It’s a very busy day in college basketball as a lot of teams get one last big game in before Christmas. Below is a rundown of all the action.
NEWS AND NOTES
-To watch and/or listen to our latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s Under the Radar Game of the Day featuring Grand Canyon, The Team of the People, – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s most recent Bracket Projections, and the comments from Chad and David as to what they thought was wrong with it – CLICK HERE
-Grand Canyon added another notable win away from home to their profile when they knocked off Houston last night. I believe this makes them the best transitional program in college basketball history. That may not even be debatable. The NCAA has to let this team play in the conference and NCAA Tournaments!! Join the movement!! Tweet at the NCAA!! Call the NCAA!! Tell them to let the lopes play!! #LopesWaiver
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
VIRGINIA TECH VS SAINT JOSEPH’S (Brooklyn, NY). Saint Joe’s is out to an 8-2 start and although they still have some work to do to get the attention of the committee, it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
-AUBURN VS NEW MEXICO (Diamond Head Classic). Auburn has a ton of ground to make up, and although New Mexico is 7-3, they’ve done little to nothing away from home. This tournament is a chance for both to improve their profiles, but they’ll have to pick up the win today to do it.
-RADFORD AT CHATTANOOGA. Chattanooga has some big wins and should cruise to an at-large bid if they can blow through the rest of their schedule.
-LITTLE ROCK AT TEXAS TECH. Little Rock comes in unbeaten with some notable wins, and Texas Tech has just one loss, but hasn’t beaten a team as good as Little Rock yet. Both teams have a lot of momentum, but in the case of Little Rock they won’t have too many (if any) chances at big wins that will impress the committee from here on out, so this is a really big game for them. I’m not sold on this Texas Tech team just yet, but wow! Chad Sherwood sure is!
-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT ARIZONA STATE. SFA has had a disappointing beginning to the season, but they are still likely the best team in the Southland. Arizona State has been better than expected and will be in the conversation come March if they keep it up.
-FORDHAM VS BOSTON COLLEGE (Brooklyn, NY). A win for the Rams gets them to 10-1, and even though they’ve done it against a weak schedule, it’s still their best start in recent memory.
-MIAMI FL AT LA SALLE. Miami has just one loss on the year, and they continue to climb the rankings. This would just be their second true road win of the year, and many true road wins in conference will be tough to come by, so winning this will help round out their profile even more.
-CLEMSON AT GEORGIA. Both teams are looking more like NIT teams than NCAA teams at this point, and need to turn things around in a hurry if they want that to change. A win today would be the right kind of start.
-IOWA STATE AT CINCINNATI. Cincinnati should roll over their conference along with UConn, but even if they do their opportunities at big time wins will be limited, so this is a big game for them. Iowa State has the ability to be a top ten caliber team, but they just haven’t shown it yet this year. This is actually their first true road game of the season, as well as their first game against a team that will likely make the NCAAs on the first ballot.
-XAVIER AT WAKE FOREST. Xavier is ranked #6 and I don’t feel they’re overrated. They’ve won handily against some pretty good teams, but this is just their second true road game, and their first against a team as good as Wake, so this is arguably their toughest game to date. It’s the latest installment of the Skip Prosser Classic in honor of the man who coached both programs before passing away of a heart attack in 2007. This year they’re both looking like NCAA Tournament teams as Wake Forest is much improved under head coach Danny Manning.
-RHODE ISLAND AT OLD DOMINION. Rhody’s profile would look so much better had they held on to beat Providence. As it is now, they’ll need a very strong showing the rest of the way to end up on the right side of the bubble.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT OAKLAND (Auburn Hills). This is sort of a road game, I guess. Oakland is doing the event management, so it is their home game, but it’s at the Palace of Auburn Hills, which will probably feature a crowd very partial to Michigan State. Oakland is very good at 7-3 and could make quite a bit of noise once they start Horizon League play. Tonight’s game is a great opportunity where they have nothing to lose.
-GEORGETOWN AT CHARLOTTE. When it comes to how good or bad a team will look on any given night, Georgetown is the biggest wild card of them all. They’re good enough to be a protected seed, but poor enough to lose to a team that misses the CIT. Who knows what they’ll do tonight against a horrendously poor 2-8 Charlotte team.
-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT GEORGIA STATE. Both teams have kind of been under the radar even by Under the Radar standards, but both come into this game with just two losses, and Middle has looked pretty good in their last couple of games.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT SIENA. Can the Bonnies pick up their third true road win and improve to 8-2 on the year?
-VANDERBILT AT PURDUE. Vandy hasn’t had a really big win for their profile yet, and they also don’t have a true road win yet, so a win tonight would go a long way toward improving the complexion of their resume. Purdue has looked outstanding despite the fact that they’re coming off a loss to a very good Butler team.
-KENT STATE VS SMU (Las Vegas Classic). SMU is dead to me due to being ineligible, but Chad says that I have to keep talking about them anyway. Kent State, on the other hand, is 7-2, and a win like this would be a huge statement win. It’s the kind of win that makes the difference between getting looked at by the committee and being completely ignored.
-SAINT JOHN’S VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Basketball Hall of Fame Shootout). This year’s Saint John’s team should not be allowed to participate in any event that has “Hall of Fame” in the title. South Carolina is unbeaten, they continue to win against decent competition, they’ve played their way into the rankings and deservedly so, and I think they’ll pick up another win tonight.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT ARIZONA. I know this is a buy game, but Long Beach is at least good enough to where we can highlight it.
-MERCER AT OHIO STATE. Mercer is 9-2, and prior to Ohio State’s win against Kentucky, I’d say they’d looked like the better team this year and should be able to snag the road win. Ohio State sleepwalked through their first ten games, but perhaps now they’ve finally turned the corner. We’ll see tonight. It may not look this way to the casual fan, but beating Mercer at home will actually be a sign of improvement.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT DEPAUL. GW has just one loss on the year, but they also have just one true road win, so today is a chance for them to add to their resume.
-CALIFORNIA AT VIRGINIA. I still like this Cal team. They have just two losses, but they are lacking any real big wins. They’re depth (or lack thereof) has also been an issue. Virginia has looked like one of the best teams in the country since their loss to GW, and I’m expecting them to win impressively tonight.
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT WEBER STATE. This would be SD State’s fifth true road win if they pull it off.
-COLORADO VS PENN STATE (Las Vegas Classic). There is nothing “Classic” about Penn State. Colorado, on the other hand, has looked really strong since losing their season opener in a close game to Iowa State, and doing well in this tournament should help boost their resume even more.
-KANSAS AT SAN DIEGO STATE. Kansas has looked like a #1 seed this year, and San Diego State has looked like an NIT team. This isn’t the kind of loss that hurts a team in and of itself, but SDSU is running out of chances to do something that will impress the committee. They also have losses to Grand Canyon and San Diego that they need to offset.
-OKLAHOMA VS WASHINGTON STATE (Diamond Head Classic). Wazzu is much improved, but in saying that you have to remember just how bad they were before. They’re not to the point of being able to stay with a Final Four caliber team like Oklahoma.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT HAWAII (Diamond Head Classic). Northern Iowa is coming off a huge win, but they have another huge test and opportunity today against a Hawaii team that has yet to lose at home. A win isn’t just a quality win, but a chance to play better competition in the later rounds, so it’s a big game for both teams.
BUY GAMES
-Presbyterian @ Richmond
-Troy @ Ole Miss
-Kennesaw State @ Indiana
-South Florida @ Seton Hall. Not a buy game, but might as well be.
-UNC Greensboro @ NC State
-Miami OH @ Dayton
-Jacksonville @ Florida
-Delaware @ Villanova
-Montana State @ Syracuse
-North Dakota @ Kansas State
-Alabama A&M @ Evansville
-IUPUI @ Memphis
-Southern Utah @ Butler
-Tennessee Tech @ Iowa
-Delaware State @ Utah
-UMKC @ Louisville
-South Dakota @ UNLV
-McNeese State @ UCLA
-Seattle @ Washington. I know this is a regular home and home, but it’s practically a buy game.