NEWS AND NOTES
-It’s Thanksgiving!! Eat lots of turkey!! Drink lots of alcohol!! Watch lots of basketball!! Enjoy the day regardless of what you do, and be safe. Test your deep fryer before using it, call a cab, fall asleep on the couch until you feel better, tolerate the friends or family that annoy you rather than starting a ruccus, and if all else fails, just retreat to a room somewhere, turn on the TV or smart phone, and watch what is actually a packed day of college hoops!! Do what you have to do to enjoy the day and be safe while doing it!! If you end up needing legal assitannce, just call Chad or Joby. That’s what I always do.
-For our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between UC Davis and Weber State up in Alaska – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s Throwback Thursday – CLICK HERE
-For the past two seasons South Carolina has looked really good in the first half of the season, but then tapered off. They won a big game against a pretty good Michigan team yesterday, and again are looking good. Angry Frank even looked like he wasn’t completely angry for at least several minutes in a row!
-Valparaiso is doing what Chattanooga, Monmouth, and Siena are not doing right out of the gate. They’re winning the difficult but winnable games that they need to win in order to put themselves in the NCAA Tournament picture if they end up not winning the automatic bid. They knocked off Alabama two nights ago, and took care of a pretty good BYU team last night.
-Georgetown followed up their big win against Oregon by getting curb-stomped by Oklahoma State. It’s as if they went out and got drunk celebrating after the Oregon win, and just looked terrible for their second game.
-Late last night while most of you were sleeping Nevada got a scare from a pretty good Oakland team, but held on to win up in Alaska. The Mountain West is down this year, and Nevada, along with San Diego State and possibly New Mexico, looks to be one of the few teams with a pulse.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-BAYLOR VS MICHIGAN STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Baylor fought off a pretty good VCU team yesterday, and Michigan State didn’t get the cakewalk against Saint John’s that we were expecting. Both teams are in the rankings, Baylor already has a big win this season, and Michigan State is looking for what would be their biggest win up to this point.
-TEMPLE VS FLORIDA STATE (NIT). Florida State is out to a 4-0 start, and shouldn’t get too much of a test from Temple today, but this is their first game that’s not a home buy game.
-INDIANA STATE VS IOWA STATE (Advocare Invitational). Iowa State is off to a 3-0 start, but this tournament will be their first games that aren’t home buy games.
-TEXAS A&M VS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (Wooden Legacy). TAMU looks to be pretty good this season, and this tournament is a chance for them to pick up some notable wins from home. They’re not going to want to overlook this CS Northridge team, that should be one of the better teams in the Big West.
-LOUISVILLE VS WICHITA STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are unbeaten, but this is clearly the biggest test for either of them so far. Wichita State has blown through their entire schedule, including a blowout win yesterday against LSU, whereas Louisville needed overtime after a very poor shooting performance to get past Old Dominion.
-ILLINOIS VS WEST VIRGINIA (NIT). I feel that Winthrop should be here instead of Illinois, and I’m not wrong. West Virginia comes in at 3-0, and although they really haven’t been tested, don’t be surprised if they win big today.
-STANFORD VS MIAMI FL (Advocare Invitational). Both teams come in unbeaten and looking to pick up some early notable wins in this tournament.
-NEW MEXICO VS VIRGINIA TECH (Wooden Legacy). Virginia Tech will face strong competition in conference, but when it comes to their OOC schedule it’s really weak, and this tournament is their best chance to put some wins of note on their profile, so it’s important that they do well. New Mexico is in a similar situation. Their chances for statement wins are even more limited, and picking up some wins in this tournament may end up being what makes their profile the strongest.
-GONZAGA VS QUINNIPIAC (Advocare Inviational). Gonzaga should be tested in this tournament, but that test will not come today.
-SAINT JOHN’S VS VCU (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are coming off of a loss, but will still have opportunities to add quality neutral floor wins to their profile.
-BUTLER VS VANDERBILT (Las Vegas Invitational). Butler is off to a pretty good 4-0 start and could once again be better than what we were expecting them to be in the preseason. That really seems to be standard operating procedure for that program.
-SETON HALL VS FLORIDA (Advocare Invitational). Both teams come into this without a loss, and we believe both of them are solid tournament caliber teams, so this game, and this whole tournament is certainly an opportunity for them to build their profiles.
-DAYTON VS NEBRASKA (Wooden Legacy). Dayton has a home loss to Saint Mary’s, and Nebraska comes in at 3-0, but neither team has really won what looks to be a notable game yet, so like all tournaments, this is a chance to build their profiles and build up momentum.
-LSU VS OLD DOMINION (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are coming off losses, but both still have the opportunity to build their profiles by picking up wins away from home.
-SANTA CLARA VS ARIZONA (Las Vegas Invitational). Arizona appears to be undermatched in this game, but they’ve struggled at times when you haven’t expected them to, so I wouldn’t completely count them out.
-PORTLAND VS UCLA (Wooden Legacy). Both teams come into this unbeaten, and although they appear to be overmatched in this game, Portland can make quite the national splash if they’re able to pull off the upset and do well in this tournament.
BUY GAMES
-Montana @ Ole Miss (It is strange to see this game on Thanksgiving, but admission is FREE!)