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This week on Check the Net, Impact 89FM’s College Basketball Podcast, join Josh, Porter, Kylee, and Colin as they preview the biggest games of the next week and talk about the most exciting games and upsets of last week, including MSU, South Dakota State, USC, Louisville, Gonzaga, Grace College, and more!
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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.
Welcome back to Check the Net Impact eighty nine FM's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I am your host Josh Lee and I'm joined today by my sleep deprived friends, Kylie Porter and Collin. But one friend who is still asleep,
Kylee:Eli. Eli, we miss you. Morning, everyone. Wake up.
Josh:We're we're filming this at 7AM because we all have busy schedules on this Wednesday morning. And how are you guys doing today?
Colin:I'm doing really good.
Kylee:Rise and shine. I'm so tired. I'm ready for that.
Porter:I'm doing so great, Josh.
Josh:I'm I'm gonna have a very long day today between this classes and we're filming this on a Wednesday. Mission State plays Youngstown State tonight.
Colin:Yeah. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Kylee:Long day.
Josh:So I'm gonna have a long day and I wrote me have long day.
Colin:Eli's got a little bit of women's college basketball news for us. Grace College from the NAIA has now broken the points record for a collegiate women's basketball game, defeating Ohio Christian a 172 to 91.
Kylee:That's all offense.
Porter:Why play defense when you can put up a 172 points?
Kylee:Put them put them in the SEC, we're good. They've got this.
Josh:I kinda wanna I wanna know how many shots they had to make and what percentage they had to shoot. I can level this up briefly. Let's see.
Kylee:Yeah. Because that's kinda crazy.
Josh:To be able to score a 172 points in a game, you have to be shooting close to, like, 70 to 80% Oh, from the field, and you have to force, like, a crazy amount of turnover turnovers. Not to mention, Ohio Christian still scored 91.
Kylee:I know. That's what's mind blowing as they
Josh:all Maybe you're maybe you're
Porter:just pushing the floor and just, like, every possession's five seconds.
Josh:And then they're also like threes. Like, they probably went like 40 or 52 or something from
Colin:Yeah. Three. More.
Josh:My bad.
Colin:Ohio Christian shot 36 of 85.
Porter:Oh. 85.
Colin:Two of 13 from three. And they shot 22 free throws.
Josh:Uh-huh. Okay.
Colin:Grace shot 61 of a 105. That is 58% for those counting. They shot 10 of 38 from three. Only 10 of thirty eight? And forty of 44 from the free throw line.
Josh:Oh, got the free throw line pretty good.
Colin:They shot 91% from the free throw line though.
Josh:You know me, Colin. I like I like to see that.
Kylee:Josh, I I hear
Colin:all 40 of those points were not needed. Yeah. No. They were not.
Josh:They still would have won handedly without all
Porter:of them.
Colin:But anyway, Let's get into it.
Josh:Let's go over to women's college basketball, starting out with number six Oklahoma, taking on number three, UCLA. UCLA took home the win, seventy three fifty nine.
Colin:Yeah, UCLA is really good.
Kylee:Yeah. I think it's again, we talked about it at beginning of the year. It's this is our season or the like, this is it's it or bust. Like, you're winning the national championship, or you're, like, you're not seeing that success.
Porter:You gotta at least lose to UConn or South Carolina in the final for the season to
Kylee:be Yeah.
Porter:Any what so worth it.
Kylee:Exactly. Yeah.
Josh:I mean, UCLA's rolling. Yeah. I mean, there's no other way to say it. Is there anyone that can really stop them?
Porter:In the Big Ten? No.
Josh:We'll we'll have to wait and see
Kylee:because Yeah. There's we'll get into that.
Josh:We're gonna get into it because there is another team that had a huge win
Kylee:Yeah.
Josh:Against one of our darlings. Harvard was at number 13 Michigan, and Michigan took home the win eighty four fifty five.
Colin:You know, maybe Harvard women's basketball is bad this year. And I hate to say that, I do. But they also lost to UMass sixty eight fifty five. They squandered a seven point halftime lead for that loss. And as for Michigan, I think they've got depth but they don't seem to have like a star player.
Colin:And I think that's gonna mean a lot of consistency for them. They have they have a lot of star players is my They don't have like one standout.
Kylee:I mean, I'm gonna disagree. I think I think Silas Swords was a bit quiet in this game, but I still think she's the
Porter:She's phenomenal.
Kylee:She's the front running star. Absolutely. But their sophomore class is just insane. They are.
Josh:They really are. Yeah. So why do they have to have two good Michigan basketball teams? Why is there why do they both have to be good? Like, as a Michigan State student, this hurts my heart.
Josh:But that three headed monster of the sophomores, just unreal, and they're gonna be dangerous all season long. Swords with 14, Holloway with 17, and Olsen with 18. Mhmm. Harvard may be regressing after last year, but Yeah.
Colin:We'll see. It's early
Josh:early season. Yeah. It's early. But for Michigan to play against Harvard to that way I mean Michigan State didn't beat I know obviously different season all that but to come out and get almost a 30.1 against the team that was NCAA bound because just in any circumstance like that, I think that's really impressive.
Kylee:Oh, yeah. A 100%.
Colin:And now, a message from Eli.
Kylee:From Eli. Rip Harvard.
Colin:This is Ben. A message from Eli.
Kylee:Alright. Goodness. I'm just gonna start
Josh:saying Eli stuff. Forget it. Alright, moving on. Anybody else got any points about Michigan's Harvard? No.
Josh:No? Nothing new to say. Alright. Let's take it over to number 24. Richmond was at number four, Texas, and Texas got the win eighty five fifty six.
Kylee:Yeah. This is not like I thought it would be closer, but I mean, Texas shot 55% from the field and I mean, that's that's impressive. And they also capitalized over on like the 24 turnovers that Richmond had. 15 of those were steals by the way Oof. Which is insane.
Kylee:Unfortunately, they only shot though 45% from the free throw line.
Josh:Oh It's too early to deal with bad free throw shooting. It's just
Porter:they want it though.
Kylee:Yeah, they yeah true It'd be different if they lost, but I think Gretchen Rich man's gonna be, like, it's gonna come comfortably win their conference, and they're gonna give someone a scare later in the year. But I mean, playing playing these in these tough contest early on really helps set the tone for the season. So win or lose, I think it was a good good thing for Richmond to play.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, this is a premier, like, women's college basketball team in Texas. Right? They're really good. Unfortunately for Texas, South Carolina plays in their conference.
Porter:So best of luck. True. But Yeah. I mean
Colin:Can't wait for that matchup.
Porter:Mhmm.
Colin:Yeah. That'll be a fun one.
Josh:As I say, all all the main takeaway from this one really is is Madison Booker is a really good basketball player.
Kylee:Yeah.
Josh:She's really good. She's gonna be she's a senior? Or is she a junior?
Colin:I believe she's a junior.
Josh:So she's I could be wrong.
Kylee:I thought she was a senior, but
Colin:Let me look.
Josh:I would say, let's take a quick look. I've discovered that. Because whenever she comes out of the draft, when she comes into the draft
Colin:Madison Booker's a junior.
Josh:So she's still got one more year on So if it's not this year for Texas, I wouldn't be shocked if they make a deep run next year
Porter:Mhmm.
Josh:Pushing for that national championship with a senior Madison Booker because she's
Colin:just that Yeah. Good. I I do think Texas is a really, really strong team. A few bright spots for Richmond, notably, Eddie Dugan. Thirty seven minutes for them in this game, 22 points, seven rebounds, five assists.
Colin:Pretty solid stat line. Oh, yeah. She'll be really, really strong against some of those mid major teams, for sure. Hopefully, won't have to use her for 37 of the game against some of those mid major teams.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:But, yeah, she played a really good game. Mhmm.
Josh:Alright. Let's switch it over back to the big 10 where we had a little bit of an upset. Number 18 USC took on number nine NC State, and USC scrapes by with a sixty nine sixty eight win.
Kylee:Again, I'm a little I'm a little surprised. Yeah.
Colin:But that was such a good game. I think both of these teams could be conference champions at the end of the season, and I don't think anyone would be surprised by that. Yeah. No. At least not too surprised.
Colin:Right? No. So, yeah, both these teams really, really played good games.
Kylee:Yeah. I complete I completely agree. I mean, US USC really showed that they're more than just, like, a Juju Watkins. Like, their team is more than just Juju Watkins. I mean, Jazzy Davidson dropped 21, and London Jones added 19 off the bench.
Kylee:I mean, that's that's kind of insane. Yeah. They've got a lot of really good players on this team that I think they can contend again for a Big Ten regular season title.
Porter:I mean, like, we've been talking a lot about NC State this year, and just they play a good schedule. Mhmm. So, like, they're gonna they're gonna drop one or two of these, but it's gonna set them up well for ACC play when they've gotta go play, you know, the Dukes and the Louisville's of the world.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm echoing everything everything that you guys just said. What a win for USC for a team that we I don't wanna say you discredit them, but they're definitely maximum star power and definitely not to the highest level that they can be right now because Juju Watkins is not playing.
Josh:It's she's I really wonder if they get further down in the season and she's actually, like, looking like she can play, maybe if they take back that she's not playing this season and maybe they push for a run, especially with Jazzy Davidson dropping 21 against a really good u not USC team, NC State team. Mhmm. So I really wonder that, but we know this is really impressive for them to beat a team like NC State that we've already talked about a good amount. They are battle tested. They have played against some really good basketball teams.
Josh:So, like, I can only imagine what this squad would look like with Juju Watkins right now. This would be a really fun team to cover.
Porter:I also
Colin:Oh, absolutely.
Porter:Think USC or yeah. I just I don't think they used Juju Watkins this year, especially with how good UCLA looks this year. I'd probably just try and ramp up next year, and have that be the last year, and make a run then.
Kylee:Yeah. And you don't and yeah. You don't want it to come back too soon, because, like, knee injuries suck to recover from, and so, like
Colin:Kylie would know.
Kylee:I would know from very personal experience. And so it'd be it I mean, I wouldn't be I wouldn't be surprised if they just have her wait out the season and come back as full strength as she can next year.
Colin:Yeah.
Kylee:Also, NC State missed fourth four free throws in a one point game. So
Josh:That one doesn't make me up as upset as the one prior.
Colin:Four free throws happens.
Josh:That that that's gonna happen and that's just if you if you are perfect from the line, credit to you. That's just that's hard. So Yeah. Alright. Switching gears.
Josh:We're gonna somewhat stay in the ACC where Clemson traveled down to number two South Carolina. And South Carolina got the win sixty five thirty seven.
Colin:Yikes. We learned nothing from this game. Clemson held to two points in the fourth quarter. I mean
Kylee:Crazy.
Porter:Good luck, Texas.
Kylee:Yeah. 65
Colin:points for South Carolina feels a little low, but I also don't think they were really trying that hard.
Kylee:Stop trying.
Porter:I mean, they held Clemson to 37 points. Exactly. They don't really need to score.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. This is a really bad shooting performance from Clemson. They went 14 of 61 from the field and five of 33 from three. You're never gonna win a bat obviously, you're never gonna win a basketball game if you're shooting like that.
Josh:Mhmm. No one in double digits for Clemson. And South Carolina actually shot good efficiently in terms of percentage wise. So duh. Yeah.
Josh:Like, that I just said a duh statement. Of course, South Carolina shot well.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if, obviously, haven't watched this game, but if South Carolina just played slow half court offense Probably. You know, ran out the clock and just beat Clemson down.
Colin:Yeah. And that's, I believe, exactly what happened based on the highlight reel.
Josh:Poor Clemson. Poor Clemson.
Colin:Alright. Should we talk mid majors? Please.
Kylee:Yes.
Josh:Let's switch over to Murray State at South Dakota State where South Dakota State came out and had a great win, ninety one sixty.
Kylee:Wow.
Colin:Yeah. I mean, South South Dakota State's definitely gonna be a challenger of top teams again this year. Pretty much as expected, right? Six minute stretch where the score went from fourteen seventeen with Murray State on top to thirty two seventeen. Pretty solid run there.
Colin:Oh gosh. They also shot 57.6 to Murray State's 29%. Yeah, Brooklyn Meyer, really good, 24 points, But South Dakota State just looks good as a team.
Kylee:Yeah. And and they outshot Murray State, 58 to 29 from the field, and 36 to 17 from three.
Porter:Which is crazy.
Kylee:Which is insane.
Josh:Wow. Thanks, Colin. You stole my
Kylee:Wow. My whole point. Sorry,
Josh:Josh. That was my point,
Kylee:but Oh, and I Yeah.
Josh:South Dakota State really shot well 38 of 66 from the field compared to Murray State's 21 of 72 and yeah, I had it written that Brooklyn Meyer was really good 24 points on eleven and fourteen shooting.
Kylee:Wow, word for word. He read word for word what you were gonna say.
Colin:Yeah. No, I was looking to read Eli's and just read
Josh:He the down. Wrong
Colin:think My apologies, Josh.
Josh:You're okay. I think the the name of the game, not only in college basketball in general, but if you can shoot efficiently, if you can shoot if you are a player and you can shoot above 60% from the field, you are going to be the reason that or you're gonna be the main focal point through an offense. Yeah. Especially for Brooklyn Meyer. I mean, 11 to 14 is very impressive.
Josh:So Mhmm. South Dakota State with a I don't wanna say dominant win because you mentioned it, Collin, that Murray State was on top. But after they clicked on, it was all dominance straight on there.
Kylee:Yeah. That's a crazy back to back, like, streak of being down four South Dakota State being down 14 to seven, and then yeah. And then that run to thirty two seventeen.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, South Dakota State's receiving votes in the AP pool right now. I Finally. Don't I would not be surprised to see them sneak in at 24, 25, while it's the middle of the season.
Kylee:I I think Richmond's probably gonna drop out.
Colin:Yeah. They already did.
Josh:They already did. Yeah. Yeah. But we had this conversation, Porter, that if some of the teams towards the bottom of that aren't scheduling tougher opponents, yeah, there's definitely a case to make for South Dakota State to jump in too. Especially if I don't know South Dakota State off the top of my head, but we talked about it, especially here at Michigan State.
Josh:It's not the most daunting of non conference schedules. No. But South Dakota State plays North Carolina over Thanksgiving. They play Columbia, they play Gonzaga, they play Kansas State, and they also play Duke and Texas. All in
Kylee:a crazy non conference schedule.
Josh:If they if they can keep those as manageable losses, not complete and utter blowouts, I definitely could see a world where maybe South Dakota State gets a little more respect from the AP. Absolutely.
Porter:They play ball state too, good MAC team.
Josh:No. Genuinely. Yeah. Compared to the likes of Duke and Texas. I just heard you say Ball State, I was like
Porter:That's That's like a game that they should win. Yes. That is a good mid major.
Kylee:I could see them grabbing a win against probably either Columbia or Gonzaga as well.
Colin:Or both. Or both. Speaking of Gonzaga.
Kylee:Speaking of Gonzaga, my darlings lost. My darlings lost.
Josh:Yeah. Gonzaga was at Toledo and Gonzaga pulled out the win seventy two sixty nine.
Kylee:You know, even though this was a loss, it was a great performance. I mean, you know, coming from a Gonzaga team, that's consistently good every year. They were our unanimous pick also to win the West Coast Conference. They're just they're just good. So I'm proud of I'm proud of my Toledo Rockets.
Kylee:Okay? Like, I'm excited. Also, Gonzaga did some crazy shooting. Shot more than 50%. Shot about 50% from the field and from three.
Kylee:So just insane shooting, but, you know, Toledo's winning the MAC. That's all I have to say. That's all I have to say.
Colin:Yeah, three point loss looks impressive.
Porter:Yeah. Toledo looks good. I mean, Gonzaga's a good team. Losing by three is not bad. My ball state pick is not looking too good for the MAC.
Kylee:Yep. This is why you listen to me. I don't know.
Porter:Because Kylie knows ball.
Kylee:I know ball.
Josh:And all I wrote was, womp womp, Kylie.
Kylee:Whatever. Whatever. And yeah, both these teams only missed one free throw. Yeah. That's how you do it.
Kylee:So you can do it. That's how you do it.
Josh:That's just a tough gritty win for Gonzaga then if they're not if it's not Toledo missing, like, eight free throws on the three point game. Mhmm. If you're missing one, I mean, the one point was the one point's not gonna make the biggest difference in the world. So Alright. Switching her focus over to another small conference game, Charleston Southern at Charleston, and Charleston got the win 80 to 65.
Josh:And I believe there was a couple players standing out in this one.
Colin:Yeah. Grace Ezabilo played a great game off the bench. 13 points, 18 rebounds. She is currently averaging a double double. Wow.
Colin:She's gonna continue being really really great.
Porter:Off the bench too, it's
Kylee:Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, another player, Taryn Barbot, triple double, triple double, fourteen, ten, and 10, and
Porter:Her sister?
Kylee:Yeah, and her sister, Taryn. Sorry, I thought they were the same name.
Josh:I gonna say, I was
Colin:confused too.
Kylee:22 points. So the sister angle always will prevail.
Colin:Yeah, College of Charleston looks really good. They've got a lot of strong players. I mean, we're talking about a double double and a triple double from the same team, as well as a 22 player. Yeah. Like, what more can you ask for?
Porter:Yeah. I mean, it was a good rivalry game. It was fairly close for much of the game before Charleston finally pulled away, but
Josh:Yeah. And as a Bilo, 18 rebounds
Kylee:Yeah.
Josh:That's that's impressive for because for some teams, that's their total number of rebounds in a game. And for you to get 18 on your own, that's very impressive. Charleston also had four players in double digits. That's also very impressive. Plus one at essentially, two at 20.
Josh:Mhmm. One at twenty two and one at 19. So good win for Charleston in a rivalry game and it looked really good. It looked good.
Colin:Yeah. Lot of depth on that team.
Josh:Alright. Switching our focus over South Alabama down at UAB. And South Alabama coming away with the win, ninety one sixty eight.
Colin:Another little rivalry game there, in state.
Josh:We love some in state games.
Colin:Uh-huh. South Alabama shot better than 50% from the field and from three. I mean, they're they're crazy.
Kylee:What is it with teams like they're not the only team that we talked about today that shot better than 50% from the field and from three. So where did all this great shooting come from? I'm a fan but I'm just curious. Where'd it come from?
Porter:I don't know. Sofia Munoz scored 20 points for UAB, and then one other starter had 14 points for UAB, and then no other starter cracked six points. So that's how you lose a basketball game.
Kylee:So true.
Josh:Yeah. Good win good win for South Alabama, but as we were getting ready for this episode, they sadly lost to Memphis, kinda taking away from some of the momentum. But good win going back to it. Good win for South Alabama. And they look like they can be a threat to maybe steal a bid, in my opinion.
Colin:Yeah. Absolutely.
Josh:Alright. Let's head over to Kylie's favorite conference. Yes. Columbia at Ohio, and Columbia won ninety two seventy four.
Kylee:My two favorite conferences, the Ivy League and the MAC, just how it should be. Very comfortable win for Columbia, Riley Weiss doing what Riley Weiss does, as Eli would say. And, you know, Columbia out rebounded the OU Bobcats 49 to 24.
Colin:Absurd. Wow. Yes.
Kylee:Great great rebounding. Very very solid win for for Columbia.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, my Ivy League books looks good. Columbia looks really strong. White said 18 points. And then Maria of Lejas had nine points, three rebounds, and five assists.
Porter:So that's also a pretty decent showing.
Colin:That were
Porter:a player off the bench.
Colin:Yeah? Yeah. I'd like to comment. No players for Columbia had more than twenty five minutes of playing time, and there were 15 different players that got minutes in that game. They've just got lots and lots of depth, and it's a very balanced team.
Colin:This could have easily been a blowout of larger proportions if Columbia wanted it to be.
Josh:Mhmm. I think my main takeaway is the IV is better than the MAC.
Kylee:Wrong. I'm wrong. I think
Josh:I think that's the only takeaway that's needed. Wrong. I think that's the only one that is important from this. Alright. Let's jump over to our up upset of the week nominations.
Josh:Porter, why don't you start? Oh, you want
Porter:Yeah. Speaking of Columbia, they beat Butler too. Woo hoo. So, you know, Columbia's on a
Kylee:roll. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of some Ivy action. Northeastern b Yale.
Kylee:Yikes. Not good I not good Ivy League action.
Josh:Never mind, maybe Northeastern. Maybe not.
Colin:My ops, I'm being boring. I'm taking 18 USC over nine NC State that we already talked about.
Josh:It's not boring. I don't think that's a
Kylee:great upset. Was great game. Yeah.
Colin:It's just a double ranked upset, so like
Kylee:It's still good though. Yeah, so Eli's upset. Eli has Montana State upset Portland on the road, and then an additional upset, a d two upset, d two Delta State beat Louisiana.
Josh:So Yeah. Shout out. Classic Eli to have two upsets for upset of the week.
Colin:Yeah. Shout out Delta State.
Josh:I don't know if we can consider this an upset, but I consider this an upset from the respect of the conference. Mhmm. Marquette got a win over Wisconsin in what was ended up being a really close matchup.
Colin:I'd consider that an upset.
Josh:Yeah. Wisconsin women's basketball is not to the highest level that it should be for the school for the University of Wisconsin. But for Marquette to pull off an upset against a school that has the recruiting power of not only Wisconsin, but a big 10 school. Mhmm. Impressive for Marquette.
Kylee:Yeah. Especially since Marquette's not really especially, like, Marquette's not really a women's contender in the Big East, not really consistently making the tournament by any stretch of the imagination either. So I think that this is the big one. Big win for them.
Colin:Yeah. Definitely.
Josh:Alright. Let's look ahead to some women's matchups next week. Let's start in the power five. I think Porter, you should start us off because this is a matchup that I'm very intrigued to see how it goes.
Porter:Yeah. Number 11, North Carolina is traveling down to number three, UCLA.
Colin:What a game.
Josh:Yeah. Gonna be a
Kylee:It's a lot of travel.
Porter:UCLA looks good. North Carolina also looks good. Going from coast to coast, we'll see how they manage to do that.
Kylee:Some rough travel.
Porter:Especially having to come back home later in the week, but yeah, we'll see how it goes.
Josh:Mhmm.
Colin:Josh, what do you got?
Kylee:Speaking of a Carolina.
Josh:Yeah. I got number now number eight, USC. Take or coming coming east, it is early for this. Number taking on number two, South Carolina. This is the matchup I feel like everybody's gonna be tuning into.
Josh:This is gonna be Yeah. Must see TV. I I hate to do this, but I wonder how good this matchup and how highly advertised this would be if Juju Watkins was healthy. But I genuinely believe UNC should not be taken lightly.
Colin:No. Absolutely not.
Josh:They have found a new star Mhmm. Along side Juju and Jazzy Davidson. They found a new star. So if South Carolina and I doubt that this is gonna happen with Don Staley, but if they have a any slight dip off and are trying to play lower, USC will take advantage of it. Yeah.
Josh:I just fear that
Porter:this game might not end up being close.
Colin:Yeah. We'll see. And we'll learn a lot from it, I think, either way. Anticipation.
Josh:Oh, Kalen.
Colin:Alright. I've got a technically a mid major.
Kylee:No, this is fire.
Colin:Number This is a fire seven Baylor is heading down to UNLV, who is a major powerhouse in, the Mountain West for women's basketball.
Kylee:Everyone but Eli picked them to win, so The conference.
Colin:What a game. I'm very excited to see what UNLV can do against a top 10 team. Mhmm. I think they could pull off the upset especially being at home knowing how that UNLV home crowd gets. But we'll see.
Colin:I mean, it's a it's a tough game for them. Taylor looks Really really good. So good. So we'll see. We'll kinda get a good preview of what UNOV can do against some of those ranked teams.
Kylee:Yeah. Keeping it keeping it in the in the big 12. I've got n number 10 NC State versus number 17 TCU, which I'm very excited because we haven't really seen TCU. Have they played a p five opponent yet? I don't believe so.
Porter:I don't think so, no.
Kylee:Yeah. Or at not a ranked
Josh:p five.
Colin:Certainly not a ranked one.
Kylee:So I'm very excited for this game. This is November 16. It'll be good. Can NC State pick up another really solid win, like bounce back after USC and pick up a solid win? Or is TCU gonna show why we all prove us right and why we all think they should be ranked higher in the AP, so I'm very excited about that one.
Kylee:And then Eli has a very interesting one. So we have number 18, Notre Dame versus number 14, Michigan. Great game. Think it's That's gonna a great great game. It's at Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit.
Josh:Yeah, that one, and I'm a little confused why it's in Downtown Detroit. Interesting. It out of all places in Downtown Detroit to host this game, they went with the Wayne State Fieldhouse. I'm a bit intrigued by that.
Kylee:Right, not like
Colin:I feel like they could have packed Little Caesars for a double ranked game with Notre Notre But they
Josh:definitely they definitely could have gotten some of that home crowd, especially like we're we're about to get into with the men's side of basketball where Michigan went and played at LCA against Wake Forest. Definitely could have done that for
Kylee:Oh, yeah.
Josh:Notre Dame and Michigan, two really good teams. Notre Dame's been a kind of a powerhouse Mhmm. In women's basketball. Michigan's kind of starting to get on that upward trajectory, which we mentioned earlier with the three headed monster of sophomores that they have. So I'm really shocked that this is at Wayne State Fieldhouse out of all places that Yeah.
Josh:They have I mean, this
Colin:is just the annual Shamrock Classic. Right? Yeah. And so NBC picks that location.
Kylee:That's yeah. Very interesting pick. I honestly, if I would've known about this game earlier, I wouldn't mind checking it out, but I don't know.
Colin:Ticket tickets are pricey because it's a
Kylee:small arena. That's the thing.
Josh:Let's head over to some small conference games. Yeah. Go ahead, Kylie.
Kylee:Yeah. I got this. So speaking of UNLV, Colin Colin decided to pick them for his power five game. I'm picking them for a small conference game. We've got Montana State taking on UNLV.
Kylee:We're all big fans of Montana State, of course. So, yeah, everybody except for Eli picked them to win the Big Sky, and then everybody except for Eli picked UNLV to win the Mountain West.
Colin:So this just not Eli's game.
Kylee:Yeah, not Eli's game. Basically, this is our Big West versus I mean, Sky versus Mountain West game, so I'm very excited about it.
Colin:For reference, Eli's would have been Idaho San Diego State.
Kylee:Yeah. That's his that's his ideal game.
Josh:Yeah. Colin? Alright.
Colin:I've got Richmond, darlings
Kylee:That's at a great game.
Josh:That's a great We talked about
Colin:both of these teams this week. They're playing each other next week, and as much as we try to mix it up a little bit with our small conference teams, I can't not pick this game. No. That's too good of a game.
Kylee:Mhmm. Very good game. Speaking of so speaking of another too good of a game, we have Eli's pick, which is McNeese State, which is our consensus Southland pick.
Colin:Go pokes.
Kylee:At Tarleton State, which is Colin and Porter's WAC pick. So that'll be a that'll be a fun game as well.
Colin:Yep.
Josh:Porter, you wanna explain yours? Yeah.
Kylee:This is interesting.
Porter:I've got number 11 UNC.
Kylee:Small smallest conference.
Josh:Small conference. Small conference.
Kylee:Playing Fairfield Real.
Porter:In Las Vegas.
Kylee:Real? Is that after they play UCLA?
Porter:It is after they play UCLA.
Kylee:Mod Fairfield. Window window of opportunity.
Porter:So I I think that's how North Carolina's playing these games is because, you know, UCLA is close to Las Vegas, obviously. Yeah. So they're gonna have to go to Las Vegas to play Fairfield.
Josh:That makes sense.
Porter:And I think Fairfield has an opportunity to do something really fun.
Josh:Yeah. Would fun.
Colin:A 100%. Really funny. Neutral site, UNC coming off a UCLA game. Yeah. Never know.
Colin:And
Josh:then my small conference game, I got East Carolina taking on High Point on November 16. High Point That's gonna be
Colin:a great one.
Josh:Two and o. East Carolina two and one at home for High Point. That's gonna be an interesting one. The odds right now according to ESPN is about a fifty fifty leaning in High Point's favor, especially for East Carolina who is o one on on the road to be that close. I'm just intrigued to see that matchup come to fruition.
Colin:Yeah. I like High Point a lot in that one, but East Carolina is a good team too, so
Kylee:I mean, High Point is our consensus big south pick, so should be a good game.
Josh:Alright. Let's switch it over to the men's side of college basketball that has been unreal It's so been so fun. Men's college basketball has been so good, so has women's college basketball, no slight there. First off, number 15 Alabama traveling up to New York to take on number five Saint John's, and Alabama won this one a hundred and three to '96. Alabama played Alabama basketball.
Kylee:Yeah. You're
Colin:not St. Gonna John's attempted to play Alabama basketball.
Kylee:Yeah. You're not gonna you're not gonna beat Alabama at their own game. I mean, I called this game. I said, I'm sorry, that SEC offense It doesn't matter how good your defense is, that SEC offense is is coming to play and they're going to win. If you don't have a, like, an SEC caliber offense where you can score a bunch of points and, like, produce a bunch, you're not gonna beat Alabama, unfortunately.
Kylee:That's just kind of the reality of it, but Who
Colin:knows to St. John's for a seven point game. Yeah. Especially being even closer until the very end when they were fouling pretty much.
Porter:Mhmm.
Colin:That's what made it a seven point game.
Porter:I mean Yeah. Alabama shot 20 more field goals than St. John's. Yeah. Yeah.
Kylee:That's a lot. That's that's their game, Faroo.
Porter:Yeah. They just they shot more. I mean, rebounds, it was 43, 42, so it wasn't like, you know, crazy rebounding differential. Yeah. Alabama just shot the ball more, and St.
Porter:John's can't handle Saint John's MO is not play fast, play up and down the court, you know, get into a shootout. It's slow the game down, play solid defense, and that did not happen.
Kylee:I mean, yeah, we when I was watching it because I watched I watched about half of it. St. John's was trying to press. They were pressing, they were pressing Alabama, but it was not, like, not a solid press. Like, it was it looked as if they were trying to to speed up Alabama, and that's the worst thing you can do.
Kylee:Like, I know that was definitely not the intention, because Patino's a way better coach than that. But that's what it like, that's
Colin:That's the effect it had.
Kylee:Yeah. It sped up an already very fast team, and they were and St. John's couldn't cut like, couldn't catch up.
Josh:I can only imagine how mad Pitino was after that. Mhmm. Given this and Pitino is still one of those old school coaches, like, Calipari is though where they preach that you still need to play good defense to win. Mhmm. You need to play great defense.
Josh:And they give him a 103 points
Colin:Yeah. At home. At home? Well, at Madison Square Garden.
Kylee:At home.
Josh:At home. But that's just how Alabama plays basketball.
Kylee:And Yeah.
Josh:For the neutral, it's exciting and fun to watch. But for people that actually like basketball and watch it, it's just like We knew this was coming. You knew it was coming. So it's it's high scoring, lots of offense, and zero defense. They still gave up 96 points Yeah.
Josh:Against a Rick Pettino team that plays kinda classic college basketball where Mhmm. You're finishing right around that 60 to 70 mark, not 96.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. So no clue what happened there. I don't wanna discount either of these teams. I think Alabama is really, really good.
Colin:I think St. John's, if they play their style of basketball, is going to be really, really good. Yeah. And I'm not sure why they didn't, but it happens. Mean, I
Porter:think there's also a reason though that in our top 25 poll for the preseason, we made Alabama go up and St. John's go down.
Kylee:It's almost as if we know ball.
Josh:We know ball.
Kylee:I feel like that might be that might be it.
Josh:That's the consensus from this. But anyway, let's switch our focus over to number 10 Texas Tech traveling up to number 17 Illinois, where Illinois got the win, eighty one seventy seven.
Kylee:Yeah. This was an ongoing game. Some of these games were ongoing last night.
Colin:Yes.
Josh:So we were either As we were filling out our document, we all had to be like, we had all waiting for it to finish, so we can Mhmm. Put in our tapes for this game.
Colin:Yeah. Feel like this Illinois kinda EuroBall experience is playing out really really well so far. Mhmm. You know, eighty one, seventy seven win over number 10 in the country. They're playing clean basketball.
Colin:They didn't foul very much. And they just played really good basketball. They drew a lot of fouls. Texas Tech was playing a lot better with assists than Illinois, but other than that, it was a pretty solid game for the Illini.
Kylee:Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think yeah. Like, Conza, the Euro the Euroball experiment is playing out pretty well so far. I do think Texas Tech though is just is also just a really good, really good big 12 team. I mean, they're they're they're solid.
Kylee:They shot four free throws, however. Made three of them. Illinois' 16 of 23.
Porter:That's not how you win a basketball game?
Kylee:No. No. No. Like, and and my thing is is is Illinois just like, are they not fouling or is is Texas or is Texas Tech not making smart plays and trying to draw fouls? Yeah.
Kylee:Who knows? I mean, you know, Euroball isn't super aggressive on like defense or like by by any stretch of the imagination there, So maybe that's why. But at that point, if they're not super aggressive on defense, you've just gotta make shots.
Porter:I mean, it also is could have been Illinois' a larger team than Texas Tech Yeah. You don't wanna drive at the basket. But at the same time, if you aren't driving at the basket, you're not gonna draw fouls, great opportunities
Kylee:Or win.
Josh:Win games. Yeah. Yeah. Just a really gritty win for Illinois against I've talked about it before, but I believe this is a very good Texas Tech team, and I believe Texas Tech, they'll bounce back from this. I really believe that Texas Tech at some point throughout the year where we will will start narrowing down who we believe is gonna be in the picture for potential final four and national championship run.
Josh:I believe this Texas Tech team is one of those teams to look out for. Mhmm. Because they're returning so much Yeah. Depth from last year and so many of their star players. And they were just one second half collapse away from going to the final four.
Colin:Yeah.
Josh:So but this is a great start for Illinois because they're trying to introduce this whole new style into college basketball where there they Underwood started this a few years ago when he started bringing in European players. But But now, it feels like he's fully integrating kind of this Euro style of basketball into college basketball. So right now, it is working. Hopefully, it's sustainable because Mhmm. I I don't wanna feed into stereotypes, but Europeans have the stereotype of when it gets the dog days, they're not physically as tough in college basketball, especially in the Big Ten.
Kylee:It's a physical conference.
Josh:It's the most physical conference, I think, in the country. Yeah. So they're gonna have to remain tough and remain steady in their practice to be able to compete with the likes of Purdue, Michigan, and those other
Colin:And I think Underwood will have them ready for
Josh:that. Yeah. Especially Underwood stature. Let's switch over to another top fifth or another top 15 matchup. Number nine, Kentucky at number 11, Louisville.
Josh:And Louisville won 96 to 88.
Kylee:I'm gonna say this is home court advantage. That's all I'm gonna
Porter:It's usually terrible last five
Kylee:minutes of was bad. We were watching it.
Colin:Was awful. Last five minutes were really bad. I will say though, very glad I picked Louisville as my ACC champion on the men's side. Everyone else picked Duke.
Kylee:Louisville. I think that's
Josh:A very reasonable choice,
Colin:but I feel, you know, like Louisville was warranted.
Kylee:They're a good Yeah, that's a solid win.
Colin:They really did their best to lose this game. Missed seven of their last eight free throws. Seven in a row, mind you.
Kylee:But Kentucky just could not make a shot. They could not capitalize off of all of these missed free throws. Like Louisville was keeping them in the game. They're like, yeah, no, like we wanna see what you could do. And Kays like, no, I'm good.
Kylee:I don't I don't want that.
Porter:I thought you went a basketball game.
Colin:Yeah. Bunch of awful shot attempts. It wasn't even like they were missing, you know, it's a good shot, it's just rolled out. No, these were like
Kylee:Not good.
Colin:I'm falling over and I'm just gonna toss it up there for no particular reason with like thirty seconds left on the shot clock.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah. It was like, what are we doing? I mean, how but Kentucky, 17 I mean, sorry, 14 turnovers. 11 of those were steals by Louisville.
Kylee:Not gonna win. Louisville only had six turnovers. You're not gonna win. No. It's like, you're not gonna win that way.
Kylee:Other than that, nearly identical stats from the offense. So come on.
Josh:Yeah. Call him.
Kylee:Josh, tell him tell him what you think about this.
Josh:Free throws. How do you miss ten ten free throws for a team that's supposed to be top 12 in the country?
Colin:And seven of those were in the row at the end.
Josh:Like, you are begging. You need somebody to just It's the easiest, but also one of the hardest shots because you're standing on an island all by yourself. Mhmm. And you're it's just you and the basket essentially.
Colin:I fear that is how you lose in March.
Josh:If you cannot do that at a high level, at least I'd say at least above 75%. Mhmm. You are not going to win long term. Now, obviously, it's still early season, so I will give Louisville credit. Yeah.
Josh:Getting a rivalry win in this magnitude, thankfully, it was at home for them. Good win for them. But my main takeaway, are they trying to be in the SEC? Maybe. Like, they trying to defect from the ACC to the SEC?
Josh:96 points? Like, are they trying to copy Kentucky, Alabama, like, these people and high offense, low Stop.
Kylee:Whatever it is.
Colin:It works.
Kylee:Yeah. It worked against an SEC team.
Colin:So like
Kylee:But what about what about, you know, Yeah. Purdue. Like, some of these other teams, like
Porter:Houston.
Kylee:Yeah. Houston. You think that's gonna work against Houston? No. We'll see.
Kylee:Absolutely not.
Josh:No. Another matchup. Speaking
Kylee:of the SEC.
Josh:We had a great one, and I fear we're gonna be talking about this one a lot. But Yeah. Number 14, Arkansas came up here to East Lansing to take on the number 22 ranked Michigan State Spartans, and MSU pulled away with a win, 69, 66.
Kylee:I cannot believe this happened.
Colin:Me too. I What a game.
Kylee:As a fan, like, I I was trying to be optimistic. I wasn't there, and I'm really sad, But
Josh:I couldn't believe I saw that, and you weren't at the game. I was like, Kylie is not at the game right now. I was shocked.
Kylee:Kylie was somewhere else, but she had the game pulled up on her phone the entire time. Yep. So I did watch it, but I I did not expect this to happen. I did not expect this to happen. And and what what I can say is that we we won by staying true to ourselves.
Kylee:I mean, that's truly that is truly what happened. I mean, we out rebounded Arkansas 45, 34. And six of like, out of that out of that split, half of them were offensive rebounds. So it's like great rebounding from us, solid defense. That's what that's what won us the game.
Kylee:You know what didn't win us the game? One of 14 from three. That's not gonna win us a basketball game. Yeah. And that's not what won us this game.
Colin:Shout out to the Spartans for only shooting 14.
Kylee:Just
Colin:like you for not stopping you shooting threes by the second half. I think we shot two in the second half only.
Porter:I think we shot four.
Colin:Maybe, yeah, maybe three or four.
Kylee:Granite, Arkansas did not shoot much better. I think they shot they shot less than 30% from the three. So they also They made more than one. They did make more than one, but they also shot more than 14. So, yeah.
Porter:But They probably shot better than what? Three of 42?
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah. But Yeah. But they lost.
Colin:But they lost. Yeah. So I do think it was Michigan State's defense and just like identity that carried them through this game, right? They really held true to what we've seen Michigan State do the last few years, and they pulled it together a lot earlier in the season than last year.
Josh:This is
Kylee:a big win early on for us, and one I don't think any of us saw coming. I thought I was hope I thought it was gonna be close. I thought it gonna be close, but I'd this was an unexpected result.
Porter:We have a tendency to start slow, and to like pick up a good ranked win early in the season is really nice.
Kylee:Mhmm. Especially when we've got Duke coming up here in a few in a I few mean, this gets me really excited about that game, and, like, the prospects for that.
Josh:I think one obviously, one of the main takeaways from this one is, Kim Ward, have yourself a game.
Kylee:Absolutely.
Josh:Have yourself a day in your second collegiate game against John Calipari in a star studded Arkansas Razorbacks team to have a double double like he did. Just unreal stuff. He is a stud. And I wrote in my notes, better than NFL King award for sure.
Kylee:I think that might be circumstantial though because the Tennessee tie ins are buns.
Josh:But I think also, a main key from this was, I think Jeremy Fierce really I think we we got to see Jeremy Fierce's leadership really shine through this.
Kylee:He did not He did not have
Josh:if you're talking from a pure points perspective, he didn't have a good game.
Colin:He just didn't. Yeah. Look at the box score.
Porter:This was seven. First seven field goals.
Josh:He was o o seven at one point, but to still come back, his biggest key is distributing the ball. He's one of the best at limiting turnovers and getting assists. That's his thing. And I think he also did a really good job of getting into Arkansas' heads. Trevin Brazil barely played.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Josh:Because of the fact that Jeremy Fierce was just nonstop on him. Yeah. And that was Brazil got in his head. And I think that's also something that we can appreciate for Jeremy Fierce as at least MSU students. Yeah.
Josh:The fact that he is going to go at your best player and he's not scared despite him not having the offensive night that we would all love for him to have. He is still going to go 100% regardless of how he's playing.
Colin:Yeah. I wanna add on to that briefly, because I watched a post game interview with Jeremy Fierce. He was over there drawing up plates. Mhmm. Like he, during the game, while he was playing, he saw some weaknesses from Arkansas, at a time out, go went and talked coach Izzo and said, hey, I think we should run this play instead of this play because I think it'll draw them off.
Colin:And it worked. Yeah. They we scored extra points because
Porter:of that.
Josh:I believe you're talking about when they had Jordan Scott roll off and pull an Iverson cut. Yep. Mhmm. And they Arkansas was
Kylee:Cheating it.
Josh:They were
Kylee:cheating high.
Josh:They were cheating high, and he saw Jordan Scott rolling low, Jordan Scott was wide open. That's Izzo's best teams are when he has a porn card that's an extension of him on the floor. Exactly. High energy, very smart, and can implore not only his team, but implore the crowd. Jeremy Fierce is a crowd starter.
Josh:Mhmm. He gets that crowd going every time he's on the court. So MSU's at their best when they have, like I just said, an extension of Izzo on the floor.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, if we can shoot free throws reasonably well and not turn the basketball over, that's what wins MSU basketball goals.
Kylee:We we should the crazy thing is we shot better from the free throw line than Arkansas. Neither one of us cracked over 70% from the free throw line, but we shot better.
Colin:Yep.
Kylee:I'm mind blown. Mind blown.
Josh:And and then one final thing is, I think you it you guys did mention it, but the fact that they did pull back on those threes. Yeah. That's smart. That's so hard, I feel like, to do is to be able to tell yourself, hey, we're not shooting it really well, so let's not keep just jacking up threes and taking chances.
Kylee:Especially in this age of basketball, like Yeah. It's pretty much expected that you're gonna go out there and you're gonna shoot high like, a high number of three pointers. So it takes a lot of, yeah. A lot of a lot of self control. Because if you're wide open, but you're put the team's one for 14, you know, you have to make a smart decision and they they did that.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Let's switch over to another Moving on. Another top 25 matchup that this one kinda shocked me with this.
Josh:Number 19 Kansas at number 25 North Carolina. In North Carolina, they got the win eighty seven seventy four. Disgusting.
Kylee:Yeah. Was gonna say that right
Josh:now. Gross.
Colin:I was rooting for meteor but So
Kylee:so true. I think the biggest the biggest thing for biggest things for Kansas were they were outrebounded, 39 to 27. They were leading at halftime by eight, and so went and surrendered that. And North Carolina looked solid in the paint, scoring 48 to, 48 points to Kansas' 20. So in in Kansas for the past however many years, I don't know how long was Hunter Dickens in there, they've had a Two.
Kylee:Strong strong paint stronger paint presence. Like, they've been able to they've had they've had some guys that are strong, like, strong inside. So to see them lose the the paint battle is shocking to me.
Colin:Yeah. They're gonna have to kind of rewrite their identity as a team Yeah. This year.
Porter:Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, man, I I don't like these teams. No. UNC looks good.
Porter:They have some good players. Kansas came back down to earth a little bit, but give me anybody else.
Josh:Think I think the main takeaway from this one is the fact that Kayla Wilson is the real deal. Absolutely. And I feel like we're gonna be talking about this all we're definitely gonna be talking about this all year long. But this freshman class is so unbelievably deep. Yes.
Josh:I know we mentioned it last week, but this is another player from this freshman class stepping up on the biggest stage and imploring his team to a win. Hubert Davis talked about it in his post game press conference, that that was a wideout. That was, I believe I'm I wanna believe if Hubert Davis said it correctly, that was the first time that they have done a white out for UNC. And it was all because Caleb Wilson wanted a white out, and all of North Carolina turned up. And they made that thing pretty white for twenty two thousand.
Josh:So not only is he producing on the court Mhmm. With 24 points in on nine out of 12 shooting, especially I Love Me Some Efficient Shot Making. Yeah. He's making a difference for the program and the culture. Yeah.
Josh:Because you It says a
Colin:lot when you have a program like UNC.
Kylee:Yeah. I mean, he's bought into what UNC is, and that's huge for that's huge for a player, especially a freshman, and that's what you want from all of your guys.
Josh:And not to mention, the UNC culture may have taken a little bit of a dip the last couple years after coming off of the national championship game
Kylee:Missing the tournament.
Josh:And then missing the tournament. I mean, the the drop off is there. So for Caleb Wilson to really take on the identity of that university and to just feed it and give it extra life, As much as we might all hate it, UNC might be good. Yeah. Especially if he's at the helm.
Josh:All and also, one of my biggest winners is gonna be whoever is in the lottery for the NBA because you get your pick of so many good freshmen. Yeah. If you're in the lottery, you're potentially getting a guy that could be a high level starter for your team or potential franchise guy because Mhmm. You had DeFonse, you got Koaw Pete, you got Kiel Wilson, you got so many other guys that have just been producing ridiculously well. So real winners, anybody in the lottery.
Porter:Me personally, I will be refusing to acknowledge UNC as a good team until they do good in March. But
Kylee:That is very true. We'll see we'll see what the we'll see how they do in ACC play. I don't think they're I don't think they're doing any damage to Duke. I think in yeah, and I think Louisville, I think it'll Louisville will a good Louisville will be a good test for them, I think as of right now, Louisville is definitely gonna be ahead of them.
Josh:I forgot to even mention Darren Peterson, another freshman, had 22 points in this game for Kansas. Yeah. Eight of 14 from shooting, three of five from three. Nice. Another freshman that is going crazy.
Josh:Alright, Kylie. Know you're gonna hate this
Kylee:I'm so upset. I'm so upset.
Josh:23 Kraton at number 21, Gonzaga, and Gonzaga won this one by a healthy margin. 90 to 63.
Kylee:Yeah. Before we get into, like actual stats that are gonna make me really upset, and before I start like crying on camera and whatever, I'm just gonna say, I think that this game is more a testament to how good Gonzaga is going to be this year. Especially because in the past few years, not they have been good, they just haven't been as good as we expect have expected them to be, especially non conference. They haven't had a whole bunch of huge non conference wins as of late, especially early in the season and especially against these, like, p five teams. So I'm gonna say this is a testament to how good Gonzaga's gonna be this year, which is exciting.
Kylee:It looks really good. Look really good. And says nothing about my Crayton Blue Jays. Granted, there are some things in here that should not have happened in that game, but it's early, and I'm I still think they're gonna win the Big East, so I'm just gonna
Porter:In the first thirteen minutes of the second half of this game, Creighton scored seven points.
Josh:That'll do it.
Kylee:That's my biggie's champion.
Porter:Yeah. Porters
Kylee:too. Yeah. Like it or not.
Porter:Gonzaga looks really good. Can't imagine picking them to not win their conference.
Colin:Hey. They know. They know.
Kylee:I'll say, yeah. Colin, how you feel about that right now?
Colin:You know, look.
Kylee:Hey, still early in the season, so maybe you'll end up being right.
Colin:San Francisco does not look bad yet.
Porter:Right? But you were Do they look
Kylee:Did Right, look Do they they a top 25 team?
Colin:Well, they haven't played one.
Kylee:By a lot? Well, that's an issue.
Colin:They lost to Memphis by six?
Kylee:I'm completely gutted Memphis team. Has nobody on that team from last year?
Colin:You know, we don't have to talk about that.
Kylee:So all I'm saying is we're balling.
Josh:Anyway, this was just a dominant second half from the Zags. 46 to 25, Peyton not being able to get any offense really going in that second half. Yeah. They rebounded pretty well too. And they only had eight turnovers, which in this era of college basketball feels like a major success story.
Josh:Yeah. Especially against a top 25 team, to hold yourself to less than double digits in turnovers, you're gonna win basketball games doing that. And Mark Few does Mark Few things and Mhmm. He's gonna run with guys that are more experienced instead of relying on freshmen to carry the workload. All their starters are juniors and seniors, and they're proving why they're consistently one of the best college basketball programs in the country.
Kylee:Yeah. And they're sticking yeah. True they're sticking true to form of what we all know college basketball to be in a constantly changing era of it, and they're still having success. So I have to appreciate it for that.
Josh:Alright. Switching over to Yale at Quinnipiac. Yale took the win, another healthy margin, 97 to 60.
Kylee:Yes. They took they took Yale takes home the Quinnippe Yale trophy, which is me and Eli's favorite thing. I'm really have I'm really sad that he's not here to celebrate with me.
Josh:I'm I'm sure he would be really really excited Yes. At 08:30 in the morning.
Kylee:Of course. It's Quinnipiac, Yale. Who's not excited about this right now?
Colin:Yeah, state of Connecticut battle. I mean
Josh:So fun.
Colin:Yale just looked dominant. Mhmm. I don't think Quinnipiac's conference is going to be quite as difficult as Yale though, So No. And to I think be fair they very much still could both win their conference.
Kylee:I mean, so for the MAAC, we all pick different teams, and I did pick Quinnipiac.
Porter:Yeah. Hey, I mean, Yale's a good basketball team.
Kylee:They are, yes.
Porter:I am excited for December 29, when Yale travels down to Alabama.
Josh:Yes. That'll
Porter:You be are going to see over 200 combined points.
Josh:Oh my gosh. There's no question.
Kylee:I can't wait. That's gonna be 100
Porter:of to be you. Less than zero defense, and so so many points, and it's gonna be such
Josh:a good game. Yeah. Shooting above 50% from the field, and three, yeah, that'll do it.
Kylee:And that yeah, not the first time the team we've talked about has done that today.
Josh:So Crazy.
Colin:And again.
Kylee:Again and again. That'll do it. Fall in love again and again.
Josh:Alright. North Texas at Loyola Chicago. North Texas pulls away with this one, sixty four sixty two.
Colin:No. Yeah. Sad loss for Loyola. North Texas looks quite good honestly. They have a solid chance and a pretty open American.
Colin:They're not a flashy team. They don't have a ton of depth. But they had 11 blocks and eight steals. And I think that goes a long way. 11 blocks team's defense.
Kylee:Nice. I mean, yeah. That's a strong defensive presence.
Josh:Alright. Should we just get to the Yeah.
Porter:Get to the point. North Texas won on the buzzer beater, by the way. Yeah.
Josh:And it also doesn't help that
Kylee:Tell him Josh.
Josh:Loyola missed 10 free throws in a two point game, and you lost on a buzzer beater, you missed 10 free throws.
Kylee:Yep. Lock
Josh:in. Lock in. Come on, Drew Valentine. If you're not imploring your team like Tom Izzo would right now and just constantly shooting free throws at the at practice, I am very disappointed.
Porter:Yeah. That's really bad.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Josh:I I'm very sad because I like Loyola, and I like Drew Valentine. I there have been rumors if Tom when Tom retires, maybe do they hire Drew Valentine and for them to lose a game at home like that because not only on a buzzer beater, but to lose because you missed 10 free throws.
Porter:I mean, technically, was at the Bulls G League team stadium. So not really at home.
Colin:You're still in Chicago.
Josh:You're in Chicago. Chicago. Yeah. You're in Chicago.
Kylee:Yeah. Looking solid though for Josh and I's American pick, so that's all
Josh:I It's still good win for North Texas. Yeah. Let let whatever I just said, not discredit what North Texas did. Good win for them on the road. Yeah.
Kylee:This is Eli's game.
Josh:This is a this is a weird one. Penn State at New Haven and Mhmm. New Haven somebody correct me if I'm wrong. New Haven is now officially the smallest gym division one and
Kylee:this was their first division one home game
Porter:yes
Kylee:and they hosted Penn State
Josh:and they hosted a big 10 team this was really cool to see just like the Penn State players and like what was essentially cheerleaders and a high school gymnasium essentially yeah That was really cool to see.
Kylee:And you wanna know why that is? Because Penn State is a poverty team.
Porter:Small gyms, small teams.
Colin:Yeah. This was one of the most full arenas they've played in all year.
Kylee:Yeah. Which is crazy. Yep. Yeah. Penn
Colin:State also
Kylee:just They won.
Colin:Spokes New Haven eighty seven forty three.
Kylee:They should've. Like that's this is the expected resolve that we should all be like, you know, be having like unfortunately, I did want New Haven to get that win, like that's so exciting. But per Eli, Penn State still remains very beatable. They only beat Navy by nine yesterday.
Colin:Yep. No, Penn State's still not good, but they are apparently better than the smallest school in Connecticut.
Kylee:And you know what? That's something.
Josh:You know what? That's good for them, because this was a very expected result. Yep.
Colin:Alright. Moving on.
Josh:Let's go to a more fun game that I know one of us is very excited to
Kylee:talk about.
Josh:Omaha at Colorado State. Colorado State coming away with what is up with teams in scoring close to 95 plus points? I know. Colorado State wins ninety seven seventy four. And should we just let him take it away?
Colin:Sko Rams. This is a
Porter:great game. Omaha, they can't compete with the team that's gonna win the Mountain West.
Kylee:For
Porter:sure. For sure. Moby Arena was popping. They have a glowing, like, ram that raises and lowers with the decimal with how loud it is. It was it was going off.
Porter:This is a great home win for a CSU team. They shot well. I mean, they obviously scored 97 points, outrebounded Omaha. So just a good game all around.
Kylee:Yeah. Omaha's still gonna win the Summit. Like, they they face they've played two very good mid major teams these past couple like, the past couple games we talked about them, they've been playing very good mid major teams. They're still gonna win the Summit, but go Rams.
Josh:Yeah. Yay, Porter. Good for you, Porter.
Porter:Thanks. Yep.
Colin:Good for Alright. One last mid major game.
Josh:What is this? Again, another another
Kylee:Who picked this one? I I did. I did.
Porter:Because Bethune Cookman took Auburn Yes. To And I wanted to see if they could
Josh:Well, the the Bethune Cookman did not do it this time against an ACC opponent instead of an SEC Not
Kylee:historically good. Has that been good as of late?
Josh:Bethune Cookman took on Miami of Florida. And Miami won a 101 to 61, so
Colin:I think there's something to be said about Auburn walking into a trap game, and Miami watching that trap game and going, we don't want that to happen to us.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, especially because it's instate game.
Colin:Yeah. I mean, it's an in Miami region game. Yeah. Let's be honest. Miami is probably the most middle of the road power five team in the country.
Colin:I think it gives us a good baseline.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:So maybe Auburn is just bad. Maybe it was a fluke. Really knows? This is college basketball.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. There's not much else to say. Ouch. Just ouch.
Josh:That's not that's not very good.
Porter:Yeah. I mean, they still put up 61 points.
Kylee:That's true.
Porter:For a team that's not good at basketball to do that against a power 14.
Josh:I was about to say, this is no longer a Jim Laronega Miami team. No.
Colin:No. No. Not at all.
Josh:Not the ones that took that went to the final four a couple times under
Colin:him. This
Josh:is he's not even the coach anymore. So Okay. Ouch. Yeah. Alright.
Josh:Let's go over to some upsets because there were plenty A lot. In men's college basketball. Nice voice crack. How about we start with
Colin:Let's let's start with shouting out d two if we can.
Josh:Yeah. I think we should definitely do that. Wilmington upsetting Delaware and North Greenville upsetting Gardner Webb.
Kylee:We love it.
Josh:And I have another
Kylee:I'm so mad at you because this is a game I wanna talk about but go ahead.
Josh:I was gonna say, I am from the state of Michigan. These are two Michigan schools. Yeah. I gotta go with Northwood pulling off the upset over Western Michigan in the on the road in Kalamazoo. I love Dwayne Stevens, and I loved him during his time as one of the assistant coaches for the Spartans, but it's just not working.
Josh:It's not working at Western right now.
Kylee:Yeah. Western's bad. Like, really bad.
Josh:Yeah. And it's surprisingly one of the few sports that Western's actually not good at right now. Like, they have a good football team. They have a good hockey team. They have a good pretty much everything else.
Josh:The fact that they're not getting it clicking on the men's college basketball side, I love Dwayne Stevens, but it might be time for a a new face to go lead the charge in Kalamazoo.
Kylee:Yeah. Definitely. I mean, I picked a speaking of the state of Michigan, I picked of course number 22 MSU over 14 Arkansas. That is a homer, however
Colin:Hard to not pick it.
Kylee:Hard to not pick it.
Colin:Yeah. I had Georgetown beating Maryland 70 to 60. And I had two actually, I'd also like to shout out Southeast Missouri almost beating Missouri. It was 89, 84, and Missouri is really bad.
Kylee:Yeah. I've So Eli has New Haven, our darling, upset UMass Lowell for their first win as a d one program.
Josh:Yay. Super
Kylee:excited. So they got their first win.
Colin:That's awesome. Good for Purdue.
Kylee:Super exciting, and also Purdue only beat Oakland by 10.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah.
Kylee:Let's let's analyze that that for for a a second. Second crazy
Josh:Oakland scheduled some we talked about gauntlet scheduled a gauntlet between Purdue Michigan us and they're about to play Houston. I believe
Porter:yeah, and
Kylee:we'll play them in December
Josh:like credit to Campy for Mhmm. Not having the balls to do that schedule.
Porter:I really wanna see Oakland Louisville in March Madness, because if Louisville's not gonna make eight free throws, like, Oakland's got a chance.
Kylee:So true.
Colin:That'd be so good.
Porter:My upset, I have George Washington beating the University of South Florida.
Colin:I love a good a 10 upset.
Porter:Yeah. My pick for the a 10
Kylee:Yeah.
Porter:Might not be that horrible. They beat South Florida 99 to 95.
Josh:Is What is going on with college
Kylee:basketball High scoring.
Josh:I don't like this.
Kylee:Nobody plays defense anymore.
Colin:We'll see how that goes in the a 10 because I know the a 10 loves defense.
Kylee:The a 10 is I think the a ten's gonna be a lot more competitive, I think, than we originally thought.
Colin:We're gonna get a two or three bit a 10.
Kylee:What? I hope. I We
Colin:better get a two
Kylee:or three bit
Colin:a 10 with how these games are going so far. Mhmm. Alright.
Josh:Next week? Yeah. Let's take a look at some of the biggest games next week on the men's basketball side. Some power five games. Who wants to start us off?
Colin:Let's start with Eli's.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah, this
Porter:is the biggest one.
Colin:Eli picked out the entire champions class Madison Square Garden.
Kylee:Yes. Because what if I wanted one of those?
Colin:17 Michigan State versus number nine Kentucky and 25 Kansas versus number four Duke the only reason Kansas is still ranked is so that when they play Duke ranked matchup a 100%
Porter:James is gonna lose this basketball game right? Yeah,
Colin:But Michigan State, Kentucky
Kylee:That's gonna be a good one.
Colin:Going to be a phenomenal game. Champions Classic, as per usual, is gonna be a classic.
Josh:Yeah. Despite how much people complain about the Champions Classic, it's always really good.
Kylee:I yeah. Love it. There's fun games. Yeah. Yeah.
Kylee:Like even we went in we played unranked. We were unranked last year when we played and we put up a fight. Like, it was a close game. Always.
Josh:Yeah. Oh, yeah. It always is.
Kylee:I take it. I have number 22 Auburn. So we're gonna we're gonna see if they've recovered from their embarrassing, opening night against number one Houston. They're gonna recover against the number one team in the nation.
Porter:Oh, yeah. See, the thing is is this game is gonna be close. Right? Auburn's gonna lose by 10 points.
Josh:Mhmm.
Porter:The issue is that the final score of this game is gonna be, like, 58 to 48, and Auburn's not gonna do anything, and Houston just is gonna steamroll them and only win by 10.
Colin:Yeah. That's
Kylee:They're gonna out yeah. They're gonna outplay them to the max and only
Josh:I win by wanna come back to this next week when literally the final score is like 59, 49, and we're like, Porter's a genius. We knew it.
Kylee:He knew.
Colin:I wanna come back this next week when the score is a 110 to a 100.
Kylee:I'll be shocked. I'll be like, Houston, what hap Houston, we have a problem. What happened? Houston
Colin:shot a 110 made a 110 points. I don't think that's a problem.
Kylee:Just it's just shocking.
Colin:We have not seen this game yet for our
Kylee:first We're just predicting.
Colin:We're just predicting.
Josh:Colin. I
Colin:have number three Yukon versus number seven BYU in the Hall of Fame series in Boston. Holy cow, we're gonna see if BYU can actually, like, what they will do playing their starting lineup Yeah. Against a top team.
Kylee:Well, mean, they've played top teams so they played they've they've gotten
Colin:Against Yukon, specifically.
Kylee:Yeah. Guess Yukon specifically. I think it'll be fun at a neutral neutral site, as neutral as it's gonna get. Yeah.
Porter:Porter? Speaking of Hall of Fame series, this is in LA, and it's number five Arizona at 15 UCLA.
Kylee:Of course, because UCLA doesn't travel. Right.
Porter:Yeah. Yeah. UCLA can't go to the East Coast.
Colin:Mm-mm. Well, they could've gone to Arizona.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Porter:That's the state of California. They could have played this game
Kylee:in, Phoenix. Impossible.
Porter:Or even Las Vegas.
Colin:Yep, like Why would they do that?
Josh:Yeah. No.
Porter:So they get a home game. I This will be interesting because UCLA is pretty hyped.
Kylee:I think they're we reported We're talking yesterday. We think they're right.
Josh:Yeah. Oh, yeah. They're I was watched What was the game that took place on Friday? Who'd they play on Friday? They they recently played, and it was it was close to about like, I believe like, eight minutes in the second half, and I'm like, okay.
Porter:Yeah, they played Pepperdine. Yeah. Yeah. Only pulled away in garbage time.
Josh:Yeah, it's like, okay. I mean
Colin:Yeah. Here's the other thing. Arizona looks really
Josh:good. They look good.
Porter:UCLA also beat Eastern Washington by six, so like.
Josh:Yeah, I don't think I think they might be a little
Porter:Although Eastern Washington did take Colorado University to overtime, in which Colorado won 105 to 100.
Colin:So So, hey, you never know. Yeah. Maybe all of these teams UCLA is playing are just really good.
Josh:No. Josh. And arguably, in my opinion, definitely one of the best games next week. Yeah. Number two Purdue traveling down to Tuscaloosa to take on number eight Alabama on November 13.
Josh:This is going to be really, really fun to watch. Because Alabama those students student section better bring their a game because Purdue is used to playing against really good student sections
Kylee:In the Big Ten.
Josh:In the Big Ten. Yeah. Not trying to toot her own horn, but notably Michigan State. Maryland's also a really good one too. So Alabama, the fans need to bring their a game because for this Purdue team, despite dropping from number one, is still a really good basketball team.
Colin:Also Yeah.
Porter:Side note, Alabama is favored in this game.
Kylee:I'm not surprised by that.
Josh:Yeah, not so.
Colin:I'm not surprised. Not after their win over Saint John's. Not surprised at all. No.
Josh:No. I just think that they definitely need to bring their a game in this one. Obviously, players wise, but we know how Alabama's gonna play. But if the fans and the students and everyone in that arena bring their a game, this could be a very fun game to watch Absolutely. For the entire night.
Kylee:I think it'll be interesting to see how I I'm really interested to see Matt Painter's, like, rotations and how he's, like, subbing and, like, what the offensive strategy is. Because from what we've seen, it's been a bit different this year than in years past. So I think, are they gonna go back to their roots and stick with what's been working? I think they should. But I think, yeah.
Kylee:It'll be interesting against a high powered offensive team.
Colin:Yeah.
Josh:Alright. Let's switch over to the small conference games, and I think, again, Kylie Yeah. I That's not a small conference.
Kylee:I okay.
Josh:At least the
Colin:first one is
Kylee:Got permission last last night from some of the people in this room because I put it as my my power conference game, and I got made fun of for putting it as my power conference.
Josh:I wouldn't have. This gonna be a really good game. Yeah. Not as a pot like, this is still a very big big game.
Kylee:Yeah. That's what I was saying. I was like, hello? But I have NC State who isn't ranked now, and we don't really know why against VCU, our, like, a historic like, very a good a 10 team on a November 17. I think this is gonna be fun.
Kylee:Yeah. Really fun game.
Porter:I mean, Eli and Josh pick VCU to win the a 10. Mhmm.
Kylee:Yeah. So yeah, I think this is gonna be fun. We'll see NC State. I mean, they haven't really played anyone crazy, obviously. It's still kinda early season, but I think this will be a pretty good test for them.
Colin:Yeah. So Speaking of the a 10, Porter?
Josh:I,
Porter:on November 16, have Colorado State University playing Loyola Chicago.
Kylee:That's a great game too.
Josh:It's gonna
Porter:be a really good game. I'll be interested to see because, like, obviously, like, Omaha's a good basketball team, but Loyola Chicago is a better basketball team. Yes. That's a little bit nice test for the Rams to see if they can, you know it's an away game too. It's at Loyola Chicago.
Porter:So, you know
Colin:Yeah.
Porter:Can the Rams pick up a road game? It'll be their first road game of the season, so looking forward to it.
Colin:Speaking of a Mountain West team traveling to an A 10 team in the Midwest Yeah. I've got Grand Canyon at St. Louis, Josh shirts, Rodney and Mila hosting the Lopes. Know, remember these guys from Indiana State like two years ago? Yeah.
Colin:This is it's gonna be really good. Yeah. It's gonna be fun. St. Louis has been rolling this year so far.
Colin:So Mhmm. In Grand Canyon, obviously really good. So
Kylee:Yeah. And then so for Eli's games for the he has the ASUN SOCON challenge. He has ETSU at North Alabama on November 15. So it's me and Eli's so con pick at porter's a sun pick. Super fun.
Kylee:Should be should be a solid game. That's crazy.
Josh:So you guys have some very great matchups between these small conference opponents. For some reason, I have the Manhattan Jaspers traveling all the way to Hawaii. So why is a team from New York doing this? For a tournament.
Porter:Yeah. Because Yeah. They play tip-off is at 11:59 eastern.
Josh:Yes.
Colin:Yes.
Porter:The next day, they play at 09:30
Josh:Yeah.
Colin:Eastern
Porter:versus Mississippi Valley State Mhmm. In Hawaii. Yes.
Colin:This is a tournament where Manhattan is going to play Utah Tech, Hawaii, and Mississippi Valley State.
Kylee:And so you still they're playing two of those teams in less than twenty four hours.
Josh:Yes. Correct. So I saw that on my I saw that on the schedule, and I just had to put it because why are you playing at almost essentially midnight your time in Hawaii when you're from New York? I just thought I had to put that because
Kylee:It's funny that you put that down because we were actually also talking about that last night.
Colin:I I had it down originally before I saw Saint Louis was playing.
Josh:Perfect. I'm glad you
Kylee:got it.
Josh:In the rainbow Yeah, wait
Colin:to talk about Manhattan. My pick for the M double a c.
Kylee:Yeah, they're they're gonna be sleep deprived. They're gonna be real If sleep deprived playing
Josh:they're not as sleep deprived as we were this morning So true. They have failed.
Colin:But on a positive note, they're playing Mississippi Valley State, so I'm not as worried Yeah. In that second game.
Kylee:Mean Real?
Porter:Hawaii plays Manhattan, right? Yes. And then the next day, plays Utah Tech at 11:59PM Eastern.
Josh:What? I don't know.
Colin:Yeah. Hawaii gets the last game every one these days. Yes. It's really funny.
Kylee:Because they're they're conditioned. This is this is their classic, alright? Yeah.
Porter:And they only lost to Oregon by one point. Like, Hawaii is a decent basketball Yeah.
Kylee:Well, let's just go to Oregon.
Josh:Well, that's also
Colin:Oregon Oregon's
Josh:all shaky right now.
Kylee:Looking rough.
Colin:Alright. Should we close it out?
Josh:Yep. Yes. 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 and at Impact eighty nine FM. This is our third full basketball season, and the chaos is just getting started.
Josh:From here on out, we'll be talking about nonconference games and other basketball news until conference play begins. This season's madness is only just beginning, and we can't wait to talk about it more next week on Check the Net.