UNCA shocker, Saint Thomas makes FS1 must see TV on opening night and Preview upcoming showdowns
For the most part it was business as usual in college basketball on opening night Monday night, but a game in Orlando caught the eye of the hoops world.
UNC-Asheville out of the Big South made a huge national statement by upsetting American Athletic Conference program and future Big 12 member UCF 98–95 in double Overtime. There is an even bigger story out of this monumental win and that is UNCA head coach Mike Morrell is a bonafide star on the national level.
I don’t plan to get personal very often in these articles, but I honestly became choked up when I heard this score last night. Coach Morrell and I go way back and to see him have this success is something I am very proud of him for.
Even though I grew up in Johnson City, TN, I spent a lot of my childhood in nearby Elizabethton, a town about 3 miles away from South Johnson City. I used to talk to Morrell a lot in my late teenage years and early adult years, then I went into sportswriting and Morrell was featured one time in my Slam Dunks column as Player of the Week for his performance against Gate City, Va. A few years later I was the beat writer at the Elizabethton Star for Milligan University and I covered him there. He was one of the best shooters I ever saw on the high school and college level.
Morrell went into coaching after his time at Milligan and linked up with Tri-Cities legendary coach George Pitts at King University, who Coached against Morrell when he coached at Science Hill High School and Morrell was at Elizabethton. If you have never heard of Pitts and you probably haven’t if you are reading this out of the Tri-Cities TN/VA area, I would honestly put him up against any coach at any level.
Following his stint at King, Morrell started his march toward the big time with assistant coaching stints at Clemson, Charleston Southern, VCU and then going with Shaka Smart to Texas before landing in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, about 70 miles from where he grew up in Elizabethton.
Morrell has found a home in Western North Carolina and even though the first year was a rough one, he has steadily built Asheville into a Big South contender. Morrell has done everything right in Asheville, including talking about his love for the PGA Golf Tour on local sports radio stations.
Morrell has had some big wins so far at Asheville, including a victory last year at home against his hometown school, East Tennessee State out of Johnson City (UNCA travels to Johnson City on Dec. 17). Nothing though could compare to beating a future Power 5 opponent like the Bulldogs did last night.
I know Morrell would not want me speculating, but I really predict he will be a very hot commodity among big programs in the next couple of years. He has been around big time basketball and he knows the game. Not only has he been an assistant at top programs, he also played for two outstanding coaches growing up in Tony Hardin and Tony Wallingford.
I was actually going to save this story on Morrell until his homecoming game in Johnson City next month, but after this big win last night in Orlando, this was the perfect time to bring his story out to the forefront.
Congratulations Mike for being the first and probably only athlete to be featured in both the high school version of Slam Dunks over 20 years ago and the college version of today.
____________________________________
SAINT THOMAS MAKES INTERESTING TV VIEWING
While I was watching all of these games on Monday on multiple screens, I was fascinated by FS1 showing a plethora of games going on at the same time on opening night. The show was criticized by a lot of people but I personally enjoyed watching it and going back and forth and really thought it would be a pretty easy night for the Big East.
A little known college that is transitioning from Division 3 to Division 1 had other plans.
Even though Creighton pulled away in the last 5 minutes of the game to win 72–60, the ninth ranked team in the country and Big East favorite got all they wanted from this school that most people had never heard of until Monday night.
St. Thomas, known as the Tommies, hit key shots all night and would not let Creighton pull away. FS1 quickly moved to that game and stayed on it and it really became must see TV.
I know as a columnist I really shouldn’t cheer for or against teams (Virginia Tech and Appalachian State an exception) but I really wanted St. Thomas to pull the upset. I really believe this undersized team that doesn’t have near the premier athletes of Creighton would have been one of the greatest upsets in the history of college basketball, probably the biggest since UMBC upset Virginia in the NCAA Tournament in 2017.
There was a time in this game I actually thought St. Thomas was going to pull this off and I think in the second half the Tommies just totally ran out of gas. However, it was a phenomenal performance and this little school had nothing to be ashamed of.
Overall it was a pretty ho-hum night in the Big East, but St. Thomas definitely made the Big East Tip-off broadcast much more interesting and worth watching.
Get Matthew Hill’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
______________________________________
LOOK AHEAD TO WEEKEND GAMES
College basketball really gets into high gear this weekend with some big games and some good matchups that are a little bit more even matched than what we saw on Monday night.
Friday
Houston vs. St. Josephs: Two programs with a lot of tradition going in opposite directions. The Cougars are a legitimate national championship contender while the Hawks are struggling. My money is on Houston here.
Michigan State vs. Gonzaga: Definitely the game of the weekend which is being played on Veterans Day on an aircraft carrier in San Diego. Good for Gonzaga that Tennessee exhibition did not count. Michigan State is playing a brutal non-conference schedule. No pick here this one should be a great one.
Charleston at North Carolina: Top team in the land trying to avenge last year’s loss to Cougars.
Villanova at Temple: Wildcats facing its second straight fellow Philadelphia opponent.
SMU at Dayton: Don’t know why but I really like this matchup looks on paper like a really good one. This one should be on TV.
Kansas State at California: We need more of these early season matchups.
Florida State at UCF: Will be interesting to see if UCF can bounce back from the UNCA loss and it won’t be easy about against in-state FSU.
Liberty at Alabama: Liberty has a history of knocking off giant killers and Bama has a history of playing to the level of their competition.
Georgia at Wake Forest: This is a huge game for Georgia to show the Mike White era is going to be different. Wake looking to prove last year was not a fluke.
BYU at San Diego State: A battle of two future Power 6 opponents or at least it looks like it with San Diego State possibly moving to the Pac 12.
Saturday
St. Peters at Seton Hall: The Shaheen Holloway bowl as the Seton Hall coach faces the school he led to a miraculous run to the elite 8 last March.
MTSU at Winthrop: Another good mid major match that is worth putting on your computer on Saturday.
Sunday
Colorado at Tennessee: A very good test for the Vols against a Power 6 opponent. Thank you to the bartender Brooke at Beef O Brady’s in Johnson City for reserving me two TVs Sunday to watch both my beloved Chicago Bears and the Vols game.
_________________________________________
Matt Hill was a sportswriter in the Tri-Cities TN/VA region from 1999–2016. You can follow him on Twitter @ MHilllovetennis.
