NEWS AND NOTES:
-For all of the brackets, schedules, and results of the In-Season Tournaments – CLICK HERE
-Purdue knocked off Ole Miss 80-78 in a thriller to win the Rady Children’s Invitational. Both teams are good now, and both will also likely improve even more as the season continues. Some were a little skeptical of Purdue after at times they merely looked like a top 20 team instead of a top 5 team, but this really is a nice win for the Boilers.
-Wichita State, who we were praising going into yesterday’s game against Florida, did absolutely nothing that praiseworthy in said game. The Gators blew their doors off 88-51 in the ESPN Events Invitational.
-West Virginia, who we had no expectations for whatsoever coming into the season, and who seemed to live down to those expectations when they were blown out by Pitt, had an absolutely incredible showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis. They beat Gonzaga, barely lost to Louisville in overtime, and yesterday finished things off with a win over Arizona. The Mountaineers are for real!! Arizona, on the other hand, may not be. If they are, they haven’t shown it yet. They now fall to 3-4 on the season, and while their schedule has been tough, it is a little concerning that they’ve lost all four of their big opportunities.
-The Championship Game of the Battle 4 Atlantis featured two other teams that have completely outperformed preseason expectations. Oklahoma held off Louisville 69-64. Kasean Pryor had to leave the game with an injury, which certainly impacted Louisville, but the Cardinals still had a chance to win in the final minute. Oklahoma made some big defensive plays and escaped with the win and the hardware. Oklahoma is now 7-0 and they’ve now picked up some really big wins, so their resume is looking great!
-Butler, who was one of my sleeper teams coming into the season, now appears to be awake!!! They had a very nice 87-77 win yesterday over Mississippi State in the Arizona Tip-Off. It was the first loss of the season for Mississippi State, and Butler seems to have bounced back after sleepwalking through some of their earlier games.
-Pittsburgh, who we’ve mentioned before as a team that has impressed us, picked up a VERY big win yesterday at Ohio State. It was a 91-90 overtime thriller, and seeing as how it was a true road game against an Ohio State team that has already proven itself with some big wins of their own, it is by far Pitt’s biggest win of the year up until now.
-Arizona State continues to look better and better as the season goes on. They handed a very good Saint Mary’s team their first loss of the season in the Acrisure Classic Championship game.
-Utah State remains unbeaten after a really nice 61-57 win against a strong North Texas team. Definitely keep an eye on the Aggies as they (again) look to be one of the stronger teams in the MWC this year.
-UC Irvine also remains underrated after their 51-39 win over a very good Kent State team. It wasn’t exactly an offensive explosion, but it is a huge win on paper for the Eaters.
.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-CREIGHTON VS NOTRE DAME (Players Era Festival). Both of these teams are in a bit of a tailspin. The wheels seem to be falling off for Creighton. Finishing up this event with any sort of a win will probably be as important to their mental health at this point as it is to their resume. Notre Dame has now lost three straight as well and could also really use this win.
-TEXAS A&M VS RUTGERS (Players Era Invitational). Rutgers is coming off a hard fought loss to Alabama, which despite the loss may have been one of their more impressive showings of the year. TAMU edged out Creighton in their last game. Both teams have the chance to end on a high note and pick up a win that will almost assuredly be quad-1 or quad-2 on the team sheet.
-FURMAN AT KANSAS. I know it’s a buy game, and I know that chances are the final score will look like a buy game, but Furman comes in unbeaten and is one of the top UTR teams out there, and it will be interesting to see what they can do in this one. Kansas is arguably the toughest place in the country to win, so I know Furman is shooting at the moon. But, if they were to somehow hit the moon, they should be ranked in the top 25 and their resume will (at least for now) look like they deserve a protected seed.
-SAN DIEGO STATE VS HOUSTON (Players Era Invitational). San Diego State managed a very impressive win against Creighton their last time out, which is probably their best showing of the season. Houston, who I still think can make the Final Four, has yet to pick up a big time win this season yet. A win today would probably be their biggest to date.
-RICE VS ARKANSAS STATE (Baha Mar Hoops). This is an odd game to highlight, but I really like this Arkansas State team whose only loss so far was a very competitive road loss at Alabama. Rice is a very respectable 5-2 and if Arkansas State can pick up this win and then beat Hofstra tomorrow their resume is going to be looking really good heading into December.
-OREGON VS ALABAMA (Players Era Invitational). Oregon isn’t in the rankings today, but they almost assuredly will be on Monday regardless of the outcome of this game. Both teams have managed some nice wins in this events and both have the chance to pick up another really nice on tonight, as well as take home some hardware.
BUY GAMES (and other games of note):
-Southern @ Louisiana Tech – LA Tech is looking to remain unbeaten
-Monmouth @ Seton Hall
-Chicago State @ Wisconsin
-Western Carolina @ Marquette
-Pfiffer (nonD1) @ High Point
-Charleston Southern @ Miami FL
-Albany @ Georgetown
-Temple @ La Salle (Big 5) – both teams have just two losses, but still have a lot of work to do
-Tarlton State vs Hofstra (Baha Mar Hoops) – Hofstra can improve to 6-2 and put another win away from home on their resume
-Eastern Washington @ Utah
-Harvard @ Saint John’s
-Georgia Southern @ Drake – a win for Drake gets them to 7-0
-UMES @ UConn – If UConn fails to snap their 3 game losing streak tonight they could REALLY be in trouble!
-Jacksonville @ Georgia
-UC Irvine vs Towson (Western Slam) – a win for UC Irvine gets them to 8-0
-Cal Poly @ Stanford