11.14.23 Slate Primer

Welcome to the daily slate primer, where we rundown last night’s action and preview the day to come.

Last Night’s Recap

• Michigan spoiled Rick Pitino’s Madison Square Garden debut with an authoritative win over the Johnnies. Michigan is officially good. Dug McDaniel has clearly improved from last year and Olivier Nkamhoua has been a revelation for this offense. Defensively there are some questions, but we’re sold on the Wolverines. They’ve got top-four seed in the Big 10 potential.
• Penn took down Villanova in the Wildcats first Big Five game of the year. Nova started off slow in their first two games, but were able to turn it on and win comfortably. This time, the Quakers were able to capitalize and looked like the better team all night. Penn freshman Tyler Perkins led the way with 22pts and all five starters finished with double figures. The anti-Neptune faction on the Main Line has something to talk about after this one.
• Zach Edey did Zach Edey things, finishing with 28pts & 11rebs in a win over Xavier. Credit to the Musketeers for battling hard without Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter.
• The FIU/Miami game was quite literally a game of runs. Miami had a 14-0 run over a three minute span in the first half. Then FIU countered with a 28-3 run that bookended the halftime break and gave them a 12-point lead. Miami immediately responded with a 23-2 of their own over the next six minutes to put the game away. Talk about a roller coaster.
• Western Carolina picked up another huge road win, knocking off Middle Tennessee at the Glass House. The Catamounts are legit and this team will make a ton of noise in the SoCon. They’ve got another tough test with McNeese coming to town on Saturday.

KenPom’s Thrill Score Top-10 | 11.14.23

Look at this beauty. Champions Classic. Gavitt Games. Solid mid-major matchups. Plenty of great games that didn’t make this list too! This slate has a lot to offer for casuals and sickos alike.

10 things we’re excited to watch:

• Hunter Dickinson vs. Tre Mitchell
• The backcourts in Marquette vs. Illinois
• Tyson Walker vs. Jeremy Roach
• POINTS in Iowa vs. Creighton
• The backcourts in Toledo vs. Wright State
• Upset potential all over the country
• Santa Clara vs. Stanford
• Bart Lundy vs. Tad Boyle
• Colgate vs. Syracuse
• Long Beach State vs. San Diego State

Storylines to watch:

The Champions Classic is here.

Our friends at @JGTrends put together this graphic showing head-to-head results of each of the four teams against each other over the last 10 years. Kansas and Duke have dominated the matchups, with Kansas winning 68% of games against the other three teams and Duke winning 61% of games.

This year’s edition has some intriguing storylines. Hunter Dickinson has to face John Calipari’s modified small-ball lineup with Tre Mitchell. The Cats are without their entire stable of big men for this game, which could be seen as both a positive and a negative for Kentucky. If they can get Dickinson in foul trouble, it could be a long night for Kansas.

In the Duke/Michigan State game, it’s a matter of who will make shots. Michigan State is shooting 6.5% from three in their first two games. Who will be confident enough to take and make the open shots? On the other end, which one of Duke’s guards will step up to compliment Kyle Filipowski’s frontcourt production? Both teams already have a loss on the season and will be hungry to pick up a resume building win tonight.

The Gavitt Games have some great matchups tonight.

The Big 10 dominated the first two matchups of the Gavitt Games, with Michigan and Purdue handling their opponents with relative ease. Tonight’s slate features Wisconsin/Providence, Marquette/Illinois and Iowa/Creighton. Wisconsin is coming off a home loss to Tennessee and Providence gets their first big time test of the Kim English era. Marquette and Illinois is going to be awesome, with high flyers, great shooters and fun offense on both sides. The Iowa/Creighton game is great for anyone who loves offense and really could care less about defense. The Big East needs at least two of these games if they want any shot at winning this challenge.

It’s a big night for mid-major upset potential.

There are sooooooo many chances for mid-major over high-major upsets tonight.

Colgate/Syracuse
Jax State/WVU
Lowell/GT
A&M/SMU
UNCG/Vandy
Milwaukee/Colorado
South Dakota/DePaul
Santa Clara/Stanford
App State/Oregon State

Keep an eye out 👀

— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) November 14, 2023

There are some very intriguing matchups on tonight’s slate that could make it “one of those nights” in college basketball. We may have a play or two on these games in tonight’s best bets. Keep your eyes peeled for an upset or two tonight!

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