For today’s UTR Game of the Day between Austin Peay and Western Kentucky – CLICK HERE
NEWS AND NOTES
To say that Memphis was in the news last night would be a bit of an understatement. Just hours before their victory against Illinois-Chicago, the NCAA ruled star freshman James Wiseman ineligible because they deemed that Penny Hardaway was a booster prior to being named head coach at Memphis and had provided moving expenses for Wiseman and his family to move to Memphis.
Within moments, a judge in Shelby County temporarily halted the ruling and allowed Wiseman to suit up and play for Memphis for the time being. The NCAA warned Memphis that any games from this point on are in danger of being vacated as long as Wiseman continues to play for the Tigers.
If not for the Memphis saga, our lead story from last night would be Merrimack getting their first D-1 victory with a win at Northwestern last night. The Warriors had a 17-4 run late in the game to turn a 5-point deficit into an 8-point lead with under a minute remaining and won the game at the foul line.
Washington also got a significant victory against Baylor in the Armed Forces Classic in Anchorage last night. Isaiah Stewart hit a shot with 30 seconds remaining to put the Huskies ahead for good and gave themselves and the Pac-12 a big win that was noticeably lacking last season.
Utah did things to Mississippi Valley State that would be illegal in the other 55 states, districts and territories in this country. Well, maybe not in Louisiana – Grambling also did the same things to Ecclesia College. We will go out on a limb and guess that no conference has ever had one team win by 90+ points in one game and another team lose by 90+ points in a separate game on the same night.
Northeastern also scored a mild upset at home against Harvard – they have now opened their season with 2 victories in the basketball version of the Bean Pot.
Vermont got a double-double from Anthony Lamb to put themselves over the edge with a win at St. Bonaventure, and Dartmouth got a big win on the road and put an emphatic end to Buffalo’s 26-game home winning streak.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WRIGHT STATE AT MIAMI OH (Mythical Miami Valley Conference). An interesting UTR game between a Wright State team that’s expected to be a fruntrunner in the Horizon League, and a Miami OH team that we think can make some noise in the MAC.
-LIPSCOMB AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. A crosstown UTR rivalry with both teams coming into this game after winning their opener. Lipscomb has a lot of pieces to replace, but they should once again be one of the better teams in the A-Sun.
-SAN DIEGO STATE AT BYU. This is an old conference rivalry renewed. Both teams have been a little down in recent years, but both have quite a bit of potential for this year. This is a really good early season game because it’s a resume builder for whoever pulls it off.
-KANSAS STATE AT UNLV. UNLV is in rebuild mode and they’ve got a ways to go before everything is entirely rebuilt. K State also has a lot to replace from a team that finished in first place in the Big 12 last year. This would be a nice early season road win for them if they’re able to pull it off.
-IOWA STATE AT OREGON STATE. Both teams come into this 1-0, but neither were really tested in their first game. I think Oregon State is a potential sleeper team and they’ve got a chance to show that today if they can knock off what looks like a good Iowa State team at home.
-TEXAS AT PURDUE. Texas barely missed the NCAA Tournament last year, and even though it’s early in the season this game still feels like it has a sense of urgency to it. Both teams will have multiple chances at quality wins throughout the year, but this is a chance to get one early and sprint ahead to the front of the pack, so to speak.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT NORTHERN ILLINOIS. I kind of like this UNI team, and this is a winnable road game that could get them off to a solid 2-0 start.
-VALPARAISO AT SAINT LOUIS. Both teams won their opener, and while we don’t expect either one of them to be frontrunners in their conferences, this is still a game worth keeping an eye on.
-OKLAHOMA VS MINNESOTA (Sioux Falls SD). This is a resume building opportunity for both teams seeing that it’s a chance to pick up an early OOC win away from home. I still have more questions than answers about both of them, so this game should teach us something.
-RHODE ISLAND AT MARYLAND. Rhody is trying to rebuild and get back to being a top 25 caliber team. They appear to have a ways to go, but a road win like this could catapult them pretty far pretty fast. Maryland is ranked in the top ten and looks to be good enough to compete for a protected seed. Both teams won their opener, but neither were tested like they will be tonight.
-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT UT MARTIN. Both teams come in 1-0, and it’s a chance for ETSU, who we think will be a potential bubble team, to pick up a road win.
-LMU AT NEVADA. This is a winnable road game for an LMU team that could turn out to be a dark horse this year.
-BOISE STATE AT OREGON. Boise State won their first game and from all accounts seems to be much better than they were a year ago, but winning on the road against an Oregon team that will compete for a protected seed is a very tall order.
-GEORGIA STATE AT CHARLESTON – both teams 1-0
-DELAWARE VS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Sunshine Slam, Kissimmee FL) – both teams 1-0
-AUSTIN PEAY AT WESTERN KENTUCKY – both teams 1-0
-IDAHO AT UC RIVERSIDE – both teams 1-0 (amazingly)
-SOUTHERN MISS AT SOUTH ALABAMA – both teams 1-0
-TULSA AT UT ARLINGTON – both teams 1-0
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD – both teams unbeaten
BUY GAMES
-Robert Morris @ Notre Dame
-Central Arkansas @ Georgetown
-Nicholls @ Pittsburgh
-Morgan State @ Temple – both teams 1-0
-Portland State @ Indiana – both teams 1-0
-Southern Utah @ Nebraska – Nebraska could easily end up 0-2
-Stony Brook @ Seton Hall
-Texas Southern @ Wichita State
-Kansas City @ Oklahoma State – both teams 1-0
-Prairie View A&M @ UCF
-Central Connecticut @ Saint John’s
-Wagner @ Penn State
-NJIT @ Providence
-New Orleans @ Butler – both teams 1-0
-Indiana State @ Dayton
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Gonzaga
-Bethune Cookman @ Texas Tech
-Cal State Fullerton @ Stanford