NEWS AND NOTES:
-WE ARE DECLARING THE SWAC THE WINNERS OF THE PAC-12/SWAC LEGACY SERIES!!! Southern won at California 74-66 yesterday. This wasn’t an official Legacy Series game, but since the series ended 3-3, we at Hoops HD have declared this the tiebreaker!! CONGRATS TO THE SWAC!!!
-Virginia scored 56 points in the second half against Baylor, which is amazing because Virginia isn’t exactly known for its offensive explosions like that, and came from behind to get a really big 86-79 win that will end up looking fantastic on their resume come March.
– Illinois also came from behind against UCLA and put up a bunch of points in the second half to collect a 79-70 win. Considering how good of a defensive team UCLA typically is it was a really impressive showing.
-Indiana fell behind early in the first half at Xavier, but clawed their way back, pulled pretty close to even by halftime, and then escaped with an 81-79 win on the road. Xavier had a chance to win it on their last possession, but missed a layup close in and after an IU freethrow they secured the two point win, which is their first notable win of the year.
-Colorado continues their schizophrenic season. After a somewhat surprising loss to UMass on Thursday, they absolutely blew out Texas A&M yesterday. This resume is shaping up to be a lot of fun for the committee come March!
-Virginia Tech got a nice 61-59 win against Penn State in the Charleston cCassic, and advances to the finals. Both of these teams might be a little better than expected. Penn State nay not have won the game, but they’ve looked better than what most were expecting, and they’re certainly have more chances at big wins later on.
-On the winners side of the bracket, UMass got another big win over a Murray State team that has so far been better than what many were expecting. It came down to an (almost) last second shot as UMass held on 71-69. Angry Frank’s bunch has improved quite a bit since getting blown out at home by Towson.
-Kansas should have had no trouble with Southern Utah, but the Thunderbirds kept it close and it wasn’t until the final minute of the game that Kansas finally got control and held on for an 82-76 win. Southern Utah was not a team we were expecting much out of this year, but they really did look fantastic tonight, and have perhaps played their way onto the radar for…well…Under the Radar.
-Drake remains unbeaten, but every game has been more of a workout than what we were expecting. They trailed Buffalo for much of yesterday’s game in the Paradise Jam, but pulled away late for an 80-72 win.
-Colgate followed up their blowout win at Syracuse with an 85-80 road loss at Duquesne. I’m of the belief that this Duquesne team is better than advertised. I’m not going to go so far to say I think they’ll make The Tournament, but they certainly haven’t looked like an A10 Doormat either. There was no stream for this game, for whatever reason, which is unfortunate because it’s not all that often Duquesne plays a game at home that has this kind of intrigue.
-Oklahoma State, who was one of my dark horses prior to the start of the season, has somewhat let me down. They suffered their second loss of the year yesterday as they fell in overtime to UCF 60-56 down in the Bahamas. UCF is now a sneaky good 3-1, so perhaps some eyes should be on them.
-Southern Miss remains unbeaten, and picked up their second notable road win of the year as they knocked off Liberty 76-72, It is NOT easy to win at Liberty, so Southern Miss could make some noise in the Sun Belt this year.
-Florida State remains winless after losing at home to Florida 76-67. It’s quite possible that neither of these teams are actually any good.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-SAINT LOUIS VS MARYLAND (Basketball Hall of Fame, Uncasville CT). Both teams come in at 3-0, and SLU is coming off a pretty impressive win against Memphis, so they’ve already been tested a little bit. This is a good opportunity for a notable out of conference win for both teams.
-PROVIDENCE VS MIAMI FL (Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff, Uncasville CT). Both teams come in at 3-0, but Providence had to sweat out some home buy games and will need to do much better today against a Miami FL team that was in the Elite Eight a year ago and returns most of that core.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Back Range). This is a big rivalry, and both teams have shown some promise. New Mexico State has an overhauled roster, so we are still learning about them, and New Mexico comes in at 3-0 so they’ve got some momentum built up. More than anything this is just a fun rivalry.
-SEATTLE AT PORTLAND. This is a sneaky good game between two teams that are perhaps being undervalued. Seattle comes in at 3-1, and Portland is out to a 4-1 start, so both have shown some life this season.
-UC IRVINE AT PEPPERDINE. UC Irvine is 3-0 and already has a big win at Oregon. This would add another road win to their resume and continue their early season momentum. These are the kinds of things that the committee notices.
-HOFSTRA AT SAINT MARY’S. This is perhaps the game of the day. Both teams are unbeaten so far, both have high expectations for the year, and Hofstra already has some decent wins on their resume, including two road wins. This is by far their toughest challenge of the year so far, though, so it will be interesting to see how they do.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Middle Tennessee @ Missouri State – it’s unlikely we’ll see either inside the bubble, but both have been a little better than expected so far
-Eastern Kentucky vs UNC Asheville (Atlanta GA) – UNCA is 3-0
-Detroit Mercy @ Florida Atlantic – FAU has a nice win against Florida and is looking to get to 4-1
-Stephen F Austin @ South Dakota State – South Dakota State is off to a 2-2 start, but they’ve played a rough schedule and are good enough to start stringing together wins
-Troy @ Montana – a win for Troy gets them to 5-1, which is a somewhat better start than expected
BUY GAMES:
-Robert Morris @ Dayton
-Elon @ NC State
-Chicago State @ Kent State
-Northeastern @ Syracuse – Syracuse needs to rebound from a decisive loss to Colgate
-The Citadel @ Butler
-Nicholls @ BYU
-Portland State @ Oregon State