Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, January 8: Valparaiso at Oakland

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Valparaiso at Oakland, 7:00 PM, ESPN2

There are times during the season that I like to choose an unexpected game for the UTR Game of the Day, such as earlier this week when I passed on Evansville-Wichita State in favor of NJIT-Yale.  This has a strong tendency to annoy Mr. Griggs, which is honestly one of my favorite pastimes.  Today, however, I am going to pass on the urge and have selected what is clearly the top UTR game as the Game of the Day — the Horizon League matchup between Valpo and Oakland.

The Valparaiso Crusaders enter the game today with a record of 11-3.  They have won games at Rhode Island and at Oregon State, as well as splitting a pair of games with OVC favorite Belmont.  Thee only black mark on their resume was a surprising late-November loss at Ball State.  They are currently 1-0 in league play following a dominating home win over Illinois-Chicago (by 28 points).  The Crusaders are led by junior Alec Peters, who has scored in double figures every game this season and has four double-doubles.  However, this team goes 8-9 players deep and has a lineup dominated by juniors and seniors — the perfect formula for a very strong season.  If they can dominate in conference play, the Crusaders should be bound for the Big Dance, no matter what happens in the Horizon League tournament.

The Oakland Grizzlies (9-6) have at time looked like a team that may be able to hang with Valpo in the Horizon League . . . and at times have not.  They took Michigan State to overtime and were competitive with Virginia, a pair of teams in serious discussion for #1 seeds in March.  Of course, all that is tempered by what happened last time out.  The Grizzlies lost their conference opener at home to Youngstown State, a team that entered that game with a record of 5-9 on the season and a KenPom rating of 246.  Kahlil Felder has been the best player by far for the Grizzlies this season, putting up some absolutely amazing stat lines.  He has scored 20 or more points every game this season and has topped 30 points 4 times already.  He has 7 double-doubles as well, with the second stat causing the double-double being assists each time.  He has narrowly missed a triple-double against Southern Illinois (9 rebounds) and against Chicago State (8 steals).  In fact, he has the skill set for the very rare quadruple-double.  If he can come anywhere close to such a feat tonight, Valpo could be in trouble.  If, on the other hand, the Crusaders are able to shut him down, they could get past what may be their toughest conference test this season with a win and become the clear favorite to win every remaining regular season game they play.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-UTAH AT COLORADO (Pac Twelve).  The Hoops HD staff is still split on this Colorado team.  Some like them and some don’t.  It should be more clear how good they are as they go through conference play.  Utah has some good wins, but they’re still looking for their first true road win.