Block or Charge,  thanks for starting this thread here!! I didn't realize so many teams were playing on opening night for college basketball. I guess Jordan Roland will be a favorite for Player of the Year in his conference. 

I don't see any A10 or GW opponents playing tonight. Georgetown hosts Mount St.Mary's tonight on CBS SportsNetwork. I was surprised to see that the ACC had 1 or 2 conference games last night(Virginia Tech won at Clemson) and they'll also have some conference games tonight. Why did they decide to have conference games right off the bat? Conference games are very important, wouldn't a conference want all their teams to have played several games before the conference games start?? What kind of scouting report could you possibly get on a conference opponent, if you play them in the first game of the year? I saw parts of the Virginia Tech- Clemson game and VA Tech essentially has a brand new team. They may have had someone play well who Clemson was totally unaware of. 

Greg Paulus also officially named HC of Niagra.

https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1192463662507810817

Hugh wrote:

Jair Bolden started for South Carolina in their opener, scoring 14 points in 23 minutes in a win over North Alabama.

I'm honestly still shocked that Jair was able to transfer up a level. I thought he was a lock to go down a level where he could be a volume scorer. Also wonder the reason why he wears #52. Odd choice. 

Last edited by GW18 (11/07/2019 1:13 pm)

I would have posted about the South Carolina game last night but I couldn't find it on the SEC Network(they were showing women's volleyball) despite it being listed as being on the SEC Network according to my go to gambling site. By the time I found out there is an alternate SEC channel online, it was too late to post it here. I caught the final moments of Jair's game, and he looks a lot stronger, he may have put on about 15 pounds of muscle. The announcers also said that the South Carolina coaches were very high on J.Bolden due to how well he was playing in practices last season while he sat out. 

About Jair Bolden transferring up, I'm assuming someone on South Carolina's coaching staff watched and/or recruited him in high school, and figured he could be an impact player for them, despite being a pretty good player on a middle-of-the-pack team from a lower level. In recent years, GW has had a couple guys put up so-so numbers as Colonials, then transfer up to BCS schools and put up similar or better numbers, when you look at Savage and Jorgenson. Maybe Jair Bolden will do the same at South Carolina. 

MG14,  good find on Darnell Rogers. I had totally forgotten about him after he left Florida Gulf Coast. It's good that he has resurfaced at a school close to home. It's interesting that Greg Paulus will get his first head coaching job under these less-than-ideal circumstances. I'm sure he'd prefer to get a head coaching job in the conventional way where a school pursues you and offers you the job. How did Greg Paulus  jump the other assistants and get the head coaching job when he wasn't even on Niagara's staff last year? Was it his well-known name and pedigree? Did the players lobby for him to be the head coach?

The Bolden numbers last night also included 5-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, and zero turnovers.  Coaching just might make a big difference for that young man.  Granted, it was against North Alabama.

Regarding Paulus, this would have been Patrick Beilein's first year at Niagara so I'm assuming that his assistants were all new to the program as well.  Paulus may have been the last one hired but may have been the most qualified given the programs he has been with.

GW Mayem,  thanks, it makes sense now. I assumed Patrick Beilein had been coaching at Niagara for a few years at least. It will be interesting to see how Paulus does because his players will now have to adjust to a 2nd or 3rd head coach in a span of a few months!

I've got to bring up Virginia, even though GW doesn't play them this year. They won at Syracuse 48-34 last night!! I didn't see this game at all, but I know Virginia's best 3 players from the National Championship team are now in the NBA, and they still came out and "pitched a shutout" at Syracuse in the 1st game of the season, with a new cast of characters!! 

Channeling the Ireland situation from the past ... the "troubles".

Some interesting lines for these games including Davidson receiving just 1 1/2 points from Auburn on a neutral court (that's a lot of respect for Davidson) and SBU off of a home loss to Ohio as a home dog of 2 1/2 against a solid Vermont team.  Jumping ahead, URI plays at Maryland in a big one for the conference tomorrow night at 9 on FS1.  No line yet for the Bison and the Colonials.

GWMayem,  I was surprised at the line being that low for the Davidson-Auburn game, I'm seeing Auburn listed as a 3 point favorite. I'm assuming Davidson should have a slight home court advantage because a number of their fans should be able to make the trip to Annapolis to watch this game. Tomorrow's Rhode Island-Maryland game is also a big-time matchup as you wrote, I believe Maryland is ranked in the top 10 and their fans have some very high expectations for this team. 

GWRising,  you're right about Tony Bennett perfecting the pack-line defense, and he's been able to sustain his system with all the personnel losses over the years,  but you'd think there would be a slight fall off this year, when you consider all the guys they lost from the National Championship team. For them to come out in the 1st game of the year and hold Syracuse to 34 points at the Carrier Dome is surprising to me, even though I shouldn't be surprised by it. Someone on here posted(that post and poster has since been deleted!!) that Jim Boeheim was whining about having the 1st game of the year being a conference game. I'm gonna have to find the video, because Boeheim whining is always great entertainment, even though I think he's right about playing conference games this early.

There were several ACC conference games to open the season and the best matchups (ND-UNC, Syr-UVA) found their way to the ACC Network.  A strategic slap in the face to the nation's largest cable provider who still has not agreed to pick up their programming.

Thomas, I wonder whether Davidson will have the crowd in Annapolis.  A shorter and doable drive as you point out but I suspect Auburn must have a far larger alumni and fan base in general.  As for your other, I am left to sarcastically ask, "Maryland fans having very high expectations for their team?  That's so unlike them."

If it's any consolation (and I'm sure it's not), Jordan Roland's eligibility would have expired after last season meaning he would not be playing for this year's GW team since he would not have sat out a transfer season.