Great home opener win tonight in the first round of the Preseason WNIT, 74-63 over a decent Davidson team that just beat Georgetown last week. Bailey dominated once again with another 31 points, and Washington added 18.

Dragons will get on a flight to Chicago to take on DePaul on Monday night in the second round. Gametime is 8PM. I can't tell right now if there will be free video or not for this game.

Great start getting 2 wins over good teams. Monday will be a huge challenge. I am bummed that I am I am out of commission after ankle surgery or I would be there for this one. Finally have a game near me and I will miss out. I am not expecting victory. Depaul is a really good team historically. Hopefully others step up to help Bailey out. Size is generally a major issue in this type of games. Rebounding will be key. Really hoping for a good effort and to stay competitive and keep the score close (<10ish).

Huge game tonight in Chicago against #18 Depaul. Will need more than Bailey tonight. I am actually expecting an inefficient game from her since she will be their focus. Need a full team effort.

Here's the video link. I'm assuming it's free. Not sure if there's a TV streaming app or not.

https://depaulbluedemons.com/watch/?Live=140&type=Live

Not a good start. Sloppy. Hendrickson missing badly even when wide open. Need to settle down

5:24 left in 1Q and down 17-4. This is getting away quickly.

Awful first quarter. We looked like we have no idea how to handle a press and pressure in general. Depaul is relentless and we folded bad. Down 30-12 after 1 quarter. We had 9 turnovers.

I'm listening to Ari in the background while I do something else on my computer. It's amazing how there's such a huge gap in WBB. Even great mid-major teams really struggle to complete with top level power conference teams. Hopefully they don't quit and can fight their way back into the game.

Much better second quarter. Drexel gets the game to within 10 at halftime.

Big 2nd quarter. We settled down and our defense caused problems with deflections and blocks. A nice bounce at the buzzer and we are only down 43-33 at half.

Yes the gap at the top is enormous compared to the men's game. This Depaul team is not even as big as some power conference teams. Its allowing us to claw back with our defense. Their pressure is still a problem. Keep in mind a team like Depaul is very good and even they would get run out of the gym against many top 10 teams. Parity is definitely not there.

Needed to come out strong and didnt happen. 6:43 left in the 3rd and now down 53-35

Down 62-48 end of 3. Started slow then started playing well again.

81-57 final. Rough 4th quarter after a couple 3's were hit early by DePaul. Middle 2 quarters felt like we we close to equals if not the better team. Ultimately tough game against a high quality opponent. This will do our team well for the CAA this year. Turnovers were an issue but we showed a lot of fight and grit in this one and I am very happy with how we performed, despite how we finished the final quarter.

Drexel now gets to host a consolation game against Pacific on Saturday at 2PM at the DAC. I guess this is better than having to travel out to California for this game.

I question whether or not this Preseason WNIT is worth participating in. The travel is just brutal. If Drexel had won last night, they'd probably have to travel to Oregon. For Pacific, they were home in Stockton on Friday, traveled to Oregon for last night's game, and now have to travel cross country to Philadelphia. That's a lot for early in the season.

It is absolutely worth it. We get to play quality teams. This year, that meant something since our conference likely will be on the verge of extra bids. Davidson, DePaul and Pacific is a quality set of games that we should not shy away from. Pacific stayed close to Oregon State so that wont be an easy game at all, but will be another quality win if we can be victorious. Staying local is a nice convenience, but if we are trying to get to higher paths and into the NCAA more often, we should not be afraid of a little travel in the OOC.

In terms of travel, I'll tell you about Hofstra in the 2003 Men's Preseason NIT. They played 8 of 10 nonconference games away including the first 7. They opened in the Preseason NIT Round of 16 with a 79-74 win at Marist. That sent them to a Quarterfinal at Georgia Tech. If they had lost to Marist, I don't know if they would have had a consolation game or no more Preseason NIT games. They lost 75-56 at Georgia Tech. What made Hofstra's SOS better was that 6 days after beating Hofstra, Georgia Tech went to MSG and beat Number 1 Connecticut 77-61. Then Georgia Tech beat Texas Tech 85-65 to win the Preseason NIT.

JMU up 7 at half over #8 Maryland. Surprising. Maryland is coming off a loss to #6 South Carolina. That would be a huge upset for JMU and bad news for the CAA, in the sense of how strong JMU might be. It would be great for getting multiple bids

(11-13-2019 08:03 PM)dan10 Wrote:  JMU up 7 at half over #8 Maryland. Surprising. Maryland is coming off a loss to #6 South Carolina. That would be a huge upset for JMU and bad news for the CAA, in the sense of how strong JMU might be. It would be great for getting multiple bids

I just checked the score as I assumed that JMU would pull it out, but I see that Maryland outscored them 29-11 in the 4th quarter and stole the game 70-68. Very disappointment loss for JMU as the CAA. The league as a whole needs teams like JMU to pull out wins like this, but it didn't happen tonight.

JMU blew a 19 point lead with about 6 to go. It hurts, but beating top teams is tough for a reason.