NEWS AND NOTES:
-For our 1st Under the Radar Video Podcast of the Season – CLICK HERE
-Auburn, Houst0n, Tennessee, Creighton, and Saint John’s all blew out their opponents in home buy wins.
-Troy ended up losing at Arkansas 65-49, but they were in this game for the majority of the time before they ran out of gas late in the second half. We were big on the Trojans coming into the season and still are. They probably needed a win in a game like this in order to make a solid run at landing inside the bubble, but even if they don’t knock off a top 25 team on the road they may still get a very serious look from the committee if they can blow through most of the rest of their schedule.
-Wake Forest REALLY struggled against USC Upstate, and was actually behind for much of the second half. They barely held on to win 85-80, but the showing was less than spectacular.
-Hofstra improved to 3-0 with their 49-48 rock-fight-like win over Seton Hall. The Pirates have now fallen to Fordham at home, and Hofstra on a neutral floor. It may be a long year for Seton Hall.
-North Texas, who has been very good in recent years but who we weren’t expecting that much from this year, is now 3-0 and they got a really nice 54-51 win at Minnesota yesterday. They are now a team we have our eyes on!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-NORTHERN IOWA AT WICHITA STATE. These two are old MVC rivals and I believe it’s the first time they’ve met since Wichita State left to become members of the American. The Shockers are off to a 2-0 start with one of those wins being at Western Kentucky so they have shown a fair amount of promise. Northern Iowa is a team I was big on coming into the season, but they were just dominated by UC Irvine in their last game and need to bounce back.
-NORTHERN COLORADO AT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE. This is a really solid UTR match-up. Northern Colorado nearly beat Colorado last week, and South Dakota State comes in undefeated with a notable win over McNeese State. I don’t know if either team will end up near the bubble, but the Jackrabbits are off to about as good of a start as you can ask.
-GRAND CANYON VS ARIZONA STATE (Phoenix, AZ). I’ve said for the last several months that I really like this Grand Canyon team and think they’ll be in the top 25 before the end of the season. They really struggled in their last game against Western Kentucky, but they were without two key players, so they’ll be a lot more dangerous if they are at full strength. Arizona State wasn’t a team we expected much from at all, but they nearly pulled the upset at Gonzaga last week and appear to be much better than most of us realized. This would be a high caliber win for the Sun Devils and end up looking pretty good on their resume if they can pull it off. In short, this is a very good early season opportunity for both these teams.
-LSU AT KANSAS STATE. Both teams come in 2-0, but neither has really been tested yet, so we should learn something about both of them tonight.
-Southern Illinois @ Oklahoma State
-TAMUCC @ New Mexico State – New Mexico State can improve to 3-0
-Omaha @ UNLV