Tuori Sports Report

  Two weeks after their season was supposed to start, the Milwaukee Panthers finally took the floor on Friday night. Instead of their planned opener in Milwaukee, they visited the “Little Apple” of Manhattan, Kansas to face Kansas State and Bruce Weber, a 1978 Milwaukee alum. In a battle of teams figuring themselves out early in this season, Milwaukee pushed Kansas State to the brink before falling 76-75. Milwaukee has eleven new players on their roster (the second highest total in the country), but Coach Pat Baldwin elected to start the 2020-21 campaign with four familiar faces to Panthers fans: Te’Jon Lucas, Josh Thomas, Amir Allen and Courtney Brown Jr. The fifth starter was DeAndre Gholston, a JUCO transfer from Tallahassee CC. The Panthers came out roaring in this game, taking a commanding 7-0 lead in the opening two minutes of the contest. Te’Jon Lucas attacked the basket hard, and Josh Thomas stepped right into a beautiful three-point basket. The Kansas State defense tig...

  First things first, it is great to have Pistons basketball back. I know for all those, like myself, who watched all 48 minutes hoping for a LiAngelo Ball appearance was disappointed but hearing Mason, George, and Special K will always put a smile on my face. The end result, however, did not, as tonight’s opening game of the 2020-21 preseason for Detroit is a defeat coming from the New York Knicks, with a score of 90-84. I know it is the preseason, and this is far from the way that Coach Casey will play his team, so take what this game showed us very lightly. I definitely saw a few things that I liked, but at the same time, a ton that I did not.   Let’s start with the negatives: The Game Itself This game was ugly, and that might be putting it nice. 46 combined turnovers, numerous airballs, and poor shooting. New York shot a respectable 45.8% from the field, but Detroit shot 32.5, both teams were sub-30 from deep and the Knicks shot 47.8% from the free throw line. ...

**Double Dribble is the new article series that will be produced each Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the duration of the College Basketball season. The TSR team (and occasionally guests), will give their opinion on the games that have taken place and the games that look ahead.   NICK Kansas State in Freefall The Wildcats were going to be bad this year, everyone knew that. But a thirteen point loss to Fort Hayes State in which they were dominated nearly the entire night?! I sure didn’t see that coming. It’s going to be a long year in Manhattan… Detroit Falls Back to Earth The Titans were extremely impressive last week in two narrow defeats against Michigan State and Notre Dame. I expected they would beat Kent State, on their home floor too, but the Titans lost by fourteen. Matt Johnson, who had played so well against Michigan State, struggled from the floor (2/8). Antoine Davis, the go-to player for the Titans, was held to only 21 points as he was 7/21 shooting. This team i...

The MTI Center scoreboard will feature "Broncos" in a week. The Western Michigan Broncos released their 2020-21 men's basketball non-conference schedule on Friday afternoon. They will play six non-league games, four away from University Arena. Perhaps the most intriguing game on their schedule is the November 28th road trip to Angola, Indiana. They will stop there to visit the Trine Thunder. How does this happen, that a Division I team travels to a member of the Division III's MIAA? Welcome to scheduling during COVID-19. Newly enacted restrictions in place by the MDHHS in regards to athletic competition during COVID-19 would not allow Trine to be eligible to travel to Kalamazoo to face the Broncos. This caused Western Michigan and Trine to get creative to make this game happen. For the first time in their history, the Broncos will hit the road to face a Division III opponent. "We originally planned to host Trine", Western Michigan Head Coach Clayton Bates to...

  The Pistons made noise before this draft even got started and it changed everything for them tonight. They went from having just one pick, to making four, three of which were in the first round.  I absolutely love the trade the Pistons made tonight before the draft with the Houston Rockets. Detroit received Trevor Ariza and the No. 16 pick tonight for a future pick. The pick we sent to Houston is heavily protected as it is a top-16 protected the next four years, top-10 the following two, and then top-9. After then, it becomes a second. So, for all that follow the Pistons, the Rockets basically just gave the pick away for a second because the Pistons will be in the lottery for years to come. On top of this, if anyone knows me, I am a huge Trevor Ariza fan. I know he was not the reason for this trade, but I am here for it. Who knows if he will ever even play for Detroit, but for now, this is something I love to see. Another trade that happened with Houston tonight was for 4....

The B1G has announced the complete conference schedule tonight.   Some quick thoughts on the newly released B1G basketball schedule: Christmas Day: I love that the B1G is playing games on Christmas Day. A quadruple-header of B1G hoops will surely be more thrilling than the typical NBA on Christmas Day. Wisconsin will travel to Michigan State as the headliner, but Iowa visits Minnesota, Michigan travels to Nebraska and Maryland visits Purdue. I hope that the B1G schedules these games in a way that are back-to-back-to-back-to-back so that we can watch all four while stuffing ourselves with Christmas treats. Also, I officially start the movement to have MSU and Wisconsin wear green and red respectively, to truly embody the Christmas spirit. Rivalry Endings: The Big Ten scheduled Indiana and Purdue, as well as Michigan State and Michigan, for those team's final games. I wish that they would do this every year, and even more so they should extend it to all 14 teams. Minnesota/Wisco...