Some notes about Opening Night
4-OSU vs MARQUETTE So bummed. No possibility to reschedule, either. Womp womp.
3-KENTUCKY 72 MARYLAND 69 Ugh/Wow/Damn.
UCONN 66 14-MSU 62 Welp, we didn't have to wait very long to see our first upset, did we?! What a game. What a win for Kevin Ollie. I've never been a fan of UConn, but I guess because I never really liked Calhoun. Kevin Ollie though? I think I like Kevin Ollie. The way he interacted with his team during the mic'd practice and after the game seemed so genuine and full of mutual respect. That group was cohesive -- it did not seem like a first year coach with a group of someone else's players. They were his. They bought in. And his demeanor, too!? "Oh it's my first game as a head coach and I'm playing against Tom Izzo on an air force base in Germany, nbd." So calm and collected. You have to respect that.
19-BAYLOR 99 LEHIGH 77 Sooo...who on earth was expecting this much of a blow-out? Not I. CJ McCollum had 36 of Lehigh's 77 points. Woof.
ST PETER'S 56 RUTGERS 52 The future of Big East Basketball, ladies and gents.
COASTAL CAROLINA 74 AKRON 70 Woah, I forgot Akron left the A10. Regardless, umm....yeahhhh. That's a shame.
TEXAS 55 FRESNO STATE 53 Ummmmm.
BUCKNELL 70 PURDUE 65 CALLED IT.
SOUTH ALABAMA 76 25-FLORIDA STATE 71 I feel like Florida State should really just start going by DFTR -- Dropped From The Rankings. I cannot think of another top-tier program that consistently has such AWFUL losses. Like, without fail, every season.
Yeah actually, I just looked up some fun facts: the last time FSU had a winning season against Clemson was in 2008-2009, when Clemson was ranked #10 and #13 for their wins. Since then, the Seminoles are 2-4 against the Tigers. They're also 3-2 against Boston College and winless against the Ivy League in that same span.
Another fun fact, FSU played South Alabama last year and beat them 80-39, for what it's worth.
1-INDIANA 97 BRYANT 54 I did not actually get to watch this game, so these are just a few observations from the box score. I know, I know. I shouldn't even waste my time...but I don't get BTN out here in DC, so I'll take what I can get!
Both teams has 17 turnovers. This concerns me. (Maybe it shouldn't? Maybe I should just chalk it up to PTSD and bad memories of turnovers from the Dark Days?) What's even more concerning is that Bryant had 8 steals and we had 12. Good that we're getting more steals, but given that difference and the fact that we still had the same number of turnovers, doesn't that mean we had more unforced turnovers?
Jordy and Yogi both had turnover ratios of 1 in our first expo game (2/2 and 4/4 respectively, I believe), and I'm glad to see that they weren't the problem this time around; Jordy went 5/1 and Yogi 7/2. Get. It.
All in all, very satisfying performances. Six players scored in double digits (well, I mean, I guess that's kind of a given with 97 points), three of them off the bench; Zeller and Watford both had double-doubles; team (7 players, actually) went 29/34 on free throws, which is really quite impressive to me? Everyone was perfect from the line except for Watford, who shot 8/9, and Zeller who hit 2/6. Damn.
Also, I had to go back and edit this post because I forgot to put the "1" in front of IU. This will take some getting used to.
