Mid Major Weekend Preview

For a week that featured very little college basketball, it was a pretty good one for the mid majors. Binghamton and New Orleans pulled off nice upsets while the A-10 grew in stature thanks to wins from Xavier and Massachusetts. The weekend brings a bit more action although you wouldn't know it from tonight's slate. Eight games are on tap, but only two of them match D-I schools against each other. Hartford figures to be a sacrificial lambs at Villanova but Drake's got more than an outside chance in Iowa City. Their MVC cohorts from Bradley already beat the Hawkeyes at Carver Hawkeye Arena and so did Louisiana-Monroe.

The Bulldogs have another edge over the Hawkeyes. Their coach, Keno Davis, has probably seen more games at Iowa's home than their coach Todd Lickliter. Davis is the son of Dr. Tom Davis, and graduated from Iowa in 1995, so he should feel right at home this evening. If Josh Young and Leonard Houston continue to nail almost 50% of their three point tries, Drake has a good chance to make them Iowa's biggest winner. Until January 3rd anyway.


SATURDAY

Xavier takes the long flight to Tempe for a date with the Arizona State Sun Devils. Like many early season games, this matchup features two coaches with a history. Sean Miller coached under Herb Sendek at Miami of Ohio and North Carolina State and beat his ex-boss last December in Cincinnati. It's unclear if the Musketeers will have Josh Duncan back in the lineup, but will have their hands full with a good defensive team either way.

Another A-10 team will try to add the MVC to the notches on the conference bedpost. Rick Majerus and Saint Louis will host Southern Illinois in a game that figures to be on the lower end of the scoring spectrum. The Billikens average 59.5 points a game while SIU is at 62.4. They are coming off a big win against St. Mary's and hope that their blessings extend to another beatified program.

The Horizon has a clutch of good games scheduled, starting with 19th ranked Butler hosting Florida State. The Seminoles are 9-2 with wins over Florida and are led by the sweet shooting Isaiah Swann's sweet shooting. Butler, losers to Wright State last time out, needs to get A.J. Graves back into his groove. That Wright State team will host Miami of Ohio while Illinois-Chicago and Wisconsin-Green Bay will play for local bragging rights agains DePaul and Wisconsin, respectively.

Georgia Southern takes their 7-1 record out for its first real test in Gainesville and two Sun Belt schools try to play spoiler. Middle Tennessee State hosts Memphis while Western Kentucky does the same for Tennessee to wrap up a busy day.

SUNDAY

A lighter day around the baskets. Old Dominion hosts Virginia Tech in our spotlight game of the afternoon. The Monarchs haven't done much this season but three of their four losses are to teams in the top 25. If they can take the Hokies it would help the whole conference come at-large bid time. You'll probably be watching football, and so will I, but it was still worth mentioning.