NEWS AND NOTES:
-Houston, who I have been touting as a Final Four caliber team since September, has not looked it so far. Losing to Auburn wasn’t concerning, and losing to Alabama really wasn’t either even though I was rather certain they’d get at least one of those two. Losing to San Diego State?? That’s one they REALLY should have won! The Aztecs knocked off the Cougars 73-70 in an overtime thriller at the Players Era Festival, which means that all Houston really has on their resume right now (despite multiple opportunities( is a semi-decent win against a semi-decent Notre Dame team.
-Oregon, who came into this event with lower expectations than some of the other teams, ended up winning it. They knocked off Alabama 83-81 yesterday to remain unbeaten, take home some hardware, and put another high caliber win on their resume. In 24 hours the Ducks will likely go from being unranked to being ranked very very high.
-Rutgers put together another impressive performance against a strong Texas A&M team, but it was also yet another impressive performance in a losing effort. TAMU ended up with the 81-77 win. I still think this event was good for Rutgers, and I still think here is far more to be optimistic about than pessimistic, but as of now they have the loss at Kennesaw State and no real solid wins yet.
-Creighton was able to end their 3 game losing streak with a hard fought 80-76 win against Notre Dame. They needed this one. As for Notre Dame, they kind of needed it too. They left the Players Era Festival without a single win, and they fell to Elon just before the event started. They have a really tough game against Georgia coming up, so their struggles may continue.
-Seton Hall is a tire fire! They lost at home to Monmouth yesterday 63-51. It was Monmouth’s first win of the season, and Seton Hall’s THIRD home buy game loss. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Monmouth is any good in relation to the rest of their conference…THEY ARE NOT!!
-Miami FL continues to prove that I was grossly incorrect when I picked them as a sleeper team prior to the start of the season. They fell to Charleston Southern at home yesterday 83-79. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Charleston Southern is any good in relation to the rest of their conference…THEY ARE NOT!!
-Stanford, who just a week ago was unbeaten, and coming off a nice road win at Santa Clara, and looked like they may have something, is now looking like they have very little. They lost at home to Cal Poly yesterday 97-90. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Cal Poly is any good in relation to their conference…well…they’re actually not bad! They aren’t likely to be conference frontrunners, but they have played very well in some road buy games prior to yesterday. Still, it’s a game that Stanford should have won.
-UC Irvine, who plays in the Big West with Cal Poly, ain’t bad either!! They are actually really good!! They knocked off Towson yesterday 67-60 to sweep the Western Slam and remain unbeaten on the season.
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-After having full slates for the last nine or ten days, today is rather light in terms of notable games. Everyone can take a breath and recover from both their food comas and their hoops comas today.
-NORTH FLORIDA AT NERASKA. Nebraska is out to an impressive 5-1 start and has a nice road win against Creighton on their resume. They shouldn’t have too much trouble today with North Florida, but the Ospreys did have those early road wins at South Carolina and Georgia Tech, so the Huskers don’t want to just completely overlook them.
-Alcorn State @ Maryland
-Buffalo @ Penn State
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Kansas State
-Cal Baptist @ UCF
-South Carolina State @ Xavier
-Hofstra vs Arkansas State (Baha Mar Hoops) – this is a solid UTR matchup
-Mercyhurst @ San Francisco