Here is a look back at yesterday and a rundown of all of today’s action….
NEWS AND NOTES
For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-We will be recording our Under the Radar Podcast and posting it sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Be sure and check it out.
-***RANT ALERT***
-Georgetown and Maryland played for the first time since 1993 in what was perhaps the greatest atmosphere and highest level of intensity I’ve seen in the month of November in quite some time. Georgetown led for much of the game, Maryland ended up being ahead when time ran out. It was great to FINALLY see these two go at it again after 22 years of not playing for stupid and petty reasons. But, part of me is also a little upset to see what we’d been missing for close to a quarter of a century. But, I’m glad it’s back, and I’m glad it is going to continue.
-The vast majority of brand name programs are reluctant to play regional teams with smaller brands on equal terms, or in many cases they simply do not play teams like that at all. For example, Ohio State won’t play anyone on equal terms from the state of Ohio (Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier, etc). Kansas won’t play Wichita State. Although Louisville and Western Kentucky do now play home and home, Kentucky does not play WKU or Murray State on equal terms. I believe Kentucky has never played Murray State….EVER. While we got the series back between Georgetown and Maryland, the Hoyas still won’t play George Washington. The thinking is that the bigger brand name team has everything to lose and nothing to gain. That’s too bad, because games like that could generate interest at a time in the season when there really needs to be more interest generated. And, you know what?? Teams really don’t have everything to lose and nothing to gain. In fact, I think they have far more to gain than to lose, even if they don’t always win a game like that…
Virginia is one of the few teams that embraces playing in games like that. They do it every year. They’ve played at Old Dominion, VCU, James Madison, George Washington, and I believe are going to William & Mary next year. And, they’ve lost some of those games. They went to George Washington and lost the other night in a very intense and exciting game. Yet, their brand name is not damaged. Their program did not suffer a setback. Hell, their SEASON didn’t even suffer a setback! Yes, they lost to GW, and no one likes to lose. But, other than it bruising their egos a little bit, it’s not a bad loss. If anything, they get acclimated to playing on the road in hostile environments a lot sooner than most other teams.
Wisconsin is another team that plays at Milwaukee and at Green Bay regularly. They almost lost at Green Bay two years ago, but didn’t, and ended up making the Final Four. Had Wiscy lost to Green Bay….I still think they end up making the Final Four. We need MORE games like that, not less. It generates interest in the sport, it makes the teams better, and no one who does it loses everything and gains nothing. It’s a hell of a lot better than staying home, eating cupcakes, and getting fat.
Okay, rant over.
-Kentucky looked very impressive last night in knocking off Duke. I know we’re not even six days into the season yet, but I haven’t seen a team look better.
-I wasn’t that big on Michigan State coming into the year, but I am now. That was a very impressive win against a very good (albeit shorthanded) Kansas team on a neutral floor. What’s more impressive is how they won. They trailed most of the game, but stayed in there.
-Memphis is a program that used to have rabid fanbase, but those fans are now dormant. I wasn’t expecting much from them at all this year, but they hung in tough with a very good Oklahoma team. The Sooners still pulled it out, but they didn’t walk away with it.
-Tulsa knocked off Wichita State at home in a game that they pretty much led wire to wire. I know it was a home game, but Wichita is historically a very tough road team.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-UC IRVINE AT UCF. I don’t think UC Irvine will ultimately land inside the bubble, but I do think they’re a good team and they come in 1-0. Plus we get to see a battle of two 7’6″ monsters!
-EDWARD WATERS (nondiv1) AT NORTH FLORIDA. A win gets UNF to 3-0, and although this win wouldn’t be impressive in and of itself, they’re off to a fantastic start.
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT BELMONT. Belmont ended up falling to Arizona State, who isn’t bad, but their probably not a tournament team and that’s the kind of game that an at-large team needs to be able to win most of the time. Being in a weaker conference means Belmont needs to make a strong case for themselves out of conference.
-ILLINOIS AT PROVIDENCE. Illinois bounced back from their season opening loss with a win against a decent but not great North Dakota State team. Providence looked good in their opener against Harvard. This will be a notable win for whoever pulls it off.
-BUFFALO AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. I’m still expecting Saint Joe’s to have a less than stellar year, but a win gets them to 3-0 for now.
-WOFFORD AT NORTH CAROLINA. I think Wofford will get it going once they get into SoCon play, but they’re way overmatched tonight.
-CINCINNATI AT BOWLING GREEN. Cincinnati has been way undermatched, but they’ve still looked very impressive in both games. They hit the road to take on a Bowling Green team that won their opener and should welcome the chance to face a brand name program at home.
-RICHMOND AT WAKE FOREST. Some are expecting Wake to be a bit of a dark horse. They won their opener at Bucknell, which isn’t the toughest game to win, but it’s far from the easiest.
-KENT STATE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. Not much is expected out of either team, but as of now both are unbeaten.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT NEW MEXICO. I think Loyola has an outside shot at making the tournament, but this is the kind of game that they’re going to need to be able to win if that’s going to happen. New Mexico has won both their games, including a road win against rival New Mexico State in their last game.
BUY GAMES
-IUPUI @ NC State
-Incarnate Word @ Purdue
-IU Kokomo (nondiv1) @ Valparaiso
-Northern Arizona @ Gonzaga
-Kennesaw State @ Arizona State
-San Diego Christian (nondiv1) @ San Diego State
-Southern Utah @ UNLV
-Morgan State @ Old Dominion
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