There are maybe a half-dozen regular-season games worth circling on the calendar prior to the start of the basketball season, and one of them takes place in Gorham, Maine tonight. Two top 5 women’s squads and neighborhood rivals tip off at 6 pm eastern when Southern Maine hosts Bowdoin.

I’ve been to one meeting between the two (2004 NCAA Tournament, Sectional Semis) and I’d endorse the rivalry as one worth the price of admission. The matchup is as even as it is intense and both teams play smart, play hard, and are well coached. Basically, it’s a great advertisement for the sport of women’s basketball.

I’m inclined to think that Southern Maine is due to win. Bowdoin has won the last seven meetings between the two, so the history favors the Polar Bears, but homecourt favors the Huskies, who have already won against a couple of tough opponents this year in Williams and Bates.

Southern Maine returns all five starters from last year’s team and we got a good sense last season of just how good Ashley Marble and Megan Myles are when they almost carried their team past Randolph-Macon in the national semis.Their rotation doesn’t appear to have changed much, so I imagine familiarity is a big part of their early success.

Bowdoin, as mentioned in a prior post, added three freshman to its rotation this season and they’ve joined the mix without missing a beat. If the Polar Bears win, it will be with defense (the Polar Bears held Southern Maine scoreless for the first 12 minutes in last year’s meeting), as it always seems to be.

The thing I’d be most curious to see is how often Bowdoin goes to its pressure defense against a team that handles the basketball rather capably. Free throw shooting could also be an “x factor” in this game. Bowdoin has shot free throws at 63 percent this season, compared to 70 percent for Southern Maine.

We’re not able to attend this one, so if anyone wants to provide instant analysis on what we missed, feel free to do so here. In the meantime, you might want to check out this story on Maine’s Division III basketball rivalries and success stories.

I’ve had enough turkey sandwiches to last another year, and spent enough time in airport security lines to take me just about as long, so let’s try to summarize a whole weekend of games, right?

As always, audience participation is not only welcome, it’ll be necessary. Because I’m out of town for a few days after a death in the family, so I haven’t much time to ponder what happened this weekend.

Sorry. The floor is open.

We will still have a Top 25 poll, hopefully tonight.

This weekend is slow by our normal standards.

There are 102 games on Saturday as opposed to last week’s 178. That means we “only” have 202 games…on the men’s side. There are 149 more on the women’s side.

Even with the reduced schedule, I find the Saturday slate pretty daunting. It’s such a long list of games. If you’re going to try to follow the national scene, which ones are the most interesting? And can you catch any of them on the internet?

So I figured I’d try to make a small contribution to the D3hoops world by compiling a list of interesting games that are projected to be broadcast over the internet. If you’ve never listened to games over the web, you’d be surprised how it can draw you in. To borrow a phrase from a too familiar spot, you’re hundreds of miles away, but you feel like you’re right at center court.

So think of this as your “TV Guide” for the weekend in Division III. Minus the crossword puzzle and 30 pages of ads for commemorative dishes.

Please feel free to post corrections or additions. We always enjoy learning about new broadcasts that are out there. Just include the links to broadcasts if you’re mentioning new ones.

*Update: Calvin lost to Cornerstone this evening and will apparently play Aquinas College tomorrow at 12 PM. Hope will play Cornerstone, so we won’t get an early match-up of those MIAA rivals.*

Women: No. 7 Capital vs. Wittenberg
Saturday @ 3 PM EST
Broadcast on Stretchcast (Wittenberg)
Click here to listen

Wittenberg isn’t in the OAC, but it might as well be since they play Baldwin-Wallace, Capital and Wilmington over the span of nine days. The Lady Tigers were picked second in the preseason in the NCAC behind Kenyon. The Crusaders will try to pick up a key early in-region win before bruising OAC play begins.

Men: No. 25 Catholic vs. Scranton
Saturday @ 4 PM EST
Broadcast on WUSR FM (Scranton)
Click here to listen

Two of the Mid-Atlantic region’s more storied programs battle in an early test for both teams. Does CUA belong in the Top 25? Is Scranton now the class of the MAC Freedom? This should provide answers. You can also hear the women’s teams play at 2 PM on this stream. Dean Corwin on the call.

Men: No. 20 UW-Platteville vs. Loras
Saturday @ 4 PM EST
Broadcast on WDBQ (Loras)
Click here to listen

Second verse, same as the first? Loras opened the season with a win against a ranked WIAC team, UW-Whitewater, on a neutral court. This time they’ll stay in their own city to play the Pioneers at Dubuque’s Mississippi River Challenge.

Men: No. 3 Wooster vs. Methodist
Saturday @ 7 PM EST
Broadcast on Quicktime by Wooster Radio (WQKT or WKVX)
Click here to listen

The Scots passed their first test by beating UW-Stout last week. They get another down south in Methodist, the defending USA South Athletic Conference champs. The Monarchs fell to Sewanee in Double OT last weekend, but they are the USAC preseason favorites.

Men: No. 10 Wittenberg vs. Transylvania
Sunday @ 3 PM EST
Broadcast on Stretchcast by Wittenberg
Click here to listen

Last season TU pushed Wooster on their home floor before falling 80-74. The Pioneers return a fair amount and could hop into the Top 25 if they find a way to beat the Tigers in Kentucky. This game finishes a challenging trio for Wittenberg who plays Rochester, Capital and Transylvania before December.

Women: No. 5 Scranton vs. Johns Hopkins
Sunday @ 3 PM EST
Broadcast on WUSR FM (Scranton)
Click here to listen

Johns Hopkins finished third in the Centennial preseason poll, but the margin between the Jays and the top two teams (McDaniel and Dickinson) is very thin. What about the margin between the Centennial’s best team and the MAC Freedom’s? We’ll know after Scranton visits Baltimore this Sunday.

Men: Hamilton vs. Brockport State
Sunday @ 7 PM EST
Broadcast on 89.1 FM (Brockport) via Teamline
Click here to listen

For several years Hamilton had been the top dog in the UCAA, precursor to the Liberty League. Until Potsdam’s recent run, Brockport could make the same claim in the SUNYAC. Both are trying to recapture their prestige this year, but first they square off in Clinton, New York in a rare Sunday night game.

Snow coming down in suburban Washington, D.C. is rare enough, but to see it before Christmas is unusual indeed. It’s a nice backdrop here, with the children nestled snugly in their beds and all quiet. So from our house to yours, have a happy Thanksgiving.

To those of you traveling this weekend, whether to holiday gatherings or ballgames, drive safely.

Busy Tuesday night as we head into the holiday. By the way, first Team of the Week posted. That’s the longest-running feature on this site, by the way, since the 1997-98 season, when we took over Division III Basketball Online.

This is what the season is going to be like for Lincoln. Too much traveling to be consistent from night to night. A couple people raised comparisons to Savannah Art & Design (which left the NCAA a couple years back) and that seems to be a reasonable model.

Pretty good night for Wittenberg considering Dan Russ didn’t score through the first 25 minutes.

Kudos to D-III coaching alumnus Pat Flannery (was Lebanon Valley, where he won a national title, now at Bucknell) for his team’s upset of Syracuse. In other D-I news, Lafayette needed a 21-7 run to put away Alvernia, 86-80.

The Springfield men lost to Tufts 72-71. That means they’re 0-3, with the three losses by one, two and three points.

The Eastern Connecticut women bounced back nicely from their pasting at the hands of No. 3 Bowdoin, knocking off No. 13 Emmanuel 65-55.

Light schedule tomorrow: No. 22 DePauw at Fontbonne highlights the women’s schedule, and Carleton travels to No. 22 Aurora on the men’s side, with Carthage playing Concordia-Irvine, an NAIA power, in Hawaii. Plus La Sierra plays at Cal Baptist. If two teams play a game and nobody reports the score, does it make a sound?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!