I've been informed that something called foot ball is being played this Saturday. Not really sure what that is, but we will use this game thread for both Friday and Saturday basketball. There are three matchups I'm really looking forward to in the next two days, plus a couple of less interesting in-state matchups.
Big Ten Recaps
Penn State Nittany Lions 97, Chattanooga Mocs 93
BoilerUp89: Penn State set a program record in this game with 43 made free throws. Now I'm just a dumb person on the Internet, but if you need to make 43 free throws to beat Chattanooga by 4 you may have trouble against tougher competition. Nittany Lions Brant Byers (former 40% three point shooter at Miami Ohio) went 0/7 from behind the three point line. Josh Reed led PSU in scoring with 25 but 15 of those came at the charity stripe. Four Mocs fouled out, but Kobe McDowell-White led all scores with 28 points, went 7 of 8 from three, and dished out 8 assists. He gets the game MVP.
Indiana Hoosiers 92, Bellarmine Knights 69
BoilerUp89: Hoosiers crushed the glass with 42 rebounds to 26 and although it was a bad shooting night from Marcus Burton (0/7 overall, 0/2 from three), this game wasn't in much doubt from the tip.
Michigan State Spartans 91, Toledo Rockets 61
BoilerUp89: Toledo is likely much better than Chattanooga and definitely better than Bellarmine so this was a pretty impressive showing. Sparty is trying to figure out their center position and while Spartan fans are down on Bonke as the top option there he did have 7 rebounds in just 13 minutes which isn't nothing.
Illinois Fighting Illini 112, Pennsylvania Quakers 70
BoilerUp89: Brad Underwood shows no mercy. Two games in. Two games scoring over 110. The Illini had 15 offensive rebounds to Penn's 16 defensive rebounds. Ouch.
Friday Big Ten Previews
#184 Eastern Washington Eagles (0-1) at #42 Oregon Ducks (1-0)
6 ET, B1G+
MaximumSam: The Eagles are coming off a competitive loss to Stanford, so the Ducks had better bring it for this Bird Battle.
#141 Valparaiso Beacon (1-0) at #34 Purdue Boilermakers (0-1)
6:30 ET, BTN
BoilerUp89: A rarish in-state opponent for Purdue and not an automatic win either. In their first game against Western Illinois, Valpo got to the line a lot while Purdue struggled to not foul shooters on Gonzaga. Valpo wants to drive and attack the paint so Jacobsen will need to stay out of foul trouble while protecting the rim. Do that and Purdue should be okay, but it would be nice if the Boilers didn't shoot 5+ airballs on three point attempts.
Kind of...: The easy joke is that Valpo hasn't been the same since All Wright left town. But the truth is that Roger Powell has the Beacons on the upswing. On paper, this is his best team, and maybe Valpo's best squad in their decade or so as an MVC member. Time will tell. Purdue should win, but they might get pushed more than expected.
#275 Youngstown State Penguins (1-0) at #21 The Ohio State Buckeyes (0-1)
6:30 ET, B1G+
BoilerUp89: The Ohio State plays an in-state team! It's the worst team in the state, but still it's very brave of them.
MaximumSam: Hey now, the Penguins already took out St. Bonaventure. Linus Holmstrom dropped 26 in that game - hopefully the Buckeyes focused a touch on defense in practice.
#342 New Haven Chargers (0-1) at #77 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (0-0)
7 ET, BTN
BoilerUp89: Honestly, I'm shocked this is Rutgers' first game. Did they miss the memo on the season start date?
#263 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (1-0) at #48 Wisconsin Badgers (1-0)
7:30 ET, B1G+
Kind of...: Quite unimpressive against Denver, the Badgers look to shoot better than 50%...from the FT line.
#12 Connecticut Huskies (1-0) at #14 Michigan Wolverines (1-0)
Boston, 8 ET, TNT
BoilerUp89: UConn is really, really good. Four days into the season, I'm up on Illinois and UConn the most. Good luck Michigan, they've got excellent perimeter defenders that will make it difficult to initiate your offense.
Kind of...: Danny Hurley is CBB's version of "the worst person you know just made a great point." If you go back to the previews, I was way more down on Michigan than anybody else, so, yeah, I see a blowout tonight.
glass: I am interpreting "Good luck, Michigan" in the way that we actually hope they lose by 40.
#216 Stony Brook Seawolves (1-0) at #75 Northwestern Wildcats (1-0)
8 ET, B1G+
MaximumSam: Stone Brook sports a fifty point win over Old Westbury, who I assume is a team from England, where everyone has to wear a large hat when they play.
#140 St. Thomas Tommies (1-0) at #76 Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-0)
8 ET, Peacock
BoilerUp89: It's finally happening! Minnesota is playing an in-state program during the regular season! In basketball! I'm irrationally happy about this game. Two years ago, I would have picked St. Thomas to win this game outright. They haven't taken a significant step back but Minnesota has gotten a lot better.
glass: MNW's unconditional hatred for the school aside, the Tommies have mostly looked incredible since joining D1 straight from D3 in 2021. They've averaged 22 wins a season during the last 4 but are still searching for their first NCAA tournament bid. Likely either be them or NDSU out of the Summit.
#340 Eastern Illinois Panthers (0-1) at #46 Iowa Hawkeyes (1-0)
8:30 ET, BTN
BoilerUp89: Before East Texas A&M defeated Oklahoma earlier this week, the biggest KenPom upset was Eastern Illinois over Iowa a few years back. A repeat would be fun.
#315 North Florida Ospreys (1-0) at #22 UCLA Bruins (1-0)
10:30 ET, BTN
BoilerUp89: For a basketball program that complains a lot about cross country travel, scheduling this game was a choice. UCLA just beat Arizona. As long as they haven't gotten too comfortable with that win, North Florida isnt going to challenge them.
Saturday Big Ten Previews
#51 Providence Friars (1-0) at #16 Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-0)
Uncasville, CT, 7 ET, FS1
Kind of...: At Nebraska, but in Uncasville, CT, huh? Providence really figured out how to game the system.
BoilerUp89: Sometimes I wonder why I put these together late in the evenings. Then I remember the errors would be there no matter when I do. Obviously this is a neutral site game folks and this bot makes mistakes. Im more surprised I haven't been called out for a getting a mascot wrong since Ive been going on memory there.
#38 Maryland Terrapins (1-0) at #61 Georgetown Hoyas (1-0)
7:30 ET, Peacock
BoilerUp89: Really glad this rivalry is back.
glass: Buzz Williams has pissed off pretty much everyone in College Park since he arrived last season. Meanwhile, Ed Cooley has pissed off pretty much everyone in the Georgetown area of D.C. since he arrived in 2023.
BoilerUp89: I honestly think Buzz turns it around this season. Cooley isnt doing that at Georgetown.
Other Games of Note
Friday
#182 Massachusetts Minutemen (1-0) v #107 Boston College (1-0), 4 ET, ESPN+, Boston
#68 Saint Louis Billikens (1-0) at #25 Missouri Tigers (1-0), 7 ET, ESPNU
Kind of...: Go Billikens! Let's gets some in-state chaos going!!
MaximumSam: Milk Chamberlain is back baby! Thank God for lawyers.
glass: The can't miss game of the weekend is relegated to the U. Missouri's roster is full of a whole bunch of hyper athletic dudes, the antidote to which is exactly the relentless drive and dish style that makes watching St Louis under Josh Schertz so much fun. This game is actually at a neutral site (in St Louis), BU89.
Sickos Special: #236 Indiana St Sycamores (0-1) at #289 Ball St Cardinals (0-1) 7 ET, ESPN+
glass: This one is going suck. But it's an instate game and afterward attendees can take the opportunity to swing on by Larry Gergich's vacation home and enjoy some cotton candy cheesecake from Cakey J's Cheesecake Facility. Also keep an eye on #120FAU@#146Wright St 730 ET ESPN+. The Raiders have the potential to lap the field out of the Horizon.
Saturday
#56 VCU Rams (1-0) at #106 Memphis Tigers (1-0), 3 ET, ESPN+
#57 San Diego State Aztecs (1-0) v. #85 Colorado Buffaloes (1-0), 3:30 ET, USA, Bill Walton Classic, San Diego
#321 Southern Indiana Screamin' Eagles (1-1) at #282 Evansville Purple Aces (1-0), 8 ET, ESPN+
Kind of...: The Bill Walton Classic, huh? Are they comparing California weed and Colorado weed at halftime? An extemporaneous speaking requirement where you have to start by extolling the virtues of Boulder before meandering into a discussion of the Aztec empire, while still needing to utter the phrase "conference of champions"? Color me, er, tie-dye me intrigued.
glass: VCU at Memphis was an intriguing game even before the Tigers beat Iowa St from pillar to post earlier this week. Pair that result with VCU having a much tougher time with Little Rock than expected and a fun game where the Rams might have been favored to win by multiple possessions suddenly turns into a tossup.
Sickos Special: #115 Northern Iowa Panthers (1-0) at #139 Furman Paladins (2-0) 5 ET, ESPN+
glass: To be honest I would have picked USI at Evansville here since their campuses are 8 miles apart. But as that has already been mentioned above, UNI at Furman should be a fun contest between the SoCon favorite and one of about 5 teams contending for the double bye in the now ruined MVC tournament.
