Welcome back to Check the Net Impact 80 nine's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I am your host this week, Eli Flickema, and I'm joined today by 2 other people who also go here, Colin Pearson and Kylie Tabler.
Colin:I do indeed go here.
Kylee:Go here. Yeah. So true.
Eli:And we're all in the basement together.
Kylee:You're joining the 2 people who are actually in the is own last night.
Colin:Yeah. I
Eli:had to play a playoff I am volleyball game. Thank you very much.
Kylee:Did you win? No. Well, then it wasn't worth it.
Colin:Ouch. At
Eli:least I didn't have to watch us be down to a tiny private Christian school from the South by 13 points.
Kylee:But we won in a tie in a tiny private Christian school from the South who almost beat and should have beat Kansas last year.
Colin:That is true. So, on that note, I think that's all we're talking about for MSU with men's basketball.
Kylee:I mean,
Kylee:unless you want us to go
Eli:We're leaving them behind immediately.
Kylee:On a rant for
Eli:hours and hours.
Colin:We're not gonna rant today. We're just gonna go talk about some awesome basketball. When they play
Eli:good enough to be talked about, we'll mention them.
Kylee:That's actually so true. Maui, Maui, Maui, please.
Colin:Maui. Anyway, that was a lot of lessons. Anyways in unison.
Eli:Launched into our women's basketball games from last week. First up, we had my game, which was number 18 Louisville at number 20 Kentucky. And the Wildcats ran away with it in overtime to win 71 to 61.
Colin:Yeah. And, I mean, I feel like I was noticing, the pressure kinda got to Louisville a little bit. And as sad as that is, there's a reason they're 25 now instead of being higher. This is a team that has tons of talent, but it's just a it's just a young team that isn't really performing under the pressure of overtime. They've got 2 freshmen on the starting line.
Colin:Their main subs are freshmen and sophomore, and that's a lot of pressure. I think they'll get better at handling it over the season. But when you go to overtime with a great team like Kentucky, that pressure will get to you.
Eli:I mean, they they showed a lot of promise against UCLA, 1st game of the season against Kentucky. They just need to just need to shave down the edges a little before we get to ACC play.
Colin:Yeah. Round it out, Get a little bit, stronger.
Eli:And the OCC looks like it might be a little bit easier this year.
Colin:It does. Mhmm.
Eli:This might be this might be a good year to figure out a new roster. But
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:For for Kentucky, Georgia O'Moore scored 19 points, including 2 points under steal in the overtime period to lead the Wildcats to the win. And in in overtime, Louisville was o for 6 from the field. They did not score a field goal. They scored 2 free throws in overtime.
Kylee:That's stamina, honestly. And, like, again, with these young players, like, adding on that extra time at the end of a game, like, they're exhausted, especially if they're playing most of, like, the game itself anyway. So, like, just, like, getting their stamina going as, like, the season progresses, I think, will be a really, really huge part of their success.
Eli:But Georgia O'Moore is incredible.
Kylee:Yeah. She's just she's just always she's always been good. She's really good. So you can't you can't dispute that at all.
Eli:And, hey, this is the first time Kentucky has beaten Louisville in 9 years.
Kylee:Wow. So Wow. Nice.
Eli:Great win for the wild west.
Kylee:Back the state.
Eli:That's impressive. Commonwealth cup? Mhmm.
Colin:Alright. Shall we move on? Yeah.
Eli:Let's do it.
Colin:Alright. 13 NC State traveled out to Texas to face off against TCU earlier this week. TCU won that. They were unranked at the time. They won it 76 to 73, and TCU is now ranked, and for good reason.
Kylee:They should've been already.
Colin:They should've been before. We talked about it last week. They're a team with tons of talent, good coach, good depth. It it was the same team same sort of things as last year, except now they have depth. You know?
Colin:It's a team we all knew would be good. They're continuing to prove themselves. It's exciting. Yeah.
Kylee:Yeah. No. It was a it was a really fun game. I caught, like, the very I think I caught the Q4, and it was really fun to watch. I think with NC State, their problem is they they cannot score.
Kylee:Like, they are really struggling on the offensive end end. And I know the score doesn't reflect that, but TCU made some big mistakes towards the end of the game that kind of is why the scores reflected that way. But NCC is struggling.
Eli:And we saw that against South Carolina too.
Kylee:On the offensive end, and it's crazy. But I think overall, I am really happy for Haley Van Lyth and her success so far on this team. She seems so much more comfortable and is able to go back to kind of, like, her style of play and kinda doing what she's always done best and what she was doing best at Louisville with support from her coach and her team. And, like, there's nothing against LSU or Kim Mulkey. It just was not a good fit for Hailey Van Lyth.
Kylee:Like, she is used to being a scorer. She's not running point anymore. She was running point the entire year last year. It gets her more comfortable and more able just for her to get out there, play good defense, and then focus on kind of scoring and now facilitating.
Eli:Yeah. And she's already been a standout in Fort Worth. She had a double double this game, and she scored her 2 thousandth career point in the Q3. Queen. She also out assisted NC State's entire team.
Kylee:That's amazing. Like, that is just it's incredible.
Eli:NC State had basically no assists. H v she out assisted them. Mhmm.
Colin:Yeah. That's really impressive.
Kylee:And that's also a problem for NC State, like, period.
Eli:That's why they can't score.
Colin:Yeah.
Kylee:Because you're not passing the ball around. Like, you you're not gonna get anywhere by just trying to take the ball down the court. You're just like I like, playing independent, like, selfish basketball is not gonna get you anywhere. You need to swing the ball around. You need to be able to pass it.
Kylee:You need to make good cuts. You need to find open shots. Like, people need to be moving around or else you're not gonna be able to get any open shots or any good shots for that, like, fact.
Colin:Yeah. And those good shots are a pretty key piece.
Kylee:Mhmm. And they seem few and far between. So for NC State right now.
Eli:Kylie, what was our next game?
Kylee:Oh my gosh. It was Stanford at Indiana. And so Indiana won 7966, so very, very good bounce back win for Indiana. So this obviously stands for drop Stanford's dropping out of the rankings. Indiana is not returning to the rankings for this win.
Kylee:It's just not kind of there. It's a great bounce back win, but it still does not change my perception of them at all. I'm sorry, Colin.
Eli:She she stays hating.
Kylee:I it's not hating. It's I stay in the mindset of they're not winning the big 10. They're not one of my top teams in the big 10 either by, like, any stretch of the imagination, but it also affirms my feeling of Stanford really being kind of on a down year. Like, depending on how, like, they're performing, in conference, I don't really foresee them going back into the rankings right, like, soon, maybe much later in the season, but I honestly could see them going the entire season without getting back in the rankings.
Eli:But Yeah. Again, the ACC does not look as
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:Top top to bottom this year. The the standouts are gonna be the Tobacco Road Schools, and that's about it.
Kylee:What does that even mean?
Eli:It's Duke, North Carolina and NC State
Kylee:Okay. Okay.
Eli:And
Kylee:Wake Forest. Because I'm like, who is that? Sorry. I don't know any of this fancy terminology we talking about over here.
Colin:Teams from North Carolina,
Eli:DC's North Carolina Schools.
Kylee:Yeah. But, honestly, I think all of those teams beat Stanford at this moment.
Eli:Oh, for sure.
Kylee:Yeah. So
Colin:I just think Stanford being the only question I've learned.
Kylee:Yeah. As of right now
Colin:Wake Forest too, actually. Wake
Eli:Forest for
Kylee:sure. Mhmm.
Eli:I I just think Stanford will have a little bit easier over time, especially against teams like Syracuse, Pitts
Kylee:Yeah.
Colin:For Boston College. Yeah.
Kylee:Yeah. Being those teams, though, is not gonna get them back in the rankings
Kylee:either. I I
Eli:think they'll be I think they're gonna be a middle of the table ACC team this year.
Kylee:And I I can see them missing the tournament by that standard.
Eli:Which, hey, after when you lose your legendary coach and your best player, that is
Kylee:totally fine. Consequence. Yeah. It it happens.
Colin:Here's the thing, though, about Indiana. Yeah, they won. But it was a 13 point Yeah. They won, but it was a 13 point victory that felt like a little bit more. You know?
Colin:The shooting was so much more consistent than their past few games. When they lost to Butler and Harvard, they were shooting around 30%. This one, they were shooting around 50%. That is a big difference. And I feel like now that they've got that groove, they know they can do it.
Colin:The confidence is up. I feel like that's gonna carry on to their next, at least, few games.
Kylee:Or it could be a fluke.
Eli:But it was also a super sharp contrast against the cardinal in this game. Stanford did not score a field goal for 8 minutes and 5 seconds in the Q2. Yes. Nearly the entire second quarter without a field goal. And they were only 2 for 11 from 3, which is not very many attempts and not very many makes.
Colin:No. And it was it was defense. The defense was insane from Indiana. And that, I think, also says a lot. You know, holding Stanford to 66 points is huge, especially with that second quarter, 8 minutes without scoring.
Colin:You know? And so I feel like when you bring that Indiana defense into the Big 10, when you bring, hopefully, a regularly around 40% shooting team into the Big 10 with Indiana, I mean, that's a major competitor still.
Kylee:I mean, do you think they're beating the LA's? Do you think they're beating Oregon right now?
Eli:Do you
Kylee:think they're even beating Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State right now?
Colin:Depends on the day.
Eli:The big ten is going to be a bloodbath
Kylee:Yeah. No. Definitely.
Eli:Viciously. Yeah.
Kylee:Like, I I just don't really see them competing in this conference as well as, like, you're projecting. And I know I'm hating
Colin:on you.
Eli:100% see them taking a game against Illinois or a game at home versus Iowa. I haven't looked at the schedule.
Kylee:Yeah. Maryland's kind of iffy. Like, I like watching Maryland, but they're kind of iffy on, like if you press them, they struggle. So I could see them maybe stealing a game against, like, Maryland, Michigan. Like, some of these teams
Eli:are kinda like, teens, twenties ranked win, I could 100% see. But I I do not see them at the top of this conference.
Colin:No. Alright. We'll fight on that the rest of the season. That sounds like
Kylee:hating on Colin forever.
Eli:Oh, deeply.
Colin:I think we have one that we can agree on, though. And that is Duke at South Dakota State. Duke was ranked 14th last week. They won that barely barely snuck that win, 75, 71. And frankly, in my opinion, South Dakota State deserves to be ranked after that show.
Eli:Only got 3 AP votes.
Kylee:That's crazy.
Eli:That's in rank ranked the Jackrabbits. They beat Creighton.
Colin:So they beat Creighton.
Kylee:Don't talk about my Creighton like that. Was a 4 point loss
Eli:to Duke.
Colin:The biggest stat, that stands out to me is that South Dakota State missed 8 free throws
Eli:In a 4
Colin:point game. Yeah. They shot 11 for 19. But they've got some more chances to prove themselves. They have Georgia Tech and number 23 ranked Oregon on the clock in the coming weeks.
Colin:I think South Dakota State, really has a good shot at both of those. Yeah. Especially considering how good Duke is and that Duke only won by 4.
Kylee:Duke is not having a good showing at all, though, recently.
Eli:To Maryland. I'm barely escaping.
Kylee:Yeah. Yes. They're not looking as strong as, like, we projected as the AP projected. They really need to lock in here. Like like, genuinely, their shooting needs to be better.
Kylee:They just need to overall improve.
Eli:Right now, they're looking like that ranked team that some of these mid middle players in the ACC could steal
Kylee:their game against. Exactly. So they need to really buckle down and focus on their own game at this point.
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. There's a couple of other interesting stats I think Eli wrote down.
Eli:I I will say go
Colin:through them.
Eli:The turnovers for South Dakota State were also a huge problem along with the free throw shooting. South Dakota State had 15 turnovers that led to 21 points for the Blue Devils off of those turnovers. So if if South Dakota State can buckle down on ball control, I can absolutely see them beating Georgia Tech at the very least. And but if Duke can keep capitalizing on that in ACC play, if they can keep taking the ball away and scoring on it, maybe they'll be a little better than I thought.
Colin:So South Dakota State had 15 turnovers. Duke had 9. And so, you know That's that's
Kylee:a lot. I'm sorry. That's quite a few turnovers.
Eli:Sloppy game.
Colin:It was a sloppy game all around.
Kylee:Yeah. But, again, as as a Duke as a d one power 5 program, that's those are turnover you should not really be having against these, like, mid major schools.
Eli:Admittedly, a good mid major school.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not trying to discount when you're on the road. Yeah. Yeah.
Kylee:I'm not trying to discount
Colin:And the other the other comment I wanna make, Duke only had 11 assists in that game. There was a lot of solo play.
Eli:And another team that was out out assisted by Hailey Van Leath.
Kylee:Check that box.
Eli:That's a metric we're just gonna keep for the rest of the year. Was your team out assisted by Hailey Van Leath this week?
Kylee:Yeah. Honestly
Colin:the answer is yes for Duke.
Eli:And the answer is usually gonna be yes, apparently.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:Yeah. So, I mean, there's just a lot of questions on both sides for Duke and South Dakota State. South Dakota State has some chances to prove themselves right away. Duke's got a few small games that they cannot afford to lose.
Eli:Can't even afford to be close.
Colin:Yeah. They need to dominate those. But we'll see how it goes. Shall we move on to
Eli:My game.
Colin:The other small conference. It was Eli, what you got?
Eli:An incredible matchup between Saint Louis and the University of Southern Indiana, our favorite transitioning OVC program, and the Screaming Eagles came away with it 71 to 59. USI is the real deal. Tournament and regular season champions from last year, they capitalized on Saint Louis only shooting 4 of 22 from a 3 Wow. Despite the screaming USI only shot 50% from the free throw line, 8 of 16. Wow.
Eli:But if they can clean up that basketball, if they can keep up this offensive intensity, they should easily topple former great Great Lakes Valley Conference rival from when they were both in d 2 Northern Kentucky on Saturday. Absolutely.
Colin:I mean, the Screaming Eagles are off to a 5 and one start. Their only loss is that ranked Louisville.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:And, frankly, that was a pretty good game too. Like, the Screaming Eagles have a shot.
Eli:Nobody in the OVC is going to stop them?
Colin:No. Not at this rate.
Kylee:They're, yeah, they're looking like clear favorites. Like, very clear.
Eli:Sadly, they won't be back in the tournament even if they do win it. Deep Deep sigh.
Kylee:Deep sigh.
Eli:Maybe they'll win the WNIT this year.
Kylee:That's fire.
Colin:It's possible. Yeah. Alright. We're starting something new. We're doing our upset of the week, for each person.
Colin:And so
Eli:Out of an abundance of material.
Colin:Yes. Especially on the women's side. Yeah. We each are picking 1, maybe 2 upsets if there's some crazy games, just so that we're not talking about, like, 8 additional games every week. Y'all don't need to hear about that, but the upsets are fun.
Colin:My upset of the week, Indiana beating number 24 Stanford. I think everyone kinda makes that
Kylee:I'm just honestly, Colin, your your, like, Christmas present is I'm just you an IU women's basketball show.
Colin:Kylie, you know you know what? We're gonna clip the what you said from the last episode. Because if I remember right, you said that you would respect me more if Indiana beat Stanford.
Kylee:Did I
Kylee:see that?
Kylee:That. Honestly, I don't know what happened. If
Eli:there was a clip there.
Kylee:Because I'm gonna rub it in Colin's face.
Eli:Do it.
Kylee:Basically, it's number 24 Stanford who I honestly did not think was gonna be that great this year, but we'll see kinda how they hold up. They're playing at Indiana.
Colin:They are indeed. Colin.
Kylee:So, November 17th, which is Sunday. So honestly, Colin, if they if they pull this win off, they're back in my good graces. I will take back everything I said.
Eli:Honestly, I'm rooting for them. I want them to prove that the Big 10 is just that good.
Kylee:I want them to be
Colin:standing. Clip that Yeah. The next episode.
Kylee:And, you know, and when they do it, I I will concede.
Eli:We'll we'll get we'll get IU crewnecked for the pod so that we can watch Indiana play in the college football playoff altogether.
Kylee:So, honestly, so true. That's the IU
Eli:I'm really excited for.
Kylee:I I'm gonna go to my game. I obviously, I'm picking TCU, NC State. I mean, come on. This honestly, this isn't even any, like, bad, like, marks on either of the teams. This is showing how much the
Kylee:AP poll absolutely messed up. Like, honestly. And so just reaffirms that what we've all
Kylee:been saying that the AP poll And so just
Kylee:reaffirms that what we've all
Kylee:been saying that the AP poll sucks. It's been They're banned their jobs. So Especially
Kylee:on the
Colin:women's side
Kylee:this year. Make us
Kylee:AP voters.
Colin:Make us AP voters. We know what we're talking
Kylee:about.
Kylee:Is there a ballot?
Eli:I want a ballot.
Colin:Is there an application for that?
Kylee:We should file
Eli:and find
Kylee:out. Yeah. Okay, Eli. Eli.
Eli:My breaking news. This happened, like, 45 minutes ago.
Colin:Hold on. Hold on. We're gonna roll the quick clip, that I just took while we were about to start recording the podcast, and Eli was not ready because he had just heard about this game.
Kylee:He's fully not
Eli:I am trying to process UNI women's basketball.
Kylee:You can't.
Colin:Hila, it's it's too much. Like, half an hour.
Kylee:It's too much.
Colin:Shut up.
Kylee:That's not enough time.
Eli:The University of Northern Iowa Panthers just beat the top 10 ranked Iowa State Cyclones for their 1st top 10 win in school history. Burn it all down.
Kylee:Yeah. No, man.
Colin:I I have That's crazy.
Eli:I have direct first hand reports that the court at the McLeod Center was stormed
Kylee:Real.
Eli:Which is incredible because this was a home game for you and I. They are my NBC picks. Go Cats.
Kylee:Woo hoo.
Eli:Go Cats.
Kylee:Such a good win. Yeah. That's a fun one.
Colin:That's a major upset.
Kylee:That that's Eli's home school beating his big twelve favorite.
Eli:I don't even care. Yeah. So Eli learned about this Cats fan forever.
Colin:From a text that he and I both got from his dad.
Kylee:I know. I'm lost out, guys. It's okay.
Colin:Yeah. Kylie, we can add you to that
Kylee:gold catalog.
Eli:Hell, our panthers, we are ever loyal.
Kylee:So very, very hype and fun one. But okay, y'all. What do we got for next week's our games? The next 2 weeks because because we're not meeting next week because of Thanksgiving. LOL.
Kylee:We're all going home and hanging out while Eli's staying in Michigan, but his family's coming to him.
Eli:So we we picked a bunch of games that are ranging throughout the next 14 to 20 days until we record again.
Kylee:But Yeah.
Kylee:We've got Except these, the ones we've picked up.
Eli:These ones are all happening this weekend as you're listening to this. Yeah. But my game is another great women's edition of a huge football rivalry. I've got number 3 USC at number 6 Notre Dame.
Kylee:That's that's a
Eli:number 1. Number 6 Notre Dame. It's in it's in Los Angeles. That's right. But this is a home and home series, so they'll be in South Bend next year.
Eli:But this is a really, really fun matchup between 2 top 10 teams. And, honestly
Kylee:With 2 all star sophomores
Eli:It it could be argued that this should be a top 5 matchup based on what we've seen from Notre Dame so far.
Colin:Absolutely. Mhmm.
Eli:It's gonna be really, really, really, really fun. I have definitely have my eyes on how Juju Watkins fares against the best team she's played this so far this season. She was
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:Decent but shaky in Paris. She's been really, really good against some of USC's lesser nonconference competition. Great game.
Kylee:Yeah. I
Colin:mean yeah. So excited for that.
Kylee:Honestly, this has the potential to be a national championship matchup, so I'm very excited, to watch the the Watkins, Hildago, fight. I'm super like, dogfight, I'm so excited for it.
Colin:Yeah. On that note, not my game of the week. However, I did wanna bring it up that Notre Dame's game right after playing USC is at TCU. That's another good one.
Eli:Another good one. Another good one.
Colin:19th. That is the 29th right after. Just a few days rest, and that'll be a fun one too. Yeah. Super fun.
Colin:Notre Dame's got a tough next two games right here.
Kylee:It'll make them better. I'm so excited to watch them play.
Eli:And if they and if they win both of them? Absolutely. ACC favorites far and away. Yep.
Colin:Oh, yeah. Kylie, what you got? Yeah.
Kylee:So I have 2, actually. Coming up in literally 2 days, November 22nd. I have number 21 Nebraska at Creighton. Creighton looking for a bounce back win after losing to a smaller conference school, so I'm kind of interested to see how that goes. And then I also for Colin, a potential redemption game, honestly.
Kylee:I have Indiana at Columbia on November 23rd. Indiana, yet again, taking on another Ivy League school and arguably a better Ivy League team. So we'll see how they fare up against Columbia.
Colin:Yeah. Columbia's 4 and 1 right now.
Kylee:This might be their this is this could be, like, their game.
Eli:And and they're just on an academic prestige run lately.
Kylee:Good for them.
Eli:Like, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia?
Kylee:Good for them. They wanna integrate themselves. They they're they're aiming to Harvard, Stanford,
Eli:Columbia, Indiana University.
Kylee:Yes. They're aiming for academic excellence.
Eli:They're trying to join the Ivy League.
Colin:That's so funny.
Kylee:So, you know Conference
Eli:3 linemen. It could have happened.
Kylee:In my eyes if they if they win this game. So
Eli:Colin, what you got?
Colin:Alright. My game, I've actually also got 2 games. Number 1, South Carolina travels to number 5, UCLA.
Kylee:That's awesome.
Colin:Top 5 matchup on the 24th. That's a Sunday matchup
Eli:during the NFL season. In Los Angeles.
Kylee:But Jerry Powell season's tough.
Colin:That will be such a fun game. You know, you don't just host number 1 South Carolina for fun. You do it because you think you can win. And, UCLA, I think, is a team that can beat South Carolina. Do I think they will?
Colin:I don't know. That's gonna be a very tight game.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:It'll be a fun one to watch. Another one that could be a national championship game
Kylee:I'm so late.
Colin:In the season.
Kylee:Get out. As much as I love them, get out.
Colin:UCLA is ranked 5th in the country for good reason.
Kylee:Okay. Uh-uh. I I'll let it go. Alright.
Colin:And then we also have a undefeated matchup, for Michigan State University. Cal, goes against Michigan State in Palm Springs, California.
Eli:Aquashire Classic.
Kylee:So we're flying out. Right?
Eli:There's some really good really good basketball in California this weekend into next week. And why are we there? Yeah. Why are we there?
Kylee:We can go. Our break is next week.
Colin:Impact, fly us out.
Kylee:Literally, we'll come back. I forgot
Eli:to ask
Colin:about that the meeting earlier today.
Eli:Oh, shots.
Kylee:I know. Just fumbled the
Colin:bag. It's my bad, guys. I'm sorry.
Eli:But, this is this is Michigan State's first game against a power conference opponent, so we might not even score a 100 points this time. We'll see.
Colin:Shucks. Plus, Cal's an ACC team.
Eli:I mean, just may and we're finally on our academic prestige tour. Good for us.
Colin:Yeah. Small conference games. I've got one that Cheater.
Kylee:And I Cheater. Cheater.
Colin:They're so mad at me about this.
Kylee:This. I I didn't cheat.
Eli:Actually, you you well, you cheated in your Power 5 games, because Columbia is not a Power 5 team. So, actually, neither of you are that way.
Colin:But Okay. Well, Oklahoma State is at Richmond, and I did this because it's at Richmond. But Oklahoma State and Richmond are both undefeated. Both have wins over Fairfield. Both were Why you didn't have to bring that up?
Colin:In there. It well, I think that Breaking
Eli:my heart.
Colin:Really, sets the stage for
Kylee:I'm in shambles.
Colin:This game though. Let's be honest. Richmond has a good shot here at a win over a power team that's undefeated right now in the big twelve, but Oklahoma State also kinda needing that big victory. It'll be a good game. It will.
Kylee:Yeah. My game, I have, NAU, Northern Arizona versus Colorado State on the 23rd. This is Colin and Eli's Big Sky favorite versus Eli's Mountain West favorite, so I think it'll be it'll be a good one.
Colin:Yep. Hila, you're really struggling with your teams playing against each other.
Eli:Really should've been my game. But
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Eli:I mean, this is a really fun one. This was NAU was the team Collin scouted out week 1 when they got that buzzer beater win over New Mexico. Yes. Southern Mountain West team. I love Colorado State.
Eli:They've got a pair of sisters who have been really, really crucial for them so far. Should be a great game.
Colin:Eli, your games are the A fun place. Unique place. Super fun.
Eli:So I've got, Green Bay, our Horizon League favorite versus Norfolk State, our Miak favorite. And that game is happening in Puerto Rico on the 30th November.
Kylee:That's so fun.
Kylee:Very
Eli:cool. Very fun between 2 of our smaller conference favorites. Green Bay has struggled a little bit so far this season, but Norfolk States looked really good. So I it's it's a very fun mid major matchup. Nice.
Eli:Nice.
Colin:Alright. Well, before we get to our men's, I have a quick fun fact.
Kylee:Oh my gosh. I'm so excited. That's terrible. Never do that again. Never do that again.
Colin:Alright.
Kylee:Just edit sound effects out instead. Don't do that.
Colin:Alright. We'll we'll get a I'm gonna talk to the Impact 89 FM, Media staff because they can do sound effects for us and Yeah. Like, fun stuff.
Kylee:I wanna I need I need a sound board right next to me
Colin:so I
Kylee:can just hit them.
Eli:We're gonna keep that it's a pick, it's just
Kylee:like Wrong. Wrong. Incorrect. Alright.
Colin:Well, my fun fact this week, did you know I didn't. The first, streaming service worldwide was created by the billionaire, Mark Cuban, to watch Indiana College Basketball from his home in Texas.
Kylee:That's so funny.
Eli:Because he didn't wanna turn on the TV, I guess.
Colin:Well, it wasn't on the TV because it was local games for Indiana.
Eli:You know? They were playing, like, Ball State or something, and he really wanted to watch. Yeah. Yeah. You know what?
Eli:Good for you, Mark.
Kylee:So yeah. That Thank you. Thank you.
Colin:That is the reason we have streaming services.
Eli:Thank you for ESPN plus.
Colin:Mark Cuban, broadcast.net, I believe, which was bought by Yahoo and shut down in 2002.
Kylee:Wow. Oh.
Eli:So we didn't we didn't even live to see it.
Colin:But that is what made Mark Cuban a billionaire.
Kylee:That's pretty fire, though.
Colin:Which is kinda cool.
Eli:Go, Mark.
Kylee:You know, the our love for for college basketball bonds us together, Mark Cuban.
Colin:So Mark, if you ever wanna be on the podcast, we were always If you
Eli:ever wanna come on and talk about, Indiana.
Kylee:Yeah. They're doing pretty well so far. So Yeah. You know, come brag.
Eli:We'll be here.
Colin:Yeah. We will. Always.
Kylee:Okay. Good.
Kylee:Alright. Let's
Colin:get to men's college basketball. Last week, takeaways. Let's start with New Mexico at number 22, Saint John's, where Saint John's ended up winning that 8571.
Eli:At Madison Square Garden.
Colin:At Madison Square Garden, a nice neutral site game. New Mexico, one of the strong mountain west teams, and Saint John's, someone who we weren't sure was supposed to be ranked. We thought it was kind of an accident, but there's
Eli:I am.
Colin:I am. They're a strong team this year, it looks like, and it's kind of exciting to watch. Yeah. So Saint John's had a lot of stats that were just better than New Mexico's. They outrebounded the Lobos, 49 to 32, 22 offensive rebounds.
Eli:Wow.
Colin:Wow. Yeah. That's a big deal. The other thing is that neither of these two teams seem to have a lot of depth. Mhmm.
Colin:Saint John's played all 5 of their starters for more than 30 minutes each. New Mexico was similar. 1 of their starters got 9, minutes and was replaced by CJ Nolan who got 28 minutes. But, like, they each have 5 guys with around 30 minutes each, and there's just not a lot of depth there.
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. And so that's interesting. Something to keep an eye on for injuries and whatnot.
Kylee:Yeah. A couple injuries, and it looks like things start to crack a little bit.
Kylee:So
Eli:I will say even even with that starter heavy roster, Saint John's was really efficient offensively. They shot a perfect 50% from the field
Kylee:Wow.
Eli:Which was actually they shot perfectly 5th perfectly 50% in both halves. Wow. Good for you. You know, that Consistency's key. Right?
Eli:Really, really consistent. But it wasn't from long range. They were only 4 of 18 from behind the arc. They were just really, really efficient from 2 point. Mhmm.
Eli:And, yeah, the depth, neither team's bench scored more than 20 points collectively, which I think is especially going to be an issue for the Johnnies when we get into Big East play.
Colin:Yes. No kidding. When you get to, you know, Yukon who seems to draw a lot of fouls and Marquette and Creighton. My love, Creighton.
Eli:When you're when you fly to Omaha and your guy has the flu Yeah. What are you gonna do?
Kylee:You're going up against
Eli:the Blue Jays.
Kylee:Ryan Kalkbrenner.
Colin:Yeah. It it's gonna be a interesting season. Something to watch for sure. They might have a breakout player off the bench at some point, but we'll see. We haven't seen it yet for sure.
Colin:Shall we move on?
Eli:Yeah. See,
Kylee:like, I'm I I thought I'd be much happier about this game, but I'm actually kinda pressed. Why?
Eli:Our our next game was number 6 Purdue at number 15 Marquette, and Marquette won, by 18 points. Because 76 to 58.
Kylee:We had a big ten team crack the top ten.
Eli:And then they lost immediately.
Kylee:And they lost immediately.
Eli:At least they beat an SEC team to get there.
Kylee:That's true.
Colin:Alabama specifically.
Kylee:It's just showing it's just very frustrating for, like, the Big 10 as a conference. That's just it's making me sad.
Colin:That's all. As someone who was not in support of conference realignment, it's very comedic to me. Yeah. That as soon as the Big 10 adds these, you know, major Pac 12 brands, the rest of the Big 10 just falls apart. Well, it's
Eli:Thank goodness for women's basketball because the men are not
Kylee:The men's
Eli:not pulling their weight right now.
Kylee:The men's teams that they added to the Big 10 are not going to make an impact in the big 10, not at least this year.
Colin:US They're not in the could.
Kylee:No. They
Kylee:could not.
Kylee:Wrong. That's the wrong thing.
Eli:My upset of the week. We'll get to that.
Kylee:Yeah. So they're definitely not they're on a huge rebuild from last year.
Eli:That's true. We thought UCLA was going to, and then they
Kylee:lost to
Eli:New Mexico who just lost to Saint John's.
Kylee:Yeah. So it's just it's really hard with these new teams coming in because they're not strong programs, really. And then we have our historically strong program who did a great had a great game against Alabama. Really did.
Eli:Incredible game.
Kylee:And
Kylee:then they lose by 18 to Marquette.
Eli:I will say Marquette looks like the real deal, though. They absolutely did. Was incredible for the Golden Eagles. He had the first triple double by a Marquette player in 21 years since Dwyane Wade in 2003. Nice.
Eli:They also had a 38 to 22 advantage in points in the paint, which just really continues to illustrate to me that Purdue still doesn't know where Zack Eady is. I mean, on offense, on defense, I watched the last 10 minutes of this game. And in the last couple media timeouts, you could hear Matt Painter yelling, we have to stop them from getting to the paint, and they just could not.
Colin:Yeah. That's really interesting that you say that. I was noticing, the turnovers from Purdue. You know, when you don't have a 7 foot guy under the basket and you're just trying to toss it to someone, you end up with 15 turnovers, compared to Marquette's 6. That's a big deal.
Colin:Huge difference. Getting 10 more shots throughout the course of the game. Again Yeah. Huge difference, and that, you know, can contribute to that 18 point loss.
Kylee:Matt Painter is gonna have to shift his way of coaching these guys because you don't have that giant presence anymore in there. Like, I know they have a big freshman who's tall, but he's a big freshman.
Eli:And they pulled it they pulled it off against Alabama.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:But this model just isn't gonna work against teams
Colin:that plays defense.
Eli:Against Big East or Big 10 Basketball.
Kylee:Exactly.
Eli:It worked against the SEC. Mhmm. Worked great.
Kylee:Yeah. Like, they're just like, these guards have to step up and take more accountability. And I'm not talking about, Clayton Smith.
Eli:We also saw this we saw this in their exhibition lost to Creighton a month ago. Yeah. Exact same issues. Yeah. And nothing's changed.
Kylee:No. Like, these other guards have to step up and get more consistent. They have to, like, want to get out there and score. They have to want to play defense.
Colin:It's not even
Kylee:the the main thing.
Colin:Yeah. The scoring was a big issue. 58 points only compared to they scored, I believe, a 103 on Alabama.
Kylee:Yeah. Well, I mean, listen. When you're when you're playing against Alabama, you're gonna
Eli:get a sheet on it.
Kylee:Good as that. Like But
Colin:that's almost double the point. Yeah.
Eli:Because they ran into a defense. Yeah. A defense. Which is Any defense.
Kylee:They're playing they're playing the incorrect type of basketball for the big ten, honestly. Like, even teams like Michigan State who had a rough start against Stanford play defense.
Eli:Yeah. Yes.
Kylee:Like like like, they do.
Eli:And they and Purdue has 2 conference games in 3 weeks.
Kylee:Like, Indiana.
Eli:They're not they're not against top big 10 teams, but they're conference games against big 10 teams.
Kylee:So
Colin:That play defense.
Kylee:That play defense.
Eli:If they're not winning those games by 15 points, at least, they're not winning the Big 10.
Colin:No. Yeah. Definitely. We got some small conference games, shall we?
Eli:Yeah. Let's do it.
Kylee:We shall.
Colin:Alright. Montana traveled out to Utah State, and Utah State won that, semi convincingly, 12 points, 95 to 83. And Utah State with that remains undefeated. Ian Martinez leading the Aggies with 32 points. Wow.
Colin:And Mason False live with 25 points.
Eli:Wow.
Kylee:It's a
Colin:high powered offense. Money Williams for Montana will definitely be a force in the big sky. 100%. No question there.
Eli:He dropped 30 on the Vols Yes.
Kylee:Last week. Wow.
Colin:Super strong player. But Utah State with 2 guys scoring 32 and 25 points.
Eli:57 of 95?
Colin:Yeah. And that's of 95.
Eli:I was gonna say that's that that's offensive production everywhere.
Colin:Yes. Like, just because these 2 had the most points doesn't mean Utah State was shooting bad anywhere else. Everyone was having a good night, and you don't need that kind of depth every night. You just need one of those guys to go crazy every night.
Kylee:Yeah. And this is, like, the 2nd time we've seen a pretty convincing win by Utah State who none of us picked to win the mountain west.
Kylee:I
Kylee:It was looking Yeah. Pretty good right now, honestly.
Eli:I So Maybe we didn't lend enough credence to the resilience that won them the regular season title last year. Yeah. I I thought they hadn't rebuilt enough, but maybe they have.
Kylee:Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. It it appears they most definitely have.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:Yeah. We'll see that a little bit later in their schedule too. Of course, they have Saint Mary's on their schedule and a tough Mountain West schedule. Yep. Yep.
Colin:But it's gonna be a fun season for Utah State, I think. It's gonna be another one where they're fighting for the top of the Mountain West.
Kylee:I'd say it could be another a return to the tournament again. I mean
Colin:It Depends on how many teams the NCAA wants to let in.
Kylee:Well, after last year's after last year's disappointing,
Eli:Disappointing showing.
Kylee:They But
Colin:which I think was mostly because the Mountain West just beat up on each other all season.
Eli:And then they were too wounded to beat up on anyone else.
Kylee:Well, then they also beat up on other people at the beginning of the season, so it was, like, really hard for us to be, like
Eli:Yeah. Yeah. Anyways Kylie Kylie, what happened in Minneapolis?
Kylee:I'm so upset. So Yale and Minnesota played about this. Minnesota won.
Eli:Because she picked Yale.
Kylee:She said, perfect Yale. I know you picked Yale. Like, don't
Eli:get me
Kylee:wrong. Great.
Eli:Picked a basketball team out loud on the podcast, and that was
Kylee:her mistake. That's what happens Yeah. When I give my face
Eli:to tears. Dear listeners, the Kylie curse
Colin:is here.
Kylee:No. No.
Eli:It took a couple weeks. Oh. But it's here.
Kylee:We're not we're not manifesting that. I can't do it.
Eli:I will not survive this past week. Funny.
Kylee:Not again.
Colin:I did pick New Mexico last week. So, and they also lost. So So, I mean, maybe were for
Eli:the Colin Kiley curse.
Kylee:Maybe. That would be the only
Colin:one who can make the big dick. The Colin Kiley curse.
Kylee:Yeah. Honestly, I it's not like, I guess, an upsetting like, I'm I'm sad.
Kylee:It was
Colin:a 3 point loss.
Kylee:I I just think they should have won. They should have won.
Eli:Point lead at the half.
Kylee:Yeah. They And Minnesota's not good. Like, I'm sorry. I know, like, I'm a big tent supremacist, guys. I'm sorry.
Kylee:And Minnesota's not good.
Eli:We're we're seeing the same the same story that is leading to a lot of mid major upset bids falling short, and that's just that these smaller schools cannot stay out of foul trouble
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Colin:Especially in the second half. Minnesota ended up shooting 14 more free throws than Yale. Wow. They also had 7 steals. Like, that's a big deal.
Colin:Mhmm. Both of those stats really make a difference when you're winning by 3. You change any bit of that, and you're winning that game. Oh, fully. A 100%.
Eli:These smaller schools that that are going for these big upsets, they need to play a little more aggressive, but a lot smarter. Because you can't play aggressive and then get into foul trouble and then lose because you let them shoot 30 free throws. Mhmm. You have to play smart, and you have to play possession basketball, especially against the Big 10. Because otherwise, this is what happens.
Colin:Yeah. Don't let a team who can shoot free throws shoot free throws.
Kylee:Yeah. Mhmm.
Colin:This is, you know, what we saw with MSU last year, how they lost to James Madison was because MSU could not shoot free throws. Well, guess what? MSU can shoot free throws this year. That's how they made it out of a tight game with Bowling Green.
Eli:We can't shoot anything else, but we can shoot free throws.
Kylee:Shoot free throws.
Colin:You know, that's how they beat Sanford too Mhmm.
Kylee:Was making a good majority of their free throws. A lot better than what they did last year. So Yeah.
Colin:We
Kylee:majority of their free throws.
Kylee:A lot better than what they did last
Kylee:year. So Yeah.
Kylee:We always be bringing it back to MSU just because
Kylee:it's relevant.
Kylee:Yeah. I mean, that's the team we watch on a On literally every
Colin:game. Yeah. So We're we're committed stadium. We yeah.
Kylee:We're we're committed members.
Eli:Our last mid major game was Princeton at Merrimack where Princeton won.
Kylee:The Ivy League.
Eli:68 to 57 to redeem the Ivy a little. But I both of these teams look to me to be likely to be major players in their conferences. Princeton's roster is very, very deep minutes wise. I we saw a lot of players rotating in and out, getting 10 plus minutes off the bench, but we're still seeing most of their offensive production, most of their points on the scoreboard from their 3 primary starters.
Colin:Yeah. I do wanna comment that Princeton was losing at halftime 3533. They ended up coming back to win by 11, so that 13 point, swing in the second half is a big deal. And Kaden Pierce for Princeton led that drive with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists. Nice.
Colin:As a star player that will continue to be a star in the Ivy League. No question.
Eli:Yes.
Colin:I also wanna comment that Princeton did have a 5 point loss to Loyola Chicago as their only loss on the season. A currently undefeated Loyola Chicago.
Kylee:Thank you. Yes. Love them.
Colin:And so that's a, you know, a big comeback, a hard fought win. And it's those kind of wins that really make me think a team like Princeton is someone who can do well in the Ivy League next year or later this year, you know, regular season.
Eli:And Merrimack Merrimack, their 3 games so far have been three conference favorites, and they beat Vermont in their season opener. Mhmm. They've lost to VCU, who's our or at least my a ten favorite. Yep. And then Princeton, who is absolutely looking to compete and win the Ivy League.
Eli:Yeah. So they they have played a tough non conference schedule. They've got another tough game against Rutgers as we're speaking. But I I think the Warriors are gonna be pretty good in conference play because they're just not gonna be playing the type of competition that they're warming up against right now.
Colin:Yeah. Absolutely. Should we move on to some upset of the weeks?
Eli:Let's do it. We'll go.
Colin:So we've got a lot more nominations for upset of the week this week on the men's side. We've got some power games. We've got some non power games. I'm gonna start with, Detroit Mercy, a team that was the losingest team in college basketball last year.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:They beat Ball State tonight 70 to 59
Kylee:Wow.
Colin:For their 3rd win on the season. They are 3 and 2 right now.
Kylee:Yes. Wait.
Eli:D d Mercy above 500 is unheard of.
Kylee:We love that
Colin:tree. Amazing. Washington, their new coach, used to be MSU's assistant coach
Kylee:Yes.
Colin:Before he was hired there, just this year. And so that's really exciting to see that he is already bringing a winning program.
Eli:Incredible.
Colin:You know, mentality to Detroit Mercy.
Kylee:Nothing but love. Nothing but love.
Colin:Very exciting to have yet another competitor in the horizon. Good for them. You know, it's good to be back. Right?
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:To to bring it back to some earlier thoughts on USC, my upset of the week is Cal defeating USC on the road 71 to 66, which was the Golden Bears' 1st non conference road win in 7 years.
Colin:Oh my god. Which is wild.
Kylee:And, of course, it happened against you.
Eli:You know, as as a power program, they don't play a ton of road non conference games. But in those 7 years, they've lost on the road to Saint Mary's, to Pepperdine, to Santa Clara. Oh. They're Yep. Just to some smaller West Coast schools.
Eli:And they've they've been great at home in those seasons, but
Colin:Zip it over.
Eli:They hadn't they hadn't won a non conference road game since 2017. Yeah.
Colin:And ironically, it's against their former conference opponents. Against the former and it's
Kylee:You know, I'm glad a big 10 team can bring that for them. Look. So
Colin:Cal is looking good
Eli:for you, Cal.
Colin:Genuinely, like, okay ACC team. I said okay. I did not say good.
Kylee:I feel like you might
Eli:be. Whenever USC does not impress me.
Kylee:Yeah. Apparently, it impresses Colin. An absolutely gutted USC team. But that's okay.
Eli:They really miss Bronnie James.
Kylee:They miss Isaiah Collier.
Colin:They miss Isaiah Collier. Let's be honest.
Kylee:Okay. My my actually, I I have 2 games, that I and I wanna talk about. Obviously, Marquette 15 Marquette versus 6 Purdue. We kinda already talked about that one, but that was just upsetting in general. And then, I also picked, on the bright side here, Wisconsin taking down number 9 Arizona.
Kylee:That was crazy, because Wisconsin, another absolutely gutted team from grad, like graduation, AJ Store transferring over to Kansas, and to get a win over a top 10 opponent when you weren't like, they're not really projected to do a whole lot in the big ten.
Colin:Yeah. They
Kylee:are ranking now. Exciting. They are they are yeah. They jumped a lot.
Colin:Yeah. So Which is great.
Eli:What happens.
Colin:After a 103 to 88 win. Just an absolute domination. I will also comment there was nearly an upset of Wisconsin, like, a few days later. Yeah. On Monday, UTRGV, a team we've talked about a few times
Eli:My favorite school.
Colin:The Rio Grande Valley. 3 point loss to Wisconsin in the last seconds. It was a really tough loss. I did watch the ending of that game, and, UTRGV kinda threw it away with some bad inbounds. But, Wisconsin had a big scare right after that Arizona game.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Kylee:That's that's gonna be their that, honestly, that's a good predictor for their up and down is probably They're
Colin:going to see the 10 you'd
Eli:be up and down. That's what we're seeing from the big 10. Purdue, huge win over Alabama, turns around and gets destroyed by Marquette. So Yeah. I really, the big 10 continues to look wide open.
Colin:Yeah. You know another conference that looks wide open? Here's my other upset. A Sun. The A Sun.
Colin:No clue who's gonna win this conference because just as we turn around and say, hey. North Florida looks really good. North Florida gets upset. And then Jacksonville comes out of nowhere. It beats Virginia Tech by 10 points, 74 to 64, and that's my other upset of the week.
Kylee:That's nice. That's a good one.
Colin:You just you ask a lot of questions because North Florida lost to, I believe, UNC Asheville.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:And that was UNC Asheville's first win this season after North Florida goes and beats 2 power teams. And, you know, you just never know. We're gonna see a lot of parody this year, it already looks like, especially in some of these conferences, like the ASUN, the a 10, the big 10,
Kylee:I think,
Eli:3 3 conferences with just identical talent levels across the board. Realistically.
Kylee:And I honestly I think but I think almost every conference in college basketball is looking like that
Colin:this year. The big 12 looks like that this year. Oh. SEC, a little bit less. Yeah.
Eli:SEC's a little more stratified.
Colin:Mhmm. ACC, also a little more stratified. Same with Big East. But, like
Kylee:But those are, like, consistently stratified conferences.
Colin:But you look at the Big
Eli:looking a little less stratified this year.
Kylee:That is also true. Slightly.
Eli:Or maybe it's just 4 teams on top now instead of 3.
Kylee:Yeah. That might be that that literally might be it.
Colin:So, I mean, who really knows? There's just a lot of question marks all around.
Eli:But we've got we've got some great games for y'all over the next 2 weeks.
Kylee:Fun games.
Eli:Absolutely fun games in the next 14 days.
Colin:Alright. Power 5 games. Who wants to start?
Kylee:I can start
Colin:Kylie, go for it.
Kylee:My darlings, my favorite team in college basketball besides MSU. We have number 14, Creighton, taking on number 23, Texas A&M. That's November 27th. So I'm super excited to watch that. You know
Colin:That'll be a fun one.
Kylee:Yeah. I'm really excited. Go, Creighton. My faves. But yeah.
Kylee:And then, I mean, I won't Colin, you can go ahead then Yeah.
Colin:With yours. So I picked a Maui invitational game. They're all gonna be good. Those games are all gonna be fun. I mean, we're talking about Memphis, Yukon.
Colin:We're talking about MSU, Colorado. You know, we're talking what's the other one?
Eli:North Carolina,
Colin:Dayton. North Carolina, Dayton. That'll be a phenomenal game, I think. And, of course, the marquee matchup of the first day, number 4 Auburn versus number 5 Iowa State.
Kylee:That's a very good matchup.
Colin:Top 5 matchup in Maui, an SEC versus a big twelve, it's gonna be a phenomenal game. Absolutely. That is definitely my game of the week. No question.
Eli:And then my game of the week is 2 Champions Classic teams who are not going to Maui, which is number 12 Duke versus number 1 Kansas.
Kylee:That's awesome.
Eli:And they're facing off in a neutral site matchup in Las Vegas on Tuesday, 26th, so the day before Maui kicks off, which will be really, really fun. Duke had the heartbreaker loss to Kentucky and Atlanta. Kansas had the narrow win over Michigan State. So it'd be really fun to see if Duke can pull off the upset against another one team in the country, if Kansas continues to separate itself from the field.
Kylee:I'm hoping Duke gets this bounce back when Yeah.
Colin:So we've got, you know, Maui kicking off on November 25th, Duke Kansas on 26th, plus the 2nd round of Maui, 3rd round of Maui on 27th with Creighton and Texas, saying, we've got some crazy Power 5 games
Kylee:going on. To be very, very fun over Thanksgiving, and thank goodness I don't have class, so I can just sit down and watch all
Eli:of them. Yep.
Colin:Yeah. And then on the 28th, we get at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, we get an amazing a 10 Mountain West matchup in Utah State versus Saint Bonaventure. Both undefeated, James. I'm watching.
Eli:That's what
Colin:I'm tuning into. Yeah.
Eli:Who needs to watch the last day of Maui?
Colin:It's so true. No one. Look. Both teams are undefeated. That is going to be, honestly, a really good game for the NIT season tip-off.
Colin:I think it'll be a really good game because Utah State, obviously, we know what they can do. We've seen it. Saint Bonaventure hasn't played a whole lot of teams, but they've dominated the ones that they have played.
Eli:Go bonaventure.
Colin:With the a ten, looking as strong as it does this year, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I don't remember let me double check how many a 10 teams are still undefeated as of us recording this podcast.
Eli:The the other game in the NIT season tip-off is North Texas versus UNI.
Colin:Yeah. There are 8
Eli:Go Cats.
Colin:There are 8, a 10 teams undefeated still. Right?
Kylee:Wow. That is
Eli:That is impressive.
Colin:So the a 10 is going to be kind of insane. Like, really, really insane. But, anyways, yeah, North Texas, you and I will also be a pretty good game, I think.
Eli:We'll see.
Colin:We'll see on that one.
Eli:You you can do it, Panthers. I believe.
Kylee:I'm not even gonna lie. We were talking about this. There's not a lot of, like, good genuinely good small conference games kinda going on just because, you know, the Power 5 schools are all, like, punching each other and beating each other up, right now. But I picked my darlings of March, some of my favorite upsets that have occurred in recent years. I picked Saint Peter's squaring off against, FDU on November 26th.
Kylee:So if you really don't wanna be watching Duke and Kansas, that's the game you should tune
Kylee:into.
Eli:To New Jersey Basketball.
Kylee:Yes. So I'm you know, they're they're our little darlings of March, and that's super exciting. So, yeah. It's a fun one.
Eli:Yeah. And then I've got on December 2nd, my mountain west pick, Nevada, facing off against, currently WCC School Washington State Oh. Which I think will be a really fun one. I think it'll be Wazu's first test with their EWU centered rebuilt roster against what should be a very I expect it to be a very deep Nevada team with not a lot of individual standouts.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:So I I think it'll be a fun matchup in Reno.
Colin:Yeah. We're gonna see where Washington State can really play, in the West Coast Conference. Yeah. You know?
Eli:If if they can pull it off against Nevada, they might do a little bit better than I think we all thought they were going to.
Kylee:Yeah. And that's our first, like, game that we've picked of December, which is scary. The month of December is right around the corner, and that's It's looming. Terrifying.
Colin:Our next episode will be out in December as well. On December 7th.
Kylee:Yeah. And then that's our last week of school.
Eli:We're we're recording semester. We're recording our next episode in December.
Colin:Yeah. Yes. That's That is insane.
Kylee:Maybe we'll do a Zoom special.
Colin:I think we should because we have 4 weeks of winter break. And if we try to at plus finals week. So if we try to talk about 5 weeks of asking people when we come back, I don't think we'll be able to.
Eli:We'll we'll figure something out. But before before we leave you this week, Maui is the big headline story of the next 2 weeks of college basketball. Of course. So we're gonna give y'all our championship p our championship picks. I'm gonna go first.
Eli:Auburn let me down in March last year, but I think they can pull it off. I think they can get past Iowa State. I think they can take advantage of not having to play UConn until the 3rd game if they both win. And maybe they can get past a slightly exhausted Husky squad. They can do it.
Eli:Go, Auburn.
Colin:I'm gonna pick Iowa State. Iowa State let me down in March last year. I could say pretty much the exact same thing as Eli just said except for Iowa State because they are playing against each other, I think. Yeah. I don't have to repeat exactly what Eli said, but I'm picking Iowa State pretty much for the exact same reasons.
Kylee:Yeah. You know? All the March let downs. So I'm picking a team that did not let me talk in March last year. I'm picking Yukon.
Kylee:I know that sounds, like
Colin:Yeah. Yeah.
Kylee:Lame and boring, but It is. I try I try to be fun sometimes, but I just I genuinely think they're gonna pull it out. And, honestly, I feel as if if they win the Maui, they should be number 1 overall.
Colin:Can we Agree. Can we quote that, Kylie just said, I try to be fun sometimes.
Kylee:Yeah. Sometimes. It doesn't work out.
Eli:Colin and I also picked top 5 ranked team.
Colin:Yeah. That is true. That is true.
Kylee:Why isn't anyone picking Memphis or Dayton to win?
Eli:Or Colorado.
Kylee:But I will say, and I'm gonna put this out here now, if my curse is real, I apologize Tom Izzo and the Spartans. I think MSU is gonna beat, Colorado. I I really do.
Eli:And then lose to Yukon in game 2.
Kylee:And then obviously lose to Yukon in game 2. But I think I think we have it in us to beat Colorado. We just we need we need a kick in the pants, guys. So I'm hoping Hopefully,
Eli:this is it.
Kylee:I'm hoping that comes.
Eli:Yeah. But thank you to this week's episode of Check the Net on Impact 89 FM. Please let us know what you think by connecting with the station on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at w d b m and at impact 89 FM. This is our 2nd basketball season, and we're super excited to be here. We will be off next week for Thanksgiving, like we said, but we're super excited to be back in December for some early one off conference games.
Eli:This season's madness is only just beginning, and we can't wait to talk about it more in 2 weeks on Check the Net.