Big Ten Basketball: November 3 Previews and Open Thread
Basketball is back!
It's been a long, long offseason but we are back! The games aren't all that great within the Big Ten, but 13 of our Big Ten teams are in action. Use this as your open thread for the day's college basketball games (which start at 8 AM Eastern thanks to the FieldOf68). Usual rules apply. Please make sure to keep the conversation safe for work as some of us will be working while following basketball throughout the day.
All fancystats via Torvik. All Top 25 rankings AP and parenthetical. All predictions not financial advice.
#361 IU Indianapolis Jaguars at #16 Ohio State Buckeyes
6:30 ET, B1G+, SPREAD OSU -29.5, O/U 158.5
MaximumSam: Per Torvik, the Buckeyes get the lowest ranked team of the night. IU Indy is formerly IUPUI, who clearly tired of me calling them "ewwey pooey." They've got a new head coach in Ben Howlett and a motley collection of guys who mostly haven't played in Division 1. It would be bad to lose to this team.
BoilerUp89: Hewlett appears to be a real coach, winning the Mountain East conference 7 of the last 8 seasons. It's still IUI though and the turnaround in year 1 is unlikely to result in a massive upset.
#356 Coppin State Eagles v #42 Maryland Terrapins
6:30 ET, BTN, SPREAD Maryland -29.5, O/U 140.5
Hall of Fame Series - Baltimore
BoilerUp89: Game 1 or a doubleheader in Baltimore. It's practically a home game for Coppin State (located in Baltimore) but it's not at their home arena.
#261 Colgate Raiders at #21 Michigan State Spartans
7 ET, B1G+, SPREAD MSU - 20.5, O/U 146.5
MaximumSam: Colgate has been helmed by Matt Langel since 2012. 2012! I only had one kid in 2012. They also have a transfer guard named Ben Tweedy who I hope gets lot of shots.
BoilerUp89: Did Langel wait too long to switch jobs? Colgate isn't even the favorite in the Patriot League this year (Navy is!).
#331 Fairfield Stags at #101 Penn State Nittany Lions
8 ET, B1G+, SPREAD PSU -15.5, O/U 150.5
BoilerUp89: The best thing about Fairfield basketball is their mascot. Penn State should roll and if they don't even my extremely pessimistic projections may be too sunny.
#178 Campbell Fighting Camels at #30 Wisconsin Badgers (24)
8 ET, B1G+, SPREAD UW -20.5, O/U 150.5
Kind of...: If you put stock in exhibitions, Wisconsin has questions. They lost to Oklahoma and let UW-Platteville hand around for way too long. Can't draw any conclusions based on one game, but can Boyd and Blackwell combine to be an elite backcourt with some real dawg on defense? Or is the league too stacked? Also, does Austin Rapp look like a consistent scoring option? That's what I'm look for tonight.
#338 Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs at #85 Minnesota Golden Gophers
8 ET, B1G+, No Betting Line
BoilerUp89: A new era begins in Minneapolis. I'd be excited to see what Niko Medved's offense is going to look like but this one is hidden behind B1G+.
#360 West Georgia Wolves at #43 Nebraska Cornhuskers
8 ET, B1G+, No Betting Line
BoilerUp89: Pretty sure this is the first time a B1G team has played West Georgia who were new to D1 last season. Rienk Mast is back and healthy for Nebrasketball and we should celebrate that.
#346 Mercyhurst Lakers at #66 Northwestern Wildcats
8 ET, B1G+, No Betting Line
BoilerUp89: Trivia question? Which lake does Mercyhurst reside near?
Kind of...: I know! I know!
#184 Oakland Golden Grizzlies at #3 Michigan Wolverines (7)
8:30 ET, FS1, SPREAD MSU -23.5, O/U 153.5
BoilerUp89: Greg Kampe is a national treasure. He's been at Oakland since 1984 and is the longest tenured coach currently in D1 (Izzo has been in D1 longer since Oakland wasn't D1 when Kampe started).
#189 Jackson State Tigers at #8 Illinois Fighting Illini (17)
8:30 ET, BTN, No Betting Line
BoilerUp89: I'm excited to see this one. I don’t think it will be close but want to see how the Eastern Europeans look.
#243 Cal Poly Mustangs at #26 Southern Cal Trojans
9:30 ET, B1G+, SPREAD USC-23.5, O/U 164.5
BoilerUp89: Cal Poly was a joke of a program a year ago but took massive steps in the right direction under first year head coach Mike DeGeorge. If they keep this close they could compete in the Big West.
#228 Eastern Washington Eagles at #9 UCLA Bruins (12)
10:30 ET, BTN, SPREAD UCLA-29.5, O/U 147.5
BoilerUp89: EWU is coached by Don Monson, former Gopher head coach. They shouldn't pose a big issue for UCLA so this is primarily an excuse to see however Donovan Dent is fitting in.
#354 Arkansas Pine Bluff Golden Lions at #46 Washington Huskies
11 ET, B1G+, No Betting Line
BoilerUp89: Pine Bluff has regularly been a team that sits around the SWAC tournament cutline. That won't be the case this year but that's only because the SWAC tournament format has changed to include all 12 members.
Non-Big Ten Games of Interest
Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon
Winthrop Eagles v Queens Royals, 8 AM ET, YouTube
Bradley Braves v. St. Bonaventure Bonnies, 11 AM ET, YouTube
Omaha Mavericks v. Murray State Racers, 1:30 ET, YouTube
Northern Arizona Lumberjacks v. Drake Bulldogs, 4 ET, YouTube
High Point Panthers v. Furman Paladins, 6:30 ET, YouTube
Kind of...: Between 11:00 and 6:00, YouTube will give you an early glimpse of the state of affairs in the MVC. If you're into that sort of thing. (I am.)
BoilerUp89: Murray State went into Xavier and won an exhibition. Drake tries to run their successful head coach hires to 4 in a row. Bradley tries to begin to build an at-large resume.
MAC-SBC Challenge
Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Buffalo Bulls, 8:30 ET, ESPN+
Old Dominion Monarchs at Miami Ohio Redhawks, 7 ET, ESPN+
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Western Michigan Broncos, 7 ET, ESPN+
Arkansas State Red Wolves at Ohio Bobcats, 7 ET, ESPN+
Marshall Thundering Herd at UMass Minutemen, 7 ET, ESPN+
South Alabama Jaguars at Toledo Rockets, 7 ET, ESPN+
App State Mountaineers at Central Michigan Chippewas, 7 ET, ESPN+
Texas State Bobcats at Bowling Green Falcons, 7 ET, ESPN+
Troy Trojans at Kent State Golden Flashes, 7 ET, ESPN+
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns at Ball State Cardinals, 7 ET, ESPN+
James Madison Dukes at Akron Zips, 7 ET, ESPN+
Louisiana Monroe Warhawks at Northern Illinois Huskies, 8 ET, ESPN+
BoilerUp89: This is the MAC home games portion of the challenge. The Sun Belt will get return home games in the 2026 using NET rankings to determine matchups. This challenge doesn't get enough attention because the NCAA tournament isn't considering multiple bids for mid-majors anymore. This makes me sad.
Hall of Fame Series - Las Vegas
3 Florida Gators v 13 Arizona Wildcats, 7 ET, TNT
Villanova Wildcats v 8 BYU Cougars, 9:30 ET, TNT
Kind of...: Cool, a chance to hate on Kevin Willard. And to check out hyped frosh A.J. Dybansta. In the other game, Arizona is very young, so I expect Florida to roll.
HoustonBoiler: Jay Wright really raised the expectation level at Villanova after four Final 4 trips and two National Championships. Kyle Neptune, who was an assistant for eight years under Wright, including both natties, was the anointed successor but really crashed and burned. Willard, who departed Maryland in a bit of a shitstorm, is an upgrade over Neptune but will still have his work cut out for him. After missing the NCAA Tournament for three straight seasons, Villanova fans are hoping/expecting Willard to lead this season's team back to the tourney. We'll see how he does with a roster loaded with transfers and freshman, including highly regarded Acaden Lewis, who was committed to Kentucky but ended up signing with Villanova.
Hall of Fame Series - Baltimore
Towson Tigers v Loyola Maryland, 9 ET, Not Televised
Other
Boston College Eagles at FAU Owls, 7 ET, ESPNU
Kind of...: BIRD FIGHT! BIRD FIGHT!
Almost 40 years ago, future HOF coach Gary Williams left BC for Ohio State. He had succeed Tom Davis, who went on to coach Stanford and Iowa. Between the two of them, they led BC to three Sweet 16's in a four year span. To replace Williams, BC hired alum Jim O'Brien. O'Brien had a pretty fair run (Elite 8 in '94), but it ended acrimoniously after eleven years. He followed in Williams' footsteps, heading for Columbus, where he made the Final Four in 1999 before being run out of town and, ultimately, being given a show cause order.
The same year BC hired O'Brien, another Big East job was open.
UConn hired Jim Calhoun.
