Just a quick post, as the Falcons go on consecutive days. The next and final opponent in the Pre-season NIT is Alabama-Huntsville. You probably had the same reaction I did when you saw that BG was playing a DII team, which is that this was one we might win.
Not so fast. Alabama-Huntsville is one of the top 5 DII teams in the country, they made the Elite 8 last year and they were 29-4. They beat D1 North Texas in the first round of the NIT and nearly beat Cleveland State last night. (They did lose by 51 to Kansas State in the other game).
This is going to be a very difficult test for the Falcons.
The Chargers are led by Jaime Smith who was one of the top DII 3-point shooters last year. This year, he is scoring 12.3 PPG and adding 5 assists. He has not really warmed up from 3, either, but he will be a challenge for the perimeter defense for BG. He's 6'3" and maybe this is a Luke Kraus project.
They are also led by FR Wayne Dedrick, who was all-newcomer in the pre-season for their conference
and is off to a huge start, scoring 12 points per game to be close to the team's leader.
Finally, while they are not terribly big, they have Zane Campbell on the inside. He's 6'8" and scores 12.3 PPG and gets 6.3 boards.
Connor Blaisi had 19 points in the Cleveland State game.
Their season stats are distorted because of that Kansas State game.
Anyway, this is clearly a team that would be very competitive in a lot of D1 conferences, and will be a very solid test for the Falcons.
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