Daily Archives: November 22, 2005

Immediate thoughts on Monday, 11/21

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Lincoln is 3-0. Not necessarily a surprise, since this is a good team, but somewhat surprising based on tonight’s competition, a Division II Sweet 16 team. Good start for the Lions but believe it or not, we haven’t even carved the turkey and they already have just four home games left! They have two brutal road trips over the holidays.

Dominican is 3-0. Definitely a surprise. Not a surprise that they started 2-0, considering they opened at home against SLIAC teams, but the upset of Aurora was a shocker, especially on the road. I saw the two play last year and Aurora won by 24. Aurora led by six with three minutes remaining, but Dominican closed on an 11-1 run. All-American Larry Welton was held to 4-for-18 shooting. The Spartans had started 2-0 against teams that were strong last year (McMurry and Wheaton, Ill.) but who are expected to be down in 2005-06.

Other shadows of their former selves:

  • New York City Tech’s men, upset NCAA tourney first-round winners last year, lose at home by 15 to Coast Guard.
  • Schreiner’s women, in a good way. The longtime losers opened their season with a 96-87 win against Texas Lutheran behind 39 points from Vanessa Lopez and a near quadruple-double from freshman point guard Monica Enriquez (22 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals, eight assists). That’s a huge road win for a team that lost 83 games in a row before winning last season’s finale.

    • Elsewhere: Insert your own shooting joke here (Rhodes men 109, Messenger 22) … Immaculata nearly had a storybook finish in their first-ever men’s home game, won by Eastern 71-70 on a buzzer-beater. … Macalester men surprisingly competitive against UW-Stout (64-55) considering they are missing two of their top guards. … D-I Tennessee State beating Fisk (72-63) is news, since it doesn’t happen every year.