NEWS AND NOTES
-It was an exciting day of hoops action even though most of the final results weren’t all that cataclysmic.
-Gonzaga trailed Creighton at the half in an arena that was going berserk, but came back to get the win and actually pulled away at the end.
-UNC Greensboro was right with Kentucky until the under 8 timeout in the second half, and then UK finally blew it open in the final minutes. The game was a lot more exciting than what the score indicated.
-Kansas needed overtime to get past a Stanford team that we all thought was asleep. They looked good yesterday though. I thought we were one again in for a year where Kansas was going to be better on the road than at home.
-Michigan blew out Purdue. That’s the third top 20 team they’ve blown out this year.
-Marquette got it done in a big way against a very good Kansas State team that pick up a win that will look good on paper, but also be good for their mental health.
-Oregon lost their second game in a row as Houston picked up the big win. They trailed by 20 at Houston late in the first half, but came storming back late in the game. They couldn’t quite get over the top, though.
-Texas Tech trailed Memphis for most of the game down in Miami, but came from behind late and picked up the win to stay unbeaten.
-Buffalo is also unbeaten after knocking off previously unbeaten San Francisco over in Ireland 85-81. The Hall of Fame Classic over in Belfast gave us three boring games, and one really good one.
-Villanova trailed La Salle by 12 late in the first half, and didn’t get control of the game until the final minute or so. La Salle is now 0-8. Losing this game would have been rather damaging for Nova.
-Saint John’s continues to not play the type of basketball that knocks me off my feet, but they’ve still won every game they’ve played. They came from behind to beat Georgia Tech yesterday.
-Indiana knocked off Northwestern in a Big Ten thriller in a game that came down to the final seconds. Both these teams have looked a lot better than they did a year ago.
-Perhaps the most exciting game of the day was Furman’s double overtime win against Western Carolina in their conference opener. Western Carolina just isn’t that good, and it would have been really damaging had Furman not managed to get that win at home.
-Belmont suffered their first loss of the year in a rather surprising result at Green Bay. That’s a bit of an unexpected setback for the Bruins.
-Yale got the win against Miami FL in the Air Force Reserve Hoophall Miami Invitational, or whatever the hell they’re calling it. The Canes had a home loss to Rutgers, and a mostly home loss to Yale. They’ve certainly had better weeks.
-Utah State absolutely blew out UC Irvine on the road yesterday. I think this was one of the more surprising results of the day. It’s not just that Utah State won, but that they blew a really good UC Irvine team out of their own arena. Utah State is now 7-1 with a couple of decent wins on that resume.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-ARIZONA AT UCONN. Both teams are off to very solid starts, and at this point seem to be on a trajectory that is much higher than where I thought they’d be at the beginning of the year. This would be a really nice win on Arizona’s resume, and it would be a big win for a UConn team that’s looking to keep their momentum going.
-UCF AT MISSOURI. After suffering a somewhat surprising loss to FAU earlier this year, UCF has looked really good. This is their first true road game of the season, and it comes against a Missouri team that has been disappointing for most of the year.
-ILLINOIS AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). This is the early season conference opener for both teams. Nebraska clearly looks like the superior team and can improve to 7-1 on the year.
MINNESOTA AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten). Both teams come into this game at 6-1. Ohio State is looking to bounce back from the somewhat surprising home loss to Syracuse earlier this week, and Minnesota is looking for what would be their biggest win of the year up to this point.
-UC SANTA BARBARA AT WASHINGTON . UCSB comes into this game with just one loss. Washington is a solid 5-2, but still doesn’t seem like they’ve played up to the ceiling that we think they’ll hit this year. They don’t want to overlook UCSB in this one.
-LMU AT UCLA. This is the game of the night. UCLA is a modest 5-2, but needs some big wins on their resume before we can genuinely be excited about them. LMU comes in at 8-0 and has looked pretty good, but this is by far their biggest test of the season so far.
-TAMUCC @ Tennessee
-Oral Roberts @ SMU