NEWS AND NOTES:
For this week’s edition of the HOOPS HD REPORT VIDEO PODCAST – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Washington State picked up a BIG win last night at Nevada 68-57 where they managed to hold a lead pretty much managed to hold a comfortable lead for the entire second half. This is a big win for Wazzu. Nevada isn’t likely to lose too many at home, and for them to control the game the way that they did says a lot about how good this Cougars team is right now.
-Rhode Island is now 8-0 after holding off Yale 84-78. Someone may want to let Rhody’s fans know that the are 8-0. The building was barely half full last night.
.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-CINCINNATI AT VILLANOVA. Despite Villanova being very down, this is probably Cincinnati’s biggest test of the year so far. Nova has won three of their last four with the noly loss being a very clsoe game against a respectable Maryland team, so a win in this one may finally start to turn things around for them.
-NORTHWESTERN AT IOWA (Big Ten). Both teams have respectable records, but both are also flimsy so far in terms of quality wins. It’s the conference opener, and it would be the biggest win of the season for either team up to this point. It would be especially nice for Northwestern since they are on the road.
-ARKANSAS AT MIAMI FL. Miami FL (at least to me) has been a huge disappointment this season. Arkansas hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but they’ve at least won the games that they were supposed to win. This is their first true road game of the seaosn, and would be their first win that wasn’t a home buy game if the Razorbacks are able to pull this off.
-NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA. Georgia is off to a really good 7-1 start with the only loss coming against Marquette. Notre Dame is a little more sluggish at 4-4 and has lost four straight, including all three in the Players Era Festival. The Irish have another really tough test today, and a win would go a long way toward them being able to turn things around.
-CALIFORNIA AT MISSOURI. Both teams have good records, but neither has really beaten a good team yet. Mizzou has won six straight home buy games since losing to Memphis, and while Cal does have a nice win at USC, that’s all they’ve got so far.
-PRINCETON AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. Joe’s does have a really bad loss to Central Connecticut, but outside of that they’ve played well managing wins against Villanova and Texas Tech, and their only other loss came to a very good Texas team. They have shown some promise and can still have a big year. Princeton has been somewhat disappointing so far, but a win in a road game like this is the kind of thing that could turn their season around, and so far they are 2-0 in true road games.
-SYRACUSE AT TENNESSEE. Tennessee has looked as good as anyone in the country so far, and while Syracuse is perhaps looking a little better than we thought they would, they haven’t looked anywhere near as good as Tennessee has. The Vols should roll in this one.
-BRADLEY AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley). Bradley can improve to 8-1 if they can pick this up in their conference opener tonight. Southern Illinois has struggled some this year, but this is just their second home game.
-BYU AT PROVIDENCE. BYU started their season off at the pastry cart, but they had a fairly impressive showing in their in-season tournament losing in OT to Ole Miss and then beating a respectable NC State team. It’s never easy to win on the road, but Providence has really struggled this year and is coming off three straight losses, so it’s certainly a road win that the Cougars are capable of picking up.
-MICHIGAN AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Michigan had a strong showing in their in-season tournament and blew Xavier out in the championship game. This is their first true road game, and it will be at one of the toughest places in the country to play. Wisky is a perfect 8-0 on the season and while Michigan is looking like a probable tournament team, winning at Wisky may be over their heads.
-WAKE FOREST AT TEXAS A&M. TAMU is coming off a solid showing in the Players Era Festival and should continue to improve as the season goes on. Wake is so-so, and the Aggies should be able to win this one at home tonight.
-OLE MISS AT LOUISVILLE. Louisville had a surprisingly strong showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but it came with some bad news as Kasean Pryor will miss the rest of the regular season after tearing his ACL. Still, the Cardinals have a strong team, and this will be a big time test for Ole Miss, who is playing in their first true road game. Ole Miss nearly beat Purdue last week, and that was their only loss of the season, so they can play, but they will be challenged today.
-HAWAII AT GRAND CANYON. Hawaii is a respectable 5-1, but this is their first road game, and GCU seems to be getting stronger as the season goes along. I still think the Lopes can run through the rest of their schedule and land inside the bubble, but they will likely get a test tonight from the Rainbow Warriors.
-FLORIDA STATE AT LSU. Both teams have good records, and LSU has a couple of really nice wins against Kansas State and UCF. The Tigers are probably being overlooked a little bit. They have a chance to add another notable win to their profile.
-KENTUCKY AT CLEMSON. This will be a very tough test for Kentucky. Having said that, they’ve already passed a pretty tough test when they beat Duke, but this is their first true road game and it comes against a Clemson team that has looked pretty good so far, and who can put themselves in the spotlight with a win tonight.
-WASHINGTON AT UCLA (Pac 12 Big Ten). It’s the conference opener for both these teams. It’s not just the season opener, but it is the Big Ten Conference Opener for both programs! UCLA comes in at 6-1, but it’s not all that impressive because since they lost to New Mexico all they’ve done is win home buy games. Washington did just win the Acrisure Invitational and beat Colorado State and Santa Clara to do it, but this is probably their toughest test of the year so far.
BUY GAMES (and other games of note):
-Eastern Illinois @ Butler
-Tusculum (nonD1) @ Charleston
-UNC Wilmington @ East Carolina – neither team is expected to get near the bubble, but as of now both have respectable records
-Santa Clara @ McNeese – McNeese needs to bounce back from their loss to Liberty
-High Point @ UNC Greensboro – High Point is an impressive 8-1, but this is their first true road game
-Western Michigan @ Dayton
-South Carolina @ Boston College – BC had a nice run through the Cayman Islands Classic, but then followed that up with a loss to Dartmouth
-Sam Houston @ Indiana
-Alabama State @ SMU
-Eastern Michigan @ Loyola Chicago – Loyola Chicago can get to 7-0 on the year.
-Georgia Tech @ Oklahoma – the Sooners shouldn’t have too much trouble remaining unbeaten.
-San Diego @ Arizona State
-Utah Tech @ Boise State
-UTSA @ Saint Mary’s
-Utah Valley @ Stanford