By Jeff Washburn, The Sports XchangeWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Cheap Old Skool Free Shipping . -- If the performances match the mutual respect, Monday nights Gavitt Tipoff Games battle between reigning NCAA champion and No. 3 Villanova and No. 15 Purdue in Mackey Arena has the potential to be special.The Wildcats opened their season Friday night with an 88-48 victory against Lafayette, getting 17 points from Jalen Brunson, 16 from NCAA title game hero Kris Jenkins, 16 from sixth man Mikal Bridges and 13 from preseason All-American Josh Hart.Purdue also opened Friday night, crushing McNeese State 109-65, getting 23 points, 20 rebounds and six assists from power forward Caleb Biggie Swanigan, 22 points from 7-2 center Isaac Haas, 19 points and 11 rebounds from wing Vince Edwards and 18 points from explosive freshman guard Carsen Edwards -- no relation to Vince.Swanigan joined Blake Griffin and Ben Simmons as the only Division I college players in the past 10 years to amass at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in a single game.Villanova coach Jay Wright is well aware of Purdues front line skill, which compiled 64 points and 37 rebounds in the opener.Were going to find out Monday night, Wright said when asked about what to make of Swanigan, Haas and Vince Edwards. Were not going to play anybody bigger. Literally, I think they are the biggest team in the country. (Rebounding with Purdue) is going to be our next test. Were going to find out.Jenkins, whose 3-pointer beat North Carolina in the 2016 title game, respects this big and strong Purdue team.We have a team that is hungry and looking forward to our next game, Jenkins said. Purdue is going to be a big challenge for us.Swanigan knows Purdue cant afford a slow start against the Wildcats after McNeese State raced to a 19-14 lead before the Boilermakers countered with a 22-3 run.We cant do that Monday night, or a team like Villanova gets up by 10 or more, Swanigan said.Vince Edwards knows what Purdue is facing in Villanova.We have the defending national champions coming in, and a team like that is very capable of taking a 10- or 15-point lead and then milking the clock to make it harder for a team to come back, Vince Edwards said. We know we cant dig ourselves another hole.Purdue coach Matt Painter respects Wright and what his program represents.They do a great job of playing hard, and they do a great job of guarding and keeping the ball in front of them, Painter said. They have good guards and good versatility. They just have great talent.The thing I love about this Gavitt Games setup is that people like Villanova normally dont want to come here and play us. This way, its built into the schedule. I have a lot of respect for the way Jay has built that program the right way.Villanova has won the only two previous meetings with Purdue -- once in the 1995 Wooden Classic in Anaheim, Calif., and again in 2012 in overtime in a game played in New Yorks Madison Square Garden.Purdue is 0-5 all-time against Top 5 non-Big Ten opponents in Mackey Arena, most recently dropping a 76-60 decision to No. 4 Duke on Dec. 2, 2008 when the Boilermakers -- led by current New Orleans Pelicans guard ETwaun Moore and former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Robbie Hummel -- were ranked No. 9. Wholesale Old Skool . LOUIS -- St. Cheap Old Skool Wholesale . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. http://www.cheapoldskoolchina.com/ . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. The competitive balance for a major esport, regardless of the title, is a delicate and ever-changing beast. In a scenario where millions of people can play a game for a myriad of different reasons, finding the right recipe of what works and satisfying the masses is a daunting task.From the properties of in-game weapons and items to the spectator experience, game developers for esports titles have the power to change what they want, when they want. Players dont like the absence of a Baron buff at the beginning of the game? Add the Rift Herald. Think a pistol is too powerful? Nerf it. A power weapon too exposed to make it worth picking up? Move it elsewhere.This property of esports contrasts sharply with traditional sports, which very rarely tolerate changes to the rules and tools of the game. If its too difficult to land three-pointers in basketball, you cant just make the rim diameter larger. If batting averages are too low, you cant just move first base closer to home.The way a developer can manipulate its game can have powerful and dangerous effects. Sometimes a change is met with an overwhelmingly positive response, other times a change is reverted within a matter of days due to causing a lot of pain in the [games] community. In order to ensure that the right call is made the first time around, Halo developer 343 Industries has taken a direct approach to solving the issue of competitive balance. The creators of esports titles Halo 4, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Halo 5: Guardians have invested in the longevity of Halo esports in the past; initiatives like hiring an advisory Pro Team-- a group of former professional Halo players -- have helped them design the landscape of how Halo is played competitively.More recently, 343 established the HCS Council in order to determine the rules that will be used for the inaugural Halo Championship Series: Pro League that started this week. Andy Bravo Dudynsky (Community Manager, Halo Championship Series Lead) and Quinn DelHoyo (Multiplayer Designer) are two of many people that have been intimately involved in the development of Halo esports from the very beginning. They played a large role in the establishment and operations of the HCS Council.The goal for the HCS Council is to ensure that were growing Halo esports in the best way possible, across all aspects of the league. In order to do it right, its important to work alongside our top players, leverage their knowledge and expertise, and partner with them on continuing to grow Halos competitive scene. We want to create a league were proud of, a league that players love playing in and a league that fans love watching, said Bravo.343 sought direct input from the players themselves when deliberating over the competitive ruleset. It conducted weekly calls with current professional players to ensure that no stone was left unturned in its quest to offer the best competitive Halo experience possible to both pro players and the community.When it comes to Halo multiplayer, Halo has a ton of fans and lots of different communities that have an opinion on the game. With that in mind, we think its always important to get feedback from as large a variety of players as possible. The HCS Council is important because it provides an opportunity for pro players and us to have a direct link to facilitate conversation on the state of the game. These guys compete in Halo at the highest level so their feedback is very valuable as it gives us an improved perspective at that level of play, said DelHoyo.The calls have been beneficial to both the players and the developers, according to DelHoyo. The calls have been good. Any time you get a bunch of passionate people together in a room youll get active debate on cchanges and exciting discussions around future ideas. Cheap Old Skool From China. he process has not been simple though, as is expected when many voices speak their opinions on something they are passionate about. Its difficult to get everyone to agree on everything, but thats also not the expectation. There are times when players debate power weapon locations, map/game type combinations, and everything in between. There may be five different opinions expressed, sometimes more. This type of feedback is exactly what were looking for, though: what is working well, what do some teams love, what do some teams dislike, and, most importantly, why? These calls give us an opportunity to have meaningful conversations about all sorts of things, and the design teams here at the studio can take this feedback to answer the question of how can we build the best Halo multiplayer experience? added Bravo.The partnership goes beyond the players and the developers in this case. 343 has also been partnering with ESL, producers of the HCS Pro League, to ensure open lines of communication across the board.We debate, we laugh, we argue, and in the end we collect all feedback and determine next steps with our dev team here and our partners at ESL. If something isnt working, we go back to the drawing board and revisit. If something should be changed but needs development time, we can communicate with players directly that were evaluating changes for a future season, and let them know what stage were at with the actual development work. Ultimately, its about providing an open and regular line of communication and collecting feedback on all things from the best players in the world, explained Bravo.The players themselves reflected this positive perspective. The weekly calls with 343 were brilliant. It felt good having an influence on what the settings would be for pro league which we would be playing on. During the calls they would ask us if anything played right or wrong, and if we wanted anything to be changed, shared Sal eL TowN Mohanan, pro player for Team EnVyUs. Carlos Cratos Ayala of Enigma6 also added, They made changes to the maps and asked us for our feedback. They were always quick to apply what we discussed.343s diligent attention to detail impressed its pro players. I thought the calls were pretty helpful! said Enigma6 player Jesse bubu dubu Moeller. We were given maps and gametypes every week and gave feedback after playing them for a bit. Then we gave 343 input from what we thought until it was finalized.The esports industry is growing at an unprecedented rate, and it shows no signs of slowing down. With developments like ELeague (a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league produced by TBS) firmly in mind, game developers have to consider their impact on the esports landscape in both the short term and long term. While 343 has a focus on the future of Halo esports, it also knows how to enjoy the successes it has now.We have come away with some key findings that well look to improve going forward, said Delhoyo. Bravo also added, I think theres a lot of potential in this initiative and I hope players and fans do too. Well absolutely utilize the HCS Council moving forward, and weve learned a great deal about how to collect feedback, the best ways to get proposed changes in front of players, and more. Im looking forward to seeing how the Summer Season plays out and where Halo esports will go from here.Fans loyal to Halo have been through highs and lows when it comes to the esports side of things, and it seems that 343 is invested in ensuring that the experience is smooth sailing from now on. ' ' '