[The Poet]

Even though most of the games last night involved teams no one but their fans are involved with, the trend of squeakers did continue:

Western Kentucky 67 - South Alabama 64 (OT) = Hey, I told you this could be a good one.

Xavier 68 - LaSalle 62 = And I told you Xavier would win, though I expected a bigger margin.

Michigan 64 - Penn State 55 = The Loins let the Logans recover from a hideous first half to steal one and keep PSU winless in the Big 10.

Arkansas State 69 - Middle Tennessee State 67 = One of those aforementioned squeakers.

UC Irvine 65 - CSU Northridge 62 = Again.

Gardner-Webb 64 - Charleston Southern 61 = Also.

Jackson State 68 - Eastern Kentucky 65 = Ditto.

LA Lafayette 74 - North Texas 72 = Ibid.

Oakland 67 - Oral Roberts 64 = Another 1-possession game.

Quinnipiac 64 - Mount St. Mary's 63 = And a 1-point one.

Southern Utah 85 - North Dakota State 79 (OT) = And another OT.

There's not a whole lot happening tonight, as is fairly normal on Fridays once the season truly starts. I see only a few games to watch:

Butler vs. Wright State = Should be a real battle.

Washington State vs. Arizona = Should not be one.

Washington vs. Arizona State = Hey, do these Great NW schools share the same plane? Didn't they do this precise flop-flip with Oregon/Oregon State earlier? WTF?

There WILL be a ton of good games on Saturday, but as I'll be right here tomorrow I shall only mention those with an early tip-off time:

Georgetown vs. U. Conn = This is always an interesting matchup between the Hoya defensive philosophy and the Huskies offensive one.

Florida vs. Vanderbilt = These Commodores are not as good as past teams, but the Gators have been pretty bi-polar, so might be fun.

St. John's vs. Louisville = Neither team is outstanding, but both teams are pretty decent. I expect the Cardinals to open this one up in the second half.

More to follow tomorrow afternoon. Until then, enjoy.