All of our D1 opponents were in action last night:
WIU upsets Nebraska
Bellarmine blown out by Purdue
Clemson beats Presby by 11
Stetson beats an NAIA team by 7
Lamar beats an NAIA team by 17
UC blows out Evansville
Indiana St. wins a close one at GB
Nebraska fans are not happy. Sounds like the Huskers were awful.
Obviously just 1 game of data so far this season (so much of KenPom strength is based on previous season data), but right now our OOC schedule looks like:
Lamar - 275
Stetson - 196
Heidelberg and Defiance - N/A
WIU - 221
UC - 103
Indiana St - 188
Clemson - 59
Bellarmine - 182
For reference, Miami is 123 after last night.
If last night wasn’t fool’s gold, things are lined up for an OOC record we haven’t seen in decades.
Please don’t be fool’s gold…
Please don’t be fool’s gold…
Please don’t be fool’s gold…
I really don’t believe it will be. I don’t think Miami played that well even. Certainly a lot of room to improve. Which is exciting.
Phil–I agree. I really don’t think we played a great game last night. Three pt shooting was dreadful. We had four bad passes that lead to dunks in the first half. BUT, we played very good defense. We did not collapse late, instead wound up scoring the last 9 pts and holding them scoreless for the last 2+ minutes. Big plays by Lairy, White and Dalonte with a huge RB and his two clutch FTs were critical. One TO in second half–fantastic.And we didn’t have Beck who is projected as a starter at 6’8". Best thing the entire team was into the game, lots of support for everyone.
And because we won despite some blemishes, it leads me to believe we are a legit DI team.
If Miami takes care of business on Wednesday, with two non Div I games on tap, it would set us up for our first 5-0 start since 95-96 where Miami started 9-0.
I don’t know if both games actually count for record though? Even if not, 4-0 would be first time since 98-99.
Been a long time since we got to enjoy a hot start, even if strength of schedule isn’t the greatest, I think it’s just what the program needs.
Future Miami opponent Indiana St. beat ODU by 41 tonight. They advance to the Myrtle Beach Classic semi-finals against Oklahoma.
^it sounds like the Legend of Larry is alive and well.
They are not known for hoops that is for sure.
I remember seeing a game in the late 90s at Millett. We had a 1 for 1 with Nebraska. We destroyed them 91 - 71.
Maybe we can get them to sign up again for a 1 for 1?
UPDATE:
Sorry - that was a typo - actually late 80s (1989)
Indiana State goes down 87-63 to Oklahoma last night.
Cincinnati beats #14 Illinois by 20. Sets up a very good chance they will be ranked next week when they come to Oxford. Let’s pack Millett!
Doubt they’ll be ranked. Didn’t have any votes in today’s poll.
Bellarmine is 0-5 but has played a Coles Death March schedule. They’ve played Purdue, Murray St., St. Mary’s, Gonzaga, and tonight they lost to UCLA by “only” 13.
UC plays again tomorrow in the finals of the HOF classic, likely against #13 Arkansas. Win that and they will surely be ranked and possibly ranked pretty high.
We might have our hands full with Western Illinois on Saturday, who now has road wins over Nebraska and Northern Kentucky and a close road loss to DePaul. Don’t sleep on the Leathernecks.
Other than Defiance and Spaulding, we have a difficult stretch coming up. Bellarmine, Western Illinois, UC, Clemson, Indiana State. Getting three wins out this stretch will be a challenge; I can see a record of 2-3 or even 1-4 as good possibilities. (Maybe I am too conditioned by Miami’s past seasons.)
Latest Kenpom rankings (which don’t support my assertion above):
Clemson 48
UC 72
MIAMI 108
Indiana State 165
Bellarmine 187
Western Illinois 198
Western Illinois was down by double digits throughout the 1st half last night and won on the road, impressive.
Not sure you’ve noticed but we don’t lose.