Wheaties taste better than Total.  Everyone knows that.

Once again time to kick off the season of Game of the Day writeups, feel free to dance with joy.  My laptop has been misbehaving the last couple days so I haven't been able to post the updated dynasty rankings, hopefully I can get to that tonight.  Good luck in the non-conference season everyone.

GotN
#21 Webster (0-0)(mschulte24) at #23 Wisconsin La Crosse (0-0)(sniperx)
Only one game between ranked teams on day one and it gets the nod as our featured game.  It's St. Louis conference vs Wisconsin conference with the Gorloks visiting the Eagles for a big midwest clash.  sniperx is one of our new coaches so this is obviously the first meeting between these two, the home team is favored by 1.

Also considered: Susquehanna at #2 Menlo, #8 Texas Lutheran at Transylvania, Worcester St. at #15 Ramapo, #16 Millsaps at Baldwin-Wallace, Emmanuel at #18 Earlham, and #22 Trinity at St. Lawrence

Sim blowout watch: North Central is a big 69 point home dog as they host #7 Vassar and CSU Eastbay is getting 57 points at home to #1 Chapman.

Finally had a few minutes to check the forums today.  EZ-hopefully the anxiety I've caused you hasn't lowered my coach score or anything.

Bullman-I had a good chuckle at 29099 = high school class rank.  Well done, and only off by 29095.  

Time for the big reveal (big is quite the overstatement as everyone is about to realize how lame I am).  No one was entirely correct.  The darnoc part was easy.  Last name backwards.  When I met some new people in college they immediately recognized my last name backwards was 'darnoc' and it became my nickname for 4 years.  The '99 is when I started college.  The 290 is the lame part (well, lamer than the other 2 at least).  I bowl...there, I said it.  And 290 was my first honor score.  When I started college I was probably the only person on campus that didn't have an AIM ID.  When I sat down to make one this was the first thing I thought of and it's stuck with me ever since.  I've wanted to change my standard username forever but pretty much assumed if I made a new ID I'd immediately forget what it was.  And there you have it....the reveal of darnoc29099.

Good luck to everyone in Rupp D3 this year!  (Except Wooster).

You know, I think I tried TurkeyKing as a ID here and it was taken.

Posted by bullman17 on 8/7/2014 2:50:00 PM (view original):
Wheaties taste better than Total.  Everyone knows that.

+1

Posted by scaturo on 8/7/2014 8:29:00 PM (view original):
You know, I think I tried TurkeyKing as a ID here and it was taken.

It's my alt.

What the term Stat of the Day?

Two time defending national champions Milsaps comes to Cleveland and over the first 35:32 shoots 18-51 (or a touch over 35%) against the upstart music majors of Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory. Milsaps then makes their last 8 FGs to turn an 11 point deficit into a 2 point win.

Posted by scaturo on 8/7/2014 10:39:00 AM (view original):
Any system that ranks nacho's team ahead of mine is flawed. Seriously. Like megaseriously.

That's like saying Wheaties taste better than Total.

Nah, it's got it about right. When it comes down to it, my team is like the original Sharknado while your team is more like Sharknado 2....the sequel may have all the bells and whistles, but it lacks the substance of the original.

See, I'm even better than you at analogies, player.

So there's a bowling connection involved in darnoc29099's user ID, thereby continuing the world's unprecedented streak of every single story in history starting with the words "So I'm a bowler..." turning out to be seriously dorky.  Also, you only need a 290 series to qualify as an honor score?  Wow, I sorta assumed college bowlers were better than that.

Last Night
#10 Webster 62   Wisconsin La Crosse 52
The LC was up by 2 at the half but the Gorloks came out of the break and played some inspired defense in the second half, holding the home team to just 19 points.  That's what Gorloks do sometimes, they just lull you into a sense of complacency and then before you know it, you've been Gorloked and there's nothing you can do about it.  Webster and mschulte bounced up into the top ten with the season-opening win.

Also considered: #1 Menlo opened a big lead in the first half and coasted to a 86-60 win over Susquehanna, #13 Transylvania moved into the rankings with a 74-67 take-down of Texas Lutheran, #6 Ramapo took care of Worcester St. at home 81-66, #15 Millsaps came back from 15 down in the second half and beat Baldwin-Wallace at the buzzer 64-62, #8 Earlham outscored Emmanuel 48-38 in the first half... no wait, that's a final score... quite the shoot-out there, and #14 Trinity got past St. Lawrence on the road 79-62.

Sim blowout watch: North Central kept it fairly respectable and easily covered against #20 Vassar 61-86 while CSU Eastbay did quite a bit more than keep it respectable.  They covered alright, they went ahead and beat the formerly #1 ranked Chapman 59-56.  I'm pretty sure that's a first for the blowout watch.

GotN
#11 Wittenberg (1-0)(darnoc29099) at #16 Palm Beach Atlantic (1-0)(osgonlz)
Wittenberg hit the head pin in their first game and look to continue their striking ways as they travel down to Florida to face PBA.  (Professional Bowlers Association!)  The loser here will have to get out their spare ball and um... something with a split?  I'm out of dumb bowling jokes, someone help me out here.

Also considered: North Carolina Wesleyan at #2 US Merchant Marines, #5 Kenyon at Maine Maritime, Dickinson at #15 Millsaps, #17 Occidental at Babson, Johnson and Wales at #20 Vassar, #23 Bridgewater at Christopher Newport, and Maryville at #25 Suffolk.

Sim blowout watch: Wesleyan is getting 55 points when they travel to #6 Ramapo.

The GoTN write up today was a real Turkey

At least it was clean.

Here's a stat of the day...Vassar beats Johnson & Wales 72-70 (thanks to PF Steve Ward, who was 5-5 from the line, all in the last 90 seconds, and who scored a go-ahead 3-point play with five ticks left on the clock ).

The stat I want to highlight is this...that brings my coaching record up to a lofty 1-16 versus spasticity.  In 44 seasons (all but one at Vassar) and 1329 games, I have a total of 226 losses to my name.  16 of those losses are to spasticity and his J&W squad--which means that over 7 percent of my total losses are to a single nonconference opponent.  Put another way--my winning percentage versus spas: .059; versus everyone else: .840.

In fact, as far back as WIS records go, Vassar has as many or more losses to J&W than to eight of my eleven fellow Empire 8 conference opponents.  Needless to say, spasticity has been drinking my milkshake (and eating my bacon sandwich) for quite a long time now...so it's quite nice to finally get a taste of that shake--even with the caveat that J&W is switching offenses this season.

Last Night
Wittenberg 63   #8 Palm Beach Atlantic 66
The visitors had an 8 point lead at the halfway mark and maintained the lead all the way until just over four minutes left in the game.  PBA then tied the game at 59 with an and-one.  Both teams then put on a clinic of gutter balls the rest of the way with the home team managing one more basket and making their free throws to clinch it.  PBA and osgonlz climbed up to the top ten with the home win while Wittenberg and darnoc fall into the others receiving votes section.

Also considered: #21 North Carolina Wesleyan upset previously ranked US Merchant Marines 62-45, #2 Kenyon handled Maine Maritime 100-62, #12 Millsaps held serve at home against Dickinson 70-57, #9 Occidental slipped by Babson 70-65, #15 Vassar got a clutch basket-and-one with five seconds left to edge Johnson and Wales 72-70, #7 Bridgewater downed Christopher Newport 90-68, and #20 Suffolk got past Maryville 52-47.

Sim blowout watch: Wesleyan certainly didn't score much but they got enough to still cover against #16 Ramapo 39-82.

GotN
#24 Bowdoin(2-0)(miccon1982) at #4 Emory (2-0)(jojoe)
Undefeated teams from the NESCAC and University conference meet up in one of our two games tonight between ranked teams.  This will easily be both teams' toughest test early in the season and it's the first meeting between the two coaches.  The home team is favored by a slim 2 points.

Also considered: #14 Wentworth Tech at #8 Palm Beach Atlantic, Webster at #2 Kenyon, #6 Whittier at Chapman, US Merchant Marines at #12 Millsaps, UMass Darthmouth at #18 Austin, Texas Lutheran at #21 North Carolina Wesleyan, Northland at #22 Transylvania, and #25 Hiram at Utica

Sim blowout watch: Winless Endicott is getting a massive 76 points as they host #15 Vassar.

How about we just pretend this was posted yesterday, cool?  Cool.

Last Night (not really)
#12 Bowdoin 68   #14 Emory 66   (OT)
This one turned out to be an gripping, close affair from start to finish.  Home-team Emory had a slim one point advantage at the half but feel behind shortly after the restart.  Bowdoin stayed in front until the eight minute mark when Emory went back ahead, staying there until two Bowdoin free throws with nine seconds left tied the game again.  Emory had to feel they let it slip away after going one for two at the line twice in the final minute and then missing a potential game winner at the buzzer.  There was more misery for the home team in extra time when they missed another free throw late and then missed a lay-in as time expired that would've forced a second overtime.  But Bowdoin had done just enough to escape with the clutch road victory and dealt Emory their first loss on the season.

Also considered: #21 Palm Beach Atlantic came from behind to edge #22 Wentworth Tech 77-73, #1 Kenyon held off Webster 69-54, #16 Chapman upset #24 Whittier 74-64, #9 US Merchant Marines got the road win at Millsaps 70-57, #10 UMass Dartmouth handled Austin 79-65, #8 North Carolina Wesleyan nipped Texas Lutheran 84-81, #25 Northland knocked Transylvania out of the rankings with a 81-76 defeat, and #5 Hiram cruised past Utica 78-46.

Sim blowout watch: Endicott is still winless but they covered with ease against Vassar 57-80.

GotN
#7 Occidental (3-0)(dtm1500) at #5 Palm Beach Atlantic (3-0)(osgonlz)
It's So.Cal versus USA South in a nice matchup of undefeated top ten teams sure to be an exciting finish.  And I'm totally not saying that just because I'm writing this after the fact and have already looked at the play-by-play.  The visitors are favored by a single point.

Also considered: #8 North Carolina Wesleyan at Aurora, Ursinius at #9 US Merchant Marines, Maryville at #15 Newbury, Willamette at #17 Hendrix, #22 Wentworth Tech at Bridgewater, and #23 Wooster at Whitworth

Sim blowout watch: Nazareth is getting 43 points as they host #16 S. Vermont while Dubuque is a 44 point home dog against #4 Hamline.

Remember when we were making fun of darnoc and bowling?  Those were good times.

Last Night
#4 Occidental 78   #21 Palm Beach Atlantic 75
As I amazingly and accurately predicted "yesterday" this turned out be an excellent game with an exciting finish.  Visiting Occidental was up by 1 at the break and increased their lead in the second half, holding an 11 point lead with four and a half minutes left.  That's when Palm Beach Atlantic made a serious run, scoring 8 unanswered and closing the gap to just 3.  Occidental was up by 4 with a minute left, the teams traded buckets and free throws until PBA missed a short jumper that would've tied the game with five seconds left.  Occidental made another free throw, a fullcourt prayer went unanswered and the home fans went home sad.

Also considered: #8 North Carolina Wesleyan got past Aurora on the road 80-71, #9 US Merchant Marines took care of Ursinus 63-48, #15 Newbury defended the home court against Maryville 64-53, #17 Hendrix edged Willamette 80-76, #22 Wentworth Tech won on the road at Bridgewater 76-66, and #23 Wooster used a late 3ptr to force overtime and then scored a jumper in the final second to steal a win at Whitworth 83-81.

Sim blowout watch: Both sims scored 46 which was good enough for the cover in both cases: Nazareth fell to #18 S. Vermont 46-83 and Dubuque lost to #7 Hamline 46-80.

GotN
#8 North Carolina Wesleyan (3-1)(nastynick60) at #23 Wooster (4-0)(pseudochamp)
We've got a packed schedule tonight with four games between ranked opponents, we'll go with the one that's an even pick according to the odds-makers.  One loss NC-Wes travels to take on undefeated Wooster in a USA South/North Coast clash.  The two coaches have split their previous two meetings, everything says this one will be close.

Also considered: #20 Wittenberg at #4 Occidental, #14 Emory at #7 Hamline, #16 Chapman at #22 Wentworth Tech, Texas Lutheran at #9 US Merchant Marines, and Austin at #12 Bowdoin

Sim blowout watch: Marywood is a 46 point home dog facing #13 Ramapo.