NEWS AND NOTES
-San Diego State remains unbeaten after blowing it open against nationally ranked Arizona in the second half. San Diego State does move the needle nationally, but probably not as much as they should. Dating back to last year the Aztecs has won 33 of their last 34 div1 regular season games, and while they haven’t played a ton of top 25 teams, they have played five of them and beaten them all. That’s a pretty damn good run! In looking at the rest of their schedule, I don’t see a single game that they won’t be favored to win.
-South Dakota State had to sweat out their winless rivals from North Dakota State, but held on to the win. This is important. South Dakota State is a team that’s good enough to finish inside the bubble, but a loss last night could have sunk those chances. If we see them make the NCAA Tournament, just remember that it may not have happened had they not held on to win last night.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-NORTHEASTERN AT UMASS. It’s the first game of the season for both teams! We hope! Neither team is expected to do much, but we at Hoops HD feel that both are better than what the preseason polls indicated and that both could make some noise this year once they’re able to start playing.
-SAINT JOHN’S AT SETON HALL (Big East). We are expecting more out of Seton Hall than what they’ve shown us so far, but I still think that they’ll end up having a really big year. The Johnnies have just one loss on the season, but they haven’t been in too many games that will test them the way this one will.
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE VS NORTH DAKOTA (Dakota Showcase). Again, these teams are both members of the same conference but this is not a conference game. South Dakota State is good enough to finish inside the bubble if they continue to take care of business.
-NEBRASKA AT CREIGHTON. Creighton is looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Kansas in a game where they played fantastic but came up just short. Beating Nebraska handily at home, which they should be able to do, should cheer them up!
-VILLANOVA AT GEORGETOWN (Big East). It’s the Big East opener for both teams. Nova is good enough to win it all! Georgetown is bad enough to struggle to win the Patriot League (although they did play well against West Virginia).
-IOWA STATE AT IOWA. This appears to be a big mismatch, but this series has had its share of surprises. This is a BITTER rivalry, and although not having fans may take away from some of the energy it will still likely be a game with a lot of intensity.
-NEVADA AT GRAND CANYON. I don’t think we will see either team inside the bubble come March, but both are off to decent starts and could end up having a better year than what most were predicting. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this one tonight.
-MARQUETTE AT UCLA. Both teams are 4-1. UCLA has shown some early rust but they’ll be in good shape if they can pick up this win tonight. Marquette already has a big win against rival Wisconsin, and will have a strong case for the top 25 if they can win this one tonight on the road.
-SAN JOSE STATE AT SAINT MARY’S. A win will get SMC to 6-1 on the year, which is a pretty good start.
BUY GAMES
-North Texas @ West Virginia
-Omaha @ Kansas
-Georgia Southern @ Davidson