Less than 24 hours from the start of the 2022-23 season, and so I thought I would try starting a thread here and see hoe much discussion it generates. We have lots of threads on WBB on the Toledo board, but I don't see as much on the other boards, but here goes. Big opening day this year, with 11 MAC schools in action:

Nov 7 (Mon)
Wright State @ TOLEDO
BGSU @ St Bonaventure
Lindenwood (1st yr in DI) @ EMU
BUFFALO @ Canisius
Xavier @ MIAMI
NIU @ #9 Notre Dame
Valparaiso @ CMU
BALL ST @ Tennessee Tech
Long Island @ OHIO
Loyola Chicago @ WMU
AKRON @ Oakland

Toledo's game is an 11AM start, and BG, EMU and Buffalo are all afternoon tilts for some reason. All those, except NIU-Notre Dame and possibly Loyola-WMU, should be expected wins for the MAC teams, but we will have to see how it goes tomorrow.

Preseason MAC first teamer Peyton Scott of Miami had a serious injury during the final game of the year last year, had an operation in Mid March, and just returned to practice in the last few days, so she is going to have to work her way back into shape. She did not play in our exhibition game. We have a neat start to our season with a DH Monday night, women playing area rival Xavier ( we beat them at X last year in a late comeback) and then the men play Evansville, with both teams having new coaches and being picked at the bottom of their leagues.

(11-06-2022 04:05 PM)DICK Wrote:  Preseason MAC first teamer Peyton Scott of Miami had a serious injury during the final game of the year last year, had an operation in Mid March, and just returned to practice in the last few days, so she is going to have to work her way back into shape. She did not play in our exhibition game. We have a neat start to our season with a DH Monday night, women playing area rival Xavier ( we beat them at X last year in a late comeback) and then the men play Evansville, with both teams having new coaches and being picked at the bottom of their leagues.

Too bad about Scott, I heard about that last week. Still think Miami should have a good chance against Xavier. They were not good last season (9-21), and three of their top 4 scorers transferred out. They only added one transfer in - Kent's Nila Blackford.

Toledo opens the season with an easy 88-56 win over Wright State.

Not sure what is going on at BG, but neither Velasco, Hempfling nor Fleming started. Hempfling didn't come in until a couple minutes left in the 1st half. BG getting a game from a not very good St. Bonaventure team, 37-31 BG at the half.

(11-07-2022 05:23 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Not sure what is going on at BG, but neither Velasco, Hempfling nor Fleming started. Hempfling didn't come in until a couple minutes left in the 1st half. BG getting a game from a not very good St. Bonaventure team, 37-31 BG at the half.

BG eventually pulled away to win 77-61. The Bonnies committed 29 turnovers. The Loyola transfer, Day, is as good as advertised and is going to be a force for BG.

Fleming still working back into game shape, but if this game is an indication of what's to come, she may not survive the season. She dove headlong into the 1st row of seats on one play and they had to separate her from the seats. She also crashed head-first into the electronic scoreboard behind the basket once, and took 2-3 other hard falls to the court. I think everyone in BG was holding their breaths for much of the game.

EMU beat 1st-year D1 team, Lindenwood, 71-56. EMU only played 7 players, so not sure what is going on with their roster. Lindenwood only played 8.

And Canisius came from behind to beat Buffalo 58-55. Last season, UB beat them by 60 points - yes 60 - so quite a turnaround in fates for those schools this season. Canisius plays Toledo on Friday, so we should learn something about the comparatives between UT and UB at this point in the season.

MAC was exceptionally awful today. 3-7 so far, with Akron currently losing by double digits to a poor Oakland team.

The losses:

Valpo beats CMU 71-64
- majority of CMU's scoring coming from their 3 true freshmen. Last year's freshmen class barely played at all.

Loyola Chicago 60 WMU 51
- WMU scored only 16 in the 1st half. Taylor Williams' single handedly kept WMU in the game, scoring 21

Long Island 74 Ohio 67
- OU got to the line 36 times, but it didn't help. Committed 22 turnovers.

Xavier 87 Miami 68
- Peyton Scott didn't play. 44 combined turnovers and 50 combined FTs. Sounds like an ugly game.

Notre Dame 88 NIU 48
- Expected ND to win, but by 40? Yikes.

Tennessee Tech 68 Ball State 63
- BSU trailed by 19 and got it back all the way to 1 possession, but couldn't finish it. Becki & Clephane in foul trouble the whole game

Canisius 57 Buffalo 55
- Buffalo had 2 FTs to take the lead in the waning seconds and missed them both.

Aside from ND (obviously), Tennessee Tech and Loyola, these are not good teams. Thank goodness Toledo, BG and even EMU could take care of business.

Make it 3-8, as Akron loses to Oakland 74-67.

One of the strangest stat lines I have ever seen, in the 1st quarter as Akron shot 89% from the field, and trailed. At the half, they were still shooting 75% from the field, and they still trailed. Strange.

(11-07-2022 07:07 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  

(11-07-2022 05:23 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Not sure what is going on at BG, but neither Velasco, Hempfling nor Fleming started. Hempfling didn't come in until a couple minutes left in the 1st half. BG getting a game from a not very good St. Bonaventure team, 37-31 BG at the half.

BG eventually pulled away to win 77-61. The Bonnies committed 29 turnovers. The Loyola transfer, Day, is as good as advertised and is going to be a force for BG.

Fleming still working back into game shape, but if this game is an indication of what's to come, she may not survive the season. She dove headlong into the 1st row of seats on one play and they had to separate her from the seats. She also crashed head-first into the electronic scoreboard behind the basket once, and took 2-3 other hard falls to the court. I think everyone in BG was holding their breaths for much of the game.

I expected Velasco to not start but that was because I thought Fleming would. She still got 20+ minutes though. BG will go 10+ deep. Fleming is still recovering and getting some rust off. Hempfling had her leg bandaged late in the game. My guess is she is injured but played a few minutes and it stiffened up so she didn't return. Fleming adds some fire to this team that will help them (as noted above, if she survives). It was nice to see Day add some much needed low post game to this team.

Miami women got our first win today over Vermont ( 21-10 last[/b] year) 79-73. Sophomores Maddi Cluse and Ivy Wolf combined for 41 in our loss to Xavier, today they combined for 48. No Scott yet, but she is practicing.

(11-11-2022 06:56 PM)DICK Wrote:  Miami women got our first win today over Vermont ( 21-10 last[/b] year) 79-73. Sophomores Maddi Cluse and Ivy Wolf combined for 41 in our loss to Xavier, today they combined for 48. No Scott yet, but she is practicing.

Good win for Miami, although Vermont missed a ton of shots from within 4 feet. Cluse looks to really have stepped up her game this year.

Earlier in the week, Kent lost to Florida St 80-71 at home.

I thought Kent was the better team, to be honest. FSU just chucking 25'+ threes the entire 1st half and not running any offense. But after Kent went up by 11, FSU's athleticism took over, and Kent went on a huge scoring drought. Good sign for Kent is that their true freshman Corynne Hauser looks like the real deal, and is going to be a huge problem for MAC defenses.

NIU with a big win over DePaul today, 86-79.
DePaul was a top-60 team last year, and has an all-American on the roster.

On the other hand, CMU loses again to Oakland 71-60.
Committed 31 fouls, shot 50% from the line and committed 22 turnovers. Oakland is not a good team, and yet has beaten both Akron and CMU. They still have games against Miami and Toledo to come.

Lady Flashes knocked off Oklahoma St. on the road 59-56 today.

The MAC announced that EMU's Skanes and Ozzy-Momodu are suspended fro 1 game for a fight in the FAMU game, but Skanes is playing today against IUPUI. Anybody know what's going on there?

NIU is 4-1 on the season. Just that loss to a very good, undefeated ND team.

BG just held a D1 opponent under 30 points last night for the first time in their history in a 76-29 romp. That included a 23-0 second quarter!
https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask.../401491333

Granted UDM only won one game last year and are in transition with a new coach, former BG standout and HOF'er Kate Achter, but NIU only beat them by 2 last Tuesday.

NIU was leading that whole game vs. UDM and led by double digits most of it. They just happened to let them back in late.

NIU women just won the Navy classic tournament and defeated, a then, 5-1 Richmond team. NIU is now 6-1 on the season.

The DePaul team we beat earlier in the season just best a ranked Maryland team.

NIU, UT, BG, and Kent look to be the top tier. EMU looks improved as well.