With today being the first BIG college basketball day, there are a lot of Canadians in action. Check out the schedule we've compiled for you with all the games Canucks are playing in and our Marquee Match Up to watch and set your DVRs ...
Marquee Match Up 9:00pm Southern University vs. Gonzaga There are some high expectations for this Gonzaga team and there some equally high expectations of the three Canadians on the roster: Olynyk, Sacre and Arop. Sacre has been the man in the middle all of last season, Olynyk has been the ‘tweener and Arop has been the defensive specialist. All have shown flashes of more but have not done a whole lot of showing it consistently. This season, they will all be relied heavily on to carry the burden for a team that can potentially be dancing its way into the Sweet Sixteen if not further. Southern has fallen on some hard times thanks to some lean teams the last couple of years but the guys who suit up for the Jaguars can still play at a high level, even if they are far removed from the NCAA Tournament. This will be a good first game for the Zags to see where they’re at and what they need to do to improve early. This game will also be a good test to see how Rob, Kelly and Manny handle their new roles with this team. Though it will be far from a complete prediction of their coming season, it’s still a good early gauge.
* Games in bold are other games to watch*
4:30pm Milwaukee vs. Portland 5:00pm Kent State vs. Iona 7:00pm Northern Iowa vs. Syracuse - Kris Joseph's debut game as "the man" for the Orange. 7:00pm St. Francis (NY) vs. Boston College 7:00pm Boston University vs. Northeastern 7:00pm Tennessee Tech vs. North Carolina State 7:00pm Citadel vs. Richmond 7:00pm Columbia vs. La Salle 7:00pm West Virginia Tech vs. Marshall 7:00pm Norfolk State vs. Long Island University 7:00pm Lafayette vs. Wagner - Pre Season All Patriot League forward Jared Mintz has suffered another minor injury before training camp and was to be ok for the start of the season. Tyler Murray for Wagner may emerge to be the leader of his team this season. 7:30pm St. Francis (PA) vs. American University 7:30pm Bryant University vs. Cleveland State 7:30pm Cornell vs. Albany 8:00pm Bucknell vs. Villanova 8:00pm Northern Arizona vs. Iowa State - Freshman Melvin Ejim had a great last pre season game where he had 13 pts, 4 rbs and 4 stls in 31 starter minutes against Dubugue. Redshirt senior Jamie Vanderbeken started that game also and is injury free, for now. 8:00pm Wofford vs. Minnesota
8:00pm Western Carolina vs. Clemson - This will be an interesting game to watch and see what his role on Catamounts team will be this season after last year. Harouna Mutumbo will have a good start to his season taking on some talented Clemson Tigers and showing he is still the elite level player he was as a freshman.
8:05pm New Mexico State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette - The Canadians Laroche, Watson and Kabongo should factor heavy in this game with Laroche looking to lead from the point again.
8:30pm St. Bonaventure vs. Canisius - I heard that Nicholson has been in the gym all summer working on his jumper and his body. This first game will be a big one and we expect some big numbers from an much improved Andrew, which should be scary.
8:30pm Eastern Kentucky vs. Loyola (IL)
9:00pm Prairie View A&M vs. Marquette
9:00pm Cal State Bakersfield vs. Santa Clara - A big game for two reasons: Cal-Bakersfield's Alex Johnson is back from injury and Santa Clara's Marc Trasolini. Throw in freshman Julian Clarke for Broncos and it is worth the price of admission.
9:00pm IPFW vs. SIU-Edwardsville
9:00pm Arkansas-Little Rock vs. Southern Methodist - I'm just really curious to see what kind of player Arkansas-Little Rock's Tramar Sutherland has become since leaving Toronto a couple of years back for junior college.
9:00pm Elon vs. South Carolina
9:00pm Maine vs. Utah Valley
9:30pm Grambling State vs. Baylor