Morning Cup 11/15

Ok - So we're one week into the 18 week season that is college basketball. And really it wasn't a big week. Just a fairly big weekend. So teams have played as many as three games, Pitt and Illinois are both 3-0, some haven't played any. The Mount opens the season for Cincinnati tonight - and Missouri doesn't play until Thursday.

Another 3-0 team is Cleveland State. The Vikings rallied for a win yesterday over Kent to stay perfect. They play Urbana tonight. So they should goto 4-0.

Bryant also won in Cleveland yesterday. A come-from-behind 74-72 win over Iona. The Gaels let two leads slip away late in Cleveland...and are likely to be 0-4 after Thursday's encounter with Richmond.

Fran McCaffery may wish he was still at Siena. Iowa lost 79-69 to South Dakota State on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Many expect South Dakota to be improved this year. But this was unexpected.

Maybe Dana Altman is happy no one else could be lured to Oregon. The Ducks got through the weekend 3-0 with an overtime win over North Dakota State (all hail the Dakotas), a solid win over Denver and a comeback to beat a solid Cal-Santa Barbara team. Those aren't wins over powerhouses, but not sure the Ducks could have won those three games a year ago.

I'm almost starting to like Indiana. That is how much I respect Tom Crean. I think he's going to make them a Big 10 power again and I think he might be closer than many realize. The Hoosiers dismantled a solid Wright State team at Alumni Hall last night. After winning just ten times a year ago, the schedule has been toned down a bit, and the Hoosiers may have 10 wins by Christmas. Certainly a program headed in the right direction for a good coach.

I keep hearing a lot of folks mentioning Loyola Marymount as a possible challenger to Gonzaga in the WAC. Could be? But I'm interested to see how Portland (3-0) fares against Kentucky this week - and how St. Mary's does with St. John's in the middle of the night tonight.

Speaking of which. If your wife has been irking you lately, tonight might be the best night to pick that fight. You accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished and if not the worst thing is your stuck on the couch for the night - with hoops on all night long.

Been meeting to drop Donte Morales opening night line in here and haven't done it yet. Morales scored two points and grabbed three rebounds in UNC-Wilmington's opening season loss at Florida.

Best team in the country with a loss? I'll go with Seton Hall. The Pirates lost at Temple Friday Night, but blew out Cornell. Gonna be a tough time for Bill Courtney up at Cornell to get things going again.