Highlighted Games and Rivalries for Wed, Dec 5th

Posted on December 5, 2012 by David Griggs

-COLORADO STATE AT COLORADO (Front Range). Colorado State is unbeaten, and Colorado’s only loss came against Wyoming, who is another rival in the mythical Front Range Conference, last week. Bragging rights are on the line both on and off paper. This is a rivalry game between two teams that are trying to establish themselves as quality teams

-OHIO AT MEMPHIS. Ohio had looked impressive, but is coming off a bad loss to Robert Morris. Memphis appears to have a good team, but has yet to pick up anything close to resembling a quality win. Both of these teams desperately need to improve the looks of their profile.

-FLORIDA AT FLORIDA STATE. This is a huge rivalry game, but it has lost some of its interest considering how bad Florida State has looked. They appear to have the necessary talent to turn it around, and it should be a high energy game tonight. Florida has looked like a #1 seed all throughout the year so far.

-BOISE STATE AT UTAH. When it comes to a ratio of how accomplished a team is versus how much respect they’re receiving, Boise State’s ratio is way out of whack. They have just one loss, and it was a close game at Michigan State. They also have the best true road win of the season that anyone has managed so far at Creighton. They’re a good team who clearly belongs in the Top 25, at least at this point in time. Utah is currently 5-2 on the year, but hasn’t been challenged at all the way they will be tonight. Not only has Boise looked good, but they’ve looked good away from home.

-GONZAGA AT WASHINGTON STATE. Gonzaga has been playing like a protected seed this whole year. Wazzu is a modest 5-3, but has won all five of their home games and should be jacked for this one.

-CHARLOTTE AT DAVIDSON. This isn’t a nationally recognized rivalry, but it is a very intense rivalry. Charlotte is 7-0 coming into the game, and Davidson is a modest 4-3, but has really gone out and tested themselves with two of their losses being at New Mexico and to Gonzaga, both of whom are ranked and unbeaten. They really need some signature wins and cannot afford too many more losses if they want to get the attention of the committee. Charlotte is unbeaten, but this is by far their toughest test of the year. Their biggest win to date is probably East Carolina, so playing on the road at Davidson is a major step up in their schedule, and we should learn something about them tonight.

-TEMPLE AT VILLANOVA (Big Five). Temple is unbeaten and clearly looks to be the better team. Nova is an unimpressive 4-3. Mythical Big Five Conference bragging rights are on the line.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT OKLAHOMA STATE. South Florida has gone 5-1 since getting waxed in their season opener against UCF. A win today would really get them back on track. Oklahoma State is trying to rebound from their first loss of the season, which was on the road to what appears to be a good Virginia Tech team.

-UTAH STATE AT BYU (***UPDATE!!!  Game Cancelled due to Utah State’s Danny Berger collapsing at practice***). Utah State is off to a 4-1 start, but this is probably their toughest test of the season so far. These two teams always get after it. It’s important both on and off paper because it’s a rivalry game between two teams that need good wins on their profile.

-DAYTON AT ALABAMA. Dayton is 5-2 and has faced some challenges, but they have not managed a win on the level that this would be. Bama is a good team that is coming off a well played, disappointing loss at the buzzer to Cincinnati, which was their first of the year, and they’ll be looking to rebound from that.

-TENNESSSEE AT VIRGINIA. These two teams have shown potential, but both need to improve the look of their profile.

-PENN STATE AT LA SALLE. A win for La Salle will improve them to 5-1 on the year. I’m standing by my preseason prediction that they will legitimately contend for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

-USC AT NEW MEXICO. New Mexico is still unbeaten and appears to be superior in every way, shape and form to USC.

-MARSHALL VS WEST VIRGINIA. Both teams have been somewhat disappointing this year. Perhaps a win in a rivalry game could give the winner the boost they need to get things on track.

-UAB AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Middle came up short in their last game at Akron. It wouldn’t have been a great win, but it would have been a nice win for a team that has very limited opportunities. A win tonight will get them to 6-2.

-SAINT MARY’S AT DRAKE. Not the easiest road game for a team that has had its struggles early, but if SMC is truly a tournament team this is the kind of game they should be expected to win.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT WESTERN KENTUCKY. Both teams currently have decent records, and both will have opportunities to boost their profile later on in the season. It’s hard to say how meaningful this game will ultimately end up being because it’s hard to know for sure how good each team will ultimately end up being, but for now it is worth paying attention to.

-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT TEXAS A&M. I’m not too excited about either team, but SFA is unbeaten, and TAMU has just one loss on the year.

-DUQUESNE VS PITT. Pitt has dominated this series, but this has often been a competitive game. A win will get Pitt to 8-1.

-IUPUI AT BUTLER. Interesting inter-city match-up. These two teams normally don’t play, but I guess they have now begun a series. A win will get Butler to 6-2.

-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT MOREHEAD STATE. One of the Summit League Favorites can improve to 7-2 on the year.

-NORTH TEXAS AT SAINT LOUIS. North Texas should make some noise in the Sun Belt, but may be in a little over their heads tonight against SLU.

-UMES AT MARYLAND. Maryland has not lost since their season opener against Kentucky.

-ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF AT MICHIGAN STATE.

-HARTFORD AT ARIZONA STATE. A win gets ASU to 7-1.

Griggs

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Highlighted Games for Tuesday, December 4th

Posted on December 4, 2012 by David Griggs

-SOUTH DAKOT STATE AT MINNESOTA. South Dakota State is 6-2 on the year, and has a good team, but they need a good win in order to make their profile stick out. They lost to Alabama at the buzzer in the season opener, but have another opportunity to pull off an upset tonight.

-WYOMING AT ILLINOIS STATE. Wyoming is off to an 8-0 start and is coming off a big rivalry win against Colorado. Illinois State has just two losses on the year, and missed getting what would have been a huge quality win on their resume when they came up just short against Louisville in their last game.

-NORTHWESTERN AT BAYLOR. Baylor is coming off a big win at Kentucky and looks to be a solid NCAA team. Northwestern has a nice win against Illinois State, but this would be a huge true road win for them.

-WESTERN MICHIGAN AT MICHIGAN. Michigan is unbeaten and got a rather nice win at Bradley in their last game. Western Michigan has just one loss. We’ll see what they’re made of tonight.

-LOUISVILLE AT COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON. CofC got off to a slow start, but is now rolling. They managed a big win against Baylor, and have a showcase home game tonight against a Louisville team that is without their best player and has been struggling. This will really put CofC on the national scene if they pull off the upset.

-KENT STATE AT BUCKNELL. Two teams that are trying to play their way inside the bubble. Bucknell has a few decent wins already. Kent has struggled more, but this would certainly be a notable road win for them.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT ARIZONA. Southern Miss suffered their first loss of the season over the weekend at New Mexico State. Arizona is unbeaten, but untested. Still, they appear to be very strong this year, though.

-GEORGIAAT GEORGIA TECH. Georgia is probably better than their 2-5 record, but needs to get with it if they want their profile to reflect it. Georgia Tech comes in at 4-2, but looked good in their last game at Illinois.

-TEXAS VS GEORGETOWN. Texas is 5-2, but I have not been impressed by them at all. Georgetown has looked very good.

-UNLV AT PORTLAND. This is the first true road game of the year for UNLV. A win will get them to 6-1.

-LIPSCOMB AT BELMONT. This is the second meeting between the two on the season, who have opted to keep the home and home series going even though it is no longer a conference game. Belmont is coming off a loss at VCU, but can still improve to 6-2 with a win today.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT BRADLEY. Bradley is coming off a home loss to Michigan State, but is still a modest 6-2 on the year.

-RICHMOND AT OLD DOMINION. Old Dominion is off to a very disappointing 1-6 start. Richmond is much better at 6-2, but hasn’t looked all that good from what I’ve seen of them.

-FLORIDA GULF COAST AT IOWA STATE. UFGC is 6-3 with a win over Miami, FL and should be able to make quite a bit of noise in the Atlantic Sun this year. It’s probably not enough to get them in the at-large picture, but it’s still a big year for a young program. Iowa State can get to 6-2 with a win.

-UMBC AT GEORGE MASON. Mason can improve to 6-3 with a win.

-NEBRASKA OMAHA AT WISCONSIN. Wiscy should improve to 6-3.

-SOUTH DAKOTA AT IOWA. Iowa can get to 7-2 with a win.

-SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AT MISSOURI. Mizzou shouldn’t have any trouble getting to 7-1.

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT NC CENTRAL. EKU can improve to a perfect 8-0 with a win.

-NORTHERN KENTUCKY AT TEXAS TECH. Texas Tech can improve to 5-1 with a win, but they’ve played a very weak schedule.

-SAMFORD AT KENTUCKY. Kentucky shouldn’t have too much trouble rebounding from their loss to Baylor.

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT ILLINOIS. Look for Illinois to stay unbeaten.

Griggs

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Hoops HD Podcast 12-2-2012

Posted on December 3, 2012 by David Griggs

A lot of good discussion. Rick Majerus’s passing, an analysis of this past week’s big games, some conference realignment talk, and two great guests in Will Leich and Andy Cox.

If you’ve got nothing to do for the next two hours, give it a listen. It will be time well spent.

 

http://www.crimsoncast.com/2012/12/bracket-racket-12-2-12/

 

 

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Highlighted Games for Saturday, December 1st

Posted on December 1, 2012 by David Griggs

-BAYLOR AT KENTUCKY.  Both teams are coming off losses.  Neither team has a quality win on thier profile as high as this one would likely be.  Even though Kentucky has struggled early, it would still be a big early road win for Baylor.

-ALABAMA AT CINCINNATI.  Both teams are unbeaten.  Bama has a decent win against South Dakota State, and Cincinnati has a few notable wins from their tournament over Thanksgiviing.  It looks as though thisis the toughest test for either team so far, though. 

-MICHIGAN AT BRADLEY.  It’s a dream situation for Bradley.  They’re off to a good 5-1 start, they’re at home, and they’re playing the #3 team in the country.  It should be a great atmosphere, and we should learn something about both these teams.  For Michigan, it is their first true road game. 

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT VIRIGNIA TECH.  Both teams come into this game unbeaten.  Oklahoma State has shown they can beat good teams, but this is the first real test for Viriginia Tech so far. 

-BELMONT AT VCU (***At-Large Implications***).  It may seem too early to start to label games as having at-large implications, but Belmont will not get too many opportunities at quality wins after this.  They already have a nice win at Stanford, and this win is one of the better chances they’re going to get at solidifying themselves.  VCU has three losses, but two were to highly ranked teams in the Battle 4 Atlantis, so they have all the makigns of a solid team.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the Atlantic Ten.  This game is probably below the radar, but it is HUGELY imoportant. 

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT CREIGHTON.  Creighton is coming off a loss, but they’re still a very solid team.  Saint Joe’s is trying to build their resume.  If they’re able to win this one it will be a signature road win for them. 

-ILLINOIS STATE AT LOUISVILLE.  Louisville is shorthanded, but they’re still a strong team.  As for Illiniois State, this is the kind of win that can not only get them in the discussion, but way inside the bubble.  Both teams have just one loss on the season.

-NEW MEXICO AT INDIANA STATE. Very interesting game here. Indiana State dropped their opener at UCLA, but has not lost since. New Mexico is unbeaten on the season and has some decent wins to go with that record. This would certainly be another if they can pull it off.

-COLORADO AT WYOMING (Front Range).  Both teams are unbeaten, but Colorado has yet to play anyone that is likely to finish in the RPI top 200…if that.  Still, it’s a rivalry game.  It’s a mythical Front Range conference game.  They do have some momentum built up, and it will be interesting to see what they can do against the Buffalos. 

-BYU AT IOWA STATE.  Both teams have modest records, but are still unproven.  Right now I have more questions than answers about these two teams. 

-HAWAII AT UNLV. At 4-1, it’s still hard to determine how good Hawaii is. We should know a lot more about them after today.

-XAVIER AT PURDUE. Xavier didn’t appear to have much coming into the season, but they’re currently 5-1. Purdue is a very modest 3-3 and really needs to improve the looks of their resume.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT UCLA. This game should be a bigger deal than what it is, but UCLA is in a tailspin. San Diego State has struggled, but their only loss on the season was to Syracuse in the opener.

-PACIFIC AT GONZAGA. Pacific is 3-3, but put up a strong showing in the DirecTV Classic with wins over Xavier and Saint Mary’s. Gonzaga continues to look like a protected seed and hasn’t really even been challenged at home.

-MIAMI, FL AT UMASS.  Miami is coming off a good win against Michigan State, which offsets a bad loss against Florida Gulf Coast.  Both teams are looking to build up their resumes. 

-EAST CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE. An in-state matchup between two unbeaten and untested teams.

-ARIZONA AT TEXAS TECH. Two unbeaten and untested teams, but common sense tells me Arizona is the far superior team.

-DELAWARE AT DUKE. Delaware has made some noise early, but is still just 2-5 on the year. They should pick up some wins once they get into conference play. Duke is unbeaten and extremely battle tested.

-SACRAMENTO STATE AT ARIZONA STATE. Neither team had high expectations, but both are coming into this at 5-1.

-BUCKNELL AT COLUMBIA. With just one loss on the year and with wins against Purdue and George Mason, Bucknell is playing at a level that will get them into the discussion.

-GREEN BAY AT VIRGINIA. UVA is coming off a nice win against Wisconsin, and can improve to 5-2 with a win today. One of those losses was a close game at George Mason, so maybe I wrote off the Cavaliers a little too early.

-RUTGERS AT MISSISSIPPI.  Both teams enter this game with good records, but neither has really been tested yet. 

-OAKLAND AT WESTERN MICHIGAN. A win gets Western Michigan to 6-1.

-BALL STATE AT BUTLER. Butler has two really solid wins and can get to 5-2 with a win in this game.

-WAGNER AT TEMPLE. Temple seems to be under the national radar, but they have some solid road wins and can improve to 5-0 with a win today.

-COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON AT ELON (SoCon). CofC does have a nice win against Baylor, which followed a rocky start. Elon is 5-2 and unbeaten at home and will provide an early season conference test. Both CofC and Davidson are teams to watch in the SoCon. Speaking of Davidson…..

-DAVIDSON AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon). Like CofC, Davidson has a very small margin for error in their conference games, or for that matter, in any of their games.

-OHIO AT ROBERT MORRIS. Ohio can improve to 7-0 and pick up their third true road win today.

-PRINCETON AT KENT STATE. A win will get Kent to 6-2. IF they finish at or near the top of the MAC, they should be in the discussion.

-TEXAS A&M AT HOUSTON. Neither team has really been tested, but both are 5-1.

-DETROIT AT PITTSBURGH. Pitt has been a surprising team this year and can get to 7-1 with a win today.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT NEW MEXICO STATE. Southern Miss is unbeaten, but this is one of their tougher tests so far. Still, with semi decent wins against Western Kentucky and Georgia, and the fact that this would be their forth true road wins means that they deserve a spot on the radar.

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT EASTERN KENTUCKY. EKU is untested, but a win gets them to 7-0. It’s worth mentioning.

-UC SANTA BARABARA AT SANTA CLARA. Santa Clara has just one loss on the year.

-NJIT AT SAINT JOHN’S. Both teams come in at 4-2. NJIT does not appear to be strong, but they are much stronger than some of their teams that were winless on the season a few years back.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT TROY (Sun Belt). A win gets WKU to 6-2 on the year and will be their second road win in conference.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT PROVIDENCE. Providence is off to a modest 5-2 start.

WAKE FOREST AT RICHMOND. Richmond hasn’t knocked my socks off when I’ve seen them, but a win today does get them to 6-2.

-RIDER AT DREXEL. Drexel has lost four games by a combined total of 14 points. I think they’re a good team, but at 2-4 their margin for error is now very small.

-UAB AT NORTH CAROLINA. UNC is looking to rebound from the pounding they received up at Indiana.

-VERMONT AT RHODE ISLAND. Vermont has just one loss on the season and can pick up their fourth true road win if they can beat Rhody.

-NORFOLK STATE AT SAVANNAH STATE (MEAC). This may be the only MEAC game that gets highlighted all year, but it is an early season conference game between two of the better teams in the league.

-CAL POLY AT SAINT MARY’S. SMC has been somewhat unimpressive this year so far. Cal Poly upset UCLA a short time ago and should be coming into this with quite a bit of confidence.

NICHOLLS STATE AT MICHIGAN STATE. Michigan State is coming off a loss to Miami, FL. A win gets them to 6-2.

-TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI AT IOWA. Iowa can get to 6-2 with a win.

-NORTH FLORIDA AT MINNESOTA. Minnesota shouldn’t have much trouble getting to 8-1.

-APPALACHIAN STATE AT MISSOURI. Mizzou should have little trouble in this one.

-NORTHERN KENTUCKY AT OHIO STATE. I hope NKU enjoys their pay check and bus ride and gets to go someplace nice to eat.

-ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF ATOREGON. A win gets the Ducks to 7-1.

-COPPIN STATE AT INDIANA. When I think of all the exciting games today, this is not one that comes to mind.

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Games of Note for Friday, Nov 30th

Posted on November 30, 2012 by David Griggs

-TENNESSEE AT GEORGETOWN. Georgetown has climbed to #20 in the polls, but based on what I’ve seen I believe them to be even better than that. I think Tennessee could have a good year as well, but they may be in a little over their heads in this one.

-OREGON STATE AT KANSAS. Both teams have just one loss. Oregon State appears to be turning the corner as far as being a team that can compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. To win a game like this, though, would indicate that they’re capable of doing much more than merely playing themselves into the discussion. Kansas has been solid this year, but they haven’t knocked anyone’s socks off yet. This one should be a good one.

-GEORGIA AT SOUTH FLORIDA. Since losing to Youngstown State, Georgia has looked pretty decent against UCLA and Indiana. The problem is that they didn’t win either game. South Florida is off to a modest 4-2 start and needs to build their profile up if they want to be taken seriously.

-SYRACUSE AT ARKANSAS. Arkansas has yet to lose at home, and has yet to win away from home. Very similar to last year. They have a lot of potential, but it hasn’t exactly shown through yet. Having said that, they are tough to beat at home and it won’t be a walk in the park for Syracuse.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT GEORGIA STATE. LA Tech doesn’t have a whole lot of history, and no one is overly excited about them this year, but a win does get them to 7-1. Georgia State would be a fairly decent road win for them.

-NORTHWESTERN STATE AT OKLAHOMA. I’m not too excited about the Sooners yet, but a win will get them to 6-1.

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News, Notes, Reviews and Previews (Thursday, Nov. 29th)

Posted on November 29, 2012 by David Griggs

NEWS, NOTES AND OTHER AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT INSIGHTS

-At this point in the year, Duke already appears to have enough high quality wins for a #1 seed. I realize that everyone starts out at zero, and it’s possible that Kentucky, Louisville, VCU, Minnesota and Ohio State will all end up with sub 500 records and outside of the RPI top 200, but it is highly unlikely. I’d be less surprised to see Centenary in the Final Four than I would to see all those teams outside the top 25 at the end of the year. Those are some serious big league wins that Duke has put together, and all but one of them came away from home. No one else even comes remotely close.

-So, Duke has the best profile, but as far as the singular best true road win?? I believe we saw that last night when Boise State went into Creighton and not only won, but won handily. They maintained about a ten point lead all throughout the second half, and whenever Creighton would go on a run and build up momentum, Boise would make a big play to stifle it. It was a very impressive showing for the Broncos. With their only loss being to Michigan State, which was another close game, Boise is DEFINITELY a team to watch. They’ve already earned some strong NCAA Tournament credentials.

-I was very hard on Georgia Tech in our last podcast, which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I spent much of the Sunday after Thanksgiving driving, and because of that did not see that they had actually beaten Saint Mary’s that very day. It was a poorly timed and inaccurate assessment on my part. I’ve gotten so used to them being bad that I was not high on them coming into the year and just assumed they were bad again. I know they lost to Illinois last night, but they played very well. The final score was not indicative of how good of a game they gave the Illini, who is a good team, on their home floor. I’m not ready to say Georgia Tech is a lock for the NCAAs, but I am willing to retract my comment about how I believe them to be “Worse than awful” or “Less than nothing.”

-Miami, FL looked very good in their win against Michigan State. The Canes have a bad loss to Florida Gulf Coast, but right now I’m thinking that was more of a hiccup than anything else and that their team and profile will be looking pretty solid by the end of the year.

 

TONIGHT’S ACTION

-MARQUETTE AT FLORIDA. Marquette is 5-1, but is still looking for their first real quality win. This would certainly give their profile a huge boost, but even if they don’t pick up the win tonight, the loss won’t hurt them and they’ll have many more opportunities. Florida, I believe, is playing as well as anyone in the country. An interesting note about both these teams is that both were scheduled to play on boats, but had to cancel due to the weather. You don’t see that in basketball very often.

-KENTUCKY AT NOTRE DAME. Notre Dame has a semi-decent win against BYU, but other than that they’ve been beating up on cupcakes. Kentucky looks very similar with a win against Maryland, but not really much else. It would probably be the best win of the season so far for whoever pulls this one out.

-SETON HALL AT LSU. I don’t believe either of these teams are all that strong, but at this moment in time Seton Hall is 5-1 and LSU is 4-0. So, I’ll continue to watch them until one or both goes in the tank. That could happen as soon as they begin playing real competition.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT SAINT JOHN’S. Both teams have good records, but nothing that comes close to resembling a good win yet.

-MIDDLE TENNESSE STATE AT LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE (Sun Belt). Yes, this is a conference game. Middle is 4-1 on the year, and is good enough to be considered an at-large. In order to obtain the profile they need, they need to blow through the SBC.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT LOUISIANA MONROE (Sun Belt). WKU is 4-2, and although they don’t have any impressive wins yet, I do believe they have potential. If they fail to win tonight, my opinion on their potential will certainly change.

-LA SALLE AT RIDER. La Salle hasn’t been as impressive as I’d thought, but they’re still 3-1 and can pick up another road win today.

-HIGH POINT AT WESTERN MICHIGAN. Western Michigan is 4-1 and is worth keeping an eye on for now.

-TENNESSEE MARTIN AT MEMPHIS. Memphis has no good wins yet, and this certainly won’t count as one.

-SOUTHERN UTAH AT TCU. This probably is not worth getting overly excited about considering the teams they’ve beaten, but TCU can improve to 6-2 with a win.

-LEWIS & CLARK STATE (nondiv1) AT GONZAGA. No comment.

-TEXAS SAN ANTONIO AT OREGON. Oregon has a nice win against UNLV and can improve to 6-1 tonight. Compared to most of the rest of the Pac Twelve, they’re doing well.

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