NEWS AND NOTES:
-We will be recording and posting our Under the Radar Video Podcast sometime tonight. Be sure and watch or listen because there is MUCH to discuss!!! Speaking of Under the Radar…
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-The showcase game of the night lived up to the billing. Kentucky v Kansas was a well played, high level, back and forth game where one team would appear to have control, then the other, and it just seesawed for the entire 40 minutes. Kansas got the win, but I feel a lot better about Kentucky than I did before the game. Kentucky, even in their really good years, doesn’t seem to start firing on all cylinders until the Christmas Break, but they looked really good last night against the top ranked team in the nation.
-Marquette is ranked 4th and showed they were worthy of that ranking last night as they went into Illinois and got a 71-64 road win against a really good team in a place that’s really tough to win. Marquette is a solid top ten caliber team that has a chance to go to the Final Four. They’re that good!
-Creighton, another really good team out of the Big East, didn’t have too much trouble with Iowa in their 92-84 win. Iowa actually played pretty well, and I think they might be better than what I was expecting, but beating Creighton at Creighton was just too tall of an order.
-For the second year in a row, UC Irvine has won a big road game early in the season. The Eaters went into USC last night and picked up the 70-60 win, and were pretty much in control of the whole game. This is a USC team that was in the rankings and had already managed a rather impressive win against Kansas State, and a UC Irvine team that was pretty good last year, but who lost their top two scorers. Well, I guess they’ve replaced those top two scorers and are pretty good again! I thought UC Irvine would be a team that did decently well in the Big West, but that wasn’t anything special beyond that. This was a GREAT win for them!
-Providence knocked off Wisconsin at home 72-59, which is a good win for a Providence team that has gone through so many changes from a year ago. They’re now 3-0 on the season and have a notable win to go with that record.
-Temple wasn’t a team we were expecting much out of this year, but they did win at Drexel last night, and are now 3-0 with two road wins on their resume. So, the Owls have our attention. For now.
-And the craziest game of the night had to be Colgate at Syracuse. I don’t know which part of this game was crazier. That Colgate came out and totally dominated, or that after building up a 24pt lead over Syracuse on the road, the Orange managed to come all the way back and somehow pull out a 79-75 win. Colgate has a lot of happy days ahead. They should dominate the Patriot League and get back into the NCAA Tournament. But this one is going to sting. Winning at Syracuse would not have been just a notable win, but a feel good win against a brand-name regional opponent. And to lose the game after being up by 24 points! OUCH!! This one may take a little while for the Raiders to walk off.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-PRINCETON AT DUQUESNE. This is a fantastic game that I hope gets the attention it deserves. Princeton started things off with a win against Rutgers, and then won at Hofstra. Neither of those things are easy to do. Duquesne is one of the better teams in the Atlantic 10 and is coming in at 3-0 with a decisive win against a really good Charleston team under their belt. I’m probably more excited about this game tonight than I am any other tonight. Both teams could win their league. Both teams could be inside the bubble. I know that neither team really has a big brand name, so a lot of people will probably miss this one, but this is a REALLY good game, and I think it will ultimately end up being a really important game.
-RICHMOND AT BOSTON COLLEGE. Both teams are unbeaten. Granted, both are very untested, but for the present moment, these two have each played games, won them all, and are facing each other tonight. I like both coaches. I’d like to see both programs do well. I don’t think it’ll happen this year, but for now it’s a battle of unbeatens!!
-RADFORD AT VCU. Radford hung tough with North Carolina for much of the game on opening night, and then beat a fairly decent Marshall team right after that. VCU started things off with a loss at home to McNeese, and while they did rebound with a win against Samford, they need to string together some early wins if they want to show they can be an Atlantic 10 frontrunner.
-CORNELL AT GEORGE MASON. Both teams are unbeaten. I wasn’t that big on either one of them coming into the season. I do think Cornell is a fun team to watch, but don’t think they’re quite good enough to keep pace with Princeton and Yale, and George Mason probably can’t keep pace with the likes of Dayton and Duquesne. But, both are coming in undefeated, so why not highlight it for now?
-GEORGETOWN AT RUTGERS (Gavitt Games Tipoff). Georgetown is very much in a rebuild mode and will likely be overmatched on the road by a Rutgers team that we still think can be a solid tournament team despite an early loss to Princeton.
BUY GAMES AND OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Campbell @ Virginia Tech
-Albany @ Seton Hall
-Denver @ Nicholls – Nicholls is coming off the win at LSU and is looking to get to 2-1
-Delaware @ Delaware State – Delaware can get to 4-0 and pick up their second road win of the season
-Canisius @ Cleveland State – I don’t think either team will be in the picture come March, but Canisius hung tough with Syracuse and won at Saint Bonaventure, and Cleveland State hung tough with Duquesne, so…
-Utah Valley @ Charlotte – Utah Valley can pick up their 3rd win of third win of the season, as well as their second road win
-USC Upstate @ East Carolina – East Carolina can get to 3-0
-Central Michigan @ South Florida – South Florida can get to 2-0
-Merrimack @ Ohio State
-Stony Brook @ Nebraska
-Rice @ Texas
-SELA @ BYU
-Tennessee State @ Portland – both teams unbeaten
-Northern Arizona @ Seattle U – Seattle off to a 2-0 start
-Long Island @ UCLA
-Pacific @ Nevada – Pacific did win a Cal, but Nevada is a lot better