NEWS AND NOTES:
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-Miami FL held on to beat Georgia 79-67, and it was the second loss of the year for the Bulldogs, but I’ve seen enough to convince me that they are not an SEC doormat. They may not make the NCAA Tournament, but they’ve played well this season and have twice now battled against some pretty good teams. Speaking of the SEC…
-Arkansas, who is by all accounts super talented, dropped one at home to UNC Greensboro yesterday 78-72. Greensboro pretty much maintained a lead for the entire game. I know a lot of people will be quick to point out that UNCG is good, and they are, but I don’t think anyone who’s being completely honest with themselves would say they thought they were good enough to win at Arkansas. UNCG was, after all, coming off of a loss at Vanderbilt (albeit a close loss), and most would agree that Vandy is nowhere near as good as Arkansas. So, it was a bit of a surprise. Not just that they won, but that they controlled the whole game.
-Another big surprise was Long Beach State’s win at Michigan. I believe the term “eye test” is way overused, but in the case of Michigan they had certainly passed it in their first three games. Beach was a team we thought would be good once they got into Big West play, but came into this one at just 1-2 with the only win being a close game at DePaul. Beach shot the ball really well hitting 8-of-17 from three, whereas Michigan struggled from the field.
-Someone needs to tell Maryland their season has started. They hadn’t looked all that good before yesterday, and when yesterday rolled around they looked even worse. Villanova had a 39-15 lead at the half and cruised to a 57-40 win.
-James Madison, the media darlings of the season so far, nearly dropped their home opener to Radford. They needed some heroics in the final seconds of the game to pull out the 76-73 win.
-Vermont held off Saint Louis 78-68 down at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, and is putting together quite the early season resume. They remain unbeaten and have neutral floor wins against Charleston and Saint Louis.
-Dayton managed a really nice win against Saint John’s in the Charleston Classic. It was close throughout, but Dayton appeared to be in control in the latter stages of the game and held on 88-81. They’ll face…
HOUSTON! The Cougars got the 76-66 win over Utah, but had to sweat a little bit to do it. Dayton has a history of playing in incredibly exciting games in in-season tournaments, so Houston better not overlook them.
-Yale had no trouble with Colgate and blew past them 68-50. This Yale team hasn’t gotten many people’s attention yet, and I get it because they don’t have the splashy wins that James Madison has, but this may be the best Under the Radar team in the country and the one that ends up making the most noise both as the season continues and in March.
-Kansas State needed overtime to get past Providence 73-70. I like this K State team quite a bit, but what I took away from this is that Providence, who once again lostg a ton from a season ago, is once again a lot better than we thought they’d be.
-Florida absolutely blew Florida State off the court last night. The final score was 89-68, but I kind of quit paying attention at halftime.
-San Diego State absolutely blew Saint Mary’s off the court 79-54. The fact that San Diego State was able to win the game isn’t all that surprising. I mean they are, after all, the national runners up. But the fact that they just blew the Gaels into the sun WAS a surprise. This was a Saint Mary’s team that many were expecting to win the WCC and earn a protected seed. I know it’s early, but they certainly haven’t looked like it so far.
-Washington knocked off Xavier 74-71 in a game that went back and forth. This was a nice early season win for the Huskies, and they’ll face San Diego State on Sunday. Xavier will get Saint Mary’s in the third place game.
-Portland State remains unbeaten and is worth keeping an eye on. They won at CA Baptist 66-63 last night, which I know isn’t exactly a snake pit, but it’s not exactly a cakewalk either. It’s the third road win of the season for a Portland State team we thought at best would finish around the middle of the Big Sky.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
MISSISSIPPI STATE VS WASHINGTON STATE (Hall of Fame Tip-Off, Uncasville CT). Basketball is back at the Mohegan Sun Arena! Both of these teams come in unbeaten, but Mississippi State clearly looks to be the better team with bigger expectations and shouldn’t have too much trouble with Wazzu today. Having said that, it’s a chance for Wazzu to raise their own expectations if they can somehow find a way to win.
-PRINCETON AT MONMOUTH. Princeton can get to 4-0 on the year, and pick up their third road win today. Monmouth is a team we weren’t expecting much out of at all, but they are coming off a road win at West Virginia, and didn’t play all that badly in their opener against George Mason, so I wouldn’t just assume that Princeton is going to walk all over them in this one.
-RHODE ISLAND VS NORTHWESTERN (Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off). Both teams come in unbeaten. Rhody hasn’t really been tested, but Northwestern’s home win against Dayton is starting to look a little better.
-MCNEESE AT WESTERN CAROLINA. This feels like a strange game to highlight, but both teams are unbeaten, and both have managed some pretty notable wins. McNeese has the win at VCU and Western Carolina has wins at Notre Dame and Middle Tennessee.
-HARVARD AT BOSTON COLLEGE (Bean Pot). It’s been a while since these two have played, but it’s back on the schedule!! And both are unbeaten!! And Harvard in particular has actually looked pretty good this year and is going after their third road win of the season.
-YALE VS WEBER STATE (Atlantic Slam). These are two Under the Radar teams that we think can end up inside the bubble, but Weber State is coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Gardner Webb yesterday and with such a small margin for error a game like this, as early as it is in the season, could make the difference as to whether or not they’re able to land inside the bubble. Yale, on the other hand, cruised past a pretty good Colgate team and looks to be as good as advertised.
BUY GAMES AND OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-Wagner @ Seton Hall – Seton Hall can get to 4-0
-Columbia @ Temple – Temple is still unbeaten
-New Hamspshire @ George Mason – Mason is unbeaten
-USC Upstate @ Minnesota – Minnesota’s expectations aren’t high this year, but they were able to hang with Missouri earlier in the week and should get to 3-1 after today
-Southern Indiana @ La Salle – La Salle unbeaten
-Ball State @ Evansville – we aren’t expecting either team to be all that good as the year progresses, but as of today neither of them has a loss yet
-Seattle U @ VCU – I don’t think either team will be inside the bubble come March, but they are both off to pretty good starts this year
-Marist @ Binghamton – Marist can improve to 3-0 on the season with all the wins coming on the road
-Gardner Webb vs Colgate (Atlantic Slam) – both teams have suffered some pretty hard fought and close losses. Both should do well once they get into conference play, but this still has a pivotal feel to it because both are looking to bounce back
-Nebraska vs Oregon State (Sioux Falls SD) – both are unbeaten, but it’s still hard to get excited for this one
-Purdue Fort Wayne vs South Dakota (Arizona Tip-Off) – PFW keeps winning, and they keep winning away from home
-Cal Poly vs Portland State (Riverside CA) – Portland State continues to impress. They had a win at the buzzer yesterday and can improve to 5-0 today
-Bryant @ Florida Atlantic
-Howard @ Rutgers
-SELA @ Santa Clara
-Texas Southern @ Creighton
-Morgan State @ BYU
-Portland @ Nevada – Nevada is looking to remain unbeaten