Today’s write-up is short. UC Irvine came from behind to win at Belmont last night, and that was really the only game of note. Today isn’t all that busy either.
-SAINT JOHN’S AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). Saint John’s has a respectable 9-2 record, but they’ve done virtually nothing away from home and this is their first true road game of the season, so a win adds something to their resume that they don’t yet have.
-CINCINNATI VS DAYTON. This game is in Cincinnati, but it’s not on campus and will be a split crowd as the two teams are less than an hour apart. Both are in the rankings, but Dayton has totally outperformed Cincinnati up to this point. Cincinnati’s OOC schedule has been weak, and while they are coming off a win against their rivals Xavier, it was a game where they struggled to beat a team at home that doesn’t appear to be anywhere near the field. As for Dayton, it’s a chance to pick up another notable win and make a good resume look even better.
I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at. This IS NOT an attempt to guess what I think the actual bracket will look like on Selection Sunday, nor is it an attempt to speculate what the actual committee would do if today were Selection Sunday. This is my own personal bracket, and it is based entirely on CURRENT MERIT. This is not a reflection on how good I believe the teams actually are, but rather a ranking of how hard I think it has been for them to win the games that they have won. If you asked me who my pick to win it all would be, my answer would be Houston. Houston is not even in this bracket. They have not done anything yet. I think they will, but until they actually do, I will not be selecting them.
-Below the bracket are some of my comments. Below that are some comments from the rest of the Hoops HD Staff. If they disagree with ANYTHING I have done, then THEY ARE WRONG!!!
OTHERS CONSIDERED: LSU, Texas, Northwestern, Houston, San Francisco, Creighton, Nevada, Saint John’s, Georgetown, SMU, UCF, Penn State, Butler, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Iowa, Arizona, Bradley, Saint Bonaventure
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Only bracketing geeks will appreciate this, but this was very hard to put together. You can see all of the teams that needed to be moved given the (parenthesis) next to them which indicates their original seed. I like to avoid conference match-ups prior to the Sweet Sixteen if possible.
-There are six protected seeds from the SEC, and three SEC teams on the #1 line. While I’m not trying to guess the actual committee’s final bracket, it would not shock me at all if that ended up happening in the final bracket.
-UC San Diego and Drake are Under the Radar teams that are well inside the bubble. When I look at their profiles, they’ve certainly earned it. UC Irvine also just made the cut as an at-large and is placed in the First Four.
HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. He was in attendance Wednesday night at Capital 1 Arena and prepared this photo essay about the Hoyas’ matchup against Creighton. If you would like to check out his prior coverage, please go to:
My 1st Big East game of the season = hot pregame meal: Chick-fil-A nuggets/mac and cheese/brownie/chocolate chip cookie. How do you know it is the holidays (besides the student section being mostly empty)? I received a seat upgrade that put me about 20 rows behind the Georgetown bench, so now you get more photo/less essay! I do not know the last time that Creighton 7’1″ C Ryan Kalkbrenner was ever NOT the tallest guy in the room…but he is in 2nd place tonight thanks to 7’2″ CBS Sports Network color commentator/former Georgetown C Roy Hibbert sitting courtside:
Let’s tip it off:
The good news for Greg McDermott is that he became the winningest coach in Creighton history last month…but the bad news is that any game he wins the rest of this season will be without 1 of his leading scorers in Pop Isaacs, who is done for the year due to hip surgery:
3-time-defending conference DPOY Kalkbrenner showed another side of his game tonight with a pair of open threes from the top of the key in the 1st half:
Steven Ashworth matched his taller teammate with 2 long-range shots of his own, but also made a pull-up jumper and a finger roll to help pick up the offensive slack in Pop’s absence:
The other surprising star was FR F Jackson McAndrew. My nephew saw him play in person last year when McAndrew was named Minnesota High School POY, and he did not disappoint with a pair of threes, a tip-in, and a nice scoop shot to exceed his season average of 8.2 PPG during the 1st 20 minutes:
This is usually the part of the show where Georgetown falls apart, as Coach Ed Cooley only won 2 Big East games last year (by a combined 4 PTS):
Even worse, his starting PG (Malik Mack) was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury. However, that allowed 6’7” FR Caleb Williams to make his 1st-ever college start, and he exceeded expectations with a team-high 5 REB in the 1st half:
I did not have any expectations regarding Louisville transfer Curtis Williams Jr., who scored exactly 8 PTS during his 1st 10 games at Georgetown…but after seeing him come off the bench to make a fadeaway jumper and a couple of threes I concluded that he might be the best “C. Williams” on the roster!
I expected that FR big man Thomas Sorber would get schooled by the bigger/older Kalkbrenner…but he more than held his own with a pair of layups and a dunk to help his team build a 34-28 halftime lead:
Ashworth kept knocking down threes in the 2nd half but it would not be enough. Hoyas G Jayden Epps was coming off of a 27-PT performance last Saturday in a win at Syracuse and kept it going with several more trifectas as he finished with a team-high 21 PTS/5-6 3PM:
However, the star of the night was his teammate Micah Peavy, who helped put the game out of reach with a couple of steals-leading-to-dunks to cap a 17-3 run that extended the lead to 56-38. He dominated every aspect of the game from start to finish, ending up with a startling stat line that has only been matched by a handful of players in D-1 history (20 PTS/8 REB/8 AST/7 STL/1 BLK):
Georgetown cruised to an 81-57 victory for their 1st win over a top-75 KenPom conference opponent since…beating Creighton by 25 PTS during Kalkbrenner’s freshman year in the 2021 Big East tourney title game at Madison Square Garden. In the postgame press conference I asked Coach McDermott whether playing without Pop is as simple as “next man up” or if he is still tinkering with his offense/defense. He admitted that they are still searching for a solution because they do not have the luxury of multiple ballhandlers (such as Georgetown having both Epps/Peavy to fall bock on after Mack got hurt). It puts a lot of pressure on Ashworth to be the PG so he needs his wings to step up:
I wondered if Epps felt like every 3-PT shot that he takes is going in after making an scorching 9-12 during his past 2 games. As you can see below his face told most of the answer(!), but he said that he feels that way all the time no matter his shooting percentage because he knows how much time he has put into improving his long-range shooting (he was at 30 3P% during his 1st 2 seasons):
Coach Cooley made a point of complimenting Epps’ preparation during the past 2 weeks, which is why he wants him to play more off the ball:
That is a wrap for now but check back later this month as we wrap up 2024 when Coppin State visits DC on 12/28.
Lipscomb (7-4, 6-4 D1) at Middle Tennessee (8-3, 6-3 D1) – 7:30 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads down I-24 from Nashville to nearby Murfreesboro for a matchup between the Lipscomb Bisons and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. Lipscomb comes into tonight having won 4 straight games (5 overall) against D1 opponents; the most notable game in the bunch was an 80-62 victory at Chattanooga. Jacob Ognacevic is averaging 17.6 points a game and 7.3 rebounds for the Bisons.
The Blue Raiders have won two of their last three games against D1 competition; their best win was a 76-69 victory against a floundering UAB team. MTSU’s only three losses this year are all against teams from the Missouri Valley – Bradley, Belmont and Murray State. Essam Mostafa averages 13.3 points a game and 8.7 boards a game for the Blue Raiders.
-Bradley held off San Francisco in a 66-64 thriller to improve to 9-2 and pick up what is probably their biggest win of the year. Bradley still has a lot of work to do, and their margin for error is small, but I do think they have a path to the NCAA Tournament along with Drake. They’ll have to basically blow through the MVC in order to get there, but they’re good enough to do it and the opportunity is there.
-Alabama really had to sweat at North Dakota. They pulled off the 97-90 win on the road, but it was close all throughout and for much of the first half they were actually behind.
-Xavier was on fire from 3pt land yesterday and was right with UConn on the road, but ended up falling in overtime 94-89. Considering all of the injuries and setbacks Xavier has gone through it is hard to not be impressed with the effort. While they didn’t get the win, it does show that maybe they’re capable of stringing together some wins in the Big East and are not quite totally out of it yet.
-Oklahoma remains unbeaten after pulling out an 87-86 thriller over Michigan. Michigan had a lead for much of the game, and for most of the second half, but it was close all throughout. The Sooners are one of about…oh…a dozen teams in the SEC that look like they belong in the top 25.
-Memphis got a battle from Virginia on the road, but escaped 64-62 to pick up their third true road win of the season. The Tigers have built up quite a profile, and have managed to beat teams that are not always easy to play against or beat. Virginia is still a very good defensive team and can be a very frustrating opponent, but the Tigers figured it out.
-Georgetown absolutely blew Creighton out 81-57. The Hoyas have a lot of energy built up, they continue to get better as the season improves, and will be a force within the Big East this year.
-Washington State, who had been cruising and looking really good, did not look that good yesterday. They fell to rivals Washington 89-73. While Washington is a respectable 8-3 on the year now, they hadn’t looked as good as Wazzu coming into last night’s game.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-UC IRVINE AT BELMONT. This is an interesting road game for what is a very good UC Irvine team and it’s an important one if they want to finish the season inside the bubble. If you’ve been following Under the Radar, you know that we feel this is a team that can make the NCAA Tournament. Belmont is 9-2 on the season, and 5-1 at home. They’ll likely win a lot of home games, so the committee should take note of this game if UC Irvine is able to pull it off.
-Buffalo @ Georgia – Georgia can get to 10-1 with a win -New Orleans @ Texas -Merrimack @ Saint Mary’s
Tonight’s feature conference is the Horizon League, and the team that Chad and David focus in on the closest is the Green Bay Phoenix and their spectacular home loss to Michigan Tech! The Doug Gottlieb era is not off to the best of starts.
After that, we run through the other 21 UTR conferences and discuss the overall strength of the Big West, and how we may see two teams earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament in UC Irvine and UC San Diego. UCSD just won at Utah State, who had previously been undefeated, so their profile is looking really strong. Liberty and Louisiana Tech both look strong in Conference USA, Arkansas State has had some really big wins and is well positioned in the Sun Belt, and Bradley is looking strong in the Missouri Valley along with Drake, who remains undefeated. We discuss all that, and more! And, as we do every week, we close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
