One of the early storylines of any season is keeping watch on how coaches in their first years with a new program are doing.
It’s always fascinating to watch especially at the beginning because of fans’ extremes typically preceding new starts. In most cases, it’s unbridled optimism that a new regime will be a smash hit immediately. In a few cases, the expectations are so low that any signs of being ahead of schedule can quickly turn those expectations up several notches.
Louisville and Connecticut brought in two of the most anticipated hires of the offseason, and the expectation for both might have been that they could put on a show in their season openers Thursday. While neither felt pain in the form of losses , both were not without some stress before winning, as Louisville pulled away late to defeat Nicholls State 85-72 and UConn defeated Morehead State 80-70.
Chris Mack’s first game at Louisville might’ve looked like a primo opportunity for a blowout, especially considering it came against a Colonels team that, while tying for the Southland title a year ago, also is breaking in a new coach in Austin Claunch and has just one starter back. Instead, things got rather hairy, as the Cardinals led just 68-66 with a little over four minutes left.
Louisville got by with Steven Enoch (a UConn transfer, ironically) scoring 15, and also with the help of an absurd foul advantage. Nicholls State was whistled for a ridiculous 38 fouls to just 12 for the Cardinals, which resulted in Louisville shooting a 55 free throws. Officials are under no obligation to artificially even up foul counts, and it’s more than possible that sometimes one team is very aggressive. A more than 3-to-1 difference is still hard to believe.
Connecticut fans showed up to sell out Gampel Pavilion for the debut of Dan Hurley, and his team was slightly more in control against Morehead State. The Huskies built double-digit leads on several occasions and never trailed in the game, but the stubborn Eagles refused to go away and matched the play-hard style Hurley wants to instill in Storrs. Ultimately, Josh Carlton led four double-figure scorers with 17 points, and oft-injured Alterique Gilbert, who may well hold the key to how far the Huskies can improve, scored 15.
Another first-year coach who got his first win on Thursday was Jamion Christian at Siena. The saints surprised many by showing well on Tuesday in an eventual loss at Providence, and they came back two days later to defeat George Washington 69-61 on the road.
Siena is a team with a new coach, but also very low expectations after finishing 8-24 last year. Freshman Jalen Pickett scored 19, though, and the Saints picked up a nice road win, while an already depressing week for the Colonials got worse with home losses here and to Stony Brook now to open the season.
On the other end of the spectrum for debuts was that for Walter McCarty at Evansville. The former Kentucky star and recent Boston Celtics assistant saw the Purple Aces get drilled 99-60 by Illinois, with the Fighting Illini running away on a 38-8 run in the first half.
Illinois looked more like a Brad Underwood team prefers to, playing fast, forcing a bunch of turnovers and shooting 56.3%. For Evansville, the return home of native son McCarty has brought a surge of excitement locally, but the Aces’ outlook for year one is not pretty. UE already had a stripped-down roster for this season, and it was even shorter with the announcement before the game of center Dainius Chatkevicius being suspended three games for a violation of team rules.
Side Dishes
- Stephen F. Austin has had maybe as much misfortune as any team in the country early on, with the news earlier this week from Basketball Times columnist Joshua Parrott that it had lost T.J. Holyfield and John Comeaux for the season due to injuries and Aaron Augustin for two months. Holyfield was the Lumberjacks’ top frontcourt man and has been in the lineup seemingly for the entire decade, while Augustin was the team’s starting point guard and Comeaux its backup. Major, major blows to a team that had at least top-40 potential this year. SFA did get past NAIA Southwestern Assemblies of God last night-barely. The Jacks’ 68-67 win came after freshman Oddyst Walker broke a tie with a free throw with 2.1 seconds left. It should be noted that SAGU is a power at the NAIA Division I level and is no pushover, but clearly Stephen F. Austin has a lot of rearranging to do in what originally looked set to be a huge year.
- Among other results Thursday night, Northwestern finished the game against New Orleans on a huge run, turning what was a close game for 30 minutes into an 82-52 rout. Also in the Big Ten, Iowa took care of business with a 77-63 win over Missouri-Kansas City. Before the game, the Hawkeyes announced that sophomore Jack Nunge will redshirt this year. Nunge averaged nearly 6 points and 3 boards per game last year, but will sit out by choice as the Hawks have a stuffed frontcourt already.
- Notre Dame blew out Chicago State as expected, 89-62, though the Irish took an eventful path to getting there, first blowing all of an 18-point first half lead, then pulling away in the second half. Senior Elijah Burns scored a career-high 15.
- South Dakota State is 2-0 after cruising to a 78-61 win over Alabama State. Mike Daum put up 23 and 13, and Skyler Flatten-another in the Jackrabbits’ stable of shooters-added 17.
- Utah put away stubborn Maine 75-61, as the Black Bears with a rotation of just seven players hung around all night. The Utes shot 49.1% though, and Sedrick Barefield scored 18.
- It wasn’t easy, but SMU staved off Northwestern State 69-58. Also, SE Oklahoma very nearly pulled the upset of Arkansas-Little Rock, but the Trojans rallied late in regulation and won 101-92 in overtime in Darrell Walker’s coaching debut. Freshman Markquis Nowell scored 34 points for Little Rock, which pulled through after the NCAA Division II Savage Storm (yes, real nickname) hit 18 of 47 from three-point range.
- Sad news from earlier this week, as longtime hoops writer Al Featherston passed away in Durham, N.C. Featherston covered the ACC for decades, writing for the ACC Sports Journal and Duke Basketball Report among many places, as well as serving as a columnist for Basketball Times. He was a terrific writer and regarded by many as an encyclopeida on the history of the ACC, and he will be missed.
Tonight’s Menu. The first Friday night of the season frankly features a much better schedule than Tuesday, with all kinds of options.
- The day starts early with Drexel of the CAA at Eastern Michigan. Interested to see what the Dragons can do in year three under Zach Spiker.
- Maybe the best game of the night is Buffalo at West Virginia (8 p.m. Eastern, ESPNU). These two played in the NCAA Tournament a couple years back with the Mountaineers’ holding on for the win. The Bulls shot poorly from long range but still won their opener against St. Francis (Pa.), and should have the ballhandlers to deal with the press. WVU also did have an ugly opener a year ago when it was ripped by Texas A&M.
- If that’s not it, then the best is likely Washington at Auburn (8:30 p.m., SEC Network). Watching the Tigers try to attack the Huskies’ zone will be fascinating. The same goes for Washington trying to score against Auburn’s pressure defense.
- The Veterans Classic is hosted by Navy in Annapolis, Md. The first game has Providence against Wichita State (7 p.m., CBSSN), which is smarting after a home loss in its opener. That’s followed by Maryland taking on Navy (9:30 p.m., CBSSN). The Midshipmen did win their game here last year, taking down Pittsburgh.
- Bowling Green goes to St. John’s (6:30 p.m., FS2). Dangerous game for the Johnnies against a MAC team that has gained experience the last two years and might have the size the challenge if they can slow down SJU’s guards.
- Arkansas and Texas meet in the Armed Forces Classic from Fort Bliss in El Paso (7 p.m., ESPN). Two teams who should be playing every year.
- Louisiana-Lafayette is at Tennessee, a good matchup and probably smart scheduling for the Volunteers getting this one early. The Ragin’ Cajuns have some shoes to fill but won the Sun Belt regular season title last year.
- North Carolina is on the road for the second straight game, this time taking on Elon as the Phoenix open their new Schar Center (7 p.m., ESPNU).
- A couple other ranked ACC teams are at home, but could get a challenge if they aren’t careful. Gardner-Webb goes to Virginia Tech, while perennial MEAC contender North Carolina Central takes on Clemson, which had some difficulty putting away The Citadel in its opener.
- It’s not a good time for Southern Illinois to be playing Kentucky (7 p.m., SEC Network), after the Wildcats were dismantled by Duke on Tuesday. The Salukis will give it a shot and have a lot of experience, but UK will be supremely motivated and this is not an easy task.
- After winning by 24 in its opener at Monmouth, Lehigh goes on the road where it will face Miami (Fla.). The Mountain Hawks don’t have the Hurricanes’ athletes but do have the shooting and versatility to challenge.
- Missouri is at Iowa State, returning the two teams’ season opener last year.
- Stanford is on the road at UNC Wilmington? Yes, it’s true.
- Hot CAA preseason pick Northeastern is now in danger of starting 0-2 as the Huskies face Harvard in another excellent in-state matchup in Massachusetts.
- Another good one in that state: Vermont and Boston University renew a long-running series that included more than 30 years when both were in the America East together. The Terriers posted one of the best wins of opening night when they won at Northeastern and should contend in the Patriot League.
- Old Dominion at Saint Joseph’s is a very solid matchup. We’ll see if the Hawks can reverse some of the Atlantic 10’s ugly first couple days.
- The SEC has specialized the last couple years in non-conference scheduling, regularly bringing in good lesser-known teams but playing them at home. UNC Greensboro coming to LSU fits that to a T. Not a layup for the Tigers by any means-the Spartans are very good-but location is a big advantage.
- Oklahoma goes to Texas-Rio Grande Valley, as Lon Kruger pays a favor to his former assistant Lew Hill and his former school. Kruger started his head-coaching career at the school when it was known as Pan American, later known in recent years as Texas-Pan American.
- Smart scheduling by Georgia State and Montana, who will get together for a good one in Missoula. Long trip for the Panthers.
- UC Irvine is very capable of winning at Texas A&M. The Anteaters have the size, depth and defense to do it, the big question is if they’ll hit enough shots.
- Cap the night with Yale playing California in China (10 p.m., ESPNU). The Bulldogs bring back five starters, so this is a prime opportunity for a brand-name win.
Enjoy your weekend.
