NEWS AND NOTES
-For the latest Hoops HD Report, which recaps a very busy week in college basketball and previews the week ahead – CLICK HERE
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between North Dakota State and SFA, who are two likely conference frontrunners – CLICK HERE
-Virginia and Wisconsin could have played for 120 minutes, and I still don’t think Wiscy would have scored 50 points. It was the rock fight of all rock fights as Virginia picked up the win to remain unbeaten on the year.
-I wasn’t that big on the Orange of Syracuse, and I realize that they haven’t even crossed the street to play a game yet as they’ve all been at home, but they’ve beaten some good UTR teams rather handily and picked up a win against Maryland last night. They will be tested later this week when they face Kansas.
-A couple of Under the Radar notes, Lipscomb’s long and frustrating drought against rival Belmont came to an end last night. After losing two close games a year ago, they finally got over the top with a 74-66 road win in a game where they nearly blew the lead in the final minutes. This is very damaging to whatever slim hopes Belmont had of landing inside the bubble. Albany also picked up their first loss at Monmouth. They led for most of the game, but Monmuth pulled even in the second half and pulled away in the final minutes.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-BAYLOR AT XAVIER. This is a game between two ranked teams that are looking for their biggest win of the season so far. Baylor has notable wins over Wisconsin and Creighton, but this is their first true road game. Xavier also has a win against Wisconsin and is looking to rebound from their loss against Arizona State over the weekend.
-FLORIDA STATE AT RUTGERS (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams are unbeaten, but this is Rutgers’s first semblance of a test.
-NORTWESTERN AT GEORGIA TECH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Northwestern is off to a really rough start and could really use a road win on their resume.
-TOLEDO AT KANSAS. It’s a buy game, but we’ll highlight it because Toledo has two impressive wins this season and if they keep it up they could finish toward the top of the MAC.
-LOUISVILLE AT PURDUE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). I get the sense that this is a really important early season game for both teams. Purdue did get a win over Arizona in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but outside of that it was a really poor showing. Louisville has devoured some cupcakes, but that’s really all they’ve managed to do after a very tumultuous offseason. A win like this would be as good of a mental health win as it would be a resume win.
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT OLE MISS. I’m really looking forward to this one as South Dakota State is one of the frontrunners in the Summit League and Ole Miss is off to a respectable 4-1 start.
-IUPUI AT WESTERN ILLINOIS. We mention this game only because Western Illinois can improve to an impressive 5-1 on the year with a win.
-UTAH STATE AT VALPARAISO. Valpo shouldn’t have too much trouble staying perfect on the season.
-WESTERN MICHIGAN AT SAINT LOUIS. SLU is off to a decent, but not great, start. They need to hold serve in games like this if they want to be in the discussion come March.
-ILLINOIS AT WAKE FOREST (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). We weren’t all that excited about the Illini coming into the year, but they are off to a perfect 6-0 start and could pick up their first true road win today.
-IOWA AT VIRGINIA TECH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Iowa has looked so bad this year that I don’t know if “Challenge” is the right word to use for this game. VA Tech appears to be a solid tournament caliber team and shouldn’t have too much trouble rolling at home.
BUY GAMES
-Brown @ Rhode Island
-Savannah State @ Wichita State
-UTVRG @ SMU
-Maine @ Georgetown