We start off CAA play this Saturday (hopefully) for the first of back to back days of CAA play against the same opponent. UNCW has surprised thus far, especially while missing their best player. I believe he is expected back for this one so it will be interesting to see if he helps or hurts their team chemistry out of the gate. This is an important series with both of these teams looking like contenders through the non-conference.

UNCW wants to plays fast and in the full court. They are trying to bring back the Keatts style and so far it has worked. They press and try for turnovers. If they dont get them, they arent very good. They are undersized and not very quick with their feet in defending. Get the game into the half court and we should be able to dominate this game. If we turn it over and struggle crossing half court, we are in for a long day.

I look for Butler to have a field day and Cam and TJ to get to the rim at will. The game script should be similar to that of the FDU game. UNCW will be playing 4 guards just like FDU was. Our size needs to be our calling in this one. Take some open 3's if they are there, but we should really be focused on attacking the rim on offense. Defensively stay in front of your man and stay out on the 3 point line. If UNCW is making their 3's we are in some trouble, if we play good defense and close out on them, we should be in a prime position to win these.

With having 2 weeks off, I expect us to come out rusty in game 1 on Saturday. We have already prepared ourselves with playing the same team on back to back days when we did so against Quinnipiac. I think that gives us an edge this first weekend. I think UNCW will be fired up and give great effort. I think they get ahead early and we chip away in the 2nd half but fall short with them pulling away late. In game 2 on Sunday I expect UNCW to be much more tired and I expect a pretty easy victory in that one.

UNCW- 83
Drexel-74

UNCW- 68
Drexel- 81

If the game goes bad you can watch the Tulsa shootout on flo. 10 hours of coverage yesterday. Feature tonight at 6. All the micro sprint action you can handle with big names like Christopher Bell, Brady Bacon, and “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney.

Next month you can watch the races in PA from home so you won’t get COVID from the spread necks.

Anyway I’ll take Drexel to sweep by winning by 20 today and 10 tomorrow.

We are 3 point favorites today

UNCW Men’s team has a positive test. No games this weekend or next. Just got confirmation of that from our event manager.

Team is on the way back from Philly.

What a waste of a trip to Philly. At least the women's teams are about to play.

(01-02-2021 12:48 PM)J.B. Wrote:  What a waste of a trip to Philly. At least the women's teams are about to play.

yeah. makes you wonder again why they're even trying.

when did they get up here? what happens to the people who test positive? i can't imagine they pile everybody back onto a bus or an airplane.

if they're going to force the season through now instead of doing the smart thing and waiting to spring...i thought of another idea. play local games until maybe mid february with whoever you can schedule...then gather everybody in one place like a bubble for a round robin which seeds you into a tournament. seeding for the conference tournament as it stands now seems like it will be a joke. uncw could turn out to be terrible and we lost 2 home games which could have been wins.

I think it comes down to two things. These players have worked their entire lives to get the opportunity to play college basketball. If they can figure out a way to play these games, they need to play them. And then there's the money issue. Each conference needs their TV money to survive. And then factor in the NCAA Tournament money. You can't have tournaments unless there's a regular season. What's happening really sucks, but I'm glad that they're trying.

the money issue i'm sure is the biggest issue. i wonder at what point it doesn't become profitable. we must not be there yet since there haven't been wholesale changes. power 5 conferences have deep pockets and bigger tv contracts. their tolerance for all of this is going to be higher.

i'm not worried about the kids having the opportunity to play basketball. it reminds me of these high school parents saying their kids "need" to play sports. no they don't. if they're in that small percentage that might get a scholarship...they'll be found. same with college players in the small percentage who might play at the next level somewhere. the only thing they "need" to do is study so they can be successful at whatever they do after basketball. not playing actually helps them with that and they're still getting to go for free.