Chicago Invitational Challenge Men’s Basketball Breakdown
The Chicago Invitational Challenge is not one of the more well-known tournaments, but the meat of the challenge has some quality teams that should provide a couple interesting days of basketball. The Chicago Invitational Challenge has eight teams in the Championship round, but each will only play two games on November 25th and 26th.
BYU vs. Nevada
The winner of the BYU and Nevada game will go on to play the winner of Wisconsin and Bradley. The losers will also matchup on day two. Nevada should be right in the middle of a wide open WAC race and guards Deonte Burton and Malik Story will lead the way. The Cougars are the favorite to win this game, but they are a different team without Jimmer Fredette. BYU still has a very, very good squad. It just may take a little while for Coach Dave Rose to find somebody else to take all those big shots that Jimmer used to take, but sooner rather than later, Coach Rose will have this team beating some quality squads.
Wisconsin vs. Bradley
The Badgers are always a good team that takes smart shots and keeps the turnovers down. That is usually enough for Coach Bo Ryan to take his Wisconsin team to the NCAA Tournament, but this Badger squad has a superstar in Jordan Taylor. Bradley, on the other hand, is looking for their new star. Taylor Brown could be that guy and Dyricus Simms-Edwards is always a big scoring threat. However, this squad needs some time to develop as a team and beating Wisconsin this early in the season is not going to happen.
Longwood vs. Prairie View A&M
The other side of the bracket has the “lower” level teams. Longwood and Prairie View A&M are two teams who are not expected to do much this season and there really is not much to watch for in this contest.
Wofford vs. UMKC
Wofford and UMKC are a little more interesting. The Terriers are coming off of two great seasons, but four starters are gone and it is time to rebuild. The interesting thing to watch for this year is how far Coach Mike Young’s team drops. The talent and experience are down, but Wofford is picking up some nice recruits and the Terriers may be right back in the Southern Conference race sooner than many expect. UMKC is in rebuilding mode as well. After a pretty good season last year, the Kangaroos will need time before they can beat anybody halfway decent. But they could pull off a win against Wofford and Longwood or Prairie View A&M would seem easy after that.
Men's Basketball Games of the Week and Tournament Breakdowns
