This Sunday, November 5, 2017, Michigan State University will be hosting the Spartan Invite. It is a tradition to host this event on a Sunday and it should be a good one (marks the ninth in MSU history). The teams in attendance are: Central Michigan University (CMU), Michigan State University (MSU), DePaul University (DePaul), and Bowling Green State University (BGSU). The rankings of these teams currently stand at: CMU #1, MSU #9, DePaul #27, and BGSU #5. The games will be played at the IM West at Michgan State (393 Chestnut Road, East Lansing, MI) Here is the schedule for the day:
| Time | Court 1 | Referees |
| 10:15 | CMU vs MSU | BGSU |
| 11:30 | CMU vs DePaul | MSU |
| 12:45 | CMU vs BGSU | DePaul |
| 2:00 | DePaul vs MSU | BGSU |
| 3:15 | BGSU vs MSU | DePaul |
| 4:30 | BGSU vs DePaul | MSU |
Interesting match ups
CMU vs BGSU
We have some interesting games this weekend and I’m interested in seeing how a few of them play out. First off, the CMU vs BGSU match is a game that excites me because it will answer a question for everyone in the league wants to know. How good is BGSU, they are playing #1 CMU and if they can win or put up a close match it will show that they are a final four contender this year. It will be interesting to see how CMU plays as this will be their sixth game of the weekend. That’s right, they are playing in two tournaments this weekend and this will be the third top five team that they will be playing this week. Hopefully, this will be an interesting one to watch.
MSU vs DePaul
This is the other match up that I’m most interested in seeing. Both of these teams are trying to rebuild and get in the experience to compete at a high level. DePaul plays well as unit and if they can bring a full squad they should be able to provide a close match with MSU. MSU will need their captains to come up strong if they are going to take care of business. They cannot sleep on the DePaul squad because DePaul will take advantage and make you pay for it.
Team Expectations- All the teams have something to prove this weekend to the rest of the league.
CMU– They want to show that no matter who they play they are the top dogs and they mean business.
MSU– They want to show the rest of the league that they be down this year, but they are not out. Once they get the experience in they will be a tough team to beat.
BGSU– This team wants to show everyone that they can roll with the top dogs like CMU and that they are in the top tier of teams in the league.
DePaul– For this crew, they want to show the league that they shouldn’t be taken lightly anymore. They want the NCDA to see that their games are going to be tough and that they can beat teams that no one is expecting them to.
Exchanges for the day, courtesy of Zigmas Maloni
| Time | High Seed | Low Seed | Rating | Rating | Predicted Exchange | Exchange if Upset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:15 | CMU | MSU | 54.835 | 45.523 | 0.069 | 1.931 |
| 11:30 | CMU | DePaul | 54.904 | 37.852 | 0.010 | 2.000 |
| 12:45 | CMU | BGSU | 54.914 | 47.024 | 0.211 | 1.789 |
| 2:00 | MSU | DePaul | 45.454 | 37.842 | 0.239 | 1.761 |
| 3:15 | BGSU | MSU | 46.813 | 45.693 | 0.888 | 1.112 |
| 4:30 | BGSU | DePaul | 47.701 | 37.603 | 0.010 | 2.000 |