Thoughts from the first few days of the regular season + A look ahead to the weekend's best matchups
Yesterday was hectic, and as a result I missed out on my opportunity to post about Wednesday’s games. Let’s just say a couple of delayed plane flights had a little something to do with it…I’m in Bloomington, Illinois for the Sikma Invitational at Illinois Wesleyan (MBB), but now have a few minutes to put some thoughts from the last two days down onto paper.
The Top 25 teams in action very much looked the part on Wednesday…#3 CNU rolled over Averett, 91-66, despite 23 turnovers (likely due to freshmen getting quite a few minutes). It was a great effort for the Captains with the big test coming on Saturday against Emory. That is sure to test CNU’s talent level, considering Emory is very experienced and in the Top 25 conversation. Huge matchup!
In other Top 25 action, #24 Millikin shot the lights out against Beloit. 14 3-pointers and 22 points, 7 rebounds from Elyce Knudsen and 21 points, 7 rebounds from Bailey Coffman will give you a win. In this case, it was a 79-40 win that saw Millikin hold a 57-15 lead at the half.
If you read my post from Wednesday morning, I was interested in how the St. Vincent vs Marietta matchup would play out. Marietta looked to be in top form, winning 68-54 against a talented and experienced SVC team. Most notably, they shut down Emily Cavacini, a solid perimeter scoring threat for SVC, who was held to just two points on a 1-of-14 shooting performance. Really impressed by Marietta’s continued success on the defensive end.
Framingham State and Albertus Magnus also played in a pretty impactful matchup on opening night, with Framingham State pulling out a 78-72 victory. This could be a regionally-ranked win by the season’s end, as I’ve previously noted, so it holds quite a bit of significance. Flannery O’Connor finished with 19 points and 22 rebounds…wow.
In another game with the potential for a regionally-ranked result, MIT beat Emmanuel, 70-55. MIT could be a real contender in the NEWMAC this year and gets another big test, possibly their biggest test of the season, against NYU this afternoon. 5 pm eastern time tip in that one.
#21 Hope pulled out a 90-48 win over Marian in its season-opener last night, and the Flying Dutch looked solid. Lots of new faces in the rotation as compared to last year, but plenty of talent. Chloe Brunsberg had 16 points in 13 minutes off the bench and Sydney Vis tallied 11.
Top 3 Tournaments to Watch (All game times listed are in eastern time)
UW-Eau Claire Tip-Off Tournament (UWEC, UW-Stout, Puget Sound, Central): This is a big tournament because several of these teams will be Pool C bubble teams (if they don’t win their conference and get the Pool A), based on what is being projected. That means they need every win—and every regionally-ranked win they can get—especially playing in deep conferences. Puget Sound has a stellar returning group, but Pacific and Whitman are right there to challenge the Loggers for the NWC title. UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire, both out of the WIAC, need strong resumes in the case that they don’t win the AQ, Anything can happen in the WIAC, so picking up an RRO win over Puget Sound (both UWEC and UW-Stout play both Puget Sound and Central) would be huge. Central, out of the ARC, shouldn’t be counted out either. New head coach Justin Weiland has a young roster this season.
Scholar’s Classic (hosted by NYU) (NYU, WashU, Johns Hopkins, MIT): Played inside the brand-new, state-of-the-art John H. Paulsen Center in NYC, this will be a big-time D-III hoops event. All of these teams could end up regionally ranked, and all should contend for their respective conference titles. NYU, ranked #2 in the nation, hosts this event on their home court and will face MIT today in what should be a competitive matchup between two experienced northeastern programs. This is a crossover event, so WashU faces Johns Hopkins tonight, and then NYU plays JHU tomorrow with WashU battling MIT. I want to see how NYU’s newcomers look playing on the court at the same time, especially Morgan Morrison and Megan Bauman. I’m also interested in how WashU performs. Senior guard Jessica Brooks is back and was fun to watch offensively last season, as she averaged 15.5 points per game.
Chuck Reiser Tournament (hosted by Rochester) (Rochester, Allegheny, Baldwin Wallace, Gettysburg): Gettysburg has a chance to really surprise some people this season with an incredible returning group. In fact, the Bullets pushed D1 UMBC into quadruple overtime on Wednesday night, before falling 90-83. Now they take on Baldwin Wallace today and either Rochester or Allegheny tomorrow. That Gettysburg-Baldwin Wallace matchup could end up being one of the most important non-conference contests for both teams this season. It tips off at 3:00 p.m. today.
Note: Maybe I shouldn't say “watch”…unless you pay for the streaming, you won’t be able to watch it, as Rochester puts its games behind a paywall. Not cool…haha.
Other big games to pay attention to on Saturday and Sunday
Nov. 11
Mary Hardin-Baylor vs Trinity (TX): Playing on a neutral court, these two teams look a little different than last year. UMHB has a new head coach in Katie Novak-Lenoir and Trinity graduated several key players from last year’s team. Definitely RRO win potential here.
Christopher Newport vs Emory: The N.C. Wesleyan Tournament hosts what might be the best matchup on tomorrow’s slate, with two teams that I had in my Top 25 ballot squaring off. A win here would be huge for Emory, but CNU has already played once in the regular season while Emory has not. That could be an advantage for the Captains.
UW-Platteville at #21 Hope: I think UWP may surprise some people this year. In fact, I thought they were a very solid team last year that just struggled at a few points…the wins over Whitewater (yes, they beat UW-Whitewater twice) and over Loras proved that. Now the Pioneers are more experienced with a lot of built-in chemistry formed from last season, with an opportunity to play a nationally-ranked team in Hope on the season’s opening weekend. And Hope looked good against Marian last night, and will only get better as the season progresses. Look for a very competitive contest here.
Nov. 12
#1 Transylvania at DePauw: Transy’s 33-game win streak could become 34 by the time Sunday is over, but winning at DePaul isn’t easy. DePauw’s Ava Hassel comes back for her junior year, after averaging 13.0 points per game in 2022-23 and Riley Mont should be another key contributor this season as a sophomore. Transy has a ton of returning production and is #1 for a reason, which should make for a great contest. 3:00 p.m. tip-off.
Texas-Dallas at Colorado College: This is a 50/50 game in my opinion. UTD had a few non-senior departures, but Cierra Trigg is back after ranking third on the team in points last season and Amanda Crowinshield should contribute well for the Comets too. Colorado College has Zoe Tomlinson returning as a talented forward/center who led the team in scoring last season. She is a tough matchup for any opposing defense, but UTD is extremely solid on the defensive end. 2:30 p.m. tip-off.
St. John Fisher at #4 Tufts: If there’s an upset pick on Sunday, it might be in this game. SJF is a Top 40 team in my opinion, though Tufts very much belongs in the Top 5. Overall, I’ll be interested to see how SJF fares against Tufts this early in the season. Junior guard Sidney Tomasso returns after averaging 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game a year ago and could have a big impact for SJF in this one. 1:00 p.m. tip-off.
I’ll be sure to have a post out tomorrow morning, taking a deeper look at more of today’s matchups once those games all play out. Excited to see such a great slate of games scheduled for this weekend. You love to see teams challenging themselves in non-conference play this early in the season. Have a great rest of your day!