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Highlighted Matchups for Friday, 11/17

Highlighted Matchups for Friday, 11/17
Nov 17, 2006, 05:04 am
EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS

COACHES VS CANCER CLASSIC

-Maryland destroyed Saint John’s. I went to the store, got back before the end of the first half, and Maryland was up 44-17. They continued to open up the lead and completely blew out Saint John’s in Madison Square Garden, which was pretty impressive.

-Texas vs Michigan State was much more exciting. Michigan State led for most of the second half, but it was always close. The game was tied in the final seconds, but Drew Neitzel drove the length of the floor and hit a game winning layup for the 63-61 win.

Michigan State will face Maryland for the championship and Maryland will face Saint John’s in the consolation game.


PARADISE JAM

-Middle Tennessee State vs Alabama
-Toledo vs Iowa
-Xavier vs VCU
-College of Charleston vs Villanova

The field in this tournament is relatively strong. Alabama is ranked in the top ten right now, Toledo is one of the better teams in the MAC and will likely win their division, Iowa won the Big Ten last year and although they lost a lot, they are still tough, Xavier appears to have a tournament caliber team, VCU is rebuilding, but could be a force in the Colonial, Villanova is strong out of the Big East, and College of Charleston is one of the best teams in the SoCon. This is a good chance for all of these teams to get some quality early season wins. It’s very important for teams like Xavier, Toledo and College of Charleston who won’t be facing a lot of high level competition once conference play begins. The Atlantic Ten is certainly better than the SoCon or the MAC, but they’re still only one or two tournament caliber teams, so it’s important for Xavier to cash in some quality wins early in order to build a resume. It’s a good opportunity for everyone else as well, but the teams from the major conferences will have their shot at major competition later on. The same can’t be said for College of Charleston or Toledo.


HIGHLIGHTED MATCHUPS

-DELAWARE AT ALBANY. Albany has a big win over Bucnkell already. A win here gets them to 2-0. The margin for the number of games they can lose is slim, but it’s very realistic that they can win 25+ games and earn an at large spot.

-INDIANA STATE AT INDIANA. Indiana is coming off a loss to Butler in the preseason NIT, and could have some trouble in this one as well. Indiana State upset the Hoosiers a year ago. They struggled in their first game, but managed to beat a fairly decent Western Michigan team. Indiana should end up having a big year, but they are going through an adjustment period at the beginning of the season. This would be a very nice win for them despite Indiana State not being a top notch tourney team this year.

-NORTHWESTERN AT STANFORD. Northwestern is coming off a big win against rival De Paul. Stanford is coming off a blowout loss to a very good Air Force team. The bad news for Stanford is that Northwestern plays a very similar type of game and if they don’t make any adjustments they could be going down again.


BUY GAMES

-WINSTON SALEM STATE AT AUBURN. A win gets Auburn to 2-0, but they are still very unproven.

-APPALACIAN STATE AT CLEMSON. Clemson is off to a relatively good start and should improve to 5-0 today.

-LONGWOOD AT GEORGE WASHINGTON. GW is 2-0 so far this year, and are way undermatched in this game so they should have little trouble getting to 3-0.

-GEORGIA SOUTHERN AT ILLINOIS. Illinois had some trouble with Jackson State the other night, and could have even more trouble with Georgia Southern, who is one of the better teams out of the Southern Conference, tonight. If the Illini can hold on they’ll improve to 3-0.

-MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE AT KENTUCKY. This is the final tune-up for Kentucky before going off to the Maui Invitational. They struggled against Miami, OH in their opener, but are much more undermatched tonight.

-NICHOLLS STATE AT LSU. This is the season opener for LSU. Nicholls State is already 0-4 and on their way to becoming 0-5. This is their fifth of eight games away from home to open the season.

-HARVARD AT MICHIGAN. Michigan is off to a 4-0 start and just got a win against a pretty decent Wisconsin Milwaukee team. Harvard is an up and coming team in the Ivy League who is 1-1 so far this year. A win for them would be huge, but it isn’t likely to happen.

-LONG ISLAND AT MINNESOTA. A win for Minnesota improves them to 2-0 as they continue to ease into their season.

-DELAWARE STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE. NC State can improve to 2-0 with a win. They are still untested though.

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT OHIO STATE. There is a certain football game being played in Columbus that could overshadow this game. Eastern Kentucky is 1-0 and should do alright in the Ohio Valley this year, but they aren’t much of a match for Ohio State, unless of course they are caught up in the hype for their football game against Michigan. A win gets the Buckeyes to 4-0.

-TEXAS SOUTHERN AT OKLAHOMA STATE. Okie State had their hands full with Northwestern State the other night, but held on to win. They should have an easier time tonight and improve to 3-0 on the year.

-STONY BROOK AT PENN STATE. Penn State can improve to 3-0 with a win. They haven’t beaten anyone all that good, but at least they’ve been winning decisively. We’ll see how good they face tougher competition later this year.

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT PURDUE. Purdue should be improved this year and they blew out Northern Colorado in their season opener. A win here gets them to 2-0. Western Carolina won their opener against UNC Asheville.

-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT TEXAS TECH. This is a sandwhich game before Texas Tech goes off to compete in the semifinals of the CBE Classic. They haven’t really been tested at all yet, but they’ve looked pretty good in their first two games. Expect them to cruise to 3-0 tonight.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT UNLV. Both teams are 2-0, but UNLV clearly appears to be the better team and should improve to 3-0 today. They haven’t had a tournament caliber team since Lon Kruger arrived, which is kind of surprising. They’ll be tested against some tough competition later on and that should give us a better idea of how good they are.

-ELON AT WAKE FOREST. Expectations are low at Wake Forest, and even though they struggled in their first two games, they won them both. They came from behind to beat Bucknell on the road and should handle Elon and improve to 3-0 tonight.

-NORTHEASTERN AT PITTSBURGH. This is part of an exempt tournament, but it is on Pitt’s home floor and they should win handily. They’ll have a much tougher game against Massachusetts tomorrow.

-CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT CONNECTICUT. This game should be extremely lopsided. UConn should have little trouble remaining unbeaten.

-LAMAR AT TEXAS A&M. Texas A&M is highly ranked, but hasn’t faced a tough opponent yet. This is part of the Texas A&M Tournament, which is round robin, so they’ll face a pretty good Saint Louis team on Sunday.

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