NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Kent State had a lead on Houston with less than a minute to go, and I thought we were bracing for what would be the upset of the season, but Houston held on to win at home 49-44. John Stalica summed this game up best. It was a rock fight with boulders. Houston will almost assuredly be ranked #1 in the next poll, and will likely remain there for quite some time. Kent State is a good team, Houston didn’t play their best game, and still found a way to win. REALLY good teams can beat other good teams even when they don’t play well, so for me personally, this isn’t an indictment on Houston’s potential at all.
-James Madison blew out South Dakota State 79-60 in a game played in Savannah GA. The margin of victory is somewhat surprising. JMU just controlled the entire game against a pretty good South Dakota State team. While I thought James Madison was good, I’m now thinking they’re perhaps even better.
-Towson bounced back after an inexplicable loss two days ago with a win over South Alabama yesterday in the Hostile Hoops Community Classic. The score was just 62-60. South Alabama is a decent team, but they’re not a top 40ish caliber team like we thought Towson was just a few days ago. Kind of a rough weekend for the Tigers. They’ve had a rough time in an event we were all kind of expecting them to dominate. They’ll face Mercer later on today.
-Bryant basically led Syracuse from tip to buzzer in their 73-72 win yesterday and controlled most of the game, but Syracuse came back at the end and nearly stole the victory. This game saw multiple players ejected after a couple of guys traded slaps about midway through the first half, so the game was tense all throughout. Bryant is now 5-1 on the year with two wins away from home, and future games against Tulane, Cincinnati, and Towson on the schedule for December. Right now they look to be the best team in the America East, and dare I say, will have a shot at making a run at the bubble if they can pick up a few more wins like yesterday. Syracuse isn’t THAT good, but teams who win at the Carrier Dome will get some credit for it.
-Drake put together what I thought was their best game of the season so far and picked up a 76-64 win against a pretty good Louisiana team. It was Louisiana’s first loss of the year, and even though Drake was at home, they still (finally) looked like the top 40ish caliber team that we think that they are. And, Drake is unbeaten. So to look at an unbeaten team and say they’ve been underperforming…that’s a testament to what we think their potential is for this season.
-In the Emerald Coast Classic, TCU pretty much handled a pretty good Iowa team 79-66 in a game where it felt like they were in complete control for the entire second half. Iowa was unbeaten and ranked 25th, so TCU after sleepwalking through some home buy games (and even dropping one of them) appears to have woken up and for the first time all year looked like the team that made the Sweet Sixteen a year ago.
HIGHLIGHED GAMES:
-OLE MISS VS OKLAHOMA (ESPN Events Invitational, Kissimmee FL). Both teams have bloated records and a few semi-notable wins, but this would probably be the best win of the season so far for whichever team pulls it off.
-SAINT LOUIS AT AUBURN. Saint Louis has a high ceiling, and while they haven’t always played up to it this season, it’s early and the potential for them to be really good is certainly there. Having said that, picking up a win at Auburn is probably swinging above their weight class. If it were to happen the Billikens would belong in the top 25 as this would be a protected seed caliber win.
-YALE AT COLORADO. This game has an interesting storyline. Yale is unbeaten at 6-0, and Colorado has beaten teams that are top ten caliber, but lost to teams that are mid-level SWAC caliber teams. I just don’t know what to expect from this game today.
-NORTH CAROLINA VS ALABAMA (Phil Knight Invitational). Both teams are coming off a loss, but as far as how this game will look on the team sheets that doesn’t mean anything. It’s a top 20 match-up between two possible/probable protected seeds, and whoever wins this will get a ton of credit for doing so.
-DUKE VS PURDUE (Phil Knight Legacy). Purdue has looked far more impressive throughout this event. They’ve played better teams and beaten them more convincingly, so no matter what happens today Purdue should be ranked substantially higher than they currently are and have earned a ton of respect from the selection committee. As for Duke, this would be their best win of the season by far up to this point.
-HOFSTRA VS QUINNIPIAC (Northern Classic, Laval PQ). Quinnipiac is unbeaten on the year, and while they haven’t had any major tests yet, they are at least getting some decent quizzes out in this event. Hofstra is a good team, but has dropped two straight, and a win today would go a long way toward getting them turned back around.
-MIAMI FL AT UCF. This is a great game. Miami FL team that I still think will end up in the top 20 by the end of the year and once everyone remembers they were in the Elite Eight last year and have most of their team back. UCF comes in at 5-1 with some nice wins already, and can make a big statement today. Being at home should also give them a boost.
-XAVIER VS GONZAGA (Phil Knight Legacy). Gonzaga is looking to bounce back from a game against Purdue where they really got their noses bloodied, and Xavier is looking to pick up their first notable win of the year.
-IOWA STATE VS UCONN (Phil Knight Invitational). Iowa State has been the biggest surprise of this tournament, and win or lose they should be in the top 25 next week. If they can manage a win against a UConn team that looked fantastic the other night against Alabama, then they’ll probably end up as a protected seed in our next bracket projections.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Memphis vs Stanford (ESPN Events Invitational, Kissimmee FL) – Memphis needs to hold serve in this one
-Stetson vs Campbell – Stetson has a couple decent wins and can pick up their 3rd road win of the season today
-SEMO vs UC Davis (Milwaukee WI) – both teams 4-1
-Harvard @ Fordham – both teams 5-1 (somehow)
-Maine @ Brown – Maine is much better than expected, and while we don’t expect it to continue, we’re going to enjoy it while we can! A win today gets them to 5-1 on the year and gives them their THIRD road win!
-Wofford @ LSU – LSU should be able to hold serve, but so far Wofford has been a little better than expected
-Villanova vs Oregon (Phil Knight Invitational) – both these teams need this win just to get their seasons turned back around
-Boston U @ Milwaukee – Boston has just one loss on the year and is looking for their second road win
-Mercer vs Towson (Savannah GA) – It is very important that Towson gets this win and rebounds from their inexplicable loss on Friday
-Siena vs Seton Hall (ESPN Events Invitational) – Seton Hall better not overlook this Siena team that’s been playing well recently
-Portland vs Michigan State (Phil Knight Invitational) – Michigan State looking to hold serve, but are playing a de facto road game in Portland’s arena. We may also have to really take notice of the Pilots if they pull off another victory here
-UNC Wilmington vs North Texas (Nassau Championship) – North Texas can get to 6-1 and has some decent wins away from home on their profile
-Florida vs West Virginia (Phil Knight Legacy) – both teams have decent records, but could use some decent wins
BUY GAMES:
-Prairie View A&M @ Oklahoma State
-Mobile (nonD1) @ Southern Miss – Southern Miss is good, but they did themselves no favors scheduling so many nonD1 teams
-Alcorn State @ Arizona State – Arizona State has just one loss this season, but it was to a SWAC team, so…
-Bellarmine @ UCLA
-Northern Colorado @ New Mexico