Thanks for the info Greg. Should be a fun neutral-court game.
Williams to Salem, MA = 155 miles
North Park to Salem, MA = 1,010 miles
Some courts are more neutral than others.
Looking at the NPU roster and stats, they seem to be a quick but not terribly tall, guard dominated team, which I expect Williams to be next season (they will often sport a lineup that is 6'5, 6'4, 6'3, 6'3, 6'0), so I expect running and gunning in that game.
NPU should be plenty tall enough to measure up against most D3 teams. The most likely starting lineup would be 6'7, 6'5, 6'4, 6'1, 5'9. Both of NPU's centers are solid, muscular types that go about 6'7, 235, and the five players that are in the mix for playing time at the two forward sports are 6'7, 6'5, 6'5, 6'4, and 6'4. Of course, the possibility exists that NPU head coach Paul Brenegan could opt for a three-guard lineup, given the team's depth at the guard spots.
And I'm glad that Williams will get at least one stern test prior to conference play, because 10 days later they are at Amherst, and Amherst will almost certainly bounce back from a year in which everything that could go wrong, did.
I have the same feelings about North Park, because eight days after the Williams game the Vikings will host an Augustana team that'll most likely enter play ranked in the d3hoops.com preseason poll. NPU has had a bad habit of scheduling too light a non-conference schedule and then paying for it once the conference slate begins; last season was a classic example of that, as the Vikings gave up a 17-0 run at the start of their CCIW season opener at Augie a year ago and didn't score their first point in CCIW play until almost five minutes had gone by.
The idea behind playing a team like Williams just eight days before CCIW play begins is that it will prepare the Vikings for what they can expect from the upper echelon of the CCIW, which certainly includes Augie.
Author