5 Question Friday: Memorial Day Weekend is a top tier weekend

It’s Memorial Day weekend, which is one of the best weekends of the year for someone who lives in Indianapolis (me). It’s the unofficial start of summer, and it features one of the best single day events of the sports calendar in the Indy 500.

For those who haven’t been to the 500, it’s essentially a tailgate with 300,000 people, where approximately 299,000 don’t actually care about the race. Imagine the Kentucky Derby, but faster and with more jean shorts. It’s big fun.

Anyways, there’s nothing really going on in college basketball right now! Transfer movement is dying down, NBA Draft decisions are being finalized, and there’s some scheduling news (#BRUTALITYWATCH BACK) that trickles in. But the content machine must go on, so here’s some lighthearted nonsense to get you through the drag of a Friday before a three-day weekend.

To start off, the Valley probably isn’t going to be a two-bid league this year. There doesn’t appear to be a team that’s a cut above the rest that could make a possible run at an at-large bid like we saw Belmont do and Wofford had they not won the SoCon tournament.

As far as favorites go, I really like what Dana Ford is putting together at Missouri State. The Bears are currently just outside the top 10 in the Other Top 25, and have a trio of transfers in Lamont West, Anthony Masinton-Bonner and Josh Hall that should have a huge impact right away. Loyola Chicago is always going to be a contender despite the production that they lost. Northern Iowa could also be a team that I think surprises some people.

It’s nothing to make a fuss over. At this point, NBA front offices are familiar with Daum. The Combine always skews towards younger prospects. He’s a known entity, and you know what he’s going to bring to the table. Not getting a Combine invite doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not going to get drafted or isn’t on somebody’s radar. He and other players in similar situations will get the chance to go through workouts with individual teams. If he impresses in those workouts, his path to an NBA roster probably goes through a strong performance in the Summer League. There isn’t a defined path to making a roster.

The Toppers are going to have a talented roster again, especially if Charles Bassey surprises some people and returns for his sophomore. But pump the brakes on top 25 talk until we see some results first. We hyped them up a fair amount last season for many of the same reasons, and they ultimately struggled out of the gate to live up to that hype. They’re in our Way Too Early Top 25, if that means anything. The national polls might be a stretch though.

I posed this question yesterday just because it was a thought that had come across my mind. Both programs are undergoing pseudo rebuilds with coaches who could end up doing well at their respective schools. Alford has proven he can win in the Mountain West during his stint at New Mexico, but Otz is considered to be one of the hottest young coaches in the game. It’ll be interesting to see how those programs shake out over the next couple of years and if the rivalry heats back up. If I had the choice, I think Otz would be my choice for the next five years.

This isn’t #sponcon but I like promoting people who are nice to me and who make cool stuff, plus this is my article and I can do what I want. Finding cool shirts for mid-major programs can be hard, especially if you’re options are limited to a campus bookstore or something similar. Homefield has a growing inventory of schools on their site, many of which have cool retro logos. I have an IUPUI shirt with the old Metros logo on it, and it rules. The shirts are comfy as hell. Plus, they made me a shirt from when I was on TV behind Reggie Miller. You can’t beat that.

Follow them on Twitter and buy their shirts. They’re good people and the shirts rock.