This Saturday, December 4, 2021 we have four teams in action at the Viking Clash. The teams in attendance are: the host school, Cleveland State University (CSU), Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Kent State University (Kent), and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP).
Below is the schedule for tomorrow’s event.
Each of the teams are at very different points in their season. For BGSU, this will be the third tournament of the year and will have played several different opponents so they are coming in with the most experience. UWP has participated in two events against Nebraska and this will be their first official tournament of the year. Finally, getting to see some teams outside their conference. CSU this will be their second tournament of the year and they should be putting forth their best roster. Their first tournament at the Pink Out was a great opportunity to give their first year players a lot of experience. Lastly, for Kent this will be their first tournament and they will be excited to get their season underway.
CSU– This tournament is an excellent chance for CSU to pick up a few wins and finish the year strong. With a young team, the Vikings will gain a lot of experience that will help them next semester. The game that I know they will look forward to is the BGSU match. At the Pink Out, BGSU handled them easily and I know that CSU will be looking to show that was just a fluke and that they can hang with the Falcons.
BGSU– Bowling Green is coming off their last tournament with a tough overtime loss so we know they are going to look to make a statement and handle their opponents without trouble. They come in as the highest ranking team, which means they have the most to lose and need to come out swinging to show they are one of the top teams in the league. Their first match up of the day is against UWP and should be interesting as the Pioneers are also coming off a tough overtime loss. Every time these teams play it is always a highly competitive game and I don’t expect this to be different.
Kent– As I stated before, this is their first tournament of the season and like CSU they will be looking to get their new players some experience. With only eight players on their roster, it will make it tough for them to stay competitive in points as they will already be at an disadvantage. Kent starts the day off with CSU and it should be interesting to see how they settle in on the day.
UWP– This will be the third event in four weeks for Platteville. They are coming off of four hard losses to a tough Nebraska team so I know that they are looking to come out with some energy. They are excited to play someone outside their conference and have a great opportunity to gain a lot of valuable experience. UWP will also only be bringing eight players, but they know that is no excuse for not playing hard or well. They know that as along as they play as a team and have each other’s backs, they can compete with anyone on that court. The Pioneers have the least to lose at this event so they are going to give it all that they got.