BC to play Nebraska in basketball

The TV partners and conferences announced the pairings for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. BC will face Nebraska. It is the first time the schools will play in basketball. Official start times will be announced closer to the season.

Nebraska wasn't very good last year, so this represent a real chance at a W. Christian doesn't really have a choice about this. The conferences determines our participation, but this an important game. He needs all the success he can get next year.

ESPN defends ACC deal, big hockey donation and other links

Given the growing criticism of the new ACC deal, ESPN felt the need to defend and explain the specifics of the agreement. What's interesting is that Syracuse and Pitt triggered the opportunity to evaluate the deal but was not a contracted "out" of the old deal. Still my point from yesterday holds true: ESPN needs to keep the ACC at parity with the other conference.

An anonymous donor gave BC a $5 million donation to to turn the hockey head coach position into a endowed job. I think this shows BC Development team that success in sports can open up wallets. BC is losing money ever day that Spaz is in charge.

This preview of the football team is spot on, very candid and depressing.

The ACC and Big Ten announced the pairings for the Challenge. BC will face Pen State on Wednesday November 28th.

Baseball lost to Maine 9-4 on Monday. The final series of the season begins Thursday against Duke.

Spaz believes the new playoff needs to have conference winners.

Who are the Hoosiers?

Indiana basketball hasn't been Indiana basketball of late. Coaching changes and NCAA violations left Tom Crean in a major rebuilding mode with one of college basketballs most storied programs. Of course now that Crean has added depth and has the team playing well, we pull them in the ACC-Big Ten rotation. It should be an interesting game and another good test for Donahue's team. Here are some news and notes on the new look Hoosiers in preparation for tonight's game.

Record
6-0 but it is a little hollow. They have yet to play a ranked team and have not played away from Bloomington. Their best opponent was probably Evansville.

Rating
Kenpom has the Hoosiers 58th nationally in his power rating. BC is 40th. His ratings favor us in a one on one matchup.

Style

Indiana will mix it up on defense. Crean used to play a lot of man at Marquette but doesn't really have the size at IU to do that against most teams. They rely on different zone looks. Since we are not particularly big, we may see more man to man tonight.

On offense they have some strong perimeter players. Most probably now Maurice Creek, but Christian Watford has been their leading scorer and a solid rebounder. They won't chuck a lot of threes. They are more patient and will find the higher percentage shot and are deadly with putbacks.

Pointspread

BC-5.5

What to expect
I think playing at home and playing with confidence will lead us to another win. I think we can set the tempo early and force IU to play catchup and shoot more 3s than they would like. They don't have size to give us problems, but they will force turnovers. It should be a good test to see if Orlando was a good run or the sign of this team's potential.