Weekend Before Thanksgiving Matchups
Seven of the squads will conclude their MTE action prior to ‘Turkey Day’ as Illinois Chicago gets the MTE season rolling in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Flames face NCAA Tournament team High Point on Thursday, November 20, as part of the ‘Boardwalk Battle’.
High Point is currently in kenpom.com’s top 100. The Panthers won 29 games last season, won the Big South Conference title and finished with a NET ranking of 83. This would be a huge win for UIC and the MVC.
UIC would face either Southern Indiana or Incarnate Word in the tournament’s second game on Saturday, November 22.
Sandwiched between those games, Evansville’s Virgin Islands action gets started. The Purple Aces get a shot at Oregon State. The Beavers already own a narrow victory over the aforementioned Flames and finished last season with an 83 NET ranking.
The upset-minded Aces will play a total of three games on the University of Virgin Islands campus. Coach David Ragland’s team will face either Iona or Akron in the Paradise Jam’s second round on the twenty-second and a yet to be determined team on Monday the twenty-fourth.
Murray State and Southern Illinois start their MTE action on Sunday the twenty-fourth. While the Racers tip off the Cayman Island Classic with familiar foe, Middle Tennessee, the Salukis start the Jacksonville Classic (Florida) against Delaware.
MTSU won twenty-two games and played in last season’s National Invitation Tournament. The Blue Raiders recently defeated Evansville by five points. Murray State will then play McNeese and George Washington.
McNeese played in and won an NCAA Tournament game last season. The Cowboys won 28 games and finished the season with 59 NET rating and currently own a 103 rating from kenpom.com. Ken Pomeroy ranks GW at 73 and the Atlantic Ten team won twenty-one games last year.
These may be the most important Thanksgiving MTE opportunities for the MVC.
If SIU can get past Delaware, an impressive Alabama Birmingham team awaits. The Blazers went to last year’s NIT quarterfinals and the American Conference team won twenty-four games on their way to a top-100 finish in the NET.