FRIDAY, NOV 14TH
-TEXAS SOUTHERN AT EASTERN WASHINGTON. At 11am in the east, it will officially be college basketball season!! This is an 11am local tip. All teams start at zero, but neither of these two are expected to do much. But, whoever wins will be the kings of college basketball…..at least for a few hours.
-YALE AT QUINNIPIAC. Yale is one of the better teams in the Ivy this year, but will have to either overtake Harvard or earn an at-large if they want to make the dance.
-BOISE STATE AT SAN DIEGO. I think USD could have a decent year this year with all the experience they have coming back. If Boise wants to make the dance, these are the kinds of road games they need to be able to win.
-TENNESSEE VS VCU. Tennessee has undergone a coaching change, and they may be undergoing another one very soon depending on how the NCAA’s investigation comes out. They have a tall order against a very good VCU team tonight.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT BYU. I know this is technically a buy game, but Long Beach may turn out to be halfway decent this year, and they’re at least good enough to give BYU the kind of game that should enable us to learn something about them.
-GEORGIA AT GEORGIA TECH. Georgia hasn’t gotten much love, but I think they may have something this year. Starting off the season with a road win against a rival would be great for them.
-SIENA AT UMASS. This is potentially a very dangerous opener for a UMass team that was good last year, but has some question marks this year. Siena is one of the teams that will challenge for the Metro Atlantic Title.
VIRGINIA AT JAMES MADISON. I gotta hand it to Virginia. They’re not afraid to go on the road and play against other regional teams.
-NJIT AT SAINT JOHN’S. This is a buy game, but NJIT is our adopted team, so all their games will get some attention from us. The Johnnies have been battling some eligibility issues, and may have some difficulty adjusting.
-MINNESOTA VS LOUISVILLE. It’s the Pitino Shootout!! Louisville looks like a legit top fifteen team. There is a lot of love for Minnesota because of how they finished the season last year winning the NIT, but I’m not quite convinced they’re a slam dunk for the NCAAs.
-AMERICAN AT TEMPLE. American has a lot of players back and should be one of the best teams in the Patriot. Are they good enough to upset a Temple team on the road that is trying to rebuild from a bad season last year??
-AIR FORCE AT ARMY. It’s worth a mention. Neither are likely NCAA Tournament teams, but we believe both will likely do better in their respective conferences than what most are expecting.
-DREXEL AT COLORADO. Drexel is always exciting. They can play up against good teams, and down against poor teams. I have more questions than answers about these two, so it’ll be interesting to see how this goes.
-HOUSTON AT MURRAY STATE. Murray State is very good this year, but has an extremely small margin for error. Houston isn’t great, but they may be one of the better teams that Murray places.
-INDIANA STATE AT IUPUI. IUPUI is awful, but this is our chance to see an Indiana State team who we think could end up close to the bubble when it’s all said and done.
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT TEXAS. I know this is technically a buy game, but it’ll be interesting to see how NDSU rebuilds after losing so much from the team that made the Round of 32 last year. It’ll also be a good glimpse to see if Texas is as good as their high preseason ranking.
-MICHIGAN STATE VS NAVY. It may not be a buy game, but it’ll probably ending up looking like one.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT WICHITA STATE. New Mexico State won’t run away with the WAC, but they probably are the favorites to make the NCAAs. Wichita, again, looks to be a top ten caliber team.
-MILWAUKEE AT AUBURN. We highlight this one because of the return of Bruce Pearl, and he’s returning against his old team.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT UTEP. Many believe UTEP could be an NCAA Tournament team. We’ll see if they can dominate what appears to be a weak Wazzu team at home.
-WOFFORD AT STANFORD. I know this is a buy game, but Wofford is one of the better teams in the SoCon and it’ll be interesting to see what they can do on the road against a good Stanford team.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH
-SAINT FRANCIS COLLEGE AT GEORGETOWN. SFC is picked to win the NEC, and Georgetown has a tendency to be inconsistent. I know this is technically a buy game, but it may be one that turns out to be worth watching.
-BOISE STATE AT LMU. This is a chance for Boise to pad their road wins.
-NORTHERN ARIZONA @ TOLEDO. Toledo may dance this March, but they can’t afford too many missteps in games like this.
-UMASS AT BOSTON COLLEGE. We should know something about UMass by the end of the weekend. They’ve got two challenging games, including this one that is on the road.
SUNDAY, NOV 16TH
-FORDHAM AT PENN STATE. Some have indicated that Fordham may actually end up being a force in the Atlantic Ten. I don’t agree, but if they manage to win this one they’ll at least have my early attention.
-HARVARD AT HOLY CROSS. Harvard should be able to pick this up, but it’s not the easiest game in the world to win.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT RUTGERS. If GW is a tournament team, then this is the kind of road game they should be expected to win.
-COASTAL CAROLINA AT UCLA. This is technically a buy game, and it’s a game UCLA can easily win. All I will say is that Coastal is good enough to win this game if the Bruins overlook them entirely.
BUY GAMES, brought to you by Hostess
-Presby @ Duke (Friday)
-William & Mary @ Florida (Friday). Bill & Mary is one of the better teams in the Colonial, but they’re overmatched tonight.
-Florida A&M at Clemson (Friday)
-Bryant at UConn (Friday). Bryant is a halfway decent NEC team, but they’re overmatched in this one.
-Alabama A&M @ Dayton (Friday)
-Grambling State @ George Washington (Friday)
-MIT (nondiv1) @ Harvard (Friday).
-Mississippi Valley State @ Indiana (Friday)
-Howard @ Miami FL (Friday)
-UMass Lowell @ Ohio State (Friday)
-Niagara @ Pitt (Friday)
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Saint Joe’s (Friday)
-Kennesaw State @ Syracuse (Friday). Why bother??
-Monmouth @ West Virginia (Friday)
-Northern Arizona @ Xavier (Friday).
-Wagner @ Maryland (Friday)
-Radford @ Richmond (Friday)
-UMBC @ Akron (Friday). I like this Akron team and think they’ll make some noise this year.
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Arizona (Friday)
-Saint Francis U @ Cincinnati (Friday)
-Oakland @ Iowa State (Friday)
-Grand Canyon @ Kentucky (Friday). Grand Canyon is not eligible for the postseason because they are a transitional team, but they are one of the better teams in the WAC. Still, they’re very much overmatched in this one.
-NCCU @ North Carolina (Friday). NCCU is one of the better teams in the MEAC, and they did upset NC State last year, but they’re probably in over their heads in this one.
-SELA @ Oklahoma State (Friday)
-Mississippi College (nondiv1) @ SFA (Friday). SFA cannot afford to lose this game. Period.
-Northwestern State @ Texas A&M (Friday). A lot of people are big on TAMU this year, but I’m not sold yet.
-Lehigh @ Villanova (Friday)
-Sacramento State @ Gonzaga (Friday)
-Georgia Southern @ Illinois (Friday)
-Southern Utah @ Kansas State (Friday)
-UMKC @ Missouri (Friday)
-Binghamton @ Notre Dame (Friday)
-Northern Kentucky @ Wisconsin (Friday)
-McNeese State @ Baylor (Friday)
-Hampton @ Iowa (Friday)
-Tennessee Martin @ Marquette (Friday)
-Lamar @ SMU (Friday)
-Chicago State @ Arizona State (Friday)
-Alcorn State @ Cal (Friday)
-Cal St. Northridge @ San Diego State (Friday)
-Ball State @ Utah (Friday)
-South Carolina State @ Washington (Friday)
-Morehead State @ UNLV (Friday)
-Coppin State @ Oregon (Friday). The Ducks aren’t as good as they’ve been the last two years, but they should start off with a win tonight.
-Montana State @ UCLA (Friday)
-Manhattan @ Florida State (Saturday)
-Gardner Webb @ LSU (Saturday)
-Hillsdale (nondiv1) @ Michigan (Saturday)
-North Dakota @ Northern Iowa (Saturday). I like this UNI team and think they can make the NCAAs. They can’t afford to stub their toes, though.
-Maine @ Butler (Saturday)
-Albany @ Providence (Saturday)
-Fairfield @ Duke (Saturday)
-Buffalo @ Kentucky (Sunday)
-Samford @ Pitt (Sunday)
-Chattanooga @ Wisconsin (Sunday)
-Northern Kentucky @ Nebraska (Sunday)
-Navy @ Notre Dame (Sunday)
-SELA @ Oklahoma (Sunday)
-Prairie View A&M @ Oklahoma State (Sunday)
-Lafayette @ West Virginia (Sunday)
-Hampton @ Syracuse (Sunday)
-Coppin State @ Illinois (Sunday)
-Valpo @ Missouri (Sunday)
-Robert Morris @ North Carolina (Sunday)
-South Dakota @ Stanford (Sunday)
-Norfolk State @ Virginia (Sunday)
-Cal St. Northridge @ Arizona (Sunday)
-Kennesaw State @ Cal (Sunday)
-Alcorn State @ Texas (Sunday)
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