NEWS AND NOTES
-If you’re reading this, then you must like college basketball to at least some degree, and therefore probably already know what I’m about to say. November basketball is both very exciting and every important. A lot of what happened yesterday will impact decisions that the selection committee makes in March.
-Let’s begin really quickly with what wasn’t exciting, but very impressive. Auburn beat up on Washington the way most SEC teams beat up on opponents in buy games. it was never even a game. Now it’s not easy for Washington to play late on Tuesday night against a good (we think) Western Kentucky team, and then fly across the country for a game on Friday night, but then again it’s not so difficult that that alone should have resulted in them being as overwhelmed as they were. They were on a plane, not a school bus. I know it’s early, but what is easily the single most impressive performance of the year for an SEC team was Auburn last night. (Additional note: A long night for Washington turned scary when their team bus caught fire en route to the airport, but thankfully nobody was hurt.)
-Buffalo picked up what is probably the most impressive true road win of the season after knocking off West Virginia in overtime. There were moments where Buffalo did get the lead, but for the most part WVU led for throughout the game. In the final minutes Buffalo came up big on several possessions, forced overtime, and then sprinted out to a lead in the overtime. This is a HUGE resume win for the Bulls, especially if WVU finishes in the rankings like we expect them to.
-After losing a ton of their roster from last season it wasn’t that surprising to see Wichita State go down in their season opener to Louisiana Tech. What was shocking (pun intended) was how they bounced back and picked up a massive neutral floor win against what we think is a very good Providence team. It was a real gutty performance by a young Wichita State team, especially when you consider that they fell behind early in the first half, and suddenly they are very much alive and kicking.
-Another team that surprised me was Arkansas. I know they didn’t win the game against Texas, but they certainly had their chances. I had them pegged as a team that would likely miss the NIT by about a hundred miles, and for them to play that well in a game where they came from behind against a Texas team that by all accounts looks very good is impressive and indicative that the Hogs may end up winning some big games this year after all.
-Stony Brook picked up their second true road win in a buy game last night as they knocked off South Carolina. Now, neither team that they beat is expected to be all that good this year, but it is still a very impressive start for a Stony Brook team that we thought would be an also-ran in the America East this year.
-UC Irvine was our pick to win the Big West, and they picked up a huge road win at Texas A&M last night. We don’t think TAMU is necessarily a tournament team, but this was still a very good early season road win for the Anteaters.
-Loyola Chicago made a surprise run in the NCAA Tournament last year. The surprises continued last night, but not the good kind. Furman went up to Loyola for what had to be their biggest home opener in half a century, and pulled off a stunning upset. It isn’t that we were shocked that Loyola failed to win so much as it is a Furman team, who wasn’t exactly our pick to win the SoCon, was able to play as well as they did and beat them. It was one of the many exciting games that came down to the final seconds.
-The Atlantic Ten is hurting. Davidson needed to come from behind to beat Dartmouth yesterday, Richmond lost at home to Longwood, and George Mason lost a home buy game (their second of the week) to American. Less than a week in, the league has already collectively lost more home buy games than what most leagues lose throughout an entire season.
-Northeastern played their second consecutive thrilling rivalry game and picked up a nice win at Harvard. That may not seem like a lot, but it may be one of the only home games Harvard loses this year, and in the new NET rankings this would give them a bit of a boost.
-Saint John’s had to come from behind to beat a Bowling Green team in a rather underwhelming showing, but if nothing else it was another exciting game!
-Other exciting games that probably won’t end up on the radar at the end of the year, but were still exciting to watch and important for now since everyone starts out at zero included James Madison’s last second win at East Carolina, Eastern Michigan holding off Drexel at home, LIU Brooklyn improving to 2-0 with a close win over Brown, and Toledo getting an exciting one point win at Oakland in their season opener.
-Because of the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, California, the Cal State Northridge-Pepperdine game has been postponed.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WYOMING AT OREGON STATE. We aren’t all that big on either of these teams. Oregon State can improve to 2-0 with a win.
-TENNESSEE STATE AT LIPSCOMB. An early season inter-city match-up. We like this Lipscomb team and a win today will get them off to a 2-0 start.
-OKLAHOMA STATE AT CHARLOTTE. A bit of an unusual early season road game for the Cowboys for their season opener. We are expecting them to struggle this year, but they do have a good chance at kicking things off by picking up a true road win.
-BALL STATE AT PURDUE. This is a buy game, but both teams managed wins in their season opener, and Ball State may be able to make some noise in the MAC this year, so we will go ahead and highlight it.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT BELMONT. A pretty good UTR game between an Illinois State team that we think will be one of the better teams in the Missouri Valley, and a Belmont team that’s opening its season and who we think will be the frontrunner the Ohio Valley.
-TEXAS SOUTHERN AT GONZAGA. This is an obvious buy game, but since Texas Southern is coming off a huge upset win at Baylor we will go ahead and highlight it. If they can somehow manage a win in this one, they’ll probably jump into the top 25 next week.
-LMU AT UNLV. We aren’t expecting much out of LMU, but they did win their season opener. While we don’t think UNLV is a tournament caliber team, we do think their program is improving.
BUY GAMES
-UMES @ NC State
-Jackson State @ Saint Bonaventure
-NC A&T @ Wake Forest
-Alabama A&M @ Wake Forest
-Pine Bluff @ Colorado State
-Western Michigan @ Ole Miss
-Bethune Cookman @ Marquette
-Evansville @ Xavier
-South Carolina State @ Tulsa – both teams 1-0
-Southern @ Baylor
-Central Connecticut @ Georgetown – both teams 1-0
-Morehead State @ Syracuse
-Miami OH @ Butler
-Coppin State @ Dayton
-UT Martin @ Western Kentucky
-Holy Cross @ Michigan – both teams 1-0
-Quinnipiac @ Villanova
-Troy @ Saint Louis – both teams 1-0
-Northern Iowa @ UT Arlington – both teams 1-0
-Idaho State @ Boise State
-Portland @ North Texas – both teams unbeaten