Games of Interest 11/22

[Da Coach]

Tough break for UIC.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=200811220268

[tornado]

Illinois State vs. Houston Baptist, 5:00pm CT...

Houston Baptist (RPI 329) is new to D-I but they haven't shied away from playing the big boys...
not that I am counting ISU as a big boy, but Houston Baptist has also played at Marquette, where they got drummed by 31, but last night they got hammered at Villanova by 36, 93-57.
They also have Ohio State, Iowa State, and Wyoming coming up...

Thus far they are winless, 0-7, so are there any takers if we decided
to bet on whether they will actually win a game this season??

They play some pretty substantial weaklings this season...so maybe they can eke out a win in one of their two games
against New Jersey Institute of Technology, or maybe they can get that elusive first D-I win against the famous "SW Assemblies of God" on Feb. 26.

BTW--NJIT is on a pretty major STREAK...
they were 0-29 last season (and dead last at 341 RPI), and so far this season they are 0-6 (330 RPI), PLUS they lost their final 4 games of a 5-24 season in 2006-2007 as well.
So....they have now lost 39 games in a row......
this is an embarassment, and I think the NCAA should tell them to get lost and drop back to DII or DIII where they belong...and maybe replace them with Platteville.

One more thing....NJIT's HOME ATTENDANCE the past four seasons??
2005-2006 - 110
2006-2007 - 482
2007-2008 - 596
2008-2009 - 509
plus, Platteville averages about 1000 per home game, better than a lot of D-I's

[scout4126]

I'll take the bet. They've got enough talent to beat some of the bad D-I teams in their schedule. Gordon Watt played at both Boston College and Purdue and started as a Boilermaker and he's been playing very well. If they have everyone around him buy into their system and realize that he's their leader, they would have much more success. But as of right now, it seems as if they are fighting each other.

[RedbirdFan21]

I'll take the bet. They've got enough talent to beat some of the bad D-I teams in their schedule. Gordon Watt played at both Boston College and Purdue and started as a Boilermaker and he's been playing very well. If they have everyone around him buy into their system and realize that he's their leader, they would have much more success. But as of right now, it seems as if they are fighting each other.

Seems to be the case Scout... I was listening to the ISU/HB game and all they were saying on the radio is everyone was playing one on one baseketball. Watt was a stud and dropped over 30 on us, if I remember correctly. He became a bit of a ball hog, but apparently it was because it was one pass, then a shot- no ball movement at all. So if he gave the ball up, he never got it back. Seems like they either aren't buying into the coaches system, or the coach doesnt have a system to buy into

[tornado]

Houston Baptist also has Wendell Preadom, who left Wichita State and transferred to HBU, and Emanuel Willis, an Auburn transfer, plus 3 other D-I transfers.
Preadom however is not playing as he has to sit out a year after transfer.

[tornado]

BTW--NJIT is on a pretty major STREAK...
...they have now lost 39 games in a row......

NJIT loses again and collects its 40th consecutive LOSS!

http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/index.ssf/2008/12/njit_mens_basketball_loses_40t.html