NEWS AND NOTES
-For the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast – CLICK HERE
-For Jon Teitel’s list of All Conference Players for 2019 – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Wofford and East Tennessee State – CLICK HERE
-If you like upsets, then 2019 ended with a bang! Florida A&M went into Iowa State and pulled off a 70-68 shocker. Iowa State wasn’t ranked that high, but the gap between them and FAMU was 225 spots (Iowa State – 59, FAMU – 284), and the gap in rankings such as KenPom was even larger than that. It was one of the biggest upsets of the decade, and it was only available via Iowa State’s website with a premium subscription, so unless you decided you felt it was worth forking over a few bucks to watch the game, you probably didn’t see it. But…WOW!!!
-Butler got another big road win against a very good Saint John’s team. The game was interesting because Butler led by over 20 at the start of the second half, then the Johnnies went on a big run to come from behind and get the lead, but then Butler was able to close it out after falling behind. Butler will likely remain in the top ten, and while Saint John’s didn’t get the win, I think they showed that they are good enough to get the wins that they need to between now and the end to be in the NCAA Tournament discussion.
-Georgetown fell behind huge to Providence right out of the gate and was never able to catch back up. Providence has now blown two decent teams off the court in back to back games after getting off to a terrible start to the season.
-Temple needed to come from behind late to get a really nice road win at UCF in their conference opener.
-Miami FL, who had been playing well, trailed Clemson for most of the game, but was able to come from behind to force overtime and ended up escaping with a conference road win. They’ve got a big one coming up this weekend against Duke at home.
-Northern Iowa suffered a somewhat head scratching upset loss to Illinois State. UNI had looked fantastic for the entire season, and I was thinking they should be getting close to being ranked in the top 25, but they went on the road and lost their conference opener. They can’t afford too many more like that, or one of the games that they’ll need to win will have to be that last conference tournament game.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-FRESNO STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West). San Diego State comes into this game unbeaten, and is clearly the best team in the Mountain West. It wouldn’t shock me if they only dropped one or two the rest of the way and entered the NCAA Tournament with more than 30 wins.
-EAST CAROLINA AT WICHITA STATE (American). Wichita State has finally cracked the rankings, and should probably be ranked even higher. This is their conference opener, and it should end up feeling a lot like a buy game. East Carolina just isn’t that good.
-WOFFORD AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE (SoCon). ETSU comes in at 12-2, and although their margin for error is small, they do have a path to landing inside the bubble if they can hold serve and only lose one or two games the rest of the way.
-SOUTH FLORIDA AT SMU (American). SMU is off to a 9-2 start, and while they still need some big wins on their resume, they’re on the pace they need to be on in order to land inside the bubble. Holding serve in games like this is also important.
-UCONN AT CINCINNATI (American). Both teams still have a lot of work to do, and a win today would be a step in the right direction.
-MERCER AT UNC GREENSBORO (SoCon). UNCG has three losses, and two were on last second shots from beyond half court that just happened to go in. If they can dominate the SoCon, they should be inside the bubble on Selection Sunday.
-MARQUETTE AT CREIGHTON (Big East). Both teams have good overall records with each having just two losses, but both still have some work to do in conference play. This would be a nice resume win for whoever ends up pulling it out.
-UTAH STATE AT UNLV (Mountain West). Utah State is an impressive 13-2 and should be able to hold serve tonight and pick up a conference road win against a UNLV team that has struggled this year.