Wednesday's Pregame Beat

7:00 pm: College of Charleston @ Maryland (ESPN U): Maryland beat their first opponent, Seattle, by 29 points on Monday, but it certainly wasn't the prettiest game the Terps have played. They committed 27 turnovers, including 15 by their three main ball handlers in Adrian Bowie, Pe'Shon Howard, and Terrell Stoglin. Charleston is a better team than Seattle, and while they likely won't get Maryland into that run-and-gun, AAU-style of basketball that was played Monday night, the Cougars do have a kid by the name of Andrew Goudelock. I'm sure UNC fans remember who he is.

7:00 pm: Illinois-Chicago @ Pitt (ESPN3.com): Pitt had their hands full with Rhode Island in their first game of the season, although the combination of Rhody's hot hands and Pitt's inability to finish around the rim kept that game closer than it should have been. UIC went through a coaching change in the middle of the summer, bring in Howard Moore to lead a team that went just 8-22 last season. The Flames do return their two top scorers, including a young man by the name of Robo Kreps (that's just fantastic), but Pitt should simply be too much. At the very least, you should watch to support Paul Carter. If you remember, Carter played for Minnesota before transferring to UIC for his senior season to be closer to his 14 year old sister who was diagnosed with cancer. The good news? She's now cancer free!

8:00 pm: Toledo @ Illinois (ESPN3.com): Illinois played two vastly different halves, especially on the defensive end of the floor (they gave up 18 points in the first half and 47 in the second half), in their opener against UC-Irvine. Toledo won just four games last season, but I'm sure Bruce Weber would like to see a more consistent effort out of his guys.

9:00 pm: Louisiana Tech @ Texas (ESPN U): This could end up being the most interesting game of the night. Texas is a talented team, but their 31 point win over Navy on Monday was much closer than the final indicated. And Tech is not a bad team. Olu Ashaolu, 6'7" forward with a similar game to Gary Johnson, is one of the best players in the WAC, there is some size up front, and the Tech back court has a couple of talented players. If the 'Horns play like they did in the first half against Navy, they could be in some trouble.