Leatherneck Nation

January 1, 2022 at St. Thomas at 2 PM
The Tommies are 7-7 overall in their first year as a DI school and are 1-1 in the Summit League.

• Lost at Chicago State, 77-72
• Won at St. Francis College, 97-73
• Lost at Fordham, 84-78
• YSU/J. Arnold Wealth Management Company Basketball Tournament
  • Lost at Youngstown State, 79-75
  • Beat Niagra University, 76-67
  • Beat SIU-E, 86-73
• Lost at Seattle University, 81-64
• Beat DIII Crown College, 73-53
• Lost at Drake, 74-64
• Lost against Montana State, 72-65
• Beat DIII Northland College, 109-50
• Won at Omaha, 80-73
• Lost at Denver, 75-74
• Beat DIII North Central University, 97-45

NET Rating: WIU 123, UST 211
BPI: WIU 180, UST 282
KenPom: WIU 168, UST 282
Massey: WIU 196, UST 293
Massey Prediction: 58% chance of WIU win, projected score of 78-75
Massey Composite (includes 40 different rankings): WIU 166, UST 269

Another nail-biter if we don't start hitting some 3s with much higher consistency.  If teams step out and pressure us on the perimeter, we do seem to struggle a bit.   Iowa had a soft pressure 3/4 zone trap the entire game against us, even tighted it up a time or two forcing us to use a time out, just to keep us uncomfortable and it worked IMO.  We never did get comfy from the beyond the arc.
 

That first flurry of threes WIU missed early in the game was pretty much nail in the coffin. Almost seemed like that was the early game plan. Come out chuck the three. If hit half of them, which they are capable of, start attacking the hoop grind the game down. 

Sports Chat Place has Western as a 3.5 point favorite in today's game.  Their write-up refers to us as the "Western Carolina Catamounts" a few times.  But it is definitely about us:
 https://sportschatplace.com/college-bas ... ions-odds/

The game can be seen here.  Saint Thomas says that it is "FREE":
https://tommiesports.com/watch/?Live=176&type=Live


 
 
 

wiu712 wrote: Sat Jan 01, 2022 7:15 am Sports Chat Place has Western as a 3.5 point favorite in today's game.  Their write-up refers to us as the "Western Carolina Catamounts" a few times.  But it is definitely about us:
 https://sportschatplace.com/college-bas ... ions-odds/

The game can be seen here.  Saint Thomas says that it is "FREE":
https://tommiesports.com/watch/?Live=176&type=Live
 

Looks like that first article was probably written by AI. No actual analysis or commentary, just stats and stuff pulled from data sites.

Not exactly the start I was looking to see after shoverling the driveway.  Every game on the road is a grind in the Summit.

These Tommie midgets need to be pounded. I hope the big fella puts a hurt on these tommies in more way than one. Should have been a flop. 
 

The best start ever is coming back to haunt us.  Come conference season, you want the guys to be hungry for a win.  

I had coach in my very early days who would pull all the starters about this time in the game just to make a statement.
 
 
 

Hopefully the first half knocked the rust off and the shooting can start to get going. 

Down to 5 and back to 20. Ouch.  Wheels off wagon.