CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Nobody's in town this weekend - the Bears are off completely, the Blackhawks play Friday and then head West, the Bulls are on a five-game West Coast swing. Northwestern and Notre Dame football are both on the road - the Wildcats, 24.5-point underdogs at #18 Wisconsin, and the #10 Fighting Irish at Virginia (5:30 p.m., 780 AM or the Notre Dame channel of the Audacy app, for the record).
So what better time to celebrate the return of college basketball? The season opened for most D-1 schools on Tuesday, so here's a quick rundown of the weekend, one sentence per game.
Friday, Nov. 12
-- Northern Illinois at Indiana (6 p.m.): The Dekalb Huskies shocked Washington to win Rashon Burno's NIU coaching debut, showing more fire than the Seattle version or the NIU squads of the past few years.
-- High Point at Northwestern (7 p.m.): Point guard Boo Buie will make or break this Wildcat team; 17 points and six assists in the opening win over Eastern Illinois were a fine start.
-- SIU-Edwardsville at Chicago State (7 p.m.): The Cougars beat St. Thomas of Minnesota in the opener for their first win since December 4th, 2019 - when they beat SIUE, their game 2 opponent this time around.
-- Arkansas State at #11 Illinois (8 p.m.): The Illini had no trouble dispatching Jackson State without suspended National Player of the Year candidate Kofi Cockburn, and probably won't have any with Arkansas State either.
-- #4 Villanova at #2 UCLA (10:30 p.m.): A national game absolutely worth staying up for - both teams have legitimate title hopes and won their opening tune-ups by a combined 77 points.
Saturday, Nov. 13
-- UIC at Valparaiso (Noon): One of these teams will get its first win; for the Beacons, it would be the first under their new nickname, having dropped the 'Crusader' moniker this past summer.
-- Florida Gulf Coast at Loyola (1 p.m.): New coach, no problem for the Ramblers, who seem to have handled the transition to Drew Valentine seamlessly and who smothered Coppin State 103-45 in the opener.
-- Central Michigan at DePaul (5 p.m.): New coaches winning their debuts - it's a trend around these parts; Rashon Burno at NIU, Gerald Gillion at Chicago State, Drew Valentine at Loyola, and Tony Stubblefield at DePaul, all starting 1-and-0.
-- CSU-Northridge at Notre Dame (6 p.m.): The Irish are one of the last teams to make their season debut; they return Prentiss Hubb and Nate Laszewski, and add Ivy League Player of the Year Paul Atkinson from Yale.
-- #5 Texas at #1 Gonzaga (9:30 p.m.): Another reason to stay up late, the Longhorns and Zags won their tune-up games by a combined 78 points!
And if none of those are to your liking, keep flipping channels - the weekend features more than 200 college games, as the rush to Madness takes its first steps.
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