Thanksgiving Dessert, WAC Play Begins, Freshman Shining Early On
Thanksgiving Dessert, WAC Play Begins, Freshman Shining Early On
Feast Week is over. Thanksgiving dinners have turned into turkey sandwiches…as Ross named HIS sandwich, ‘The Moistmaker’, what do you call your now-cold turkey sandwich?
Well, whatever it is, what comes after the dinner might be the best part. For my family, we usually have dirt pudding. You know, Oreo cookies broken up and mixed in with vanilla pudding. It is a tasty dish. My wife loves the traditional pumpkin pie with some whipped cream.
For college basketball teams, dessert comes by way of winning games, whether in a pre-Thanksgiving or post-Thanksgiving ball game during Feast Week.
The GCU women’s basketball team swept a pair of wins in the GCU Classic. Both wins were by double figures. That was a nice post-Thanksgiving dessert for the Lopes.
Chloe Webb and the California Baptist Lancers got a nice post-Thanksgiving dessert with a big win over a really good Portland squad.
Jakorie Smith and the Tarleton men got a nice pre-Thanksgiving dessert by winning the SoCal Challenge. Smith was named Tournament MVP after averaging 22.5 points in a pair of wins over Austin Peay and CSU Bakersfield.
As you can see, things are moving along. Sure, there have been disappointing losses through the first month of the season. That happens. But overall, the basketball around the WAC has been solid early in 2023-24.
WAC Play Begins…EARLY
It’s still November and WAC play begins. No, that isn’t a typo. Teams will play their conference openers this week.
Due to a facility issue, the Southern Utah women will host California Baptist on Tuesday to open up WAC play. Quite the matchup considering the T-Birds beat up on the Lancers in the WAC Tournament title game in 2023.
Nov. 29 is when things really ramp up.
On the women’s side:
UT Arlington at Abilene Christian
SFA at Tarleton
UTRGV at Grand Canyon
Utah Valley at Seattle U
On the men’s side:
Tarleton at SFA
GCU at UTRGV
Abilene Christian at UT Arlington
Seattle U at Utah Valley
California Baptist at Southern Utah
The reason for the early start to conference games is due to having a 20-game schedule. Some coaches like it. Some don’t. But most understood the reasoning for it in order to have a league schedule where everyone played everyone twice.
It will be interesting to see how things play out this week in conference games. Many coaches tend to coach a little different in November compared to January and February.
Who will get a leg up early on in the WAC?
Freshman Are Shining Bright Early On
On Friday, we wrote an article about three freshman who are already making a case for WAC Freshman of the Year. Two players have started every game for their respective teams. The other finally got his chance two weeks ago to step on the floor and has made an immediate impact.
Southern Utah guard Braden Housley, Utah Tech guard Aric Demings, and UT Arlington guard Kade Douglas are showing that they can play at this level.
Housley is a redshirt freshman who decided to stay in Cedar City after the coaching change. Demings is a winner as his head coach, Jon Judkins, puts it. And Douglas is a sharpshooter who has a green light any time he is on the floor.
On Sunday, another freshman made a HUGE splash…pun intended. Abilene Christian guard Payton Hull hit nine 3-pointers en route to 34 points to sink Navy at the Navy Classic. The 5’11 freshman from Peaster, Texas is averaging a team-high 14.6 points, has scored in double figures in three of five games, and is shooting 50 percent from the field.
The 34 points ties the most points in a single game in ACU’s Division I era.
Housekeeping
Remember to subscribe to the YouTube Channel. Beginning on Nov. 29, the Straight Outta WAC podcast will be coming to you live daily at 12:30 MT. It will be streamed on the YouTube Channel so you want to subscribe so you don’t miss it. It will also be streamed to the WAC Hoops Nation Facebook page, as well.
Here is a recent episode of the Straight Outta WAC podcast just so you can see kind of what you’re getting int.
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