Much to my surprise, a few people have found this blog. For you, I’ve added some enteries to the blogroll. I’ve included a few of the usual college basketball suspects — ESPN, Fox and CSTV — and a few blogs I’ve come across.
I’m curious why there are so few college basketball blogs out there. I know several of the big-time football bloggers slide effortlessly into hoops as the seasons change, but there doesn’t appear to be all that many. Perhaps, I just haven’t stumbled upon them yet.
College Hoops Net continues their pre-season Top 144. Their favorite to win the Summit League, IUPUI, is ranked #114. Sounds like the Jaguars have the same questions up front that OU has.
Another Oakland opponent, UW-Green Bay cracks CHN’s rankings at #136.
Oakland has released its 2007-08 schedule. It’s nowhere near is mind-numbing as last year’s version, but unless the Grizzlies played an ACC schedule, I’m not sure it could be.
The non-conference highlights are trips to Michigan State (11/24) and Michigan (12/12) plus a “home” game against Oregon (12/22) at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The game against the Ducks is part of a doubleheader with Michigan State and Texas being the other contest.
Other games of note outside the Summit League portion of the slate: Xavier, UW-Green Bay and Toledo on the road. Duquesne, Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green come to the O’Rena. It’s not UCLA, Arkansas and UMass, but still solid programs.
Conference action begins with a visit from UMKC on December 6th. (Is it just me or doesn’t that seem early for conference play?) Oral Roberts makes its annual arrival on January 12.
IUPUI, the team that appears to be the pre-season favorite in the Summit, comes to Rochester on February 21. The Grizzlies trip there is almost a month earlier, January 24.
Again, it’s not last year’s death march, but it’s a decent schedule. Sure, I’d still like to see Rochester College and Adrian College – both fine academic institutions – bounced for better basketball programs, but I get the need for home dates and increasing the chances of winning. I also miss Valpo, but such is life.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN’s Bracketology takes a ridiculously early stab at the field of 64 for the upcoming season. Lunardi has IUPUI as the Summit League champs and the conference’s entry into The Dance.
I was surfing around the ‘net when I came across College Hoops Net’s Top 144 Preview. As I began to scroll down the page of teams already previewed — not all 144 are done — I thought to myself “OU can be as good as any of these schools”. Just as that last word passed across my brain, what did I find? Yep, you guessed it. Checking in at #144 is Oakland University.
CHN’s Joel Wesler suggests the Golden Grizzlies are the second best team in the Summit League. (I’m still not quite comfortable with that name.) I feel that’s an accurate prediction, but what do I know? I’m sort of biased.
