NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Furman and UT Arlington – CLICK HERE
-So, something that had not happened in 27 years prior to this season has now happened twice in two weeks. Yesterday Stephen F Austin, an obvious UTR team, went on the road to #1 ranked Duke and pulled off the upset win. They hung in there, and you just kept waiting for Duke to blow it open, but it didn’t happen. SFA came up empty on some key possessions at the end of regulation and at the end of OT (I guess in that situation every possession is a key possession), and Duke had the ball in what appeared to be the final possession of the overtime in a tie game. BUT!!! SFA forced a turnover, which resulted in a fast break layup right as time expired. It was surreal! Again! We saw this a very short time ago when Evansville went into Kentucky and won.
-Auburn struggled in the first half against a pesky Richmond team, but held on to win in the Legends Classic. It was Richmond’s first loss of the year, and I get the feeling that they have a lotto wins ahead of them.
-Colorado trailed Clemson for much of the game, but came back to get the win and stay undefeated on the season.
-Wichita State, who had a sub-par year last year which seemed to have caused a lot of people to kind of forget about them, absolutely dump-trucked South Carolina to remain unbeaten on the year. They’ve got another big one tonight against West Virginia. This looks like a top 25 caliber team to me so far.
-Arizona State came from behind to beat Princeton! By 2! Princeton remains winless. Not exactly a statement win for the Sun Devils.
-DePaul needed to overcome an 18pt deficit to come back and beat Central Michigan, but they were able to do so and are still unbeaten on the year.
-Northern Iowa led West Virginia for most of the game down in the Cancun Challenge, but let it slip away in the final minutes. A flagrant foul late in the game didn’t help things. It was a missed opportunity for Northern Iowa to pick up a notable win away from home and go on to play a pretty good Wichita State team tonight, which would have helped them out even more. It was a big win for West Virginia, but they’ll have far more chances at wins like this than UNI will the rest of the way.
-New Mexico picked up their first big win of the year as they knocked off Wisconsin 59-50. Not to take anything away from the Lobos, but when you look at Wisky you start to notice that they quality wins just aren’t there yet.
-For the second day in a row, Dayton blew someone out in the Maui Invitational. Yesterday it was a red hot and unbeaten Virginia Tech team that was coming off a huge upset win against Michigan State. Dayton gets Kansas tonight. If they can win that one then not only should the Flyers be ranked, but they should be HIGHLY ranked!
-Butler held on to beat Stanford in a thriller in the Hall of Fame Classic to stay unbeaten on the year. They have certainly exceeded all expectations so far
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MICHIGAN VS IOWA STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Iowa State comes in 3-1, but is still looking for their first notable win. Michigan is unbeaten and already has a decent win against Creighton. Both teams will have the opportunities to build their resume throughout this event.
-SAINT LOUIS VS BOSTON COLLEGE (Gotham Classic). Saint Louis is a respectable 5-1 right now. Adding a neutral floor win to their resume against a so-so Boston College team won’t be a difference maker, but it would certainly help more than it would hurt.
-MICHIGAN STATE VS UCLA (Maui Invitational). This is probably not the fifth place game that anyone was expecting. Michigan State struggled down the stretch against Georgia yesterday, but got the win and is looking to add another neutral floor win to their resume. UCLA is still looking for their first win of note, and if they can pull off the upset then this would certainly qualify.
-NORTH CAROLINA VS ALABAMA (Battle 4 Atlantis). UNC shouldn’t have too much trouble remaining undefeated against an Alabama team that looks like it’s still trying to find itself. The Tar Heels will be tested a lot more later on in this event.
-OLE MISS VS PENN STATE (NIT Season Tip-Off). Both teams have looked strong early on. Penn State is unbeaten with a few notable wins and while Ole Miss has only won buy games, their only loss was by 1pt on the road to Memphis. This is a resume building game for two teams that both look like they may be good enough to be dancing in March.
-DAYTON VS KANSAS (Maui Invitational). Dayton has looked fantastic in this tournament so far. Kansas appears to be the better team, but this game is hardly a gimme for them. If anything it’s a chance for Dayton to continue to show that they’re not just good, but worthy of a high ranking if they can beat a Kansas team that thinks it can compete for a #1 seed.
-KANSAS STATE VS BRADLEY (Fort Meyers Tip-Off). K State is looking to bounce back from a somewhat surprising loss to Pitt the other night. They shouldn’t have too much trouble with a Bradley team that’s good by UTR standards, but not good enough to were you’d think they’d be able to beat K State.
-SOUTH CAROLINA VS NORTHERN IOWA (Cancun Challenge). Northern Iowa had West Virginia on the ropes, but could not hold on for the win in the final minutes. Still, they’re a good team that has a chance to land inside the bubble come March, but they need to pick up some wins away from home in games like this. South Carolina suffered their first loss yesterday to Wichita State, but the game wasn’t even close. They could use a win to bounce back as well.
-GONZAGA VS SOUTHERN MISS (Battle 4 Atlantis). This would be a buy game if it wasn’t part of the Battle 4 Atlantis. Gonzaga should roll, and will be facing much stronger competition in their next two games.
-OKLAHOMA STATE VS SYRACUSE (NIT Season Tip-Off). Both teams have potential, but neither have won anything other than buy games yet, so this event is a chance for them to start putting some meat on their resume.
-NEW MEXICO STATE VS GEORGE MASON (Cayman Islands Classic). New Mexico State continues to battle injuries, but they have managed to win their last two games. George Mason comes in with a 7-1 record and can continue to build on what is shaping up to be a pretty good early season profile will a win today.
-WICHITA STATE VS WEST VIRGINIA (Cancun Challenge). Both teams are unbeaten, both have looked good, and both are trying to continue to build their resumes and break onto the national scene. This should be a pretty good one tonight.
-PITTBURGH VS NORTHWESTERN (Fort Meyers Tip-Off). Both of these teams have been slow out of the gate, and both already have a few questionable losses and need to get things turned around if they want any hope at all of keeping pace. Having said that, Pitt does have a few decent wins on their resume as well.
-GEORGIA VS CHAMINADE (nondiv1) (Maui Invitational). If Georgia wins this, which is a safe assumption, it will be their only win in this event, and it won’t be against a div1 team.
-OREGON VS SETON HALL (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are ranked, both have already picked up some good wins, and both can continue to build their resumes today. The committee favors teams who beat ranked teams away from home.
-OREGON STATE VS SAN JOSE STATE (Las Vegas Classic). This isn’t the kind of win that would make people jump out of their seats, but this is a pretty good Oregon State team and it is a chance for them to pick up some winnable games way from home.
-VIRGINIA TECH VS BYU (Maui Invitational). Virginia Tech was blasted by Dayton yesterday, but they’ve still been one of the bigger surprises of the season and if they can get out of this with another notable win away from home they’ll still be in very good shape. It’s a good opportunity for BYU to pick up a notable win as well.
BUY GAMES (and equivalencies)
-SC State @ Tulsa
-UT Arlington @ Furman
-Maine @ Virginia
-Manhattan @ Rhode Island
-Hartford @ SMU
-Stony Brook @ Delaware – a win for Delaware gets them to 7-0
-Gallaudet (nondiv1) @ Vermont