Get that SWAC outta here. Tonight, Northwestern plays Delaware State - the Hornets! - of the MEAC in their fourth game of the season. They'll look to stay undefeated in a game that is somehow connected to the South Padre Invitational Northwestern is playing in.. Let's take a look at all the stuff!
Are they good? Not quite, but we're getting there. Northwestern's first three opponents were Kenpom bottom 100 squads. Delaware State is all the way up at No. 230! Thus far this year, they're 3-1, although two games were against non-DI schools - Philadelphia Biblical and Lamborghini Gwynedd Mercy, winning by a combined 87 points - before a win against Wagner and a monster blowout 87-48 loss to Illinois State in the first leg of the South Padre Invitational. That result indicates they sorta aren't good. In other news, how come Northwestern's exhibition games never count towards their record, but Delaware State gets to be 3-1?
Wait, how is this in any way affiliated with the South Padre Invitational anyway?: It really shouldn't be, and same with the last game. Basically, this is a dumb tournament. It features each "upper bracket" team hosting two home games that actually have nothing to do with the tournament against "lower bracket" teams, then they actually go to South Padre and play two separate tournaments.
Us and them: Northwestern is 2-0 against the Hornets, but the last game deserves a spotlight: Delaware State pushed Northwestern to overtime in what has to be one of the less-fun-to-remember games of the Bill Carmody era in an era full of games that aren't fun to remember. NU shot 10-for-15 from three, and Vedran Vukusic scored 19 while Tim Doyle and Mohamed Hached combined for 30 points on only 12 shots... but the game was still tied 49-49 after regulation thanks to 18 points from someone named Jahsha Bluntt.
SWAC vs. MEAC: Which HBCU conference is better? Well, it's the MEAC. By a lot. I mean, the Mid-East Athletic Conference still has three teams in the bottom ten of Kenpom, but they're the fourth-worst conference as opposed to the dead-last SWAC. A team from each plays in the MEAC/SWAC challenge every year in football, and the MEAC is up 5-2 in that.
Difference between the amount of times Delaware State has been to the NCAA Tournament and the amount of times Northwestern has: One. They lost 56-47 to Duke in 2005 thanks to 14 points from Shelden Williams, which is funny because Shelden Williams.
Names: No great ones, but Tahj Tate and Jabari Joyner are nicely alliterative. In other news, Delaware State has 19 PLAYERS ON ITS ROSTER, which can't be legal.
Should NU win?: Yeah.
What to look for: Drew Crawford has actually looked pretty mediocre since a 20-point first half in the opener against Texas Southern. He's only had 12 total points since that half, so hopefully he can show nothing's wrong. Luckily Reggie Hearn's been there to pick him up and stuff.