NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Lehigh and Drake – CLICK HERE
-The exempt tournaments/MTEs get underway today. Be sure and check out our Special Hoops HD Report where we run through all of them – CLICK HERE
-The biggest news from Yesterday probably happened off the court. James Wiseman was handed a 12 game suspension, which included the two he already served, but will be allowed to return to Memphis on January 12th and play for the rest of the season. They didn’t need him last night as they got by Little Rock, although the game was a little closer than expected.
-Louisville and North Carolina also played with their food in their buy games, but managed to blow it open by the end.
-UMass is 5-0. They haven’t exactly played a rough schedule, but they did manage to beat a pretty decent Northeastern team, and aren’t looking like the doormat of the Atlantic Ten that I thought they’d be. I don’t think they’ll contend for first place, but they may be able to make some noise this year.
-Georgia held on to beat Georgia Tech at home, and remains unbeaten on the season. They head into Maui next week. We will really see what they are made of then.
-Boise State needed overtime, but held on to beat BYU in a game that went back and forth and that was really fun to watch. I’m not sure if either one of these teams will be in the NCAA Tournament picture at the end of the season, but we will continue to follow both of them until we are sure that they aren’t.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-VILLANOVA VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE (Mytrle Beach Invitational). Middle comes into this game at 3-1, which isn’t bad, but they don’t have any wins anywhere close to the caliber that this one would be. Having said that, Nova has only managed to win buy games up to this point. This event is a chance for them to add some decent wins away from home. If they lose this one then they’ll end up facing weaker competition and probably won’t get that chance.
-MISSOURI STATE VS MIAMI FL (Charleston Classic). Missouri State is off to a so-so start, but they did look good the other night against Xavier and are still the favorites to win the MVC. If they want a chance to land inside the bubble then they’ll need to pick up some wins in this tournament.
-FLORIDA VS SAINT JOSEPH’S (Charleston Classic). Saint Joe’s probably has the better wins so far seeing how they won at UConn and Florida didn’t. The Gators have not looked all that good this year, but if they can do well in this tournament it should snap them out of it and get them back on track. We didn’t expect much from Joe’s this season, but this is also an opportunity to make quite a bit of noise early on.
-MISSISSIPPI STATE VS TULANE (Myrtle Beach Invitational). Both teams are unbeaten, but both are also untested. They will be tested in this tournament, though, so we should know a little more about them by the time it’s over.
-OHIO VS BAYLOR (Myrtle Beach Invitational). Up to this point Baylor has really only won buy games. This tournament is a chance for them to begin to build their resume.
-DUQUESNE VS INDIANA STATE (Junkando Jam). Duquesne is off to a 3-0 start and stands a very good chance of being 6-0 by the end of this tournament. Their opponents haven’t exactly been high caliber, but they are worth keeping an eye on this year.
-XAVIER VS TOWSON (Charleston Classic). Xavier and Florida both started off the season highly ranked, but neither has looked all that good yet. Xavier should get by Towson, but they’ll need to play better (at least on offense) than they have in their last two games. A loss would probably mean lower level competition in the next two games, which wouldn’t look as good on their resume.
-TEXAS VS GEORGETOWN (2K Empire Classic). Texas already has a nice win at Purdue and can pick up another win of note away from home against a Georgetown team that we thought would be good this year (and still might), but that hasn’t really shown it yet. Having said that, this is the kind of game that could be a big breakout game for Georgetown if they were to win it.
-UTAH AT COASTAL CAROLINA (Myrtle Beach Invitational). This is part of an MTE, but because Coastal is the host I’m pretty sure this one is going in the books as a true road game for the Utes. They’ve already collected a couple of decent wins against Nevada and Minnesota and can continue to add to that throughout this event.
-CHARLOTTE AT APPALACHIAN STATE. Charlotte has two feelgood wins against Davidson and Wake Forest. Both came at home, though, and neither of them was so good that it persuaded me to go all in on Charlotte just yet. But, they certainly have my attention and if they keep it up then I’ll become a believer. This is a winnable game against a so-so App State team that has struggled on the road, but has been HOT HOT HOT at home with a 2-0 record.
-UC IRVINE AT TCU. This is a buy game, but TCU is unbeaten and UC Irvine is pretty good, so it should be a good match-up.
-TOLEDO AT NOTRE DAME. Toledo is a team that we really like out of the MAC, and they come into this one at 3-1 with a chance to pick up a notable road win. Notre Dame hasn’t lost since their opener against North Carolina where they played really well, but they also haven’t really been tested either.
-DUKE VS CALIFORNIA (2K Empire Classic). Cal is unbeaten and is better than they were a year ago, but it’d be a stretch to even think of them as an NIT team at this standpoint, especially if you watched any of their last game against Prairie View A&M, which was an eye gougingly bad basketball game. But, they are unbeaten. Duke comes in Ranked #1, which makes sense since they already have a neutral floor win against Kansas and can pick up a few more in this event.
-NEW MEXICO AT NEW MEXICO STATE. It’s the first installment of this annual home and home rivalry!! It’s always intense, and it should be again this year. New Mexico is coming off a close, tough loss to UTEP, and New Mexico State has battled injuries this season, so both could really use this game for what it would mean on paper as well as the bragging rights that would come with it.
-BUFFALO VS UCONN (Charleston Classic). Buffalo has struggled out of the gate, and UConn has struggled at times, but they still have that really nice win against Florida. If they can win tonight and pick up another win or two in this event (well, especially if they pick up two more), then they’ll be off to a much better start than any of us expected.
BUY GAMES
-North Florida @ Iowa
-Alabama A&M @ Clemson
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Pittsburgh
-Tennessee Tech @ Winthrop – Not technically a buy game, but Winthrop won’t get much credit if they win it
-Tennessee State @ Texas Tech
-UMES @ Oklahoma
-Central Michigan @ Minnesota – with three close losses, Minney needs a game like this just to get their mental health back.
-South Dakota State @ Arizona
-Green Bay @ Wisconsin
-Hofstra @ UCLA
-William & Mary @ Stanford – Bill & Mary came very close to beating Oklahoma in their last game, so Stanford better not overlook them