HAPPY COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON EVERYBODY!!!
NEWS AND NOTES
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Regardless of anything that is said below or that was said in any of our preseason coverage, the real truth is that all teams are starting out at zero. There are teams that are not in the preseason rankings that will crack the top ten. There are probably about seven or eight teams in the preseason top 25 that will miss the NCAA tournament entirely. Happens every year. No one really knows anything yet. For all we know, the SWAC could win 80 percent of their OOC games and end up sending over half the league to the NCAA Tournament, and the AAC could only send one team. When it comes to putting each of today’s games into context, the best we can do right now is hypothesize. So, here it goes…
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT BAYLOR. It’s a buy game, but it’s the first game between two div1 teams, so we will go ahead and highlight it!!
-KANSAS VS DUKE (Champions Classic) (***Spotlight Game***). It’s two top four teams, and two potential #1 seeds. This will actually likely be one of the more important games that either team plays this season when it comes to being able to earn #1 seed. It would be a super high quality win.
-MICHIGAN STATE VS KENTUCKY (Champions Classic) (***Spotlight Game***). There are seasons where you go the whole year and never see a #1 vs #2 match-up. This year, we get one on opening night!! This is big in the sense that both teams will likely contend for a #1 seed, and it’s possible that both could end up getting it. This would be a huge quality win and possibly a deciding factor on whether or not a team ends up with a #1 seed.
-PRINCETON AT DUQUESNE. I like this Duquesne team, and think they’ll be able to make some noise in the A-10. This is a very winnable game for them to kick off the season.
LOUISVILLE AT MIAMI FL (ACC). This is our first look at a Louisville team that many believe to be a Final Four contender. It’s never easy to play on the road, much less open on the road in a conference game, so even though many believe Miami is down this year it wouldn’t shock me if this wasn’t a cakewalk for the Cardinals.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT CLEMSON (ACC). I don’t think either team will end up making the NCAA Tournament, but they both get a chance to get a notable win to start off their season.
-BRADLEY AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. Last year’s Missouri Valley champions have a winnable road game tonight to start off the year.
-UMASS LOWELL AT UMASS. This is a buy game, but UMass better watch out. This Lowell team is a potential dark horse in the America East
-FURMAN AT GARDNER WEBB. I like this Furman team and think they have a chance at landing inside the bubble. This is a rather tough road game against what should be a pretty good Gardner Webb team, but if Furman is an at-large caliber team then this is the kind of game that they should be expected to be able to win.
-NORTHEASTERN AT BOSTON U (Bean Pot). We mention this game only because of our love for mythical conferences!!
-SAMFORD AT MOREHEAD STATE. Samford is a potential dark horse in the SoCon this year. This is a winnable road game for them, and the kind of game they need to be able to win if they want to position themselves for a postseason tournament.
-LONG ISLAND AT RHODE ISLAND. It’s a buy game, but it’s interesting enough to highlight because LIU is the favorites to win the NEC and Rhody is still rebuilding.
-UTSA AT OKLAHOMA. This actually technically isn’t a buy game. It’s also semi-interesting because UTSA is a darkhorse in CUSA, so the Sooners better not overlook them.
-DREXEL AT TEMPLE (Sort of Big Five). Temple is in rebuilding mode, but they can get their season off to a feelgood start if they’re able to defeat their crosstown foes.
-PENN AT ALABAMA. Alabama looks to be the better team, but they better not completely overlook Penn. It’s not so much of a mismatch that it isn’t worth highlighting.
-OLD DOMINION AT NORTHERN IOWA. A pretty good UTR game on opening night. I like this Northern Iowa team and think they can make quite a bit of noise this season.
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT KANSAS STATE. This is technically a buy game, but since North Dakota State is expected to be one of the frontrunners in the Summit League, and K State is in rebuilding mode, it’s interesting enough to go ahead and highlight. This is actually a really good first game for both teams.
-GEORGIA TECH AT NC STATE (ACC). This should be a very winnable game for an NC State team that will most likely land inside the bubble this year. GA Tech looks to be improved, but they are also ineligible for the postseason.
-FRESNO STATE AT OREGON. Oregon is beginning the season against a team that actually has a pulse! They should win, but this is far more intriguing than most of the buy games today.
-SAINT MARY’S VS WISCONSIN (game in Sioux Falls, SD). This is the kind of game you love to see on opening night! It’s two teams that will likely make the NCAA Tournament going at it on a neutral floor with a chance to pick up a quality win, and also allow us to learn something about each of them early on.
-DENVER AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range). Neither team is expected to be good at all, but we at Hoops HD LOVE the Front Range!!!
-UC IRVINE AT SAN DIEGO. This is an interesting OOC game between a UC Irvine team that is expected to be a Big West frontrunner and a San Diego team that has been improving in recent years.
-PEPPERDINE AT CALIFORNIA. Some say that Pepperdine is a potential dark horse in the WCC this year. They have a chance to pick up a road win against a Pac Twelve team tonight.
-UTAH AT NEVADA. Nevada is in complete rebuilding mode, and we’ve probably got more questions than answers right now about Utah as well. It would be big for the Utes if they’re able to start off the season with a road win.
BUY GAMES
-Wagner @ Seton Hall
-North Florida @ Florida
-Jacksonville @ Xavier
-Saint Francis U @ VCU
-Sacred Heart @ Providence
-Western Illinois @ Indiana
-UMES @ Penn State
-MIT (nondiv1) @ Harvard
-NC A&T @ UNC Greensboro – I think this UNCG team has a shot at the bubble
-Western Carolina @ Georgia
-Appalachian State @ Michigan
-UNC Asheville @ Tennessee
-Holy Cross @ Maryland
-Alabama State @ Gonzaga
-Eastern Illinois @ Texas Tech
-SC State @ Memphis
-Tennessee Tech @ Western Kentucky – WKU is talented enough to make some noise this year.
-Northern Colorado @ Texas
-Mississippi Valley State @ Iowa State
-Cleveland State @ Minnesota
-Nicholls @ Illinois
-FGCU @ Saint Louis
-Jacksonville State @ SMU – this is a winnable road game for Jax State against a rebuilding SMU team
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ South Florida
-FIU @ Mississippi State
-Omaha @ Wichita State
-Rice @ Arkansas
-Army @ Villanova
-Georgia Southern @ Auburn – GA Southern should be good in Sun Belt play, but is overmatched today
-Cal State Fullerton @ BYU
-Alcorn State @ DePaul
-Kennesaw State @ Creighton
-UC Riverside @ Nebraska
-West New Mexico (nondiv1) @ New Mexico State
-Loyola MD @ Marquette
-Montana State @ Utah State
-Life Pacific (nondiv1) @ Boise State
-Texas Southern @ San Diego State
-Purdue Fort Wayne @ UNLV
-Cal State Northridge @ Oregon State
-Florida A&M @ USC