NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Marshall and Robert Morris – CLICK HERE
–JNG. Even though we are just a couple of days in, people are already asking for/demanding Joby’s Nitty Gritty Rankings (the JNG)!!! As far as how they work and what computers and programs he uses….I have no idea. What I do know is that all 353 teams need to have played at least one game against a div1 opponent in order for his formula to work. Otherwise, if he tried to run the formulas, his computer would explode or something like that. As soon as all teams have played a div1 game they will be posted, and they will be updated on a pretty much daily basis from that point on.
-Notre Dame led North Carolina throughout much of the first half and through part of the second half. UNC eventually opened it up and got the win, but the Irish made a pretty good account of themselves. They look a lot better than the team that lost 8 out of 9 (or whatever it was) to end the season a year ago.
-Syracuse squared off against Virginia, which is never a good idea if you can avoid it. They did hold the defending national champs to just 48 points!! The problem is that they themselves only scored 34 points. Starting the season off with a conference road win is a pretty good way to start things off.
-Ohio State and Cincinnati played one of the ugliest first halves of basketball that you may see all season, but they both kind of came out of it in the second half and we saw a free flowing, well played game where both teams were able to score. For the second year in a row, Ohio State picked up the 64-56 win. It wasn’t just the second year in a row that Ohio State won. It was the second year in a row that they won 64-56. Cincinnati did look pretty good (at least in the second half) under their new head coach. To go on the road against a ranked team and be able to stay with them, and to shut them down defensively, is a pretty promising sign despite the loss.
-Boston College held off Wake Forest in their ACC opener. BC is now in first place in the ACC, and will be for the next six weeks or so. Think about that!
-Pitt picked up a nice win at home against Florida State. I’m not going to say that I’m shocked by it, but it was a game that I thought the Noles would win. It’s a great start for a Pitt team that hasn’t had much to be excited about in the last several years.
-Mount Saint Mary’s had a 59-45 lead on Georgetown about midway through the second half, and had played an outstanding game up to that point. Then Georgtetown finally wok up, outscored them 36-9 from that point on, and ended up getting the win.
-San Jose State started the season off with a really solid road win at Hofstra. SAN JOSE STATE!!! A SOLID ROAD WIN!! I’m trying to think if that has ever happened before. As it stands now, I think they’ve got the most impressive win out of anyone else in the MWC. Granted, it’s very early, but that was a good start.
-I thought Merrimack would have a chance to win their div1 debut against Maine. I was wrong. The Black Bears picked up the win and never even really had to sweat.
-Belmont and Illinois State went back and forth before Illinois State was able to pull out the win at home. It was a good showing by a Belmont team that had a fair amount of roster turnover, and I don’t want to say it was a bad loss in the sense that they can still bounce back, but the margin for error is so small for a UTR team that they need to be able to win games like this one.
-Oklahoma State really had to sweat out Oral Roberts, but they were able to come up with the win.
-UCLA got all they wanted from Long Beach State, and actually trailed for most of the game, but was able to pull it off in Mick Cronin’s debut.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WINTHROP AT HARTFORD – Hartford can improve to 2-0 with a win
-SEATTLE AT WASHINGTON STATE. This may be the most intriguing game of the night. Seattle was decimated with injuries last year, but prior to that they had looked pretty good. They’re healthy this year, and they may be able to take down (and possibly even beat) a low level Pac 12 team on the road.
-BRYANT AT RUGERS – buy game
-PRESBYTERIAN AT CLEMSON – buy game
-SOUTHWESTERN (nondiv1) AT TCU – buy game