News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Dec 11th

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We will be recording this week’s Hoops HD Report, so keep an eye out for that and give it a watch or a listen. We will also be posting our latest Bracket Projections later today.

-The game of the day, and perhaps one of the more exciting games of the entire weekend, was Saint Joseph’s 74-70 win over Princeton. It was a well played and exciting game between two teams that both look like top 40 caliber teams and that should end up inside the bubble come March. It was the first loss of the season for Princeton, and even though it was a missed opportunity at a big road win, Princeton’s resume still looks pretty solid. As for Saint Joe’s, they improve to 8-2 on the year and have started to build a really nice resume of their own. It’s a shame this game didn’t get more attention because it was two really good teams with quite a bit of importance in regards to the NCAA Tournament.

-When Miami FL was blown out by Kentucky earlier this year we just thought it was an amazing performance by Kentucky (which it was, but still). Miami FL was blown out again yesterday, this time by Colorado 90-63. While it was an impressive performance by the Buffs, and while the Buffs are also really good, it does start to raise questions about how good Miami actually is. Having said that, other than those two blowouts, the Canes have won all their other games.

-Memphis picked up a really impressive road win as they knocked off a very good Texas A&M rteam 81-75 and were in control for pretty much all 40 minutes. Memphis is putting together quite an impressive profile in the first month of the season and is definitely a team to keep an eye on.

-After a bit of a sluggish start, Long Beach State is now 5-1 in their last six games and they picked up a big one at USC yesterday 84-79 in overtime. I don’t know if this is quite enough to declare Beach a team that can make a run at the bubble, but considering how well they’ve been playing and in looking at their remaining opponents it looks to me that they could really finish with a bloated record. As for USC, I still think they have a ton of potential, but I suppose it’s a good thing for them that they don’t play in the Big West. They’re now just 1-2 against Big West teams with both losses coming at home.

-Ole Miss barely escaped against UCF 70-68, but the Rebels remain unbeaten on the season and pick up their second road win. When I say they barely escaped, you have to go back and watch exactly how this game ended. UCF cut it to 2 in the final seconds of play, then stole the inbounds pass and put in what appeared to be a game tying basket, but the clock expired just a millisecond before they were able to get it off.

-Boston College is now 8-3 on the year after beating Saint John’s 86-80 in the Brooklyn Showcase. BC may not quite be a tournament team, but they’ve improved substantially and should be able to make at least a little bit of noise in the ACC.

-Michigan State continues to not look good. They fell at Nebraska yesterday 77-70, which as an isolated incident is forgivable because Lincoln is not the easiest place to win on the road, but Michigan State is now just 4-5 on the year with absolutely nothing of note on their resume. They have the talent to turn it around, but they’ve shown no signs of it yet.

NOTABLE GAMES (None that are really “Highlightable”):

-HOWARD AT PENN. A MEAC frontrunner against a Penn team that has made some noise this year.

-YALE AT QUINNIPIAC. In in-state battle between a Yale team that we thought would be really good and a Quinnipiac team that’s off to a better-than-exopected 7-2 start.

-MISSISSIPPI VALLY STATE AT GONZAGA. Zags should easily bounce back after the loss to Washington.