LIVE BLOG: The Valley took care of business on opening night

College basketball is here!

I’ll step back and let you re-read that sentence a few times. Let it sink in.

OK, you ready? Good.

Eastern Michigan tips off the season, as it does every year now I guess, with the first game, starting at 10:30 a.m. ET. Their opponent, Spring Arbor, probably won’t do much for you, so if you’re watching this one, keep an eye on James Thompson IV — Eastern Michigan’s resident Large Adult Son.

The game will be available to stream on ESPN3, and yeah, we will be doing just that. Fire up that second screen at work and let’s watch some college basketball.

Some other games of note (all times Eastern):

Savannah State at Cincinnati (first game between two D-I teams), Noon, ESPN3
Webber International at Stetson (Ben will take over our Twitter as this is our NMTC Game of the Week not presented by Arby’s), Noon, ESPN3
Campbell at Penn State, 4 p.m.
Utah Valley at Kentucky, 7 p.m., SECN
Northern Iowa at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Indiana State at Indiana, 7 p.m.
South Carolina at Wofford, 7 p.m., ESPN3
East Tennessee State at Northern Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Missouri State at Western Kentucky, 8 p.m.
Bucknell at Monmouth, 8:30 p.m., ESPN3
Yale at Creighton, 9 p.m.
UC Irvine at South Dakota State, 9:15 p.m.
Belmont at Washington, 10 p.m., Pac-12 Network

Our staff will be checking in here all day with updates, but for now, enjoy the games!

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UPDATE - 11:59 p.m.

Wichita, who? With the Shockers off in the distance, the Valley had a great opening night. We know all about Indiana State’s drubbing of Indiana (and send thoughts out to Chris, as this is not Chris — or is it?).

While Greg Lansing’s blue blood triumph is the obviously headliner, it wasn’t the only good news for the MVC. The conference went 6-1 on the night, with the only loss being Northern Iowa’s 17-point defeat at North Carolina. Just a thought, but maybe we’ll file that as “understandable.”

The six wins weren’t all puff either. Valpo loaded up on North Park, but everyone else played, and beat, decent competition. Missouri State held on to beat a Mitchell Robinson-less, but still good Western Kentucky team, and got nice debuts from newcomers Reggie Scurry (12 points, 5 rebounds) and J.T. Miller (14 points, 8 rebounds).

Elsewhere, Evansville knocked off what figures to be a solid Arkansas State team, Southern Illinois dropped rebuilding Winthrop on the road and Loyola held on to beat Wright State. All in all, not a bad start as the league ventures ahead without Wichita State (we promise, the Shockers will stop at some point this year).

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UPDATE - 11:45 p.m

Well friends, the night is winding down, at least for those of us on eastern time. Some games of note that have gone final since our last update:

Monmouth picked up a really nice win over Bucknell, 79-78.
Gonzaga cruised to a 97-69 victory against Texas Southern.
Navy beat Pitt, who is very bad, 71-62.
Grand Canyon won handily against FAMU, 67-51.
Loyola (MD) nearly took down Northwestern, which would have delighted Ben Goren.
Georgia Southern upset Wake Forest, 85-83.

Oh, and Texas A&M Chorpus Christi won on a buzzer beater.

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UPDATE - 9:16 p.m.

Indiana State hits 17 threes and took down Indiana, 90-69. I (Chris, an Indiana fan) am going to go consume alcohol now.

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UPDATE - 7:58 p.m.

Folks, we have some blueblood upsets brewing.

Utah Valley is up 34-25 on Kentucky at the half, something that resident WAC expert Greg Mitchell predicted on our podcast earlier this week. Isaac Neilson has eight points and eight rebounds for UVU.

A little bit further north, Indiana is in danger of being upset by an in-state opponent for the second straight year. Archie Miller’s debut is not going as planned as his Hoosiers are trailing Indiana State, 54-33 at the half. The Sycamores are shooting 59% from the floor and have hit 10-15 (!!) from downtown.

Elsewhere, Colgate trails Connecticut by just two the break. Losses by the Hoosiers and Huskies would not go over well with the Mid-Major Madness editorial staff. Oakland is cruising against Fort Wayne, and Dayton holds a three point lead at the break over Ball State.

Stay tuned, as we’ll probably have some #takes for you if any of these upsets come to fruition.

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UPDATE - 7:40 p.m.

So, umm, this is certainly not good for BYU.

BYU is ranked No. 15 in our preseason rankings. Emery averaged a hair over 13 points per game last year for the Cougars. BYU hosts Mississippi Valley State in their home opener tomorrow.

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UPDATE — 6:09 p.m.

Hello friends, Chris Schutte checking in for the evening. Speaking of Chris(s), Campbell’s Chris Clemons had 39 points against Penn State.

The early slate of games is wrapping up, so it’s time to prepare for the nightcap. We have some decent games coming up in the 7:00 hour.

Utah Valley is going to try to do #points against Kentucky, and our own Cam Newton will be on site for that one. East Tennessee State and Northern Kentucky should also be a good one. Furman gets the pleasure of hosting Bob Jones, a guy with a small CPA practice who also happens to be a college basketball team. Other games of note:

Northern Iowa at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Indiana State at Indiana, 7 p.m., BTN Plus
South Carolina at Wofford, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Fort Wayne at Oakland, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Ball State at Dayton, 7 p.m.

Grab some food and a cold beverage, find your favorite spot on the couch, and strap in for the first night of college basketball.

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UPDATE — 3:10 p.m.

Preseason first-team all-Southland selection Colton Weisbrod had 15-and-12, while Nick Garth had 23 points and five made threes to lift Lamar over Tulsa on the road, 74-67.

That marked the first upset of the college basketball regular season, and we will update this post as soon as Rothstein DOES THE TWEET.

[he did the tweet]

More importantly, it makes us feel a little bit better about picking Lamar to win the Southland this year.

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UPDATE — 2:23 p.m.

TAke a look at this premium content, y’all:

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UPDATE — 2:11 p.m.

Read Ben Goren’s first NMTC recap

What am I even doing?

I just finished watching Cincinnati throttle Savannah State. Now I’m sitting on my couch in my jammies watching New Hampshire leading Wheelock 65-22. This is Wheelock’s last year as a Division III institution. Not because they’re moving up next year, but because they are being absorbed by another school.

This is the lowest of the low.

Who else has this game on? Please tell me I’m not alone. Please.

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UPDATE — 12:32 p.m.

We have our first final score of the season! Eastern Michigan defeated Spring Arbor 92-60 behind 22 points from Elijah Minnie. James Thompson IV had 10 points and 14 rebounds as well.

It was important for us to update you on that final because OBVIOUSLY you are all currently tuned in to Stetson-Webber International, which Ben Goren is live-tweeting for us as part of the NMTC Game of the Week not presented by Arby’s. He has some good takes.

He also has a new podcast about sports and pop culture — two things that have never once been combined on a single podcast or website. Listen to it here while streaming the shooty-hoops.

Oh, and if you don’t feel like watching Stetson right now, head over to the Cincinnati-Savannah State game. As expected, Cincinnati is up big, but Savannah State plays a fun uptempo style that can make a blowout somewhat exciting to watch.

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UPDATE — 11:33 a.m.

We have a half of basketball under our belts (EMU 40, Spring Arbor 25) and I think my thoughts are the same as everyone else’s:

• Thank God
• Elijah Minnie is fun. He had 15 in the first half for Eastern Michigan.
• We could probably do without so many MAC/NBA player comps from the broadcasters.

A couple other quick notes:

• I just went to Dunkin Donuts and got myself a coffee and two (2) donuts.
• Word out of St. Bonaventure is that Jaylen Adams might not be available tonight for the Bonnies’ game against Niagara

Really hope he can play...