Here is a rundown of all of today’s action, and a quick recap of yesterday…
NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-For the MattSarzSports.com viewing guide, which is the best on the internet – CLICK HERE
-For Warren Nolan’s men’s basketball page, which is the best of its kind on the internet – CLICK HERE
-Stony Brook led Vandy for most of regulation, but couldn’t hold on at the end. Vandy ended up forcing overtime, then winning in overtime.
-Boise State, who I still think is good despite the fact that they lost their opener, made Arizona Sweat for about 35 minutes, but Arizona ended up pulling away. They certainly didn’t win decisively, but they weren’t sweating in the final minutes.
-Temple pulled out a win against Minnesota in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, and George Mason picked up their first win of the year by beating Ole Miss in the Charleston Classic. I wouldn’t go so far to say that I was surprised by either result, but those certainly weren’t the teams I would have picked to win those two games.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WISCONSIN VS GEORGETOWN (2k Classic). Georgetown opened with a rather surprising loss to Radford, but followed that up with a gutty performance against at Maryland in what was one of the better games of the young season so far. I like this Georgetown team, and even though they may start off in a little bit of a hole, I think they’re still going to have a good season. Wiscy also began the season with a surprising loss of their own, so the story line of this game is that it’s two good teams looking to climb out of a little bit of an early hole.
-DUKE VS VCU (2k Classic). Duke is coming off a loss to Kentucky on a neutral floor that will do absolutely nothing to hurt their chances of getting a #1 seed. This semifinal field has four really good teams in it and if Duke can win both games they’re right back to being in fantastic shape. VCU beat a pretty good Radford team rather decisively, so they may be capable of making Duke sweat a little bit.
-MIAMI FL VS UTAH (Puerto Rico Tip-Off). Both teams come into this game 3-0, and although not much attention has been paid to Miami FL, they have looked very impressive in all of their games so far. This is a neutral floor game between two teams that will likely be wearing white in the round of 64, so it’s a chance for us to learn about both of them.
-TEMPLE VS BUTLER (Puerto Rico Tip-Off). As mentioned earlier, Temple was not the team I was expecting to see in this game. Now that they’re here, I don’t think they’ll put up much of a fight against a Butler team who has rolled over everyone they’ve faced so far.
-GEORGE MASON VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Charleston Classic). Oklahoma State can improve to 4-0, and you can’t ask for a better start than that.
-LONG BEACH STATE VS VIRGINIA (Charleston Classic). Long Beach is in rebuilding mode, but they’ve looked pretty good so far with notable wins against BYU and Seton Hall. They are likely overmatched today, but they may be better than we expected. If they pull off a stunner and win today, then suddenly we’re talking about them being a team that can land inside the bubble.
-OHIO VS TULSA (Paradise Jam). Both teams are 2-0 and Tulsa is coming off a big home win against Wichita State. If they can follow that up by picking up some notable neutral floor wins in this tournament it will really look good on their profile come March.
-HOFSTRA VS FLORIDA STATE (Paradise Jam). Both teams come in unbeaten. Hofstra is one of several teams in their conference that returned several key players from last season and appears to be improved. For teams like them these tournaments are huge opportunities to build their NCAA resumes.
-DEPAUL VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Paradise Jam). South Carolina is 2-0 and can give their season a big springboard if they can do well in this tournament.
-FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL VS JAMES MADISON (Men Against Breast Cancer Classic). JMU is coming off a loss to West Virginia and needs to rebound.
-NORTHEASTERN VS FLORIDA ATLATNIC (Men Against Breast Cancer Classic). I like this Northeastern Team. This wouldn’t be a great win by any means, but it is a win away from home.
-SIENA VS RADFORD (2k Classic). See Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day Here
-DELAWARE AT IONA. Iona is our preseason favorite to win the MAAC, but they’ve looked pitiful in both games so far. They’ll have to play a lot better if they want to beat what is a pretty good Delaware team.
-MURRAY STATE AT GEORGIA. This is a buy game, but Murray State did win their first game despite being in rebuilding mode, and Georgia needs to rebound from their opening loss to Chattanooga, so we’ll put it with the highlighted games.
-PENN STATE AT DUQUESNE. We’re not expecting big things out of either team, but as of now both are unbeaten.
-COLUMBIA AT NORTHWESTERN. Northwestern can improve to 3-0 if they can knock off one of the favorites to win the Ivy League.
-XAVIER AT MICHIGAN. Both teams are unbeaten, but untested. Michigan has played just one div1 opponent, and Xavier didn’t exactly blow out a weak Miami OH or Missouri team. But, it’s a great early season test and a chance to pick up an early quality win for whoever comes out on top.
-EAST CAROLINA AT CALIFORNIA. This is likely a mismatch, but both come into this game 2-0.
BUY GAMES
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Michigan State
-East Tennessee State @ Villanova. Both teams unbeaten.
-UT Arlington @ Ohio State
-Stetson @ West Virginia
-Rider @ Maryland
-South Dakota @ Kansas State
-Wright State @ Kentucky
-McNeese State @ Oklahoma
-Jackson State @ Baylor
-Detroit @ Pittsburgh
-Portland @ Colorado
-Georgia Southern @ Auburn
-Savannah State @ Oregon. Both teams unbeaten