One night down and we have a new top ranked team as Greensboro moves up into the top spot.  Also, we're down to 193 undefeated teams (two teams had a bye last night).

Last Night
#6 Susquehanna 70   #15 Ursinus 57
After a pretty close first half, the visitors decided to kick the offense into high gear in the second half and quickly extended their lead to double digits.  Susquehanna almost doubled their scoring output in the second half and maintained the lead all the way through to send the local fans home disappointed.  Susquehanna and zeuspole had four starters in double figures including 19 from guard Charles Patterson, with the win they move up into the top ten of the rankings.  Ursinus and barjaz shot well from the floor despite the loss but their 19 turnovers may have doomed them to the season-opening defeat.

Also considered: #9 Millsaps secured a key road victory over #23 Texas Lutheran 80-74, Dickinson scored a minor upset against US Merchant Marines 75-61, and #14 S. Vermont had no trouble with North Carolina Wesleyan 72-59.

Sim blowout watch: Shockingly, both 70+ point underdogs easily covered at home: Case Western 65-96 against #12 Emory and Anderson 43-70 against #16 Suffolk.

GotN
#22 Hardin-Simmons (1-0)(sublightd) at #2 Piedmont (1-0)(bunkerbuster)
It's another good slate of games tonight, headlined by three battles between ranked teams.  I'm going with the #22/#2 game mainly because of the awesome symmetry that it provides after the #11/#1 game yesterday.  If we have a #33/#3 matchup tomorrow night, it's going to be damn eerie.  Anyway, both of these teams easily won their first game and now take a big step up in competition.  bunkerbuster won the only other game between these two coaches and his team is favored by 6 points at home in this one.

Also considered: #13 Louisiana at #21 Wittenberg, #20 Howard Payne at #16 Suffolk, #6 Susquehanna at Palm Beach Atlantic, Dickinson at #9 Millsaps.

Sim blowout watch: MacMurray is getting a tasty 84 points as they visit the Stormy Petrels of #4 Oglethorpe.  When you find out that the Stormy Petrel is just a small seabird native to the southern hemisphere, that mascot loses a few coolness points.  I still like the name though.  Elsewhere, Lakeland is a 48 point home dog vs the #17 ranked Webster Gorloks.  Gorloks.

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah I made the slowdown decision after last night and will stick with that for the remainder. I didn't recruit very well the past few years so knew this year was gonna be tough. Even with my low ratings, i did figure my better ATH/DEF would counteract that. Lol guess not.

And fwiw, every guy I have under 60 ST, still has high potential. Just for endure the year I suppose but I refuse to let a sim win the conference lol

That bites. ahead 66-63 with 30 secs to go, they hid a shot, we miss 2 free throws they score a go-ahead layup with 6 secs to go, we miss a bb from close range. Its not huge, but it bites

Posted by brianxavier on 8/23/2013 10:11:00 AM (view original):
sometimes I am guilty at looking at a player and thinking -- "that guy is very average...why did HOF coach grab him?"  then I check his stamina and it's in the 90s.  I have learned not to underestimate those guys.  Especially after I lose the game.  Greensboro has done that to me a number of times it seems.

This is exactly what I thought when I saw J&W nab Bryan Davis.  If I remember correctly, he was available late until signing day but I couldn't get past his ath and def and that's why I passed on him.  Turns out many of his highs were of the h/h variety, and this skill set is pretty sweet for fb/fcp.  This is why spas has titles and Wittenberg can't get out of the 2nd round of the NT.  (That is if Witt doesn't draw a horrible first round matchup and lose to a massively under-seeded 14-seed, not that I'm still bitter or anything). 

Not many changes at the of the rankings but we're down to 112 undefeated teams.  Hard-hitting analysis right there.

Last Night
Hardin-Simmons 70   #2 Piedmont 97
I'm not exactly killing it the first two days in picking exciting games to feature, my bad.  Piedmont opened up a lead early in the first half and never really looked back as they made almost 50% of their shots to threaten triple figures.  That combined with their defense holding Hardin-Simmons to just 40% shooting from the floor equals an easy victory.  Piedmont and bunkerbuster keep rolling in the #2 ranking while Hardin-Simmons and sublightd suffer their first loss.

Also considered: #16 Wittenberg held off a late rally by Louisiana to secure the home win 70-64, #10 Suffolk got past Howard Payne 69-56, #4 Susquehanna cruised by Palm Beach Atlantic 67-54, and #5 Millsaps downed Dickinson 72-61.

Sim blowout watch: MacMurray easily covered against #9 Oglethorpe 53-85 as did Lakeland vs #23 Webster 59-82.  Gorloks.

GotN
#16 Wittenberg (2-0)(darnoc29099) at #23 Webster (2-0)(mschulte24)
Well, I'm going with this game as the featured game tonight mainly because the rankings voters screwed me out of my creepy foreshadowed #33/#3 matchup.  We have Eureka visiting #3 Johnson and Wales but Eureka currently resides at #30.  Oh so close.  But still a little creepy.  Also a little creepy, tonight's featured game is a rematch of last season's first round NT battle that darnoc referred to in the previous post.  Let the bitterness begin!  It should be a close battle between ranked teams as the Wittenberg boringly-named Tigers visit the Webster crazy-awesomely-named Gorloks.  mschulte won the only previous game between these two (much to darnoc's chagrin) but the odds-makers have this one as a dead even pick.  Hopefully they're right and we get a close game.  And hopefully darnoc doesn't have a mental breakdown thinking about last season's NT seeding.

Also considered: #7 Ozarks at #2 Piedmont, #12 Calvin at Howard Payne, #13 Christopher Newport at Rhodes, and #15 Ursinus at E. Texas Baptist

Sim blowout watch: We have two teams getting 50 points tonight: E. Mennonite hosting #9 Oglethorpe and St. Joseph's at #18 New York U.  Also we have a lopsided civil war game as New England is a 42 point home dog as they host #8 W. New England.  You'd think the western part of a region would have trouble beating the entirety of that same region, but apparently that's not the case this time.

Yes! Just as planned, the NE-WNE embrace the hate game is generating some national exposure! And we can be the first to cover the spread this season! Go team go!

some people can just write funny stuff.  always good for a laugh pseudo... nice job.   

If it doesn't work out in the writing buisiness, You shoud be a comedian, pseudochamp

Another Tough Luck Loss (TLL) this one in OT. We needed to be 2-1 at this time! We coulda been 3-0!

Less than a 50% decrease from yesterday, we now stand at 76 undefeated teams.  Exciting, no?

Last Night
#9 Wittenberg 66   Webster 55  OT
It took three tries but we got an exciting start-to-finish featured game of the night.  It was a low scoring affair with both teams playing slowdown very few threes being attempted.  Wittenberg led most of the first half with Webster making a small run at the end to trim the margin at the break to 22-20.  The second half remained tight until Webster opened up an 8 point lead with under five minutes remaining.  Wittenberg star point guard Jason Bryant missed a potential tying lay-in with thirty seconds left and Wittenberg was forced to foul.  After three fouls, Webster was finally forced into a 1 and 1 situation.  Webster missed the front end, giving Wittenberg another chance and they took advantage hitting two free throws of their own to tie the game with nine seconds left.  Webster missed a couple last second winners and we went to overtime.  Sadly for the Gorloks, they apparently don't believe in scoring in overtime sessions and Wittenberg outscored them 13-2 in the extra time to win by eleven.  Wittenberg coach darnoc was quoted after the game saying that this game was great preparation for when his team gets matched up with another final four capable 14 seed in the first round of the NT.

Also considered: It was crazy close games all over the place last night: #3 Piedmont knocked in a shot with 25 seconds left and held on for the 59-57 win over #16 Ozarks, #12 Calvin also squeaked out a 2 point win over Howard Payne 66-64, Rhodes sank a free throw with four seconds left to upset #25 Christopher Newport 59-58, and #13 Ursinus got past E. Texas Baptist in overtime 95-88.

Sim blowout watch: Both 50 point underdogs covered their spreads with E. Mennonite falling to #10 Oglethorpe 61-91 and St. Joseph's losing to #24 New York U 54-95.  And sadly for rednu, his team fell about a dozen points short of the blowout but #7 W. New England still staked their claim to regional dominance by downing New England 84-55.  Go Westies!

GotN
#17 Concordia (3-0)(hoboman) at #23 Dallas (3-0)(tarvolon)
Hopefully we can keep the close games rolling as we feature another battle between undefeated ranked teams.  This one is a matchup of Wisconsin and University conference teams that is the first meeting between these two coaches.  Just like last night, this is an even pick so we might get another thriller.

Also considered: #21 Penn St. Altoona at #9 Wittenberg, Wooster at #18 Colorado, Howard Payne at #20 Sewanee, and #25 Christopher Newport at SUNY Cortland.

Sim blowout watch: George Fox is a 55 point road dog as they visit #22 Texas Lutheran and E. Mennonite makes another appearance getting 40 points at #16 Ozarks.

I'd say it was a humbling loss to Piedmont, but I was already pretty humble about my team. I have no perimeter shooting at all. Its going to tank my entire season. I gave myself a pretty low shot to win the game, and it played out like I thought. Texas has not been very good for recruits recently, and I've not done a good job nationally either. Class breakdown is 5-2-2-3 which is pretty bad for trying to scout and recruit outside of Texas when TX has no one.

I fell into the trap of looking at players individually, instead of building a team. The result is no real PG, no shooters, and average speed, decent defense across the board. Not a winning strategy. When this large SR class graduates, I'll have to do much better.

Nice job by Piedmont and Susquehanna for beating me down like I deserved.

I thought it'd be a close game.  Webster is semi-young and runs press.  And this is the worst ball handling/passing team I've ever built.  We'll be pretty competitive against M2M and zone squads, but press teams are going to give me fits this year. 

I've never been in a GotN before, although I might've been in some beatdown watches if they hadn't been reserved for Sims. Hope the pressure doesn't get to my boys. 

52 undefeated teams left, but we all know that 2-2 is the super-cool record to have after four games.

Last Night
Concordia 71   #15 Dallas 90
tarvolon made his GotN debut in style with an impressive 19 point home win.  Concordia led for long portions early on but Dallas came back to take the lead with five minutes left in the first half, and they never trailed again.  The home team kept up the pressure in the second half, extending the lead to double figures and cruising to the finish.  Dallas and tarvolon had five players in double digits and moved up seven spots in the rankings with the win.  Concordia and hoboman were led by James Warden's 21 points in their first loss of the season.

Also considered: Another game against a ranked opponent, another OT victory for #9 Wittenberg, this time 69-66 over Penn St. Altoona, #16 Colorado handled Wooster 60-47, Howard Payne upset Sewanee 67-57, and #21 Christopher Newport got past SUNY Cortland 63-54.

Sim blowout watch: Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast.  George Fox became our first official blowout victim of the season, almost getting doubled up by #24 Texas Lutheran 67-131.  Brick killed a guy.  Did you throw a trident?  Not to be outdone, E. Mennonite went one step further and did get doubled up in becoming our second official blowout victim to #19 Ozarks 52-115.  Two victims in one night!  Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.  Brick, I've been meaning to talk to you about that.

GotN
#7 W. New England (4-0)(rednu) at #2 Piedmont (4-0)(bunkerbuster)
Three more games between ranked opponents tonight and we're going with the only one between undefeated teams as the Great Northeast and USA South face off.  Fresh off conquering all of New England, rednu's Golden Bears roll into Piedmont for their toughest test of the season while Piedmont looks to keep pressing their case for the top ranking.  bunkerbuster's home team is favored by 3 points.

Also considered: #16 Colorado at #4 Millsaps, #17 Whittier at #21 Christopher Newport, #9 Wittenberg at Concordia, #11 Ursinus at Ohio Wesleyan, and #23 Dickinson at Hardin-Simmons

Sim blowout watch: After last night's bloodbath we're going to take it easy with just one game: York (NY) is getting 46 points as they play host to #18 New York U.  So that's New York U at York of New York.  That's a lot of yorks.