Wild stuff from the weekend...

The DePaul-UIC game was pretty crazy: DePaul goes up by 21 points in the first half at their on-campus arena, UIC comes all the way back to take the lead by two with :30 to go in the game, and DePaul wins it on a three-pointer with six seconds left. UIC has had a radical makeover since last year's 6-25 season; only one of their starters against DePaul was on the starting lineup against Loyola last year, and three of their starters are newcomers. The Flames play Western Illinois at home tonight, looking for their first victory at the Pavilion against a D-1 team since March 2013.

Bradley lost to Texas-Arlington by 11 points in their home opener despite 33 points from Omari Greer and having a hearalded group of new talent (Jermaine Morgan, Josh Cunningham, Illinois transfer Mike Shaw, etc.). In isolation it might be considered just a bad game, but Bradley also lost in their exhibition against Division III Augustana. Granted, they were without their projected starting point guard due to an injury and Auston Barnes due to suspension, but still...

Michigan State struggled a bit in their opener at Navy. They built a 13-point lead early in the second half, but Navy cut it to a one point game at the 11:16 mark. Michigan State built the lead back to 8, yet Navy wouldn't go away and cut it to a 3-point game with 1:55 left. MSU held on to win 64-59. They play Duke in Indy Tuesday night before their home opener against us on Friday night.

Jackson State and Southern Utah are both already 0-2. Jackson State got demolished at North Carolina State on Friday, and then gave South Florida a scare on Sunday, losing by only 9 points. Southern Utah lost big at Kansas State and then lost at Miami of Ohio less than 48 hours later-- they've won only one out of their last 34 games against D-1 competition dating back to the 2012-13 season.

Potential foe Boise State is 2-0, winning the LMU Classic tournament with wins over San Diego and Loyola Marymount.

Drake was thoroughly beaten by Bowling Green in their home opener, 77-58. The thrashing was so complete that Bowling Green, making their debut under head coach Chris Jans (fresh from seven years as an assistant under Gregg Marshall at WSU), got 15 players into the game, and only two starters played more than 18 minutes. Seven Bowling Green players combined for 11 blocks against the Bulldogs. Former Loyola recruiting target Ore Arogundade started and played 29 minutes for Drake, but was 0-5 from the field and 3-5 from the line; he was 0-2 from the field and 3-6 from the line in Drake's 78-53 exhibition win against Coe College.

Nice report 63--We also have Green Wave coming up. Our Pres-conf schedule is what it is--NOT as bad as some say. And anyway, do we want to play all ACC and Big 14 teams at this stage ?? NO WAY !! All this team needs except height is experience winning--such as tonight where we should have won by 20-25 points !!
Experience in winning is the ticket for now.

Tulane lost their season opener at home tonight to Wake Forest, 71-49.

Michigan State plays Duke tonight. I think we will learn a lot about our chances based on how Duke approaches this game

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Izzo is worried that his Spartans might be looking past tonight's encounter with Duke in anticipation of Friday's game against the Ramblers.

Best case: MSU beats Duke and has a hangover from winning.
Worst case: MSU loses and takes our their frustration on LUC.

Couple years ago the event @ Lizzie McNeil's to watch the MSU game was a lot of fun. Maybe something along those lines will happen again this year, obviously not for this game.

Northern Iowa got a nice win this morning at Stephen F. Austin, 79-77. It was the first home loss for SFA since February 2012.

So far I think the key to beating Michigan State is to get them in foul trouble and to have Okafor.

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Texas Tech (Dec 22 in Las Vegas) looked pretty good on the road at LSU tonight before collapsing in the final minute and losing in overtime. I think they will be better than expected.

Well. I do not think we will get Spartans in foul trouble as this is a HOME game for them and Big 14 refs. I do feel we will give iot our best shot--our guys are prideful enough for that.
I truly galls this old-timer to say it, but we will be on the receiving end WHEN IT USED TO BE the reverse--We are getting there though.

BTW we do need an OKAFOR type---Our team is on the way to getting that done fairly soon. Our guys can play--Its up to PM to coach--So far in the 2 wins against weak teams he has done OK--better than last year when he had little except Milton KiKi and Turk.