College Basketball Season is Underway!

[GoMuskies]

Eastern Michigan leads Albion 29-9.

[xubrew]

Wahoo!!

[GoMuskies]

Wahoo!!

No, Virginia doesn't play until 7:00 tonight against JMU.

[xubrew]

As of this moment, Air Force is the nation's best statistical team. If you're projecting the NCAA Tournament, you have to give them a #1 seed right now.

Although their strength of schedule is rather lousy.

It all starts at zero. The "one big leagues" start off the same as everyone else, and if they go out and win 75% of their OOC games, they won't be one bid leagues anymore.

There actually are some big games tonight. I think Louisiana Tech and Saint Mary's could end up being fringe bubble teams, and since neither get that many shots at big wins it's big for both teams.

I'm also predicting that Mercer, FGCU and USC Upstate all win their openers. Mercer is at Texas, FGCU is at Nebraska and USC Upstate is at Virginia Tech. All are winnable. In fact, Texas, Nebraska and VA Tech are all pretty bad, so it will probably make the ASun look a lot better than what it really is.

Weber State at BYU is big as well. Weber is another good team that is in a bad league and needs notable wins in case they blow it in the conference tournament.

I never know what to make of Drexel or UCLA, so that'll be worth watching too.

If Georgetown cannot beat an Oregon team that just lost two starters, then they are probably closer to the NIT than they are to the NCAA, at least right out of the gate.

Oh yeah, and Xavier is playing Gardner Webb.


....and yeah, before anyone says it, I know no one gets in or out based only on what they do on the first day. It's just that when it is the first day, there is nothing else to go on, so to me the games seem bigger than what they really are.

[GoMuskies]

I know no one gets in or out based only on what they do on the first day.

A game today counts just as much as a game in February. If a team from a one-bid league gets a big win today, it will help them in their at-large or seeding cases as much as a big win on any other date.

And if we lose to GWC tonight, it could very well come back to haunt us on Selection Sunday.

[xubrew]

A game today counts just as much as a game in February. If a team from a one-bid league gets a big win today, it will help them in their at-large or seeding cases as much as a big win on any other date.

And if we lose to GWC tonight, it could very well come back to haunt us on Selection Sunday.

Absolutely. They all count.

It's just that sometimes early in the year I forget that the games later on also count.

[paulxu]

I'm also predicting that Mercer, FGCU and USC Upstate all win their openers. Mercer is at Texas, FGCU is at Nebraska and USC Upstate is at Virginia Tech. All are winnable. In fact, Texas, Nebraska and VA Tech are all pretty bad, so it will probably make the ASun look a lot better than what it really is.

Good call on USC Upstate. Then again, they're here in Spartanburg, also home of Wofford. The rest of the ASun...not so much. Upstate is the only school to post a win yet.

[X-band '01]

NKU also blew a golden opportunity to get a win at Purdue on Friday night. Talk about a once-proud program that's fallen like a stone in recent years.