It’s a busy day in college basketball. Below is a rundown of all the action!
NEWS AND NOTES
-We had some close calls yesterday. Iowa State came down to the last second (and some questionable officiating) against Indiana State, Ole Miss had to sweat out a Montana team that only has one win, VCU had more trouble with Saint John’s than we thought they would, and Florida State actually did what Florida State always does, and that’s make us think they’re good and then lose early in the season. They fell to Temple in their NIT game.
-CLICK HERE for Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Middle Tennessee and UNC Wilmington
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-IOWA STATE VS MIAMI FL (Advocare Invitational). Both teams enter the game unbeaten, although Iowa State really had to sweat out Indiana State yesterday. Miami looked much better against a pretty good Stanford team. Iowa State really doesn’t have any notable wins yet, so today will be their biggest test of the season so far.
-FLORIDA STATE VS ILLINOIS (NIT). Florida State is doing it again. They’re making us think they’re going to be good, and then losing games to weak teams. Nothing against Temple, but they don’t appear to be all that strong this year, and Florida State couldn’t get it done yesterday. Illinois was absolutely blasted by West Virginia and appears to be in for another long season as well.
-INDIANA STATE VS STANFORD (Advocare Invitational). After nearly pulling an upset against Iowa State yesterday, Indiana State has another chance to pick up a neutral floor win against what looks to be a decent Stanford team today.
-WICHITA STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Michigan State has struggled this entire season. Wichita has looked good, but wasn’t able to beat a Louisville team yesterday that had struggled in their first game. Both teams kind of need an early notable neutral floor win. Michigan State needs it to get their season turned around, and Wichita State needs it because their opportunities later in the season are somewhat limited.
-CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE VS NEW MEXICO (Wooden Legacy). New Mexico fell rather convincingly to Virginia Tech yesterday, and they need to get out of this tournament with a couple wins if they want to stay within reach of the ‘relevance map’ (for lack of a better term).
-TEMPLE VS WEST VIRGINIA (NIT). Temple got a surprising win against Florida State yesterday, and would REALLY shock the world if they knocked off West Virginia today.
-LOUISVILLE VS BAYLOR (Battle 4 Atlantis). This is probably the best game of the day. Both teams are in the rankings, both teams have already been tested this season, and both come in undefeated. Both are on a good early pace to end up as a protected seed come March, and wins away from home against other good teams can really help the profile. Both will have numerous chances for the rest of the year, but this is still likely to be one of the more notable wins on either team’s profile come March.
-MERCER VS EAST CAROLINA (Savannah Invitational). Both teams come in with just one loss, and some of us think East Carolina may be a sleeper team this year.
-TEXAS A&M VS VIRGINIA TECH (Wooden Legacy). Both teams appear to be pretty good and are off to decent starts. Like all these tournaments, a neutral floor win against a good team builds both momentum and the profile.
-VIRGINIA VS IOWA (Emerald Coast Classic). Virginia has looked incredibly impressive so far this season, and as good as Iowa’s 3-1 start is, they’re probably overmatched today.
-MARSHALL AT OHIO STATE. This is a buy game, but both teams do come in unbeaten, so we’ll go ahead and highlight it.
-BOSTON COLLEGE VS KANSAS STATE (Barclays Center Classic). I don’t know if it’s really accurate to call this match-up a “Classic,” but K State does come in without a loss, and BC is 3-1.
-SMU AT USC. This is a really good early season game between two teams that have looked a lot better than what we were expecting so far. USC has a big win at Texas A&M, and SMU’s only loss is to a pretty good Michigan team.
-TENNESSEE TECH AT OHIO. A win keeps the Bobcats undefeated.
-BELMONT AT RHODE ISLAND. This is a buy game, but Belmont is typically one of the better teams in the OVC, and we think they’ll be at the top of the standings again this year so we’ll go ahead and highlight it.
-VCU VS LSU (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are trying to get out of this tournament with another neutral floor win on their profile.
-AKRON VS AIR FORCE (Savannah Invitational). This doesn’t qualify as an Under the Radar game because Air Force is in the Mountain West, but it is definitely an underexposed game. Akron looks to be one of the better teams in the MAC, and some of us feel they could end up with an at-large bid. Air Force comes into this game 5-0, so it is a good early season test for both teams.
-QUINNIPIAC VS SETON HALL (Advocare Invitational). This looks like a buy game, but it’s actually part of a tournament. Both teams are coming in with a loss.
-WASHINGTON VS WESTERN KENTUCKY (Global Sports Classic). We were ready to write off Washington after they dropped the opener and struggled in some of their games since then, but they do come into this game 3-1 and are facing a pretty good WKU team, so there is still plenty of time to right that ship. As for WKU, they’ve got a chance to add a notable win to their profile.
-MIDDLE TENNESSEE VS UNC WILMINGTON (Challenge in Music City). See Chad’s UTR Game of the Day HERE. It’s a shame that this really is one of the more interesting games of the day, and there is no TV or video for it.
-RICHMOND VS MARYLAND (Barclays Center Classic). We aren’t expecting much out of Richmond this year, but they do come into this game with just one loss and will really grab the attention of ourselves and everyone else if they can pull off a win in this one.
-PROVIDENCE VS MEMPHIS (Emerald Coast Classic). We weren’t all that excited about either team coming into this season, but Providence just has one loss and Memphis is unbeaten, so it’s possible that one or both are better than we thought. We should learn something after seeing what they do against each other.
-GONZAGA VS FLORIDA (Advocare Invitational). This is a somewhat important game for Gonzaga because it’s their first real test of the season. It’s a big game for Florida too who is unbeaten, but who is still looking for a statement win.
-DAYTON VS PORTLAND (Wooden Legacy). After falling to Nebraska yesterday, Dayton now needs to avoid bad losses on the loser’s side of the bracket.
-NEVADA VS BUFFALO (Great Alaska Shootout). Both teams appear to be solid and come into this one with just one loss. We think Buffalo is one of the better teams in the MAC, and feel that Nevada may be a fringe bubble team.
-TCU VS UNLV (Global Sports Classic, Las Vegas NV). TCU comes in unbeaten and UNLV comes in with just one loss, which was their opener. We weren’t expecting much out of either team, but both have been pretty good out of the gate.
-ARIZONA VS BUTLER (Continental Tire). Both teams come in 5-0, and although Arizona has a win over Michigan State, this may prove to be an even bigger challenge. Butler has had some close calls, but they’re still unbeaten and if they pull off a win today they’ll catapult themselves back into the national spotlight. That is becoming a November tradition for the Bulldogs. We never think they’re going to be good, and they always are.
-WYOMING AT CALIFORNIA. Both teams come into this game with one loss. Cal has had some close calls and doesn’t want to overlook a Wyoming team that is looking for a statement win.
-NEBRASKA VS UCLA (Wooden Legacy). It’s the last big game of the day, and it’s a good one. Nebraska is coming off a big win against Dayton, which many weren’t expecting them to get. Not many people thought Nebraska had much this year, but if they’re somehow able to pick up this win they’ll be solidly on the college basketball radar.
BUY GAMES
-Bryant @ Northwestern
-Idaho State @ Texas Tech
-Abilene Christian @ Oklahoma
-SELA @ Colorado State
-UT Martin @ Kentucky
-High Point @ Clemson
-Morehead State @ Pittsburgh
-Lehigh @ Mississippi State
-Southern Illinois @ Minnesota
-UNC Asheville @ Kansas
-UC Riverside @ Utah