Author Archives: rzayas

The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: November 12, 2022: Welcome to weekend basketball!

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Welcome to weekend basketball! We have games tipping off at 12 pm EST, and going all the way until 7 pm EST tip-offs tonight…and the best part of it is there are going to be competitive matchups throughout the day. Yesterday saw a Top 25 upset, a couple of near-upsets, and a couple of absolutely stellar offensive showings. I’ll get to that in a second, but first, take a look at the Game of the Day…

Game of the Day: #14 Millikin @ #4 UW-Whitewater, 5 pm EST

This will be an interesting matchup for a couple reasons. One, both teams were on the court less than 24 hours ago, as part of the UWW Tournament. Two, neither looked extremely strong, which means there will likely be some added motivation on both sides to put together a strong effort. Plus, a win here would significantly boost either team’s resume, and considering how tough the WIAC and CCIW can be, you can never have enough wins like these on your resume heading into Selection Monday.

Keep an eye on…

Illinois Wesleyan @ #1 Hope, 3 pm EST

#11 Tufts @ Bates, 4 pm EST

UT-Dallas @ Johns Hopkins, 1 pm EST

Additional thoughts from around the division…

  • Wow. That’s all I could say when the Baldwin Wallace/Trine game finally came to a close…after over 2 hours and 2 overtimes. It was about as balanced as you could get statistically, but Baldwin Wallace, perhaps aided by its very large home crowd, found a way to pull it out down the stretch, outscoring Trine 14-9 in the second overtime for a 75-70 win. BW is currently ranked #12, but this win alone, with Trine at #8, should give the Yellow Jackets a very good chance to crack the Top 10, as long as they take of business in their next three. Credit to Trine. It looked like BW would win after the first OT, but Sierra Hinds stepped up with back-to-back 3-pointers in the span of about 10 seconds, the second one at the buzzer, to send it into a second OT. I thought BW was just a little bit better from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, and in both overtimes, taking advantage of uncontested shots that really do not come often against a disciplined defense like Trine’s.
  • Was scrolling through the D3hoops.com scoreboard when I saw Carroll trailing #4 UW-Whitewater by just three. Watching the final minutes of that one, Carroll came extremely close to pulling off what would’ve been the upset of the day. But UWW is ranked #4 for a reason, as they executed down the stretch, made their free throws, and forced a few missed shots as they survived on their home court with a 56-52 win.
  • #14 Millikin wasn’t as lucky in Whitewater yesterday afternoon. I really like the team that Olivia Lett has this season, and they nearly shocked D-I Eastern Illinois in an exhibition a couple weeks ago, losing by just four. But UW-Stevens Point outscored Millikin 24-12 in the third quarter, taking a 9-point lead, and the Big Blue just did not have enough time to rally back, as UWSP pulled off the Top 25 upset, 64-61. But forward Bailey Coffman, who had 21 points in that exhibition for Millikin, did not play. When she returns, Millikin will be the team to beat in the CCIW, just watch. Also, plenty of credit to UWSP, who outrebounded Millikin 44-29, no doubt a contributing factor in the win.
  • I had to see it to believe it, so I turned on the Hope/Geneva game…and yep, the D3hoops.com scoreboard was completely accurate. The nation’s #1 team left no doubt about its firepower in the season opener, leading 110-37 at the end of the THIRD quarter. Hope isn’t going anywhere. The Flying Dutch won 143-57, shooting 63% from the field! Update: Have been told that Hope set the all-time record for D-III points in a game. Wow.
  • Trinity joined the 140-point club as well, dominating on the offensive end against Birmingham-Southern in a 140-87 win. The Tigers had 30-plus points in all four quarters, and take a look at this stat line for senior guard Addie Putnam: 26 points, 11-of-11 shooting, 2-of-3 from 3-point range, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals in…13 minutes!?! Trinity is No. 5 in the nation right now, and a title contender in my opinion.
  • After noticing that Texas Lutheran was leading No. 18 Hardin-Simmons 14-12 after the first quarter, I tuned into that one…and HSU backed up being picked No. 1 in the ASC Preseason Poll. The ASC is going to be very deep this year; I wouldn’t count HSU, ETBU, UMHB or UT-Dallas out as a possible conference champion. HSU went from trailing by 2 to leading by 19 by halftime, looking sharp in transition, and running away (literally) from the TLU defense. They play so fast, and that will be a challenge for opponents this year. Paris Kiser was a major offseason addition, a transfer who was the starting point guard at UTD, and as a pass-first type of guard, she fits well into the offense, with Parris Parmer taking a high percentage of the shots, most of the time from three-point range. HSU’s three-point shooting ability makes them dangerous, considering they can hit a few in a row, and be right back in a game they were trailing in by double digits even a couple minutes prior.

That’s what I’ll leave you with on this Saturday morning. Games tip off in just a couple of hours and it should be an excellent weekend of basketball.

The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: 18 Top 25 teams battle tonight!

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After two days of fairly light schedules, we have a massive set of games on tap for the first Friday night of the season. 18 Top 25 teams are in action, some against fellow Top 25 opponents, and there are some games you certainly will not want to miss. What games, you say? Let’s take a look at my Game of the Day…

Game of the Day: No. 8 Trine @ No. 12 Baldwin Wallace, 6 pm EST

This is going to be extremely competitive and will be a major resume boost for whoever pulls out the victory. Both teams have had to replace at least two starters from last year’s team, so there are new contributors in new roles, which can play a significant impact at this point in the year. And this is the first look we’ll get at Baldwin-Wallace as well, since it is Yellow Jackets’ season opener, so there is a lot be watching for in our first Top 15 matchup of the year.

Keep an eye on…

  • No. 16 Springfield @ No. 9 Amherst, 7 pm EST
  • No. 6 Christopher Newport @ East Texas Baptist, 7 pm EST
  • Wartburg @ No. 13 UW-Eau Claire, 9 pm EST

Thoughts from around the division…

  • I wrote about the potential for NJCU to come away with a win over D-I Monmouth (N.J.) in yesterday’s post, and the Gothic Knights proved my prediction right. Though they fell 79-70, the score was tied at 34 when halftime rolled around. Monmouth never really pulled away, and the majority of the team stats were balanced. The difference came in the offensive rebounding and points in the paint, where Monmouth’s taller lineup paid dividends. NJCU was outrebounded 19-8 on the offensive boards, and had just 16 points in the paint as compared to Monmouth’s 42. But in the big scheme of things, this showed the NJCU is certainly as good as we anticipated, well on its way to a three-peat in the NJAC.
  • To add one more note about that one, Damaris Rodriguez will be a player fans across the nation should be keeping an eye on. All-American potential for sure. The junior guard had 33 points for NJCU, shooting 14-of-26 from the field. Just a special player that should only improve as the season goes on.
  • No. 23 Whitman suffered a loss to NAIA Lewis Clark State for the second straight year, falling 66-60 in last night’s road matchup. Whitman had defensive troubles out of the gate, outscored 23-13 in the opening quarter, before fighting back against a really solid opponent that went 28-5 a year ago. I think Whitman is certainly a Top 25 team, though they’ll need to improve their defending of the three-point line: Lewis Clark State was 8-of-17 from beyond the arc.
  • Bridgewater State is on my radar, as they’ve started the year 2-0, adding a decent road win over Suffolk last night. Sydney Bradbury was really impressive, making five three-pointers as she had 19 points. The MASCAC seems to be a battle between BSU and Framingham State this year, and with the way BSU has started, we should be in for some excellent duels between the two once conference play gets going.
  • Really looking forward to finally getting to see a bunch of Top 25 teams in action on the same night. 7 of the Top 10 will be playing this evening, and some will be tested early on. I don’t see No. 1 Hope having much trouble against Geneva, but it will still be interesting to see how the Flying Dutch have made up for some of the key departures from last year’s team.
  • Speaking of Hope, I really appreciate the tournament format that is put together for this season-opening weekend. You don’t see this very much, and one of the reasons for that I would expect is that coaches do not get guarantees on who they will be playing, which can be concerning for SOS purposes. But come on. It will be fun to see if Illinois Wesleyan and Hope do indeed win their respective games today, and play for a “championship” of sorts tomorrow. IWU is unranked but received votes in the Preseason Top 25, and if the Titans found a way to pull off the upset of No. 1, they could easily find themselves in contention for a national ranking.

Well, this ended up longer than I thought it would. But there’s a lot to cover, and I didn’t even get to it all! Such is the case when you have a massive slate on one evening like we have today. It should be exciting. What game(s) will you be watching? Drop your responses in the comments below!

The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: November 10, 2022: We’ll get a good look at NJCU tonight

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Welcome to another edition of The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops! We’re two days into the regular season, and we have already seen a number of excellent battles play out. More on that to come in a second, but here’s a look at what game you should be paying attention to on this Thursday night.

Game of the Day: NJCU @ Monmouth (N.J.), 7 p.m. EST

I have to give this D-III vs. D-I game a moment in the spotlight. As some of you know, I’ve been tracking how D-III teams are faring in these early-season duels with D-I competition. Some of the results have been pretty lopsided in favor of the D-I team, but there have been a handful decided in the fourth quarter. This certainly looks to fit into the latter category, which should come as some uplifting news for those who have been watching to see if a D3, on either the men’s or women’s side, will end up with a win over a D-I in this 2022-23 season. After all, NJCU, the back-to-back NJAC champion (and the pick in the conference’s preseason poll to win once again) returns its entire starting lineup, including dynamic scorer Damaris Rodriguez, who averaged 21.2 PPG as a sophomore a year ago. Throw in the fact that Monmouth lost its leading scorer from last year’s squad, and NJCU has already gotten a look at what it takes to beat a D-I in a scrimmage against Saint Peter’s, and you have great opportunity for the Gothic Knights to leave West Long Branch with a win.

Additional thoughts from around the division…

I watched Stevens win 65-50 at Kean last night, and was impressed by the Ducks defensive presence. Kean struggled to get good looks, and shot only 31 percent from the field in that. It was really competitive through the first half, before Stevens put together a third quarter run and began pulling away.

Also caught a few minutes of UW-Oshkosh’s season opener against Lakeland. HC Brad Fischer has said this is one of the youngest groups he’s had during his time there, so it may take a little longer for this team to find its rhythm. UWO pulled out a 60-43 win, though Lakeland had some nice guard play in the early goings.

Berry and Huntington played in one of the closest games of the day, with Berry narrowly winning 63-61. I think Berry is a dark horse contender for the SAA title. They don’t have a whole lot of post play, and started five guards (according to the box score) last night, but those guards are quick, and three scored in double figures.

Really light schedule tonight. We’ll see how it all plays out. A special thank you to Gordon Mann and Pat Coleman of D3hoops.com for allowing this blog to be published on D3hoops.com’s “Daily Dose” blog. You’ll be able to find it there each morning. Have a good day!