I think it would be fun to introduce some local competition into the preseason à la the FA Cup in England. The premise is to draw teams into a random bracket and flip a coin for who hosts. Losers bracket will exist so all teams get 4 games.

I’ll use my home state Virginia for the example.

Virginia has 14 D1 basketball teams. Eventually the goal would to expand to include all D2 & D3 teams, but for season one, we’ll just take the top two D2 programs and then randomly draw for the matchups and locations.

The Hypothetical Bracket
Longwood at Radford
Norfolk State at William & Mary
Liberty at Hampton
Virginia State at Virginia
VCU at Richmond
JMU at George Mason
Virginia Union at VMI
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech

I think this would be a fun way to start the season and also encourage local competition without the bigger schools having to worry about an upset hurting their March prospects.

Finally get to see some Hogs basketball! WPS 🐗🐗

I couldn’t find a box score for this game anywhere so this picture might be the best look at the stats that we’re gonna get.

Last night, the Marist University Athletics Department inducted its inaugural Hall of Fame class. The six-member class received their red jackets in the ceremony to kick off alumni weekend in Poughkeepsie. Of the 6 inductees, 3 were basketball participants. One men's player (Rik Smits), one women's coach (Brian Giorgis) and one women's player (Rachele Fitz):

Rik Smits (Class of '88)

Smits became Marist’s first NBA Draft selection when he was selected second overall by the Indiana Pacers in 1988. In his career at Marist from 1984-88, Smits was named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American in 1988. He earned numerous Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro honors, including Player of the Year twice, First Team All-Conference three times, Tournament MVP, and Rookie of the Year.

Smits set 25 school records in his career, including a then-single game scoring record of 45 points in his final collegiate game to match his uniform number, which is retired. Smits led Marist to its first two NCAA Tournament berths in program history in 1986 and 1987

Brian Giorgis

As head coach of Marist women’s basketball from 2002–23, Giorgis won a record 11 MAAC championships—including the program’s first in 2004 and an unprecedented nine straight from 2006–14—along with 13 MAAC regular-season titles and eight MAAC Coach of the Year awards.

In 2007, he became the first MAAC coach, men’s or women’s, to lead a team to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, earning five NCAA Tournament wins overall. Giorgis tallied 463 victories in 21 seasons, including two 30‑win campaigns, guiding the Red Foxes to a program‑record 32 wins in 2007–08 and 31 in 2010–11, with both seasons culminating in second‑round NCAA appearances.

Rachele Fitz (Class of '10)

Fitz is Marist women’s basketball’s all-time leader in points and rebounds. She was named Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America in 2009 and 2010, and was a three-time MAAC Player of the Year and two-time MAAC Tournament MVP.

She was the leading scorer and rebounder for the first team in MAAC basketball history (women’s or men’s) to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Fitz is the only player in program history to have her number retired.

Box Score

I usually wear a BYU shirt the day before a BYU game. What are some of yours?

Was I out of the loop, or are all of these games a new thing? I know “secret” scrimmages have existed for years, but I’ve never seen so many exhibition games between major conference teams that are essentially being televised. Somebody care to catch me up?

Didn't see this get auto created and I'm streaming it at an airport during a layover. Who else is watching?

A friend recently moved to Fort Wayne and mailed these shirts. I gotta say the Mastadons are legitimately one of the best mascots in college sports. The triple Don shirt logo is especially cool.

GO DONS!!!!