NEWS AND NOTES
-It was a VERY busy day! And we have a lot to recap!
-You have to give props to teams that went out not only scheduled hard road games in the first week of the season when they didn’t have to, but then went out and WON them!!
-The showcase game of the night, and perhaps of the year so far, turned out to be a good one as Arizona went into Cameron Indoor and beat 2nd ranked Duke 78-73. This is one of the toughest road environments in the nation, so it goes without saying that if things play out like we think they will Arizona has picked up a #1 seed caliber win. The game was close all throughout, but Arizona actually managed to maintain a lead throughout most of it and always had an answer whenever Duke would make a run or whenever it appeared momentum was shifting their way. It was just a flat out impressive performance by the Wildcats.
-Tennessee managed a really nice road win at Wisconsin 80-70, and while the game wasn’t a blowout, Tennessee had a lead for pretty much the entire way and always seemed to have Wisconsin at arms length.
-Texas A&M went into Columbus and got a really nice 73-66 win against an Ohio State team. TAMU is now 2-0 on the year with a really nice road win on their resume. We think they will make quite a bit of noise in the SEC this year, and may even be the second best team in that conference behind Tennessee.
-San Diego State, who was last year’s national runner up and who is starting off ranked in the top 20, did NOT get the win against their old conference rivals BYU, but it was still a really good game for them to play and I think the intangible benefits of going to BYU and playing a really good team in front of a bonkers crowd, are greater than simply playing a dumpy home buy game and blowing a weak UTR team into the sun. As for the Cougars, BYU is a good team this year and probably should have gotten a little more preseason love. Perhaps after their 74-65 win last night they’ll start to get a little more attention.
-Gonzaga was tested a little bit by what I think is a very good Yale team, especially in the first half, but got control in the second half and finished with an 86-71 win. I do think this Yale team is a legit top 40 caliber team that can land inside the bubble, but just not quite good enough to beat a top 15 team in a true road game. Then again there are very few teams who can do that, so…
-Everyone seems to be gushing over Kent State because of how well they played against James Madison the other night, and I get that. I’m kind of glad to see an under the radar team get that much love after a loss, but a team I like even more than them is Akron. Akron started things off with a win at South Dakota State, which is a really impressive road win, and then knocked off a really good Southern Miss team 72-54 last night. The Zips were in control the whole way and then blew it open late. Their wins haven’t been quite as conspicuous as James Madison’s, but they are both still excellent wins, and I think they are as good (and perhaps even better) than JMU. I don’t expect them to receive anywhere near the love JMU is receiving just yet, though.
-Liberty, who is another really good UTR team we are keeping our eyes on, got a nice 71-59 win over Charlotte at the Hall of Fame series and is moving on to the championship side of that bracket. This event allows them to rack up a few notable OOC wins away from home, which will look good on their resume later on.
-Duquesne, who I actually picked to win the Atlantic 10 this year, but then started to question myself after they struggled so badly in their opener against Cleveland State, did not struggle at all last night against a pretty good Charleston team. The Dukes got a 90-72 win, and looked really good doing it.
-Princeton opened things up with a win against what we think is a pretty good Rutgers team. We think Rutgers at least has a solid chance to make the NCAA Tournament, and for Princeton to beat them was pretty impressive. They followed that up with a 74-57 road win at Hofstra last night, which is a tough place to go on the road and win, much less win decisively at. Princeton was in the Sweet Sixteen last year as a 15 seed, but lost the bulk of that team, so the start that they’re off to is a bit unexpected.
-Virginia knocked off Florida 73-70 in the Hall of Fame Series in Charlotte. We were expecting it to be a pretty evenly matched game, and it was. Both teams have potential this year and both will likely improve as the season goes on.
-Davidson’s 64-61 win over Maryland in the Asheville Championship was another huge surprise. I really wasn’t expecting ANYTHING out of Davidson this year, so to see them go out and pick up this win against a Maryland team that we at least thought would be decent certainly has our attention.
-Dayton and Northwestern was a real battle. Dayton is trying to adjust after losing a key player for the season, and while they didn’t get the win, they still looked really solid on the road against a Northwestern team that we all think will be pretty good. The Wildcats held on 71-66.
-Clemson got a big win against UAB 77-76. I say it’s a big win because although UAB is 0-2, both losses were really close games against pretty good teams, and I think they’ll end up winning quite a few games by the end of the year and that Clemson will end up getting at least some credit for this.
-Memphis looked really impressive in their 70-55 win at Missouri. The end result was that I’m higher on Memphis than I was yesterday, and not as high on Missouri as I was yesterday.
-Wake Forest, who we were pretty big on coming into the season, went on the road and lost 80-77 to Georgia, who we were not big on at all this year. Georgia did hang with Oregon in their first game, but even after that and even though they were at home we still didn’t think Wake would have too much trouble with them, much less lose to them. Perhaps Coach Mike White has this team a lot further along than we thought.
-Chattanooga went into Louisville and got an 81-71 win. Louisville actually came back to make the score look a lot more respectable. Louisville once again looks like our frontrunner for the Stallings Award.
-Boston College improves to 2-0 after a 75-71 win at The Citadel!!! Ummm….yay??
-Monmouth, who won just seven games last year and who wasn’t expected to do much at all this year, went into West Virginia and won 73-65. West Virginia, as you may recall, had a tire-fire of an offseason, and it shows!!!
-Nicholls went on the road and got a surprising (at least to me) 68-66 win at LSU. The UTR upset road wins in buy games really seem to be mounting up this week!
-Pacific also won 87-79 at California. We will leave it up to you to decide whether or not you believe that to be an upset.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT CREIGHTON. This is obviously a buy game, but North Dakota State will likely be one of the frontrunners in the Summit League, and they come into this game at 2-0 with a road win at Western Michigan. Creighton is a top ten caliber team that I picked to go to the Final Four before the season started, so I’m not going to predict an upset here, but it will be interesting to see how competitive the Bison can be in this one.
-UNC WILMINGTON AT UNC ASHEVILLE. I was exctied about this one before the season started. Both look like really good teams this year. UNCW may be able to keep pace with Charleston in the CAA, and UNCA should run away with the Big South. I was actually expecting UNCA to beat Michigan earlier this week, but they were instead run off the floor. Still, they could end up having a big year and a win at home in this one would be a good way to bounce back.
-OHIO U AT CLEVELAND STATE. I would have called this a mismatch about a week ago, but Cleveland State nearly beat a really good Duquesne team in their opener. I know it sounds strange to say that Duquesne is really good, but they may be the best team in the Atlantic Ten this year. I’m not quite as big on Ohio U as I am on Akron, but I think they can make quite a bit of noise in the MAC this year, and perhaps even make a run at the bubble. To do that, they need to be able to win road games like this one, though.
-UTAH STATE AT BRADLEY. Bradley got my attention when they won their season opener at UAB, which is not an easy place to go on the road and win at. Utah State’s roster has been overhauled from last year’s team that won 28 games and the expectations aren’t nearly as high, but they did manage to win their opener and have the opportunity for what would likely turn out to be a notable road win tonight.
BUY GAMES AND OTHER NOTABLE GAMES
-Stonehill @ UConn
-High Point @ Wofford – both teams 1-0
-Cornell @ Fordham – both teams are unbeaten, and give the styles of play this one could be fun!
-William & Mary @ George Washington – both teams unbeaten
-TAMUCC @ Houston – both teams unbeaten
-Campbell @ East Carolina – both teams 1-0
-Western Carolina @ Notre Dame – both teams 1-0, and the Irish could really get a run for their money in this one
-Old Dominon @ Ball State – both teams 1-0
-Northeastern @ La Salle – both teams 1-0
-Texas Southern @ Arizona State – Arizona State looking for their first win
-Fairliegh Dickinson @ Seton Hall – A New Jersey showdown between two unbeaten teams
-Canisius @ Saint Bonaventure – the Bonnies are unbeaten as they host their Big Four rivals
-UT Martin @ Mississippi State – both teams 1-0
-Montana State @ Seattle U – both teams 1-0
-Milwuakee @ Providence – both teams 1-0
-Fresno State @ Kent State – I like this Kent State team, and agree they played a hell of a game against James Madison, but I’m not quite as high as many others seem to be all of a sudden. They’ll be tested today
-Stetson @ UNLV – UNLV needs to bounce back after getting blown out by Southern in their opener
-Lousiana @ Toledo (MAC – SBC Challenge) – both teams 1-0
-Siena @ Richmond – both teams 1-0
-Illinois State @ Saint Louis – both teams unbeaten
-Holy Cross @ Georgetown
-San Diego @ UC San Diego – both teams unbeaten