NEWS AND NOTES:
-Be sure and check out our new SCOREBOARD TAB. It is the best damn scoreboard you will find on our site (and better than most you will find elsewhere as well).
-Six of the top ranked teams were in action yesterday!! They all played home buy games, all won easily, and nothing interesting really happened at all.
-Rank East Texas A&M!! They are now 2-0 with two true road wins!! No one else in the nation has done that!! They won at Oklahoma on opening night and held on to win 72-71 at Rice last night! This was a team that was picked to finish last in the Southland, and while this likely won’t continue all season long, they’re off to an incredible start.
-DePaul held on to beat South Florida 82-80 in what was a thriller. This game flew way under the radar (despite neither team being what we categorize as UTR), but I think this was a really important game between two teams that may end up fighting for spots inside the bubble and that the committee will be talking about come March. It was a good win for the Blue Demons. In fact it’s one of their better wins as a program that they’ve had in a while.
-Vanderbilt won handily over Wake Forest 74-51. At no point did it ever feel that Vandy was not in complete control. Wake isn’t expected to be great this year, but Vandy made it look like a buy game.
-McNeese was not able to hold on at North Texas. They picked up an impressive and decisive win against UAB in their opener, and were close at North Texas (and even had a lead for much of the game), but North Texas got control late and won 77-67.
-Chattanooga trailed Penn State 54-31 at the half, but completely dominated the second half and almost came back and won, but Penn State barely held on 97-93. Not exactly a solid performance by Penn State in a buy game, but they did get the win.
-Seton Hall also had to sweat out Long Island and really didn’t get control of that one until the final minute, but did win 67-60.
-Princeton came from behind in the second half to beat Hofstra 60-58 in what was a really good game between two solid UTR teams. This was a missed opportunity for Hofstra to pick up a road win that the committee likely would have given them a fair amount of credit for.
-Last, and definitely least, should we just go ahead and give the Centenary Award to Florida A&M?? They lost at home to Fort Valley State 75-70. Fort Valley State is not exactly a top level D2 program. They had a losing season last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. In fact their last winning season was 2013-2014. And they beat Florida A&M last night. Let that sink in!
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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-SAINT LOUIS VS MISSOURI (Saint Louis, MO). This is a neutral site game, but it’s in SLU’s home city and it’s a huge opportunity for the Billikens. They don’t get as many chances at high caliber wins as teams from the power conferences get, but they are still a solid NCAA Tournament caliber team, so the committee will likely be looking at this one. It would be a really nice win for Mizzou as well. This one should be a fun one!! The sport really needs more games like this.
-UCONN VS MICHIGAN (Hall of Fame Series – Boston, MA). This should have been the season opener, and the season should open on a Friday with a big showcase game and not on a Monday with a bunch of crappy buy games. It’s a rematch of last year’s championship game. UConn looks to again be good enough to get back to the Final Four and this would be a high caliber early season win. Michigan lost a lot after winning it all, but they are still really good and can make a big statement if they can pull off a win in this one.
OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:
-UMass vs Boston College (Hall of Fame Series – Boston MA) – UMass looked good in their season opener and BC managed a win as well. The expectations for both teams are low, but as of now they’re both 1-0 and this could be a fun one
–James Madison @ Kentucky – JMU is expected to be one of the better teams in the Sun Belt, but they’re likely overmatched tonight
-Yale @ UCF – It’s a mismatch, and it’s a buy game, but I like both these teams. Yale is good enough to where UCF better not just overlook them. Both are coming in 1-0.
-Arkansas State @ Alabama – it’s a buy game, but it could be a fun one. Arkansas State is the preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt and if they could somehow knock off the Tide tonight they would get the committee’s attention
-Northern Kentucky @ Texas A&M – NKU is probably way overmatched, but they have managed two really solid wins away from home so far and could really make some noise if they can pull off an upset tonight
-Wofford @ North Carolina – UNC really struggled with Western Carolina in their opener, and Wofford is a lot better. The Tarheels need to play better tonight
-Central Arkansas @ Ole Miss – this will likely be a blowout, but Central Arkansas clearly looks to be the best team in the UAC so it will be fun to see what they can do tonight
-North Dakota State @ San Francisco – North Dakota State is the preseason Summit League favorite, but they got blasted the other night by Saint Mary’s and they face another tough team tonight in San Francisco
-Florida Atlantic @ Wright State – both teams 1-0
-UNC Greensboro @ Elon – both teams 1-0. Neither are expected to be good, but for now both are 1-0
-UT Arlington @ Portland – both teams 1-0
BUY GAMES:
-Northeastern @ Virginia
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Baylor
-Eastern Washington @ Oregon
-Valparaiso @ Purdue – Purdue lost the opener to Gonzaga and Valpo ain’t bad!
-Youngstown State @ Ohio State – Ohio State looking for their first win
-New Haven @ Rutgers
-Stetson @ West Virginia
-Holy Cross @ Villanova
-Georgia Southern @ Georgia Tech – both teams 1-0
-Coppin State @ George Mason
-East Tennessee State @ NC State – NC State better not sleepwalk
-American @ Clemson
-Troy @ Florida State
-Eastern Michigan @ Xavier – both teams 1-0
-Presbyterian @ Georgia
-Delaware @ Wisconsin – both teams 1-0
-Southern Miss @ Iowa State – Iowa State is looking to bounce back from the loss to Memphis
-Texas Southern @ LSU
-Stony Brook @ Northwestern – both teams 1-0
-Southern @ TCU
-Saint Thomas @ Minnesota – both teams 1-0 and this could be a fun one
-Detroit Mercy @ Marquette
-Mississippi Valley State @ Oklahoma
-Eastern Illinois @ Iowa
-Wagner @ Miami FL
-Middle Tennessee @ Kansas – both teams 1-0
-Idaho @ Colorado State – both teams 1-0
-Queens @ Oklahoma State – both are unbeaten and Queens has two nice road wins so far
-Tarlton State @ San Diego – both teams 1-0
-Oakland @ Stanford
-North Florida @ UCLA – both teams 1-0
