NEWS AND NOTES:
-I believe I say this every year on the first night of the season. It’s almost too much of a good thing. There are so many games going on at once that you just can’t keep up with all of them.
-A lot of teams chose to go to the pastry cart, and just scheduled home buy games against opponents that they blew out, but there were still some great games last night…
-We did have one jaw dropping upset last night, and that was Navy who went into Virginia and got the win. It was close all throughout, but the Hoos just could not get control of the game and Navy actually opened it up down the stretch. Navy’s road win is probably the most impressive win that anyone has managed so far this season!
-The Citadel, who is perennially not just at the bottom of the SoCon, but oftentimes near the bottom of all of college basketball, went into Pitt and got a 78-63 win. It has been pointed out that Pitt wasn’t at full strength. But…THEY WERE PLAYING THE CITADEL!! AND THEY LOST BY 15!! We may actually see the Bulldogs in my bracket this Sunday!! BIG congrats to The Citadel on a fantastic win and moment for their program!
-It wasn’t nearly as big of an upset, but Western Illinois’s 75-74 win at Nebraska was still a big surprise. We weren’t expecting much out of the Leathernecks, but they are certainly off to a fantastic start.
-We had a few near upsets as well…
-Houston needed overtime to get past Hofstra, and actually trailed for a good portion of the game. The Pride are now a team that we’ll be keeping a close eye on in the Colonial.
-After 39 minutes and 58 seconds of play, Akron had a lead over Ohio State. It was back and forth for the whole game, but Akron actually took the lead on their final possession of the game after converting a four point play. The problem was that Ohio State scored at the buzzer to win 67-66 and avoid what would have been a huge upset, and steel what would have been a huge quality win away from the Zips. That’s the kind of win that can get Under the Radar teams into the NCAA Tournament if they fail to win their conference tournaments.
-Kansas got a nice win against Michigan State, which in all probability will look very good on their resume come March. I wouldn’t call this a blowout by any means, but you never got the sense that Kansas was really sweating either.
-Duke had a lead over Kentucky most of the way, but every time it looked like they were going to get control of the game Kentucky would fight back. Duke ended up getting the 79-71 win, and it’s a win that will also look very good on their resume come March (likely one of many), but I was actually kind of impressed with Kentucky. Most people forget this every year, but Kentucky typically isn’t firing on all cylinders at the start of the year. They often struggle in some early season games. But, like most years, they appear to have a high level of potential.
-Look out for Alabama this year. They blasted what we think is a really good Louisiana Tech team 93-64. I know LA Tech doesn’t necessarily have the recognizable brand name, and that score isn’t going to get too many people too excited, but that’s a dominant win against a good team.
-Ohio held on to win at home against a very good Belmont team. I know that Ohio U and Belmont don’t have the brand names to get people overly excited, but both are good teams and as the season goes on I think this game is going to end up having quite a bit of importance and that the committee will look closely at it.
-It was a rough night for a couple of teams in the Missouri Valley that we are expecting to have big seasons. Northern Iowa fell at home to Nicholls, which is certainly not how you want to begin things. Missouri State also suffered a surprise loss to SEMO. Southern Illinois also fell on the road at Little Rock, which was a bit of a surprise.
-It was also a rough night for a couple of teams in the Pac 12. Cal lost at home to UC San Diego, and Washington fell at home to Northern Illinois.
-Colorado State winning at home against Oral Roberts isn’t necessarily jaw dropping, but WOW the Rams looked good! ORU was in the Sweet Sixteen a year ago and has returned the bulk of that roster. Colorado State just ran them off the court.
-Indiana, VCU, Butler, West Virginia, Richmond, Clemson, Providence, Miami FL, Xavier, Western Kentucky, Creighton, Missouri, Stanford, Colorado, and Oregon State all won home buy games, but none looked overly impressive doing it. Pretty much all of their opponents were teams that aren’t expected to do all that well in their conferences, and most of the scores were closer than what you would have thought. Louisville also kind of played with their food against Southern before getting control of the game in the second half.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-BUFFALO AT MICHIGAN. Buffalo is a UTR team that we are really big on, and who we think can finish inside the bubble. I don’t know if they’re good enough to beat a top ten team in a true road game, but Michigan better not overlook them. This is also the only game tonight that wasn’t purchased at the pastry cart. All others are just buy games.
BUY GAMES:
-UMES @ Temple
-Lehigh @ Rutgers
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Seton Hall
-Robert Morris @ UCF
-William & Mary @ Wake Forest
-Harris Stowe (nonD1) @ Saint Louis
-Florida A&M @ Kansas State
-Alabama State @ Vanderbilt
-Northwestern State @ Tulsa
-North Florida @ Texas A&M
-Youngstown State @ Penn State
-Penn @ Florida State
-Florida Atlantic @ New Mexico
-Coppin State @ DePaul
-San Francisco State (nonD1) @ UC Santa Barbara
-Gardner Webb @ UNLV