2024-25 College Basketball Thread

This is some expert level trolling:

https://twitter.com/kcroosmbb/status/1858690342884659413?s=46

Calvary’s X feed says it is an exhibition game.

 

Final: 119-19

 

Men's Basketball Recruiting Questionnaire - Calvary University Warriors



There's no telling how many NBA-caliber players they lost out on who clicked "No."

 

A lot of time these are exhibitions for the non-DI and counting games for the DI. 119-99 final. Calvary shot 14 percent, hit only two two-pointers, and turned it over 34 times.

 

Was wondering if there was a hoops equivalent of a football body bag game, but then I remembered UMKC is in the Summit League.

 

In slightly more daring scheduling news, Gonzaga was pretty methodical taking apart the Aztecs in San Diego last night.

 

Had SDSU +10½.

Gonzaga looking good.

Maybe they can beat KC by a hundred.

The Division I team that set records after humiliating a former bible college school by 100 points

 

Teams across all D-I conferences now opt for scheduling a D-II or lower opponent, because it doesn't factor into NET, IIRC, but it's a way to get another gate and to round out the number of required games you have to play. Scheduling is pretty badly broken across NCAA basketball now, but I'm positive the NCAA will figure out a way to fix it in the proactive manner that they handled compensation for players.

 

NCCAA is a landing spot for a lot of schools transitioning from NAIA to NCAA.

 

I guess the “gate” is in the form of a game they can bill season ticket holders for whether they darken the doors or not, but gosh there can’t be many of those to start with at these anonymous schools.

I made an unexpected trip back to where I grew up last week and decided to kill a Tuesday evening by going to the Tennessee Tech game. They were playing Weat Georgia, which is starting its first year of D-I transition, so a half-step above what UMKC feasts on. And the announced attendance was somewhere in the 700s. Even that might have been fluffing it a little.

And this is a nice arena in a town with absolutely nothing else happening. New padded seats, video board above center court, the whole works. But even after reducing capacity in the last renovation it still holds 9000-plus. They haven’t needed that many seats in at least 35 years, and maybe not ever. My high school graduation was in that same barn. It probably outdrew their entire non-conference slate this year and maybe the whole schedule period.

 

It's also why you're seeing things like the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge, the ASun-SoCon Challenge, and the CUSA-WAC challenge. A chance for a home-and-home with a similar opponent. I miss the old Bracket Buster. I understand the logistical concerns, having been involved with low-major hoops for many years. They would announce those matchups two or three weeks before the dates, and as much as you tried to keep it regional, there's only so many schools close to, say, Northern Arizona, which would have to scramble to make a trip to Missouri State or something like that at the last minute. The upside was that opponent was obligated to visit the following year.

I'm just looking at the two low majors that I covered extensively, and this year, NAU played three Phoenix schools I had no idea existed -- Park U Gilbert, Nelson, and Benedictine -- along with Embry-Riddle from Prescott. They managed to get two DI home non-conference games -- Incarnate Word and South Dakota.

Liberty, which is probably more mid-major, at least budget wise, is still playing Carolina U., Central Penn, and St. Andrews at home. Only DI home games are Mississippi Valley State, N.C. A&T and UT Arlington, which is part of the aforementioned CUSA-WAC series. There is zero incentive for anyone with any NCAA ambitions to put themselves in position to take a horrible loss at a Liberty or NAU or (name your mid-major here). So this is what we get. You have to fill a schedule somehow. Unless you're MVSU and you fund your entire athletics budget by playing 13 non-conference body bag road games against power schools.

 

Is that the place where Peter got denied admission three times?

And some guy named Thomas needs more proof.