Game of the Day: #15 Calvin vs #20 Trine, 3pm EST
Talk about a tough start to MIAA play. Calvin gets Hope in the opener, then three days later, has to turn around and travel to Trine. This will be a big-time matchup, with Trine getting a chance to put itself back into the Top 15, while Calvin certainly has a prime chance to carry over the momentum built in a close loss to Hope. SOS and regionally-ranked wins will be huge in determining how the selection committee views the three top MIAA teams come March (one of which will have the AQ). This is one of those in-conference matchups that has potential for a key SOS boost, and I expect it will be decided by single digits.
Keep an eye on…
#9 UW-Whitewater vs UW-River Falls, 4 pm EST
#11 Tufts @ Emory, 1 pm EST
UW-La Crosse @ #12 UW-Eau Claire, 6 pm EST
Thoughts…
Lots of one-sided games last night, with no Top 25 teams really chanllenged. #2 NYU had little trouble winning 91-27 on its home floor, and #4 Trinity, #14 Ithaca, #17 Babson, and #21 Whitman all rolled to wide-margin wins. All five looked like Top 25 teams, and that’s a good sign. Guessing there won’t be a whole lot of teams dropping out of the poll this week, unless something crazy happens today, which is possible.
But something especially important did happen in #4 Trinity’s 100-42 win over Centenary (La.). Head coach Cameron Hill, in his 11th season, became the winningest coach in program history, needing just 275 games to reach the mark of .833. Well done, Coach Hill. That Trinity program continues to be a national contender year in and year out.
I was glad to see Hunter College snap its three-game losing skid in a well-deserved 79-70 overtime win over Baruch. It came at the perfect time, as yesterday marked the CUNYAC opener for Hunter. Erin Cosio paces Hunter’s offensive attack, and played 32 minutes in that one, tallying 22 points on 6-of-12 from beyond the three-point arc.
Speaking of snapping losing skids, Finlandia is back in the win column after having dropped its previous four, as the Lions took down North Central (Minn.) (who is 4-4 on the year), 70-49. Fairly balanced effort from Finlandia, who has done a good shot of distributing shots throughout this season. Every starter scored at least four points, and four players scored in double figures.
Out on the west coast, Puget Sound came out with an 89-77 win over Whitworth, a team that played UC Santa Cruz to a narrow 58-57 loss last Sunday. Whitworth is a solid team, especially defensively, but could not stop Puget Sound’s Kennedy Brown, who scored 32 points in just 24 minutes of action. 46 points in the paint for Puget Sound in that one, as they move to 5-1, and will get a real test against Whitman today. A victory there could easily put Puget Sound back in the Top 25.
Cortland was the high-scorer of Friday night’s action, putting 102 on the board against Fredonia. Emily Morano led Cortland with 21 points.