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Post by ptctitan on Nov 30, 2020 10:30:29 GMT -5
So far, Juwan Howard coached teams appear to have difficulty against zone defenses. If you recall, last year's Titans gave them a battle in our controlled scrimmage with a similar result except the game did not go to OT. OU wanted it more and got most of the loose balls until late in the game. Respect to OU for giving max effort. How many Big Ten teams will play some zone against UM now that their vulnerability has been exposed?
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 30, 2020 10:47:31 GMT -5
Couple of interesting matinees are scheduled for today if you're looking for some afternoon entertainment.
Noon on ESPN2 #19 Texas vs Davidson
2?30 PM on ESPN2 Indiana vs Providence
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Post by titantarheel on Nov 30, 2020 11:46:13 GMT -5
So far, Juwan Howard coached teams appear to have difficulty against zone defenses. If you recall, last year's Titans gave them a battle in our controlled scrimmage with a similar result except the game did not go to OT. OU wanted it more and got most of the loose balls until late in the game. Respect to OU for giving max effort. How many Big Ten teams will play some zone against UM now that their vulnerability has been exposed? Great point PTC on the OU zone... it was aided by Michigan unable to throw into the Huron River from deep - they shot 30%, including their cherished grad-transfer Chandee Brown (From Wake) went 1-10 from deep and seemed to clank the bulk of those in the 2nd half. Having said that its not as if UM was missing wide open shots, the OU defense was indeed stout in at least getting to shooters. Ya know what...it sure is damn great to have college hoops back!!
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Post by motorcitysam on Nov 30, 2020 13:43:30 GMT -5
The UM/OU game was a good one to be sure. OU still shot a measly 33% and was outrebounded 45-33. Even the eye test (admittedly I only saw the 2nd half) made it seem that UM SHOULD have had the game comfortably, but somehow OU scrapped and kept it tight. Moore was 4-19 from the field and most possessions involved him doing alot of dribbling, although they also do move their guys around and have more motion than our usual offenses that we've grown accustomed to seeing. Townsend is a frosh for OU and he played with a confidence you wouldn't expect from a freshman. He's athletic and one to keep an eye on. Hats off to OU for playing Michigan so tough. After having such a struggling stretch of games and blow out losses, they would've been forgiven if they rolled into a ball in Ann Arbor but they didn't do that at all. Michigan should be quite good and interesting to watch as they develop this season. Their big guy Dickinson looks like a grown man, not a freshman. He has good hands as well, and the Wolves had some nice passing from 10 feet and in. Terrance Williams is another beast of a freshman, albeit with a hairstyle I don't quite get but alas I'm not accused of knowing what is 'hip' or 'modern' per se. What Juwan does with that program will be intriguing to watch, and what happens with them this season. Michigan made that game harder than it had to be because they didn't start going to Hunter enough until the OT. They should have been running each offensive set through him on the low block or high post. OU had no answer for him. Despite their record and some of those early margins of defeat, I think the Grizzlies are going to be pretty good as the season goes on.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 1, 2020 11:07:00 GMT -5
Monday, November 30
Horizon Purdue Fort Wayne @ Kent State, ppd.
Other Games of Interest #14 North Carolina 78, UNLV 51 #17 Texas 78, Davidson 76
Xavier 99, Eastern Kentucky 96 (OT). Indiana 79, Providence 58 St. John's 97, Boston College 93
Emmanuel 64, Stetson 61. The D-2 Lions beat a D-1 bottom feeder.
Mid Major Win of the Day: Little Rock 76, Duquesne 66.
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 2, 2020 0:28:12 GMT -5
What a fun night of basketball on Tuesday!
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 2, 2020 0:51:53 GMT -5
Tonight's scoreboard got wiped out by a brief computer glitch, and I didn't feel like redoing it. Too bad, it was a good one with some good mid-major upsets.
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Post by nctitan on Dec 2, 2020 8:00:19 GMT -5
The UM/OU game was a good one to be sure. OU still shot a measly 33% and was outrebounded 45-33. Even the eye test (admittedly I only saw the 2nd half) made it seem that UM SHOULD have had the game comfortably, but somehow OU scrapped and kept it tight. Moore was 4-19 from the field and most possessions involved him doing alot of dribbling, although they also do move their guys around and have more motion than our usual offenses that we've grown accustomed to seeing. Townsend is a frosh for OU and he played with a confidence you wouldn't expect from a freshman. He's athletic and one to keep an eye on. Hats off to OU for playing Michigan so tough. After having such a struggling stretch of games and blow out losses, they would've been forgiven if they rolled into a ball in Ann Arbor but they didn't do that at all. Michigan should be quite good and interesting to watch as they develop this season. Their big guy Dickinson looks like a grown man, not a freshman. He has good hands as well, and the Wolves had some nice passing from 10 feet and in. Terrance Williams is another beast of a freshman, albeit with a hairstyle I don't quite get but alas I'm not accused of knowing what is 'hip' or 'modern' per se. What Juwan does with that program will be intriguing to watch, and what happens with them this season. Michigan made that game harder than it had to be because they didn't start going to Hunter enough until the OT. They should have been running each offensive set through him on the low block or high post. OU had no answer for him. Despite their record and some of those early margins of defeat, I think the Grizzlies are going to be pretty good as the season goes on. Oakland lost to Purdue 50-93 last night. For the season (0-5) they have scored 283 points, given up 429 points. Average score for their games is 57-86. I know these numbers will get better for them, but it'll be a challenge for Oakland to bump up their averages and it'll hurt them in rankings. And, of course, the only thing that really matters as far as Oakland is our record against them. I hope that our coaches are looking at these games and devising a winning strategy.
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Post by ptctitan on Dec 2, 2020 8:28:10 GMT -5
Other HL Games
Toledo 70 Cleveland State 61. CSU led at halftime 35-24. Al Eichelberger did not dress for the game but accompanied the team to Toledo. D'Moi Hodge did not play for the Vikings. Freshman Jay Woodrich was CSU's designated shooter. Toledo held CSU to 11 points in the final 9:36 of the game to take the lead and win.
UIC 66 Valpo 51. Flames are 3-0 in non-con games. Transfer Teyvion Kirk led UIC with 14 points. Detroiter Brian Taylor had 11 points on 3-5 from 3-point range. UIC's strong start has made them the new favorite to dethrone Wright State and NKU this year.
#4 Wisconsin 82 Green Bay 42. Will Ryan's team doesn't play as slowly as presumed. But, they were no match for the Badgers. Josh Jefferson who considered transferring here after Linc Darner was fired, led the Phoenix with 12 points on 4-12 shooting. 2019-20 HL Freshman of the Year Amari Davis had 9 points on 3-12 shooting and he actually took and made a 3 point basket. GB shot 28% for the game and 18% from 3-point range. GB only scored 12 points in the first half. They were pounded on the boards by Wisconsin 45-25.
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Post by titantarheel on Dec 2, 2020 8:49:57 GMT -5
UNC beat a very interesting Stanford team in the Maui tournament - held in Asheville, NC. UNC now gets a rejuvenated Texas, who rolled thru IU. UNC/Texas tips at 4pm Eastern today (Wednesday), so you can tune in as you 'work from home'.
MSU beating Dook at Dook is a nice win to be sure, although without the annoying 'krazies'. Who knew that State would seem so good so soon after losing Cassius and Tillman.
Thru 5 games this season, Oakland is shooting 29% from the field and 22% from 3. Surely a healthy R Williams would elevate those numbers, but OU typically has sharpshooters to spread the floor so will be interesting what they do on offense or if they'll just be plodding and low scoring all year long (embracing true Horizon League basketball!)
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 2, 2020 16:46:46 GMT -5
December 1, 2020.
There was some great action in college basketball last night, although the lid was definitely on the basket for some of the games. I got to watch a lot of it, thanks to the power of the DVR. Some of it was worth a little extra attention.
NCT and PTCT covered the HL action above.
Top 25: TTH covered MSU over Duke and North Carolina over Stanford above.
#7 Kansas 65, #20 Kentucky 62. Battle of the Blue Bloods. Kentucky started four freshmen and a grad transfer. Detroit's own Isaiah Jackson scored 7 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and blocked EIGHT shots for the Wildcats. Kansas started super slow (both teams did actually) but hit their stride in the second half. The Jayhawks won despite shooting 30% from the floor and 67% from the line. Kentucky shot 3-21 from the three point line, apparently because analytics tells you to keep chucking them up no matter what.
#9 Creighton 94, Omaha 67. The City Championship goes to the Blue Jays.
#12 Villanova 87, Hartford 63
#15 Virginia 76, St. Francis (PA) 51
#17 Texas 66, Indiana 44. This was a rock fight from the beginning, with IU scoring only 19 points in the first half. The Hoosiers shot 24%, 20%, and 69% for the game. The Longhorns won the rebounding battle 48-29.
Other games of interest: USC 79, BYU 53 Oklahoma State 70, Marquette 62. Cowboy freshman Cade Cunningham continued his strong play with 15 points, 6 boards, and 3 steals. This was a sloppy game, with poor shooting and lots of turnovers, but OSU put four guys in double figures in a balanced attack.
Providence 63, Davidson 62. Davidson is 1-2 after a two point loss to Texas and this one point loss to Providence. Davidson can shoot. They have several players with good looking three point shots. Providence won this with scoring on the inside and only turning the ball over four times.
Navy 78, Georgetown 71. I wonder if the Georgetown brass is rethinking that decision to fire John Thompson III in 2017. I know he had losing seasons his last two years, but his overall run there was outstanding, and the Hoyas were in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament the year before those final two seasons.
Louisville 75, Western Kentucky 54. It was a five point game at the half, but Dr. Dunkenstein's school dominated the second half. WKU was feeling pretty good after opening the season with wins over Northern Iowa and Memphis, but games against West Virginia and Louisville have brought them back to Earth. This was Louisville's fourth win in seven days.
Dayton 66, Eastern Illinois 63. The Flyers finally open their season.
Florida International 96, Central Michigan 76. Dre Polk, the 6-10 freshmen from Detroit that was on the wish list of some of the members of the board, scored ten points for the Chips. Hampton 82, George Washington 78. Nice win for the Mid major.
Nebraska 76, South Dakota 69.Grand Canyon 88, Mississippi Valley State 49. Antelopes are 3-0, albeit against soft competition.
St. Mary's 73, Nicholls 50.
Alabama 86, UNLV 74. Wimp Sanderson vs Jerry Tarkanian. Tied in the first halt, Bama pulled away in the second. The Tide took 60 shots from the floor. 40 of them were three point attempts.
Mid Major Win of the Day UC Riverside 57, Washington 42. There were a few worthy contenders on this night, but I went with UC Riverside's win over the PAC 12 team from Seattle because it was such a dominant win. The Huskies were shut down the whole game, shooting 29.6% from the floor overall and 3-20 from distance. (Analytics again, I guess.) Riverside had lost to Pacific to open their season, and Washington was a ten point favorite. UCR also won the battle on the boards, 49-33. Bravo, Highlanders.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 3, 2020 8:59:25 GMT -5
Wednesday, December 2
Robert Morris v. Florida Gulf Coast, postponed.
Other Games of Interest Michigan 84, Ball State 65. Me and coach are cool. Isaiah Livers scores 21 for the Wolverines (3-0) Flagler 92, Central Michigan j73. Well, that's embarrassing.
#1 Gonzaga 87, #11 West Virginia 82. Chalk up another big scalp for Gonzaga (3-0). #2 Baylor 82, #5 Illinois 69. I still have difficulty getting my head around Baylor (3-0) as a top basketball power. Scott Drew had losing records his first four seasons there.
#17 Texas 68, #14 North Carolina 67. This is Shaka Smart's 6th year at Texas. They've made just 2 NCAA appearances in 5 years (losing in the first round each time), after making 24 in the 27 years (advancing beyond the first round 19 times) before his arrival--including 16 appearances in 17 years under his fired predecessor, Rick Barnes. Off to a 4-0 start this year, though, with wins over Davidson, Indiana, and now UNC. Smart also has two more years to go on his contract, and a big buyout for job security. But then, Texas has lots of oil billionaires ready to spend what is necessary to get the Horns to the top. Tonight's win came on a step-back jumper by Matt Coleman with 0.1 seconds on the clock. Coleman led all scorers with 22 points.
#21 Missouri 83, Oregon 75. Missouri (2-0) built a big early lead and held off a second half Duck rally. #22 Florida State 86, North Florida 58. #23 Ohio State 77, Morehead State 44.
Illinois State 177, Greenville 108. D-3 Greenville is pretty fearless, opening with 4 consecutive D-1 opponents, and they appear to try to run with the big boys. Here are the scores of Greenville's games this year, all losses--Samford 174-99; UMKC 138-97; Murray State 173-95; Illinois State 177-108. That means Greenville is giving up an average of 165.6 points per game. The Illinois State, Samford, and Murray State point totals are, respectively. the 4th, 5th, and 6th highest in NCAA history. Greenville is averaging 100 points per game and is 0-4, having lost every game by at least 41 points. Might be fun to watch. From here on out, they play D-3 schools.
By the way, the top three scoring games in NCAA history are a pair of wins by Loyola Marymount over Aliant International--then a D-1 school under the name U.S. International--in 1989 and 1991 (those were the Paul Westhead/Hank Gaithers/Bo Kimble teams); and 179 point outburst by Long Island against D-3 Medgar Evers in 1997. Of the 10 highest scoring games in NCAA history before this year, Aliant Int'l was on the losing end of 5, all between January 1989 and January 1991. And those Gaithers/Kimble Loyola Marymount teams were winners in 5 of the 11 highest scoring outbursts.
Penn State 72, VCU 69. Seth Lundy had 32 for Penn State (2-0). Indiana 79, Stanford 63. BYU 74, St. John's 68. Rhode Island 76, Seton Hall 63. San Francisco 85, Nevada 60. Davidson 77, UNLV 73. The Runnin' Rebels are 0-4. McNeese State 140, Dallas Christian 37. Don't win too many by over 100 points.
Mid-Major Win of the Day: South Dakota State 71, Iowa State 68. The Jackrabbits (2-2) led by double digits for most of the game, and held off a rally that brought Iowa State (1-1) to within a point in the final minute.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Dec 4, 2020 22:28:18 GMT -5
Kent St., our first home game opponent we’ll play on Tuesday, took #15-ranked Virginia to overtime tonight before falling 71-64.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 4, 2020 23:02:49 GMT -5
Friday, December 4
Horizon #8 Michigan State, 83, Detroit 76. I'm not a fan of moral victories, but this was a good game for the Titans.
Titan Non-Conference Opponents: #15 Virginia 71, Kent State 64 (OT). The Golden Flashes play the Titans on Wednesday. Tonight, they forced UVa into OT on Danny Pippen's three at the buzzer.
Other Games Toledo 91, Eastern Michigan 74.
Marquette 67, #4 Wisconsin 65. The battle for Wisconsin was a humdinger. D'Mitrik Trice put the Badgers up 1 with a jumper with 5 seconds to play, but then fouled Marquette's DJ Carlton on the latter's shot attempt with 1 second left. Carlton hit the first free throw, missed the second, but Justin Lewis put the offensive rebound in for the win. #6 Duke 76, Bellarmine 54. Bellarmine didn't exactly get an easy matchup for its first ever game as a D-1 team. #9 Creighton 93, Kennesaw State 58.
#17 Texas Tech 80, Troy 46. #21 Oregon 83, Seton Hall 70.
Purdue 68, Valparaiso 61. The Crusaders led by 11 at the half, but Purdue finally ground the upstarts down, taking the lead with a 10-0 run that started in the final 7 minutes. South Dakota State 88, Bradley 84.
Texas San Antonio 91, Sul Ros State 62. Sul Ros State Teachers College was the alma mater of the late, great Detroit Tiger, Stormin' Norman Cash. Cash still holds the Sul Ros record for most yards rushing in a season in football, with 1255 yards in 1954. You probably didn't know Norm was in the NAIA Hall of Fame, and was drafted by the NFL's Chicago Bears. He could play some baseball, too. "I owe my success to expansion pitching, a short right-field fence, and my hollow bats." - Norm Cash.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 5, 2020 21:54:03 GMT -5
Saturday, December 5 The day's big anticipated matchup--#1 Gonzaga vs. #2 Baylor--didn't come off. 90 minutes before game time, it was announced that one Gonzaga player and another member of Gonzaga's travel squad had tested positive.
Horizon Oklahoma State 84, Oakland 71. The Grizzlies led for much of the first 25 minutes, but finally tired in the their 6th game in 11 days, against mostly high-major competition. Rashad Williams kept OU in the game with an awesome display of shooting--10 for 20 from three-point land, finishing with 32 points. This will be a good test of the theory that it pays to play a killer non-conference schedule--OU's opponents are 21-5 on the season. Whether or not it is good for OU, it is not helping the league's NET rating. The Grizzlies now have a week off before facing Michigan State.
Chattanooga 79, Northern Kentucky 72. The Mocs (3-0) opened up a tight game with a 15-2 run midway through the second half. Adrian Nelson had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Northern (2-1). The erstwhile Titan is averaging 15 rebounds per game.
Ball State 68, UIC 66. UIC (3-1) rallied from a 16 point second-half deficit to lead by 3 in the late minutes, but the Cardinals (1-2) responded with an 8-0 run to grab the win. UIC's Tevion Kirk had 7 assists today--he's averaging 9.7 per game in the early going.
Eastern Illinois 93, Green Bay 91 (OT). These narrow losses by NKU, UIC and Green Bay, to other mid-majors, really hurt the Horizon's NET ranking. These are the games teams in our league have to win if we're going to get back to being a top 15 conference. Amari Davis led Green Bay (0-3) with 20 points.
Wright State 71, Miami, Oh 47. Grand Canyon transfer Tim Finke had 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists for the Raiders (1-1).
Robert Morris 75, Point Park 57. Robert Morris finally gets under way, smashing D-2 Point Park. AJ Bramah had 18 points and 7 rebounds.
Other Games #7 Kansas 65, North Dakota State 61. ND State (0-4) led for much of the second half, but the Jayhawks (4-1) pulled themselves together, held the Bison without a field goal for the final 4:57, and scored the game's final 7 points for the win.
#10 Houston 77, South Carolina 67.
SMU 66, Dayton 64.
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