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On this week’s episode of Check the Net, Impact89’s College Basketball Podcast, join the exhausted Eli, Kylee and Colin as they talk about all the basketball they missed this week while studying for exams and give a preview of the games over Winter Break!
Creators and Guests
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 to Check the Net Impact 89 FM's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I'm your host, Colin Pearson, and I am joined today by my contractual obligations, Kylie Tabler and Eli Flickama. Wow.
Eli:We and yet we are not paid to be here.
Colin:We're free. Not. They just signed the contract.
Kylee:We're here for free. We have a friendship agreement.
Eli:Friendship agreement signed in blood.
Kylee:Yeah. We have to hang out at least once a week.
Eli:Yep. And so and we were yapping anyway, so now we have a podcast.
Kylee:Yes. Now we're here. College basketball.
Colin:Alright. Starting on the women's side, Kylie, you wanna start off?
Kylee:Yes. I'm yeah. So it was number 3 South Carolina at number 9 TCU, and South Carolina won in a very convincing fashion, 85 to 52. Now what that proves is South Carolina just is that good, and their loss to UCLA was a good thing. Like, I said that last week, but I'm gonna say it again.
Kylee:It's a great thing because now they know that they're just not untouchable, and they have to actually continue to work hard and, like, win games in different creative ways, and they've done so so far.
Eli:Yeah. I mean, this is the offensive powerhouse that we were not seeing from South Carolina during the 1st couple of weeks of the season when we saw those really close wins against teams like Michigan and NC State. But they're they're finally here. They finally unlocked their offensive efficiency and their offensive power. They shot 50% from the field, 40% from 3, and I was not expecting this to be Malaysia full Wiley's breakout game.
Eli:Yes. But she was incredible. She had 20 points off the bench.
Kylee:I love watching her play.
Colin:That's awesome. That's really impressive, actually. I know for me, I had a lot of faith in TCU in this game, and I don't really think they were quite ready for a South Carolina that was motivated after the loss
Kylee:to UCLA.
Colin:No. 8552 is a huge, huge margin. And, I'm a little scared, because I think UCLA awoke a sleeping giant
Kylee:Oh, yeah.
Colin:That, was pretty intimidating while he was asleep to begin with with, you know, no losses in the last 2 years. So, I know I wouldn't wanna face them.
Eli:I I mean, we saw this last week when they dismembered Iowa State. But I think a lot of people after that loss still discounted it, because they were like, oh, well, Iowa State isn't even really that good.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:And I really think that I, well, what I assume happened is coach Staley said, hey. They still aren't believing in us. Let's go to Fort Worth and make them start believing in us.
Colin:Yeah. And that they did.
Eli:And that is exactly what happened.
Colin:That they did.
Kylee:And they'll they'll move up this week and after some other circumstances. But they'll move up, and they'll be fighting for that number one spot come conference time.
Colin:Yes. Oh, no question.
Eli:No question. Because UCLA will take a couple of tough conference losses.
Colin:Definitely. Yeah. In the big ten, it's a tough conference.
Kylee:Yes. Speaking of the big ten
Eli:Speaking of the big ten.
Kylee:We had number 17 Iowa versus Tennessee, unranked Tennessee, and Tennessee ended up pulling it off. Tennessee won 78 to 6068. It's about a 10 point win margin. I mean, not something I was really expecting, but I believe Tennessee is still undefeated.
Colin:I do believe they have I think they have a loss.
Eli:Do they have a loss? Let me definitely check that. But Iowa only made 3 3 pointers and none in the second half. Yeah. It was despite the Lady Vols, they struggled from the free throw line.
Eli:They were only 11 of 16. They outshot Iowa 77 to 50.
Kylee:Wow.
Eli:And that was enough to power them to that 10 point win. But, really, this is showing to me that Iowa still hasn't fully adjusted. They they still wanna play Caitlin Clark Basketball.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:They still wanna rely on those specialist outside 3 point shooters, and they just don't they don't have all of that packed into one person anymore. And teams like Tennessee are finding it a lot easier to defend against Iowa basketball.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:Yes and no. I mean, I feel like Iowa has been playing really, really well without Kaitlyn Clark this year. Tennessee also is undefeated and is now ranked for good reason. They've been a good team. They have a great new coach.
Colin:Like, that's a team that was good. Probably should've been ranked last week.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:But, you know, a 10 point win there. I do think Iowa is a good team. I think they were due for a loss just based on, you know, kind of the unexpected good start to the season they've had. I think they were due to a loss for from a good team, and I think this was it. They bounced back
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:In the next game. So
Eli:Yeah. In the in that next game, we had number 20 Iowa State at number 17 Iowa, and Iowa won 75 to 69 off a huge 4th quarter comeback. There was an incredible grid in a packed sold out standing room only home arena from this Hawkeye team. They were down by double digits at several points,
Colin:which
Eli:I mean and after watching that Tennessee game, I was like, oh, Iowa, they they haven't found it yet. They haven't found the click. They haven't found the spark. And then in the Q4, they found it. It finally started moving.
Eli:It finally started clicking. They were moving the ball. They were finding Lucy Olsen in the paint. Oh, absolutely. They outscored they outscored the Cyclones 22 to 25 points and added 5 assists for Iowa, the transfer guard.
Eli:I mean, Iowa is a good team this year. They've struggled to find their swing at points, but they are not a team that gives up.
Colin:Yeah. I know now that they found their swing, I wouldn't wanna be playing them next, and, yeah,
Eli:and who we are. I guess who's playing them next.
Colin:Yeah. They're, I'm or they're at MSU this weekend, for a double ranked matchup. And then, they head back home to face you and I, who I also, frankly, wouldn't wanna face.
Kylee:Yeah. Definitely not. They have a knack for taking down Iowa teams now. They do. Yeah.
Kylee:Yeah. I think Iowa, specifically, they also they have a pretty they have a good inside presence, which they wasn't really focused too much on last year, but Hannah Stolke is a very good player. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Very good in in transition.
Kylee:Like, she will run the floor. And if you can get the ball to her, I mean, she's gonna have 20 points a game. So kind of honing in on that skill like that too will be really helpful for Iowa.
Eli:For sure.
Colin:Yeah. I think, you know, end of the season last year, everyone, you know, was double guarding Caitlin Clark, and it kinda helped Iowa figure out how to play without her
Kylee:a little bit.
Colin:And so I think now, you know, all of that hard work that they put in last season is really showing off.
Kylee:Oh, yeah.
Eli:But, again, as we saw in the gaming uts Tennessee, it's not 100% there yet. No. Of course. Do I think it'll be a lot more there by the time we get to conference play? Absolutely.
Eli:Yeah. Like this weekend? Like January,
Kylee:mostly. Don't don't those start off manifesting this weekend.
Colin:This weekend's gonna be a phenomenal game, I do think. And none
Kylee:of none of us are gonna be here.
Eli:I'm so sad we're missing it.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of Michigan State, though, DePaul traveled up to Michigan State last week last weekend, now ranked Michigan State,
Eli:by the way.
Colin:And MSU won that 89 to 61, just dismantled DePaul. Obviously, DePaul's a big east team. They're a pretty strong team usually. They're okay this year. But MSU had 4 players scoring more than 10 points, and they spread their minutes really well.
Colin:Jaden Simmons only put or played 30 minutes. Julia Arol got another double double. Spartans dominated pretty much all stat lines, with 14 blocks, 10 more rebounds than DePaul, and they were 50% from 3. They made 13 threes.
Kylee:Nice.
Eli:And what really stuck out to me, DePaul, also 50% from 3, 9 of 18.
Colin:Yeah. You know, it's not like DePaul was shooting bad. MSU was just better.
Eli:DePaul was shooting bad from everywhere else. That's true. They they were 28 point 8% from the field. They just happened to be 50% from a 3. And making less than well, less than a third of your shots overall is never going to get you a ranked road win.
Eli:No. Obviously. But, Simmons and Arol were awesome. And it was really, really good to see Shumate get back into her 3 point groove. She made 4 of 8, which is something we saw her struggle with getting back into that kind of that style of 3 point shooting that we really saw her excel at last year in some of MSC's early games.
Eli:But it seems like that she she's been in East Lansing long enough. She's started to really integrate into that system, and we're starting to see her shoot better.
Kylee:I think it'll be ex it this game is gonna be very interesting and very exciting to watch. Again, I hope it goes one way more than the other, but, it'll be fun. It'll be a very good test for MSU because so far, I mean, they've had play they've played pretty much but they haven't played a single ranked team yet, have they?
Colin:They have not.
Kylee:They have not played a ranked team, and this is gonna be an in conference opponent, technically. So it's like this will give them a first chase. It'll give us a preview on how they're gonna do in conference play. Because I think Iowa I mean, the big ten is so big now, but Iowa is on the, I think, upper half of, like, talent in the big ten even though the talent spread is very, very good. And I think if we are able to kinda win if we're able to beat them in a pretty convincing fashion, I think we'll be even more solidified in that upper
Colin:half now. Gonna be a telltale sign for the rest of the Big 10 season for Michigan State and for Iowa for that
Kylee:quarter.
Eli:But we've seen MSU do well against other talented power conference opponents.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:There was early wins against Cal and Vanderbilt and Palm Springs.
Colin:Vanderbilt especially.
Eli:And that very convincing win over DePaul. So I definitely think Michigan State is also up there in terms of talent this year. So Yeah. Again, should be a really, really good game on Sunday. I'll definitely be tuning in.
Colin:Yeah. Should we head to small conference?
Eli:Let's do it. Woo hoo.
Colin:Alright. Rhode Island at Harvard, a little disappointing loss for Rhode Island. Harvard ended up winning that one 60 to 48, but Harvard was really held to 60 points there. Rhode Island's defense looks very strong. They just can't seem to win games.
Colin:That was their 2nd largest loss margin for Rhode Island. They lost by 15 to St. John's, 12 to Harvard. But the last 3 games before that, they lost by 7 to ranked 17th Iowa, by 2 to Idaho State, and by 3 to Providence. I mean, this is a team that has defense, defense, defense Mhmm.
Colin:And really struggles with offense, I feel like.
Eli:They just Yeah. They they just don't have that killer instinct yet.
Kylee:Yeah. I'm really impressed with with Harvard thus far this season. Like, I'm I'm not gonna lie. Like, did not think that they were gonna be as good as they are right now, especially, you know, with some big wins. And I think the Ivy League is looking pretty spread out also this year.
Eli:So Arbor
Colin:Park had
Eli:that stunner win over Indiana early in the season Yeah. That we ruthlessly made fun of Colin for.
Kylee:Still will.
Eli:But what really stuck out to me was that Rhode Island failed to draw fouls this game. Harvard played very, very clean basketball. URI only had 7 free throws, and they only made 5 of them Oh. Which is Oh. You have to play more aggressive.
Eli:You have to play aggressive to win games, and you have to draw fouls, and you have to convert from those foul opportunities. Absolutely. And in teams that with trends like what we're seeing from Rhode Island right now, I really want to see a sharp 3rd Q4 turnaround where we see we're correcting the mistakes we made in the first half. But in this game, Rhode Island scored 11, 11, 12, and 14.
Colin:K.
Eli:And that just shows me that they're not growing, and they're not adapting to their opponents during halftime.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:They're just playing the same game the whole way through and not winning because of that.
Colin:Yeah. I mean, consistency is one thing, but, yeah, you do have to adapt
Eli:your opponent for sure. Because, clearly, Rhode Island's opponents are adapting to Rhode Island because if you play the same game the whole time
Kylee:Right. And
Eli:they're gonna be easier to beat.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Next game, Jack State traveled to Coastal Carolina, for a Conference USA Sun Belt matchup. Jack State was 4 and 2 going into this, Coastal Carolina 5 and 1.
Colin:Coastal Carolina ended up winning that 5544 in what was frankly a pretty disappointing offensive game.
Eli:This was this was messy and sad, this one.
Colin:Watching the highlight reel, there really wasn't a ton. It wasn't high it wasn't heavy on blocks or steals. It was just bad shooting pretty much all around. Coastal. Rebounding, but bad shooting.
Eli:Coastal put in a really huge Q3 to just to go ahead by 15 points and keep this game out of reach. But that 4th quarter scoring was 10:5 in favor of Jack State. Jack State shot 8.3 percent from 3, and Coastal was 11.1. And the Chanticleers made a single field goal and 3 free throws in the 4th and won by 11.
Kylee:Yeah. That's
Colin:that's just all around bad.
Kylee:Ew.
Eli:Shooting. This isn't this isn't the win you feel great about in the locker room.
Colin:Not by any means.
Kylee:So if I'm their coach, I'm like, alright. You know what we're doing?
Colin:We're shooting.
Eli:We're running wind sprints Yeah. And then we're shooting the ball.
Kylee:Shooting the ball.
Colin:Yeah. And and that's goes for both teams. Oh, absolutely. Now Coastal Carolina still won loss. Yeah.
Eli:Right.
Colin:You know, you can't be too ashamed of that. And going into a not too strong sun belt this year for the women's side, I mean, you've got Marshall that you have to worry about. But other than Marshall, I think you can probably take second or third. And so and frankly, you could take 1st. So Mhmm.
Colin:You know.
Eli:Hey. Good teams win close games, and good teams win bad games. That is
Colin:absolutely the case. If Yeah.
Eli:If you can shoot this terribly and still win by 11, sure. Maybe you're playing a bad team, but Jack State was 4 and 2 coming into this.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:So if you're if you and the opponent are having an off night, you better make sure their off night is worse than your off night. Oh, absolutely. And Coastal did just enough to do that, especially with that really big Q3.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Colin:On the flip side, a very offensive Incredible game. Heavy game.
Eli:We had Columbia at Richmond. Richmond won it 85 to 76. Huge game for Richmond that really, really proves that they are one of the biggest mid major contenders on the women's side this year. No prob. Defeating what a lot of people consider to be the favorite out of the Ivy League.
Eli:Mhmm. Richmond's 9 and 1. Their only losses to Georgetown. They stifled Lions starter Susie Rafiello with 0 points.
Kylee:And Wow.
Eli:Despite getting less rebounds and more turnovers, they were lethally efficient on offense. 65% from the field, 12 of 18 from 3, 2 thirds. And we're we're really, really gonna see Richmond against some of the best talent on the women's side this next week, where they're hosting in Richmond, Virginia, top 10 Texas and top 22 top top 25 Tennessee.
Colin:Are they hosting both of them?
Eli:Yes.
Colin:Woah. That'll be a lot of fun.
Kylee:I'm putting them on upset watch because, I mean, if they shoot, like, if they shoot like that again
Colin:Hold on. I think one of those is neutral.
Eli:I believe the Tennessee game is neutral.
Colin:Tennessee game is neutral.
Eli:And the Texas game is enrichment.
Kylee:I'm still putting them on upset watch. I think that, honestly, if they can shoot as efficient as they have been, they just gotta clean up their rebounding, and then I think they're all set.
Eli:And one of the reasons we saw Tennessee beat Iowa is because Iowa couldn't get their 3 point shooting together. So if you play that same kind of game, I guess, the team like Richmond and they stay this hot from 3 Yeah. That's a very winnable game for the Spiders. Mhmm.
Kylee:Agreed.
Colin:Yeah. Richmond looks really incredible. I mean, the 2 point loss to Georgetown kinda stinks for Richmond. Definitely knocked them down in the rankings. Probably not gonna get into the AP poll for a while now.
Colin:But if you beat Texas or Tennessee or frankly both, because I think it is possible with the way they've been playing on offense.
Eli:And what a turnaround on offense from scoring 50 points a game to scoring 85.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:That that shows to me good coaching and coachable players.
Kylee:Yes.
Colin:Yeah. It's it's incredible what Richmond's doing right now. Definitely a story to watch, definitely a team to watch. And, you know, Texas and Tennessee both have, you know, some some risky stuff going on.
Kylee:Is due for
Eli:a loss. Yeah. Just like Iowa was.
Colin:Mhmm. Absolutely. Yeah. And Texas only has one loss, and that was to Notre Dame. Yeah.
Colin:In overtime, if you
Kylee:underestimate your opponents, you're due for a loss. I think there's a chance this might happen. So Yeah.
Eli:Alright. People, upsets of the week. What do we got?
Colin:Tennessee beating Iowa. Absolutely great upset. Really excited for Tennessee to get back in the rankings and, you know, make their old coach happy.
Eli:On a national stage in New York, brand new head coach. Yep. They really proved themselves.
Kylee:Definitely. Exactly. I mean, I can go next. Mine, I guess, really there were not that many upsets this week. There were.
Colin:That's true.
Kylee:So I picked our favorite team, Fairfield. Woo hoo.
Eli:Go Stags.
Kylee:Beat Villanova by 3.
Colin:Nice. Upset. Yeah. Fairfield's interesting. They're sitting at number 2 in their conference right now.
Colin:Really? Like Quinnipiac is above them. Fairfield's got 2 losses. Quinnipiac has 1. Yeah.
Colin:And Manhattan only has 3 losses. They're right behind.
Kylee:I'm curious for a strength of schedule comparison there. But
Eli:I mean, Fairfield's losses are Oklahoma State and,
Colin:let me look.
Kylee:I thought their schedule was
Eli:Yeah. Fairfield is playing a very tough schedule. Yeah. There's no
Colin:Oklahoma State University.
Eli:So there
Kylee:you go. Very, very fair.
Colin:Quinnipiac has had a relatively tough schedule as well. They lost to Miami. Alright. All about the That's their only loss. They've they've beaten Harvard.
Colin:Hey. So That's
Eli:an that's a good win. Yeah. My upset of the week was number 8 Notre Dame beating number 2 Yukon in South Bend, which was a game we all watched most of.
Kylee:Yeah. Yep. Together.
Eli:I mean,
Colin:frankly, Notre Dame embarrassed UConn, I think, a
Kylee:little bit. Absolutely.
Colin:Like, I know the score was kinda close, but the play style, Notre Dame was way out playing UConn
Kylee:in the entire game. Talk about it. So we didn't have it to talk about today, but, I mean, the amount of turnovers UConn had was insane. And they weren't like Notre Dame's Notre Dame played solid defense, but it wasn't that
Eli:played sloppy offense.
Kylee:Yes. It wasn't that Notre Dame was just, like, all up in the grill and, like, really getting to them. No. It was they were bad pass after bad pass after bad pass.
Colin:Yeah. Yukon could not put it together.
Kylee:Air balling tons of shots. Yes. Like, it was insane. Crazy. And then you have a Hannah Hidalgo.
Eli:Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles were Yes.
Kylee:Lethal. Looking great.
Colin:Yeah. You know? And I think that goes to show home court advantage for Notre Dame who packed that arena.
Eli:Yes.
Colin:Yeah. You know? I think that definitely played into, I think it may have even gone a different way if it was at Yukon.
Eli:Oh, one 100%.
Kylee:And if well, not having AZ FUD hurts. That's that's also very true. Having coming back one game, going out the next That is not
Eli:That's gotta be a big morale, big mental shift. Mhmm. And that might be why we saw a lot of sloppier basketball from UConn. Yeah. They I don't think their hearts were fully in at this game.
Eli:No. But And you could tell.
Kylee:It's it was one game. They'll they'll bounce back perfectly fine.
Colin:I'm sure. Little upset, though. Yeah. Alright. Power 5 next week.
Colin:I'm taking the jump men invite. Specific
Eli:area there.
Colin:Specifically, number 10 Oklahoma versus number 20 Michigan in North Carolina. The other game, Florida u UNC. UNC is ranked 14th. That'll be a fun game too, but I do think Oklahoma, Michigan, you know, double ranked. We're gonna see what Michigan women's basketball can actually do against a, frankly, very potent Oklahoma team.
Kylee:Indeed. I have 3 games because we're not gonna be seeing each other for a while. So I do have one of the, Richmond games. I do have number 6 Texas versus Richmond. That is happening on Sunday.
Kylee:Very fun. So December 15th. Sorry, everybody. December 15th. And then I have number 1, UCLA versus Creighton on December 20th, and then I have Stanford versus number 11, Ohio State also on December 20th.
Kylee:Those are, I think, back to back. Nice. So very exciting.
Eli:I think that UCLA Creighton 1 will be really fun because we've seen how tenaciously UCLA defense home court and Creighton coming off of being ranked preseason early in the season and then having to settle for maybe a little lower expectations than they were coming to the season with. I think that one will be really fun. Yeah. I've got Iowa to finish it. I am so devastated that finals week wasn't next week because then we all could have been here for this.
Eli:But I I think it'll be a very good game. I think MSU's defense matches up with Iowa's offense very well.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:So I really think it's going to be a head coach's tactical strategic battle.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:Yeah. I think I think Robbie Freilich in that one, honestly, with the way she's been coaching lately.
Kylee:2 relatively new coaches, Freilich in her 2nd year and their current coach in her 1st year as head coach
Eli:Yep.
Kylee:At Iowa. So I think it's it'll be very, very fun to watch.
Eli:And I'm never picking against Robin Freilich.
Kylee:So So true. So true.
Eli:You will not.
Colin:Kylie, you are not allowed to pick.
Kylee:I will not. No picking. No picking.
Eli:No picking.
Kylee:But alright. For so for small conference, I have 2 teams that we have been talking about a lot on the women's side as, kind of spoilers and upsets. We have UNI versus South Dakota State, and that's, December 14th, Saturday. So you might have already watched it before listening to this.
Colin:Yeah. Great plains battle. I mean, that'll be a fun one for sure. South Dakota State obviously looks really, really good, But UNI has had a knack for taking down some of those top teams lately.
Eli:And in in their invitational, they had 2 incredibly close one possession losses to a couple of power 5 teams and then had that big win over Pitt. So they've they've had a they have a tough schedule, and they've handled it well so far.
Kylee:Yes.
Colin:Yeah. That'll be fun. I've got Eli, what you got?
Eli:I've got Montana State at FGCU, which is December 16th. Nice. The Eagles are undefeated at home. The Bobcats are winless away, but they're 7 and 0 everywhere else. So they're sitting at 7 and 2 and having played 2 road games.
Eli:Both of these schools have big 12 wins. Montana State beat UCF, and FGCU beat Cincinnati. So I think this will be a really fun one.
Colin:Yeah. That'll be a really fun one. Kinda cross country rival or not rivalry, I guess, but cross country matchup. That'll be fun.
Eli:A couple weeks ago, we talked about, FGCU's coaching shift where their head coach is the head coach of the Atlanta dream now.
Colin:Yes.
Eli:And they've I think they've shocked a lot of people with how well they're doing despite that foundational movement in losing the guy who started the program. Mhmm. And they're sitting at 7 and 2. They've done incredibly well.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. But now they go into a tough matchup with Montana State, luckily at home for them.
Eli:Yes.
Colin:But it could be an interesting one. Definitely
Eli:I think location could be the decider here.
Colin:It definitely could. I'm gonna pick a little bit more of an unconventional one. I've got Longwood, who is sitting at the top of the Big South right now. They travel out to UNC Wilmington, who is second in the Coastal Conference, right behind Charleston. And And I was just I was looking for a good small conference game between some teams we haven't talked about a lot, and, these teams are both, you know, top of their conference right now.
Colin:And so, I thought it'd be a fun one. UNC Wilmington, we talk about a lot on the men's side usually, but just not a lot on women's. And so, yeah, should be a fun one.
Eli:I think I think it's fun to look at games between teams with a couple of losses at this point in the season because it means they know how to lose, and they know how to rebuild from that. Yeah. Especially teams with records like 8 and 5, 7 and 4, 6 and 5, 6 and 4.
Kylee:Especially most of these teams are playing those power 5 conference goals that are, severely like, the scales aren't even. Like, you've got more talent one way than the other just by the nature of it. And so, I mean, and if they're playing close with these teams, then, you know, they're very they're there's high expectations.
Eli:And if you're solidly winning almost all of your matchups against other mid major opponents, this should this should be a good game.
Colin:Yeah. It should be. Men's basketball.
Kylee:Top of on that. Still lots of interesting things happening.
Colin:Tons of interesting things. This week. So this one has been a lot a very fun week. Let's talk the 2 Wisconsin games we brought up last week first.
Kylee:2 fat l's, let me tell you. Two losses for Wisconsin.
Eli:I'll win too.
Colin:1st, they went out to Milwaukee. They played at Marquette, not a neutral site game. I know we said that last week.
Kylee:Oh, lied.
Eli:I was gaslit viciously.
Colin:Yes. I want to apologize to Eli formally.
Eli:We'll consider accepting it.
Colin:We'll consider it? Okay. Well, worth a shot.
Eli:But at their home court, in their home arena, Marquette won 88 to 74.
Colin:They did indeed. Kind of a rough one for Wisconsin. Wisconsin ranked 11th at the time, thought they had a chance against number 5, Wisconsin ranked 11th at the time, thought they had a chance against number 5, and Marquette just kinda dismantled them.
Kylee:I think Marquette is a a sleeper low key because, like, we just really were not considering them for, like, being one of the top teams in the country this year.
Colin:Yeah. They lost some players,
Eli:but Yeah.
Colin:Not on anyone's radar.
Eli:Season, they're always overshadowed by Yukon. Always.
Kylee:Yeah. Every single time. It's, like, it's always Yukon, Marquette, Creighton. Yeah. Kylie only wants
Colin:to talk about Creighton in the big leagues. Clearly. So, you know, we just never talk about Marquette.
Kylee:They're my number ones, bro. What am I supposed to say? But I think, you know, Wisconsin's still a very good team. I just think we need to give Marquette more credit where credit is due. Yes.
Kylee:And that's us and also, like, the a people. Even though they're number 5, I feel like they can move up a little bit.
Eli:What what really stuck out to me here is that after 20 minutes, Wisconsin did have a chance.
Colin:Yep. After
Eli:after at at the half, both teams were exactly 11 of 25 from the field, and Wisconsin had a 39, 37 lead. And then the Golden Eagles outshot Wisconsin by 10 in the second half and made nearly 55% of those shots and scored 51 points in 20 minutes.
Colin:Yeah. A 51 point half is kind of absurd against a ranked team.
Kylee:Yeah.
Colin:Yes. Just against anyone for that matter.
Eli:Especially when you're outscoring them by 16 points in that half.
Colin:Mhmm. And when you were down at the half.
Eli:Yes.
Colin:So Marquette, obviously, a very strong team. Clearly, adjusted something in the second
Kylee:half and,
Colin:you know, made a big difference there.
Kylee:Yeah. Wisconsin taking another loss, however. Yeah. Now ranked number 20, which will change on Monday, at Illinois, and Illinois took it. 86 to 80.
Kylee:We've got some of these kind of pre pre official conference matchups going. Very exciting, in the big ten. But, I mean, I, yeah, I didn't think Wisconsin was better than Illinois really in the first place. But
Eli:I didn't either.
Colin:No. And watching this game, it was pretty clear that Illinois was just a slightly better team. Yeah. Frankly, I think Illinois should have been ranked. I know they lost a game last week, but, like, the game they lost did not warrant them dropping out of the rankings with the way that they play.
Eli:Very close rivalry loss to Northwestern. And Oh. Yeah. Anything can happen in a rivalry game. I understand why they weren't ranked at the time of this matchup, but I think they've proved that they have the talent and the execution to be a top 25 team.
Colin:Absolutely.
Eli:Yeah. And, also, I I hate to bring it up, but I always see it on the box score and don't feel obligated to. Wisconsin missed 7 free throws and lost by 6.
Kylee:Yeah. I mean, those are automatic those are free points. Like, that's the big thing in basketball. It's, like, coaches will have been saying like, will say this. From the time that you start really shooting free throws, they are free baskets.
Kylee:And, like, sometimes, like, the
Colin:a big difference.
Kylee:The occasional miss is fine. But a majority of the time, you should be able to make these shots in the
Eli:yeah. Yeah. Whenever I see a close game where the losing team shot, like, 65% from free throws
Kylee:It's
Eli:where
Kylee:it is.
Eli:That's where it is. So a lot because those opportunities that you you miss a free throw and you rebound it and you turn that into more points points, or you make a free throw and then you challenge them on the inbound, and then they turn it over. You've gotta and there's so there's some momentum building too. Yes. Because in those moments, every eye in the arena is on you.
Eli:And if you can deal with that pressure and convert, that shows me that you have the mentality to win this game.
Kylee:Yes. Especially, you're putting in all of that work to get to the free throw line. Yeah. Because a lot of the times, like, you're unless, like, you're getting in the bonus, but you're driving to the basket and taking, like, a highly contested shot. Or you're shooting from the outside, and they're all up in your grill.
Kylee:And it's like, you know, you're doing all of this work and using your skills to get there.
Eli:And then you stumble?
Kylee:Yeah. Like, you just you, like, you you deserve to get those points. You just have to execute.
Colin:Yeah. And I do think another piece of this was, like, Wisconsin shot better all around. They shot better from 3. They shot better from the field. And with Illinois still ended up winning because of those free throws and because of, you know, good rebounding, some good steals.
Colin:Illinois played a better game.
Eli:And Illinois converted on 22 of their 25 free throws.
Kylee:Yes. Yeah.
Colin:That makes a big difference. So Makes a huge difference. Let's move on.
Eli:Okay.
Colin:We had a top 10 matchup. Look.
Eli:At a neutral site in Seattle, we had number 4 Kentucky versus number 7 Gonzaga, and Kentucky won it in overtime 90 to 89.
Colin:Great game. What? Great game. Game.
Eli:Cinema. Pure cinema.
Colin:Had a 52 point first half,
Kylee:by the way. That's nice.
Colin:And Kentucky ended up coming back to tie it up, you know, send it to overtime. But, like, 52 to 34 Wow. Is absurd.
Kylee:Yeah. That's a crazy first half from Gonzaga, and then they let their foot off the gas and then lose.
Eli:They let their foot off the gas, and then Kentucky locked the car doors and went went on a 13 and o run, like, 5 minutes into the second half to get this game competitive again. And then they were they were trading shots. Gonzaga was maintaining, like, a 3 to 6 point lead for a lot of the second half. Kentucky tied it up at the end, defended, and then Kentucky missed a buzzer beater at the end of regulation, which led to overtime. It was
Colin:not a good shot. No. They they didn't have a good opportunity there.
Eli:But Kentucky came out really, really hot in the extra period. They scored the first six points of overtime, and then Gonzaga came roaring back after a time out to reset. And then they were up 1, 90 to 89 at the end of overtime. Kentucky gets sent to the free throw line.
Kylee:Misses both of them.
Eli:Misses both of them.
Kylee:Gonzaga has the chance to win.
Eli:Gives up a Gonzaga buzzer beater that they miss.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Eli:Misses both of them with 5 seconds left. So Gonzaga had, like, a whole get it to half court possession to get this buzzer beater off.
Kylee:Mhmm. Yeah. Again, the importance of free throws. It worked out this time, but next time, it might not work out because if you make those 2, Gonzaga has to hit a 3 to be tied to that. March?
Kylee:That's not Exactly. Exactly.
Colin:So Sanford's gonna beat you.
Eli:You you
Colin:do that you do that when the
Eli:voodoo is against you, you're losing that basketball game.
Colin:A 100% going to beat you. Yes. Gale is
Kylee:going to beat you.
Colin:Again. You know, like, that
Eli:You're losing to Oakland.
Colin:Yeah. It was a phenomenal game. Both of these teams, absolutely top 10, but both of them have some development that they need to get you know, they need to fix some things before they get into conference play in, specifically, Kentucky because they honestly play in a much harder conference. But Gonzaga's playing in a harder conference than they're used to with Washington State who frankly looks pretty good.
Kylee:Saint Mary's
Colin:nobody thought it was going
Eli:to be good.
Colin:Saint Mary's always quite good. Frankly, looking better than Gonzaga right now.
Kylee:And Saint Mary's is very strong on the defensive end of the ball.
Colin:Absolutely. And and, frankly, San Francisco, I was looking at them as well. San Francisco, kind of the surprise. They've been developing last few years pretty quietly, but that is a team that, frankly, look out agent. They might make the tournament over one of those 2 teams
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:Based on how they've been playing as of late.
Eli:That could happen.
Kylee:Can I talk about this one? Absolutely. So number 1 Kansas traveled to Missouri, and bum bada bada, Mizzou won 7667. Wow. Really that surprising.
Eli:And and it was Kansas' 2nd loss in a row.
Kylee:Yes. Win. Not surprising, but anyone who beats Kansas is my new champion. So this week, I'm a Mizzou fan. Wahoo, so sorry for you.
Kylee:Tigers.
Colin:That's such a terrible decision.
Kylee:But they beat Kansas, so I automatically have to root for them.
Eli:Kansas had 22 turnovers compared to 11 for Missouri.
Kylee:I love to see it. I love to see it.
Eli:They Kansas had the advantage in basically every other statistical category, but they could not keep the ball in their hands.
Kylee:And yeah. And that's
Eli:14 of those were Mizzou steals.
Kylee:Wow. That's nice. That's that's good defense. That's nice.
Colin:Which is really impressive for, again, an SEC team. I think all of them have kinda went, oh, yeah. Defense exists.
Kylee:So real. I forgot that's a thing
Colin:that happened to you.
Eli:Great for the sport. That's so good.
Colin:Great for the sport and, frankly, great for the SEC. The SEC is a conference that obviously, they had, Alabama in the final 4 last year. However They they performed poorly. They've been rough all around. Last year, they had a lot of teams lose in the 1st round of small schools because they couldn't play defense.
Eli:Kentucky, Auburn.
Colin:And they refused to play against defense.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah. Literally.
Colin:I think at the conference, they kinda figured it out.
Kylee:It's it's good to get away from the oh, you just have to, like, score more points. Like, you just have to get out on offense and you have to go. And then, like, instead of just, you know, locking down
Eli:You gotta take care of the ball. You gotta not allow open threes. You gotta be you gotta get up in the paint. You gotta be physical.
Colin:This is not the NBA. Exactly.
Kylee:And I think we're going back to that. Because I think for a while there, we had a big era where shooting deep outside shots is what you know, I'm not gonna blame Steph Curry for that because he is, like, one of a kind unique in, like, his aspect of being an a phenomenal player. But a lot of people saw that and were like, oh, well, I wanna do that. Mhmm. You're not him.
Kylee:Like, you're not gonna be able to do that successfully, and that's not a way to structure your team. Like, surrounding with that strategy, you're not gonna win games.
Colin:You you are going to win games Yes. When you're successful.
Kylee:Right.
Colin:But that's so hit or miss, especially at college.
Eli:It can't be consistent.
Kylee:Right.
Eli:Yeah. Speaking of consistency on offense,
Kylee:we had Yeah.
Eli:We had Nebraska at Michigan State where MSU won 89 to 52.
Kylee:I'm just gonna say that
Colin:It was such a quiet 25 to 1 run-in the second half. Just so quiet.
Eli:We were there, and we didn't really notice.
Kylee:No. We were just clapping. Clapping.
Colin:We were like, hey. Wait. We're up. Oh, finally. Oh, wait.
Colin:Hold on. When did we score 25 points?
Kylee:Yeah. No. It was nice. And I just wanna say before the game started, we're sitting there, and Colin and Eli are like, we might lose this game. And I was like
Colin:It's Nebraska.
Kylee:Kidding. And they're like, that'd be a very us thing to do.
Eli:Because it
Kylee:what? Us pulled through.
Eli:Us pulled through.
Colin:Us pulled through. This looks
Eli:like very us thing to do.
Colin:Yes. This looked like old Tom Izzo. Like, 2,000 basketball highlights Tom Izzo. How dare
Eli:you call Tom Izzo old?
Kylee:How dare you? Listen. Our free throw our free throw shooting looks great.
Eli:Incredible.
Kylee:Our rebound, we are out rebounding all of our opponents.
Eli:We finally figured out how to make a 3 pointer.
Kylee:Yes. Our shooting isn't not that bad anymore. Like and we're just I mean, we're making insanely good plays, but what really sticks out for me with this team is they play for each other. They play together. They are willing to spread the wealth
Colin:when it comes to points. That this team gives out is absurd, and it's amazing. Yes. Like, that's the kind of thing we used to watch with Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:It was you know, Cassius would throw it up to someone, and someone would be at the basket to get it. You don't need a 3. You need points.
Kylee:Yes. And if threes are open, take them. 5.
Colin:Just a 3. Yeah. But always have someone down there to rebound, which in the past few years, everyone's run away. As soon as the shots up, they ran.
Eli:Mhmm.
Colin:And so there were never any second chance points. This year, MSU has had so many, and it's Yes. So fun to watch.
Kylee:And our Because Yes.
Colin:They're actually playing defense
Kylee:Yes.
Colin:On offense.
Kylee:Our defense is also looking great, honestly. Like, it like, we look like a strong defensive team.
Eli:I mean
Kylee:I'm happy.
Eli:It it was a tale of 2 halves and that we were really good in the first half and then even better in the second half.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:Yeah. Also, we got to witness the flunk.
Colin:The flunk was insane.
Eli:Which is which was for our listeners who were not watching, Jeremy Fears leaning backwards sitting down on the court, tossed it from beyond the 3 point line to Cohen Carr, who was approximately 50 feet above the basket. Yes. And he dove head first straight through it.
Kylee:Yep. Yep. And he dove At
Eli:least that's what I saw happen.
Kylee:And he ate. They ate, actually. That was one of the coolest things, I think.
Eli:It was incredible.
Colin:Yeah. We're all sitting here like, oh, please be able to get it to someone that's
Kylee:standing Someone open
Eli:Anybody standing up. And then And
Kylee:and he did Cohen cars.
Colin:Because the shotgun wall. On the ground.
Eli:Yeah. He wasn't he wasn't standing up.
Kylee:He was on the other side of the court.
Eli:He was hanging from the rafters.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Eli:It that was one of that was definitely in the top five for the loudest moments I've heard in the Breslin.
Colin:Oh, absolutely. Yes.
Eli:Nope. Behind the Steven Izzo basket.
Kylee:Oh, that see, nothing's topping that. Like, ever.
Eli:But the flunk was pretty awesome. Yes.
Colin:I don't remember which team did it, but there was a team on women's basketball last week that had a florist from past half court to a 3 pointer.
Kylee:I forget.
Eli:Incredible.
Colin:I saw it Oh, it was a backwards throw. Yeah. It was a backwards throw
Kylee:for crusts. Hannah I think it was Hannah Hidalgo or Olivia Miles. It was
Colin:one of those. Olivia Miles,
Kylee:Notre Dame. Yeah. It was
Colin:no name. It was. Nice.
Kylee:It that
Colin:It was awesome. Also awesome. Yeah. So Do we call that the flea? Like, I don't know.
Colin:It's a
Eli:flea flicker. It's just, the
Kylee:flea pointer. True. So true.
Eli:Colin, let's talk about your Rams.
Colin:Alright. Rhode Island Rams, this team.
Eli:Well, start start with the good stuff.
Colin:Yeah. We'll start with the good stuff. Before their second game, I wrote out, in all caps, Rhode Island Rams Basketball with approximately 18 exclamation points.
Eli:It's down to 6 now.
Colin:It's down to 6. Yeah. So it was their best start to a season in 77 years. They had a come from behind win against Providence 6963 off of a steal, which turned into a 3 pointer for the lead in late in the second half. Rhode Island went cold for 5 minutes in the first half, but defense was what kept a minute.
Colin:They only went down by 7 points, not scoring for 5 minutes.
Eli:Wow. That's very impressive.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:Yeah. Especially against the Big East team.
Colin:Yeah. Very, very impressive defense on both ends. Frankly, a great game for both teams. Go roadie. You know?
Eli:It it was so awesome.
Colin:It was a great game. They came from behind. Apparently, the arena was packed because it was at Rhode Island for the
Eli:first you know, they alternate every other year. And and they won what I'm calling, the first battle of Rhode Island. True. Yes. Second half.
Eli:They did so great, Colin. I'm so happy for you. They then, lost immediately to Brown in double overtime on the road the next game. So now Brown runs Rhode Island.
Kylee:Okay, Brown. It's all yours.
Colin:I think it's a fair way tie because I believe Brown played Providence. Who? Let me Who?
Eli:That's the Rhode Island trophy.
Kylee:They all share
Colin:Rhode Island. Sorry. Brown played Bryant, a different Rhode Island team.
Eli:Bryant's in Rhode Island.
Kylee:Yeah. Did they lose?
Colin:They won by one point.
Eli:See?
Kylee:So they beat 2 Rhode Island.
Colin:See Brown runs Rhode Island. Brown I I really hate that.
Eli:Brown runs Rhode Island.
Colin:I believe Bryant's in Rhode Island. Let me double check.
Eli:I checked.
Colin:Okay.
Eli:Yeah. It's it's okay. The Rams the Rams can have it next year, Colin. I believe in you.
Colin:So Brown is also 3rd in the Ivy League all of
Kylee:a sudden. That's so interesting too.
Eli:That is
Colin:When did that happen? So Nobody thought that was happening. They're tied with Cornell.
Kylee:They beat who did Dartmouth beat recently?
Colin:Actually, they're 2nd in the Ivy, tied with Cornell.
Kylee:Yeah. Who did Dartmouth beat recently that I sent to you guys?
Colin:I don't.
Eli:Wasn't it was Boston College. Oh, yeah.
Kylee:Yes. They ate.
Colin:So so currently, Ivy League standings are Columbia
Kylee:Oh, goodness.
Colin:Cornell and Brown tied, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn.
Kylee:Wow. Rip Penn.
Colin:Rip Penn. Harvard and Penn are tied. 37.
Eli:Wow. Ivy looks very strong
Colin:this year.
Eli:Yep. Speaking let's go to the Anyways. Opposite corner of the country, the Pacific Northwest, where we had Washington State at Boise State, and Wazu won that one, a 74 to 69. And this was this was 2 completely different basketball teams trying their best to force the other team to play like they do. Wazu played a very slow, very efficient offense, taking those good shots, having those long possessions, setting up those assists.
Colin:Yeah. We talked about that style a little bit last week, how it might, you know, be different against teams like Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in the West Coast Conference this year.
Eli:And Yeah. Boise State played very much West Coast basketball. It was fast and it was sloppy. And each team, at the end of the game, had around 25 field goals, 25 and 29, off of 50% and 38% shooting. Oof.
Kylee:Rough.
Eli:But also, Boise State was That's not bad, actually. Boise State was atrocious from the free throw line. They were 12 of 20 in the 5 point loss. So
Kylee:That's a huge mix.
Eli:Washington State with their core of Eastern Washington's players from last year in the new conference has done way better than anybody expected them to.
Colin:Oh, way better. Yeah. And I think part of that goes to show, like, hey, development. You know, this is a team that moved with their coach and moved together. And so, you know, you're still developing.
Colin:Obviously, at a different school, you know, transfer court or whatnot, but, you know, they are developing together as a team and playing the same style of basketball that they've been playing and are getting better at it Yeah. Rather than, you know, getting better players trying to mix something together. Like, force
Eli:themselves in the news teams, but but they're playing really, really well.
Colin:Yeah. Boise State also looking pretty good. They gotta clean up some things, the free throws, especially. Boise State's gonna be really interesting because the Mountain West, obviously, is really, really good. Boise State is one of the favorites to win the Mountain West this year.
Colin:However,
Kylee:Isn't Utah State still?
Eli:Utah State, Nevada, New Mexico.
Colin:State, San Diego State, New Mexico, Nevada, all above them right now. Mhmm. And for good reason. You know? They are all winning games.
Eli:And Boise's played a pretty tough non conference schedule.
Colin:That is true. Yes. Yeah.
Eli:But they but also, they need to be winning this game.
Colin:Yes. Yep. So there's a lot of interesting things to look at there. Wazu, obviously, gonna be a team to watch going into West Coast Conference play to see if they can force some of those teams to play slow. Because if they play slow, I think they do win.
Kylee:They can be a pretty again, another spoiler. And, like, you know, with this new conference shifting, I mean, I do I hate these teams coming in from the Pac 12 and winning? Absolutely. I do hate it. However, I mean, it's just a very interesting dynamic.
Colin:Yeah. This will also be a conference matchup in 2 years. Yeah.
Eli:Yeah? Kylie, what was our next one?
Kylee:Wahoo. It was Middle Tennessee at Belmont. Nice.
Colin:And Belmont Tennessee.
Kylee:Pulled out the win. 8279, 3 point win.
Colin:Awesome. So Belmont obviously picking up another ever important win in the, they're in the Missouri Valley. Right?
Eli:They are now. Yes. Yes.
Colin:Yeah. Over in Nashville. So they came into this game 3rd in the Missouri Valley, and they've got UC Irvine and Drake coming up in the next 3 weeks back
Eli:to back, who are both undefeated.
Colin:Both undefeated.
Eli:UCI, frankly, looks like a really, really good team.
Colin:So Drake. Drake. So does you, Duke was a good team. And Bradley, they don't have or they have a little bit later on their schedule as well.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Colin:But Beaumont has a shot to take the Missouri Valley if they can beat Drake.
Kylee:I think you're a little too optimistic.
Eli:I think they definitely have a shot to get a favorable enough seed in the tournament to maybe steal the auto bid, depending on how they play down the stretch. But we have we've seen good things. Yeah. We've only seen good things.
Colin:Exciting. Drake does look really, really good. Belmont Belmont drew a
Eli:lot of fouls in this game and shot statistically worse in every category than the Blue Raiders, but shot more. So they made enough actual buckets to win by 3. They were but, again, they shot 67% from the free throw line. So improvement on accuracy there could have made this one a little bit less of a close crazy heartbreaker.
Colin:Yeah. A 3 point game.
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:You know? Interesting thing there as well. You know, like you said, they were shooting statistically worse in every category. They were shooting a lot more. And I think that comes down to they were playing some good defense and boxing out, getting some good rebounds in that game.
Kylee:Mhmm. Definitely. Alright. Our final game.
Eli:Our last one, we had Rice at Texas State, which Texas State won that 1 75 to 66. The Bobcats staying undefeated at home. They were 7 of 16 from 3, which is pretty impressive, almost 50%, and they out de rebounded Rice 24 to 15. Wow. So you keep that possession, you keep those chances, you shoot more shots.
Eli:And they led for 99% of the game.
Kylee:Love.
Eli:Yeah. It it was really close the whole game, but they maintained that 5 to 8 point lead, basically, the whole time.
Kylee:A wire to wire victory.
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. I mean, Rice has not been a strong American conference team for very long. This year, frankly, is the 1st year that they were even considered. They're 7 and 3 right now with that loss. And so Rice could be an interesting one.
Colin:They've beaten Iona, Arkansas State, who we'll talk about in a little bit. I think that was
Eli:Yes.
Colin:Eli's upset of the week, in fact. And their only losses to Florida State. So Rice or not their only loss, but one of their big losses, Florida State. And so Rice looks interesting. Texas State looks really good for the Sunbelt.
Eli:Especially in the Sunbelt. I think them in Arkansas State is going to be really fun
Colin:Yes. In Sunbelt play. Absolutely.
Eli:Speaking of Arkansas State, in my in upset of the week, mine is Arkansas State defeating number 16 Memphis in 8572, which 13 point win over a ranked team. Really, really fun. Mhmm. Arkansas State was a lot of people's preseason favorites in the Sun Belt. We didn't really see it, but they've definitely come out and proven themselves.
Eli:Yes. They have a couple of tough losses. They lost to Rice. They lost to Hofstra. And then they lost to, at the time, number 2, Alabama.
Colin:Yes.
Eli:But against Sunbelt competition and against other mid major competition, they've really proven that they have tons of potential even if it isn't fully polished yet. But I I think as the season goes on, they're gonna become really, really dangerous. And that's definitely a team that can I I think that's a team that that can get through the 1st weekend in March if they get a favorable seed?
Kylee:Indeed. Yeah.
Colin:It depends on who they draw, of course. But their play style seems to match pretty much anyone they play. Yeah. And so that's really interesting. Be fun.
Colin:Yeah.
Kylee:Alright. Colin, are you ready for your historical
Eli:Yes. I want the fun facts.
Colin:Yeah. I have some history here. So Cornell beating Cal is my upset of the week. They beat him 88 to 80. It was their 1st win over an ACC team since taking down Wake Forest to 1951.
Kylee:Woo hoo. They were due for a win. Tom,
Colin:kind of funny that after playing ACC teams every single year because, you know, they're on the Atlantic Coast, including Syracuse very regularly, who has had some down years, but Cornell gets their first ACC win over Cal That was so true. On the opposite side of the country.
Eli:That's my favorite Atlantic Coast College.
Kylee:Real.
Colin:It's it's quite funny to me. Side note on that. So that was 1951 that they beat Wake Forest. In that same season, they lost by 2 points, to number 19 ranked NC State, and that was a 4951 battle.
Kylee:Oh, gosh. That's
Colin:awful. And by 2 points to Syracuse, 79 to 81, also ranked 19.
Kylee:Oh, it's at different points of the season.
Colin:Different points. It was a week apart.
Kylee:That's hilarious.
Eli:I I remember listening to those on my transistor radio back in 51. Those were crazy. Crazy games.
Kylee:Those were again
Eli:That's that's what got me into basketball.
Kylee:That that was a whole lot of basketball fans.
Eli:That magical Cornell season, Go Big Red. Mhmm.
Colin:Both both ranked losses, you know.
Eli:Yeah. Really just get
Colin:to go. Breakers. You know? Tell me what you got.
Kylee:Oh, I you here's the thing. I'm gonna be talking to the audience, but I'm talking to Brady in the audience.
Eli:Great. Brady, listen up.
Kylee:I am here to to make fun of you and let you know that Arkansas, unranked Arkansas, John Calipari, Arkansas who doesn't play defense, beat number 18, Michigan, 89 to 87, took them down this week after Michigan almost lost to Iowa.
Eli:Sorry, Brady.
Kylee:At home. So I'm not sorry. They lost, and now Michigan State will be ranked ahead of them. LOL.
Eli:Sorry. Yeah. Alright. For games of the
Colin:week Those
Eli:were very personal. Very personal.
Kylee:It was personal. We were arguing all over Thanksgiving.
Eli:We're we're gonna we're gonna be saying goodbye for a couple of weeks because it's winter break, but that means we've got a ton of great basketball coming up. So for my power conference game, my first one, I've got number 24 at the right now, UCLA, versus currently number 8, Gonzaga, which is December 28th in the Intuit dome in LA. So not UCLA's home court, but should be really, really fun. And then I've also got number 11 Purdue at number 2 Auburn, which is December 21st.
Kylee:That's fun. That's a fun game.
Colin:I've got 3 neutral site games. I've got, 14 or 13 Oklahoma versus 14 Michigan at the Jumpman Invite. I feel like you've heard that one before.
Eli:What?
Colin:Double ranked Oklahoma versus Michigan at Jumpman.
Eli:That's crazy.
Colin:Almost like they invited both men's and women's teams.
Kylee:Deja vu.
Colin:And then the other Jumpman game, number 9 Florida versus UNC, I feel like we've heard that one before too, maybe on the women's side.
Kylee:Well, I mean, it's Except Except for first.
Colin:Except Yeah. UNC was ranked. Yeah. And then I've got one more. Madison Square Garden neutral site game, number 18 Yukon, number 8 Consega.
Colin:I had this before you.
Kylee:No. You did not.
Colin:This has been here.
Kylee:No. Wrong.
Colin:I told you, you could steal it
Eli:from me. But we were doing what we did. Anyway. Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. You're
Eli:you're hogging all the basketball.
Kylee:I am.
Colin:So, number 8, Gonzaga, 18 Yukon at Madison Square Garden. That is, like, when we're releasing this. December 14th? I believe it's, like, a new game. So if you're listening to this at release time, go watch it.
Kylee:Let us know how it goes.
Colin:Speaking. Not.
Eli:Go watch it. Of other games happening on December 14th.
Kylee:I have 3 of them. A huge day for basketball tomorrow for some reason, mainly because most schools have been off because it's been finals week and, you know, their students first. So we have number 7, Texas a and m, at number 11 Purdue. Shoot. 17.
Colin:My bad.
Kylee:Thanks, Collin. And then we have Louisville versus number 4 Kentucky.
Colin:And then be a fun one.
Kylee:Which that'll be a the battle for Kentucky
Eli:That's a really fun Commonwealth Cup.
Kylee:Was won by, University of Kentucky on the women's side, and then now we will have the deciding factor here on the men's side. And then, of course, it's not me without, we have Creighton at number 7, Alabama.
Colin:Yeah. And I think that's 3 teams or 3 games where the, you know, lower ranked or unranked team has a big chance to prove themselves.
Eli:Yes. 1 100% of that.
Colin:Has been proving themselves all season, but they haven't really played a whole lot of strong teams.
Kylee:Creighton's been up and down. Creighton's been up
Colin:and down, but a win over Alabama would be amazing. Yeah. And then Texas A and M as well.
Kylee:Mhmm. So
Eli:This is also 3 games where the SEC can really cement that they are, if not the top basketball conference this year, 1 of 2.
Colin:Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
Eli:Because if they if they sweep these
Colin:Yeah.
Eli:Yeah.
Colin:Could be a big deal. Small conference games, I have the Milwaukee tip-off on December 15th. San Francisco versus Loyola Chicago. Loyola still undefeated. They're the only a 10 team undefeated after, Rhode Island's loss.
Colin:They've got some big wins over South Florida, Princeton. And then San Francisco in the West Coast Conference has losses to 16th ranked Clemson. They lost to Memphis by 4, but they've also beat, Saint Louis and Boise State by quite a few points each. So this should be a fun matchup. San Francisco, we just talked about them a little bit earlier.
Colin:They're a West Coast conference team that looks a lot looks really good.
Eli:Loyola Chicago looking to sweep both USFs.
Kylee:We love. We love.
Eli:I've got UC Irvine at Oregon State on December 14th. UCI, one of the few undefeated teams remaining in d one men's basketball. And Oregon State, again, these Pac 12 teams have done a lot better than people thought they were going to. Oregon State's sitting at 6 and 3.
Colin:Yep.
Eli:And And they've done very well at home. And then we've got the matchup we talked about a bit earlier, Belmont at Drake, which will be one of the openers for regular season MVC play. Drake, again, undefeated. Belmont looking to prove that they really have what it takes to make some noise in the NBC this year. Should be a really fun one in Des Moines.
Colin:Yeah. Love. So did all of us pick West Coast Conference games? Yes.
Eli:Oh, we did.
Colin:I think we did.
Kylee:So I have 2 games. One of them is actually a small conference. The other one is half and half, and I wanted to talk about it. So, my first actual small conference game, adding on to our amazing day of basketball tomorrow for some reason on Saturday, December 14th, is Saint Mary's at Boise State. I think that'll be a really fun one.
Kylee:Saint Mary's would be looking very good so far this season, and, Boise State looking to bounce back. And then the other game that I was shook when I saw that I wanna talk about, we have number 17 Houston playing against University of Toledo on December 18th. If only it was in Toledo, I would be there. But it, alas, it is not. I don't know how this game's gonna turn out.
Kylee:It probably not good for, you know, the Rockets. However, I have faith, and I have hope, and I would love it. Even though Houston is my pick to win to big 12, I would not mind a Mac upset.
Eli:So Yeah. Yeah.
Colin:Toledo's coming off of a pretty embarrassing loss to Oakland.
Eli:Oh, no. No. Toledo. That is
Colin:85 to 52 loss. Oh. Toledo. Not The game before that was an 8045 loss to UC San Diego Oh. Who is No.
Colin:Not d one. No. So UCSD's d one. It's not UCSD. Oh, yes.
Colin:It is. Is UCSD21?
Eli:Yes. They're in the Big
Kylee:West. So looks like Toledo's having a rough year thus far. Alright. I forgot
Colin:they were Big West.
Eli:Go Rockets. They were
Colin:too Totally. Anyways. You'll live.
Kylee:Bounce back, please.
Colin:Toledo's gotta bounce back. This would be an iconic bounce back.
Kylee:That'd be insane.
Colin:So so Alright. Shall we close it out?
Kylee:We should.
Eli:I think we have to.
Colin:Let's do it. Thanks for listening to this week's episode. Check the net on Impact 89 FM. Let us know what you guys think by listening or by connecting with the station on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram atwdvmand@impact89fm. Remember, this is our 2nd basketball season.
Colin:We're very excited, and this season's madness is just getting started. We cannot wait to talk about more in a few weeks on check the net.
Eli:See you after winter break.