NEWS AND NOTES
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Jacksonville State and Buffalo, which is another good one – CLICK HERE
-We will be recording our Under the Radar podcast tonight, so be sure and be on the lookout for that.
-The two showcase games lived up to the hype, at least in terms of excitement. There were still some early November cobwebs to dust off, but all and all it was two great games to play early in the season. Duke and Michigan State seesawed back and forth with Duke pulling out out in the end, and Kentucky hung right in with Kansas for the first 39-and-a-half minutes until the Jayhawks finally put it away. When it comes to earning a #1 seed, having a neutral floor win over a team that’s also in the hunt for a #1 seed is a huge leg up, so even though it was just Day 5 of the season these are still games that can play a huge rule in shaping what the committee does in March.
-Purdue picked up a nice road win at Marquette and looked really impressive doing it.
-We weren’t really sure about George Washington coming into the year. I believe we are now sure that they’re not as good as Florida State. The Seminoles won easily at home.
-San Diego State was another team that we were kind of high on and that we felt had a chance of landing inside the bubble come March. Of course it’s still early, but they didn’t just fail to pick up a notable road win against a decent at best Arizona State team, they got absolutely smoked. Arizona State might be an NIT team (at least that’s what we think for now), and those are the kinds of games that NCAA Tournament caliber teams need to be able to win. Not only did SDSU not win, they not won HUGE!
Georgia and UConn had some trouble in their buy games, but ended up getting it done.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-COLORADO CHRISTIAN AT CAL BAPTIST. The Team of the People!!! YOUR LANCERS!!! They are nationally ranked!! They are undefeated!! They look to continue their march to greatness in their final year of div2 tonight!!! CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE GAME!! Tip Off is at 10pm, est!! We will be recording Under the Radar at the time, and we will have a live report!!
-INDIANA AT SETON HALL (Gavitt Tipoff Games). Indiana had a rather unspectacular season debut with their 30 point home loss to Indiana State. If they play like that on the road tonight against a Seton Hall team that appears to be good enough to earn a protected seed they may lose by 60.
-UC SANTA BARBARA AT PITTSBURGH. We are highlighting this because of UCSB and not Pitt. A win for UCSB, which is very possible, gets them to 2-0 on the year.
-MONTANA AT PENN STATE. Both teams come in unbeaten. Penn State could make some noise in the Big Ten this year, and Montana is one of the better teams in the Big Sky.
-BYU AT PRINCETON. Princeton lost their opener, but they’re still a formidable team that can make some noise in the Ivy. BYU is looking to stay unbeaten and pick up their first road win.
-JACKSONVILLE STATE AT BUFFALO. This is Chad’s UTR Game of the Day. Jax State blitzed Richmond on the road earlier this week. A win tonight will give them what should turn out to be another decent road win and improve them to 3-0 on the year, which is a very good start.
-BUCKNELL AT NORTH CAROLINA. It’s getting harder and harder to speak highly of this Bucknell team and portray them as top 40 team that we thought they were. They’re 0-2, and while none of the losses are bad, if they’re a legit top 40 team they should have picked up at least one of them, or at least played a little better. They have another chance to make a big impression tonight, but they’re probably swinging way over their heads in this one.
-NIAGARA AT MINNESOTA. This is a buy game, but it’s worth watching since both teams come in without a loss. Niagara had a nice road win at Saint Bonaventure in their first game, and Minnesota won at Providence in what was one of the more impressive wins of the entire year for any team so far.
-BUTLER AT MARYLAND (Gavitt Tipoff Games). Both teams come into this one unbeaten, but untested. We should learn something about both of them tonight.
-CREIGHTON AT NORTHWESTERN (Gavitt Tipoff Games). Both teams come in unbeaten and untested. Northwestern is in the rankings, but they’ve had to sweat more than you would expect during their first two games. These re two likely tournament teams so this would be a really good early season win for whoever pulls it off.
-NEVADA AT SANTA CLARA. Nevada had a nice win against Rhode Island the other night and is now trying to pick up their first true road win.
BUY GAMES
-Southern @ Missouri State
-American @ West Virginia
-Gardner Webb @ UCF
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Georgetown
-UMES @ Saint Bonaventure – Bonnies looking for their first win
-Northwestern State @ SMU
-Ball State @ Oklahoma
-South Dakota @ TCU – both teams 2-0
-Seattle @ Washington State
-Cal State Fullerton @ Saint Mary’s
-Prairie View A&M @ UNLV
-Central Arkansas @ UCLA