Millsaps pulls the University back into a 1-1 tie in this year's Uni-GNE challenge after Rivier tipped things off with a win for the GNE. The bulk of the games are tonight...we'll see if the University can hold on to the Shiny Thing trophy for a second year or if the GNE can even things up at a year apiece.

Four more first loss victims last night, down to six undefeated teams and only one is simmed.

Last Night
#1 Millsaps 81   #7 Johnson and Wales 70
Millsaps is pretty good.  Still undefeated, yada yada yada, Gandalf on the bridge in Moria yelling "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!", etc. etc.

Also considered: #4 Wooster came back from 4 down at the break to take out #21 Emory 81-72, #11 Merchant Marines survived a late 3pt attempt to get the road win over Rivier 65-62, #2 Lynchburg handled Eureka 76-66, #23 Greensboro dealt #16 Trinity their first loss 65-51, #14 Texas Lutheran held on in overtime to beat Capital 76-72, #19 UMass Dartmouth got past Occidental 53-47, and Susquehanna defended the home court against Whittier 70-64.

Sim blowout watch: Hobart and William Smith kept it just close enough to cover against #9 W. New England 50-93.

GotN
#12 Palm Beach Atlantic (8-1)(osgonlz) at #11 Merchant Marines (7-2)(lynchmob1414)
The USA South visits the Skyline for a matchup of two teams just outside the top ten.  Both teams have had impressive non-conference runs so far and will be looking to go into conference play with a win.  osgonlz leads the series 5-3 and the visitors are favored by 1 in this one.

Also considered: #10 Dickinson at #1 Millsaps, #6 Willamette at #7 Johnson and Wales, Mary Washington at #19 UMass Dartmouth, and Northland at #22 Mount St. Mary

University-GNE Challenge: #24 S. Vermont at #21 Emory, Dallas at Sufolk, Hendrix at #9 W. New England, Emmanuel at Louisiana, and Newbury at #16 Trinity.  Millsaps beat JDub and Rivier beat Ozarks earlier to split the first two games.

Sim blowout watch: Blackburn is a 61 point road dog as they travel to take on #14 Texas Lutheran.

I get it... as soon as you move my guys off the main event stage... BAM!  They will lay an egg.  I did enjoy the Gandalf analogy though. 

Keep in mind folks, this is the guy (pseudo) that BEAT Millsaps in the exhibition.  Millsaps may be good, but I don't think this team is close to epic or anything crazy like that.  Another very challenging game tonight vs. Dickinson.

You know, I've been meaning to work my exhibition win over Millsaps into one of these writeups but I couldn't find a good spot for it yet.  I just wish I could've used some of that overtime magic from the exhibition game in my non-conference overtime game.

And don't worry if your team lays an egg at some point, you'll come back better than before.  Just like Gandalf did.

If only I'd been playing Hobart OR William Smith, I could have covered. But since they ganged up on me...oh well, to the film room to game plan for tonight's challenge game. against Hendrix. Here's hoping my guys don't come out in a purple haze..

You are still stewing about our game Pseudochamp. All seriousness that is a crappy way to lose. I couldn't stop laughing on your post after the game.

Stewing about my overtime loss?  Yes.  Upset about it?  No, it was on the road against a solid team and seriously, that was a damn funny way to lose.  But you can certainly expect me to keep bring it up for comedic effect.  It's what I do.

Also, in response to brian's comments yesterday: "I get it... as soon as you move my guys off the main event stage... BAM!  They will lay an egg."  Yeah, I didn't feature Millsaps in the GotN and they beat another ranked team by "only" 24.  My apologies, brian.

May I suggest a house rule that does not allow Brian to have ten upperclassmen on his roster at the same time?  Competitive balance and all that.

Another non-conference season is in the books, enjoy the night off before the conference grind begins.

Last Night
#9 Palm Beach Atlantic 72   #22 Merchant Marines 56
PBA led this one by 9 at the half and then slowly built the lead throughout the second and pulled away for an impressive road win.  Their win was keyed by a solid defensive effort as they limited the Cadets to just 37% shooting from the floor and 21% from 3pt.  PBA and osgonlz finished the non-conference schedule on a winning streak and moved into the top ten.  Merchant Marines and lynchmob stayed in the top 25 despite their third loss on the season.

Also considered: #1 Millsaps keeps rolling with a 103-79 win over #19 Dickinson, #5 Willamette got a huge road win over #13 Johnson and Wales 70-60, #12 UMass Dartmouth got past Mary Washington 57-40, and #15 Mount St. Mary handled Northland 89-74.

University-GNE Challenge: Lots of close games in the challenge this year.  #18 Emory over S. Vermont 50-47 in overtime, Suffolk over Dallas 53-52, #8 W. New England over Hendrix 67-55, Emmanuel over Louisiana in overtime 77-74, and #20 Trinity over Newbury 64-53.  With the 1-1 split in previous games, the final tally is GNE 4 and University 3.  I'm not counting games involving simmed teams, not sure if that's how the organizers are handling it, but I'm unofficially awarding the coveted Shiny Thing to the GNE.  Congrats on the victory and for leveling the all-time series at 1-1.

Sim blowout watch: Blackburn limited #16 Texas Lutheran to double figures and got the cover 52-99.

The Southwestern-St. Joe's game was not a part of the "official challenge lineup" since St. Joe was on sim the season the games were set up, which would make the split 5-4 in the GNE's favor. BUT -- here comes the controversy -- an official challenge game between Sewanee (which is ranked) and St. Joe's (which switched from human to sim this season) wasn't scheduled as it should have been. Assuming a ranked University team could defeat a simmed school (I don't think that's a stretch in logic...), the final count would have been a 5-5 split, with the Shiny Thing staying in the University's possession.

If we're going to count games that should have been scheduled but didn't happen, how about we say that I was going to schedule Millsaps and let's just assume Wooster would've won easily.  Sound good?

Works for me...my apologies for beating you at the buzzer in the national title game though ;)

Seriously!?!  Wooster made it past the second round!?!  Awesome!!!

Ok time to get down to real business, good luck in conference play everyone.

GotN
#11 Sewanee (9-1)(madpad78) at #20 Emory (8-2)(phalla)
We start off with a nice ranked matchup over in the University as two East division foes look to get off to a good start in conference play.  phalla has a big 13-5 lead in the all-time series but the odds-makers have this one as an even pick.

Also considered: #23 Daniel Webster at #13 Johnson and Wales, Dominican at #15 Webster, Ozarks at #19 Trinity, and #24 Whittier at CSU Eastbay

Sim blowout watch: Two poor winless teams are granted spreads in the 80's tonight: Oberlin is an 84 point home dog as they host #3 Wooster and Bridgewater is getting 83 points at they visit #10 Emory and Henry.

ITaLRbHAGotN
Allegheny (7-3)(ezekialstarr) at Earlham (7-3)(paul836)
The North Coast conference gets us started on another season of the poorly named second featured game of the night.  We have two East division teams with identical records and near-identical RPI and SOS.  It's sorta creepy, makes you wonder who's copying off of whom.  The teams are so close the odd-makers have this one as an even pick.  One has two E's and one A in its name while the other has two A's and one E.  Eerie.

Oh for the days I would have salivated for an 84-point win over Oberlin while sitting inside the Mose Hole cheering on the black and gold. That would have been heavenly to witness.