Galen, Kyle and David look at the result from the first week of the college basketball season, and take a look ahead at the upcoming action. Despite a huge number of mismatches in the opening week, there were still a few surprises, most notably the struggle of so many SEC teams, and Holy Cross’s upset win over Harvard.
For a rundown of all of the action on Monday and Tuesday – CLICK HERE
And, for all of you radio fans, here is an audio only podcast below…
MONDAY
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT DREXEL. Both teams are looking for their first win, and Joe’s needs to rebound from their opening loss to Fairleigh Dickinson.
-MAINE AT NJIT. NJIT looks to pick up their first win.
-UCSB AT FGCU. Santa Barbara played well against Kansas, and could use a road win tonight. A win for FGCU gets them to 2-0.
-MIAMI FL AT FLORIDA. Both teams appear to be strong this year, and this would be a quality win in a rivalry game for whoever pulls it off.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT TEMPLE. LA Tech is a good team who doesn’t get many shots at quality opponents and has a small margin for error. Both teams come into this 1-0.
-BELMONT AT LIPSCOMB. Belmont lost their opener at Wright State, and is looking to rebound agains their crosstown rival.
-UMKC AT KANSAS STATE. It’s technically a buy game, but UMKC has a win at Missouri. If they pull off a second upset, they’ll have a pretty impressive profile, at least at this point.
-SMU AT GONZAGA (Tip-Off Marathon). Two ranked teams who are both facing their first real test and looking to pick up a quality win.
-AUBURN AT COLORADO. (Tip-Off Marathon) Auburn won their first game and is looking to turn things around. Going to Colorad is going to be a really tough test.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT SAINT MARY’S (Tip-Off Marathon). New Mexico State is the favorites to win the WAC, and SMC is looking to improve to 2-0.
TUESDAY
-HIGH POINT AT HAWAII (Tip-Off Marathon). Both teams are 2-0.
-IONA AT WOFFORD (Tip-Off Marathon). Iona is the preseason favorite to win the MAAC, and Wofford is the favorite to win the SoCon, so it should be an interesting early season game.
-NORTHERN IOWA AT SFA (Tip-Off Marathon). These are two teams that we feel could end up inside the bubble and the NCAA Tournament. It’s also one of the few chances either one of them gets at a high quality win, so this is a very important game.
-MANHATTAN AT UMASS (Tip-Off Marathon). UMass can improve to 2-0 with a win.
-BAYLOR AT SOUTH CAROLINA (Tip-Off Marathon). We’re not all that excited about either teams, but both come into this 1-0.
-WICHITA STATE AT MEMPHIS (Tip-Off Marathon). Wichita is looking for what they hope will be a big win on the road. Many are skeptical about Memphis.
-UTAH AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Tip-Off Marathon). Both teams are in the rankings, and both are expected to have big years.
-TOLEDO AT VCU. Toledo is a very good team who needs quality wins in order to establish themselves as an at-large caliber team. Winning at VCU would certainly help.
-MICHIGAN STATE VS DUKE. Duke looks to be very strong this year, and I have my doubts about Michigan State, but it’s a big early season test for both teams.
-KENTUCKY VS KANSAS. This is an early season match-up between two teams that appear to be contending for the #1 seed. You need wins against heavyweights to land on the #1 line, so this is a big game for both of them.
-SAINT LOUIS AT INDIANA STATE. Both teams are 1-0.
-MARQUETTE AT OHIO STATE. It’s hard to say how good Marquette will be this year. We’ll learn a lot about them after we see them against a heavyweight like Ohio State.
-RICHMOND AT OLD DOMINION. An old Colonial rivalry is renewed as both teams come into this 1-0.
-MURRAY STATE AT MIDDLE TENNESSEE. Murray State is a team we believed to be good enough to earn an at-large, but they lost their season opener to Houston. They need to get this one, or they’ll likely be out of strikes because their schedule appears to be so weak.
-TEXAS TECH AT LSU. LSU may be a tournament caliber team. Both teams come in 1-0 today.
BUY GAMES
-Texas Southern @ Indiana. Mildly interesting as Mike Davis returns to Bloomington.
-Jacksonville State @ Louisvlle. A win gets Louisville to 2-0.
-Winthrop @ Clemson. both teams are 1-0.
-Hofstra @ NC State. Both teams 1-0.
-UMES @ Villanova
-Central Connecticut @ Maryland. CCSU is one of the better teams in the NEC, but they’re likely overmatched tonight.
-Bucknell @ Michigan. Both teams are 1-0
-North Dakota State @ Iowa. Iowa tries to improve to 2-0.
-Bethune Cookman @ Arizona State
-Detroit @ Oregon. Both teams 1-0.
-Long Beach State @ Xavier (Tuesday). LBSU hung in their first game, so Xavier does not want to overlook them.
-TAMUCC @ Georgetown (Tuesday). Both teams 1-0.
-Northeastern @ Florida State (Tuesday). A win for the Noles gets them to 2-0.
-South Carolina State @ Virginia (Tuesday).
-Chattanooga @ Butler (Tuesday). This is an interesting game because of the contrasting styles, but Butler appears to be the superior team. A win gets htem to 2-9.
-UALR @ BYU (Tuesday). A win for the Cougars gets them to 2-0
-MONTANA AT BOISE STATE (Tuesday). Boise got two good road wins early, and can get to 3-0 with a win.
HAPPY COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON EVERYBODY!!! Everything you need to know about college hoops, we’ve got it covered, and we will continue to cover it throughout the entire season.
For a rundown of all of this weekend’s action – CLICK HERE
Hoops HD Season Preview #1, where we discuss the major conferences – CLICK HERE
Preseason Bracketology Podcast, where we build an NCAA Tournament Bracket based on the preseason Top 25, and Conference Media Day predictions – CLICK HERE
Under the Radar Preseason Podcasts, where we look at the teams outside the major conferences that could play a factor in the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE
First Bracket Racket of the Season, where we look at some of the exhibition games, as well as the important games of the first weekend – CLICK HERE
ON and UNDER the Radar Final Preseason Show, where we reveal our own predictions of where we think the teams will stand come March – CLICK HERE
AAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/10/conference-preview-american/
ACC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/10/conference-preview-acc/
Atlantic Ten: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/11/conference-preview-atlantic-ten/
Big East: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/11/conference-preview-big-east/
Big Ten: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/11/conference-preview-big-ten/
Big Twelve: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/12/conference-preview-big-12/
Mountain West: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/12/conference-preview-mountain-west/
Pac Twelve: http://hoopshd.com/2014/11/12/conference-preview-pac-12/
SEC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/13/conference-preview-sec/
America East: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/25/conference-preview-america-east/
Atlantic Sun: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/26/conference-preview-atlantic-sun/
Big Sky: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/26/conference-preview-big-sky/
Big South: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/27/conference-preview-big-south/
Big West: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/27/conference-preview-big-west/
Colonial: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/28/conference-preview-colonial/
Conference USA: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/28/conference-preview-conference-usa/
Horizon League: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/29/conference-preview-horizon-league/
Ivy League: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/29/conference-preview-ivy-league/
MAAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/30/conference-preview-metro-atlantic/
MAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/30/conference-preview-mid-american/
MEAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/31/conference-preview-mid-eastern-athletic/
Missouri Valley: https://hoopshd.com/2014/10/31/conference-preview-missouri-valley/
NEC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/01/conference-preview-northeast/
Ohio Valley: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/01/conference-preview-ohio-valley/
Patriot League: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/02/conference-preview-patriot-league/
SoCon: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/02/conference-preview-southern-conference/
Southland: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/03/conference-preview-southland/
SWAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/03/conference-preview-swac/
Summit League: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/04/conference-preview-summit-league/
Sun Belt: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/04/conference-preview-sun-belt/
West Coast: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/05/conference-preview-west-coast/
WAC: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/05/conference-preview-wac/
NJIT: https://hoopshd.com/2014/11/06/independent-preview-njit/
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Chad and David reveal the Hoops HD Preseason Bracket Projections, which were taken from all 32 of Chad’s Conference Previews. They also discuss how they are adopting NJIT as the Under the Radar team of the year. They are the only div1 team that is not in a conference, but still have a reasonable chance of qualifying for a postseason tournament. After that, they look at the week’s upcoming UTR Match ups.
…….and for all of you radio lovers, the audio podcast is available below.
FRIDAY, NOV 14TH
-TEXAS SOUTHERN AT EASTERN WASHINGTON. At 11am in the east, it will officially be college basketball season!! This is an 11am local tip. All teams start at zero, but neither of these two are expected to do much. But, whoever wins will be the kings of college basketball…..at least for a few hours.
-YALE AT QUINNIPIAC. Yale is one of the better teams in the Ivy this year, but will have to either overtake Harvard or earn an at-large if they want to make the dance.
-BOISE STATE AT SAN DIEGO. I think USD could have a decent year this year with all the experience they have coming back. If Boise wants to make the dance, these are the kinds of road games they need to be able to win.
-TENNESSEE VS VCU. Tennessee has undergone a coaching change, and they may be undergoing another one very soon depending on how the NCAA’s investigation comes out. They have a tall order against a very good VCU team tonight.
-LONG BEACH STATE AT BYU. I know this is technically a buy game, but Long Beach may turn out to be halfway decent this year, and they’re at least good enough to give BYU the kind of game that should enable us to learn something about them.
-GEORGIA AT GEORGIA TECH. Georgia hasn’t gotten much love, but I think they may have something this year. Starting off the season with a road win against a rival would be great for them.
-SIENA AT UMASS. This is potentially a very dangerous opener for a UMass team that was good last year, but has some question marks this year. Siena is one of the teams that will challenge for the Metro Atlantic Title.
VIRGINIA AT JAMES MADISON. I gotta hand it to Virginia. They’re not afraid to go on the road and play against other regional teams.
-NJIT AT SAINT JOHN’S. This is a buy game, but NJIT is our adopted team, so all their games will get some attention from us. The Johnnies have been battling some eligibility issues, and may have some difficulty adjusting.
-MINNESOTA VS LOUISVILLE. It’s the Pitino Shootout!! Louisville looks like a legit top fifteen team. There is a lot of love for Minnesota because of how they finished the season last year winning the NIT, but I’m not quite convinced they’re a slam dunk for the NCAAs.
-AMERICAN AT TEMPLE. American has a lot of players back and should be one of the best teams in the Patriot. Are they good enough to upset a Temple team on the road that is trying to rebuild from a bad season last year??
-AIR FORCE AT ARMY. It’s worth a mention. Neither are likely NCAA Tournament teams, but we believe both will likely do better in their respective conferences than what most are expecting.
-DREXEL AT COLORADO. Drexel is always exciting. They can play up against good teams, and down against poor teams. I have more questions than answers about these two, so it’ll be interesting to see how this goes.
-HOUSTON AT MURRAY STATE. Murray State is very good this year, but has an extremely small margin for error. Houston isn’t great, but they may be one of the better teams that Murray places.
-INDIANA STATE AT IUPUI. IUPUI is awful, but this is our chance to see an Indiana State team who we think could end up close to the bubble when it’s all said and done.
-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT TEXAS. I know this is technically a buy game, but it’ll be interesting to see how NDSU rebuilds after losing so much from the team that made the Round of 32 last year. It’ll also be a good glimpse to see if Texas is as good as their high preseason ranking.
-MICHIGAN STATE VS NAVY. It may not be a buy game, but it’ll probably ending up looking like one.
-NEW MEXICO STATE AT WICHITA STATE. New Mexico State won’t run away with the WAC, but they probably are the favorites to make the NCAAs. Wichita, again, looks to be a top ten caliber team.
-MILWAUKEE AT AUBURN. We highlight this one because of the return of Bruce Pearl, and he’s returning against his old team.
-WASHINGTON STATE AT UTEP. Many believe UTEP could be an NCAA Tournament team. We’ll see if they can dominate what appears to be a weak Wazzu team at home.
-WOFFORD AT STANFORD. I know this is a buy game, but Wofford is one of the better teams in the SoCon and it’ll be interesting to see what they can do on the road against a good Stanford team.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH
-SAINT FRANCIS COLLEGE AT GEORGETOWN. SFC is picked to win the NEC, and Georgetown has a tendency to be inconsistent. I know this is technically a buy game, but it may be one that turns out to be worth watching.
-BOISE STATE AT LMU. This is a chance for Boise to pad their road wins.
-NORTHERN ARIZONA @ TOLEDO. Toledo may dance this March, but they can’t afford too many missteps in games like this.
-UMASS AT BOSTON COLLEGE. We should know something about UMass by the end of the weekend. They’ve got two challenging games, including this one that is on the road.
SUNDAY, NOV 16TH
-FORDHAM AT PENN STATE. Some have indicated that Fordham may actually end up being a force in the Atlantic Ten. I don’t agree, but if they manage to win this one they’ll at least have my early attention.
-HARVARD AT HOLY CROSS. Harvard should be able to pick this up, but it’s not the easiest game in the world to win.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT RUTGERS. If GW is a tournament team, then this is the kind of road game they should be expected to win.
-COASTAL CAROLINA AT UCLA. This is technically a buy game, and it’s a game UCLA can easily win. All I will say is that Coastal is good enough to win this game if the Bruins overlook them entirely.
BUY GAMES, brought to you by Hostess
-Presby @ Duke (Friday)
-William & Mary @ Florida (Friday). Bill & Mary is one of the better teams in the Colonial, but they’re overmatched tonight.
-Florida A&M at Clemson (Friday)
-Bryant at UConn (Friday). Bryant is a halfway decent NEC team, but they’re overmatched in this one.
-Alabama A&M @ Dayton (Friday)
-Grambling State @ George Washington (Friday)
-MIT (nondiv1) @ Harvard (Friday).
-Mississippi Valley State @ Indiana (Friday)
-Howard @ Miami FL (Friday)
-UMass Lowell @ Ohio State (Friday)
-Niagara @ Pitt (Friday)
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Saint Joe’s (Friday)
-Kennesaw State @ Syracuse (Friday). Why bother??
-Monmouth @ West Virginia (Friday)
-Northern Arizona @ Xavier (Friday).
-Wagner @ Maryland (Friday)
-Radford @ Richmond (Friday)
-UMBC @ Akron (Friday). I like this Akron team and think they’ll make some noise this year.
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Arizona (Friday)
-Saint Francis U @ Cincinnati (Friday)
-Oakland @ Iowa State (Friday)
-Grand Canyon @ Kentucky (Friday). Grand Canyon is not eligible for the postseason because they are a transitional team, but they are one of the better teams in the WAC. Still, they’re very much overmatched in this one.
-NCCU @ North Carolina (Friday). NCCU is one of the better teams in the MEAC, and they did upset NC State last year, but they’re probably in over their heads in this one.
-SELA @ Oklahoma State (Friday)
-Mississippi College (nondiv1) @ SFA (Friday). SFA cannot afford to lose this game. Period.
-Northwestern State @ Texas A&M (Friday). A lot of people are big on TAMU this year, but I’m not sold yet.
-Lehigh @ Villanova (Friday)
-Sacramento State @ Gonzaga (Friday)
-Georgia Southern @ Illinois (Friday)
-Southern Utah @ Kansas State (Friday)
-UMKC @ Missouri (Friday)
-Binghamton @ Notre Dame (Friday)
-Northern Kentucky @ Wisconsin (Friday)
-McNeese State @ Baylor (Friday)
-Hampton @ Iowa (Friday)
-Tennessee Martin @ Marquette (Friday)
-Lamar @ SMU (Friday)
-Chicago State @ Arizona State (Friday)
-Alcorn State @ Cal (Friday)
-Cal St. Northridge @ San Diego State (Friday)
-Ball State @ Utah (Friday)
-South Carolina State @ Washington (Friday)
-Morehead State @ UNLV (Friday)
-Coppin State @ Oregon (Friday). The Ducks aren’t as good as they’ve been the last two years, but they should start off with a win tonight.
-Montana State @ UCLA (Friday)
-Manhattan @ Florida State (Saturday)
-Gardner Webb @ LSU (Saturday)
-Hillsdale (nondiv1) @ Michigan (Saturday)
-North Dakota @ Northern Iowa (Saturday). I like this UNI team and think they can make the NCAAs. They can’t afford to stub their toes, though.
-Maine @ Butler (Saturday)
-Albany @ Providence (Saturday)
-Fairfield @ Duke (Saturday)
-Buffalo @ Kentucky (Sunday)
-Samford @ Pitt (Sunday)
-Chattanooga @ Wisconsin (Sunday)
-Northern Kentucky @ Nebraska (Sunday)
-Navy @ Notre Dame (Sunday)
-SELA @ Oklahoma (Sunday)
-Prairie View A&M @ Oklahoma State (Sunday)
-Lafayette @ West Virginia (Sunday)
-Hampton @ Syracuse (Sunday)
-Coppin State @ Illinois (Sunday)
-Valpo @ Missouri (Sunday)
-Robert Morris @ North Carolina (Sunday)
-South Dakota @ Stanford (Sunday)
-Norfolk State @ Virginia (Sunday)
-Cal St. Northridge @ Arizona (Sunday)
-Kennesaw State @ Cal (Sunday)
-Alcorn State @ Texas (Sunday)
Ramblings and Highlighted Match-Ups: Wednesday, Nov 19th
PUPPET RAMBLINGS
-I don’t want to read too much into this because I know we have a long way to go, but Kentucky looked so good against Kansas, that it appears as though the only way anyone will be able to beat them is if they have an off night. They had twice as many blocks as they did turnovers, they defended as strongly as any team I can remember, and they did this against a very good top five caliber team. Then again, like I said on Twitter, it’s possible that Kansas was simply looking past Kentucky and ahead to Rider.
-Gonzaga was extremely impressive in their game against SMU on Monday night. They looked like a Final Four caliber team (albeit, they were at home), and they made SMU look like…..SMU.
-Miami FL got a huge road win at Florida, which will definitely impress the selection committee come March if Florida turns out to have the kind of season we’re expecting them to have. Miami went from being questionable to now looking like a solid NCAA Tournament caliber team. What is perhaps as impressive as anything was how they won. They fell down by double digits, on the road, to Florida, in a hostile environment, but made adjustments and them fought back to get the victory. It was VERY impressive.
-I think one of the most important games of the day was Northern Iowa’s win at SFA. It was two legitimate top forty caliber teams, but both are somewhat under the radar, and both have limited opportunities at statement wins that will impress the committee. So, with that in mind, it was hugely important for both teams. It seesawed back and forth, both teams made great plays, and Northern Iowa ended up pulling it off. It will likely be the only home game SFA loses this year. I do believe that SFA needed the game a little more because they are at home, and because the Missouri Valley will at least give UNI the chance to pick up top 100 wins. The Southland will likely provide SFA with very few top 200 RPI wins, none of which will do the least bit to impress the committee. SFA has Xavier next, and Memphis and Baylor on the Horizon. They need to win some of those. After seeing them today, they may be good enough to actually win all three of those.
-Toledo, another team we feel is good enough to get an at-large, played a hell of a game at VCU, but came up just short. We oftentimes see teams who need big wins go in and play with a lot of valor, but come up short. That’s what Toledo did today. It’s an up hill battle, and sometimes these teams that are outside the major conferences feel the pressure a lot more, but at the end of the day they need to do more than just play well to impress the selection committee. They need to win a few of those. Toledo will have a few more chances, but not many. I hope they’re able to make their case because they are a good team and they did show that today.
-If you missed the Wichita State v Memphis game, don’t bother watching it. Wichita won rather easily. Memphis followed up their exhibition loss to Christian Brothers with a poor performance yesterday.
-Northeastern is unbeaten, and both wins have come away from home. Tonight, they won at Florida State, which is one of the more impressive road wins that anyone has managed so far. They have notable road games at UMass, Harvard and Richmond. If they can pick up a couple of those, which they’re good enough to do, and avoid too many slip ups in conference, they may not need to win the conference tournament. That’s why I always say that March starts in November.
-UMKC didn’t win at Kansas State the other night, but they played really well. This wasn’t a team that we were excited about, but now that they’ve won at Missouri and put up a hell of a fight at Kansas State, they may be the best team in the WAC. They’ve certainly looked better than New Mexico State so far.
-San Diego State picked up a big home win against their old conference rival Utah. The game was a rock fight, with both teams playing tough defense and struggling on offense.
HIGHLIGHTED MATCH-UPS
-WRIGHT STATE AT BOWLING GREEN. Neither team has lost yet.
-EVANSVILLE AT MIAMI OH. Evansville, who is a dark horse that we believe to be pretty good, needs to be able to win games like this on the road.
-ARMY AT SAINT FRANCIS COLLEGE. Army hasn’t lost yet, and has a real challenge on the road against the preseason NEC favorites.
-OHIO AT FGCU. Neither team has lost
-LIBERTY AT VIRGINIA TECH. Technically a buy game, and it isn’t likely that either team will be in the NCAA Tourney picture, but as of now neither team has lost.
-NJIT AT ALBANY. NJIT, our adopted team, looks to pick up a road win and improve to 2-1 on the year
-OKLAHOMA AT CREIGHTON. Neither team has lost. Creighton has looked pretty good, but they’ve done it against weaker competition and it isn’t known for sure yet if they can compete against top twenty caliber teams with so many new players. The Sooners are trying to pick up what they hope turns out to be a notable road win.
-ORAL ROBERTS AT MISSOURI. ORU opened with a big win over rival Tulsa, and is trying to improve to 2-0 with another notable win.
-DELAWARE STATE AT NORTH TEXAS. Both teams 2-0.
SANTA CLARA AT UTAH STATE. Both teams 2-0.
-UC IRVINE AT ARIZONA. Very intriguing game tonight with one of the best teams in the Big West taking on one of the best teams in the nation. It’ll be interesting to see what UC Irvine can do against a heavyweight.
-GREEN BAY AT WISCONSIN. Green Bay barely missed the tournament last year, and they have most of their players back. They fell to Wisconsin last year after leading for most of the game, and are looking to get revenge. If they can pull off this upset on the road, it would go a long way toward them getting an at-large.
-WAKE FOREST AT ARKANSAS. Neither team has lost, and both are looking for a notable win.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT GONZAGA. Gonzaga looked like a Final Four caliber team in their opener. Saint Joe’s has struggled in their first two games, so it could get ugly.
BUY GAMES
Morehead State @ Cincinnati
Coppin State @ Notre Dame
LIU Brooklyn @ Saint John’s. A win for the Johnnies will get them to 3-0