A rundown of today’s college hoops action
NEWS AND NOTES
For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-On Friday, Monmouth fell to Canisius in their conference opener. Losses are far more damaging for teams that play in Under the Radar conferences because virtually all of them come to sub-NIT caliber teams, and they won’t have the opportunities to offset those with bigger wins down the road.
-The more I see of Louisville, the more impressed I am. Despite losing the game at Michigan State, they showed they could play with a top team on their floor. Yesterday they absolutely obliterated Grand Canyon. The fact that they won wasn’t surprising, but the fact that they beat them by close to 50pts was.
-UT Arlington added another win of note to their profile with their decisive win over UTEP. UTEP is far from an at-large caliber team, but they did have a good record and are generally very tough to beat on the road.
-Georgetown and Syracuse renewed their rivalry, and Georgetown absolutely clobbered them. As we discussed, the Hoya’s early season record was somewhat misleading because other than the head scratcher against Radford in their season opener, they’d all been close losses to really good teams. I think we’ll see the Hoyas in the rankings before things are all done.
-Arizona and Gonzaga played in another thriller. In every game Gonzaga has lost, they opened up what appeared to be a comfortable lead early in the game, but then just couldn’t hold on. Many of us thought they were a Final Four caliber team coming in to the year. They could still end up there because all of their losses have been close games to good teams that they had mounted leads against before blowing it, but it looks like they’ll need to make some adjustments.
-The new Bracket Projections should be posted either tonight or tomorrow morning. Believe it or not, we’re to a point to where most teams have played seven or eight games. It is at this point in the football season when the selection committee begins releasing their weekly polls. And, as you may recall, LSU was ranked #2 in that first poll. So, while we’re getting more and more results and data to analyze, our weekly brackets are still to be looked at as checkpoints and not forecasts.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-VCU VS FLORIDA STATE (Atlanta, GA). Both of these teams appear to be tournament caliber teams, but they could also use some big wins on their profile. This would be the biggest win for either team up to this point.
-MONMOUTH AT NIAGARA. Monmouth’s profile is still good enough, but they need to rebound from their opening loss. If they fail to do so their NCAA resume will take a major hit.
-COLORADO AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range). Both of these teams have good records, and although they have a smattering of decent wins, neither of them have any really strong wins yet. A win in a rivalry game like this would look good on paper as well as give them a huge momentum boost off paper.
-SAN DIEGO STATE VS SAN DIEGO. PLAY BALL!!! This game will be played at Petco Park. It’s unfortunate that the storyline isn’t slightly more compelling. San Diego is just 2-5, so on paper a loss would hurt San Diego State more than a win would help.
-DAVIDSON AT NORTH CAROLINA. Davidson is unbeaten, and we believe they are a good team, but as of now they haven’t even played a decent team, let along a really good one. We should learn something about them today when we see how competitive they’re able to be in this game.
-UC IRVINE AT SAINT MARY’S. Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day. CLICK HERE
-VANDERBILT AT BAYLOR. Both teams are in the rankings, and both will contend for protected seeds. This will be a high quality OOC win for whoever pulls it off. For Vandy, it’s their first true road game, so we finally get to see what they can do against a good team on their floor.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT UCLA. UCLA is coming off a huge win against top ranked Kentucky. Long Beach State isn’t great, but they’re good enough to beat anyone who overlooks them.
-CAL STATE FULLERTON AT WASHINGTON. Fullerton hasn’t lost since their season opener and has won three true road games, but this is going to be their toughest test of the season. Washington isn’t a great team, but they’re tough at home and are better than the teams Fullerton has been playing.
BUY/OTHER GAMES
-Central Arkansas @ Pittsburgh
-Appalachian State vs Hofstra – This game is the second of a doubleheader (along with St Francis-Brooklyn vs St John’s) being played at Madison Square Garden today.
-Wofford @ Clemson
-Portland State @ Washington State
-Morgan State @ Cincinnati