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On this season's first episode of Check the Net, Impact 89FM’s College Basketball Podcast, join Kylee, Josh, Eli, Porter, and Colin as they recap a summer filled with conference realignment, coaching changes, and the chaos of the transfer portal!
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 back to Check the Impact eighty nine FM's men's and women's college basketball podcast. I'm your host, Colin Pearson. I'm joined today by my far harmonious harbingers of hoops, Eli, Kylie, Josh, and Porter. It is a brand new season, so let's all quickly introduce ourselves.
Eli:Let's.
Colin:I'll start. I'm a senior. I'm in civil engineering. I am a parks minor. This is my fourth year on Check the Net, and at the December, early January, I am moving to the East Coast to work after I graduate, which is really weird.
Colin:It's actually terrible. Boo. My top teams, naturally, Michigan State. I grew up right around here in Grand Rapids. I've always had A Place in My Heart for the Rhode Island Rams.
Colin:And then I feel as if moving to Maine, I should support the University of Maine Black Bears. And so they are becoming my third and final top team for this And final.
Kylee:And final.
Colin:We all know there will be more, actually.
Kylee:That's I've a got a few rattling around in my brain that I know you're gonna be like, oh yeah, it's my team. That's
Colin:my team.
Kylee:Yeah, speaking of that, hello, I'm Kylie. I can't believe that some of us are seniors. That's scary and gross and I hate it. I'm a senior, I study social relations and policy and this is my fourth season fourth year.
Eli:You guys are unks.
Kylee:Uncheck the net. OGs Yeah. Me and Colin OGs which is insane.
Colin:The original Josh.
Kylee:With the original Josh. Miss miss you miss you. Love new Josh though, he's great.
Colin:Yay. We'll get to him.
Eli:We'll get to him.
Kylee:We'll get to him. My two my two teams, obviously, I go to Michigan State, so clearly, I'm a fan. But University of Toledo is my hometown team. I'm from the Toledo area and then my random team, love shocker to nobody. It's still Creighton.
Kylee:Still holding on. Still Creighton. I'll talk about later that are keeping me keeping me on. So, yeah.
Eli:Well, I'm Eli. I'm the other graduating podcaster. I'm a grad student in urban and regional planning. And this will be my second full season on Check the Net after I got to guest star for the tournament livestream my sophomore year. Woo hoo.
Eli:So that was really fun.
Kylee:Made his debut.
Eli:Besides Michigan State, my hometown team is the University of Northern Iowa. I've been rooting for the Panthers basically my whole life, so go Cats. And the random team that I've been rooting for for about three years now is South Florida.
Kylee:Woo hoo.
Eli:Go Bulls.
Kylee:Yes.
Josh:Alright. Since I'm not the original Josh, I'll introduce myself. New Josh.
Colin:New Josh. My name's Awesome Josh.
Josh:Oh, thank you, Colin. I'm a junior, so since these three are gonna be leaving us this year, I'll be taking over eventually. I am a sports and broadcast journalism major, so this is right up my alley qualified. Yes. Besides MSU, grew up supporting MSU my entire life.
Josh:I guess my hometown team is then technically Oakland, because that is right around a fifteen minute drive from where I'm from. And my random team, and we'll get to it a little later, is SIUE
Colin:Woo hoo.
Josh:Of in Illinois. And this is only my second semester doing this, so this is gonna be my officially my first full year Yay. Of being on the podcast.
Porter:Hi. I'm Porter. It's my turn to be the random guest star returning as a full
Colin:year. Yay.
Eli:I've set such a good precedent. This
Porter:is my second year at MSU. I'm a civil engineering manager like Colin. Obviously, go green.
Eli:Go white. Go white.
Porter:My hometown team, Colorado State. I'm from Colorado. And then my random team's New Mexico. Gotta show some love to a consistent Mountain West team who pulls through at the tournament to lose in the round of 64.
Colin:Yes. There you go.
Eli:And we love them. We do.
Colin:Alright. Should we start it off with some conference updates? Yeah. Now that we're in a new year.
Eli:Let's let's quickly review.
Colin:Let's review. Yeah. Most importantly, most importantly, we got news not too long ago that Grand Canyon would be expediting their trip to the Mountain West, and so we get a year of Grand Canyon in the Mountain West with all of the teams that are leaving for the Pac 12.
Kylee:So very
Colin:strange year for the Mountain West. We have new people, we have characters leaving, we have pure chaos. It's gonna be a fun year out there. As you've probably seen in football, Delaware and Missouri State have joined Conference USA, and so they'll be competing with that conference. Seattle has now left the WAC for the West Coast Conference.
Colin:We are witnessing the death of the WAC, but the West Coast Conference still alive and well. And then UMass has officially left the Atlantic ten Conference and has joined the MAC.
Kylee:Yay, the MAC.
Colin:Where they will likely have a better chance to compete in basketball as they have not been very strong as of recent in the A10.
Eli:Yeah. For sure. Much much of our discussion in some group chats over the summer was about the official death of the WAC, which will be reorganizing into an alliance between the United Athletic Conference and the ASON.
Colin:ASON. Yeah.
Eli:With all the non football playing members being a part of the ASON, and all the football playing members joining the United Athletic Conference, which will become an all sport conference with the remaining Texas schools that are
Colin:Pretty much. Yeah.
Eli:And like that's it. Yep. Because the
Colin:It's a very strange
Eli:Because two, the WACC remaining Utah schools are joining the Big Sky and the Big West.
Colin:Yep.
Eli:And then Seattle just bolted for the WCC.
Colin:Yeah. So the WAC is in a very precarious situation right now. Well, yeah. It's They had to
Eli:play this season. But
Colin:Yes. So next year there will be many, many, many more conference updates. Eli Yeah, you guys have lots of fun with that. Eli, you wanted to mention one more.
Eli:I do.
Colin:Unfortunately, they're not qualifying for the tournament this year as we know.
Eli:No, very tragic.
Colin:For the next two years.
Eli:We do have a conference update that hadn't that also hadn't happened yet when we recorded our end of year episode. But we have a division one debutante this year.
Kylee:Woo hoo.
Eli:The University of New Haven Chargers is joining the Northeastern the Northeast Conference. They're reclassifying from division two starting this year. And my pop quiz, Collin, you better not be Googling it, I'll fight you.
Colin:No, I know where this is.
Kylee:Oh, I already
Colin:Googled My pop
Eli:quiz is, what city and state is the University of New Haven located in?
Kylee:Wait, what if I Googled it earlier and I know the answer?
Eli:Then you can't respond. Josh or Porter?
Josh:I was I feel like I've heard of New Haven, Connecticut, so I'm just gonna go Connecticut.
Porter:I would also like to enter Connecticut.
Eli:Incorrect. Really? It is in Connecticut, but it is not in New Haven.
Porter:Oh, I've just figured
Colin:It's just outside of New Haven. Isn't it like the
Porter:University of
Eli:New Haven, isn't it? The University of New Haven is in West Haven.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah.
Josh:Fake. Is Fake city town.
Colin:Some accounts
Eli:in New Haven County.
Colin:Is it not like just South of New Haven too? Believe not.
Eli:It's about a quarter mile from New Haven.
Colin:Yeah. It's also like
Eli:Like their I believe their football stadium is maybe 800 feet from the municipal border.
Colin:Yeah. They're also right near Yale, for those of you guys who have no clue where New Haven, Connecticut is.
Eli:It's where Yale is.
Colin:Yale is in that town. So have that reference.
Eli:I believe there's another school in New Haven too.
Colin:I think you're right, but I couldn't tell you which one.
Eli:Oh, it's Southern Connecticut State. I don't think they're the one.
Colin:No, they're not. But New Haven has a blue turf for football. They do not have a blue basketball court. That's what I was googling, Eli.
Eli:But their mascot is a horse with a lightning mane, which is pretty awesome.
Colin:That's kinda cool.
Eli:So Yeah. And it's wearing like armor.
Colin:And you know what? With the East Conference, they have a chance of winning it. Yeah. Right? Year.
Colin:Lots of
Eli:other still reclassifying D two schools in the North East Conference. They've become the CUSA of basketball.
Colin:Very fun. Josh. Josh Segman. I believe you wanted to talk about something. So I'll leave this to you.
Josh:If you followed along last semester for when it was going into March Madness time, I've discovered a certain school that somehow made it into the tournament by winning their conference tournament and got obliterated by Houston. Unfortunately. It was SIU Edwardsville and their star player Rayshawn Taylor.
Eli:My king.
Josh:Now, sadly, Rayshawn, who I absolutely love, he was amazing. It is on Wikipedia, He is the all he's their school's all time leading NCAA score after just a 100 career games. So Wow. I throw it out to you. Sadly, Rayshawn did not get drafted.
Josh:But I ask you this, where is Rayshawn Traylor right now?
Eli:I'm gonna guess Australia or Hungary.
Kylee:That's a great guess. Okay. Go with Kylie? I'm gonna go with like Estonia or something.
Josh:Porter, you gotta guess?
Porter:San Diego because it reminds me of where is Carmen San diego.
Eli:Okay. He's just hanging out in San Diego.
Josh:Yeah. Colin, final guess? Don't tell me you googled it.
Colin:No, I didn't. I was gonna go with like Greece at first, but I know the Greek leagues are really tough, so I'm gonna go with like North You
Kylee:have no faith in Rayshawn Taylor.
Josh:How dare you? Anyway, you were all wrong.
Eli:Of course,
Josh:He we is in the British Super League basketball playing for the Newcastle Eagles.
Kylee:Nice. Good for him.
Eli:He's in England.
Kylee:He's in England.
Josh:Yes. I don't know why we we grew. I had a unhealthy obsession with Rayshawn Taylor. Actually funded his NIL last season and got a shirt of Rayshawn, averaged 19 points. But yeah, he's in England right now playing for Newcastle.
Kylee:Are you gonna get a jersey?
Josh:Potentially. I have to I'm a broke A Newcastle dude. Do have a broke college student, I do have to be very careful with
Colin:I mean, those conversion rates, just wait till they get favorable.
Kylee:Think this is a wise purchase in my opinion.
Eli:He's so good at free throws.
Josh:He was incredible. Let me do I have the stats right in front
Colin:of Do does the British rules play with, like, the same free throw rules? I don't know.
Eli:I assume so.
Josh:But Rayshawn was 85% from the free throw line and I absolutely loved it.
Colin:So I assume they just play international rules, so We'll see.
Josh:I don't know.
Kylee:Who knows? I mean, they are international. They're they're
Eli:Newcastle Eagles. I know. I'm doing the same research Apparently, they're the most successful British basketball team of all time.
Josh:Yes. And they just and Newia the Newcastle Eagles got a really good player. They got
Kylee:a good one.
Josh:They're gonna continue to keep going.
Kylee:They got a good one.
Colin:There we go. Alright. Should we talk women's basketball?
Kylee:Yes.
Colin:Because it's been a while.
Kylee:It Yeah.
Colin:It's been like what? Four months since we last talked
Kylee:Too women's long.
Colin:I think it has been. And Too long. Kylie, you seem very excited to start this off. So let's start with you. Absolutely.
Colin:Transfer portal, what do got?
Kylee:Transfer portal. I don't remember if I talked about this person at the end of at the end of the year because I pretty much believe that they had like were secure and set. But transfer portal, I'm super excited about Tania Latsen from she's moving from FSU and she transferred to South Carolina to play with her former teammate from high school, Raven Johnson. Super exciting. Why this is an exciting development is we've seen South Carolina being a great team, obviously.
Kylee:However, they've struggled scoring wise, especially last year after Cardoza graduated. They really struggled kind of scoring wise. They didn't have, like, any outstanding scores. However, Lettson led the nation last year scoring 25.2 points per game. So I think that they have gotten the piece now a reliable scorer to really make that that push forward for another national championship.
Kylee:I'm very excited about about Latsson. So
Colin:Nice. Speaking of South Carolina, Eli, go.
Eli:Yeah. And one of the bright spots for South Carolina's team last year was Malaysia Full Wiley. But she entered the transfer portal because she was kind of tired of being South Carolina's best off the bench. And she was looking for a program that would really value her as a starter talent. And when we had our last episode, she had not committed yet.
Eli:Mhmm. But over the summer, she has chosen her home for the next season and it will be LSEQ.
Colin:Very interesting. Yeah. In conference, transfers always always make it fun.
Kylee:Mhmm.
Eli:But obviously, a lot of history to that program, a lot of history in their coaching, their play style, their national championship wins. I I think it'll be interesting. I'm excited for SEC play.
Colin:Absolutely. Aren't we all? Truly.
Kylee:Thanks. Yeah. For women's basketball.
Josh:For women's basketball. Sure. Yeah.
Colin:Josh, you seem pretty excited about Big Ten too.
Josh:I am super excited for this season and the player that I am highlighting and I'm probably gonna butcher her last name just because I've sucked at pronunciations lately is Gianna Nipkins? Nipkins?
Kylee:That looks right.
Eli:Sure.
Josh:That seems right. Sounds right.
Colin:Yeah. But We'll take your word for it.
Josh:She's going to be a graduate. She's using her final year of eligibility. She was at Utah. She broke lots of records there. I mean, she was a first team all big twelve last season.
Josh:She was a part of the fifty forty ninety club last season. She's transferring over to UCLA to almost kinda create this big three with Lauren Betts, Keke Rice, and herself. They have some options there. I genuinely wonder if UCLA is maybe they finally get over that hump. I mean, you only get one more year Lauren Betts.
Josh:If you're gonna make accounting
Colin:got to start freshman though too, didn't they? They did? They did.
Kylee:Who just so happens to be related to Lauren Betts?
Josh:Oh, yes. Sorry. I just I'm the one that brought this up. Oh, you are.
Colin:You get one more year of Lauren Betts. However, you get Sienna Betts. Five more years of Betts.
Josh:Of Sienna Betts, the freshman coming in from Colorado as well right up Porter's Alley. Yes, sir. It should be exciting. I wonder I genuinely believe if they can pair these all together, they bring back some key seniors in Gabriel Hajquez, Tamia Gardner. I wonder if this finally the year that they get over the hump with these additions.
Colin:I think we're all wondering that at this point, especially with talent in the Big Ten always. Mhmm. Mhmm. Can't let anything slip through the cracks and so
Josh:No. Especially if you get one you get one final year of Lauren Betts. I mean, she's a force to be reckoned with. Absolutely. Post.
Kylee:This mean, gotta make year is to do it. If they're gonna do it, this is it's now.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah.
Josh:For sure.
Colin:Porter, what you got?
Porter:I got Sarah Williams moving from Wisconsin to Yukon.
Kylee:This is a good one.
Colin:Yeah. Great one. That's a big deal.
Porter:Yeah, she averaged 19.2 points per game last year, 9.8 rebounds per game. That's almost a double double a game. She shot four ninety three from the field. Like, those are just incredible numbers. She brings a bit of experience to this Yukon team.
Porter:First team all big ten and all defensive team last year, like, just an overall really solid player to try and get Yukon back to that championship.
Eli:And she's another player who we didn't know her destination at the end of our wrap up episode last spring. So it's really exciting to see her land at Yukon.
Colin:Mhmm. Yeah. Alright. Colin. I've got one more.
Colin:Yep. Olivia Miles.
Kylee:Yeah. All thought she was gonna go to the she I thought she was gonna just leave, go to the draft.
Colin:I think we all did yeah and you know what can you blame her if she gets an offer from TCU to go finish out her college career down in Texas can't
Kylee:do it can't blame her
Colin:can't blame her one bit after losing to TCU in the tournament I feel like she's you know, if you can't beat them, join them. It's kind of the storyline here.
Eli:And our favorite storyline last year was that Notre Dame could not beat a Big 12 team.
Colin:Exactly. Yep. So here we are. She has been just killing it for Notre Dame for years now, since 2020, in fact. And she will just continue to do that at TCU.
Colin:Very, very exciting for her. Very surprising to not see her go to the draft, so that's the kind of talent you want on your team.
Eli:And that sets a lot of really high expectations for TCU.
Colin:Mhmm. Absolutely, it does. Coaching Carousel
Kylee:I feel like jump over that. Women's as was not I mean, was crazy in its own right. Like, we had a lot of movement in its own right, but not nearly as much as what we saw on the men's side, especially, you know, I don't know, not during the tournament.
Colin:Mhmm. Yeah. Mhmm. There wasn't a whole lot of like super dramatic movements Yeah. But there were a lot of movements.
Colin:Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. I'll start it out if you want. Yeah.
Colin:Go ahead. I picked out Arizona's hiring of Becky Burke, who coached for Buffalo for a few years there and led Buffalo to the NIT championship last year. So Arizona hiring Becky Burke should be really awesome for them. They they needed a new coach desperately. And so Mhmm.
Colin:It's very exciting to see them take a mid major coach like Becky Burke and give her the faith of, hey, you're gonna lead this big 12 team and I think she can do it. I think it's gonna be a very exciting year for Arizona.
Kylee:Yeah. They've they've had some rough years the past few months on the so hopefully, she'll be able to get in and make some make some changes, make some improvements and they'll be able to be a little bit more competitive in an already pretty competitive conference.
Josh:Absolutely. Shall I jump over to
Colin:Absolutely.
Josh:Arizona State did the right hire. So earlier, it was we were still talked about this. Yeah. Believe it was it happened when we were still in school. Grand Canyon head coach, Molly Miller, jumping over to Arizona State and I'm super happy with this hire for Arizona State.
Josh:I think it's almost like kind of ushering in a new era. Molly Miller is a very young coach. I believe she's still she barely just got into her thirties. I believe she's at 30, 31. She's still super young.
Josh:Lots of enthusiasm behind it. I think this is the right hire if Arizona State wants to take that jump in the big 12, follow behind some of the other schools that are doing really well, especially like TCU. I mean, TCU hired a new coach, got in some transfers, and then they took that huge jump up to the top. So I wonder if this is kind of Arizona State taking that approach. I love this hire.
Josh:I think this is a great hire. I love watching Molly Miller at Grand Canyon, especially those last last couple games when we can see him in March. It was a lot of fun. I think this is a great hire by Arizona State.
Colin:It's an instant impact hire.
Josh:Oh, yeah. No question. The question though is going to be, they did lose some contributors to the transfer portal. Mainly, I'm I'm gonna I know I'm forgetting her name, but I know she came to Michigan State. Yeah.
Josh:She was she was their lead one of their leading scorers. I believe she had nine she was averaging about 19 and a half points a game. She's coming to Michigan State. That is losing production. I mean, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Josh:But I think Molly Miller, that's a can change that program and get them back to the heights that they wanna be at.
Colin:Jaylen Brown, I believe.
Josh:Yes. I okay. Thank you. I didn't wanna say Jaylen Brown. That's what I thought, but I didn't wanna get it wrong.
Kylee:Yeah. I feel like a lot with a lot of these coaches, like, they're coming into programs that desperately need help. So it's gonna take a bit of time for them to see, I think, the success that, like, we would, like, really hope for them, like, right out the gate. But it's gonna take a little bit little bit of time but I'm I'm sure that
Colin:Kylie, what about yours? Another one of those.
Kylee:Another one another program just in desperate need of a new coach. Auburn decided to hire Larry Vickers who was the coach over at Norfolk State, who funny enough beat Auburn during the season last year. Hilarious. Vickers led Norfolk State to three consecutive MEAC conference titles and three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. They were a thirty thirty and five last year.
Kylee:And they were 14 o in the MEAC in conference. So I'm excited to see to see Vickers and how he can manage a bigger program.
Eli:So Especially with an SEC schedule.
Kylee:Yes. With a not forgiving schedule whatsoever. But I think he'll I think he's gonna go out and do a great
Colin:job. It is really interesting because Larry Vickers graduated from Norfolk's Day after playing them playing there for from o four to o eight. He became the men's basketball coach there immediately after graduating, an assistant coach, sorry. And stayed in that men's assistant coach position from o '8 to '16, and then hopped over to the women's side in '16 as head coach. Mhmm.
Colin:And so he's seen
Eli:a lot of success.
Kylee:He's put a lot of work into Norfolk State, a lot of stock, a lot of a lot of effort.
Colin:He has not left that school though. And so I'm curious to see what he can do at Auburn, a school with a lot more resources.
Kylee:I'll say he must he must have seen something there.
Eli:He sees potential. Yeah. That'll be exciting to watch. Maybe and but he's clearly a coach who develops over a really long time scale. So maybe Auburn won't be that interesting this year, but five years from now?
Kylee:Could be.
Eli:If he can pull it off again.
Colin:Yeah. Eli, what you got?
Eli:I've got a coaching carousel move that happened not because of a hiring and a firing, not because of a poaching of a different school's head coach, but more of a Yeah. So Georgia Tech hired Maryland associate women's head coach, Karen Blair, after their head coach, Nell Fortner retired on March 31. Nell Fortner retired after fifteen seasons and 272 wins.
Kylee:Word.
Eli:Dang. Six of those at Georgia Tech. She coached the United States women's basketball team to a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Kylee:Baddie.
Eli:And she's won the coach of the year in three different power conferences.
Kylee:Wow. So Someone well deserved Big shoes. Deserving of retirement.
Eli:So big big shoes in Atlanta, but Karen Blair was hired from Maryland and obviously, Maryland lots of success in the Big Ten in recent years. Karen Blair played three years as a starter at SMU in the nineties, including leading them to three straight tournament appearances. And since then, she's bounced around in the coaching circle. But I think she'll be a really exciting add. I like the way Maryland plays women's basketball.
Eli:Yeah. And Georgia Tech was a name we talked about a lot in the ACC last year. A lot of the dogfight between them and Duke for kind of position in the ACC standings, and they were ranked a lot of the year.
Kylee:But They start to struggle a bit towards the end of the of the season, and that was a bit unfortunate to watch. But, yeah. I mean, Blair's moving into a pretty well set up program.
Eli:Definitely.
Colin:Yeah. Alright, Porter. What you got?
Porter:Alright. I got Kelsey Musick moving to Arkansas for Mauro Roberts. Another going from a mid major to an SEC school, but they did great work at Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts beat Arkansas by 21 last year.
Eli:Dang. Love.
Porter:They eventually ended up losing to South Dakota State in their Summit League basketball tournament, which is unfortunate. But they took him to two postseason appearances in three years, Adderall Roberts. I think just a good pickup for Arkansas. I don't think this changes anything short term. No.
Porter:This is definitely a long term hire. See what you can do with some resources, give you a bit of time to develop, wait for some of these SEC schools to graduate some people and see where we're at.
Eli:I believe Arkansas also lost to Fairfield last year, if I'm not They did.
Kylee:Yep. Arkansas was a rough They won
Porter:to 67 to Fairfield. Arkansas went ten and twenty two last year. Yikes. Yeah. They lost to Oklahoma State in Bowling Green as well at the
Kylee:Bowling Green.
Eli:BGSU. Lost
Porter:to Green. To Texas Tech. They lost to Liberty and Troy.
Kylee:Word.
Porter:They were they were bad last year. And then don't The SEC schedule was also
Eli:Oh yeah. Yeah. So clearly needed a change at the top, but hiring somebody with postseason experience.
Porter:Their only conference wins were Texas A and M twice and Auburn once.
Eli:Arkansas and Auburn.
Kylee:Yes. New coaches. Here I'd for
Colin:like to quickly bring up, because Eli brought up Fairfield, I was curious whether their coach left. Their coach did not leave.
Kylee:Yes. Because he knows what's up.
Colin:I'd like the Stags. Yeah. Carly Theobald Dudonis Love. Just killing it at Fairfield and will probably continue to kill it at Fairfield for a while. It sounds like.
Eli:Anybody at Fairfield's listening to this, please know that we love you.
Kylee:We love you.
Eli:And I know we all listed off our random favorite teams, but know that you are the podcast.
Kylee:You're also there.
Eli:We're all Fairfield fans.
Colin:Yeah. Non conference games we're all excited about.
Kylee:So many.
Colin:There's so many.
Eli:There's so many. Of the ones that have been announced, we've got some pretty big hitters.
Colin:We've got some awesome ones. Eli, you've got the season openers. Eli and Porter, both of you actually.
Eli:I've got I've got one of the season openers on November 3, first day of division one women's basketball where the standings actually count. We've got the kickoff in Paris again, and one of those games that I'm really excited about is Baylor versus Duke.
Kylee:That'll be fun. That's a Wow.
Eli:Sounds awesome. Really heavy hitters in the ACC and the Big twelve last year respectively. So really excited to see them match up. And then the day after that, on November 4, Louisville plays Yukon at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
Kylee:Love.
Josh:Wow.
Kylee:That's awesome. Women's college basketball's gone
Eli:We're going global.
Kylee:We're going global.
Eli:And the defending national champions will be playing Louisville.
Kylee:And I fear they're going to be just as good as they were last year.
Colin:Yeah. That'll be a fun game.
Eli:Especially with Sarah Williams.
Colin:Porter, you've got two more on November 3 or on November 4. You've got one Yeah. Of
Porter:I have Tennessee versus NC State on November 4. Just two very good programs going at it in an early season non conference game. And then I also have Tennessee versus Stanford. Stanford had made the women's college basketball tournament for forever in a
Colin:row. Uh-huh.
Porter:Straight.
Kylee:And then they
Porter:And then they lost in the first round of the ACC tournament.
Colin:Look. Yeah. And then they didn't make it happen.
Kylee:Losing losing Tara VanderVeer is hard. It's hard.
Eli:We talked about it last
Kylee:We did.
Eli:Did not think they were gonna be good.
Colin:And we knew. I thought they would be good.
Kylee:Colin did not believe Yeah.
Josh:You were the outlier.
Eli:Even without Keke Uriah Fan.
Colin:Yeah. I picked them to win the ACC. Oh, we know. Poor choice, we learn from our lessons. We?
Josh:Was saying, remember hosting that episode where we went through all of that and we had Kylie and Eli had a lot of fun talking about that one.
Eli:Oh yeah, Josh and Porter get conference picks this year. I know. So you won't be immune from criticism.
Kylee:Yeah. Well, don't think that's ever true. They'll have to buzz immune from criticism.
Eli:I was
Josh:say, I don't think that's very much We'll
Eli:have call Colin in from Maine to yell at him.
Kylee:Yeah. Yeah.
Colin:I'll do that.
Eli:After he picks Cal.
Colin:I'm not picking Cal. Come on.
Kylee:I don't See, until we until you say it a lot, don't believe you. Until you say it on the bottom, don't believe you.
Colin:Like, we
Kylee:get there. I'll go, since since we had a NC State mention, I have two of their games. Because apparently, I'm just an NC State fan club over here. So they play USC November 9. I'll be interested to see how Juju Watkins' recovery is going.
Kylee:ACL not fun. Been there. Done that. Terrible. So hopefully, her recovery is going well.
Kylee:And then we have TCU and NC State matching up against each other on November 16. So some really fun NC State's non conference schedule is crazy. Yeah. They they it is. It's a gauntlet, but it's gonna be a very entertaining gauntlet, and I'm very excited to to watch those games.
Eli:Kylie, of course, played d one basketball at Bowling Green before her
Colin:ACL injury ended her career. Yeah.
Kylee:So yeah. I was projected to go number one overall in the WNBA draft, and they just, you know Happens. The knee really just took it all away from me. Yeah. Yeah.
Colin:I have two of them. I have Harvard at Boston College, a cross river river rivalry. November 19, I think Harvard is going to absolutely crush Boston College because Harvard women's basketball is really good.
Eli:BC, I am so sorry.
Colin:Go Crampson. And then, I have Ohio State at UConn.
Kylee:Ohio State
Colin:is going to be interesting. That'll be fun. I think UConn's gonna win that one, obviously, because they're at home. If this was at Ohio State, I don't know how close it would be, but it'd be a lot closer.
Kylee:Cody McMahon transferred. I Oh, don't interesting. Interesting. Interesting that you don't care.
Eli:Mean, now you don't care.
Colin:Yeah. Like, I don't think that'll them Oh. As a It's a hot take, I know.
Kylee:That's a terrible take and very wrong.
Colin:Josh, what do you got?
Josh:One of one of my teams was mentioned a little earlier and I'm surprised nobody put this on here. South Carolina versus USC at USC. That'll be an interesting one. Both these teams ended their season last year by lose obviously, South Carolina ended up losing against the eventual national champions UConn, also so did USC. So, I mean, Dawn Staley had a a very interesting summer.
Josh:I mean, that's to say the least. Her name was floating around a lot for the New York Knicks head coach opening. So Yeah. It's Mhmm. Let's see if maybe let's see if there's a good reason why she was in for the New York head coach job.
Josh:And USC I mean, you alluded to it, Kylie. What is Juju Watkins gonna be like coming back from a brutal ACL injury that she suffered last season in the tournament against Mississippi State? This should be a very fun matchup between what many argue the best player in college basketball and Juju Watkins. If she is available at that time, I mean, that would be pretty speedy recovery
Kylee:Yeah.
Josh:To make it back from an injury that happened in March to November. I mean, that what? That puts you at about a seventh month recovery?
Colin:That would That's be pretty
Josh:quick for ACL. Yeah. That'd be very impressive if she's back. And Dawn Staley in South Carolina, who's always a force to be reckoned with when it comes to women's college basketball. That'll be a great matchup to watch.
Josh:That would
Eli:have been a crazy coaching carousel conversation.
Kylee:Oh, yeah. Dawn Staley coaching that with New York Knicks.
Josh:That would have that would have been its own segment for about
Colin:twenty Oh, yeah.
Josh:I'm talking
Eli:about that. That would been its own episode.
Colin:Yes. Believe.
Josh:That would have been an episode during the summer when that happened.
Kylee:Oh yeah, we all would have hopped
Colin:on Zoom.
Eli:We would have had an emergency teams meeting.
Josh:Dodds Daly to the Knicks.
Colin:Yeah, guys would have seen a summer episode if that had happened.
Kylee:Oh yeah.
Eli:But unfortunately, we just didn't think New Haven was worth it.
Colin:Yeah. Sorry, Sorry, you're not worth the summer episode. We knew we'd bring you guys up this later, you know? Yeah. Should we hop over to the men's side?
Kylee:I'm gonna so frustrated,
Colin:it's fine. Kylie, you wanna start?
Kylee:Yeah, because I'm actually really excited about this. So we've got transfer portal talk, which I'm gonna complain about the transfer portal really quickly, and I can think I speak for all of us when I say, this should not be open during the tournament. This is quite literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. And they're looking to change it where they will have a second window available open in August where players will be able to transfer even later into the into the season.
Colin:The logistics of that make no sense
Kylee:make no sense. They're dumb and I hate I don't I'm not a big fan of transport anyway just because I think now there's way too much movement. It's ridiculous. There's people are transferring for not great reasons in my opinion. But whatever.
Kylee:What this means though is I could get to get to get excited about Creighton basketball again and I get to keep being a justified Creighton fan because due to the coaching changes over at Iowa, we'll talk about later, both Owen Freeman and Josh Dicks have gone to Creighton.
Colin:Yay. You and your friends in Omaha.
Kylee:Me and my friends in Omaha.
Eli:Kylie and her besties in Omaha.
Kylee:Yes. So I'm very excited that that they both went over there. I've enjoy I enjoyed watching both of them play. I know Owen Freeman will be a junior this year, I believe. I don't know how much eligibility Josh Dicks has left.
Kylee:So I'm very excited to watch them play in the Big East and over at Craighan. But I do oh, I forgot. I have another one. And then Donovan Dent from New Mexico transferring over to UCLA. They picked up a lot of good transfers in the off season.
Kylee:The Big Ten is, you know, a very different outlook this year than what it what we had last year, which I think will be interesting, and I'm sure we'll get way into that when we get into our conference picks. Yeah. But
Colin:Yeah. That's a completely different conference.
Eli:It's gonna be a tough title to defend.
Colin:Yes. It will be a very interesting title.
Kylee:But we're gonna try.
Eli:But we're gonna try.
Colin:But, yes. Speaking of which, I see Eli and Speaking of Josh Iowa. Have big 10 teams on theirs.
Eli:Speaking of Iowa.
Colin:Speaking of Iowa. Eli, you go right on ahead.
Eli:I wrote this one down because I'm excited that UNI doesn't have to play them anymore. But Bennett Stertz and most of the rest of Drake basketball is in Iowa City now.
Colin:Yay. Good for them.
Eli:Yeah. Good for them. They they went from d two to the big 10 in two years.
Kylee:Yeah. That's SOTY.
Colin:Which is pretty impressive. Yeah. We'll see if it works. It might. It very well might at the rate they're going, yes.
Colin:I don't know. Josh, what do you got?
Josh:This one hurts me. The fact that It's painful. But if you're talking transfer portal
Eli:And we're talking the Big Ten.
Josh:And we're talking Big Ten, you have to bring them up. The Michigan Wolverines, they had They went to work. They Dusty May did not like how they ended that season, especially losing to Michigan State on Michigan State's home floor. Anyway, bringing in
Colin:Yeah.
Josh:Guys like Elliot Kudeau who pained me to watch against Michigan State against Bricks. Yes. But Morez Johnson who had a very impressive summer with I believe the USA U19s. I believe they brought back a gold medal and he was a part of that squad. I'm really bad at pronunciations lately, but Yaxael Lindenborg from UAB Mhmm.
Colin:Yaxael is impressive.
Kylee:Who was gonna go to the draft.
Colin:Everybody thought he
Eli:was gonna go to the draft.
Kylee:That he's gonna
Colin:come back.
Josh:And then Adeyemah And the
Eli:Robeya Miles situation, if you will.
Josh:Yes. From UCLA, they just brought in such an impressive class. Not as high on Elliot Kudeau as maybe the other three. I love Marez Johnson. I really would have loved him at Michigan State.
Josh:But then also, they cleared out a lot of players too if you think about it. Phep Phep Brooks is gone. I believe he's at central he's going to Central Michigan, I believe. Or I don't know if he's undecided still. I don't know where he's going.
Josh:Trey Donaldson's gone. He's going to Miami. Sam Walters is gone. He's to SMU. Jace Howard is gone.
Josh:Justin Pippen is gone. They've got rid of a lot of players, but they brought in such high quality players, and it hurts me to say this as a Spartan, but Michigan, they're gonna look very scary next next year.
Colin:We'll see how they all fit together. Yes. Because that's the big question when you bring in that many transfers.
Josh:Especially those last three guys that I talked about, not mentioning Eliot Kotel. Those guys are all bigger guys. They're power forwards and centers. I mean, unless they're trying to revamp their lineup and they're going big. I mean, did that last season with Danny Wolf and Vlad Golden, but if they're trying to really go big with those three But it's gonna be interesting to see.
Josh:But yeah, Michigan basketball had a very interesting off season. Yeah. And I give them credit.
Colin:Yeah. Speaking of big 10 bigs, Oscar Kluff from South Dakota State, six foot eleven senior center.
Kylee:Disgusting. Purdue. Actually disgusting.
Colin:Because Purdue doesn't know what to do without Zach Edey and so they need a replacement.
Kylee:They need a big man.
Eli:They Some just like seven foot sixteen year old to commit to them to? Probably.
Josh:Something like that.
Colin:But like in the meantime, Oscar Clough has proven himself as a center.
Kylee:I know, and Purdue did not lose anyone last year.
Colin:No. No So Purdue, once again, doing their thing as per usual.
Eli:Maybe them and Michigan will tire each other out.
Kylee:Hopefully. Who knows? That'll be a dogfight.
Colin:I'd also like to mention there were rumors that this was a trade and it ended up not being a trade. It ended up being just like coincidental.
Kylee:No, it's a trade.
Colin:I'm I'm gonna go go off think if it's it's considered as the first ever college trade because NIL was the main motivator for both of these players and they both ended up making more money by going to their opposite school. And so PJ Hagerty went from Memphis to Kansas State, and Doug McDaniel went from Kansas State to Memphis. And frankly, I think it'll work out better for both of those players.
Kylee:Probably.
Colin:P. J. Hagerty needed to get out of Memphis and move on a little bit. And Doug McDaniel was struggling a little bit at K State, needed a fresh start somewhere, and Memphis is a great place for that for him. So that's that's what I've got.
Colin:Porter?
Porter:I got So Ian Jackson, last year for UNC. Supposed to be this great five star recruit, it didn't work out. He was coming off the bench a lot. It wasn't great. So he transferred this year to St.
Porter:John's. He's from The Bronx. Oh. Close to home. Pettino's supposed to quote, let him rock.
Eli:So I'm sure he will.
Porter:Yeah. He just wanted a larger share of the basketball, more playing time, and I think he's gonna get it. We'll see how well this season goes for him, but definitely very high expectations.
Eli:Mean, staying home in New York is fun.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. Put it on a t shirt, let him rock.
Kylee:Let him rock.
Eli:Yeah. Let him rock. That's great. And that's a free NIL idea for you from courtesy of Check the Net.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:We'd only like 25% of the proceeds. 20. We're willing to negotiate.
Kylee:Yes. Woah.
Eli:Colin is not allowed to negotiate.
Kylee:Colin is not on the negotiation committee. No.
Eli:The negotiation committee is Kylie bullying you until you accept the terms.
Kylee:Yeah, basically. It's what I'm here for.
Porter:We can go up.
Eli:We only accept unconditional surrender. Literally.
Colin:Speaking of unconditional surrender, the coaching carousel.
Kylee:That does not that's a It's terrible
Eli:a good thing it's only our first episode,
Colin:we have
Eli:time to workshop these.
Colin:Yeah. Oh. But you can't tell me there wasn't some absolute chaos in the coaching carousel. Oh,
Eli:yes. I mean, yeah.
Kylee:But that was relevant to what you were just talking
Colin:about. Maybe surrender.
Eli:No. No. Okay. Kylie, how about you kick us off that?
Kylee:Me, because I've got the this is the one that I've been talking about or we're talking about for forever.
Colin:Yeah, big Stop talking for a minute.
Kylee:Yeah, please. The big 10, we've got Darian DeVries from Indy went to Indiana, took took that job from West Virginia. Ben McCollum is to Iowa from Drake, which we mentioned earlier. Nico Medved is going from Colorado State, sorry Porter, to Minnesota, a poverty program, sorry Minnesota. Rough program it could be a fun rebuild, could be it could be a fun at least maybe not rebuild, at least to be better.
Kylee:And then we've got Buzz Williams to Maryland from Texas A and M, which that happened in while Maryland was still Maryland lost their coach, but they were still playing in the tournament. So super exciting and fun, which let's pass it to Porter to talk about Maryland's old coach.
Porter:So speaking of Kevin Willard, Maryland. Yeah. He was supposed to be one of the top 10 highest paid coaches in NCAA next year from Maryland. But he decided to go to Villanova.
Kylee:Yeah. Right before their sweet 16 game?
Porter:Right before their sweet 16 game.
Josh:Much fun for Mhmm. The
Porter:Villanova has not been good these past couple years. No. No. No. Their last tournament appearance, three, four years ago, final four.
Porter:Since then.
Eli:Terrible.
Porter:Terrible. Bad. Not that
Eli:Hey, Kevin just really likes his cheese sticks. Okay? He had to go to Philly.
Porter:Sure. But he's looking to bring Villanova back to their former glory. As
Kylee:they should. Speaking of Big East basketball,
Colin:Josh.
Josh:So this one, I was I've
Kylee:Are you still excited about it?
Josh:No. I definitely am because I think because I almost lost my charger. I think this coach got a very unfair rap at Minnesota, who we talked about earlier. Mhmm. And it's Richard Patino going over to Xavier.
Josh:Xavier hasn't released their schedule yet. I'm only looking at the non conference games that are released, but I think this is a really good hire. This guy has done super well at good teams. He did an amazing job in New Mexico over the last four years. I believe he personally got a really bad rap at Minnesota.
Josh:I don't believe Minnesota is not going to be that upper echelon team, and I think he did a very good job for what he was provided at Minnesota.
Kylee:They're not gonna invest
Colin:in basketball. Hockey. Got hockey. I mean Volleyball.
Eli:Their football team's decent this year.
Josh:Yeah. Yeah. They've paid a lot of money to PJ Fleck. You're not gonna get unless Minnesota has now finally unleashed this massive war chest that that I never knew they had.
Kylee:They've holding back.
Josh:But I think
Eli:They've been hiding it under the Vikings Stadium this whole time.
Josh:Yes. I think he had a very unfair rap. And I think going to Xavier, going to the Big East, I think that fits more of the style that Richard Pettino will play. I mean, his father, legendary head coach, we we we talked about him all last season. He's incredible.
Josh:But I think this is this
Colin:is
Josh:a good spot for him, and I really think he could succeed in Xavier. And Xavier, who said goodbye to Sean Miller, I mean, they hire they hire a really good coach. I think this is a good spot for Richard Bettino to succeed. I really do.
Kylee:Yeah. I I agree. It'll be it'll be a fun family family bonds matchup as well.
Josh:Can you imagine that first matchup between Xavier and St. John's?
Kylee:It's gonna go crazy.
Eli:It'll be so fun.
Colin:That'll have
Eli:to do that
Colin:was gonna
Josh:say, they have to do that MSG. That'll be so good. Like, they'll get plenty of TV ratings for it. It's gonna be so good to watch for sure.
Eli:Mhmm. Speaking of the head coaching vacancy at New Mexico Yeah. That was filled by Eric Olin from UC San Diego.
Kylee:Woo hoo.
Eli:And UC San Diego, we ended up talking about them a lot towards the end of the season last year after they thoroughly swept the Big West off the table and reached the NCAA tournament in their very first season of eligibility after completing their division two to division one transition. So recently that Colin thought they were a d two team for much of the season.
Colin:Hey, I figured it out eventually. Eventually. A minute but we got there.
Kylee:Yeah.
Eli:But he moves from the Big West to the Mountain West. So that'll be fun. New Mexico's a great team. I love their arena. I love their placement in the conference.
Eli:I love their basketball culture. So that'll be really fun. And then, UCSD, other news that came out about a week and a half ago, is moving to the West Coast Conference in 2027.
Colin:Interesting. Very exciting.
Eli:Yeah. Replacing Gonzaga. Replacing Gonzaga.
Colin:Oh. Alright.
Eli:And potentially Saint Mary's. Yeah. Those are the rumors. Fun. Yeah.
Eli:They're dipping out of the Big West basically just as soon as they got there.
Kylee:And and fair enough. And fair enough.
Porter:New Mexico's kinda poised to just run the Mountain West after next year when all the other competitors leave.
Colin:And Grand Canyon will still be there. Yeah. Yeah. That's about it.
Kylee:They're in a whole new conference. Different
Eli:I I think they can handle U Tap.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. Also, VCU lost Ryan Odom to Virginia and replaced him with Bryant's coach Phil Martelli Junior, which is awesome. Yeah. And then I wanna mention one more mid major just for the heck of it because I like the Ivy League and I think the Ivy League's been a much stronger league as of recently on the men's side and women's side.
Colin:Women's especially. Especially women's but on the men's side as well. And I think Penn taking on Fran McCaffrey got I fired from Iowa is awesome. I think it's hilarious. Because I think Fran McCaffrey is going to just run the Ivy League for the next, like
Eli:That is such a take.
Colin:In like three give it like three years, but Fran McCaffrey is going to retire with a tournament appearance.
Eli:Is definitely an opinion that you can have.
Kylee:Saying Fran McCaffrey is gonna run anything is is literally nuts.
Eli:He barely ran Iowa basketball.
Colin:Yeah. He'll be he'll be good at Penn.
Kylee:He got thrown out of his last game as the Iowa basketball coach.
Colin:He will be fine at Penn. I don't think
Josh:there's any better way that Fran
Eli:had access to the Fran Anger Meter. Yeah. And held it up consistently.
Kylee:Yeah. And he always he always blew it out. He always got there.
Colin:Yeah. Yeah. And And now he's going to Philly where he'll fit right in.
Kylee:That is
Eli:it. Maybe he can hang out with Kevin.
Kylee:Kevin and Fran, aww. Former Big Ten coaches.
Josh:How cute.
Eli:Hanging out in Philly. Yeah. Getting cheesesteaks together.
Kylee:Very exciting.
Eli:Going to Flyers games.
Colin:Why would they go to Flyers games?
Eli:Because they're bad at hockey and those coaches are bad at basketball.
Colin:Oh, okay. Fair enough. Yeah.
Josh:What is the what is their what's the mascot for the Flyers Oh. Gonna hang out with him? What's his name?
Eli:The big pink dude. Orange.
Josh:Orange. Whatever his name is. Gonna hang out with him. Gritty?
Eli:Yes.
Porter:Yes. Both.
Josh:Gritty, Kevin, Fran, they're all gonna hang out together at Flyers.
Kylee:Because I watch, shout out Abbott Elementary. That's the only reason
Colin:why I knew that. And
Eli:I'm and I'm sure that Kevin and Fran will too.
Colin:Yes. The pop culture references.
Porter:Yep.
Colin:Alright. Is it time for non conference games?
Kylee:It is.
Colin:I think it is. And I'm gonna start just because I wanna talk about very briefly Dayton at Virginia,
Josh:which
Colin:I think is a very odd game for anyone to pick.
Kylee:Two teams. However. It's kinda rough.
Eli:What if a game that would have been so exciting in 2018.
Kylee:Real
Colin:With Virginia's transfer class, I do feel like Virginia is going to be climbing back, and I think this is going to be a very important game for them to win to make the tournament. With Dayton's recent history, I think this will be a very important game for them to win to make the tournament.
Kylee:Or they're gonna go scoreless for forty minutes real time again.
Colin:I'm gonna tell And you I'm
Kylee:gonna be so happy about
Eli:This is gonna be a very important game for how long Ryan Odom keeps this job.
Colin:Exactly. I think that the winner of this game makes the tournament, and the loser does not.
Eli:I can accept
Colin:that. And that is that is
Eli:Assuming the ACC gets more than like three bits
Kylee:I of gonna say I'd have to look at like everyone else's
Eli:schedule before Assuming the ACC wins more than four games in the ACC, SEC challenge this year.
Colin:And so that's why I bring this one up. I think it's just one of the most important games of the year for these two teams. And frankly, for the A10 and ACC in general.
Eli:Mhmm. That? Yeah.
Colin:Yeah. Other game, Houston at Auburn. I feel like that's self explanatory. We all saw it coming. November 16, the rematch of a Final Four game Yeah.
Colin:That just was pure chaos and amazingness. It was one of the best basketball games I've ever seen. Yeah. And cannot wait to watch that.
Kylee:I need to look at these team makeups. Like, I need to see what what what their roster
Eli:freshman classes.
Kylee:I need to Honestly, I just need to check out the transfer stuff. Like, really need to look into some of these teams and like how many players they leave because I know Baker Baker Mazzaro's gone.
Eli:But that's why it's still preseason.
Kylee:And like, exactly. So Yeah. Can't make educated guesses yet.
Eli:I can I can talk about my games quick?
Colin:Go for it, Eli.
Eli:I've got this one I picked because I think it's hilarious. Iowa State is playing Mississippi State at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Interesting. On November 10.
Colin:What? I don't know. Why not? Is there a particular There are
Eli:several non conference games happening at a neutral site in the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Colin:Is there like a tournament there that we don't know about?
Eli:There's like three back to back women's games the week after this one.
Kylee:Nice.
Eli:None of them are teams from South Dakota.
Josh:Maybe South Dakota's really trying to push themselves into that college basketball market.
Eli:I'm just obsessed with it. And it's not that far from Ames, I guess. But that'll be fun.
Josh:Okay.
Eli:Yeah. And then the other one I wanted to talk about is Northern Iowa men's basketball because when am I not?
Kylee:So true.
Eli:But the Panthers are hosting old conference foe, Wichita State, at the McLeod Center on December 6.
Kylee:Exciting.
Eli:Which is really really fun because I've hated the Shockers my whole life. And I'm really excited to see you and I get to play them non conference, and especially play them at home. And the other fun tidbit is that you and I also play the old conference foe Loyola Chicago in their non conference.
Kylee:Yo. At
Eli:the Palm Springs Invitational in California.
Kylee:Oh, that's so fun.
Eli:So, two old MBC teams
Colin:Yeah.
Eli:Taking on the cats.
Kylee:Loyola Chicago. Alright,
Colin:Porter, what you got?
Porter:I got I got two teams non conference.
Colin:Yeah. Cheating. True.
Porter:But like, they're non conference schedules, though.
Colin:I can't argue with either of No, told Porter to do
Josh:this, and I fully
Eli:So support you're enabling him?
Josh:Yes. Yes.
Eli:He even He
Colin:just not agrees.
Kylee:Porter agrees with He can list off the non conference and don't take my game.
Porter:I won't. I won't. Won't. Okay.
Colin:Well, we'll
Porter:start with Illinois. Okay. Illinois has got Texas Tech, Alabama, Yukon, Tennessee, and Missouri.
Colin:Wow. Very
Porter:nice. Is a lot of really good non conference teams.
Colin:Yes, it is. Yeah. Illinois
Eli:Where those games?
Porter:I don't have location. They're playing Alabama at in theory at home. Yukon's away. Missouri's away. Tennessee's away.
Kylee:Probably one or two of those. Invitationals I
Colin:was gonna say probably one or two are invitationals. Great schedule. Very fun. Mhmm. Yeah.
Colin:Mhmm. Very exciting.
Porter:And then we go over to our Michigan State Spartans.
Eli:Absolutely. As we do.
Porter:Yes. We have Arkansas.
Eli:At home.
Porter:At home. At home. Kentucky.
Eli:MSG.
Porter:Yep. UNC.
Eli:In Florida.
Porter:Fort Myers. Duke.
Eli:At home.
Porter:At home. At the Breslin.
Eli:Yeah.
Porter:That's gonna be a game.
Eli:Rest assured that your Check the Net podcast will be yeah. Sleeping on the concrete twenty four to forty eight hours before.
Porter:The game I'm most excited for, Detroit Mercy. That is gonna
Kylee:be So my true. We also play Yukon exhibition.
Colin:We do.
Kylee:So Yeah. That's very
Eli:And that one's in stores, I think.
Josh:Yeah. That's it. I believe you were That's at Yukon, yeah.
Colin:Yeah. Still insane. Insane. Insane both of those teams. Kylie, you have one
Kylee:conference games, I know those all seem super interesting and like really competitive games.
Eli:I'm They're not the highlight.
Kylee:I'm not excited about those games.
Colin:But this is the one that scares me. What I'm excited about
Kylee:is my Michigan State Spartans facing off here at the Breslin and I can go to it against my Toledo Rockets. I am so excited about this game. I've been wanting MSU to play Toledo in any sport for the past four years that I've been here and I finally get it. Also, MSU plays Bowling Green exhibition. So I get both of the Mac schools that I be I be watching and I get both of them.
Kylee:And I'm so freaking excited. I'll be I'll be sat in the Breslin. Don't know what team I'll be repping yet, maybe both.
Colin:Kylie has an insane senior send off here.
Kylee:I do, I'm winning. I'm winning.
Eli:I've been campaigning for us to schedule Northern Iowa for four years but we got Toledo instead.
Kylee:Yes, we got what I wanted.
Colin:Eli, there's still one more for you,
Kylee:No. No? Oh, no. Never mind. You don't
Eli:know what you're talking about.
Colin:I'm sorry. Yeah. Anyway.
Eli:But yeah, MSU Toledo. Yes. December 16. I I that.
Kylee:Circle it. No other games. No other games are gonna be as riveting as that one. I also have UConn BYU.
Colin:Oh.
Kylee:Because
Eli:Very fun.
Kylee:BYU is supposed to be there's high expectations, at least from my perspective for BYU because of their transfer pickups, and they had a really good run, made it further in the tournament than I thought they were going to. But they had some injuries, definitely could have made it farther.
Colin:Absolutely.
Kylee:But so I'm excited about that one. And then UConn basketball is always fun. So it'll
Eli:be That's not the word I would use.
Porter:Oh. I
Josh:wouldn't say fun
Kylee:You know, watching them sometimes can be fun.
Porter:Dan Hurley is entertaining occasionally.
Kylee:Occasionally, remember?
Eli:We we can go with Yukon basketball as entertaining.
Colin:Yukon versus Crane?
Kylee:Yukon versus Crane is very entertaining. Is very entertaining. I loved that game. I loved that game. But speaking of Yukon, Josh.
Josh:So I I picked this game not knowing what not knowing Yukon's schedule and after I say this game, I have a little interesting fact. So I picked Yukon at Kansas, I think Where? It's just gonna be such
Eli:That's awesome.
Josh:I love Cambridge Fieldhouse. I love that That's awesome. I love that atmosphere at Kansas. That's just gonna be such an awesome game. But not to mention, I mean, you it was talked about earlier, UConn also has a very impressive nonconference schedule.
Josh:Kylie mentioned it with BYU. Porter mentioned it with Illinois. They also play Kansas. They also play the national championship Florida Gators. They play Texas, and they also introduced the newest division one school, University of North, New Haven.
Eli:New Haven.
Colin:No way.
Josh:So somehow throughout this entire episode, we got it back to New Haven. Yeah. Yes. I think UConn, Kansas, that's just gonna be in an electric atmosphere that's gonna be so good. Not as good as UConn versus University of New Haven.
Eli:Please lose New
Kylee:Haven. That's the best game. Honestly, Josh, that might be the best game that
Colin:we talked about. I'll give it
Eli:to you. You win.
Kylee:You win.
Josh:Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Eli:Please lose to New Haven.
Porter:That would be amazing. Jen Hurley.
Kylee:Feeding families.
Porter:When they lose to New Haven.
Eli:They lose to New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut.
Colin:And on that note, on that amazing circle back, full circle moment note, thank you for listening to this season's first episode. Check them out on Impact eighty nine FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with the station on Facebook, x, or Instagram at w d b m and at Impact eighty nine f m. This is our third full basketball season. We cannot wait for it to begin in just a few weeks.
Colin:Make sure you stay tuned for all the upcoming chaos, and we will see you all next week on Check For That.