News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 18th

CLICK HERE for the latest UNDER THE RADAR PODCAST, which is the first of the regular season!!

NEWS AND NOTES:

-George Mason wasn’t a team I was all that big on coming into the season, but I am HUGE on them now!!  They blew through a few early buy games, which isn’t all that impressive, but they still clearly passed the eye test, and last night they passed the paper test by knocking off Maryland on the road 71-66.  George Mason actually bell behind early, but made adjustments to get back into it, get the lead, and eventually get control.  A very impressive performance for the Patriots!

-Northern Iowa, after sleepwalking through their first two games, seemed to wake up yesterday and really made Arkansas sweat.  That’s the good news for UNI.  The bad news is that Arkansas still got the 93-80 win after getting control late in the second half.  I think this will end up being a win that Arkansas gets more credit for than what most realize now, because I do think UNI has finally woken up and will end up having a nice year.

-Oakland blew out Toledo last night.  I’m not ready to say that Oakland is clearly an NCAA Tournament at-large caliber team, but I am definitely going to say that we should be watching them right now.

-VCU picked up a 48-37 road win at Vanderbilt in a game that made watching paint dry seem not all that boring.

-Indiana held off Saint John’s in a 76-74 thriller.  The Hoosiers led for most of the game, but every time it looked like they were in control the Johnnies went on a run and got back into it.  It was a nice win for the Hoosiers even though they were at home, and perhaps the most noteworthy win that any Big Ten team has managed so far.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-WASHINGTON STATE AT IDAHO (***Spotlight Game***).  We had Hoops HD LOVE this rivalry and feel that it is grossly underrated every year!!  We discussed this on last night’s Under the Radar, but the two schools are just eight miles apart (actually a smidge closer), and on top of that they’ve NEVER met in the NCAA Tournament!!  No other rivalry in college basketball that I can think of can make that claim!!

-DAVIDSON VS NEW MEXICO STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational).  A match-up between two teams that we both think have potential and who need notable wins.

-SAINT BONAVENTRUE VS BOISE STATE (Charleston Classic).  Saint Bonaventure has understandably high expectations this year, but they’ve been kind of sluggish in their first two buy games.  They’ll need to play better today against a Boise State team that isn’t great, but that is a big step up from a buy game.

-PENN VS UTAH STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational).  Utah State is a team that we have our eyes on.  They do have a bit of a surprising loss to UC Davis already, but a strong showing in this tournament can make up for that.

-CLEMSON VS TEMPLE (Charleston Classic).  Clemson doesn’t have us too excited, but every year someone plays well in these events and catapults themselves onto the national scene.  I’m not ruling out the possibility that it could be Clemson.  A win today gets them to 4-0.

-OHIO STATE AT XAVIER (Gavitt Games).  This is a fun one.  These two teams rarely play despite both being national programs and both being about 100 miles apart.  Ohio State has the earmarks of being the better team seeing as how they finished as a #2 seed last year and have most of that roster back, but Xavier will be geeked up for this one and anxious to try and make a statement.

-UAB AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  We really like this UAB team, and if they’re as good as we think they are, then this is a road game that they should be able to win.  We expect that they can play their way onto the bubble, and perhaps even inside of it, and in order to do that, these are the kinds of games they need to be able to win.

-MARQUETTE VS OLE MISS (Charleston Classic).  A really good match-up between a Marquette team that’s unbeaten and that’s coming off a big win against Illinois, and an Ole Miss team who is unbeaten and has potential, but is also untested and could use a win like this.

-DEPAUL AT RUTGERS (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  The Heavyweight Round of the Gavitt Games!!!  Well..not really.  But, both are unbeaten, so both still have our attention.  And, if I didn’t take a dig at Rutgers every now and then to annoy Chad Sherwood, then I wouldn’t be doing my job!!

-ARIZONA STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  San Diego State is coming off a loss to BYU, but that’s hardly damaging.  They’ve got what should be a winnable game at home tonight where they can bounce back.

-NEVADA AT SAN FRANCISCO.  this San Francisco team continues to rack up early wins and continues to build momentum.  A win tongiht gets them to 5-0 on the season.

OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-Green Bay vs UNC Greensboro (Jersey Mike’s Classic).  UNCG is unbeaten and can pick up some notable wins in this event
-UMass vs Weber State (Jersey Mike’s Classic).  Weber is unbeaten
-Milwaukee @ Florida – it’s a buy game, but Florida better not overlook Milwaukee.
-Charlotte @ Appalachian State – Charlotte is unbeaten, and this will be a bit of a tough road test.
-New Hampshire @ Providence
-Campbell @ Marshall – Marshall is 2-0, and Campbell hung in with Duke for about 30mins in their last game
-Saint Francis Brooklyn @ Penn State
-Alabama State @ Iowa
-Presbyterian @ Cincinnati
-Oklahoma vs East Carolina (Myrtle Beach Invitational)
-Stony Brook @ Kansas
-Nicholls @ TCU – Nicholls has a nice win already this season and is the favorite to win the Southlan
-SELA @ SMU
-McNeese @ LSU
-Saint Francis U @ Virginia Tech
-Northern Illinois @ Missouri
-Samford @ Oregon State
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Northwestern
-Presentation (nonD1) @ South Dakota State
-Elon vs West Virginia (Charleston Classic)
-Indiana State vs Old Dominion (Myrtle Beach Invitational)
-Southern Utah at California – Southern Utah is the Big Sky favorite, and Cal looks like they’re terrible.  It wouldn’t shock me if Southern Utah pulled off this win.
-Wyoming @ Washington – Wyomong can improve to 3-0 with a win