NEWS AND NOTES
-I say this every Sunday morning, but yesterday was a crazy day!
-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day between Delaware and Delaware State – CLICK HERE
-Wichita State didn’t lose on their home court, but they lost in their home city to an unranked Oklahoma team who sprinted out to a comfortable lead early and then never gave it up. It was a tremendous showing by the Sooners and it was yet another example of a top ten team going down at home. At least mostly at home. Oklahoma should be in the rankings after that. They appear to be cruising to the top half of the bracket come March. I’m more impressed with the Sooners than disappointed in the Shockers.
-Xavier, another top ten team, trailed by 22 in the second half to unranked East Tennessee State who came out of nowhere with an incredible effort. Xavier finally woke up and came storming back to overcome a huge second half deficit as well as a 7-point deficit in the final three minutes to escape with the win. We almost saw ANOTHER top ten team go down at home to an unranked team.
-Now, to be fair, two of the top ten teams who went down yesterday were Notre Dame and Florida, who are no longer top ten teams and who after yesterday may not even be top 25 teams. Notre Dame took on an Indiana team that was NIT-tacular at best, and ended up losing in rather sub-NIT-tacular fashion when the Hoosiers were down three and got fouled, then missed the freethrow, but got the rebound and made the layup. Notre Dame had a chance to tie and force overtime on a mid-court shot that almost went down, but they again pick up a loss to a team that doesn’t appear to be a tournament team.
-Florida fell to Clemson in another exciting game. Last season Clemson lost eight games either in overtime or on the final possession to tournament teams, and just out of habit I was expecting them to end up losing this game as well. But, they didn’t. They picked up a HUGE neutral floor win against a Florida team who I think will get their ship turned around over Christmas break, but for now has shown quite a few flaws.
-Kansas needed a 3-pointer in the final seconds to pull out a win at Nebraska in an exciting game that seesawed back and forth. It was an electric atmosphere, but then again that’s the way it always is when Kansas plays anyone in a true road game.
-Seton Hall fell to Rutgers in what had to be the most satisfying win for Rutgers in years. They improve to 10-3 on the season and while the vast majority of those wins include buy games at home, it now includes a win over a rival who was ranked. Rutgers also gave Michigan State a bit of a squeeze when the two met up a few weeks ago, so Rutgers may be to the point to where they can beat solid tournament teams at home. That’s an improvement. I don’t mean that facetiously, although I hope our colleague and host Chad Sherwood takes it that way!
-Florida State fell to Oklahoma State in the second half of the Orange Bowl Classic. Both games were one point games, and both resulted in a surprising unranked team knocking off a ranked team. We did not expect much out of the Pokes, but at 8-2 with a neutral floor win over a previously unbeaten Florida State team, we need to start taking them seriously.
-Cincinnati finally picked up a big win and changed the complexion of their resume for the better. They went out to UCLA and absolutely ran away with that game.
-UNC Greensboro pulled off the biggest UTR upset of the day with their win at NC State. UNCG clearly looks like a SoCon frontrunner and it will be interesting to see what the committee does with them if they blow through that league.
-Stephen F Austin improved to 10-1 on the year with their win at LSU, who is improving but hasn’t quite graduated to the level of good yet. Still, SFA should finish the season with just two or three losses, if that. They go to Mizzou next, and the remaining game is winnable.
-Georgetown appeared to have Syracuse put away, but the Orange came back, forced overtime, and picked up a huge win. Everyone had been picking on Georgetown for their weak schedule, and rightfully so. Their profile now consists of a weak schedule and a loss to a decent team.
-Northwestern REALLY had to sweat out DePaul, but ended up pulling out out. The Wildcats just don’t seem to have it this year. At least, not yet. This is noteworthy moreso because of how damaging the loss would have been, not how good the win was.
-Northern Iowa, who had been having a fantastic season, played a back and forth game with Iowa State for about 30 minutes, and then were blown out in the final 10 minutes. The loss doesn’t sink them, but a win would have REALLY helped them and opened up their margin for error a bit more.
-Saint Bonaventure and Rhode Island both avoided losses to really good UTR teams in Vermont and CofC. In the case of the Bonnies, it took a buzzer-beating 3 to pull off the win in neighboring Rochester. Those may turn out to be halfway decent wins for them.
-Middle Tennessee faced Auburn in Birmingham, and simply did not show up for the first thirty or so minutes of the game. They fought back to at least make the score respectable, but it was a decisive and impressive win for an Auburn team that isn’t getting a lot of attention, but only has one loss and some fairly good wins on their resume.
-Oregon got a VERY nice road win at Fresno State, which may not have people jumping up and down, but Fresno will not lose many home games and will likely be a top 75 team, so the committee will give the Ducks quite a bit of credit for this one.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-VANDERBILT AT ARIZONA STATE. Vandy is off to an atrocious 3-6 start and Arizona State has looked like a top five team so far. Nothing about this game suggests that it will be close.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT TENNESSEE. North Carolina is not afraid to play on the road out of conference, and they’re not afraid to play in games that are tough to win. This is a road game against a ranked Tennessee team that’s having a much better season than we expected. It’s a great OOC opportunity for both teams as well as a great showcase game. Right now UNC is looking like a protected seed, and Tennessee is looking like they could end up wearing white in the Round of 64.
-IONA AT SAINT JOHN’S. The Johnnies are having a fantastic season so far. Iona has struggled, as has the entire MAAC, but Iona appears to be struggling less than everyone else. They’re probably overmatched in this game, but it should still be a fun one. It usually is whenever two NYC teams get together.
-UC SANTA BARBARA AT USC. This is the litmus test. This is the game that if UCSB can win then they’ll have something on their resume to point to and say they belong inside the bubble if they blow through the Big West but trip in the conference tournament (which we often see in that league). USC on the other hand is just trying to get things turned around. They certainly don’t need to hit the panic button yet, but they look nothing like a top ten team, which is where they were ranked when the season began.
BUY GAMES
-Central Connecticut @ Boston College (the Lee Delvecchio Classic)
-Stony Brook @ Providence
-Savannah State @ Baylor
-Prairie View A&M @ Houston
-Radford @ Nevada
-LMU @ Washington