Check the Net on Impact 89FM

This week on Check the Net, Impact 89FM’s College Basketball Podcast, join Porter, Eli, Kylee, Colin, and Josh as they catch up with TCU, the ACC, and a bunch of different MSUs, as well as discussing games involving 13 different ranked teams on the Men's side and getting excited about Feast Week games next week!

Creators and Guests

Host
Colin Pearson
Host of the Check The Net Podcast, featuring all things NCAA basketball
EF
Host
Eli Flikkema
JL
Host
Josh Lee
Host
Kylee Tabler
msu jmc’26
PH
Host
Porter Holden

What is Check the Net on Impact 89FM?

Are you a fan of college hoops? Check the Net is a podcast that covers everything about the world of college basketball. Whether it is discussions regarding top teams and weekly rankings, updates on transfer portal and coaching news, or commentary on the latest major stories from around the game, Check the Net has got you covered. The podcast covers both men’s and women’s basketball across all Division I conferences. Check the Net is available through Impact 89FM’s website, as well as via all major audio platforms.

Porter:

Welcome back to Check the Net, Impact eighty nine's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I am your host, Porter Holden, and I am joined today by my fantabulous host cohosts, Kylie, Eli, Josh, and Colin.

Kylee:

Any type of in Porter's voice makes me laugh so much.

Colin:

I am fantabulous, I'll be honest.

Kylee:

Doing good for I'm most fantabulous,

Eli:

I think. I'm fantabulacer than all of you.

Colin:

Wrong. Quit trying.

Porter:

I have

Eli:

one up.

Josh:

I'm mellow right now.

Colin:

Should we get into basketball?

Eli:

We have so much basketball.

Porter:

Yeah. So much basketball to talk about. We'll start with women's basketball. 17 TCU at number 10, NC State. TCU won 69 to 59.

Kylee:

Pause for shock and awe, except none of us were in shock.

Colin:

No. TCU was criminally underrated. Mhmm. I think they finally proven themselves to the AP poll, to all the voters. They should be big 12 contenders again.

Colin:

Literally, of us picked them.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Colin:

This should come as no surprise to anyone.

Kylee:

It's just crazy to me because at the beginning of the season, they they've been talking about TCU's coach being, like, one of the best, if not best transfer portal recruiters in the country. And they still continue to underrank TCU. We all knew that they that they're they're gonna be the top team in the big twelve and they, you know, they're proving us right. I mean, Marta Suarez led the 26 points and she went four for eight from three. Crazy.

Kylee:

And then Olivia Miles also stunted with 15 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists. Crazy. My only concern is that all five starters played over thirty minutes, and only two players came off the bench for TCU. They have, like, no depth whatsoever.

Josh:

Yeah. That might be an issue going into the season just Mhmm. Continuing. If you're only gonna run a seven person rotation, that's just gonna be tough on the body. TCU is really good.

Josh:

There's no other sugar way of coding this. There's a reason why not only myself, but we all picked TCU to win the big 12. And they won against an NC State team who had some very good wins to start off the season, kinda metal meddling out right now, but I'm sure they'll kick back into form after they get through this tough nonconference stretch. But they won, and Olivia Miles shot four of 18 from the field. That's really impressive.

Josh:

They can if if Olivia Miles just shoots 50% on the field, this team can be really scary going on, but I love that she shot six of six from the free throw line.

Kylee:

So true.

Porter:

Yeah. I think even though TCU only played seven players, I think they'll have enough time versus some of the weaker opponents to build up some little bit of depth, work in other players the rotation. And then, know, it's nice to have those seven players that you can lean on, you know, in a top 10 matchup like this.

Eli:

Yeah. I think what I really learned from this game is that the ACC is truly going to be a wide open dogfight. Mhmm. And as we talk about today's today's other results, that's gonna become even more clear. But I also just think the ACC conference wide has taken a step back against other power conference competition.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Eli:

It's I mean, with this week's results and with some of the other season opening results, it's kind of obvious that the ACC just isn't keeping up. Yeah. And also Olivia Miles is really, really good. And Notre Dame certainly seems like they miss her.

Kylee:

A

Porter:

lot. Yeah. Speaking of Notre Dame, number 18 Notre Dame played number 14 Michigan at Wayne State Fieldhouse. Michigan won 93 to 54.

Kylee:

Holy

Eli:

Ouch. Holy.

Colin:

This is the worst loss of the iviera for Notre Dame. A 39 loss.

Eli:

Decimation, really.

Porter:

Yeah. I mean,

Colin:

shots were not falling. The players looked tired. The players from Notre Dame essentially played the entire game, and you know, Michigan's bench could not miss. Michigan's bench was 13 of seventeen, three of five from three.

Eli:

Yeah. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was two of 22 from long range. Hannah Hidalgo played thirty eight minutes, shot four of 21 from the field, and was o for eight from three. And when the Irish can't rely on her, clearly things fall apart.

Kylee:

Yeah. I mean, especially coming off of a stellar performance, she just she just did not play well. And it's it's so scary that nobody else was able to step up and try to relieve some of the burden from her. So, yeah, basically, this entire team is gonna run straight through Hannah Hidalgo this entire season. And if she's not on our game, they're not gonna see success.

Kylee:

Like, she cannot afford to take games off, and that's clear. And it's scary because it's so early in the season for them to be figuring that out and for other teams to be figuring that out, especially in this competitive conference. Also, Michigan's that good. Like, I think we're all really starting to see this now, and I think they can give the California schools a battle for sure. And, you know, I'm only okay with this because I hate the California schools still being in the Big Ten, so defend the Midwest part of the Big Ten.

Porter:

Yeah. I mean, Notre Dame has no depth. Mhmm. Like, their starters played almost every single minute. Michigan's three sophomore players.

Porter:

I mean, they're just

Kylee:

Insane.

Porter:

They're so incredible.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Porter:

The the way they pass the ball, the way they shoot the ball, just the cuts, like, everything about them, they're so good. They're gonna really, really make a move towards the top of this big 10. And, yeah, the ace looks like anybody's game.

Josh:

Mhmm. Why does Michigan have to be good? I don't know. Why? Why?

Josh:

It hurts my heart as a as

Porter:

a Spartan

Josh:

Spartan and as far as we have to know. This team is so good. Mhmm. It's gonna be fun. Not trying to get personal, but this will be fun when Michigan State Michigan play at Chrysler and here in Breslin.

Colin:

Mhmm.

Josh:

That's gonna be so much fun to to be at and watch that game, but the three sophomores I mean, Olivia Olsen, 20 points, seven of 17 from the field. Not a great three point shooting night. She was one of six. Silas Swords, again, not a great shooting performance. Mila Holloway, 12 points.

Josh:

It they didn't even have their best games. Mhmm. And that's that's scary to think about. They did not have their best games individually. They got great they have great depth coming off that bench.

Josh:

Nine eight eight seven from their leading minutes getters off the bench. If you get that all season, Michigan's gonna be right up there with UCLA and the Big Ten. So don't love it from a Michigan State perspective, but man, they're really good. They're good.

Colin:

Such a deep team.

Porter:

Yeah. I mean, the thing is is, like, you don't need them to shoot really well. Right? No. It's like as long as they're on the court and drawing defenders and moving the rock, like, you can't double all of

Colin:

them.

Eli:

Yeah.

Porter:

So just a numbers game. Somebody's gonna be open at some point for Michigan.

Eli:

And just a little perspective, last night, Michigan beat Binghamton a 120 to 50.

Colin:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's that's Binghamton.

Porter:

A 120 points.

Eli:

But a

Colin:

70 win.

Porter:

That's three points a minute.

Eli:

Yeah. For the whole game.

Colin:

Yes. That's still absurd. Mhmm.

Porter:

Yeah. Oh, Moving on to the LA schools. Number eight USC played number two South Carolina in LA. South Carolina won 69 to 52.

Eli:

Another game with terrible three point shooting. Yep. The Trojans were one of 14, which is a stat line we're all familiar with. Unfortunate. Been there, done that.

Eli:

Not fun. But unlike MSU, they couldn't back it up with a presence on the boards and were out rebounded 56 to 32 in the loss. Yep.

Colin:

Yep. I just wanna say, there were no surprises in No. This one to No. I think South Carolina would do this to pretty much any other good team in the country. Mhmm.

Colin:

And I say good being like number six ranked and below to the bottom of the eight people. I think it might even be worse for some of those lower teams. Like Yeah. I just don't feel surprised by this whatsoever.

Kylee:

No. Never. Don Staley gets it. That's my girl. Nat Natty or Buss?

Kylee:

I at this point, I think the national championship game is gonna end up being UConn and South Carolina again, and it's gonna feed families.

Porter:

I mean, it should be. Right? Like Yeah. That's the way it needs go. Moment, that's definitely go.

Colin:

It looks like.

Kylee:

I mean, it's gonna be a great day.

Porter:

They might make an appearance in

Kylee:

the finals

Josh:

maybe. I was saying. Don't don't don't discount UCLA who I know we'll get to in a minute, but they can definitely make some noise come. But Yeah. That lead eight, sweet 16, that's gonna have some really good teams, and some really good teams are not gonna go on to the next round.

Josh:

Like, that's how good this season's being so far. Yeah.

Porter:

Yeah. I just hope the committee doesn't put South Carolina and UConn and or UConn at a two seed.

Kylee:

Put them both.

Josh:

Don't make don't make either of them angry. Yeah. It's the

Colin:

last decision. Face off in the elite eight.

Kylee:

Or make make both of them

Colin:

angry. Would

Josh:

be awful. In the net.

Porter:

Yeah. Moving on to UCLA. Also in Vegas, number 11 North Carolina versus number three UCLA. UCLA won 78 to 60.

Eli:

Do you see see Did

Colin:

you expect anything else?

Kylee:

No. No. Mm-mm.

Colin:

Look, I I think UCLA might be screwed if they face foul trouble. I think they might be screwed if they have an injury. But Lauren Betts and Keke Rice, and that's that's their team. If those two keep playing well, they're gonna be just fine.

Kylee:

Yeah. I think you're I think you're right. Gabby Hakas had a a fairly good game as well, but, yeah, they just need some more production a little bit all around to take some of the pressure off, and then it'll that'll help when they get further into the season.

Porter:

I mean, I'm excited for big ten play this year.

Kylee:

Oh, yeah.

Porter:

UCLA, USC, Michigan, Maryland to name a few. Like, I think this should be a pretty competitive big ten this year.

Josh:

Don't get not trying to a homer, but don't discount Michigan State. I know they haven't had the most impressive nonconference schedule, but Not yet. That's their goal. That's this team's goal. They're aiming to compete in the big 10, and

Colin:

they have

Josh:

they they have the depth. They definitely have the depth to do it compared to some of these teams. They're getting great production off the bench. So Yeah. While I agree, UCLA looks really good.

Josh:

Lauren Betts is very good. Kehe Rice is also very good. They're on a collision course to do what they did last season, but maybe take it a step further. Mhmm. But this big 10 is completely Crazy.

Josh:

It's a very deep big 10. It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch this season.

Eli:

Yeah. Look. I know this isn't really relevant because they lost by 18. But UNC only earned five free throws

Kylee:

That's insane.

Eli:

In forty minutes of basketball, and then they missed two of them.

Kylee:

Only earning five free throws, I think, is absolutely nuts.

Eli:

They they were three for five.

Kylee:

No way that UCLA There's no way UCLA's playing that clean of a game. Like, there's no way they need to South Carolina I mean, maybe they are, but I just don't believe that.

Porter:

You just gotta drive at the basket. Yeah. Drive at the hoop.

Kylee:

Draw a draw you draw a foul. You gotta you gotta learn how to draw a foul. You gotta be aggressive. Like, that to me tells like, that says they're not getting inside at all. Oh.

Kylee:

At all. They're not driving to the hoop. They're not getting the ball down low. I don't know what they're doing. Losing by 18, but, like, I don't know.

Porter:

Yeah. Well, luckily for North Carolina, they had Fairfield in their next game.

Kylee:

Luckily. Why now why would you

Eli:

say No. I'd be afraid.

Kylee:

I'm terrified.

Porter:

But North Carolina won 82 to 68. You know? I mean, this game was close for a large majority of the game.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Porter:

Like, first half, it was pretty close, and then Fairfield just started to struggle a little bit. Their shots weren't falling. You UNC pulled away towards the end. I think Fairfield will be pretty disappointed with the way this game ended, but, I mean, still only losing by 14. It's not a terrible result versus a top 15 team in the country.

Eli:

Yeah. The Tar Heels held Megan Anderson to 15, which is actually pretty low for her. And they took advantage of 25 turnovers to What? Pull ahead convincingly by the fourth quarter. But think Fairfield will be okay, and they get to welcome New Haven, our division one debutantes, to their home arena next up.

Colin:

Yep. Go ahead,

Josh:

Josh. I was just gonna add on. I mean, North Carolina had five players in double figures. That's always gonna be a successful night, plus shooting 32% from the three. Again, when you're shooting close to about 33% from the three point line, it's gonna be a good night for you.

Josh:

But Fairfield fear, That was a tongue twister. Fairfield didn't do that bad. They just didn't get as many shots up as North Carolina did. North Carolina had 67 total field goal attempts to Fairfield's 48. And when you turn the ball over 25 times compared to the other team's 10, I mean, what do you what do you expect?

Josh:

You're more than likely not gonna win a game when you turn the ball over that much.

Colin:

Yeah. Yeah. I think there's two stories to this game. One of them is that the turnovers. The other one is North Carolina's bench.

Colin:

North Carolina's starters played almost the entirety of that UCLA game. And so coming into this game, I'm sure they were exhausted because this was literally the next day. And all three of their top scores for UNC came off the bench. You had Nyla Harris with 12, Nyla Brooks with 12, and Leila Hall with 14. And Leila Hall didn't even see the floor against UCLA.

Colin:

She was their top scorer that night. So it's really nice for UNC to know that even when their starters are having a rough game, when they're tired, whatnot, you know, they can pull a player like Leila Hall off the bench to make four of seven from three. Yeah. Or, you know, Nyla Harris, Nyla Brooks, any of their bench players can fill it.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Colin:

They've got the depth. They didn't use it as much as I think they should have against UCLA. Yeah. And so it'll be really interesting to see where this team kinda takes that new knowledge that they seem to have just now learned or forgotten about. I don't know.

Porter:

Yeah. Moving back to the big 12, number seven Baylor at UNLV. Baylor won 62 to 54.

Colin:

Baylor had an insane fourth quarter comeback here.

Porter:

Mhmm.

Colin:

They were down eight points to start the fourth and held UNLV without a score between the nine thirty nine mark of the fourth quarter and the two sixteen mark of the fourth quarter. Wow. Yikes. If UNLV played like they did for the first three quarters of that game, I think they would have won easily. And, you know, that's just how it goes sometimes.

Colin:

But UNLV cannot fall apart like that.

Porter:

Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, UNLV, they passed the eye test. They look good.

Colin:

Yeah.

Porter:

They just need to finish these games, and they're really struggling to do that. Baylor TCU will feed families. That's gonna be an amazing basketball.

Kylee:

I I agree. So agree with that.

Josh:

Yeah. 100%. I agree. From a Baylor perspective, Talia Scott, unbelievable game, eight of 18 from the field, 23 points. Obviously, the lead lead point or point scorer also had five assists getting her teammates involved, like Kirsten Johnson with who had nine and had six rebounds, and Dariana, Little Page Bugs with nine and twelve rebounds, almost there, to a double double.

Josh:

But more importantly, she went four four from the free throw line.

Kylee:

That's very important.

Josh:

But also, Baylor had 11 blocks in this one.

Kylee:

Nice.

Eli:

Dang.

Josh:

Like Nice. That's impressive comparing to UNLV who'd got zero blocks, but was more active into the steel department where they got nine to five. So good one for Baylor, great comeback.

Kylee:

I'll say it sounds like a more defensive game pretty much than anything.

Josh:

Mhmm.

Eli:

Are so dramatic and so exciting. Yeah. But this was kind of the sort of a bad week for UNLV.

Porter:

Rip. Yeah. They had to travel to Montana State, and then they lost 94 to 81.

Eli:

And I was told that this team was going to win the Mountain West.

Kylee:

They're going to win the Mountain West.

Eli:

And everybody will ignore San Diego State losing to Santa Clara today. Because UNLV lost to a Big Sky team. Mhmm.

Kylee:

But even the Big Sky team you picked to win the Big Sky.

Eli:

But still my favorite one. Montana State looks really good. Their wins now include UNLV and they got that road win at Portland that I talked about a couple weeks It's really solid win. Yeah. And they're gonna look to get some p five wins over Colorado and Oregon coming up.

Colin:

Those those will be some interesting games. Yeah. Montana State's looking really really good. Shout out to Tegan Erickson who had a 13.1 rebound double double with just fifteen minutes of playing time for Montana State. Nice.

Colin:

Double double in fifteen minutes is absurd. Mhmm. Also, shout out to Tayli Churek for 16.1 rebound double double, Addison Harris with 26 points.

Kylee:

Jeez.

Colin:

And 17 steals for the Montana State team. Wow. Which allowed them to take 13 more shots in UNLV. That definitely won them this game. No question.

Colin:

Wow.

Porter:

Yeah. I think like, UNLV had a rough week. I I think Montana State has a really good shot at beating CU. CU is three and one right now. Their wins are against New Mexico, Portland State, and Boise State.

Kylee:

Two Mountain West teams. Yeah. Mountain best.

Porter:

Yeah. Hey, side note, Colorado State's gonna win the Mountain West. They're the only undefeated Mountain West team left.

Kylee:

You didn't pick them.

Porter:

I know. Tragic. Colorado only lost by six to Louisville. So, I mean, I don't know. I this Montana State team looks good, though, and I think they can put up a result versus power five competition.

Josh:

Yeah. Montana State shot only 56 from the line, which I think everybody on the podcast knows that's not my favorite when you're shooting that poorly from the free throw line. But, yeah, I mean, they got it they they got it done. They got more shots up 79 to 68. Exactly what Colin said.

Josh:

17 steals compared to the other team's seven is really gonna help you in that regard. Less foul trouble than UNLV. They got outrebounded, which I don't love for the Montana State, but I they can figure they I'm sure they'll figure that out. Just a rough week for UNLV having to go back to back like that.

Colin:

Yeah. Alright.

Porter:

Onto Richmond at Columbia, my Ivy League pick. Richmond won 77 to 67.

Colin:

Yep. I'll be honest, Columbia kept it a lot closer than I thought they were. Yeah. It's a really nice win for Richmond though.

Porter:

Yeah, mean it's gonna be a low q two win probably, settle somewhere around there. I mean, fine result for Columbia though. I don't think they were expected to be this close.

Eli:

I mean, the Spiders pulled it off by holding Rachel Weiss to 28% shooting, and then as a team shooting 46% both from the field and from three. They were also a stunningly perfect 15 of 15 from the free throw line.

Kylee:

Josh, how do you feel?

Josh:

I love it. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. And especially not like how you mentioned earlier how North Carolina went three of five from the free throw line. No.

Josh:

They actually had double digit amounts of free throws. They had fifth like you said, 15 of 15. So when you're making buckets like that and it was from all their starters, all their starters contributed very equally, but they did eat a lot of minutes against the Columbia team that I believe they will be it it's hard going against Richmond team that was initially ranked in the top 25, but great production from all of Richmond the Richmond Spiders. Just, again, going back to what we said about TCU, is this gonna be sustainable? I mean, your starters play 39, 38, 36, 31, and 31.

Kylee:

Wow.

Josh:

Yeah. That might be Probably not. Probably not. So you gotta figure out that balance. Obviously, when they get into conference play, maybe they can figure that out a little bit.

Josh:

But you gotta be careful with how much load management you're putting on your starters like that.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Porter:

Yeah. Moving on to a game that did not have very many points. Yikes. McNeese State played at Tarleton State, and McNeese State won 49 to 47. Go

Colin:

pokes, but I mean

Kylee:

Terrible offense. That's all I say, terrible offense.

Eli:

No no shooting, no free throws, and some mediocre rebounding made this game somehow close and boring. Yeah. Which is really impressive. But I I can't even fault Tarleton State for missing three free throws in a two point game because they only got to shoot eight.

Colin:

Yeah. I mean, this was a defensive battle. McNeese had 11 steals, but it was just

Kylee:

And could not capitalize on any of them.

Colin:

I I watched the highlight tape, which was very short.

Kylee:

I say, wait. Yeah.

Eli:

Which it was just all Yeah. Luck and

Colin:

It was such a slow paced game. Just awful three point shooting. I mean, this these two teams just had a really rough game between the two of them, and both of them played just really really slow. They used the full shot clock almost every time down the court. And that's not a bad thing.

Porter:

It's a strategy. You can win games like that.

Colin:

But it just makes it a really hard game to watch.

Kylee:

When you're not making any shots at all.

Porter:

I mean, the only issue with taking the shot clock down is that's less possessions and if you aren't shooting the ball well, that's less shots that you get to take and then you end up scoring less than a 100 points combined in a game.

Colin:

Yeah. Yeah. Alright.

Porter:

Moving on to our consensus, Big South Big South pick. East Carolina at high point, high point one eighty four to 68.

Kylee:

Yippee.

Colin:

Hooray. Yay, Jeff.

Kylee:

Wow. That's your that's your like

Josh:

That's your analysis right there.

Colin:

Yep. That's that's about it. Moving on. So main thing I wanna bring up, High Point was really capitalizing on turnovers in this game. In the turnover battle, High Point got 21 points off a or yeah.

Colin:

High Point got 21 points off of turnovers. Wow. ECU only got four points off of turnovers. And ECU also dug themselves into a pretty solid hole in the first quarter after shooting two of 15. Wow.

Colin:

Yikes. So that's just really hard to come back from.

Porter:

Yeah. Mhmm. Alright. Upsets of the week.

Kylee:

We have So many, actually.

Porter:

We'll we'll start off with our honorable mentions.

Colin:

I think we gotta make

Kylee:

this These are these are the actual important ones,

Josh:

to be honest.

Colin:

It's it's absurd because, like, we had a, you know, shout out to d two. Yeah. Yeah. This is a

Kylee:

whole Even other more extreme.

Colin:

Quite literally.

Porter:

We had three d three upsets. Pitt lost at home to the University of Scranton.

Kylee:

By the way, p five, p five school, p ACC school. ACC school, by the way.

Porter:

Yep. Saint Francis lost to Carnegie Mellon. Morgan State lost to John Hopkins. Big 10 affiliate.

Colin:

Yeah. John Hopkins.

Eli:

Not for this sport.

Kylee:

Not for

Josh:

this sport.

Porter:

Alabama State lost to NAIA Faulkner. That's even crazier.

Colin:

I'd like to comment that I think the D three losses are crazier because D three does not do scholarships and NAIA does. Yeah, I mean.

Porter:

John Hopkins is not a good basketball school.

Colin:

No. No.

Kylee:

They're a good lacrosse school. Neither is

Josh:

Pardy Villa. Very good.

Eli:

Also a Saint Francis is forgivable because they're gonna be d three next year.

Colin:

That's a good point.

Eli:

It is utterly unbearable.

Kylee:

And you can't there's nothing you can say.

Colin:

Remember when we said the ACC looked really good? This is We This

Eli:

week has conclusively disproved that the ACC is really good.

Colin:

Yeah. Mhmm.

Eli:

The only ACC win we talked about this week was UNC over Fairfield.

Colin:

Yep. Kylie and I both have upsets for the ACC.

Kylee:

We do.

Eli:

And Kylie,

Colin:

I wanna start.

Kylee:

Mine is so fun. Yeah. So I'm gonna shout out to my haters. I know my pick also lost this little fight embarrassingly.

Josh:

Was a

Colin:

priceless game.

Kylee:

This is a pry yes. This was crazy. So shout out to all you Duke pickers in the house, not me. Number 15, Duke was upset by West Virginia, unrated West Virginia. Typically, that's not well, like, it's an upset, but it's not really that big of a deal.

Kylee:

West Virginia only had five players eligible for the second half.

Colin:

Because of a fight. Because of the problem. Because their entire

Eli:

bench got ejected.

Josh:

Okay. Was gonna say, could someone explain how that happened?

Colin:

Because their entire

Eli:

bench stormed onto the court right before halftime because of an on court alter cation, and then because they all left the bench to enter the playing surface, they all got ejected.

Josh:

Wow. All of their starters your were

Eli:

on on the bench? And

Colin:

all of their starters? I know all of them were starters.

Eli:

Yeah. Duke. I think they had one starter

Josh:

That was that was slurring

Eli:

at the time. Yeah. And then they won. One.

Kylee:

They they were they were what? They were losing at the half.

Colin:

They were losing at

Kylee:

the was close. It was close, but they were down. And they won with five players.

Colin:

An incredibly wide

Kylee:

Shout out West Virginia who's now ranked twenty fourth in the AP poll.

Eli:

Shout out. Probably should be higher.

Colin:

Specifically for those five players.

Kylee:

Yeah. Yeah. Legitimately.

Eli:

But what what else happened in the ACC this week, Collin?

Colin:

Yeah. For those of you who have been watching college basketball for a while, you may remember that the first ever 16 over one seat upset on the men's side was UMBC over Virginia. Yes. And I got some mild flashbacks to that when UMBC beat Virginia sixty one fifty six on the road this week on the women's side.

Kylee:

Wow. The ACC. The

Eli:

ACC is down horrendous.

Kylee:

It's down horrendous this week. The

Eli:

Just a really, really bad week to be in ACC school.

Colin:

Yeah. Go Retrievers.

Josh:

Love.

Colin:

What else you got?

Eli:

I've got Purdue Fort Wayne upsets Purdue in Fort Wayne.

Kylee:

That's that was I watched it.

Eli:

In Fort Wayne, Purdue was upset by Purdue Fort Wayne.

Kylee:

Yeah. The gym, high school gym core. Yeah. Go Horizon. Yeah.

Kylee:

Yep. Period.

Porter:

I have my Colorado State Rams. Go Rams. Really? Gonezaga, 70 to 66.

Eli:

Wow. Solid win.

Kylee:

That is a very good one.

Colin:

That's impressive.

Josh:

And then I have South Dakota going on the road to Kansas State, beating Kansas State 72, 71. And I believe as soon as I saw this happen, I texted it into our group chat saying That you did. Dibs. That you did. I want this one because I cannot believe that Kansas State lost.

Eli:

South Dakota isn't the Summit League team we talk about.

Colin:

No. South Dakota State.

Eli:

Yeah. We're almost always talking about South Dakota State, but USD showed up to play this year. Yeah. So that's awesome. I cannot wait

Colin:

for their rivalry game. It'll be such a fun one.

Porter:

Alright. Let's rattle off our women's basketball picks for next week for games.

Colin:

Woah. Let's do it. Woah. Woah. Woah.

Colin:

Woah.

Kylee:

Colin thought we're getting crazy up in here.

Colin:

I mean, I that was my reaction to Eli's I just wanna say.

Eli:

Yeah. I I think I might have an early contender for game of the year. Yeah. Yeah. It's number six Michigan versus number one Yukon at Mohegan Sun Arena on November 21.

Kylee:

That's a great game.

Colin:

That'd be great game. It's phenomenal.

Kylee:

On the same day, I have number 24 Notre Dame versus number 11 USC. Fun matchup.

Colin:

A great rivalry game. Yes. A great rivalry that both teams have come off for recent losses.

Kylee:

Yeah. This will be a bounce back for

Eli:

For someone.

Kylee:

Yeah. For one of them. Hopefully.

Josh:

Collins, speaking of better rivalries.

Colin:

Iconic rivalry, number 20 Kentucky is at 21 Louisville. We watched an insane game on the men's side. Cannot wait for a double ranked matchup on the women's as well. Again, at Louisville, those fans go crazy.

Josh:

This will

Kylee:

be fun.

Colin:

All college basketball men's and women's, so can't wait for that.

Porter:

Yeah. I have number 19 Iowa playing number seven Baylor in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Eli:

That'll be very fun.

Porter:

Yeah.

Kylee:

Love.

Porter:

I think Baylor will win, but I think it should be a fun game.

Kylee:

I feel like we haven't really got to see much of what Iowa is doing. I don't know.

Porter:

They're up to ranked number 19.

Josh:

Yeah. I think so far

Kylee:

They've floating under the radar.

Eli:

They've all they've done is beat up on Evansville, Drake, and UNI.

Kylee:

So So true. So And Southern. Think this will be a good

Eli:

four and o after wins over Evansville, Drake, Southern, and UNI. This will

Colin:

be So we'll see what they can do against the Baylor team.

Josh:

Yeah. Yeah. And then a couple days after Kentucky takes on Louisville, starting off feast week, they head down to Puerto Rico to take on number nine Maryland. That'll be a fun one. I just I don't know about you guys, but I love feast week.

Colin:

Yeah. Feast week is the

Josh:

best Feast week is the best week of college basketball until March.

Eli:

And we've got a lot in store for y'all that we will It's

Colin:

gonna be so good. About.

Josh:

We

Kylee:

are so excited.

Colin:

It will be a slightly delayed episode next week, just a few hours. But for those of you who are regular listeners to the show

Kylee:

You'll enjoy it.

Colin:

You guys will enjoy it, and there will likely be video.

Kylee:

Yeah.

Colin:

So it should be a very fun one.

Kylee:

But we'll we'll talk about that later.

Colin:

We'll talk

Porter:

about it later. Small conference games. I have four and o Colorado State University at four and o Oregon State.

Eli:

Colorado State. Who's that? We never talk about Homer.

Porter:

Are the last undefeated MAC

Josh:

Homer. Class

Colin:

And they're at an undefeated Pac twelve team. Yeah. Love. Sorry. West Coast Conference.

Eli:

And it'll be a conference game next year.

Colin:

It will. Yeah.

Josh:

Speaking of

Colin:

West Coast Conference, I've got Gonzaga at South Dakota State. Fire. Our consensus West Coast Conference pick coming off a loss. At the consensus Summit League pick, both of these teams just mid major powerhouses as of late. So can't wait for that.

Eli:

Speaking of a team that was so briefly in the West Coast Conference.

Kylee:

Yes. So briefly.

Colin:

So briefly, in fact, that they did not play a West Coast never played a game. Game.

Kylee:

Yeah. So I have GCU versus Cal. I know this I know Cal's not small conference, but there aren't I'm not gonna there aren't very many good small games. I was looking at them. I was like

Eli:

Everybody's waiting for Feast Week.

Kylee:

Yeah. I think this one will be interesting, and I think GCU might be able to pull off pull off a win, maybe?

Josh:

And then I have, surprisingly, one of another undefeated matchup. I got Missouri State at five and o and currently first in the CUSA taking on Tulsa who's also four and o. So battle of undefeateds. Yeah. That'll be fun.

Eli:

Missouri State coming off a great year in the Missouri Valley. First year in their new conference, and it's going well so far.

Colin:

Yep. Mhmm. Eli, what you got?

Eli:

I've got a really fun one. A little multi team event before feast week. It's the Great Alaska Shootout at UAA in Anchorage, Alaska. Nice. So Anchorage, Alaska is hosting St.

Eli:

Thomas Bowling Green in UC Irvine. Is playing St. Thomas and Bowling Green's playing UC Irvine in the first round games, but so we'll specifically cover the championship game when we talk next week, but I also just wanna, you know, they're playing college basketball in Alaska.

Colin:

That's at the Alaska Airlines Center. Correct? Yep. What a beautiful arena.

Kylee:

Got some Ohioans going to Alaska, very excited.

Eli:

And UAA is coming off of the annual challenge that the D2 schools in Alaska and Hawaii do every year. And they had a two and o trip, beating Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. Real. So, that's That's awesome. Shout out the Seawolves.

Porter:

Yeah. Alright. Shall we move over to men's basketball?

Colin:

I think it's time.

Kylee:

Let's This this one's gonna take us real long.

Porter:

Alright. This week's ranked teams that we're talking about, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, fifteenth, seventeenth, twenty second, twenty fifth, and receiving votes twenty sixth.

Colin:

Yep. That's that's a lot. Crazy games We have some insanity to talk about. For this one, should we just go fast?

Eli:

Yes. Yes. Alright.

Porter:

Number 17, Michigan State played number nine Kentucky at MSG. Michigan State won 83 to 66.

Colin:

This is the Kurt Tengen Trayfort we were promised at the Ozone campout. This team looks really good and seems to have figured out how to shoot the three ball. I think even if threes weren't falling, MSG probably still would have won by rebounding, but it would have looked a lot more like that Arkansas game. It's always built a team around teamwork and talent rather than money. It's selfless and proving a point.

Kylee:

MSU basketball. Hooray.

Eli:

I don't know who these people are and what they've done with the basketball team, but we can make three pointers now, so I hope they stick around.

Josh:

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Porter:

Play like that, win basketball games. Simple as two top 15 SEC teams have now been held to 66 points by this defense. We need to stop getting up runs at the beginning of the second half. We sealed the glass pretty well, doubling up Kentucky on rebounds. I worry versus Purdue when they have so much size, but if

Eli:

we can manage to shoot the

Porter:

three ball well, this could be a decent year.

Colin:

Yeah. Yeah. So excited about this team.

Josh:

Yes.

Porter:

Alright. The other Champions Classic game, number 25 Kansas versus number four Duke at Madison Square Gardens. Duke won 78 to 66.

Kylee:

I'm not shocked.

Porter:

Nope. None of us are.

Eli:

Duke finishes off the Tobacco Road sweep of Kansas. Cameron Boozer's double double, 18 points and 10 rebounds, as well as the Jayhawks' abysmal shooting doomed them.

Colin:

Yeah. Kansas just looked really rough out there. They looked like they were really just missing that like centerpiece. I mean they were.

Josh:

Quite literally. They really were. Yeah.

Kylee:

Yeah. They're gonna bounce back from losing to the state of North Carolina as they've now lost to North Carolina and Duke. But, yeah, Duke is Duke is Duke, but I do think that I think this looks like a more beatable team than the team last year.

Colin:

Yep. Alright.

Josh:

Yeah. The the I don't think

Colin:

we have any other for

Josh:

that one.

Porter:

Starting five freshmen, it's gonna be rough sometimes for Duke.

Josh:

Mhmm.

Porter:

Hall of Fame series, number three, Yukon, played number seven BYU in Boston.

Colin:

What a game.

Porter:

Yukon won 86 to 84.

Kylee:

I had to turn this game off in the middle of it. I was watching it at dinner on my phone and I had to turn it off because it got really painful as a BYU supporter or as someone who picked them to win, like, their conference. But it ended up being a bit okay. They start slow, not new, but they look so much better this year than how they started last year. So I think that's a good sign.

Colin:

I think BYU could win the big 12 playing like they did in the second half.

Kylee:

I agree.

Colin:

But if they play anything like the first half, they're gonna get blown out of the water over and over and over again.

Eli:

Mhmm.

Colin:

This again, one of their first games playing their starters against the top team. It's gonna be rough to start. Right? But once they got going, UConn had a really hard time holding off. Mhmm.

Colin:

Last year, you know, we watched BYU struggle at the big 10 or at the big twelve season opener because they just didn't look prepared. I think they're gonna be prepared this year.

Kylee:

Yeah.

Josh:

Hard fought win for UConn against I'd like I I think we learned a lot more about this BYU team than we did about this UConn team just because of so many unknowns when it comes to BYU, just because this is uncharted territory really for BYU where we're talking about them like this. So good win for UConn. Don't get me wrong. Having three guys with 21 points Crazy. And none of them and not one of them's named Solo Ball, who's the primary ball handler for this team, is really impressive.

Josh:

But like I said, I think this is more of a learning curve for for BYU. I think they're gonna be just fine. They're gonna be making runs not only in the big 12, but in the big into the March Madness tournament. So plus, this is essentially a home game for UConn too. I mean, Boston's not very far from Connecticut.

Josh:

I mean, they're what? Couple hours? Yeah.

Eli:

New England's so small.

Kylee:

Yeah. They said there was a pretty big home crowd

Porter:

for that game. So like I

Josh:

said, you learn we learn a lot about BYU, and they really have the potential to really elevate. Can they just sustain it?

Eli:

Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. BYU missed five free throws and lost by two. Yeah.

Eli:

Husky, Silas Damari Junior, recorded seven assists, as did the entire Cougar team. They were out assisted 21 to seven.

Kylee:

They gotta they gotta share the rock a little bit more. They gotta pass the ball.

Porter:

That's not gonna compete in

Eli:

the big 12.

Porter:

No. Especially as number five Arizona played number 15 UCLA, and Arizona won 69 to 65.

Colin:

I don't know how we all just completely exor

Kylee:

We ignored Arizona. Flew under the check the net radar. They look really good,

Josh:

though. Yeah. They're playing u they're playing Yukon right now, they're currently up as we're recording.

Kylee:

Yeah. Please, hope that continues.

Colin:

Yeah. We'll keep you posted on that at the end of the episode. But Wow. Arizona looks really freaking good.

Kylee:

I mean, UCLA had the test that they wanted. They're bringing a good they didn't have to travel. They're bringing a good team, and they lost. So I think it was a lot it was and it's a lot closer than what I thought it was gonna be. I'm just really not moved by UCLA as a team at all.

Porter:

Why don't you see where it has to go east? They're not gonna

Kylee:

No.

Josh:

It's not till, like, January. I believe we talked about this a couple

Kylee:

weeks ago.

Josh:

It's not till, like, big 10 play

Kylee:

And they're

Josh:

come east.

Porter:

Mid mid January.

Kylee:

Yes. They're not gonna yeah. They're not gonna be able to this is just not sustainable for, like, them. Like, they're gonna come they're gonna come east. They're gonna play like like, we play them at home.

Kylee:

They play Michigan State at the Breslin. Like, they're gonna play all of these other teams out here. They're not gonna they're not gonna be able if they can't travel well, they're not prepping. We've complained about this a bunch. I'm still doing it.

Kylee:

They're not gonna succeed. And they had someone come their way. They played on their their territory, and they lost. But shout out Arizona. They're really good.

Colin:

Yeah. Koa Pete, man. What a what a player. Mhmm.

Eli:

I mean, he played a much more limited role this game, but I I really wanna shout out Anthony Delorso off the bench. He scored 20 points for Arizona Nice. Was their leading scorer, and he made two thirds of their three pointers all by himself. Wow. Also, this was an exceedingly clean game.

Eli:

Neither team committed more than 12 fouls. Impressive. Nobody ever got to the bonus.

Colin:

Wow. That's kinda crazy actually.

Josh:

Mhmm.

Colin:

Especially for a top team.

Porter:

Moving to more big 12 play. Number one Houston played number 22 Auburn in a barn burner. 73 to 72 Houston win.

Kylee:

Yeah. This is, again, a lot closer than what I thought it was gonna be. I still think Houston's comfortably the big 12 front runner, and I think that Auburn is finally starting to lock in a bit ahead of SEC play. The odds those are my two main takeaways.

Porter:

Yeah. I mean, this was an uncharacteristic game from Houston. They gave up 72 points. They scored 73 points. Outside of the last five minutes, there were cracks in Houston's defense.

Porter:

Auburn was able to drive at the rim. They were able to put up put up some threes, able to get to the foul line. Houston just Houston struggled at that, though. They weren't cutting as well. They still shot well enough to score 73 points, and they were comfortable playing at a medium tempo.

Porter:

That should scare every single team going into March. Yeah. If Houston is fine playing faster than a super slow pace, they are going to be a scary March team.

Colin:

Mhmm. I gotta say, Auburn looked a lot like they did last year. They need to clean some notable things up. I'll leave that to Eli and Josh. You could probably guess based on me leaving it to Eli

Josh:

and Josh

Colin:

what that is. Keyshawn Hall and Tahad Pettaford both played really strong games. Much improved from the Bethune Cookman game. I'd say Houston looked like the team they were last year putting, especially in that last five minutes. The pressure on defense to hold Auburn off was wild.

Colin:

And frankly, very very lucky. Auburn took like six or seven shots at the very end and just could not get a good look because Houston was just locking them down.

Eli:

Auburn missed 12 free throws. They took thirty three twelve.

Kylee:

Oh my gosh.

Eli:

Auburn missed as many free throws as Houston took. They lost by one.

Porter:

Moving on.

Kylee:

Josh, any words of encouragement?

Josh:

No. No. But All kinds

Eli:

words of disappointment.

Josh:

Kind of going off of what Porter said though, very uncharacteristic game from Houston. They had two players fall out, and they had another player close to falling out. That's very unlike Houston. They're very disciplined group. So for players to fall out and Auburn had the right game plan.

Josh:

You had the right game plan. Drive inside on Houston. You get to shoot 33 free throws. Yeah. You need to make more than 21.

Josh:

Yeah. That's all I'm gonna say. Yep. Yep.

Porter:

Mhmm. Speaking of team that plays a very different pace than Houston, number two Purdue went traveled down to Tuscaloosa to take on number eight Alabama, and Purdue won 87 to 80.

Kylee:

I don't have anything positive to say about this, so I'm gonna I'm gonna hold on one.

Colin:

I have so much to say. Can I talk? Yeah. Yep. I'll be honest.

Colin:

Wasn't sure what to expect from this one. After this win on the road, I think it makes a lot of sense that Purdue is number one in the country. Credit to Matt Painter who came up with the game plan of hold Alabama to threes. They'll probably miss, like, two thirds of them because it carried them this game. If Alabama had had a good shooting night, I think this would be a completely different outcome.

Colin:

But Alabama took 43 threes Wow. And only 23 twos.

Kylee:

That's insane.

Colin:

Credit to both teams for making their free throws, but Purdue really were the only ones around the rim throughout the entire game. They had 52 rebounds to Bama's 28. Both of these teams have a very big depth problem. Neither of them have very much depth. And so if you get anyone in foul trouble on either of these two teams, I think it could this could have been a different game, and I think that's kind of the game plan a lot of these coaches going up against these teams will be playing off of trying to draw as many fouls as possible.

Porter:

Mhmm. Yeah. I'm really surprised by the results of this game. I thought Alabama was gonna win this game.

Kylee:

I did as well.

Colin:

But if you 43 threes

Porter:

Yeah. Mean, they didn't shoot good. They struggled at pushing the pace too. Purdue did a really good job of holding them in half court, not letting the transition play. And, I mean, Purdue clogged up the paint.

Porter:

Mhmm. They weren't letting Alabama get any easy layups. They weren't letting them get extra possessions. And like that's what Alabama does. Mhmm.

Porter:

Saint John's tried to play Alabama at Alabama basketball. That did not work. Purdue made Alabama play a slower game, play Purdue basketball and I mean, was a palpable difference.

Kylee:

And that's smart because going into the big 10 play, a lot of these teams, like, they will get out and they will run the floor. So if Purdue can keep that up, that's a great strategy going into, like, conference play.

Colin:

Yep. Alright.

Eli:

I just wanna shout out Oscar Clef quickly. He's finding his role as Purdue's big man. It's taken him a couple games, but he put up nine points and 11 rebounds.

Porter:

For real.

Josh:

Yeah. Yeah. There's not much else to say. Bit of a stunner. I I talked last week that I expected the Alabama crowd to really make this a really hard game for Purdue.

Josh:

And while I didn't watch it live, just looking at the lie the the score, this shocks me. Mhmm. But this is a statement win for Purdue that's trying to finally get over the hump. They've just been dying to get over this hump and finally win a national championship. Getting a win like this on the road early season, it's a great start, but exactly what Porter said.

Josh:

They forced Alabama they played a little bit of both. They played Alabama's way of basketball. I mean, obviously, they didn't jack up as many threes as Alabama did, but they were really well if in efficient shot making from three. Nine of 21, 43% from three. That's smart basketball.

Josh:

They forced Alabama. They played Alabama's game a little bit, but they forced Alabama to play their game. Yeah. Like you said, Porter. I think that was that just goes to show how smart of a coach Matt Painter is.

Porter:

I think in an ideal world, Purdue's looking to make this game 76 to 70. Yeah. Alabama wants to play a 100 to 98.

Kylee:

Mhmm.

Josh:

A little

Porter:

bit of both. Purdue met him in the middle, and I think that really worked out.

Josh:

Yeah. Completely.

Porter:

Moving on, VCU at number 26 receiving votes, NC State. NC State won 85 to 79.

Kylee:

I'm just gonna step out here right now and said to all my haters who said this was not gonna be a big conference game, I how does it feel to be wrong? I think this was a great game, and the score shows it. I didn't even pick VCU to win the a 10. I did not, but I feel vindicated by this result even though they lost. This is a really good game.

Eli:

Yeah. I mean, the the Rams got caught up in foul trouble. They lost starter Nick Lewis and surrendered 33 free throws while only learning earning 18. And what kind of doomed them, I think, was the rebounds. They were outrebounded 45 to 31.

Porter:

Mhmm.

Colin:

Yeah. I think and that, you know, has contributed to by foul trouble. When you're getting called for a lot of those fouls, you're not gonna get the rebounds. And you're gonna try a little bit less to get the rebounds because you don't wanna send out fouls. Trey Holloman looks pretty good out there.

Colin:

Shout out to him. Otherwise, yeah. NC State seemed like they were kinda missing a little bit of the depth, but we'll see how that goes. Yeah.

Josh:

Yeah. NC State's good. I love Trey. I do. I love him for his time here at Michigan State.

Josh:

But what I saw on social media after the game takes away a little bit of my love for him to disrespect our head coach here like that and to say that he to me, if he felt a different way, I completely understand it. But from the outside looking in, it looked like he had the support of his his leader. And for his comments this weekend, rubbed me all the wrong way a little bit.

Porter:

Yeah. Yeah. Think that's fair.

Colin:

Yeah. I think that's completely fair.

Porter:

Moving on to what would have been my game of the week if other games important, hadn't been good. Colorado State played their first road game at Loyola Chicago, and Colorado State won 80 to 67. Good for you, Porter.

Kylee:

Let's go Rams.

Eli:

Let's go Rams. Four and o.

Porter:

Yeah. I mean, the Rams were up by 26. They let Loyola Chicago claw back into this, but, I mean, still a gritty road win proves that this team can handle itself in a hostile environment. Fifth year in a row, CSU starting four and o, and they look to make it five versus Denver later this

Colin:

week. Yeah. On the flip side of that, La Ola Chicago is starting one and four, which is very concerning considering there are still six a 10 teams that are undefeated at the moment.

Josh:

Mhmm.

Colin:

And almost every other a 10 team has a winning record minus LaSalle. Yikes. Which LaSalle was never expected to be good. Right? But I I think the Loyola Chicago coach Drew Valentine really summed it up well.

Colin:

To quote him, we're not playing the most inspired basketball right now. The positive is we can control our effort, energy, and spirit. We can change all three of those things and have it translate on the court. We've got to continue to grow and we have plenty of time to win more games.

Porter:

Yeah. I need Loyola Chicago to get good, so this is a q two win.

Kylee:

Porter has selfish reasons.

Eli:

And he and you're right. And he's right.

Kylee:

Yeah. And I get it.

Eli:

Speaking of a 10 home games.

Porter:

Yeah. And Mountain West schools.

Josh:

Mhmm. Green

Porter:

Canyon went to St. Louis, and St. Louis won 78 to 64.

Josh:

Yeah.

Kylee:

Colin, this is all you, man.

Colin:

St. Louis was my a 10 pick for a reason. Mhmm. This team looks really, really strong just like Indiana State did two years ago with a lot of the same players. St.

Colin:

Louis was dominant. 27 lead in the second half before they let their bench take over for the rest of the game. Saint Louis had 30 fast break points. They held Grand Canyon to 28.4% shooting, which is absurd for Grand Canyon. Learned the name Amari Makatri.

Colin:

He led Saint Louis with 20 points, five rebounds there. Ravi Avila looked as strong as ever with four three pointers in that game. Dion Brown transferred from Boston College at 15 rebounds. He was dominating the defensive glass. Like, this Saint Louis team has all the pieces to win the a 10 this year.

Kylee:

So do you have anything to say about your Mountain West pick? I because you're the only one who picked GCU for the Mountain West, and I'd I'd really like to know your thoughts.

Colin:

Regrets. Great. Yeah.

Kylee:

I just wanted I just wanted to clear that up because they will not be winning

Colin:

the TC was bad. Look.

Kylee:

They are The not Mountain

Colin:

West is bad though.

Josh:

So, that's a

Colin:

good candidate. No.

Porter:

I will stand with that.

Eli:

I was

Josh:

about say, what do we hear from our resident Mountain West lot about

Porter:

Colorado State's still four and o. Utah State's still four and o. Boise State's figured it out.

Kylee:

Yep. Yep. Yep. Boise State has figured it out, Kyle.

Josh:

San Diego

Colin:

State needs one. Yes. But The team that lost to Hawaii Pacific.

Kylee:

Right.

Josh:

How many

Porter:

haven't lost a game since.

Kylee:

And they haven't lost a game since.

Porter:

If you're gonna lose any game of the season, let it be your first.

Colin:

Yeah. Yep. Alright. Alright. Look, St.

Colin:

Louis needs to watch

Eli:

the turnovers a little. They gave up 18, Colin. Yep. But other than that, great win. You're gonna get a little warm up against Purdue Fort Wayne, and then you've got some undefeated West Coast Conference competition.

Eli:

Hosting Santa Clara and then going to LMU.

Colin:

I'd like to comment the wide majority of those turnovers were after their 27 lead and they let their bench take over.

Kylee:

Turnovers are still turnovers.

Porter:

Alright. Still goes in the box score. Moving over to a tournament Colin is very excited about.

Colin:

Go ahead Colin. Look, the Rainbow Classic is the longest running preseason slash early season college basketball tournament. It started in 1964. Michael Jordan played it. Pete Marovich played it.

Colin:

Coach K coached it. Rick Patino coached it back in the eighties. That's how long Rick Patino's been around. This tournament used to be a huge deal. It regularly includes power five teams, and this year's field is probably the weakest in tournament history.

Colin:

So it's really disappointing to see the falloff of this tournament. I hope it makes a comeback. But watching Manhattan at Hawaii.

Porter:

Yeah. Man, Hawaii won 86 to 56.

Colin:

Wow.

Porter:

Hawaii has a massive home court advantage, especially playing a team from Manhattan.

Kylee:

Yeah. That's crazy.

Porter:

We've seen them do good in the Big West.

Colin:

18 to one advantage in second chance points in that game for Hawaii. 45% shooting from three. It's hard to beat Hawaii when they're playing like that. Manhattan, I will comment, did win both of their other games against Mississippi Valley State and Utah Tech. Period.

Colin:

Both of those games, they had four guys with double digits. So

Kylee:

They just had that rough day of that rough travel.

Colin:

Hawaii is also undefeated at the moment, do believe.

Porter:

Yeah. Hawaii's a good team.

Colin:

So Hawaii looks really, really good. If Manhattan can play like they did against Mississippi Valley State and Utah Tech, they have a good chance at their conference still.

Porter:

Mhmm.

Colin:

The MAAC is not the strongest. So

Porter:

Hawaii's only loss is a one point loss to

Colin:

Oregon. Yeah.

Josh:

And that was still Oregon's a very weird one because Oregon can easily compete for the big 10 this season. They can also just not. Or they just can't because they have two really good players. I know I believe he's still hurt. It's Jackson, Chelsea.

Josh:

But they

Kylee:

have Nate still out.

Josh:

They have they still have Nate Bittle who was very good last season, but good for Hawaii to take advantage of the home court literally because the team had to the other team had to travel. I'm not gonna try and guess how much of a flight that is. Can look

Colin:

that up really

Josh:

quick. From Manhattan, New York to Hawaii, but I would hope you take advantage of it. I just thought last week picking this one, that was a funny a funny

Colin:

is a eleven and a half hour nonstop flight. Yeah. My guess is Manhattan program probably had a layover, made that around a sixteen hour flight.

Josh:

I'm guessing that they laid over maybe in California and then took California to Hawaii. So That's a long day

Colin:

of travel.

Josh:

That's literally an entire day of travel. So good for Hawaii to actually take advantage of it.

Porter:

Yep. Alright. Move on to the ASON SOCON challenge. ETSU at North Alabama, ETSU one seventy eight to 74.

Kylee:

Wow. That's all I have.

Eli:

Wow. Colin?

Colin:

Yeah. I did a little bit more research into this one as well. Really a tale of two halves. East Tennessee down 18 points in the first half, came back to win it. 36 bench points for Eastern Tennessee, 12 steals, huge 12 to two run to end the game going up four.

Colin:

Like, it was really a tale of two halves. ETSU just fought back in that second half and really made the comeback.

Eli:

Yeah. They took advantage of a 14 to seven turnover disparity that they largely forced themselves, as you just mentioned, to get the massive comeback w. I'd like to shout out North Florida transfer Jalen Smith, who came off the bench to lead the team with 14 points while shooting four of nine from beyond the arc.

Josh:

Yeah. ETSU somehow gets this done by shooting 57 from the line, which is not something I like in the slightest, but North North Alabama also shot 21 total free throws. So, again, finding a way to win. I mean, that's what you gotta do. They also shot more three pointers, 10 to 28 from the three for ETSU compared to North Alabama's nine and twenty two.

Josh:

So percentage wise, better for North Alabama, but ETSU just found a way. That's all you gotta do.

Eli:

I also wanna shout out ETSU for having one of the only acceptable letter logos for a college.

Colin:

Yeah. Their e is awesome because the middle bar, they use the state of Tennessee outline. And it looks really cool. Yeah.

Porter:

Alright. Moving on to upsets of the week. Josh, why don't you start?

Josh:

Yeah. I can get us started. New Mexico State got the win over New Mexico. New Mexico was in the tournament last year, played against Michigan State. They got to win seventy six sixty eight.

Eli:

This is apparently called the Rio Grande rivalry.

Porter:

Nice. Nice. Real.

Eli:

So Yep. Shout out NMSU.

Colin:

Yeah. Yep. And they were

Eli:

both undefeated at the time, so that was fun. Oh.

Colin:

Yeah. Mountain West, really having a rough week. Porter, what do you got?

Porter:

Yeah. So Troy was beating San Diego State for the game, and then San Diego State State had a last second, more than half court heave to send the game to overtime. Then they lost in double overtime, 108 to 107.

Colin:

Nice. Another another rough one

Eli:

for So much for being ranked.

Porter:

Yeah. Yeah. Colin, what do you have?

Colin:

Yeah. UNO, New Orleans smoked Tulane eighty five sixty three. Pretty solid upset considering Tulane was, you know, projected I think fifth in the American this year. American looks really bad right now.

Eli:

Is that really an upset?

Kylee:

That's your pick to win the American, Collin.

Josh:

It is.

Eli:

New Orleans beat TCU.

Colin:

Yeah. So is this really an upset? Well.

Kylee:

In Collins eyes, yes.

Colin:

Yeah. Again,

Kylee:

I mean There weren't that many

Colin:

That's true.

Kylee:

There were upset this past week.

Colin:

There were not. But New Orleans shot 54% all around. Nice. That includes 54% from three as well. Wow.

Colin:

They had 40 rebounds to 23. And a shout out to Talane's new court, which I could not find on the internet except for on videos of this game. Nice.

Kylee:

It looks cool.

Porter:

Eli, what do you have?

Eli:

In case you haven't heard, we beat Kentucky.

Kylee:

Yay. We

Josh:

were

Colin:

I I didn't hear that.

Eli:

I'm just kidding. I know we talked about it so briefly because otherwise we'd be here forever, but it was really fun.

Colin:

Yeah. So fun to watch.

Kylee:

Now, I've got the most notable game I think here.

Eli:

Oh, for sure. Sure.

Colin:

I'm gonna

Kylee:

I have Josh's darlings.

Josh:

Yes.

Kylee:

SIUE has beaten Drake. Yes. Another darling of ours. 61 to 59. Get hyped, Josh.

Josh:

Yes. They could do it without Rashaan Rayshawn Taylor too.

Eli:

Could do

Kylee:

it without Rayshawn Taylor.

Eli:

They do

Kylee:

without Rayshawn They

Josh:

may have gotten smoked by Wisconsin. 4% Wisconsin.

Kylee:

Who cares Yes. About

Colin:

Drake's an impressive win.

Porter:

Yeah? Alright. Over to our power five games. Eli?

Eli:

I've got one of the games at Players Era. It's number 14 St. John's versus number 16 Iowa State in Vegas.

Josh:

For

Porter:

real. It's gonna be a game.

Eli:

Kylie's got a bunch more.

Kylee:

I have.

Eli:

Players Era.

Kylee:

Yeah. Are these all from Players Era?

Eli:

Yes.

Kylee:

Great. I have like three of Players Era games. I didn't realize that. I have my big one is I have 11 Alabama versus 13 Gonzaga. Super fun matchup.

Kylee:

I'm excited to see I I was gonna see more Gonzaga basketball. They they they're fun. They're fun to watch this year. I also have two other ones. I have Baylor versus Creighton.

Kylee:

I think that'll be fun as well. And then I have number seven Michigan versus SDSU Mountain Mountain Best Basketball. I think this will be fun as well.

Colin:

I think that one's gonna be a blowout.

Eli:

And rounding us out in Vegas.

Josh:

I got Orno, Oregon taking on Auburn at the Players Era. That should be a really fun one just to see if

Porter:

I think that game will

Eli:

be close.

Josh:

I think that'll be a really out of all all of them, I feel like this one actually might be the closest and come down to a last minute shot by someone. Maybe Tahad Pettaford gets the win for Auburn, or maybe somehow Oregon pulls out an upset.

Eli:

I am so utterly not convinced by Oregon, but all four of you are. Yeah.

Josh:

I'm not convinced by this. Convinced. I'm

Kylee:

I know they're gonna be better than what they are right now because they're missing the key piece of their offense right now.

Porter:

I think Oregon's floor is better, slightly better than Penn State. I think Oregon's ceiling is a decent basketball.

Kylee:

You think their floor is worse than like Rutgers?

Eli:

Yes.

Porter:

Yes. Oh my. I would

Colin:

agree with that. That's a very solid statement.

Kylee:

You also said we should rank Washington. And you know, we're gonna blow by Porter, your game.

Porter:

I have the tournament. Purdue plays Memphis, and then Wake Forest plays Texas Tech. I wanna see Purdue versus Texas Tech.

Kylee:

Me

Porter:

too. This will that would be a good revealing game to see if Texas Tech can challenge Houston,

Josh:

who I think

Porter:

is still the runaway favorite for the Big 12, even with some of these other teams making noise.

Colin:

Josh, what did you wanna say?

Josh:

Actually, side note, Jackson Schelstedt is back.

Kylee:

Oh, he's back. Yeah.

Josh:

He played against Oregon State where they got the 87 to 75 win. That's what I was trying to say. I am sorry for I cut you off, but that was really funny.

Eli:

Yeah. He was back and they only beat Oregon State by 12.

Josh:

But he is playing. Is playing, so that's a bit bit of an interesting note. So let's see if the combination of Schelstedt and Biddle can take on Auburn.

Colin:

That's all I wanted to say. Yep. My game, I've got number 23 Wisconsin versus number nine BYU in Salt Lake City. Really curious to see how good Wisconsin anything about Wisconsin ever. We don't know anything.

Josh:

Yeah.

Kylee:

We just don't know their ranked for some reason.

Colin:

We have not seen Wisconsin play anyone of value. Porter just brought up, he believes it's a rematch and I believe It's a rematch from the tournament last year. Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

Eli:

So And BYU already has a win in Salt Lake this season.

Colin:

Yeah. So we'll see what that ends up being. Whether Wisconsin can, you know, show something of value or whether BYU will blow them out. I don't know. Could be could go anyway.

Eli:

Colin, let's move on to the travesty that is your small conference game.

Colin:

Okay. What the actual hat is Like, Porter picked the championship game of Baja Mar. I

Porter:

have four teams.

Colin:

I'm picking the championship game of the ESPN events invitational, the specifically the adventure bracket.

Porter:

Yeah. How many teams?

Kylee:

How many teams?

Colin:

A collection of eight incredible mid

Josh:

pagers. Incredible.

Eli:

And let's rattle them off quickly.

Josh:

Yeah. Let's. Go quick.

Kylee:

So And their records. Please say their records.

Colin:

There are two disappointing teams in this. Bradley, who was supposed to be very, very good in the Missouri Valley, is not looking great.

Eli:

Who who picked them?

Colin:

No comment. Liberty, who's four and o. You got Princeton, who's two and three. Rough, but it's fine. They played tough teams.

Colin:

Rhode Island, who's four one, go roadie. Temple is two and one. Towson who is three and two. UC San Diego who's four and o, and Vermont who's four and one. Specifically, I do want the championship game.

Colin:

I think the first round games Liberty, Vermont, and Temple, UC San Diego will be very fun. This this could go for any team, and I think that team the team who wins will pretty much have a bid to the tournament, I think.

Eli:

Right. The team who wins out of the 12 cumulative basketball games that you just picked. Correct.

Kylee:

So he stole them from all of us.

Josh:

Yes. Correct.

Kylee:

So since you stole them from all of us, I picked are lot of different. Versus Oakland. Hooray. So I have ouch. I have Josh and I's big sky pick Mhmm.

Kylee:

Who played very close game against A and M recently against an Oakland team who had a ridiculous nonconference schedule and has kind of played fairly well for the most part. I mean, they were close with Purdue. You know, they they'll play us coming up here in December. So, you know, and Greg Campy. We can't go wrong.

Kylee:

Can't go wrong.

Josh:

Love that, man.

Eli:

And this is the Grizzlies versus the Golden Grizzlies, which

Josh:

is Oakland,

Colin:

I mean, has played number seven Michigan, number one Purdue, and number two Houston.

Porter:

Yeah.

Eli:

Have they played a home game yet?

Colin:

They played defiance at home and beat them a 113 to 47.

Kylee:

Woo hoo.

Josh:

Nice.

Colin:

And then they went back on the road to play big 12 opponent UCF and lost by just four.

Eli:

Then they

Josh:

came to Eastern. Just don't forget, at that time, they they were I don't remember the statistic, but it

Eli:

was Is like this game not at home? Is this game in Montana?

Colin:

Yes. This game is in Montana. It's in Montana.

Eli:

The Oakland.

Josh:

Purdue and Houston, it was like the first time that a team had played back to back AP top Number one

Eli:

or two.

Josh:

For a very long time. So, Greg Campi taking a page out of Tom Tomizo's book. Mhmm.

Eli:

I've got another game on the West Coast. It's Northern Iowa at UC Irvine.

Porter:

Woo hoo.

Eli:

Which is Colin, Kylie, and I's Missouri Valley pick. Oh, guess you didn't pick Bradley.

Porter:

I did.

Eli:

Colin and josh's Porter's at Big West wall. And I'm really excited about this one. The Panthers are four and o. UC Irvine is also off to a great start. And when these teams played in Cedar Falls last year, you and I lost by 20.

Eli:

So hoping we can avenge that a little bit.

Colin:

Oh, definitely. Definitely.

Porter:

Josh?

Josh:

I have Collies of Darlings, McNeese State, going against Murray State on November 24 in the Cayman Islands Classic. That'll be

Kylee:

that should

Josh:

be a really good one. Both of these teams only have one loss. McNeese State, according to ESPN, is the heavy favorite. But, again, I wouldn't count count out this Murray State team. And if I Yeah.

Josh:

Do believe so, they have one of my favorite players in college basketball right now. Right? If my memory serves me correctly?

Kylee:

Am I?

Josh:

Who? Your memory? Javon Jackson. Yeah? Yeah.

Josh:

That's the one guy we talked about couple weeks ago. So hopefully Javon Jackson brings them to a win against Collins Darling, and I can talk Yes. I can talk. Yeah.

Kylee:

In a wide open MVC. Hey.

Eli:

Go pokes. And and I mean, who's the real MSU? You know?

Colin:

That is that is a great

Kylee:

but like real.

Porter:

Yeah. Missouri State University. How?

Josh:

Don't forget Mississippi State that claimed that they were

Colin:

the And

Josh:

then we met your policy. It's Montana State.

Eli:

Everybody knows that.

Colin:

Wonder what you got?

Porter:

My pick is Central Connecticut State University.

Kylee:

Wow. Wait, let's just pause. Wow. Okay. Keep going.

Porter:

What? Playing Rutgers.

Colin:

Wow. What a game.

Kylee:

What a game.

Porter:

My NEC pick, and I think that they could beat Rutgers.

Colin:

Rutgers looks

Kylee:

And you said Oregon's worse? I don't believe you. That's unfair

Colin:

to Oregon.

Porter:

Okay. Do you think Rutgers is better than Penn State?

Kylee:

Yes. By like this

Josh:

much. Barely.

Porter:

Okay. I said Oregon's floor was slightly better than Penn State.

Kylee:

And But I also think that's better than Rutgers.

Josh:

Hang on. Hang on. You think Oregon's floor is barely better than Penn State's?

Kylee:

Yes. That's why I was, like, in

Eli:

shock I'm to low on Oregon, but I'm not

Josh:

that low on Oregon. But continue.

Kylee:

I think we were not listening you earlier. They were not listening to you speak.

Eli:

Look, I'm just proud of you for not picking Colorado State.

Porter:

They played Denver University.

Kylee:

You still cut up.

Josh:

You spoke too soon.

Colin:

Yeah. Yeah. I picked them on the woman's side. Rutgers nearly lost to Americans, so I think this is a great match.

Porter:

Yeah. Wait. And I was only the one who picked Central Connecticut State University for the NDC.

Eli:

Yeah, because Long Island's gonna win it.

Colin:

Shall find That's that's up for debate.

Porter:

Alright. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Check the Net on Impact eighty nine FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with the station on Facebook, X, or Instagram at WDBM or Impact eighty nine FM. This is our third full basketball season, and the chaos is just getting started. From here on out, we'll be talking about nonconference games and other basketball news until conference play begins.

Porter:

The season's madness is only just beginning, and we can't wait to talk about it more next week on Check the Net.