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NEWS AND NOTES:
-Florida Atlantic got a big-time win against one of the best teams in the SEC yesterday as they held off Texas A&M 96-89 in the ESPN Events Invitational. I don’t know what happened the other week with their home loss to Bryant, but it appears to just be an anomaly. This is still a very solid FAU team.
-Baylor got a battle from Florida in the Preseason NIT (which I know isn’t the official name anymore, but it’s still what I like to call it), but held on to win 95-91. I know Florida didn’t get the win, but I think I’m actually more sold on them now than I was before the game. The Gators are for real this year!
-After a close first half, North Carolina took complete control of Arkansas in the second half and cruised to an 87-72 in in the Battle 4 Atlantis. It’s the Tarheel’s best win of the season to date, and probably the best they’ve played to date, especially in that last 20 minutes.
-Ohio State got a really impressive 92-81 win against Alabama in the Emerald Coast Classic. Both teams shot well, but Ohio State just looked like the better team. Chris Holtmann once again has the Buckeyes looking like a solid top-25 caliber team.
-Santa Clara picked up a really strong 88-82 win over Oregon in the Emerald Coast Classic yesterday. Oregon wasn’t entirely at full strength, and that definitely played a role in the game, but it was still a solid win for the Broncos who are now 6-0 on the year.
-Oklahoma is now 6-0 after a hard fought 72-70 win against USC. Some of us at Hoops HD really liked this Sooners team coming into the year. I must admit that I wasn’t one of them, but I like them now! USC falls to 4-2 and while they’re talented enough to build up a really strong tournament profile, they are a little slow out of the gate.
-Evansville, a team that none of us thought would do anything, is now 5-0 with two true road wins as they came from behind at Chattanooga and handed them their first loss of the year. I’m starting to believe in the Aces! (At least a little bit).
-Indiana State is now 5-1 with a win over a fairly decent Toledo team. The Missouri Valley Conference and the Ivy League are two conferences to really start watching. Multiple teams from those leagues are starting to bloat out their records, and they’re not doing it by simply staying at home and playing buy games. They’re going to these MTEs and going out on the road and winning.
-Villanova absolutely clobbered Memphis in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The final score was 79-63, but for much of the game Nova was actually blowing them out by 20+. It was probably the best single game that Nova has played since Kyle Neptune took over as head coach.
-UC Irvine is now 6-1 after beating Rice in the Ball Dawgs classic and is looking more and more like an under the radar team that can land inside the bubble.
-Virginia Tech picked up a nice 71-62 win against Iowa State in the ESPN Events Invitational. They are now 5-1 on the season and looking a lot better than most of us were expecting. At least so far.
-Texas Tech also improved to 5-1 after their 73-57 win over Michigan in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
-BYU is now 6-0 after knocking off a pretty solid NC State team 95-86 in the Vegas Showdown. BYU was also without a key player due to him being suspended for throwing a punch in the previous game, which makes this come from behind win even more impressive. The Cougars are for real!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-ALABAMA VS OREGON (Emerald Coast Classic). Oregon was a little shorthanded yesterday as they fell to Santa Clara for their first loss of the season, and they’ll face a much tougher Alabama team today. Bama lost to an Ohio State team that shot the ball really well, but they’re still looking really strong and should remain in the top 25 for most of the year. A win today would be a nice bounce back for whoever pulls it off, and it would likely end up being a good resume win.
-UNC GREENSBORO VS DELAWARE (Baha Mar Hoops). Circle this one down in the Bahamas!! Delaware comes in unbeaten and has looked pretty good, but today will be their biggest test of the season to date. UNCG has that big win at Arkansas, and their only loss was a close game at Vanderbilt. I know this wouldn’t be big in terms of brand name wins, but this would be a nice resume-building win for two teams that have limited opportunities to rack up quad-1 and quad-2 wins.
-FURMAN AT UAB. A pretty solid UTR game. Neither team is out to an amazing start, but both are pretty solid and both could still end up having really big years. I don’t know if either one will end up being good enough to make a run at the bubble, but these are the kinds of games they need to be able to win in order to do that.
-UIC VS GEORGE WASHINGTON (Baha Mar Hoops). I wasn’t big on either team coming into the season. Not even close. But both have played well so far with UIC managing a 4-1 record and GW coming in at 5-0. We’ll see what they do against each other today down in the Bahamas.
-OHIO STATE VS SANTA CLARA (Emerald Coast Classic). Santa Clara is worth keeping an eye on even if they don’t get the win today. They looked pretty good in their win against Oregon yesterday, and even though Oregon wasn’t quite at full strength it was still a really good win for the Broncos. Ohio State got an amazing win over Alabama and will likely crack the top 25 next week. If Santa Clara can somehow get this win today, then this is the kind of win that can land teams into the rankings and inside the bubble.
-VERMONT AT BRADLEY. This is another outstanding UTR game that features two teams whose seasons are off to outstanding starts. Bradley is unbeaten with notable wins at UAB, and against Utah State, Tulane, and UTEP. In fact Utah State, Tulane, and UTEP each have just one loss right now, and Bradley is the team that beat all of them. Vermont comes in with just one loss and is looking (again) like an America East frontrunner.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:
-Loyola MD @ Missouri – Mizzou is off to a slow start and can’t afford another home buy game loss
-UMES @ Liberty – Liberty can get to 6-0 and is looking like a top 40ish caliber team
-Canisius @ Western Kentucky – WKU can get to 5-1 with a win, which is a better start than we were expecting
-Evansville vs SEMO (Chattanooga TN)- Evansville had a big win yesterday against Chattanooga, and is looking to follow it up today
-Northeastern @ Princeton – Princeton has looked like the strongest UTR team other than James Madison and can get to 6-0 with a win today
-East Carolina @ George Mason – I wasn’t all that big on Mason coming into the year, but they can get to 5-1 with a win today
-South Carolina State @ Missouri State – Missouri State can get to 5-1
-Tulsa @ Little Rock – Tulsa comes in 4-0, but this is their first true road game
-UNC Wilmington @ FGCU – I like how UNCW has played this year and a win today gets them to 5-1 overall and gives them their second true road win
-UTEP @ LMU – UTEP is off to a 5-1 start, but this is their first true road game
-Holy Cross @ Saint John’s
-Texas Southern @ Drake
-California vs San Diego State (SoCal Showcase) – normally it’s a big deal when SDSU squares off against the Pac 12, but not if the Pac 12 team is Cal
-Norfolk State @ Wichita State – Wichita had a strong showing in their MTE and can get to 6-1 with a win today
-Dartmouth @ Saint Louis
-North Dakota State @ Grand Canyon – should be a really fun UTR game between two conference frontrunners
-Northern Illinois @ DePaul – this is a winnable road game for Northern Illinois and a win gets them to 5-1 on the year
-Hawaii vs San Diego (Acrisure Invitational) – I’m still not totally sold on either team, but Hawaii comes in unbeaten and San Diego has just one loss