2024-2025 Around the League and Other Games of Interest

[PantherAlum09]

UIC competed well the first half, but got ran out in the 2nd half by JMU. Drake is playing well against Miami and up 9 at halftime.

Drake is looking just fine post Devries era.

[nadf.]

The number of times that I've had to watch school flip its entire roster and come back stronger than UNI makes me want to puke. When is somebody going to hire that AD. The school goes 30 years making terrible basketball hires, brings this guy in and now he's hit 3 in a row.

[BCPanther]

The number of times that I've had to watch school flip its entire roster and come back stronger than UNI makes me want to puke. When is somebody going to hire that AD. The school goes 30 years making terrible basketball hires, brings this guy in and now he's hit 3 in a row.

He's waiting for Marquette. Dream job.

He's done well. Also a big time promoter. That part had obviously rubbed off on Dr Franklin.

One caveat. He didn't turn over his roster. He brought his team and convinced a couple to use their 5th year. Next year is the guide for the future.

[Wxcpanther]

He's waiting for Marquette. Dream job.

He's done well. Also a big time promoter. That part had obviously rubbed off on Dr Franklin.

One caveat. He didn't turn over his roster. He brought his team and convinced a couple to use their 5th year. Next year is the guide for the future.

Right. Brought 4 guys with him that are experienced and have plenty of experience playing together and for him. That's incredibly valuable, especially early in the year when you're playing teams that either have freshmen being worked into the rotation or older guys that just haven't played together. Same reason we struggled with UC Irvine, they brought virtually everyone back from the year before, that's why they're excellent to start the season.

[Wxcpanther]

It also helped that in both situations with Hardin, after Niko, he's had 2 really obvious "we gotta make this guy say no first" hires to make. DeVries wanted the job way before he got it, and McCollum has been waiting for a chance to return to Iowa and coach at the D1 level.

[BCPanther]

Miami allegedly has a $6M roster. I'm all about those teams losing even if it's Drake.

[SteinPizza]

Right. Brought 4 guys with him that are experienced and have plenty of experience playing together and for him. That's incredibly valuable, especially early in the year when you're playing teams that either have freshmen being worked into the rotation or older guys that just haven't played together. Same reason we struggled with UC Irvine, they brought virtually everyone back from the year before, that's why they're excellent to start the season.

Correct. I’m pretty sure one of the other transfers came from Wyoming after McCollum hired a Wyoming assistant. So some familiarity there too.

McCollum and staff can obviously ID under the radar talent and develop them. Four guys coming from DII and playing well so far against D1 competition. I’ve read the DMR articles after their games. Seems like three guys primarily lead them in offensive stats every night, but any one of the three could be leading scorer. It will be interesting to see how MVC teams defend them.

[PantherAlum09]

Drake is very solid again. They pretty much dominated Miami all game yesterday. Very sound defensively, and multiple guys that can score from multiple levels. I'll be trying to watch their 10:30 matchup against FAU. I'll be curious to see how teams adjust to them throughout the year. We got a lot of MVC teams playing today so this should be a busy thread.

[SteinPizza]

We got a lot of MVC teams playing today so this should be a busy thread.

UIC plays one loss LaSalle. Bradley vs 4-2 Wright St could be kind of interesting. SIU takes on 21st ranked Florida. Drake vs FAU which supposedly has a couple of players getting the attention of NBA scouts.

[BCPanther]

Drake-FAU is interesting.

Drake wants to play real slow and run sets and FAU wants 1 pass, 1 action, shot.

Contrasting styles are always fun.

[PantherAlum09]

UIC is hammering LaSalle. up 68-46 at the moment. UIC seems to have a pretty high powered offensive system.

[BCPanther]

UIC did well in the portal. Still don't trust the coaching but they're certainly better than they have been since they joined the league.

Drake looks like UNI circa 2009 with what they do. Going to be an interesting matchup for them with most teams in the league style wise.

[PantherAlum09]

Drake is definitely a problem. Pretty much controlled the game from start to finish again vs. FAU 75-63. Really impressive start for McCollum.

[Gboom23]

I'd sign up for us circa 2009.

After a slow start to the season, the Valley seems to be piling up some wins over the last week. I always enjoy this time of year where we can cheer for all of the Valley teams.

[skydog0784]

Good game on ESPN between Bradley & MTSU. Not sure how tough MTSU is this year but Bradley not overly impressive so far IMO.

Edit: The above didn't age well. Bradley pulling away in second half and looking tough.