Hoops HD

Tonight we head out west again to sunny California as the Saint Mary’s Gaels play host to the BYU Cougars at 11:00 PM Eastern on ESPN2.  While Gonzaga has dominated the WCC so far this season, the Gaels have a profile that is setting up to be one of the more controversial ones come Selection Sunday.  Heading into tonight’s game, St. Mary’s is 22-5 with an RPI of 52 and a SOS of 155.  If they win out until the WCC finals, they would theoretically be 27-6, a record that will draw a ton of attention.

The Gaels main problem is their lack of marquee wins.  Their three best wins at the moment are at BYU, at Santa Clara and a home win over Harvard.  Only Harvard is a probable tournament team from that group, and that is only because they are favored to win the Ivy League automatic bid.  St. Mary’s also has two questionable losses, neutral court defeats at the hands of Pacific and Georgia Tech, though both of those came way back in November.

This week is a huge one for St. Mary’s.  While BYU does not appear to be an at-large caliber team, beating them tonight would give the Gaels a season sweep of a top 100 team.  Then, on Saturday, they host RPI 47 Creighton in the BracketBusters.  A win over the BlueJays would be St. Mary’s first over a solid at-large caliber team all season, and is probably critical to their at-large chances.  After this week, the Gaels have a trip to Pepperdine and a home game against Santa Clara left on their schedule, followed by the WCC tournament where they should receive the #2 seed and a bye into the semifinals.  Any slip-up could be fatal at this point, especially given that their only chance for a true high-level victory would be a potential West Coast Conference title game against the zags…and obviously if they were to win that they would be in with the automatic bid.

Today we return to the Colonial Athletic Association for a 7:00 PM Eastern tip-off featuring Northeastern at James Madison.  The Northeastern Huskies have rolled through conference play so far this season, posting a 12-3 conference record.  James Madison currently sits tied for second with Towson at 10-5, though Towson in ineligible for the conference tournament and postseason play due to an APR ban.  Delaware is tied with both teams in the loss column as well, with a conference mark of 9-5.

A win for the Huskies tonight will clinch at least a tie for the CAA regular season title.  They can clinch the #1 seed in the conference tournament as well with a win tonight and a Delaware loss tomorrow to Drexel.  The top seed in the CAA tournament has extra meaning this year as only 7 teams are eligible, meaning the top seed will receive a bye into the semifinals.  Northeastern is looking for its first NCAA tournament bid since 1991, and at this point it appears they are going to have the easiest path through the CAA tournament available.  If they are unable to get it done in their league tournament, though, it will only be the NIT as their resume is not close to being at-large caliber.

For today’s game, we turn back to the Big South conference.  While most of the focus in this conference so far this season has been on the battle between Charleston Southern and UNC-Asheville in the South Division, the High Point Panthers have very slowly put together a solid 10-3 conference mark to lead the North Division and be on pace for a top seed in the conference tournament.

Tonight, High Point travels to VMI for at 7:00 PM Eastern tipoff.  High Point is 15-10m on the season and 10-3 in league play.  They are presently on a six game winning streak.  VMI is 11-13 on the season and 6-6 in conference, good enough for second place behind High Point in the North Division.  A win in tonight’s game by High Point will in fact clinch the North Division title for the Panthers.  This would be the Panthers first ever regular season title since joining the Big South 13 years ago.

High Point is led by Allan Chaney who posted his fifth career double-double last time out, and freshman John Brown who had 17 points in his last game.  VMI is led by D.J. Covington who put up 31 points and 15 boards in a losing effort this past weekend.  A win tonight for the Keydets who let head coach Duggar Baucom tie the school record for most career wins at 116.  It would also continue VMI’s recent success against High Point at the Keydets have won 7 of their last 8 matchups, with only the earlier meeting this season in High Point, NC going the Panthers way.

First, apologies for not posting an SCGD yesterday.  However, we are back in the swing of things tonight with a few good games.  The rematch between Bucknell and Lehigh in the Patriot League (7:00 PM Eastern, CBS-Sports Network) is clearly the top game on the calendar tonight for small conference teams.  However, as we had the first matchup of these two teams as the SCGD earlier this season, I am going to instead go with a battle in the MEAC as today’s pick.

At 7:00 PM Eastern tonight (ESPNU coverage), Norfolk State is on the road to take on Hampton.  The Spartans are one of six remaining teams that are undefeated in their conference (joining Miami, Memphis, Akron, Gonzaga and Louisiana Tech).  The Spartans were picked seventh in the conference pre-season, making their 11-0 record in league play to date even more impressive.  They hold a one game lead over North Carolina Central, who lost their first game over the weekend.  Due to a scheduling quirk in the 13 team MEAC, Norfolk and NCCU do not meet during the regular season.

As for their opponent tonight, the Hampton Pirates sit at 7-3 in the MEAC, solidly in fourth place.  Hampton features the defending MEAC player of the week in Du’Vaughn Maxwell, who scored 29 points and 10 rebounds against Delaware State last week.  Tonight may be the best chance for anyone to hand Norfolk State a regular season loss.  The Spartans only have one road game left after tonight, this weekend’s contest at fifth place Delaware State.  They will then end the regular season with three straight home games against the bottom of the league.

One final note about tonight’s game:  Hampton is having a Blue-Out…so if you don’t want to see all that blue in the stands, you may be better off watching Bucknell-Lehigh after all.