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Three games Monday night in the Big East, with one in particular being a great chance for a nice win...

Monday Nov 13th 2017:
#15 Minnesota at Providence, 6:30pm, FS1.
Delaware State at DePaul, 8pm, FS2.
Rider at #17 Xavier, 8:30pm, FS1.

Richard Pitino is a Providence alum, graduating in around 2004 or so. He was like 4 years old during the Friars' Final Four run in 87. Now he's coming to the Dunk as an opposing coach. That's kinda weird. Big win opportunity for the Friars. I don't know much about this highly regarded Gophers team, except they easily got bounced in the 1st round last year, returned a bunch of players, and were rewarded with a #15 ranking... i mean, WTF? Providence fits that exact same description (though we weren't "easily" bounced) and we're not ranked... i mean, c'mon... the Friars are gonna be freakin pissed tomorrow night.

DePaul looked solid on Saturday. They seemed to have a different and better attitude. They should handle Delaware State out of the MEAC. Held close to the Irish, a team to me that is so freakin boring... jack threes, shove opponents under the hoop, and get offensive rebounds for putbacks... zzzzz... get a PG who makes believe he's good by pointing a lot at his teammates and at random things on both ends of the court... zzzzz... this has been Mike Brey's template for 15 years... if this is a top tier ACC team, then the ACC sucks this year.

Xavier was all class on Friday night. So many options, effortless. The Rider Broncs out of the MAAC have a tough draw at the Cintas.

Is 3-0 do-able?

billyjack wrote:Three games Monday night in the Big East, with one in particular being a great chance for a nice win...
I don't know much about this highly regarded Gophers team, except they easily got bounced in the 1st round last year, returned a bunch of players, and were rewarded with a #15 ranking... i mean, WTF? Providence fits that exact same description (though we weren't "easily" bounced) and we're not ranked... i mean, c'mon... the Friars are gonna be freakin pissed tomorrow night.

Well, Minnesota is returning almost everyone from a team that earned a 5 seed and Providence is returning everyone from a team that was in the last four in. Not quite the same thing. That being said, I had Providence penciled in as a W in the preseason. Now that Holt is out, it will be trickier but I still think they get it done at home. Should be a good game.

-Minnesota at Providence (-3.5)
TV: FS1, Tim Brando pbp & Bill Raftery color

-Delaware State at DePaul (-22)
TV: FS2, Lisa Byington (play-by-play) & LaChina Robinson (analysis)

Rider at Xavier (-23)
TV: FS1, Vince Welch, Jordan Cornette

Creighton lost a secret scrimmage AT Minnesota a few weeks ago by like 10. Hopefully Mac gave Cooley a good scouting report, should be a tossup IMO.

I don't know why I did this, but I decided to choose DePaul as my Big East team. I'm a BYU fan (please expand to the west and bring BYU and GU to the Big East) and I've always liked watching Big East basketball games so that's why I'm here.

After watching the ND game, I hope that DePaul does better at finishing at the rim and improves their perimeter defense.

#GoBlueDemons

billyjack wrote:Three games Monday night in the Big East, with one in particular being a great chance for a nice win...

Monday Nov 13th 2017:
#15 Minnesota at Providence, 6:30pm, FS1.
Delaware State at DePaul, 8pm, FS2.
Rider at #17 Xavier, 8:30pm, FS1.

Richard Pitino is a Providence alum, graduating in around 2004 or so. He was like 4 years old during the Friars' Final Four run in 87. Now he's coming to the Dunk as an opposing coach. That's kinda weird. Big win opportunity for the Friars. I don't know much about this highly regarded Gophers team, except they easily got bounced in the 1st round last year, returned a bunch of players, and were rewarded with a #15 ranking... i mean, WTF? Providence fits that exact same description (though we weren't "easily" bounced) and we're not ranked... i mean, c'mon... the Friars are gonna be freakin pissed tomorrow night.

DePaul looked solid on Saturday. They seemed to have a different and better attitude. They should handle Delaware State out of the MEAC. Held close to the Irish, a team to me that is so freakin boring... jack threes, shove opponents under the hoop, and get offensive rebounds for putbacks... zzzzz... get a PG who makes believe he's good by pointing a lot at his teammates and at random things on both ends of the court... zzzzz... this has been Mike Brey's template for 15 years... if this is a top tier ACC team, then the ACC sucks this year.

Xavier was all class on Friday night. So many options, effortless. The Rider Broncs out of the MAAC have a tough draw at the Cintas.

Is 3-0 do-able?

IMO the Friars are underrated going into this season. I expect them to be battling for a BE championship despite the loss of Holt. The game against Minnesota should be a war as both teams are loaded with experienced players. Very high level matchup for this early in the season.

aggroxcraig wrote:I don't know why I did this, but I decided to choose DePaul as my Big East team. I'm a BYU fan (please expand to the west and bring BYU and GU to the Big East) and I've always liked watching Big East basketball games so that's why I'm here.

After watching the ND game, I hope that DePaul does better at finishing at the rim and improves their perimeter defense.

#GoBlueDemons

Are you a glutton for punishment? I understand not wanting to be a front runner in picking a secondary team, but you've gone the complete opposite direction.

Oh well, welcome to the board! Maybe having a BYU fan's perspective during the 487th realignment thread when that inevitably pops up will breathe some fresh air into the topic.

aggroxcraig wrote:I don't know why I did this, but I decided to choose DePaul as my Big East team. I'm a BYU fan (please expand to the west and bring BYU and GU to the Big East) and I've always liked watching Big East basketball games so that's why I'm here.

After watching the ND game, I hope that DePaul does better at finishing at the rim and improves their perimeter defense.

#GoBlueDemons

Welcome! I see BYU as a highly unlikely candidate for our conference due to your football program among other things, but I think the Blue Demons are going places. A dominant team in Chicago would do wonders for our conference, that's for sure.

Let's go PC!

The Friars had me worried to start this game, but after a nice 10-2 run they look pretty impressive with Ashton-Langford and Watson on the floor.