Welcome back to Check the Net Impact eighty nine's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I am your host, Kylie Tabler, and I'm joined today by my ghoul friends, Josh, Eli, Porter, and Colin. Happy Halloween.

Happy Halloween. Season. Happy Halloween. It's also basketball season.

Yes. Well, close.

Finally.

Closer to officially basketball season.

That's more important. The next time we record official basketball will have been played.

Yes. So exciting. So, so excited. This is what we live for.

I know I'm hyped, and I know that these exhibition games have gotten us really excited.

They have.

There's been so many good ones.

Let's start talking about those. So we're just on the women's side, some just takeaway takeaways from the exhibitions last week. Let's and we're gonna start with Kansas State who is receiving votes at Tarleton State now Kansas State went out and won seventy eight fifty seven who picked this game

Colin

I think it was me And that's because we a lot of us did end up picking Tarleton State. Mhmm. Or I guess it was just me and Porter. But

A lot of us, not even half.

So we have we have Tarleton State to take the WAC conference. I don't think any of us expected Tarleton State to win. No. But it was just a fun little challenge for Kansas State, something to prove themselves to the poll as they're receiving votes there.

I don't know if this is necessarily the the opportunity for them to prove something to the poll against Tarleton State. Again, I'm gonna say it happened as expected. I'm I'm waiting to form my opinions on Kansas State until they play p five.

Yeah. They were they were pretty statistically dominant. They outrebounded Tarleton 44 to 29, and outshot them 46.7% to 33.9%. And they also dominated the floor, scoring 23 fast break points to the Texans three.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. Tarleton State did win a quarter.

Yeah.

I mean, that's solid.

That's impressive.

Yeah. Kansas State was only up by two after the first quarter.

Okay.

That's not a they end up winning the second quarter 25, 17, but Arlington State did win third quarter fifteen, fourteen.

And if you're gonna win any quarter, that's one that

Right at a half.

Yeah. Yeah. That's when you wanna win.

That's looking really, really good for good whack competition coming up later this season when they're playing in the conference.

Yeah. Shout out Tarleton.

Yeah.

Alright. Tarleton State's not Tarleton State's not

really the Oh, hey, Porter.

There we go.

I was Porter. Why could

I not hear Porter?

Yeah. Yeah. They're not really

the creme de la creme of women's basketball.

Wow. Ouch.

Mean, they're

not. Picked them to win the WAC.

Yeah. But, like, them versus UCLA, who you got winning.

So so you think they're the cream of A crop? Just not

Of the WAC.

Just not that. They look crap.

Yeah. Wow. K State plays A and M four games into the season.

That'll be so fun.

Yeah. Then. Until then, this does nothing to sway my opinion.

Porter's not moved. Quarter's not moved. Utterly. To be fair, neither neither am I. But you know what I am moved by?

NC State, Maryland playing this week. So number nine, NC State went and played number 10, Maryland. And NC State ended up winning at eighty three seventy five.

They just jumped right

in, didn't they?

Yeah. And I mean, we talked about how nervous we were about NC State because they didn't have a lot returning, and they have a gauntlet of a schedule. And honestly, like, I think they might have the toughest, like, non conference schedule out of any other, like, d, like, d one p five, opponent. Like, it's crazy.

And they kind of did last year too.

Yeah. They did. I mean, they really stacked their schedule, and they it proves it does them well. I mean, they they came out and they won. I'd say, like, I know not all like, none of us really thinking of them.

I mean, maybe the faintly in the back of our heads is like a contender for the ACC, but this is any indication on how good they're gonna be if they can stay consistent. I think I think they're up there for

sure. Yeah. I feel like they were a potential contender, but they weren't, you know, at the top of anyone's list. We all had Duke and Notre Dame. Yeah.

And I think reasonably so because nor or because NC State did lose so many people and hasn't proven anything yet. But although, now they kinda have. They've started to at least.

I think the interesting thing is they also played High Point before they played Maryland, and they won by the same margin. They only won by eight against High Point, and that was a home game regardless exhibition. Nothing too fancied. Don't read too much in the exhibition. Season players grow throughout the season.

I just think that's interesting that you played if this is the kind of the same way that they're just gonna play throughout the season, they'll build on it. But I think it's just super important to schedule some of those. I know here at Michigan State, we schedule we went out to Yukon. Playing games like that where you're playing an opponent that is right around your level where you expect to be Mhmm. And getting a win like that, that shows incredible growth.

And NC State, we know how good they were in the tournament last year, especially being Spartan students. I mean, I remember that game that was Painful. Hard one.

Was rough one to watch.

But the Wolfpack, Looking like the wolf pack car.

I mean that tells me that they learned a lot from their high point game And they improved a lot before Maryland

yeah, or maybe they just play to the level of their competition

or that

which is something that you don't want to do Yeah, we don't

we don't have a big size yet.

Yeah. I mean, Maryland, like, they were bad at shooting in this game. Yes. Mhmm. Really bad.

Eight of 28 from three.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's not good. They gotta they gotta clean that up.

I mean, that being said, this is an exhibition. Like

Yeah. Don't read too much into it. It's exhibition.

Yeah. Both these teams look good.

I agree. Okay, Josh. This is for you. This one's for you.

This one's for you.

All you.

Alright. So last Wednesday on Impact eighty nine FM, myself and Brian Rivers were on the call for Michigan State's opener exhibition game against d two Michigan Tech. It was a fun one. Spartans got out to a huge lead after the first half. I believe it was somewhere near they got I think it was, like, sixty five twenty one.

I did see that.

Going into the half, they played excellent. They played quick. They played fast. They were forcing turnovers a lot, which is what I expect from this team going into the season. The press was really working, and it also helped that Michigan Tech lost their best player for the remainder of the second quarter and Kendall Stanfest, who also played a great game.

But four players in 20 had 20 points, Kennedy Blair, Emma Shumay, Theron Hallock or not Theron Hallock. I don't did she get into the 20 points? But one of them, and then Grace Van Sleuten got to the 20 mark. So beautiful surprise. Kennedy Blair was in the starting lineup going into the game.

She proved to be a great starter. Some of the depth pieces. Jaylen Brown came off the bench, which surprised myself and Brian Rivers when we got the starting lineup that she was on the bench. Rashida Jones started that game too. So there's a lot of room for improvement.

Frayla talked about it after the game. She's did not like that second half. There's a lot of room to grow, but it was expected. It was a dominant win. And ball movement was really great to watch.

They they managed to cycle around that ball a lot. So it should be a good year. It'll be fun watching them play, and I'm really looking forward to some of these matchups that are coming to Breslin. Brian and myself talked about it. UCLA coming to town.

Got

some fun ones.

UCLA is coming to town. USC is coming to town. Obviously, Michigan will be a great game. We got some good matchups coming, so it should be a good year. I expect MSU to grow.

They have a lot of depth. Kylie and I were talking about it before we hopped on.

Mhmm.

They have a lot of depth. Abby Kimball was playing garbage time minutes. She wasn't really one of the easy one of the go tos off the bench. She was playing garbage time minutes. Iceland Alexander looked good in her return back to the court.

So this is a really deep team. It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Are we gonna see something like what we've seen the past few years on our men's side where we just cycle through a bunch of players and we kinda, you know, mix up the lineup every few minutes and force people to readjust every few minutes to a different style of play. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.

Like I said, this team is incredibly deep. The fact that I I still can't get over it, and Brian and I couldn't get over it too, was the fact that Jaylen Brown was coming off the bench 18 points a game over at Arizona State. She was incredible there. So the fact that she was she wasn't even the first name off the bench too.

Really?

I need to look to make sure I get this correct. So continue what you're about to

It's early season. Right? But Mhmm. Who knows?

I can always change, but I mean, that's that's crazy. That does really show how much talent this team has and and how what a great job Fraylik has done coming in in her, what, third season? Just Fourth. Third or

Third, fourth. I don't remember.

I believe it's third. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. Because Susie Merchant was

still here Yep.

Freshman year. Coming into her third year with picking up some great transfer talent, continuing to pick up some great transfer talent and bringing in some very talented new faces, so I'm very excited.

Yeah. Like, you and I had talked about it before we came on. Emma Schumate was the other person that got 20 points.

Yeah.

She's six of eight from three. Wow.

I'm hoping that's that continues throughout the year. We need that.

And we also talked about it on the or one of the last ones. Mara Dykstra from Montana State was excellent on the boards. She did not get a point, but she found herself getting great looks from not only from three, but near the basket. So I think this is gonna be a really fun team to watch. I think how fast they play the press.

It'll be fun to watch. So make sure you follow along on Impact all season Yes. Because this will be fun for not only myself, but my commentator partner and Brian.

Listen to Josh. Do it. Don't don't go listen to anyone else.

I was on Play by Play for that game Yes. Which was a lot

of fun. Yeah. That's awesome.

Very, very exciting stuff. So I mean, we all we all know. We don't need to say anything else. Josh Josh covered the whole thing. Moving on, so we had Memphis versus number 19 Vanderbilt.

We were all we're all very excited about this Vanderbilt team, specifically, Mikayla Blake's.

Mikayla Blake's.

Vanderbilt won a 104 to 68. Wow. I'm very impressed. It'll be interesting to see how they stack up against some tough p five non conference opponents.

Yeah. Mean, Vandy was only up nine points after three quarters. And then they remember that they are a good team and know how to play basketball. Wow. So, yeah, Mikayla Blake said 12 points.

Mikayla Blake.

Porter's being ruthless today over there.

Jeez. Porter's always like this. Dang.

I mean, she had 40 points. She shot 50% from three, above 50% from the rest of the field. So, I mean

Porter just casually bringing up a 40 game.

McKenna Blake.

Yeah. She got 20 points in the first half, 20 points in the second half. Eight twelve splits for both both halves.

That's crazy.

I mean

really impressive.

She only scored 40% of Vanderbilt's points.

Only. Only.

Only. Yeah. So that might that might become a problem problem later on, but we're not gonna worry about that right now. We're not gonna worry about that right now.

In the meantime Yes. She's she's holding strong.

Yeah. Gonna have a crazy season. I'm sure we'll be seeing some insane point totals after their games. Alright. Obviously, the week nominations, when I saw when we I saw this earlier, I was like, were there any of them?

Apparently, I just don't know ball, and there are some, so take it away.

Two big big For grabbing at least two wins over d one schools and exhibitions. I've got the more minor one, but Valdosta State in Southern Georgia beat Florida A and M in their exhibition game. Nice. So

I love a good d two over d one win.

And then, I was looking on Twitter last night, and I scrolled upon this page.

Scrolled upon?

Doom scrolling. Yeah. Saw I saw

as as one does.

I'd say I was doom scrolling and I saw a Twitter page complaining about Missouri and they showed the third quarter graphic. They were losing to a d two school, 50 to 45, and it was a Molly Miller fan account, which I love how my Twitter knew immediately. Missouri ended up losing to a d two school in Maryville by the final score of 90 to 84. Oh, oh, no. And it's saying something because Missouri was up nineteen eight after the first quarter.

Maryville ended up winning the next two seventeen ten and twenty five sixteen. Barely Missouri somehow scraped enough to get it to go to an overtime, and Maryville came out on top. Wow. That's that's I I don't know how else to say that. An SEC school just lost to a d two school.

That's awesome.

I'm a defense.

Yeah. That's And maybe play offense too.

Little bit of offense probably wouldn't have hurt.

Yeah. Yikes. Not a

great start for a new head coach for a program that was really looking for a turnaround this year.

Definitely not.

Yeah. Hey, it's an exhibition game.

That is true.

Guys, remember if you lose an exhibition game, it doesn't matter. If you win an exhibition game, it's a great sign and you're really good. If you lose, it doesn't matter.

Who cares? But, yeah, those are crazy d two upsets. You know, those are just those are but those are fun to hear about. I'm not gonna lie. I love a good upset.

So alright. Next week, basketball is officially starting. Nonconference officially begins, and we are all so excited. So we've got some power five games. Let's kick it off with I mean, we've kinda already talked about them already, but Colin, go ahead.

Yeah. Calver Spandy playing in Paris for the opening of the season

Okay.

At the Wii Play tournament. I love that. Wii being OUI.

Love The

yes play.

Yeah. Vanderbilt, we get kind of a first taste of what they're gonna be like in the regular season when they're actually trying, rather than when they're just smoking Memphis. So true. And against the power five team, Cal, who we They weren't bad last year. They weren't bad last year.

They solid.

Did they make the tournament last year?

Why do I why do I feel like I

feel like they did.

I just remember us beating them.

Yeah. We beat them

in the

In the Aquasher, whatever. Classic.

Yeah. It's gonna be a very interesting game either way. Cal looks about like they did last year. They're a pretty, you know, middle of the road ACC team, so gives Vandy a good grasp on where they're actually gonna sit. Yeah.

Yeah. So

And and the other Parisian game is number 16 Baylor versus number seven Duke.

Fun.

We To really kick off the season, so that'll be very fun. And I think that'll gonna be a great game.

Oh, for sure. That'll be I'm hoping Not that I'm, you know, manifesting anything bad for Duke, but I'm I want Baylor I'm hoping Baylor, like, shows out to be a very good team this year. Like Baylor.

Yeah. Baylor was like, we all picked TCU to win the Big twelve, but I think we're all kind of thinking Baylor's gonna come in second.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Every year. Baylor Baylor's always up there.

But Duke is who, either most or all of us, picked for the ACC.

I know I did.

I did not. I was the only one that didn't.

There it is.

Because I'm fun and cool and different.

But, yeah, that should be a great one.

Yep. Cal did make the tournament, by way. They lost 59 to 46 to Mississippi State.

Yeah. Was that

an eight,

nine game?

It was. Yeah.

I do remember that.

Because Mississippi State cannot be anything but an eight or nine on men's or women.

Very That true. And they will remain there forever. Porter, your games.

My games.

Your go game. Your

I have number eight Tennessee at number nine NC State.

Another one of the gauntlet.

Yeah. NC State's just gotta play everybody. This kicks us off. It's on November 4. Top 10 matchup.

Yes, please. Awesome.

No notes. So true. No notes. I've got more fun. I've got number one Yukon versus number 20 Louisville.

That's on November 4. I'm excited about this. I really have no idea what Louisville looks like at all. So I think this will be it'll it'll be fun to see how competitive they're gonna be in ACC play this year. Yukon, always always a fun team to watch.

I have high expectations for this team as well this year. It's at the Naval Academy in in in Annapolis. I I'm sorry. That

was bad.

Welcome back.

Truly, thank you.

Thank I was

was just in another dimension, so my bad. But I'm back now. So Josh, go for it.

So I have two. One of them is a little bit of a homerun. I'll get to I'll get I'll get to you after, but I have Grand Canyon at South Carolina. Yes, on paper, this is not nearly as good of a matchup as eight versus nine, sixteen versus seven, one versus twenty, and nineteen versus another p five. I went for this one purely because of the fact that South Carolina is welcoming home their former assistant coach, Winston Gandy, who took the Grand Canyon job.

Mhmm.

I wanna say it was, like, mid tournament last year where he took the job after Molly Miller

Yeah.

Left. So I think this is just a nice little piece for South Carolina. Welcome Grand Canyon or not Grand Canyon. Welcome Winston Gandy back. I'm sure he'll get a nice reception on his return.

This should be a tune up game for South Carolina and Don Staley. This team will be ready. So I'm more going for the storyline than the game itself. I think that'll be a nice little piece. And then my other one, MSU's home opener next week.

Yeah. Next Tuesday. Yay. We have MSU's taking on Mercyhurst. That's really kinda what I wanted to say.

That's it'll be fun. It should be it should be a win for Michigan State, but you never know. But And you should listen to

it on Impact eighty nine Yes.

Listen to Josh. 06:15 will go live for a pregame show and then 06:30 is tip.

So Yay.

Listen in. That'll be fun.

Heck yeah. On to small conference now. Who wants to kick us off?

I will. Word. I've got Idaho at Washington State, which is on November 3, and I picked Idaho to win the big sky, and they're heading over to Pullman, which is eight miles away across the Idaho Washington border. And I learned when I was doing research for this episode that this rivalry is called the Battle of the Palouse.

Nice.

Which is like the hilly region that both Idaho and Wazi were in. And Wazi was pretty good last year. They were fourteen and six in the West Coast Conference, made it to the third round of the WNIT. So I think this is a fun rivalry non conference season kickoff game for both programs.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. I love it. Colin, what do you have?

Alright. I have Radford at Wake Forest. So, I know

Not a small conference game, canceled, canceled, canceled.

Look, Wake Forest is a pretty bottom half of the ACC in Right? Women's Radford is looking really freaking good this year. And so I'm looking for the upset on the road.

Okay.

Bradford. If not, I'm looking for a close game.

Okay. That's He's looking for something. What I've got. He's looking for something.

He's looking.

Yeah. Josh.

I went for a little bit of a homer Again

Another one.

Central Michigan going down to Georgia to take on Georgia Southern, a part of the Mac Sunbelt challenge, which I know, Kylie, you're you're gonna talk about here in a second with your pick. But a little bit, like I said, a little bit of a homer pick, but I know Central, they brought in some transfers, head coach, former Michigan State player. So I'm intrigued to see if they can build on. They made it to the MAC tournament last year, which which is a good step in the right direction for Central. Can they build on that?

Can they get that momentum continue to go?

Yeah. Very exciting. Speaking yeah. Sunbelt MAC Sunbelt Challenge. I've got Kent State at James Madison.

Nice.

James Madison's gonna win. I'm just gonna be really upfront. Oh,

for sure. Wow.

There are yeah. I have no Shocker. And I'm sorry, Kent State. My bad. Ohio mention.

My fault. But JMU is our consensus Sunbelt champ. And so I think, you know, it'll be interesting to see how they play. We have high expectations for them this year. Mean, we ranked them, didn't we, in our top 25?

We ranked them. So they better get out there and and play some good good basketball, and then just I I love the Mac, so of course, I'm gonna find a Mac yet.

I love the Mac Sunbelt Challenge.

Yeah. It's fun. Because it means

we get like a fun one off non conference game in February from every Mac and every Sunbelt

Which game every is hilarious.

Which is great.

Yeah. It's a good time.

And Porter, I'm so confused

about the Please. Please. Explain to me. First off,

can anybody tell me where Friends University is without Googling?

New York. No. That'd be my guess. I'm gonna guess Oklahoma. Texas.

North Dakota. Wichita, Kansas.

Wow. Cool.

Okay. So I've got friends at Oral Roberts on November 3.

You're telling me you're telling me Chandler, Monica, and Ross, and them are gonna go Purpose. Oral Roberts?

Correct. Purely because I have a friend that goes to Friends University.

You have a friend at Friends?

You have

a friend at Friends?

For the women's basketball team.

I'd like to have a That's awesome. Wow. Brief moment to comment that Oral Roberts has played Friends before in women's basketball two years ago. This is the second part of that series.

Nice.

Both of those were home games for Oral Roberts, and they won last time a 100 to 47.

Love. Sounds like a great game for So for Friends University.

Shout out to

your friend at Friends.

Let's go with less

Hey, than 50 guys. Can you tell me what is their mascot?

Yo. Friends. Friends.

They're the Friends Falcons.

Friends Falcons.

Bowling Green mention. That's unbelievable.

Alright. Well

Moving on. Alright. These are some great games. I'm super excited. Can't wait to watch These are

great guys.

Friends at Oral Roberts. We're moving on. Men's basketball.

Does anyone know where we can watch Friends at Oral Roberts?

Probably ORU plus or something

like Yeah. Just some wax, like, yeah, some

insane streaming service you've never had at this Yeah, Yeah. You couldn't fly to Yeah.

You could. Don't know what you're waiting for. While we wait for Colin to buy tickets to Tulsa, we are gonna talk about some men's basketball. Woo hoo. Just some key takeaways from last week slash key games.

We had number 12, UCLA at San Diego State. UCLA won 67 to 60.

Yawn. San Diego State. Real.

Yawn. Like, wow. Again, I can't tell if I'm more impressed with San Diego State or disappointed in UCLA.

I'm remarkably disappointed in both of them.

Yeah. I mean, at this point, I'm assuming UCLA only really has dawn of intent to keep them going, which is not sustainable for like

They have Xavier Booker.

Long term.

So true.

Well, we have a friend who's gonna talk about that, which isn't sustainable for the long term. Mountain West should be really fun this year. Hopefully, could be fun with with this close game.

I just feel like exhibition games are usually more high scoring than this. So this Wow. Offensive output feels kind of disappointing.

Maybe they're both just really good at defense.

Right.

That's that's impossible for you stand really, really bad at all.

But UCLA did have 13 steals to the Aztecs five.

Oh, so they are

good defense. It is defense.

You know what I associate with the Mountain West is exciting non March games.

Uh-huh.

That's a lie. They're very ugly.

So are there ones in March?

Yeah. I mean, SDSU might be okay. Right? People seem to love UCLA. This is not a terrible result for a Mountain West school against the number 12 team in the country.

On the other hand, UCLA is the number 12 team in the country, and this is an unranked Mountain West school.

Very true.

Xavier Booker achieved five points and two fouls. So it's, you know, it's nice to see he's achieving continuity at UCLA even when the rest of UCLA isn't.

Yeah. Yeah. I suppose. Yep. So happy for him.

And you're right. Josh, got anything to say?

No. I just I wanna reiterate. Xavier Booker, great person. Had a couple of classes with him. Great guy.

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna speak basketball wise. This just feels more impressive for San Diego State. I know it was a home game for them, but for UCLA to only win by seven against a non power five opponent in San Diego State, I know that

Porter doesn't like that.

I know that got you a little upset for her, but it's not a power five conference in college basketball. So this feels like a little bit of a letdown for UCLA. Again, only exhibition doesn't really matter, but only to win by seven, that feels a little disappointing. I

I agree. Yeah. It it is disappointing, especially since people have been putting they're at ranked in the top 15. Most polls have put them in the top three of Big Ten teams. Like, I you expect more.

You have to be doing more than this.

You're telling me that the fourth best Mountain West school is only losing to the third best Big Ten school by

By seven?

Seven points?

Yeah. And, like, if they're not I'm gonna harp on this again. If they're not gonna prepare by traveling for these games, they should be winning these games by a lot more. Like, they're not gonna travel for non conference,

are achieve literally, like, two stops down the coast starlight.

Mhmm.

Yeah. Take the train, win the game.

To jump not to jump back, but I found out that Friends versus Oral Roberts, you can watch it on the Summit League Network.

Who wants Not to buy

me. I just Not trying to jump back, I just Not it. I'll pitch I was going down a rabbit hole for that one.

Porter, don't you watch Denver University a lot?

Yeah, that's on Altitude Sports. Okay. Also known as either radio or the, like, local channel.

Okay, so none of us can What I'm hearing is none of us can watch.

So what I'm hearing is we need to fly to Tulsa.

Fly to Tulsa.

I don't know who we is, but I'm not. Because I'm still

Josh, you're assigned to get tickets. Eli, you're assigned to the hotel, Airbnb, whatever we wanna get. Perfect.

Cool. Cool. I gotcha.

Well, I'm still sat thinking about this game. Number one Purdue at number nine Kentucky, and Kentucky won seventy eight sixty five. Kentucky's winning the SEC.

Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare. Nightmare.

We know ball, Porter. We know ball.

This is nightmare.

So Kentucky played, like I don't know if they played solid defense or if Purdue was just shooting really, really poorly.

Can it be both?

I'm, like, looking at Purdue

these did shoot unusually bad. Like, Brayden Smith wasn't great. Their their numbers, like, aren't typical Purdue, you know. Purdue's typically a high volume, well shooting team. Mhmm.

But even if they shot the same three point percentage as Kentucky, they still lose.

So That's crazy.

Yeah. And I remember hold on. I'm gonna air out Collin real quick. I remember texting about this because I was I've just I was excited because I'm a Purdue hater for life. And so I was like, y'all, like, Kentucky's winning the SEC.

Like, they beat Purdue. And Collin's like, just an exhibition. Doesn't matter.

I'm I like did say that.

Hello? This is big signs. This could be big signs. Maybe not necessarily that Kentucky is gonna win the SEC, but also but this is more so big signs that Purdue overhyped. Purdue overhyped.

Right. When was the last time you saw Braden Smith with a minus 14 plus minus?

Actually, minus 13? Minus 13. Mean, did they have

like a really bad exhibition loss to Arkansas like two years ago? Probably. Or was that like last year?

That's a great question.

All of Purdue's starters were in the minus. Yikes.

Yes. That's really bad.

That should not and regardless of what team you're playing and regardless of what should team you're not happening. That should not be happening.

As a number one seed in the country.

Yes. As a number one seed. I get it's a top 10 matchup. Kentucky's very good. They play in two different conferences with two different styles of play.

So there's, like, an adjustment period. But, like

But yikes.

But yeah. Yikes. Also, looking at the box score for this one, they kinda really went against, like, the Purdue identity that Matt Painter has really done. Oscar McCluff only had one shot. Oh.

Wow. Part Trey Trey Kaufman Wren was seven for 15. Fletcher Lawyer was three for 15, and Braden Smith was only three of nine.

Yeah.

So Are they trying to share the ball more? I don't know. Confused.

But this isn't the Purdue way that I know. You normally try and feed it inside and let the guys sit outside and get it out to Braden Smith. Braden let Braden Smith create. Mhmm. Fletcher Lawyer, normally a good three point shooter, was only two of eight in this one.

And also, look at the box score. Somehow, Antoine West, who played three minutes and twenty nine seconds, has a minus eight. It didn't register a single shot or anything. So he only had one foul. That's his only statistic.

And it's an immediate minus eight.

He went to minus eight for his plus minus. That is incredible. But are they trying to change the way that they play basketball?

Because I hope not.

Getting a big transfer in, like, Oscar Kluff to fill that role of, like, that center and to only have him have one shot is a little concerning.

Maybe the fact that this was an exhibition means they were experimenting.

Maybe.

Like, on purpose.

I mean, it still feels like you'd wanna work on your post game against a top 10 opponent, though. Right? Work on that.

And, like, Matt Painter's not gonna go grab a post player out of the portal Not that's not gonna not use him, and is not gonna be good or be a good fit for the formula that he's created.

Yeah. And also the fact that Fletcher Lawyer no disrespect to Fletcher Lawyer, but the fact that Braden Smith took less shots than Trey Kaufman run and Fletcher Lawyer feels like not a the right recipe.

Are they? I I wonder if they're telling him to distribute more, which wouldn't which he already does. Right. So I'm really interested in like what the He goal had is here.

He had five assists, so that's to me

I mean, that's still low for Braden Smith.

Yeah. That's low. So I feel like recipe for success for Purdue this season is to have the ball in Braden Smith's hand and let him create shots instead of postgame more. Yeah.

They have to.

Purdue does not have a lot of time to, like, figure out what the heck went wrong

Mhmm.

Because they do face number 15 Alabama on the road in two weeks.

Mhmm. Well, mean, I was gonna say, yeah, I mean

Alabama does not play a figure it out friendly type of game.

No. Purdue will have a couple of tune up games before then.

Evansville and Oakland.

Tune up.

Those are pretty easy.

Evansville is, I wouldn't say about

Oakland.

Yeah, but not great, like, this was your prepare game for Alabama.

This was your prepare game.

And they didn't do

well. And they didn't do well.

So it'd be very, very interesting to see

a lot. Speaking of not doing well in your prepare game.

Yeah. I mean, kind of. I would I would argue this game went about as I was expecting.

Yeah. I agree. Yeah. So we're talking about number 22 Michigan State at number four, UConn. UConn ended up winning the game, but it was seventy six sixty nine, much better than I had anticipated.

We got a lock in from the free throw line.

That's only because we scored the last seven points of the game.

But

It was seventy six sixty two Yeah. With, like, two minutes left.

I mean, it's still even fourteen minutes, like, 14 points, two minutes left. That's not

Against the number four seed in the in the country.

Yeah. I mean, so I guess we still can't shoot. We're What's still trying

to figure out? It's it's the beginning of the season. We always start out slow.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm just looking back at last season. It seems like we're pulling off the same formula as last season, trying to make it work again. Izzo pulled in a bunch of random guys, he's gonna try a 100 different lineups

our friendship

you know yeah those lineups are going to continue rotating And it's just gonna be a nice little conveyor belt of players. Every two, three minutes, a new player comes in, another two. Yay. And people are gonna have to adjust, and I don't think we're quite put together as a team quite enough for that yet. Not yet.

For that to work yet, like it did at the end of last season.

Yeah.

But I do like the look of our players right now, and

Yeah. I think we just gotta clean up the boards. I know against BG, got outrebounded.

Mhmm. Which cannot happen in the Tomazone

basketball team. We also missed 15 free throws in a seven point game.

Yeah. I Yeah. Fear not, I guarantee Tom Ezzo has those guys in the gym all week.

Hope See, but we didn't get any better at it all of last season, so.

True.

I mean, good news. We got Duke, Arkansas, and Kentucky this year. So we'll, like Yeah. See if this is working.

Great. We'll have a lot of time to tune up. We got some we got some real challenges here.

I would say, I think I went into this one saying as long as they don't lose by, like, 20 plus, I'm okay.

Because didn't.

Exhibition early in the season, and they didn't lose. They didn't lose by big. They actually lost close. They actually did a lot better than I thought they would. I thought Yeah.

I thought this was realistically gonna be, like, around a 12 to 15 loss. And I would have been like, okay. You go back to the drawing board. You didn't give you but you didn't get blown out on the road against Yukon. I don't know how the atmosphere was, but I'm gonna guess it was a decent atmosphere.

There from the pictures.

Yeah. Was Oh, it was packed. Okay. That's good. Like, you test yourself.

Yeah. Also, from earlier reports this summer saying that Kurt Tang was gonna be the best shooter on this team, I'm a little concerned so far. I know he's I I I hope that it's just jitters getting out, like, his first time really playing big minutes. He's a

mind games.

I'd so

I'd give him a few weeks.

I'm giving him a few weeks, hopefully hoping that the jitters are getting out, but I just I I need somebody to just be a knockdown shooter like the teams of the past that we had.

Yeah. Yeah. Where you

had a consistent guy that could hit from beyond the arc.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm just also I think this game's interesting because I think we might be on point about Yukon being overrated.

I agree. We'll see.

Yeah. I'm just I'm a just pat ourselves on the back Speaking a little bit

of some of our other opponents.

Yeah. We've got number six Duke who traveled to number 18 Tennessee. Duke won, eighty three sixty seven. They're gonna do what they're gonna do, and that's when. So

Yeah. Not looking good for my Tennessee pick for winning the SEC.

I think I mean

But honestly They still could. Yeah.

Yeah. They have Rick Barnes, I mean Rick Also let them figure it out.

Also not looking great that I was the only one to not pick Duke to win the ACC.

You know.

We knew love being wrong.

I fear my picks are falling apart before the season even begins.

Mhmm. But the freshmen the freshmen seem to be working well for Duke, as per Yuj. And the Blue Devils were also 25 of 27 from the free throw line. So at there, at least someone's in the gym.

Free throws.

At least someone's in the gym.

Duke That's is as simple as that. Duke is Duke. They will recruit great freshmen.

Play them for a year.

They will go to They will go to the league, and then they will do the same cycle again. They get really good freshmen. It will be a really good basketball team. They'll go to the league. Rinse and repeat.

Duke is Duke. That's simple.

They make so much money on jersey sales.

Yeah. Gosh. To the surprise of let me check. No one. Duke started one upperclassman.

Played pretty mid. They don't have any bench depth. They shot pretty poorly for Duke, and they still won.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

And and that's it. End of story.

And they're gonna mow down the ACC as Usually do.

They usually do. Alright.

Up a fight, Louisville. Come on.

No. Not regular season.

Not after what's been going on in college basketball now with the G League players. It's been

a That's just that. We'll we'll save that for a rainy day.

I was about to say the fact that we haven't even talked about that. We'll

talk about that.

That'll be on a rainy day. Alright. Moving on. Number eight, BYU. There's number 25, North Carolina.

BYU won 78 to 76. Now, I don't wanna hear any of my haters start chirping in my ear yet because

No chirping. None whatsoever.

I have a lot of faith in this BYU team. They have an extremely high ceiling. This is not what I wanted to, like, see as a score. It's an exhibition. But with so many new players, it's gonna take some time for for it all to click.

But when it does, it's gonna be exciting, and I'm very, very ready for it. I I still think UNC is terrible. I think they shouldn't grace the top 25 at all this year. And and I think Porter is gonna come back me up and explain explain exactly why.

Yeah. So these two teams played the same game. Their numbers are very similar, first half, second half. You know, we're very high on BYU as a podcast. BYU also lost to Nebraska, but they also didn't play their starters for the last five minutes of that game.

They didn't play the their starters for the last five minutes of this game. They're playing these like an exhibition. Their coach said, I wanna see what my freshmen have. I wanna see what my new players have. I don't really care.

Only two players on BYU had more than 25. UNC played their starters for almost the entire game, and they they lost. The player with the best plus minus of plus eight, I believe, came off the bench. He had zero points.

But he's moving the ball or a

But he's moving ball or But that is a top 25 team. Right. That is a top 25 team according to the AP.

Because, you know, I love my top 25 team listening to a bench.

Yes. Yeah.

And A top 10 bench.

A top 10 bench. A top 10 bench.

With a really good freshman.

But a bench.

But a bench nonetheless.

Speaking of really good freshmen, DiBanza scored 18 points in thirty four minutes on six of 14 shooting, but he did make six of seven from the free throw line and recorded eight rebounds. Josh, I will fight you.

I stopped myself. Stopped my We made a pun about that on the broadcast, but that's for a different time.

He also led BYU in steals and blocks, but also recorded a team high three turnovers. And, you know, mine and Josh's usual complaint, UNC missed five free throws in a two point game.

That's just Thanks for that input, Josh. Yeah, that's right.

Honestly, I'm glad that Porter went first, so I can change my take. I did know I did not know that BYU didn't play their their players for the last five

probably get out there and defend UNC. Because That's

that's crazy that you were gonna do that anyway. Yeah. That's gross.

Okay. Look at the box score and we say, BYU, we're really high on BYU. Like, we all think that they're gonna be really good. In UNC, we've been hating on them because how are they ranked in the top 25? And if you look at Paper and they only lost by two, you're like, oh, really?

Only by two? That's interesting. Maybe UNC is a little better than we give

them credit for. Know you is not causation, however.

However, Caleb Wilson for UNC did have a double double, 22 points and 10 rebounds. Word. So good for Caleb Wilson. However, thank you Porter for pointing that out. So maybe UNC is not as good as

I mean, their one player their one player is.

Kayla Bolson was pretty Yeah. But he's He's if if BYU did not play their starters for the last five minutes, like you said Yeah. Never mind. Forget my take, though.

Was saying. I think

Forget it.

We learned there are two big takeaways from this. One is that we don't know what BYU's ceiling is, but we know their floor is very good.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And North Carolina, we don't know what their floor is, but we know their ceiling is like

Is losing to BYU. Twentieth in

the country. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Well, I've you know, that was a great conversation, and I love talking not good things about UNC. But we've got some also some fun upsets that happened this past week. Colin, I cannot believe I missed that.

I can't believe I didn't.

I don't know how none of you guys caught this one. I'm gonna start.

But it's gonna I'm excited, so yeah.

Number 23 in the country, Crayton My babies. Took down at number 16 Iowa State, 71 to 58 Wow. With a 23 nothing run-in the middle of that game. Nice. Iowa State was held to zero from four 14 from my three.

Gosh. Ow. And I can't wait to watch the rematch in Vegas on November 25 at the Players' Era. Yes.

Wait. That's so exciting.

That's very fun.

Go Blue Jays.

So Real. Don't know what Iowa State's problem was. Not making any threes.

I think that was their problem.

Yeah. You know, they're they didn't make any threes, but also

Also surrendering a 23 run.

23 run. Like, Creighton was locked down on defense. Iowa State couldn't couldn't handle it.

Couldn't buy a bucket, apparently.

Couldn't buy a bucket. Even for all the corn in Ames.

Yep. Wow. So when they play neutral site in Vegas, I'm very excited for the rematch. I think I

was Where was this one?

I believe this one was at Crayton. I could be wrong.

Me double check. Oh, in Nebraska.

I can talk about mine real Nebraska. Speaking of Nebraska, we kind of talked about it already. Nebraska beat BYU 90 to 89.

They beat BYU's bench 90 to 89. So Nebraska's better than BYU's bench, but UNC is not better than

So Nebraska's better than UNC.

And I feel like that

And therefore should be ranked.

Apparently You know what? I agree.

Rank Nebraska ball, I guess.

Put them in the top 25. Put them in the top 25. I have mine, I guess.

I was kind of expecting Collin.

So it By it now. Was at Creon. Okay.

Yes. Woo hoo. I have mine. Saint John's, number five Saint John's lost to number seven Michigan. Now, I don't have joy in saying that, but it's just

But it happened.

But Michigan, you know what, Josh? You got it.

I do? Yeah. Okay. Initially, I copied this one because this was the only really one that I paid attention to, but before they beat St. John's, they lost at Cincinnati at home.

That might have been a wake up game. Game.

It it it might have, but Oops.

Over a 100 points each team.

Right? Actually, it was a 198. Oh. Wow. Michigan was downs or excuse me.

Michigan scored 64 points in the second half. Holy cow. Still lost. So it shows how bad that first half was compared to the second half, but goodness does it

they still scored 34 points in the first half, which like is terrible.

Yeah. It's not terrible.

They gave up a lot in the first half. Jaxo Landenberg looks so good. Oh. And that's scary. 31 points, twelve twelve rebounds.

Oh, no. I don't wanna

deal this. That team is cooked, though, if he gets hurt. That that team is cooked.

Roddy Gale had 18. Eliot Caddo had 14.

Oh, just wait until he starts throwing the ball to bounce.

Oh, I I hope so.

It'll be happening soon.

I kind of forgot about this until I just saw this. I forgot that Michigan has Trey McKinney, the number one player from the state of Michigan on their team. I kinda I literally forgot about that with all their transfer. I I I forgot about that. They have a really good team.

I'm scared. I don't like this.

Yeah. So I'd also like to just add one more comment to this whole Michigan Cincinnati Saint John's thing. Cincinnati also played Arkansas.

Mhmm.

Right? In the other preseason game they did. Number 14 in the country, Arkansas. And lost 89 to 61.

Oh, boy. Love.

Arkansas was up by 20 at halftime, and then started the second half on a twenty three ten run.

So Arkansas beat Cincinnati, who beat Michigan, who beat St. John's. Yes. So Arkansas's gonna win the SEC, which I picked.

Sure. And if we beat Arkansas, that means Michigan State is better than Michigan.

Was gonna say, I'm just concerned about Arkansas at this point.

Collin, can you remind me who you picked for the ACC again?

No. I would no, wait. I I don't remember. I don't remember.

Yeah. Don't I genuinely don't remember.

Oh, Louisville.

Yeah. Oh. And what

are they ranked right what are they ranked? They're number 11. Yeah.

Oh. They are ranked. Wow.

Checked the

net 10.

Yeah. Wow. Did I that wonder who forced that.

They lost to Kansas. $90. No.

I don't feel like that's bad. Yes, it is.

Receiving votes, Check the net.

Yeah. Believe this just

called Upset of the Week. I don't really think we care where exactly the teams are ranked.

Yeah. Look. I'll link. No. I

I I I won't think look

Louisville needs to, you know, figure some stuff out first.

Yeah.

This is an exhibition.

Collin thinks they

Overreact. Can be do

Oh, we're not no. We're not doing this.

Oh, no. No. Moving on. Moving on.

Real fast, I just wanna say Alabama beat Florida State one zero nine to one zero five. Alabama basketball is bad.

Is putting up points.

Like it never left.

No defense.

Like it never left.

Can't wait. I mean, not speaking of Alabama because none of us picked a game of theirs, but men's basketball next week. Woo hoo, some power five fun games. I think mine's the most fun. I'm I'm gonna talk about it.

We have number three, Florida versus number 13, Arizona on November 3 in Vegas.

In Vegas.

Woo hoo. I keep forgetting Arizona exists as a team. I'm not gonna lie. And they're They're actually good.

Thirteenth in the country.

They're they're pretty good, and they exist as a team. So I think this is a good test for for the reigning national champs.

My problem is just all red, white, and blue teams blend together.

That is very true. There are too many of them.

Yeah. No. Arizona has not been memorable since they were, you know, winning the Pac twelve.

Right.

They put up a 100 on Colorado two years ago. I was there.

Was sad.

That's rough.

I mean, feel like they've still been kind of member I mean, consistently making -Consistently good. Tournament.

But they're just like We

all know Caleb Lyle.

They're still a four seed, like, all the time.

But they're like third in the Big 12.

They wear their cactus jerseys more.

Do you have cactus jerseys? Yes. Now I need to look this up. Because then

I would remember them.

I love this side note.

Alright. Yeah. I see it. Other fun game.

My game is Texas versus Duke at the Dic Vittale Invitational in Charlotte.

That's fun. Real.

Which I think will be very fun. Yeah. Which is not opening day. It's on November 4, but close enough.

Yep. Yeah. Josh, you have another relatively fun game.

Yeah. Sorry. I got distracted trying to figure out these cactus jerseys. I have Villanova taking on number eight, BYU. This should be a good one.

Kevin Willard getting his introduction to Villanova as head coach, see if he can revitalize his program after Jay Wright stepped away from Villanova. And can BYU we know that they What

what happens when they play their starters?

Yeah. What happens when these guys actually have to play the entire game and not get to rest after thirty minutes.

Yeah. Twenty five minutes for most of them. Yes.

So I like that game a lot.

I think that's gonna be a really fun game, and I was surprised when nobody picked it because despite Villanova not being ranked, I have a feeling like, Kevin Willard will get them in the right direction.

He's good coach.

He's a very good recruiter. He'll get them in the right direction. This could be a very fun game, and I feel like when we look back on this game, there's a good chance that we it it would be like Villanova's ranked like seventeenth in the country and BYU is like three.

Like, I could see this being something that we look back on when seeding the tournament.

Yeah. Villanova's this is a this would be a huge q one win for Villanova.

Absolutely. This would be marquee Yeah. To say the least, and this would start off the Kevin Willard tenure at Villanova perfectly.

Yeah. And even, like, for BYU, this is, you know, still

Great win.

Gonna be a low q one, high q two win. And this is I also feel like this is a really good test for BYU to see obviously, I know they just beat North Carolina and we've been saying this a lot. But really, for BYU, they're not a basketball school. They just aren't. They are a football school when it comes to their athletics.

So this is a really good this is a school that focuses primarily on basketball. How do they rank and stack up? Is this a blowout win? Is this just a close win? Or do they lose their first one of their first big games?

So think this is a really good game to start this out for both teams.

Yes. Alright. I've got an opening day matchup, in state rivalry, a non Power Conference team versus a fairly strong Power Conference team. It's Oakland at Michigan. November 3.

Yes. Go Oakland. Let's go Golden Grizzlies.

Very exciting.

Speaking of Michigan teams

Yay.

Home opener, November 3. Colgate comes to town.

Yay. We'll be there.

MSU, I think I'll win by eight and shoot poorly, but still win.

That typical What's what's new?

Yeah. Typical.

And then my other power no.

No. No. This is a small

conference game.

We can move on to small conference games. Porter, kick us off.

My my two small conference games.

There you go.

Thank you.

My pick to win the Mountain West, Colorado State, plays Incarnate Ward.

Yay. Let's go rap.

So warm.

And then my other pick is my Big Sky conference winners, Northern Colorado, as Colorado College comes to town in state matchup. Mhmm.

You just said the word Colorado so many times.

I was gonna

say Is

this a d one matchup order?

Yes. No. No. You don't sound confident in that.

It is not.

Colorado College is D1 in ice hockey and women's soccer. Yeah.

Correct. I'm gathering from this, Porter, is you only watch college basketball in two sports. The one you live in currently and You mean

in two states?

You go to school in. Yeah, sorry. Wait. Two states. I said sports, didn't I?

Yes. I I do care about Colorado teams. And Michigan The rest of the Mountain West.

Yeah. That's the order.

And that's that's about it.

As, you know, and so true.

I and that's fair. I can't argue. I was gonna say there's no arguing.

Speaking of some conferences that we love, we've got the Mac Sunbelt challenge. Yes. Who wants to kick us off with that?

I've got Old Dominion at Miami of Ohio as part of the Mac Sunbelt challenge opening day. And that's my Mac pick, Miami of Ohio versus Colin's Sunbelt pick in Old Dominion.

It absolutely is.

Exciting. Go Miami.

And then for my MAC Sunbelt challenge, I went with UMass versus Marshall, and I still cannot believe that UMass is a MAC team.

Welcome to the MAC, UMass.

But they might actually like win games in basketball.

Was gonna say, I'm really curious about this, because UMass, you know, has been in the A10 for a while, and they've just been okay in the A10. Right? A10's a very strong basketball conference.

Okay in the A10 should translate to much better in the MAC.

Wow. I'm So, very I wonder where this they're gonna be

okay in the Mac. Think they're gonna be okay in the Mac again. Like,

a 10, you're at least, like, relatively in the same area.

Yeah. A 10 and the Mac have very much the exact same footprint.

Mhmm. So, I mean A

lot of going to Ohio.

That's how high The A ten's in, like, DC and, like, North Carolina.

Yeah, and, like, Loyola Chicago's in the A 10.

Right. And the MAC isn't in Illinois anymore,

so True. So the Mac is less travel.

Right. Which is what we were talking about. I'm glad you've caught up.

Kylie? Yes. Well, before I get to my small conference game, I just remembered my actual upset of the week. Sorry, guys. Have to mention this now because we talked about the Mac.

UT beat no. Not Vildo. UT beat Xavier. Nice. Toledo beat Xavier, which means Toledo's winning the Mac.

So all of this is, you know, Miami, Ohio, Rock Let's go. Anyway, I've got Omaha at Murray State on November 3, our consensus Summit League champ. All all five of us picked Omaha, and then Murray State's playing in a wide open MVC. I

hear you.

They didn't look from

The MVC is very close.

They didn't look the greatest last year. Listen, I picked UNI, so so chill. But they didn't look Murray State didn't look great last year, but who knows? Anything can happen, and I think this could be a fun game.

That would be a really fun one.

Yes. And now, it is time for me to close it out. Unless, Collin, do you

have something interesting to

say? Oh.

Oh. It's about Yeah.

I forgot we gave him one of those.

Why did we do that?

I don't remember.

Oh. Because

We could still we could still jump ahead.

Yeah. Because You're right.

We have to end at the very beginning.

Hey, listeners. Just, like, hit the skip forward fifteen seconds button, like, five, six times, and you'll be at the

end.

And listen to the great music.

Yeah. Opening day, 8AM, Field Of 68 sponsors Winthrop versus Queens, neutral site game, starting off as the very first college basketball si game of the season.

And Con will be watching.

Absolutely, I will. 8AM Monday morning.

Honestly, I may be watching. I'm not gonna

I will also be watching

and then

the Porter has a meeting

There's a much better game that evening. That's also part of this field of sixty eight marathon high point versus Furman That's actually good game. That'll be really one's a lot

more fun.

And the entire opening day marathon is free on YouTube, on the Field of sixty eight's channel. Yeah. So all day basketball.

So awesome.

That's what we're gonna be doing.

We discovered that I was a live participant at one of these very early morning games. Yeah? As we talked about. Yeah.

So Yes, baby Eli was there.

When you and I was part of the opening day marathon against Stephen F. Austin.

Yeah. Way back when.

On a school day.

So anyways, go Go Winthrop. High Point versus Furman.

Exciting. College basketball Kylie. College basketball's here, y'all, so we're all super excited. We can't wait for this week to happen next week to happen. But thank you all 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 we can't wait for it to begin. Basketball season officially starts next week. From here on out, will 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 talk about it more next week on Check The Net.