Wofford lost by 11 at home to North Carolina hanging tough the whole way. But they played without a key player in Trevor Stumpe, who had .427 shooting from 3 and an average 1.7 makes last season. Is he hurt? Without him they did not get the stellar 3 point shooting that they would have needed to pull another upset, going 9-35 for .257. Fletcher Magee in particular was 3-16 from the arc. They won’t beat a top 10 team with him shooting like that.

Without Stumpe, 6-8 Keve Aluma played 34 minutes giving them 8 rebounds and a block with some hustling defense. But 0 points. 6-9 Chevez Goodwin wasn’t particularly impressive in his first go-round, with 9 minutes, 2 rebounds and 4 points. Freshman Ryan Larson looks a little like Storm Murphy , but doesn’t play like him. Murphy got 15 points on 3-6 from 3 with 6 assists, but 4 t.o.’s, while Larson played 10 minutes with 1 assist and 0 points.

Putting Stumpe into the starting lineup after 5 games last year keyed a real turnaround for the Terriers. Things are much tougher without him.

UNCG struggled against cross town rival North Carolina A&T, being down 1 at half and then putting on the defensive clamps to pull out an 8 point 74-66 win. A&T is a physically inferior team rated 338th in D1 by SI, but one that would have really loved to take down UNCG.

James Dickey got 10 rebounds, 7 blocks, 7 points and a steal in 25 minutes; Alonso got 23 points and Isaiah Miller 16 points and 4 steals. Rs-Fr SG Kaleb Hunter who sat out last year with a foot injury sparkled getting 11 points in only 13 minutes. Big new front court players didn’t show up yet: 6-9 250 transfer Eric Hamilton got only 2 rebounds, 1 block and 6 points in 23 minutes of play. 6-9 255 freshman Mohammed Abdulsalam did not play.

UNCG shot 3-17 from 3. Along with Wofford’s .257, it puts ETSU’s early season shooting woes in a little perspective.

In a 67-75 loss at UAB, Mercer started 4 guards (6-4 Jalen Stowe, 6-4 Marcus Cohen, 6-4 Ethan Stair and ‘the Mamba’ 6-3 Ross Cummings) and 6-7 195 Cory Kilby. Cummings got 2 points on 1-7 shooting in 29 minutes, 2 rebounds 0 assists and 2 turnovers. Some “Mamba”! If his shot is not falling, he doesn't give them much.

WVU transfer Maciej Bender did not play. 6-1 JUCO Jr Djordje Dimitrejevic got 19 points and 3 assists, and 6-3 Fr D.J. Peavey got 9 points in 12 minutes.

Their front court consisted of 6-7 Kilby’s 2 points and 0 rebounds in 22 minutes, and 18 minutes from 6-11 freshman Fardaws Aimaq, with 5 points on 2-7, 5 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls. And 4 garbage time minutes from Victor Baffuto and Luke Hamilton with no production. Nobody else over 6-4 played. They hung tougher than they probably should have with that lineup.

Chattanooga, starting 5 new guys including 2 freshmen (Easley and Toatley) 7-0 Gr transfer Thomas Smallwood, Jr transfer guard Jerry Johnson and 6-4 JUCO swingman Jonathan Scott, won on the road at Charlotte 80-69. But Charlotte is coming off its own meltdown and has as many or more new players than Chattanooga, and was pasted by 35 points by Wofford in a scrimmage.

Samford beat a North Alabama team transitioning to D1 in the ASun, 91-74. Furman crushed a weak Bob Jones 102-48. The Citadel lost on the road at #22 Clemson 100-80. VMI won over Washington College 89-56.

Lots of teams struggling some early in the season.

And on Nov 7 Western Carolina got whipped on the road by a very good Wright State team, ranked #1 in the Horizon League ahead of Northern Kentucky, 96-73. They were down 52-26 at half and traded baskets in the second period.

Trevor Stumpe had back surgery. I read that he won't return until late December at the earliest. They will miss him. There was a notable uptick in their play last year after Wofford began starting him at the #4.

UNCG should be fine. They went on the road against a crosstown rival and won despite bad three point shooting. Alonzo and Troy will have much better nights. They will need to develop some more shooters. Those two were the best shooters last year but most of the rest of the outside threats graduated.

No word on why Bender didn't play from the Mercer official site. He played in their Orange-White scrimmage about 10 days ago so I assume it is a minor injury keeping him out. I don't see Bob Hoffman going with a small-ball lineup any longer that he has too.

The Chattanooga win was a good win for them. UNCC may be bad right now but Chattanooga only had 1 player see the court who played for them last year. They shot the ball very well against UNCC. In the second semester they get Ramon Vila, the 6'8" 242 lb. transfer, on the squad. Before the season I expected him to be the starting lineup very quickly after gaining eligibility.

Guerrero, the 7'0" USF transfer, had 17 pts, 6 rebs. and 4 blocked shots for Samford. One to watch. Samford hit 68% of their two point shots and didn't shoot a lot of threes. I assume they got to the hoop a lot. they dominated the boards. JC transfer guard Myron Gordon lead in scoring with 19 on 8-12 shooting.

The Citadel hung with Clemson longer than expected. It was still a 9 point game with less than 7 minutes to go. The final score may be a little misleading.

Furman won by an almost identical score as last year. It was 101-48 last time. Matt Rafferty hit 9-11 shots and had 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Clay Mounce was 5-5 including a three and had 7 rebs in 22 minutes. Jordan Lyons hit 7-13 threes as part of his 23 points. Both Rafferty and Lyons had career highs. Tre Clark came back from a redshirt year with a solid game - 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in 16 minutes. Good first game for freshman Mike Bothwell. The 6'3" point guard scored 11 on 4-7 shooting from the floor and 2-2 from the foul line.

On Wednesday WCU lost to Wright State by 23. Wide bodied post Carlos Dotson hit 6-9 shots and lead the scoring with 17. An even game while he was in there but he got into immediate foul trouble and Wright State build a 20 point lead in the first 10 minutes. WCU was very disjointed on offense early. Dotson appeared to be their only effective post. We will see how they develop under the new coach.

Thanks so much for your contributions here FUATT. Some good info that we don't otherwise get.

It's really bad luck for Wofford to be losing Stumpe to back surgery. He's had chronic problems with injury, and as you know with Rafferty, the results of back surgery are a pretty iffy business in a contact sport like basketball. Rafferty's come back nicely, but it cost him a lot of time. With Stumpe in the lineup, they get an extra strong perimeter shooter who is also a solid passer and all round player: that helps open things up for Murphy, Magee and Hoover. Without him they've got Keve Aluma - who has improved a lot and is a hustling defender and rebounder. But no scorer. Neither is new guy Chevez Goodwin. They would have been a real threat to UNC again this year if they had Trevor.

Agree that UNCG should be fine. It was hard work for them last year on nights when Alonso's shot was not falling, and will be worse this year without Marvin Smith. They will have to be ready to do the gritty defensive work that pulled those games out for them last year. 7 blocks for James Dickey indicates that he hasn't forgotten how. I was surprised to see Troy struggle on offense after his blistering tournament play last year - but lots of teams struggle with shooting the first few games, and then get their stroke back. The real bright spot was Rs-Fr Kaleb Hunter, a smooth shooting 6-4 who was one of the most sought after guards in NC until he lost his senior HS season to a foot injury, which also contributed to his sitting out last year. They started the physical Massey, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Hunter pass him up if things continue this way. Looks like it may take time for their 2 6-9 250 bruisers to fit in - Freshman Mohammed Abdulsalam didn't play at all. Any word on what's up with him?

One of the impressive things about playing Georgia State was that their Coach, Ron Hunter, is not just an emotional leader, which you remember from their NCAA run a couple of years ago, but a very thoughtful guy. He gets fired up during the games, working his towel like a latter day Jerry Tarkanian. But I liked his even keel comments about how it doesn't really matter how well you're playing in the first game, but how much you're improving from day to day. Many of these teams will look very different in a few weeks.

Regarding Mercer, I think that Bender is a real key for them. Blue Ribbon said he would be sitting out the transfer year, but observed from a distance, I don't see a clear signal one way or the other - playing the Orange - White scrimmage doesn't mean much. Lucas N'Guessan still scrimmages with the ETSU team even though he's sitting out. Was Bender in uniform on the Mercer bench? Hoffman put several bigs on his team that do not look D1 ready. Freshman Aimaq has some promise and great wingspan, but may need a lot of work. In his senior year I still don't see much sign of Kilby coming through for them - I thought he might turn into another Jake Gollon for the Bears, but that looks less and less likely. If they don't have Bender, Hoffman may be forced to go with the small ball. Which will make wins really hard to come by. Mercerfan might help us, but he seems to have disappeared from the board. But Hoffman adjusts (considering what he had on the floor, they played UAB tough) and usually finds players that he can develop.

Chattanooga and Samford have both added lots of new guys with promise. It will take them time to develop.

Furman's game was a lot like the Bucs' games against Southern Wesleyan and Hiwassee. Guys like Corley and Williamson can look like world beaters against them - but they'll have to prove it against the Creighton's and Georgia Southern's of the world before I'll get too excited. Same with Mounce, Clark or Bothwell.

Good point about Citadel hanging with Clemson. They've got a fine crew of seniors and juniors that could make them tough to beat.

Western's effort against the #1 team in the Horizon, Wright State, was pretty rough. That first half they sounded like a DIII team. Good point that it happened with Dotson on the bench with foul trouble! That guy really does look like a load down low. Outscoring Wright 47-44 in the second half was a nice turn around. Still a hard night for the Cats.

Please keep contributing!

UNCG plays at #23 LSU tonight. Could be interesting.

I'm feeling an upset with G at LSU. I feel gross cheering for them, but our SOCON foes beating some power 5's is our only shot at a good RPI. We may not get much out of this year's OOC play. Just gotta beat down the SOCON with quality wins in January

For FUATT: I notice that Jalen Williams and Jalen Slawson did not play in Furman's blowout. Injury or just down on the depth chart?

(11-09-2018 07:42 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  Regarding Mercer, I think that Bender is a real key for them. Blue Ribbon said he would be sitting out the transfer year, but observed from a distance, I don't see a clear signal one way or the other - playing the Orange - White scrimmage doesn't mean much. Lucas N'Guessan still scrimmages with the ETSU team even though he's sitting out. Was Bender in uniform on the Mercer bench? Hoffman put several bigs on his team that do not look D1 ready. Freshman Aimaq has some promise and great wingspan, but may need a lot of work. In his senior year I still don't see much sign of Kilby coming through for them - I thought he might turn into another Jake Gollon for the Bears, but that looks less and less likely. If they don't have Bender, Hoffman may be forced to go with the small ball. Which will make wins really hard to come by. Mercerfan might help us, but he seems to have disappeared from the board. But Hoffman adjusts (considering what he had on the floor, they played UAB tough) and usually finds players that he can develop.

I'm here!!! I was under the impression that Bender was forced to sit out a year because of the transfer rule. He didn't play in the home opener tonight either. It would give Coach Hoffman this year to try and find some magic and get a bunch of young guys experience, and then add Bender to the mix for 2 solid years.

This article says he'll be eligible as a junior in 2019-20. http://wvmetronews.com/2018/05/15/ex-wes...th-mercer/

(11-09-2018 06:14 PM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  For FUATT: I notice that Jalen Williams and Jalen Slawson did not play in Furman's blowout. Injury or just down on the depth chart?

Both suspended for at least two games. I have no knowledge of why. Colleges just don't give out that info freely these days. Which makes people speculate which is sometimes worse than saying why. Breaking curfew? Late to practice? Academic issues? No idea. The only hints are that they could or should be back soon.

(11-09-2018 10:04 PM)MercerFan Wrote:  

(11-09-2018 07:42 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  Regarding Mercer, I think that Bender is a real key for them. Blue Ribbon said he would be sitting out the transfer year, but observed from a distance, I don't see a clear signal one way or the other - playing the Orange - White scrimmage doesn't mean much. Lucas N'Guessan still scrimmages with the ETSU team even though he's sitting out. Was Bender in uniform on the Mercer bench? Hoffman put several bigs on his team that do not look D1 ready. Freshman Aimaq has some promise and great wingspan, but may need a lot of work. In his senior year I still don't see much sign of Kilby coming through for them - I thought he might turn into another Jake Gollon for the Bears, but that looks less and less likely. If they don't have Bender, Hoffman may be forced to go with the small ball. Which will make wins really hard to come by. Mercerfan might help us, but he seems to have disappeared from the board. But Hoffman adjusts (considering what he had on the floor, they played UAB tough) and usually finds players that he can develop.

I'm here!!! I was under the impression that Bender was forced to sit out a year because of the transfer rule. He didn't play in the home opener tonight either. It would give Coach Hoffman this year to try and find some magic and get a bunch of young guys experience, and then add Bender to the mix for 2 solid years.

This article says he'll be eligible as a junior in 2019-20. http://wvmetronews.com/2018/05/15/ex-wes...th-mercer/

THanks! Good to hear from you again. Guys like you and FUATT give us another perspective on the Board. Glad you're back.