Women are home vs. a 20-win team from last year (Nicholls State). The men start out on the road at Arkansas, who has a new coach (Eric Musselman). The women should be solid favorites. The men are underdogs but have a chance to compete perhaps against a transitioning Arkansas team that is relatively small and is relying on a lot of transfers (shocker considering Musselman is their new coach? No, not really). Both games are at 7 pm Central.

It will be fun to see how the women look (Nicholls returns all but one player but that one player was their star and the Southland Conference player of the year). We should start Wiggins and Smith in the backcourt, Erica and Mulkey in the frontcourt, and then either Swayze or the freshman Schwartz to replace Iademarco. Against bigger teams, I wouldn't be surprised to see another freshman India Bellamy start instead of Schwartz or Swayze, but Nicholls isn't big. Look for all five freshmen to play some decent minutes.

I think the men are going to drop a few early games if Mullins isn't 100 percent. They also have an odd schedule with 9 games in November and just 4 in December. But we do have our largest team in years (16 players although one is sitting out as a redshirt in the 6-10 transfer from Texas Tech, and 3 of them are walk-ons).

Arkansas will test our defense right away as they will jack up the three-pointers en mass (then again, so do we). I'm not sure how that will work out for a lot of teams in 2019-20 since the line was moved back (although we did shoot 45 pct. from 3-pointers in the exhibition game).

The bigger thing for the men will be to cut down on the turnovers (we had 18 turnovers in the exhibition against just 7 for St. Edward's - that was the difference in the game). A lot of those were of the unforced variety. We'll also struggle on the rebound end against the bigger, more physical teams - although I'm not sure if that will be as much of an issue against Arkansas as it will against other teams.

I'll predict a double digit win for the women, and a double digit loss for the men. But it won't surprise me if both games are closer than expected.

Computer ratings are, to say the least, suspect this time of year. But Massey gives the men an 8% chance against Arkansas and the women a 94% chance against Nicholls.

Looking forward to the game tomorrow. You're right we are really small so if we aren't hitting from 3 it could be a close game.

We have a 7'3 center transfer from Cal but the NCAA has yet to rule on if he'll be eligible for us yet or not. Would be nice to have that kind of size.

(11-04-2019 04:02 PM)gohogs14 Wrote:  Looking forward to the game tomorrow. You're right we are really small so if we aren't hitting from 3 it could be a close game.

We have a 7'3 center transfer from Cal but the NCAA has yet to rule on if he'll be eligible for us yet or not. Would be nice to have that kind of size.

Vannover visited Rice a few years back and it seemed like we had a real shot when recruiting him. He was much more impactful for Cal than I expected last year. Thought it would take him a year or two to get his sea legs.

ESPN's Creme had our women as a #6 seed in his preseason bracket. These guys have us as a #7 seed...

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-wom...-predicted

Top 25 storylines in women's college basketball for 2019-20

Quote:14. Returning talent could fuel mid-major surprises in March.
While several teams used to being at the top of the national polls have their work cut out for them replacing special talents, the story in the mid-major ranks is how many contenders return their best players. Becca Hittner and Sara Rhine at Drake? They're back. Same for Rice's Nancy Mulkey and Erica Ogwumike. South Dakota still has Ciara Duffy, and Princeton still has Bella Alarie. No group of teams is impervious: We'll miss watching Macy Miller at South Dakota State, Cierra Dillard at Buffalo and, well, the entire starting lineup at Quinnipiac. But continuity this time of year for so many mid-majors spells trouble for everyone else in March. -- Hays

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...ll-2019-20

Two of the women's opponents played today earlier today with SMU defeating McNeese St., 81-60.

Atlanta Tipoff Club released the 50 players on the Women’s Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List. Erica made the list.

NCAA tweeted the list with a photo.



https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-wom...ith-trophy

ESPN women's basketball article with a nice mention of Rice...

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-bask...redictions

Quote:Make one bold prediction for 2019-20
Graham Hays: Rice will have one of the three best seasons in Texas. If the Owls can find some 3-point shooting to balance Erica Ogwumike, Nancy Mulkey and a stifling defense, they will have a longer run in March than Texas, ranked 15th in the preseason AP Top 25, or No. 6 Texas A&M.