Small Conference Game of the Day – January 18

SOUTHERN UTAH at WEBER STATE, 9:00 PM Eastern (no TV)

The SCGD heads to Ogden, Utah tonight for a Big Sky battle between the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah and the Wildcats of Weber State.  Well, maybe the word battle is not the best to use here…as this game is not exactly projected to be anything more than a romp by Weber State.  KenPom is presently projecting a 23 point blowout by the Wildcats, and there is no real reason to believe he is wrong.

So why would a game that should be no contest be the SCGD?  As has been mentioned here several times, HoopsHD annually presents the “Centenary Award”, an award given to the worst team in Division I.  Last year’s award was easily given to a winless Grambling State team.  Although Grambling did manage a win against a non-D1 foe earlier this season, they have been the frontrunners to repeat all season long.  Until now.

Southern Utah is 1-13 on the season, with the lone victory being an 85-78 win over non-D1 Southwestern Arizona back on November 8.  They Adjusted Offense is the worst in Division 1 according to KenPom and their Adjusted Defense is not much better (342 out of 351).  These numbers have resulted in SUU sliding past Grambling to become KenPom’s worst team in D1, knocking Grambling out of a spot that they have held for almost two years.  While the margin of difference in ratings between the two teams is negligible, it is pretty clear that unless one of them wins a game, the Centenary Award battle will be close the rest of the season.