Today In The Valley (Nov. 14)
Missouri State (#211 CHN preseason ranking) at Auburn (#146 CHN preseason ranking)
The Bears, sans the Lil’ General Barry Hinson, open their 2008-2009 season on the road. They’ll christen a new home floor and arena next weekend against another SEC foe (Arkansas), but for their season opener new coach Cuonzo Martin and his team head to Auburn to face the Tigers.
Starting a season on the road against an SEC school is tough enough. To do it with only 8 healthy players escalates the degree of difficulty even more. Chris Cooks and Spencer Laurie, two familiar faces for Valley fans, will hold down the backcourt for the Bears. But relying on a frontcourt and bench staring little-used senior Wade Knapp, sophomore Ryan Jehle, and freshmen Isaiah Rhine, John Hayward-Mayhew, Kyle Weems, and Cardell McFarland will probably prove too tough a task for Martin to notch a win in his first regular season game as Papa Bear.
Still, according to his bio, Wade Knapp chose Missouri State over Auburn, among other schools. So, maybe he can translate that into some motivating factor, surpass his career high in points (8), and start his senior year with a bang. That’s a big maybe.
Auburn and Coach Jeff Lebo can feel Cuonzo’s pain, though. Last season, the team regularly played with only 6 or 7 scholarship players due to massive amounts of injuries to Tigers players. And while Missouri State is a bit young coming into the night’s contest, Auburn returns three seniors with gaudy statistics and experiences. Quantez Robertson has started all 90 games in his three years as a Tiger and led the SEC in minutes played last season. He posted 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals per game. He’s joined by Rasheem Barrett (14 points, 4 rebounds) and Korvotney Barber (14 points, 7 rebounds in just 10 games played before injury) as the elder leaders for Auburn.
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Bradley (#64 CHN preseason ranking) vs. Illinois-Chicago (#154 CHN preseason ranking)
For the first time in what seems like forever, Jim Les starts a season without the services of Daniel Ruffin and Jeremy Crouch. Good riddance, say Jays fans. It leaves a little to be desired for Braves fans, though, and a loss in their second and final exhibition game (to Wisconsin … Platteville?!) surely left the proud fans in Peoria wondering what the early stages of this season will behold.
Unlike Missouri State, Les’ bunch opens at home against a familiar foe: the UIC Flames. Valley fans who pay attention to the league’s non-conference schedule will see the Flames a few times; once five days from now against Northern Iowa, and again in a month at Illinois State. Heck, they might even square off against a MVC team in the ESPNU BracketBusters game in late February.
The familiarity between these two schools is only recent, however. UIC posted an 84-75 win over the Braves this time last year. The Flames return Horizon preseason player of the year Josh Mayo (O.J.!?), who averaged 17 points per game last year and poured in 34 big ones against Bradley in that season-opening win. Other than that, the two schools have split two previous meetings.
But you can forgive the Bradley players if they let their minds wander a bit before (or maybe even during) this contest; they’ve got vacation on their minds. They turn around for a quick trip to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators on Sunday. Then, a week later, they head back to the Sunshine State to take on UMKC, Florida Gulf Coast, and Richmond in consecutive days before Thanksgiving in Ft. Myers.
Les’ Braves will be applying some sun block in a few days to avoid getting burned, but watch out that the Flames from UIC don’t scorch them before they get to the beach.
The Bears, sans the Lil’ General Barry Hinson, open their 2008-2009 season on the road. They’ll christen a new home floor and arena next weekend against another SEC foe (Arkansas), but for their season opener new coach Cuonzo Martin and his team head to Auburn to face the Tigers.
Starting a season on the road against an SEC school is tough enough. To do it with only 8 healthy players escalates the degree of difficulty even more. Chris Cooks and Spencer Laurie, two familiar faces for Valley fans, will hold down the backcourt for the Bears. But relying on a frontcourt and bench staring little-used senior Wade Knapp, sophomore Ryan Jehle, and freshmen Isaiah Rhine, John Hayward-Mayhew, Kyle Weems, and Cardell McFarland will probably prove too tough a task for Martin to notch a win in his first regular season game as Papa Bear.
Still, according to his bio, Wade Knapp chose Missouri State over Auburn, among other schools. So, maybe he can translate that into some motivating factor, surpass his career high in points (8), and start his senior year with a bang. That’s a big maybe.
Auburn and Coach Jeff Lebo can feel Cuonzo’s pain, though. Last season, the team regularly played with only 6 or 7 scholarship players due to massive amounts of injuries to Tigers players. And while Missouri State is a bit young coming into the night’s contest, Auburn returns three seniors with gaudy statistics and experiences. Quantez Robertson has started all 90 games in his three years as a Tiger and led the SEC in minutes played last season. He posted 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals per game. He’s joined by Rasheem Barrett (14 points, 4 rebounds) and Korvotney Barber (14 points, 7 rebounds in just 10 games played before injury) as the elder leaders for Auburn.
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Bradley (#64 CHN preseason ranking) vs. Illinois-Chicago (#154 CHN preseason ranking)
For the first time in what seems like forever, Jim Les starts a season without the services of Daniel Ruffin and Jeremy Crouch. Good riddance, say Jays fans. It leaves a little to be desired for Braves fans, though, and a loss in their second and final exhibition game (to Wisconsin … Platteville?!) surely left the proud fans in Peoria wondering what the early stages of this season will behold.
Unlike Missouri State, Les’ bunch opens at home against a familiar foe: the UIC Flames. Valley fans who pay attention to the league’s non-conference schedule will see the Flames a few times; once five days from now against Northern Iowa, and again in a month at Illinois State. Heck, they might even square off against a MVC team in the ESPNU BracketBusters game in late February.
The familiarity between these two schools is only recent, however. UIC posted an 84-75 win over the Braves this time last year. The Flames return Horizon preseason player of the year Josh Mayo (O.J.!?), who averaged 17 points per game last year and poured in 34 big ones against Bradley in that season-opening win. Other than that, the two schools have split two previous meetings.
But you can forgive the Bradley players if they let their minds wander a bit before (or maybe even during) this contest; they’ve got vacation on their minds. They turn around for a quick trip to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators on Sunday. Then, a week later, they head back to the Sunshine State to take on UMKC, Florida Gulf Coast, and Richmond in consecutive days before Thanksgiving in Ft. Myers.
Les’ Braves will be applying some sun block in a few days to avoid getting burned, but watch out that the Flames from UIC don’t scorch them before they get to the beach.
posted by Creighton Otter at 12:01 AM
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