Getting this thread started for updates on conference foes, etc.
The most notable result from last night was Wazzu losing to Idaho. The Vandals have supposedly brought back more decent players that usual, but that’s a baaaad loss for Wazzu. There may have been something in the water up there because Boise State (preseason top 60) lost to a D2 squad.
SMC got a healthy win against a decent St. Thomas team. I watched about 40% of it. Saint Mary’s had more turnovers than I’ve ever seen a Bennett team give up. But that defense is still deadly, and they look much improved from behind the arc and cannot be left alone out there.
Oregon State almost fell to the NDSU Bison, a bit like SCU last season. But they pulled it out.
Oh, and Pepperdine barely pulled a win against Life University. Yikes.
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Funny part is Boise losing to a D2 squad is FAR less damaging. Doesn’t count for the NET, etc.
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Naive question here…. With the advent of multiple closed scrimmages, you would think that teams would be more polished coming into their first games, especially against weaker-on-paper opponents. So the SMC turnovers, and the OSU, Pepp, WSU and BSU poor showings either says they are deficient or severely deficient or is it that the scrimmages are just not true game settings (mixing line ups, trying new things, etc.) to be good prep for real action?
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The scrimmage rules aren’t actually different from prior seasons in terms of number. You still get max two scrimmages before the games start counting, for record purposes at least. What has changed is that the scrimmages used to be “secret” by rule. Now they allow for “charity exhibitions” where the scrimmages can be open and even televised if there is some sort of charitable cause behind them. That changed a couple of seasons ago but really exploded this year.
I think the variable that matters here is continuity, which has been destroyed by the transfer portal and unlimited transfers. SMC is likely just a result of having a young team and losing most of their starters. I don’t think they are as TO prone in 8 weeks as they are now. But Wazzu, OSU, Pepperdine, etc. are all dealing with very new teams each year (like SCU). Getting all of those players to work together crisply and efficiently is very hard with so much turnover.
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Makes sense. Every team is under the same paradigm of trying to be a “team.”
I couldn’t recall how long it’s been that these scrimmages were sanctioned. The years are running together as I get older (especially since there have been no NCAA appearance to mark the time. :-()
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