2019 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 13

With the Thanksgiving holiday here, we're getting the coalition back at a little early in our continued quest to pick NFL games against the spread!

The bad news from last week is that I've been caught from behind as I'm now in a tie for second place with Jim, with just a one game lead on the now fourth place person in Geoffrey. The good news is that, after Adam swept two weeks in a row, I swept our two disputed games last week to gain a little bit of ground.

You can view the ESPN standings here, bearing in mind that Adam has one more point on there than he's supposed to. You can also view how we've picked in relation to each other here. Joe made a crack about matching Adam's picks (which he can do based on how the column works), but is that really the best strategy when you're solidly in fifth place and 14 games out of the lead?

Meanwhile, I'm counting on a repeat of last year and going on a Thanksgiving heater. By talking it up for the past few weeks, I've done one of two things: either jinxed myself horribly to continue the pattern of alternating who wins the column between me and Adam, or spoken into existence my glorious comeback. There is no in between.

As we go into the holiday, Adam and I disagree on six games out of the full 16 game slate. From all of us here at Confessions Of A Sportscaster, have a Happy Thanksgiving! Let's go.

Game Notes: (MBK) Benedictine University @ North Central College (11/26/19)

Final Score
Benedictine 56, NCC 49

Game Summary
This one started okay as the Cardinals (2-2) scored the game's first five points. But the Eagles (5-1) went into heat check mode, with three consecutive threes to grab control. The Cardinals would score the next four to tie the game again, but an 8-0 Eagle run forced a North Central timeout and it was back into chase mode. That eight point lead was the high water mark for the half and the Cardinals managed to fight back to within two at 24-22 at the break. Coming into the second half though it was the Eagles who took the initiative, scoring the half's first five points. The Cardinals managed to make it a one possession game a couple times, but every time Benedictine answered. North Central pulled within one again at 41-40, but a three point play followed by a three a couple minutes later pushed the Eagle lead back to seven, and the Cardinals never got within four the rest of the night.

Key Players

• Mike Boatright (BEN): 6-15 FG (4-10 3PT); 16 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl. Not a bad box score. The relative of Aurora basketball legend Ryan Boatright was the one who went into Heat Check Mode at the outset, hitting those three three's to get the Eagles back after that early 5-0 deficit. He struggled the rest of the night, but those threes helped set the tone, and I'm a little surprised to see how much more he filled the stat sheet.
• Nick Kosich (BEN): 5-8 FG (2-4 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast. I almost went with Eric Grygo here (16 points and 6 boards on 6-11 shooting), but Kosich played a bigger role late I feel like. Serious early foul trouble (he had three in the first half) limited his effectiveness early as he went into the break with just two points, but he had two major daggers late in the second half. With the score at 41-40, he scored all six of those points in the key run, including that three as part of a six point swing (Mike Pollack had a corner three blocked on the preceding possession).
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 7-12 FG (2-6 3PT), 6-6 FT; 22 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. I feel like this was a "quiet" 22 for Connor. He spotted up from deep a few times and had arguably the best night from deep of anyone (except Mike Pollack, who went 3-7 from deep), and spent much of the rest of the night in his office down low. While the Eagles did a pretty good job limiting him, I was still surprised to look at the box and see how many point he did put up; getting to the line half a dozen times helps.

Key Stats

• NCC: 6-33 3PT (18.2%). One night after destroying Rose-Hulman from beyond the arc, the Cardinals went ice cold from out there. Benedictine did a better job defending them I feel like, but there were a number of open looks missed. It took the Cardinals almost 16 and a half minutes to hit their first after missing something like their first 13. They won't shoot this poorly every night, but you can't survive against good teams when you shoot like that.
• BEN: Outscored NCC in the paint 28-14. This is where Eric Grygo came into play to some degree. There was a degree of a size advantage here, but not a major one. They just managed to get to the basket and cash in where the Cardinals couldn't.

Final Thoughts

There are two sequences that will haunt me from last night. Down 49-42 with the ball, North Central had a great chance as Blaise Meredith beat his man and had a wide open layup... but missed it. The other came in the final minute with the Cardinals down four. Matt Cappelletti blocked an Eric Grygo layup, but the Cardinal offense bogged down as no one seemed to want to take the shot. Somehow Connor Raridon got free right under the basket and got a great pass from the opposite corner... only to lose the handle and turn it over. Convert one of those chances and the Cardinals might win; convert both and I feel like they do.

Instead, the Eagles took back the Bill Warden-Tony LaScala Trophy as they won the Battle of Chicago-Maple Avenue for the first time since 2015-16 when they made the national title game. I went into this game thinking the Cardinals would win by roughly what the final margin turned out to be, but even with some deference to the Eagles going in, I definitely underestimated them. They're legit, and should be in the conversation for the NCAA Tournament when we get to February and March. For the Cardinals though, it's a quality loss... but the quality losses have to turn into quality wins at some point.

The Cardinals close their season opening homestand at 2-2, which is not great. Now they spend a ton of time on the road, as their next eight will be played away from Gregory Arena. That starts this weekend as the Cardinals head to Kalamazoo to play Olivet and the hosts, then open CCIW play the following week up in Kenosha against a Carthage team that has quickly turned into a conference and national dark horse.

Game Notes: (MBK) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology @ North Central College (11/25/19)

Final Score
NCC 77, RHIT 54

Game Summary
The Engineers (2-3) had a good first couple minutes, winning the opening tip and taking a 9-6 lead just four and a half minutes in. Then the bottom fell out as the Cardinals (2-1) shook off their ten day rust and began to open fire from deep. Leading 16-14 after an Engineer three, the Cardinals went on a 15-4 run to take a double digit lead and never looked back, with a Connor Raridon jumper beating the halftime buzzer to give North Central a 42-26 advantage at the break. The Cardinals effectively put the game away a minute into the second half when, after Blaise Meredith hit a three, Aiden Chang came from out of nowhere to steal the inbounds pass and fed Matt Cappelletti for a three-point play, which prompted Engineer coach Rusty Lloyd to make a wholesale line change. The Engineers would climb back to within 15, but a 9-0 run served as the final dagger. North Central would lead by as many as 29 as Todd Raridon was able to empty his bench in the final minutes.

Key Players

• Will Clausel (NCC): 7-9 FG (3-4 3PT), 2-2 FT; 19 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast. The Swiss Army Knife continues his torrid play to start the season. He went 5-5, including 3-3 from deep in the first half, and I caught him grinning after hitting his third as he helped his team grab firm control of this one. He was a key piece last year, and is only getting better as the sixth man on this year's squad.
• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 4-9 FG (2-6 3PT), 1-1 FT; 11 pts, 7 reb (4 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. It was such a good team effort last night that it was hard to pick a second guy from the Cardinals, but coming off a 47 point effort, Cap settled into his more traditional role of an inside-out big. He launched several times from his sweet spot in the corner, but only managed to hit a pair of them. His seven rebounds though tied a game high with Connor Raridon, and he had the and-one that all but sealed the deal early in the second half.
• Eli Combs (RHIT): 3-7 FG (1-2 3PT), 2-2 FT; 9 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast. With leading scorer Craig McGee out of commission, the Engineers needed someone to step up, but no Rose-Hulman player cracked double figures, with Combs leading the way, albeit somewhat inefficiently. He also battled some foul trouble in this one.

Key Stats

• NCC: 15-36 3PT (41.7%). Rose-Hulman is a fairly big, physical team. They did a pretty good job limiting the Cardinals in the paint (they had just 16). Of course, this opened up plenty of opportunities on the perimeter... which the Cardinals gladly took advantage of. Their 36 attempts are the most since they took 42 in a loss to Carthage in 2016, while the 15 make are tied for the fourth most in a game in program history. Getting a game plan right in my wheelhouse and succeeding? Always fun.
• RHIT: Outrebounded by NCC 38-27. I mentioned that they're a big, physical team, but they almost didn't play like it on the glass. Their starting lineup featured a trio of 6'2" guards and two 6'7" forwards. On paper, they should have had the advantage. In reality, the Cardinals did a good job boxing out and controlled the glass against a bigger team, something they've done before, but it was a little surprising to look at the box and see the disparity be that wide.

Final Thoughts

Rose-Hulman is not a bad team. They've been competitive in the HCAC, and the Cardinals beat them in their lone other matchup in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. I figured this would be a win, but that the Engineers would make it a good game. I was a little surprised to see the Cardinals dominate the way they did. But when you're hot, you're hot, and the Cardinals were hot most of the night last night.

It's a good win, but the Cardinals don't have a ton of time to celebrate. They're right back at it tonight as The Battle of Chicago/Maple Avenue is renewed at Gregory Arena when Benedictine comes calling.

Game Notes: (WBK) Concordia University-Wisconsin @ North Central College (11/20/19)

Final Score
NCC 62, CUW 43

Game Summary
I was a little nervous at the outset of this one, as after the Cardinals (2-2) scored the game's first basket a minute in, the Falcons (1-1) responded with a 7-0 run. But that was their high water mark of the day, as after Concordia took an 8-7 lead, the Cardinals scored eight straight to close out the quarter, then tacked on nine more in the first few minutes of the second quarter. The Falcons eventually stopped the bleeding, but not before the Cardinals pushed the lead as high as 20 before taking a 31-14 lead into the locker room. The second half saw the Falcon offense get going a little bit, but the Cardinals had an answer pretty much every time, as they took a 43-26 lead into the final frame. North Central led by as many as 21 in the final frame, with the Falcons cutting it to a dozen just over halfway through the fourth, but a couple threes and some free throws were enough to ice the game away.

Key Players

• Alanna Newsome (NCC): 6-13 FG (2-4 3PT), 1-1 FT; 15 pts, 2 reb, 1 stl. It wasn't the most efficient outing, but it was a solid one for the sophomore as she was able to get to the basket a number of times with varying degrees of success. But she shot well from deep and played pretty good defense. All told, a good evening.
• Maya Walls (NCC): 6-7 FG (2-3 3PT); 14 pts, 6 reb, 2 blk. Maya had a really good night. North Central ran a wheel-type play a couple times where Maya came around and cut kind of back door to the basket for a wide open layup. She did some damage on the perimeter as well, playing a good inside-out game on offense, while also playing really good interior defense against a physical opponent.
• Haydn Braun (NCC): 4-7 FG (4-5 3PT), 2-2 FT; 14 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast. Haydn took on the role of sniper in this game, hitting one that tied the game at seven early, one during the 17-0 run, one in the third to push the lead to 19, and the exclamation point at the end last night. I think the number that impresses me more, given her size: five rebounds, good for third-best on the team.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outrebounded CUW 45-39. I had a hard time picking out a stat for the Cardinals, almost going with their 22 points off 13 Concordia turnovers, but I like the rebounding number. For a team that typically loses the rebounding battle, going up against a relatively big, physical team to win the battle on the boards like that is a good sign. I mentioned that I was impressed by Hadyn's five, but you got 13 between your two starting forwards (Mitrese Smith had a game-high seven), and everyone who played had at least two, with all but two logging at least three boards. That's a good team effort.
• CUW: 15-59 FG (25.4%), 1-13 3PT (7.7%), 12-24 FT (50.0%). And this doesn't do the numbers justice. The Falcons were an awful 3-24 from the field in the first half, including 0-7 from beyond the arc. Going 8-14 from the line in the first 20 minutes was the only saving grace for their offense. We got regression to the mean in the second half, because no team is going to shoot that poorly for 40 minutes, but that's still an eye-popping final line.

Final Thoughts

I mentioned in the last game notes that Natali Dimitrova was out, and she was again; I thought I heard something about a broken foot, but I don't know what the truth of that is. Regardless, given the two tough losses the Cardinals were coming off, they needed to have this one, and went and got it in pretty convincing fashion. The defense was good, accounting for part of the poor shooting night, but the Falcons also missed a ton of open looks. 43 points is the best defensive performance for the Cardinals since 2011 (pre-System, which makes sense).

Hopefully this gives the Cards something to build off of as they continue their homestand. They host UW-Stevens Point on Saturday.

2019 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 12

The coalition continues its quest in picking NFL games and... wait a minute, where did you all come from?

I didn't have an awful week in the grand scheme of things, but the gap between me and everyone else has shrunk while the gap between Adam and I has only grown. For the second straight week, he swept our disputed games and I now find myself a season high nine back of the lead. That Thanksgiving heater can't come soon enough.

You can view our standings on ESPN here, bearing in mind that Adam has one more point on there than he should. Correct standings, as well as how we've picked in comparison to each other, can be found here. One question Adam had was how we suck at consensus games, but if you look back at prior years, we're at about what our usual rate is.

As I try in earnest to get back into contention while Adam continues to rub salt in my open wound from losing nine straight disputed games over the past two weeks, I don't have much of an opportunity to gain ground as we only disagree on two games out of 14. Let's see if I can climb back into it.

Game Notes: (WBK) University of Dubuque @ North Central College (11/16/19)

Final Score
Dubuque 80, NCC 75

Game Summary
Things got off to a good start on Megan Niklas Day as the Cardinals (1-2) opened the scoring and, other than a brief 2-2 tie, led for the entire opening quarter by as many as nine and finishing the opening stanza with a 19-13 advantage. Just a couple minutes into the second quarter, the advantage was double digits, with a high water mark of a 32-17 advantage with about six and a half minutes to go in the frame. But then the Spartans (2-0) slowly started to claw their way back, getting within seven late in the quarter before the Cardinals pushed the advantage back to double figures, going into the break up 45-34. But then the Cardinals came back out ice cold, seeing a 12 point lead evaporate in a 17-3 run. The Cardinals managed to grab the lead right back and took a 57-53 lead into the final frame, but the Spartans pushed again, opening the frame with an extended 15-2 run and eventually going up by as many as 13. The Cardinal offense came back to life too late; North Central would get back within three, but a pair of Dubuque free throws sealed the deal.

Key Players

• Tabria Thomas (DUB): 6-8 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-6 FT; 15 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl. Thomas had quiet first half; she played 10 minutes with limited effectiveness due to some foul trouble, but broke out in the second with a perfect 20 minutes inside the arc and 11 of her 15 points. Three of her four steals also came after the intermission.
• Kennedy Litvinoff (DUB): 3-4 FG (2-2 3PT), 4-4 FT; 12 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 3 stl. Litvinoff came off the bench and did most of her damage in the second half as well, scoring 10 of 12 points after the break. One of her threes came during that crucial 15-2 run that put the Spartans up seven.
• Alanna Newsome (NCC): 5-16 FG (3-6 3PT), 9-11 FT; 22 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl. Alanna continues to develop nicely in her sophomore year, and did well shooting from beyond the arc. Her inside game though needs a little work, as a 2-10 day from two point range is not good enough. She did well at the free throw line, which is good, and hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Key Stats

• NCC: 7-33 FG (21.2%), 3-11 3PT (27.3%), 13-22 FT (59.1%) in the 2nd half. This is... less than ideal. The third quarter was actually worse, as the Cardinals only hit two field goals all period, and it allowed the Spartans to come back. I think I counted between the late third and early fourth quarters four wide open layups the Cardinals missed. Those eight points, combined with nine missed free throws for the half... you do the math.
• DUB: 48 bench points. I normally won't go over bench points, but when your reserves log 60 percent of your scoring for a non-System team, it raises an eyebrow.. That of course includes Litvinoff mentioned above, but four other players scored between eight and 11 points for the game off the bench.

Final Thoughts

Friday night I saw the women's team in attendance for the men's game against Greenville, and I was a little alarmed to see players in walking boots. One of them, Natali Dimitrova, did not dress on Saturday. Had she been present, I'd like to think that her good post game on both ends of the floor would have made enough of a difference. But even so, this is a game you have to win... and they couldn't do it. This team continues to struggle to put together a full 40 minutes. They continue to show though that they're never really out of a game, given the late rally, but some better play earlier in the game probably would have turned the tide. The Cardinals are back at it tomorrow as they welcome Concordia-Wisconsin to Gregory Arena.

Game Notes: (MBK) Greenville University @ North Central College (11/15/19)

Final Score
NCC 122, Greenville 103

Game Summary
No, that's not a typo. Getting right to work with The System, the Panthers (1-2) used an early 9-0 run after surrendering a basket on the opening possession to take control. But the Cardinals (1-1) clawed their way back, finally taking their first lead with about 12 and a half minutes left in the half. The teams would trade advantages over the next couple minutes before a 10-2 Cardinal run gave them a seven point lead, but eight straight by the Panthers eliminated it. The Cardinals finally got a little breathing room again right before the half, taking a 47-42 lead into a much needed intermission. The Panthers would tie the game at 49 early in the second half, but the Cardinals responded with a 9-0 run extended to a 14-2 run to take firm control. Greenville would get no closer than seven the rest of the way as North Central began to pull away, going up by 20 with 11 and a half to play, and from that point on would lead by no less than 12, as eventually Todd Raridon was able to go to his reserves.

Key Players

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 6-8 FG, 6-7 FT; 18 pts, 15 reb (2 off), 12 ast, 1 blk. That's a triple-double, by the way; the first in NCC men's basketball history. To an extent, it can come with an asterisk: against a non-System team he's not pulling down 15 rebounds, but it's his ninth career double digit assist game and one off his career high (and program record), and most of his points came in halfcourt sets. Maybe more important though: going up against a pressure defense when primary ball handlers are going to turn it over a bunch, he had just four, good for a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is outstanding. Add it to the list of cool things I've gotten to announce.
• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 22-26 FG (2-5 3PT), 1-3 FT; 47 pts, 7 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl. Okay, this one gets a definite asterisk. Cap's previous career high was 35, when he lit up Husson last year at the D3Hoops.com Classic in Vegas. But Friday he was 20-21 from inside the arc, almost all of them right around the basket. He got a couple dunks in the second half as the Cardinals were pulling away, and most of the rest were layups. Almost all of these can be atributed to The System: with the Panthers gambling in the backcourt and getting their share of takeaways, in cases where the Cardinals were able to break it, Cap was often alone going to the basket and had an easy bucket. Forwards always have big scoring nights against System teams... but this was a monster one.
• Henry Johnson (GRE): 7-10 FG (2-3 3PT), 1-2 FT; 17 pts, 1 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. It's hard to pick just one guy off a System team, so I'll go with their leading scorer, who was efficient from the floor, even if he didn't do a ton else.

Key Stats

• NCC: 76 points in the paint, 47 fast break points. I'll go with both of these, as both are indicators that you played a System team. Yeah, they turned the ball over a bunch, but the tradeoff was a bunch of easy looks at the basket.
• GRE: 25 turnovers. I'll go over System numbers in a moment, so I wanted to look at something else. This was very reminiscent of NCC women's games running the System; the Cardinals often had a ton of turnovers too, so this was really no exception. Of course they cause the Cardinals fits, but they got in their own way a few times too.

Greenville System Watch

• Wholesale Line Changes: 20-25. I'm bringing back this feature after going away from it after a while with the NCC women. Greenville's guys played longer stretches before a fresh five came to the table than the women did. Usually with the women shifts were maybe 40-60 seconds; Friday night they were closer to two minutes before a fresh group came in.
• NCC Turnovers: 35. This is to be expected. The full court pressure gave the Cardinals fits, especially early in the game; North Central had 19 turnovers in the first half. Of the 35 giveaways for the game, 21 came off steals; Chris Jackson paced the team with five, Riley Simmons and Sontiago Grady each had four, and Barry Nixon logged three. Those 35 turnovesr led directly to 36 Greenville points, which is... less than ideal.
• GRE 3PT: 16-53 (30.2%). Of Greenville's 91 shot attempts, 53 came from beyond the arc. This is normal for a System team, and the percentage is pretty consistent with what you can expect. They were at about 36 percent going into the game, and struggled a bit thanks to good Cardinal defense. The Panthers hit a few early to get that early lead, but finished 6-25 in the first half, a big reason why they trailed.

Final Thoughts

It's hard to make too many conclusions based off of this game. I was always used to announcing for a System team, so to have the shoe on the other foot is a little different. Cap likely won't have another 40 point game (maybe 30 on a great shooting night, but that's about it), and Connor probably won't log another triple-double. But against an opponent you should beat, the Cardinals ultimately took care of business, and now they don't have to worry about a System team again until potentially the NCAA Tournament. It was a good way to right the ship after a season-opening loss. The Cardinals are currently in the midst of a fairly long layoff, but continue the homestand on Monday when Rose-Hulman comes to town.

The System: A Retrospective and a Preview

I don't normally write a preview-type piece for an individual game, especially for a non-conference game. But I feel like in advance of tonight's men's game against Greenville, I need to write a little something. But it's not a preview in the traditional sense. I also need to take a look back at five years that were a hell of a lot of fun.

A good primer in advance of reading this piece is this 2017 piece from D3Hoops.com. There are some good quotes included from former North Central coaches Michelle Roof and Doug Porter as well.

COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 11

We're onto Week 11 of the NFL season, and the coalition continues to chug along in our quest to pick games against the spread!

I mentioned last week that it wasn't ideal for Adam or I. Adam rebounded, I didn't; he swept our six disputed games and now has a season-high six game lead. I'm still holding onto second place, but not by a ton. At this point, I'm all but counting on a second straight Thanksgiving heater.

Meanwhile, Adam made another mistake this past week, but it worked out kind of in our favor. He picked the Steelers over the Rams in the column, but picked the Rams on ESPN. This counteracts one of his two screwups from the week before, so he now only has one more point on ESPN than he should. You can view correct standings, as well as how we've picked in relation to each other, here.

As I attempt to get back on track, Adam and I disagree on just three games out of 14. Let's see if I can climb back into the race!

Game Notes: (MBK) UW-Oshkosh @ North Central College (11/12/19)

Final Score
UW-Oshkosh 76, NCC 66

Game Summary
The first few minutes were a microcosm of the contest as the Titans (2-0) punched the Cardinals in the mouth by opening on a 9-2 run, forcing a Todd Raridon timeout. The Cardinals (0-1) were able to rally, getting it back to a one possession game once before the Titans got hot, pushing the lead as high as 13 before settling into the break with a 45-33 lead. The Cardinals came out strong to start the second half, dropping the deficit to seven before a Titan heat check got the lead back up to 13, but the Cardinals refused to go away, pulling back within six with just over seven minutes to play. But in a key sequence late, after the Cardinals were down seven, missed two open threes to cut it to four, and a jumper-stop-dagger three sequence put the game away.

Key Players

• Eric Peterson (UWO): 7-11 FG (2-3 3PT), 2-5 FT; 18 pts, 12 reb (1 off), 5 ast. On a night where Oshkosh's bigs struggled, the Titans needed their perimeter guys to step up... and step up they did. Peterson was able to get to the basket with relative ease tonight, hit a couple key threes, and dominated the glass amongst the trees. The Batavia native posted career highs in each of the aforementioned categories.
• Adam Fravert (UWO): 6-13 FG (3-6 3PT), 0-2 FT; 15 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 2 blk, 2 stl. Similar thing here for Fravert. He got some easy looks at the basket and hit a few key threes as well. It was Fravert's triple in that late sequence that served as the dagger.
• Will Clausel (NCC): 6-9 FG (0-3 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 1 blk. On a night where the stars struggled some offensively, the Cardinals needed a spark off the bench, and Will stepped up. While he struggled from deep, he was able to take advantage of drives to the basket. Additionally, his post defense against Oshkosh's bigs who had a major size advantage on him was phenomenal and helped keep the Cardinals in the game.

Key Stats

• NCC: 6-23 3PT (26.1%). Sometimes it's the simple things. On a night where Oshkosh was hot from deep, the Cardinals couldn't match. They'll shoot better as the year goes on, I'm sure; Cap won't go 1-6 every night, and Mike Pollack won't miss four straight after making his first.
• UWO: 6-10 3PT in the first half (60.0%). It's pretty much this simple. The Titans got hot early and that helped them build the lead. In a game where a lot of other things were even (Oshkosh won the rebounding battle 40-39 and had 40 points in the paint to NCC's 38), things like this make the difference.

Final Thoughts

Oshkosh is the defending champion, and despite losing a couple key pieces from their title team, they still brought back a significant chunk of last year's core, and it showed. This team is elite, and they played up to it in a tough environment. They have a legitimate shot at repeating this March.

From North Central's perspective, the other big problem was they committed a few dumb turnovers. While they only resulted in nine Titan points, it set a bad tone. I think this team will clean it up though. Big picture wise, getting a tough test like this to open the year will be good for them. Oshkosh will be regionally ranked come February, and a regionally ranked loss is still a good resume builder. This team should be fine.

It was great to see Aiden Chang return to the floor last night. I put a little extra into introducing him, and I even choked up a bit when I got to him. He played fairly well in his first game back, and I'm sure getting that first one out of the way helps.

The Cardinals have a couple days to reset, but they're going to have to be ready. Greenville comes to town on Friday, and North Central will have to be ready to run against a System team. There's going to be well over 300 points scored on Friday and I can't wait.

2019-20 NCC Men's Basketball Preview

Friday we checked in on the women. Today, we flip on over to North Central's men's team. They get a little bit later of a start to their season, and were extremely late in posting the official team roster, so I partially wanted to hold off for that.

But the anticipation for this group is really high, as are the expectations. Let's see what the outlook for the season is.

2019-20 NCC Women's Basketball Preview

With the calendar now flipped to November, the weather getting colder, and the time change meaning it's dark way earlier than it's supposed to be, that means it's about time for me to get back to one of my favorite times of year: basketball season!

The season officially tips off this weekend; the women get things started before the men do, so I'll do my first of two season previews and take a look at what the North Central College women's basketball team has on tap for the next few months!

2019 COAS Pigskin Pick 'Em: Week 10

As we move onto the second half of the 2019 NFL season, the coalition chugs on in its quest to successfully pick games against the spread!

Last week was... less than ideal for our group. Adam and I were both due for clunkers, and while I took two of our three disputed games to tie Adam once again, our lead on the rest of the group has shrunk to just two games.

You will notice that the standings in the link I just provided will differ from what's on our tracker as well as the official standings at the end of this post. Aiden forgot to pick almost every game a few weeks back, but Adam was able to get me his retroactive picks where he went 5-9 and has a more respectable record. But it wouldn't be a Pigskin Pick 'Em contest without Adam accidentally picking the wrong team on ESPN. He informed me early on Sunday that when he originally filled his picks out he took the Chiefs over the Vikings before changing his mind for the column and forgetting to change it back on ESPN. I also noticed when numbers didn't add up that he accidentally took the Broncos on ESPN instead of the Browns. Unfortunately, these didn't cancel each other out, which would have been great; instead Adam has two more wins than he does in reality because the column is the official pick.

Anyway, onto this week. Adam and I disagree on six games out of 13. Let's get to it!