NEWS AND NOTES:
-For Johon Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a FABULOUS one that feature’s the Mississippi University for Women playing in a MEN’s college basketball game – CLICK HERE
-Davidson fell behind by 21 on the road against Wright State. Wright State looked absolutely flawless and it appeared that it was going to be a route, but Davidson chipped away in the second half, and with 5 minutes to go got the lead, and it seesawed back and forth for the rest of regulation, then overtime, and then double overtime before Davidson finally got the win. It was an impressive come from behind win on the road against a pretty good team.
-South Dakota State picked up a big win at Boise State 68-66 in a game that was close all throughout. South Dakota State maintained a lead for most of the game, but Boise was always within reach. On Monday night South Dakota State lost in overtime at Akron, so they’re showing early that they’re capable of playing with and beating decent teams on the road.
-Bellarmine went on an early 19-2 run against Louisville and was seemingly in control for the whole game until the last few minutes. Louisville never got the lead, but they had several chances, including a possession in the final seconds where they could have hit a game winning shot, but couldn’t get it done. It was a feel-good win for Bellarmine. They’re in their final year of transitioning to D1, it was their first ever win against a P5 program, and it came against a crosstown foe. But, to be fair, the real assessment of this game is that Louisville is really bad this year. They’re perhaps worse than I can ever remember them being.
-FGCU could not follow up their big win at USC with another win at San Diego. They trailed most of the game and ended up losing 73-79.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT EASTERN KENTUCKY. This is the Battle OF the Bluegrass!! This is not to be confused with the Battle FOR the Bluegrass between Louisville and Kentucky (which will probably be more of a massacre this year than a battle). Western Kentucky is a team we are big on this year. We feel they’re talented enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament even without winning their conference tournament, but like all teams outside the multi-bid leagues the margin for error is obviously small. Even though this is the first game of the year, it’s still one they need to win because if they want to land inside the bubble they just don’t have that many strikes.
-TOWSON AT UMASS. Both teams come in at 1-0, and we really like this Towson team. This would be a nice true road win for them against a UMass program that’s rebuilding. It would also be a nice early season win for UMass who needs to win games like this in order to rebuild, so a little something at stake for both teams tonight.
-VERMONT AT SAINT MARY’S. This is probably the game of the night, which gives you an idea of just how lame tonight is. Both teams come into this one at 1-0, and while it’s a buy game, Vermont is the preseason favorite to win the America East. They’re probably overmatched today, but it’s still a good chance to see what they can do in a tough road game.
BUY GAMES:
-Baldwin Wallace (nonD1) @ Kent State – Kent State is 1-0
-Lehigh @ Virginia Tech
-Charleston Southern @ Ohio State – both teams 1-0
-Sacred Heart @ Rutgers – both teams 1-0
-Loyola MD @ Penn State
-Western Carolina @ Maryland
-SW Adventis @ Sam Houston – Sam Houston won at Oklahoma in their opener so we are keeping an early eye on them
-North Dakota State @ Kansas
-Texas Southern @ Texas Tech
-Southern Illinois @ Oklahoma State – both teams 1-0
-Cleveland State @ Cincinnati
-Central Michigan @ Marquette
-Omaha @ Nebraska
-Radford @ Notre Dame
-Bethune Cookman @ Indiana
-North Dakota @ Creighton – both teams 1-0
-Houston Christain @ Texas
-Northern Arizona @ Arizona State
-Nicholls @ Wyoming – Nicholls may make some noise in the Southland, but will probably make very little noise tonight
-Cal Poly @ San Francisco – both teams 1-0
-Georgia Southern @ Santa Clara – Santa Clara 1-0
-Alabama State @ USC – USC looking to bounce back after losing their opener to FGCU