NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Eastern Illinois is in a bad league and is expected to do badly in that bad league, but for 38 minutes last night they were right in there with Kansas. They were actually within 3 with about 2 minutes to play. Kansas, of course, woke up and did what they had to to get control and escaped 71-63, but it was a less than impressive showing for the Jayhawks.
-As for a game that wasn’t close, Kentucky blew Miami FL’s doors off. About midway through the first half Miami looked really good and actually built a 6pt lead, so it wasn’t as if they were intimidated, and psyched out, and not ready to play. They were. But Kentucky just pulled it together and played as well as they’ve played in a very long time. The final score was 95-73.
It was bizarro world! Had you told me that Eastern Illinois v Kansas and Miami FL v Kentucky would be played at the same time, and one of them would be a blowout that I’d turn over and only be focusing on the other game, I wouldn’t have thought EIU v Kansas would be the one I ended up NOT turning over!
-I had some less than nice things to say about Georgia Tech yesterday, and some very nice things to say about Mississippi State. So of course GA Tech controlled pretty much the entire game and got the 67-59 win over Mississippi State. Mississippi State, as good as I thought they were, is now 0-1 in true road games.
-At least Clemson did not let me down! I had some nice things to say about them yesterday, and they managed a HUGE road win at Alabama 85-77. Clemson missed the NCAA Tournament last year, but it was largely due to their bad losses (and one in particular to Louisville) and not their lack of good wins, so this is a team that is capable of playing well and that has played well this season. They’re unbeaten, they had some decent wins away from home down in their MTE, and now they have a true road win at Alabama.
-Cincinnati needed overtime to knock off Howard 86-81. It was a good game for the Bearcats to go and play because one way to sort of game the NET is to go on the road against teams from weaker leagues that win a lot of home games, but that you can also beat. The “YOU CAN ALSO BEAT” part of that statement is highly important. UC did get the win, and it was their first road win, and they do remain unbeaten, but they REALLY had to sweat to do it!
-Missouri, who I was starting to lose a little bit of interest in, went on the road against a pretty good Pittsburgh team and got the 71-64 win. It was Pitt’s first home loss, and Mizzou improves to 6-2 with their second true road win.
-Utah State continues to look like a really good team. They picked up the 81-76 win at Saint Louis. I know SLU isn’t exactly a top 25 team, but it’s still not the easiest place to go and win at. Utah State is now 6-1 on the year.
-Ole Miss blew out NC State 72-52 to improve to 6-0 on the year. Granted, five of those wins have come at home, but they did look good yesterday.
-Okay Akron…I’ve tried to be nice! The Zips lost (again) in a game they could have won, and that a tournament caliber team should have won. This time it was at UNLV 72-70. I know that’s not an easy game to win, but to make the NCAA Tournament, any team, whether it’s an under the radar team or a P5 team, must win games that are hard to win! So far this season Akron has not done that.
-Portland State’s big year continues after a 75-74 win over rivals Portland. They are now 6-1 on the year, and if you missed this game, go back and watch the last sixty seconds of it! It was fantastic!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT VILLANOVA (Big 5 Classic). This looks like it will be lopsided, but Joe’s did hang with Kentucky at Kentucky for a lot longer than Miami FL did, and it’s a rivalry game, and as well as Nova has played over the past week, they do already have a loss in this Big 5 Classic event.
-UC IRVINE AT DUQUESNE. This game excites me! UC Irvine, at least so far, has looked like the best team out of the Big West. They come in at 6-1 and have a win at USC, as well as three wins in the Ball Dawg Classic. That has the early makings of an at-large worthy resume, and they’ll get another test tonight against a Duquesne team that I have felt all along is the best team in the Atlantic Ten. Duquesne has a chance of landing inside the bubble, but they’re going to need to string together a lot of wins in order to do it, and they probably need to start doing that tonight.
-LA SALLE AT TEMPLE (Big 5 Classic). All of La Salle’s wins have been cupcakes they got at the pastry cart, but their only loss was at Duke (albeit by a lot), and if they can get this one on the road, then they’re off to a better start than most of the rest of the Atlantic 10.
-TENNESSEE AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC/SEC Challenge). Even though they lost two games in Maui, I still really like this Tennessee team and definitely think they are deserving of their top ten ranking. Beating North Carolina on the road will not be easy, and the Tarheels looked pretty good in the Battle 4 Atlantis last week managing decisive wins over both Northern Iowa and Arkansas. I’ve said for the past…oh…three years or so that I felt UNC was overvalued. Well, after seeing them last week, I no longer feel that way. This is a good team, but they’ll get a big test tonight. Both teams are in the rankings and both look like they’re on a good early pace to easily land in the top half of the bracket.
-TEXAS A&M AT VIRGINIA (ACC/SEC Challenge). Virginia is 5-1, which isn’t bad at all, but they still haven’t looked the part of being a really good team yet. Then again, it’s early, and it wouldn’t be the first time we saw it take a little bit for Virginia to fully hit their stride. They face a really strong TAMU team tonight that we feel can make quite a bit of noise, and even win, the SEC. They already have a really nice road win against a pretty good Ohio State team, so they’ve already shown they can play.
-FLORIDA AT WAKE FOREST (ACC/SEC Challenge). Wake was a team that I thought would have a good year this year, and of course they still can, but so far they really haven’t shown out yet. Florida, on the other hand, has looked pretty good to me so far and I wonder why they’re not getting more attention. They do have two losses, but they were close games to Virginia and Baylor, who aren’t exactly bad teams, and they beat a pretty good Pitt team rather handliy, and blew their rivals Florida State into the sun. This is yet another winnable game away from home for the Gators.
-RICHMOND AT WICHITA STATE. I still don’t think either team ends up inside the bubble, but for now Richmond is 4-2 and Wichita is 6-1. It would be a notable road win for the Spiders, and it would keep a solid record in tact for the Shockers, so at this point in time the game is at least worth paying attention to.
-EVANSVILLE AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley). Evansville may be one of the bigger surprises in all of college basketball so far. They’re 6-0, and while they haven’t been knocking off top 25 teams, their wins haven’t just been home buy games either, and the fact that they’ve been beating anyone at all is sort of a surprise. They have a really nice road win at Chattanooga, and can get another one in their conference opener tonight against a Missouri State team that is also off to a good start at 5-1, and who won the Paradise Jam earlier this season.
-DRAKE AT VALPARAISO (Missouri Valley). Drake has just one loss, and I still really like this team and think they can land inside the bubble. These are the kinds of games they need to routinely win in order to get there, though.
-BRADLEY AT MURRAY STATE (Missouri Valley). Bradley is off to an unbelievably good 6-0 start with some pretty good wins on their resume for now. This is a conference road game that isn’t easy to win, but if the Braves want to show they’re a tournament team then they need to be able to routinely win these kinds of games.
-DAYTON AT SMU. Both of these teams have a lot of work to do, and if your’e asking me if I think either one will make it inside the bubble, my guess would (as of now) be no. But both have the opportunities to prove me wrong, and maybe one or both of them is good enough to do just that.
-COLORADO AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range). Folks, this is a HUGE rivalry! Tonight’s edition of said rivalry is quite special because both of them look to be NCAA Tournament caliber teams. Colorado State comes in unbeaten and they absolutely smashed Creighton last week, so the Rams can play. The Buffs fell out of the top 25 after losing to Florida State in overtime, and truth be told none of their current wins are nearly as good as this one would be, but I still think they’re a tournament caliber team. This one is going to be fun! It’s for bragging rights, and it means something on paper! Those are the best storylines a game can have!
-DUKE AT ARKANSAS (ACC/SEC Challenge). Arkansas has shown us they can win big games at home! They did so when they beat Purdue! The problem is…that was a charity game. Since the regular season started Arkansas has shown us a lot less, and they were beaten by Memphis and North Carolina in their last two games, and neither of those teams appear to be as good as Duke is. This is the first true road game for the Blue Devils, so that could be a factor. And, if Arkansas could get the win, it would shift the momentum of their season back their way.
-VIRGINIA TECH AT AUBURN (ACC/SEC Challenge). It seems like in recent years Auburn has been in the rankings and I’ve been saying that they’re overvalued. This year, Auburn is nowhere near the rankings, and I’m now saying that they belong there. Since losing a close game to a very good Baylor team in the season opener, Auburn has blown out their last four opponents, and I think they get it done at home tonight against a Virginia Tech team that’s good, but I don’t think they’re quite good enough to win at Auburn. The Hokies were blown out by Florida Atlantic in the ESPN Events Invitational in their last game, but prior to that they did pick up two decent wins against Boise State and Iowa State, so they’re not a bad team.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:
-Chattanooga @ Lipscomb – Chattanooga can improve to 6-1 and pick up their second road win of the year
-UMass Lowell @ Stonehill – UMass Lowell’s only loss was the close one at Arizona State. They can improve to 5-1 and get their 4th true road win of the season
-Northeatern @ Seton Hall – all of Seton Hall’s wins so far have come at home
-Buffalo @ James Madison – JMU has a pretty impressive resume and is in the rankings. They should be able to remain unbeaten
-Prairie View @ Tulane – I still like this Tulane team, and a win tonight gets them to 5-1 on the year
-NJIT @ George Mason – Mason can improve to 6-1
-Green Bay @ Purdue Fort Wayne (Horizon League) PFW can improve to 7-1. They’ve looked like one of the better teams out of the HL so far
-Stony Brook @ Yale – I still like this Yale team, but they come in at just 4-3 and are running out of strikes
-Princeton @ Bucknell – Princeton can improve to a very impressive 7-0 on the season and pick up their 5th true road win tonight
-Monmouth @ Cornell – This is just the second home game for Cornell, and a win gets them to 6-1
-American U @ Harvard – Harvard is coming off a loss to Indiana, but is still 5-2 on the season and shouldn’t have too much trouble winning tonight
-Central Michigan @ Ohio State
-Grand Canyon @ UTRGV (WAC) – a winnable road game for the Lopes that will get them to 5-1 on the year
-Bellarmine @ Louisville – I mention this only because, once again, I think Bellarmine is the best team in Louisville
-Lousiana Tech @ New Mexico – both teams come into this one with 5-1 records, so this could be a sneaky good game
-North Florida @ Iowa
-Georgia @ Florida State (ACC/SEC Challenge) – I like this Noles team and don’t think they’ll have too much trouble getting to 5-1
-Montana @ Nevada – a win for Nevada gets them to 5-0
-Menlo (nonD1) @ Santa Clara
-Eastern Washington @ USC