Under the Radar Game of the Day – Wednesday, January 10th

Posted on January 10, 2024 by John Stalica

UNC-Asheville (10-7, 2-0) at High Point (13-4, 2-0)

First place in the Big South is at stake tonight when the Bulldogs of UNC-Asheville travel east along I-40 to visit the High Point Panthers. UNC-A opened conference play with back-to-back wins against USC-Upstate at home and against Presbyterian on the road. Drew Pember had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs in the 84-80 victory against Presbyterian.

High Point started conference play with a 14-point win at Radford to get people’s attention in the Big South. That effort was followed up with an 85-76 win at home against Gardner-Webb. Kezza Giffa has scored 54 points in both of the Panthers’ league wins so far; he had 24 in the win against Radford and 30 points in the win against G-W.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Jan 9th

Posted on January 9, 2024 by David Griggs

LINKS:

CLICK HERE for the latest HOOPS HD REPORT Video Podcast where we recap a busy week of conference play and preview this upcoming week

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-HOUSTON AT IOWA STATE (Big 12). Houston remains unbeaten and is up to #2 in the polls, but this could be their biggest test of the year. Iowa State isn’t in the rankings, and they’re actually coming off a loss to Oklahoma, but they are very tough to beat on their home floor and they will be jacked way up for this one.

-TEXAS AT CINCINNATI (Big 12). Texas has done nothing outside of winning home buy games, yet they are somehow in the rankings. They need some wins like this just to get the committee’s attention because so far they’ve done absolutely nothing. Cincinnati had gotten fat on cupcakes as well, but is coming off a HUGE win against BYU, which suddenly changes the entire complexion of their season.

-WAKE FOREST AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC). Wake has won nine straight and is coming off a big win against Miami FL. Their resume is starting to look better and better and they’ve got a chance to add a conference road win to it tonight.

-SOUTH CAROLINA AT ALABAMA (SEC). This is a really interesting game between a South Carolina team that is 13-1 with some decent wins, including their last game game against Mississippi State, but who could really strengthen their resume even more with some big road wins, and an Alabama team that’s really good, but who needs to string together some wins in conference in order to shore up their resume.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12). Texas Tech is an impressive 12-2 on the season, but their SOS is very unimpressive, so they still have a lot of work to do now that conference play has started and they need to hold serve at home in this one.

-PURDUE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Nebraska is showing signs of being a possible tournament team. They’re 12-3 overall, and they have a few decent wins against teams like Kansas State, Michigan State and Indiana. A win today would REALLY put them on the committee’s radar. Having said that, despite being at home in front of what will undoubtedly be a raucous crowd, they’ll have to play way over their heads to beat a Purdue team that I think is the best in the country.

-DUKE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC). Duke is having a pretty good year, but they have just one true road win up to this point, so a win today really helps improve their resume. Pitt is within reach of the bubble, but they need to pick up some wins in games like this in order to get inside of it.

-BYU AT BAYLOR (Big 12). Both teams are in the rankings and both are almost assured to land in the top half of the bracket, so this is really just a resume-building opportunity. Having said that, BYU is coming off of a loss and doesn’t have a true road win yet, so this would likely be their biggest win of the season to date if they’re able to pull it off.

-TEXAS A&M AT AUBURN (SEC). Both are likely tournament teams, but both resumes still have room to improve, so this is a resume-building opportunity. TAMU is coming off a surprising home loss to a so-so LSU team, and will face Kentucky after this, so this is a big game for them to try and get things turned around and avoid a bit of a skid.

-COLORADO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West). Colorado State is coming off just their second loss of the season, but they’re still in the rankings and still in good shape. Having said that, they’re really going to be tested today against a Boise State team that is pretty good, but currently outside the bubble, and who needs wins like this in order to get on the right side of the cutline.

-NEW MEXICO AT UNLV (Mountain West). New Mexico’s record is impressive at 13-2, but their schedule isn’t impressive at all, which is why I think they’re currently outside the bubble despite their big record. They need to show they can hold serve and win on the road in games like this, which is against a UNLV team that is NIT-ish at best. NCAA Tournament teams should be able to win road games against fringe-NIT teams.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Seton Hall @ Georgetown (Big East) – Seton Hall is really on a roll and this should be a winnable conference road game for them
-Missouri @ Kentucky (SEC) – Mizzou has been kind of disappointing this season and Kentucky has suddenly gotten red hot
-Kansas State @ West Virginia (Big 12) – this should be a winnable road game for K State
-Indiana @ Rutgers (Big Ten) – both teams have work to do and both could really use this one tnoight
-VCU @ George Mason (Atlantic 10) – George Mason can get to 14-2 with a win, but their schedule has been so weak that they are still outside the bubble
-Wyoming @ Utah State (Mountain West) – Utah State shouldn’t have too much trouble holding serve
-Creighton @ DePaul (Big East) – it’s a road game for Creighton, but it’s also at DePaul, which should be an easy road game to win
-Air Force @ Nevada (Mountain West) – AFA isn’t always the easiest team to play against, but Nevada should be able to get this one at home without too much trouble
-San Diego State @ San Jose State (Mountain West) – San Diego State should be able to get this one on the road and improve to 14-2

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, January 9th

Posted on January 9, 2024 by John Stalica

Columbia (9-4, 0-0) at Cornell (10-3, 0-0) – 6:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Ithaca, New York for the Ivy League opener between the Columbia Lions and the Cornell Big Red. Columbia went a surprising 9-4 in nonconference play, highlighted by wins at Temple and at Fairleigh Dickinson. In the win against FDU, Avery Brown led the Lions with 16 points.

Cornell also comes into Ivy League play with a respectable 10-3 record. Highlights include wins at Fordham and wins at home against Monmouth and Colgate. Their only losses came at George Mason, at Syracuse and at Baylor where the Bears christened their new arena. Nazir Williams had 17 points in Cornell’s loss at Baylor.

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The Hoops HD Report (Jan 8th)

Posted on January 8, 2024 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel recap a busy week in college basketball, and look ahead to an equally busy week that’s coming up. North Carolina is suddenly looking like one of the best teams in the country after their road win against Clemson, Cincinnati went form being way off the radar to solidly in the picture after a huge win at BYU, Oregon had a big week out in the Pac 12 with two big road wins against the Washington schools, Northwestern got a big win that they really needed against Michigan State, and the Mountain West has four teams that look to be solid tournament teams with a chance of even getting a fifth. We discuss all that, and more!!

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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Selection Monday!! Hoops HD Bracket Projections (From the Puppet) – Jan 8th

Posted on January 8, 2024 by David Griggs

Before you look at the bracket, I want everyone to know what it is they are looking at. This is NOT an attempt to guess what the real committee will do on Selection Sunday. If that is what you’re looking for, then check out Jon Teitel’s latest bracket by CLICKING HERE. He’s one of the best people on the planet at guessing the actual selection committee. He’s certainly far better at it than I have ever been or ever will be.

These are my own personal picks of what the field would look like if the season ended today. I’m not guessing the future, but merely assessing what teams have already done. I’m also really asking myself just one question. How hard was it for a team to earn the record they have against the schedule that they have played. That’s really it. I’m not even really ranking teams on how good or bad I actually believe them to be. Just how hard it was for them to win the games that they’ve won.

I have some notes below the bracket, and my Hoops HD colleagues will have some comments of their own. Many of them will disagree with what I have done! Well…THEY ARE WRONG!!!!

-The 32 auto-bid winners are indicated with an asterisk (*)

OTHERS CONSIDERED: Boston College, Nebraska, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Georgia, George Mason, NC State, Syracuse, Boise State, Saint Bonaventure, TCU, SMU, Iowa State, Virginia, Xavier, Texas Tech, New Mexico, Texas, Pittsburgh

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-What generally impresses me the most is wins away from home. What impresses me the least is winning buy games at home. If teams are seeded lower than you expected (or not selected at all) chances are it’s because they haven’t won any games that are actually hard to win. Take Texas, for instance. There are over 100 teams that could have posted the record they’ve posted against the schedule that they’ve played. That’s why they’re not in.

-North Carolina on the 1-line may surprise some people, but the reason they’re there is because they’ve won a lot of games away from home, most recently at Clemson. Something most #1-seeds always have on their resume is a true road win against a protected seed. The Tarheels appear to have that.

-Florida Atlantic and Villanova are typically hard to place. Their wins are fantastic and their losses are head-scratchers. A case could be made that they both deserve protected seeds based on their wins, and a case could also be made that they should be left out altogether based on their losses.

-Cincinnati is on the 7-line, largely because of their win at BYU yesterday. Prior to yesterday I wouldn’t have even had them in the field at all.

-Seton Hall and Saint John’s are both playing really well right now, and I expect their resumes to continue to improve if they keep it up.

COMMENTS FROM OTHER STAFF MEMBERS:

From John Stalica:

  • I like the picks of both Seton Hall and St. John’s in the field as of this week. Especially The Hall – they now have home wins against UConn and Marquette and now have a road win at Providence as well. As for Providence, keep in mind that Bryce Hopkins tore his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season. The Friars are going to have to figure out how to win without him going forward.
  • Florida Atlantic is quickly trending in the wrong direction. They have a pair of Tier 1 wins away from home that are being cancelled out by 2 Tier 4 losses. They just added a Tier 2 loss at Charlotte over the weekend. They may be getting closer to the 8/9 seed line along with Villanova at this rate.
  • Griggs got it right when he said Gonzaga was a 13 seed. However, he was on shrooms when he had them in the First Four as one of the at-larges. Which means he had Saint Mary’s as an 11 seed and therefore is guilty of bracketology malpractice. I hope he has Chad on retainer for that case.
  • Bad losses can be really unforgiving in the Atlantic 10 – Saint Joseph’s just had a major bedwetting at Rhode Island last week and will be teetering between Tier 3 and Tier 4 for the rest of the year. They won’t have many chances to make up for that in conference play.
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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, January 8th

Posted on January 8, 2024 by John Stalica

McNeese (12-2, 1-0) at Northwestern State (2-12, 0-1) – 7:30 PM ET (ESPN+)

Tonight is a night very light on game action (because of some foosball game being played in nearby Houston), so we highlight the McNeese Cowboys as they travel to their in-state foe Northwestern State. The Cowboys started the season only 2-2 against D1 competition, although one of the wins came at perennial A-10 contender VCU in their season opener. With wins at UAB, at home against Southern Miss and Louisiana and on the road at Michigan, it seems inevitable that the Cowboys will eventually reach the Top 25 unless they suffer a monumental upset in conference play. Against Michigan, Shahada Wells had 30 points and 10 rebounds when McNeese beat the Wolverines back in December.

As for Northwestern State – oh well, let’s give you a highlight from the 2006 NCAA Tournament to tide you over:

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