Vermont at Eastern Michigan, 11:00 AM Eastern, espn3
For a preview of other highlighted games this weekend, CLICK HERE.
Welcome to the 2015-16 college basketball season!
The season tips off this year, as it does almost every year, in Ypsilanti, Michigan as the Eastern Michigan Eagles out of the MAC will be hosting the America East’s Vermont Catamounts. As this is the first official game between two Division I programs, it is also our first Under the Radar Game of the Day. The UTR Game of the Day will be coming to you almost every day between now and the first week in March, spotlighting games involving teams that are not in the nine historically multi-bid leagues (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12, SEC, American, Atlantic Ten and Mountain West) and that are not currently ranked in the Top 25 (sorry Wichita State and Gonzaga!). We will be focusing in on games of note for one reason or another, and trying to have a lot of fun doing it. Of course, don’t miss our weekly Under the Radar video podcasts either, where members of the HOOPS HD crew will go into even more in-depth analysis of some of our favorite programs that are not on being discussed by the national media.
For today’s game, Eastern Michigan has developed a very “Under the Radar” tradition in the past few years of almost always playing the very first game of the college hoops season (though last year Eastern Washington hosted Texas Southern at some ridiculously early hour on the west coast to trump the Eagles). Most years the game is played against a non-D1 opponent, but not this season. The Eagles welcome in the Vermont Catamounts for what could be an entertaining game, especially if the Eagles can get their fans pumped up for some Friday morning hoops!
EMU was a solid 21-14 last season, finishing in fourth place in the MAC’s West Division and advancing to postseason play in the CBI, where they fell in the first round to Louisiana-Monroe. Unfortunately for the Eagles, only one starter returns from that squad. The good news is that player is Raven Lee, who finished second in the conference in scoring at 16.7 points per game. Lee, who is only a junior, should post even bigger numbers this season as he will be the Eagles first, second and probably third option on offense each time down the court.
Vermont, in contrast to EMU, returns four starters from last year’s team that went 20-15 and finished tied for second place in the America East. Vermont’s season was also ended by Louisiana-Monroe last year, in the semifinals of the CBI. This year’s team should be led by Ethan O’Day, and bolstered by the addition of Hofstra transfer Darren Payne. Although the top of the America East looks stacked this season (with the likes of Albany, Stony Brook and New Hampshire all expected to contend), the Catamounts are definitely eyeing the conference championship and a chance to return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2012. They are also going for their 8th straight 20 win season, the longest current run by any New England team (and yes, that is a longer streak than UConn).