BASKETBALL Opening Day

[dukewayne]

Around the conference, teams generally seem to be doing ok....except for Southern Miss. Southern Miss in 2OT vs NAIA Tougaloo! Can they pull out a win?

 

[dukewayne]

So far this evening, ODU looks like they have the best win of the day for C-USA vs James Madison. A bunch of other C-USA teams, like MT, are playing lower division tune up games.

 

[dukewayne]

It was close, but Southern Miss was able to put away Tougaloo in 2OT with a 5 pt win. That would be a little unnerving if you were a fan of Southern Miss.

Looks like UAB took care of business vs Ark-Pine Bluff. Other C-USA games vs D1 teams are still ongoing except for the LaTech road loss at South Carolina.

 

[RandallThomason]

Also of note tonight: Upcoming opponent South Alabama scored a huge road win over UNLV. Tuesday night's opponent, Murray State, beat a quality Illinois State team tonight.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[MTBig Blue]

I believe Southern Miss lost to a D2 team last week. It may have been a scrimmage, though.

 

[SpaceRaider]

I believe Southern Miss lost to a D2 team last week. It may have been a scrimmage, though.

Exhibition. It wasn't that long ago the Raiders lost an exhibition. IIRC, essentially that same Blue Raider team beat Michigan State the end of the following season.

 

[RandallThomason]

Vanderbilt absolutely spanked by Marquette last night, 95-71.

TSU had an impressive double digit win last night in a tournament in California. They will be tough again this year, one of the most improved programs in the country the last three years under Coach Dana Ford.

 

[RandallThomason]

Exhibition. It wasn't that long ago the Raiders lost an exhibition. IIRC, essentially that same Blue Raider team beat Michigan State the end of the following season.

Starting lineup in that exhibition loss to Martin Methodist was Upshaw, Raymond, Buford, Rozier, and Richmond. Harris, Potts, and Simpson all played in reserve in that game. So 5 key contributors from the MSU win played in that game (6 if you count Simpson who was obviously a big part of that team).

 

[dukewayne]

Obviously, teams can and do improve. As most of you know, a lot of coaches put more emphasis in finding out about players than in winning in exhibition games. When it's a tune up vs a NAIA or DII school in a "regular season" game, winning becomes priority. While I might find it disconcerting to lose vs an NAIA team in an exhibition game, it would not be that big of a deal to me as long as the coach was working on player chemistry and development etc etc. Especially when your team is entering rebuilding mode.

I recall from Kermit's early years here him making comments about "drawing up plays in the dirt" for a final play just to beat a NAIA or DII type school in the regular season. I recall a few of those games in years past. Some of those were games in the holidays after the team had played 8 or 9 games already.

To USM credit last night, 2OT or not, at least it goes down as a W for them. It would still concern me as a fan though unless it was vs an NAIA final four team or something similar.

 

[dukewayne]

I see FAU dropped their home game vs SunBelt Texas St. The Florida schools are killing the conference in regards to RPI. At home, C-USA schools really need to win those type of games.

UTSA lost a close one vs Fresno St on the road. While the win would have been nice, at least it was vs a Mountain West team on the road.

C-USA teams, including MT, have to take care of the home court in ooc games for the sake of the conference RPI.