaga Memphis was winning by 20 with 17:18 to go. Final score 68 - 50. Correct.

Game 19: Louisiana Tech vs Utah State Utah was winning by 17 with 14:30 to go. Final score 60 - 52. Correct.

So out of the 19 games checked, only Clemson and Miami could not maintain. Why? Not sure right now. Is Clemson too young to handle that kind of game? Is Duke never really out of a game? Will Clemson die early in the bracket in March?

Bottom line: If you are at a party and want to make a call on the winner early... Go ahead, it's about 89% accurate.