It is a GLOOMY Tuesday in Washington, DC. My goodness.

While going outside is a no-no, the rain creates the perfect opportunity to sit back and watch some basketball, which is honestly the only thing on today.

Every single weekday, the guys at Section 400 will take you through the upcoming night’s slate of games, no matter how incredible, or how disgusting, it looks.

Today’s slate is slightly above average, with the NBA In-Season Tournament rolling on and some college basketball tournaments kicking into high-gear.

Let’s dive right in.

The best.

• (NCAAB) Purdue vs. Tennessee
• (NBA) Jazz vs. Lakers

The Maui Invitational rolls on from Honolulu today. Gonzaga is beating the Syracuse Orange to a pulp as this is being written, and while many people saw that coming, no one knows what to expect from the night game.

The Purdue Boilermakers take on the Tennessee Volunteers in a matchup of top 10 teams at 8 PM eastern. I would say I lean Tennessee in this game, but something about Zach Edey being as tall as the valconos in the Hawaiian Islands makes Purdue unstoppable.

Edey has about as much talent with the basketball as those aforementioned volcanoes, so Purdue can be beaten. We’ll see if the Volunteers can be the first team to do it this season.

Watch out for senior guard Dalton Knecht on the offensive side of the ball for Rick Barnes’ Vols. The Colorado native is averaging 19 points this season, as he’s “Knecht(ed)” (okay that was bad) on over 50% of his field goals this season.

The NBA has their own tournament play going on as well today, with the second half of the In-Season Tournament beginning for a handful of teams.

The game that you should be most interested in takes place in Los Angeles, where a pair of 2-1 teams face off with a chance to take control of West Group A. The visiting Jazz sit in second place behind the Lakers, and will need an 8-point win to take control of the group.

The Lakers will hope to blowout Utah, as they lead the group with a +13 point differential but the 1-1 Phoenix Suns sit at 1-1 with the lowly Blazers and Grizzlies still to play.

The best of the rest.

• (NCAAB) Marquette vs. Kansas
• (NBA) Pacers vs. Hawks

Before I get into the incredible game that will be No. 4 Marquette vs. No. 1 Kansas, I have to highlight the Pacers vs. Hawks game in the NBA.

This matchup has an over/under set at TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO POINTS. That is absolutely absurd. The craziest part of it all is I would not be surprised if this game shoots over.

Indiana leads the league in PPG and does not play a lick of defense, the Atlanta Hawks are much of the same, except they are a little bit worse at scoring and stopping their opponents from scoring.

As for the college basketball battle, reigning Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek and the Marquette Golden Eagles will attempt to be the first team to beat future Big 12 Player of the Year Hunter Dickinson and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Shaka Smart is a great tournament coach, but I think this Kansas team (-4) is too big, and too physical for them. This one should be close throughout though.

The rest.

(NBA) Rest of In-Season Tournament action

The rest of the NBA slate is “meh”, but the Cavaliers traveling to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers is worth keeping an eye on.

Joel Embiid and the Sixers have a chance to finish the tournament 3-1, and could win the group if the Pacers struggle against Atlanta.

 

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