NEWS AND NOTES
-For our latest Under the Radar Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Middle Tennessee and Belmont – CLICK HERE
-Creighton got a huge win at Northwestern yesterday. Creighton always seems to beat a ranked team in November. I believe they’ve done so ever since they joined the Big East. So, here we are again with Creighton getting a big early season win.
-BYU also picked up a really nice road win at Princeton. We weren’t all that big on the Cougars, but they’re off to a 2-0 start with a good road win, so we’ll be paying attention to them until they give us a reason not to.
-Other than that it was a rather chalky day, which is common when you have this level of buy games. Bucknell put up a good showing against North Carolina, and UCLA had to sweat out their game against Central Arkansas, but other than that there were no real surprises.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-ILLINOIS STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Puerto Rico Tipoff). We weren’t expecting all that much out of South Carolina this year, but they’ve looked pretty good winning their first two games and could emerge onto the national scene if they do well in this tournament.
-AUBURN VS INDIANA STATE (Charleston Classic). Indiana State already has a big win at Indiana. If they pick up some more notable wins in this tournament then we will definitely start paying attention to them. Auburn is…well…probably in for a long year.
-OLD DOMINION VS TEMPLE (Charleston Classic). Old Dominion is off to a 2-0 start and can help out their profile by picking up some wins in this tournament. We think Temple is a much improved team and we’ll learn something about them this week as well.
-BOISE STATE VS UTEP (Puerto Rico Tip-Off). Both teams come in without a loss. UTEP finished strong last year and it will be interesting to see if they can carry that momentum into this year.
-CLEMSON VS OHIO (Charleston Classic). Picking up some early season wins away from home should help both teams. Clemson will have a rough time in the ACC and would really benefit from making a case for themselves out of conference. Ohio, like most UTR teams, has a small margin for error and this is a chance for them to pick up some notable wins.
-IOWA STATE VS APPALACHIAN STATE (Puetro Rico Tip Off0. Appy State can improve to 3-0 with a win. Iowa State has a solid program, but this year’s edition of it will struggle. Their next win will be their first.
-NEBRASKA AT SAINT JOHN’S (Gavitt Tipoff Games). This is the first real test for both teams. We’ll learn something about both of them tonight.
-VIRGINIA TECH VS SAINT LOUIS (2K Classic, New York NY). Both teams come in unbeaten, but also untested. We like this Virginia Tech team and while we think Saint Louis is improved we still have a lot of uncertainties about them. This is a chance for both teams to pick up a good early season win.
-HARVARD AT HOLY CROSS. Both teams come in 2-0, and although they haven’t looked as dominant as we expected in their first two games we still think this Harvard team could end up inside the NCAA Tournament bubble. If they’re truly tournament caliber team, then this is the kind of road game that they are expected to be able to win.
-BELMONT AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. This is Chad’s UTR Game of the Day. CLICK HERE TO READ HIS WRITE UP
-DAYTON VS HOFSTRA (Charleston Classic). Both teams come in 1-0, and like all teams in these early season tournaments it’s a chance for them to emerge their relevance if they do well.
-MISSOURI AT UTAH. Both teams come in 2-0 and both look to be much improved from last year. Mizzou, who has been pitiful the last two years, can pick up a really nice early season road win and improve to 3-0, which will generate more momentum than what they’ve had in quite some time.
-XAVIER AT WISCONSIN (Gavitt Tipoff Games). Both teams have devoured a couple of cupcakes, but both appear to be really good. This is the first real test for both teams and it’s a chance to pick up a really nice early season win. A lot of people are down on Wiscy, but if they win this they’ll suddenly be nationally relevant and either in the rankings or close to it like what we’re used to seeing.
-PROVIDENCE VS WASHINGTON (2k Classic). Providence lost a tough one earlier in the week, but doing well in the 2K Classic certainly gives them the chance to bounce back.
-SAMFORD AT LSU. We highlight this to point out that we think LSU is awful and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if Samford, who is a likely SoCon frontrunner, goes in there and beats them.
-MARSHALL AT MOREHEAD STATE. A win for Marshall gets them to 3-0.
-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT UMKC. A win for Loyola gets them to 3-0.
BUY GAMES
-North Florida @ Florida
-FAMU @ Miami FL
-Coppin State @ Cincinnati
-Chicago State @ Notre Dame
-Southern Miss @ Michigan – both teams 1-0
-Texas Southern @ Ohio State
-Presbyterian @ NC State
-South Alabama @ La Salle – La Salle can improve to 3-0
-Oral Roberts @ Oklahoma State – this may not technically be a buy game. I know Okie State has gone to Oral Roberts. But, it looks like one.
-Grambling @ Iowa
-Cal State Bakersfield @ Arizona