NEWS AND NOTES
-The game of the night, and perhaps the season so far, was one that you may have had to stay up past your bedtime to watch. UCLA knocked off Villanova in overtime last night 86-77. Both teams were ranked in the top five, both are legit Final Four contenders, and both played really well last night. Villanova built up a 10pt lead, but UCLA came back and hit a shot in the final minute of regulation to tie it. Nova had a chance to win on their final possession, but couldn’t convert, and UCLA managed to pull away in the extra period in front of their home fans to pick up the massive win. As for Nova, it would have been a great, #1 seed caliber win had they pulled it off, but the fact that they didn’t barely even qualifies as a setback. It does nothing to hurt them. Their chances of getting a #1 seed have not been hurt at all by the loss.
On top of that, it was a crazy day with some unexpected results and some games that were much closer than expected…
-Furman went into Louisville and pulled off a huge upset win in overtime. Furman is picked toward the top of the SoCon, and the SoCon is usually a really good league, so while we thought they’d be good we didn’t have them pegged as a team that we thought had a chance to land inside the bubble. Well…after this…we now have them pegged as that. They may not sustain this throughout the entire season, but this is a MASSIVE early season win for Furman!. As for Louisville, they didn’t look all that good in either game. They actually struggled a little big against Southern in their opener.
-North Carolina got a battle from Brown, and actually trailed for much of the game, but finally got control in the final minutes of play to escape with the 94-87 win.
-Clemson struggled with Wofford last night, and for about 39 minutes it looked like Wofford may actually win. They finally got control late and avoided the upset, though. Not the most impressive night for the ACC!
-Ohio State had to sweat out Niagara, but escaped with an 84-74 win. Niagara was picked to finish near the bottom of the Metro Atlantic, but in their first two games they’ve really stepped up on Xavier and Ohio State. This is the second game Ohio State had to kind of sweat out as they needed a last second shot to get by Kent State in their opener.
-Texas A&M needed overtime to get past Abilene Christian, and got a little bit lucky at the end of the game. ACU was up 2 when TAMU missed a freethrow with just five seconds to go in OT. ACU could not collect the rebound, and it went out of bounds to TAMU, which gave them another shot. After that, they drained a 3 at the buzzer for the 81-80 win, and avoided what would have been an upset. This Abilene Christian program has had some big moments in recent years. Last year they knocked off Texas in the NCAA Tournament, they’ve moved to the WAC which is a bit of an upgrade in terms of basketball competitiveness, and they damn near upset Texas A&M last night!
-Oregon blasted a pretty good SMU team last night. It was actually a very impressive performance. Watch out for the Ducks this year! Not everyone in the Pac 12 is off to a great start, but Oregon and UCLA sure seem to be firing on all cylinders.
-Alabama got a battle from a really good South Dakota State team (that you’re going to want to keep an eye on all season), but pulled away in the end for a 104-88 win. Alabama opened against two really good Under the Radar teams, and looked good in both games.
-Utah State got a big win against Richmond 85-74 on a neutral floor in Annapolis MD. Richmond is a team that we thought would be a solid NCAA Tournament team, and that could still easily end up happening, so this is no small early season win for Utah State!
-BYU got a tough home win against a good San Diego State team last night 66-60. Neither team is in the rankings (at least not currently), but I believe that both are good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, so it was a good early season game.
-Western Kentucky is an under the radar team we thought would be good, and Minnesota was a Big Ten team that we thought would be terrible. Last night proved for about the millionth time that not everything we say in the preseason ends up being correct. The Gophers pretty much led throughout the whole game, and although they final margin was just 73-69, they were pretty much in control the whole way as well, so a nice early season win for a Minnesota team we may have underestimated.
-Yale blew UMass out of the gym last night to improve to 2-0. Blowing out UMass in and of itself is hardly noteworthy, but it does seem to confirm that this Yale team will be one of the stronger teams in the Ivy League and that we may be seeing them in The Dance come March.
-Princeton pulled off a road win at South Carolina, so the Ivy is shaping up to be interesting this season after not getting to play any games a season ago.
-Chicago State is 2-0! And they’ve beaten two D1 teams! I can’t remember the last time t hat happened!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-TEXAS AT GONZAGA (***Spotlight Game***). This is the second game in a 24 hour period to feature two top five teams!! It is also the second game in a 24 hour period featuring top five teams that will undoubtedly in way past midnight in the east! It’s worth staying up for, though! Both teams are being forecasted as being Final Four caliber teams. When the committee is looking at who should get #1 seeds, wins against top five teams look very good! (that was perhaps the most obvious statement of the day). It’s two fun styles between two good teams that could end up having an impact on who gets a #1 seed! What’s not to like??
-UCF AT MIAMI FL. Both teams come into this one 1-0, and this is a good early season regional match-up for both teams. It’d be a decent win on paper (at least for now), but it’d be a nice momentum boost off paper as well.
-VERMONT AT MARYLAND. Vermont is coming off a really impressive win against Northern Iowa in their opener. They managed this without their best player. I don’t know what his status is for this one, but they could end up giving Maryland a much bigger challenge than what they’re expecting if Maryland overlooks them. If Vermont does somehow pull this off, this is the kind of win that can make the selection committee take a UTR team even if they don’t win their conference tournament.
-OLD DOMINION AT JAMES MADISON – these are former Colonial rivals and it’s always fun to see these two play each other. Both come into this 1-0, and while neither team received a ton of preseason praise, I think both are potential dark horses in their respective conferences.
-NEW MEXICO AT COLORADO. Both teams come in 1-0 and both seem to have a lot of potential, but also a lot of questions as to just how good they’ll end up being this year. This is a good early season test for both of them.
-USC AT TEMPLE. We are expecting much bigger things out of USC than out of Temple, and although Temple did win their first game, it wasn’t exactly the type of performance that made you go “WOW!” But, a win is a win, and they did win it, and if they are able to win today it would totally change my perception of them.
-MONTANA AT MISSISSIPPI STATE. This is a buy game, but we’ll go ahead and highlight it. Both teams won their season openers, and it’s a chance for Montana to really put a high quality early season win on their resume. It’s much easier said than done, but I wouldn’t go so far to say that it’s impossible.
-GEORGIA AT CINCINNATI. The expectations for these two teams are very low this year. Now if they were to play in football (which they did in a bowl game last year), then that’d be a game to watch!! But, as for this basketball game, both do come in 1-0, and the winner will have some much needed early season momentum and will continue to hold our attention until they give us a reason to not pay attention anymore, but I don’t think either team makes the NCAAs this year.
-OHIO U AT CLEVELAND STATE. Ohio U beat a really good Belmont team in their season opener, but this will be a really tough road test against a Cleveland State team that is picked to finish atop the Horizon League, and who gave BYU a hell of a game in their season opener.
-DAVIDSON AT SAN FRANCISCO. I like this San Francisco team this year, and I think Davidson may end up being a little better than expected. This is a good early season test for both of these teams to see where each of them are. Both are also coming in without a loss.
-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE. It’s a rivalry game, and it will soon be a conference rivalry game, and both teams come in 1-0. I think New Mexico State’s ceiling and expectations are much higher, but rivalry games between unbeaten teams, even in the first week, will get highlighted!
OTHERS WORTH MENTIONING (sort of)
–Georgia Southern @ South Florida – both teams 1-0
–Mount Saint Mary’s @ Saint Joseph’s – not expecting much out of Joe’s this year, but a win gets them to 2-0
–Harvard @ Iona – both are 1-0 and both could end up making noise in their conference this year
–Mercer @ Winthrop – Winthrop can improve to 2-0, and Mercer is worth keeping an eye on this year after they played Arkansas tough in their opener.
–Lamar @ Miami OH – both teams 1-0
-FGCU @ Loyola Chicago – both teams are 1-0. We really like this Loyola team and believe they are once again good enough to end up inside the bubble
-South Alabama @ Wichita State – both teams 1-0
–Evansville @ Belmont – we really like this Belmont team, but their margin for error is very thin the rest of the way. They dropped their opener at Ohio U.
-Youngstown State @ SEMO – SEMO had a surprising win in their opener at Missouri State. They can get to 2-0 with a win today.
-Eastern Kentucky @ Milwaukee – both teams are unbeaten, and both have the potential to be good this year.
–Hofstra @ Duquesne – Hofstra battled Houston in their season opener, and despite the loss they showed they could play at a higher caliber than what we expected. They should be able to pick up this one on the road tonight. Duquesne did win their opener against Rider, though
–California @ UNLV – it’s hard to be excited about this game, and perhaps if it weren’t for the brand names we wouldn’t even be mentioning it, but…you know what? That’s all I got!
–Boise State @ UC Irvine – UCI is a Big West frontrunner who could end up being very dangerous. They are looking for their first win after falling to a good New Mexico State team in their opener
–George Washington @ UC San Diego – both teams are 1-0, and although GW isn’t expected to be good this year and UC San Diego is still transitioning, UCSD did beat Cal in their first game, so if GW were to win this we would sit up and take notice.
BUY GAMES
-Coppin State @ UConn
-Cal State Northridge @ Notre Dame
-Dartmouth @ Georgetown
-Colgate @ NC State – both teams 1-0, and while Colgate may be overmatched today, they should be a frontrunner in the Patriot League
-Gardner Webb @ Arkansas
-Saint Peter’s @ Saint John’s
-UMass Lowell @ Dayton – both teams 1-0
-Central Michigan @ DePaul
-NC Central @ Memphis
-Wagner @ VCU – both teams 1-0
-Prairie View A&M @ Michigan
-Campbell @ Duke – both teams 2-0
-Alabama State @ Missouri State – Missouri State looking for their first win
-Sacramento State @ Utah – both teams 1-0