GNAC looking tough...

[lv2hoop]

If some of the GNAC vs. D1 scores are any indication, then the league is going to be rough and tumble this year. BYU v. SPU was a shootout. WWU v. UW Huskies went down to the wire 109-103.

UTEP barely survived an OT exhibition game at home vs. UAF and St. Martin's is down 64-59 with about 4:00 to go against the Cal Fullerton Titans. I'm still standing by my prediction that St. Martin's will finish in the top 4 in the league. They also played last week at EWU and gave them a good game.

[northernGNAChoopfan]

Re: GNAC looking tough...

I would cautiously agree... Exhibitions are, well, just that, but I've been impressed with seeing a bit of a lot of these games. SPU, WWU both looked good to me. I saw CWU a little bit in their game against PLU and thought they looked good too-Dom Hunter looks real at home in their style of play and Naim Ladd looked great too. I think they will pick up where they left off. PLU looked pretty organized and not a complete roll-over team too. I watched the UTEP/UAF game yesterday and I would only correct you in that they (UTEP) did not survive UAF, they got real lucky to get out of that one with a win. UAF lead for 80% or better of the game, were up by 4 with under a minute to go in regulation, made a huge mistake on a last ditch 3 pointer by UTEP (gave them the 4 point play to get into OT). In OT, UAF also lead for much, was tied with under a minute to go and got called for a block that coulda easily been a charge and UTEP put in the FTs for the win. It was not pretty, for sure, but they showed they can execute a plan and mitigate an extreme size disadvantage, with lots of room for improvement.

I'm eager to see what WOU and UAA will look like against better teams (Portland Bible was not worth peeking at those games for... LOL). But, yeah, the GNAC lost a lot last year to graduation, lost a great coach, but they appear to have rebuilt pretty well too. I didn't see either SMU exhibition, but if they gave two DI teams a game, that's pretty consistent execution-they are well coached.

[lv2hoop]

Re: GNAC looking tough...

UAA and UAF will both be tested in Hawaii straight out of the gates this coming weekend. Both HPU and Chaminade will be looking to return the 0-4 favor that they were given up in Fairbanks last year at this time.