Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Providence got an extremely impressive win over a Marquette team that we have all been saying can go to the Final Four. The Friars were at home, but they held a lead pretty much throughout and finished off a very impressive 72-57 win. It’s hard to not think of the Friars as a tournament caliber team now as they improve to 10-2 and add a very impressive win to their profile.

-Memphis followed up their big win against Clemson with another big win against Virginia. This one was a blowout. It was a game in the first half, but not in the second half. UVA’s defense didn’t bother the Tigers at all as they rolled 77-54, and this should help move the Tigers up the rankings and up the seedlist.

-Indiana is now 8-3, but they once again had to sweat out another home buy game. They actually trailed by 15 with less than 10 minutes to go against Morehead State, but closed on a 20-4 run to barely escape with a 69-68 win. Minus the close loss to Kansas (which was, after all, a loss) Hoosiers might be the least impressive 8-3 P5 team I have ever seen. Four of their wins were close home buy games, and another win was a close game against Louisville, which is basically like a home buy games.

-Western Carolina is now 9-2 after edging out a struggling Vanderbilt team on the road 63-62. It’s the 5th true road win for the Catamounts, and they will be a fun team to watch in the SoCon this year.

-Florida needed two overtimes to get by Michigan 106-101. Michigan had looked sluggish for most of the year, but played really well yesterday against a Gator team that’s pretty good. Still, the Wolverines are just 6-6 and need to start stringing together wins if they want to build up their resume.

-UCLA was a team I praised before the season started. Then after the season started I continued to praise them despite some early and hard fought losses in Maui. UCLA is now just 5-5 after their 76-72 loss to Cal State Northridge last night. I am no longer praising them. CSN, on the other hand, is now 8-3 on the year and will definitely be worth paying attention to as they go through Big West play.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-CONNECTICUT AT SETON HALL (Big East). UConn has looked as good as anyone in the country this year whereas Seton Hall has struggled some, but the Hall are coming off a nice win against Missouri and should have some momentum and confidence coming into this one tonight.

-BAYLOR VS DUKE (New York NY). Baylor has just one loss, but it was in their last game and they were blown off the floor by a Michigan State team that’s been struggling for most of the year, so that raises some red flags as the Bears head into another really big test tonight. Duke is still in the rankings at 7-3, but their best win to date is probably that same Michigan State team we mentioned earlier that has struggles so much, so they could really use this one tonight.

-XAVIER AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East). The Johnnies are a respectable 7-3 on the year, but they don’t have a lot of meat on their resume yet and need to hold serve in a game like this.

-PURDUE FORT WAYNE AT PITTSBURGH. This is a buy game, but PFW is coming in with an 11-1 record and Pitt, while respectable at 8-3, still doesn’t have a win on their resume that will jump out at the committee or a game that has demonstrated that they are a solid tournament-caliber team. They could be tested more than what they’re expecting tonight, so they don’t want to overlook PFW.

-NORTHWESTERN VS ARIZONA STATE (Hall of Fame Series, Phoenix AZ). Northwestern already has the big win against Purdue on their resume, and they’ve also struggled at times this year. They dropped a home game to Chicago State and didn’t exactly put DePaul away in their last game. They should get this one tonight, but Arizona State is a lot better than either Chicago State or DePaul.

-NORTH CAROLINA VS OKLAHOMA (Jumpman Invitational, Charlotte NC). Oklahoma is unbeaten, and while they’ve taken some little tests this is a HUGE test against a UNC team that’s not a true road game, but still in front of a crowd that will very much favor the Tarheels. This is a big game for North Carolina as well. This is their third straight game against a top ten team, and they’ve lost the other two, so a win tonight would give their profile a boost and give them some of their momentum back.

-VILLANOVA AT CREIGHTON (Big East). This is an interesting conference opener for both teams. Nova has been wildly inconsistent this year. They have wins away from home against North Carolina and Memphis, but have also managed losses to teams like Drexel and Penn. This is their first game in over 11 days, and it is a big test against a Creighton team that’s highly ranked and that just picked up a nice win against Alabama.

-UC IRVINE AT NEW MEXICO. UC Irvine is 7-4 on the year and just snapped a three game losing streak, but those three losses were at Duquesne, at Utah State, and at San Diego State, all by 10pts or less. They do have a win at USC, but USC has not emerged as a strong team yet and that win has lost some of its sparkle. At 10-1, New Mexico has shown they can play, but hasn’t had any massively big wins yet and barely escaped an upset loss to New Mexico State in their last game. Both teams could really use this one. If UCI can get this one on the road and then blow through the Big West then they should get a serious look from the committee.

-ALABAMA VS ARIZONA (Hall of Fame Classic, Phoenix AZ). Alabama is a modest 6-4, but they’ve played a really tough schedule and I think they’re better than what their record may indicate. Having said that, they’re probably not good enough to beat an Arizona team that’s in contention for a #1 seed. Arizona lost to Purdue in their last game, but that’s hardly a setback. They should be able to get it done tonight in front of a crowd that will likely favor them.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:

-Saint Louis @ NC State – A win for NC St gets them to 8-3 on the year, but they still have work to do
-Oakland @ Dayton – a win for the Flyers gets them to 9-2 and keeps them inside our bubble
-North Dakota @ Nebraska – Nebraska can improve to 10-2 with a win tonight
-Tennessee Tech @ Evansville – The Aces are off to a very good 9-2 start and have another winnable one at home tonight
-Sam Houston @ Grand Canyon – The Lopes are on a roll and can get to 10-1 with a win tonight
-Jackson State @ Gonzaga
-Bellarmine @ Utah

NEWS AND NOTES:

CLICK HERE to watch or listen to the latest HOOPS HD VIDEO PODCAST

-Duquesne held off Bradly 69-67 at home last night, which in and of itself isn’t really impressive or noteworthy. Duquesne probably won’t land inside the bubble, but they are 8-2 on the year. They were my preseason pick to win the Atlantic 10, and while I’ve walked that back given how well Saint Joseph’s and Dayton have been playing, the fact that Duquesne is 8-2 against ANYBODY is a story in and of itself. Last year we talked about how much fun it was to watch Fordham. This year’s story out of this league is Duquesne. They haven’t had a season this good in at least the last thirty years.

-Chicago State has now won four of their last five, all of which were D1 games, after beating UTRGV last night 78-68. Can the Northeast Conference just invite them to play in the conference tournament this year?? Hell, the NEC has teams in it that aren’t eligible for an NCAA Tournament bid! Why not invite another soon-to-be member that IS eligible for it!!??

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-GEORGETOWN AT BUTLER (Big East). Butler is off to a much better than expected 9-2 start, and one of those losses was a competitive game against Florida Atlantic. They’re at home against a Georgetown team that has improved quite a bit and is 7-4 overall, but still has a long way to go. It should be a somewhat routine win tonight for the Bulldogs at home.

-VIRGINIA AT MEMPHIS. Virginia just barely escaped a really big upset in their last game against Northeastern and will need to play much better on the road today against a Memphis team that has looked good all year, has a few nice wins on their resume, and that has cracked the rankings. A win in this one would look good on either team’s resume.

-UNC GREENSBORO AT HIGH POINT. A really strong UTR match-up between a UNCG team that has an outside shot at landing inside the bubble if they can blow through the rest of their schedule, and a High Point team that has been playing really well lately and that won’t be easy to beat at home. This one should be fun!

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT VANDERBILT. WCU is off to a much better than expected start at 8-2 and they may be able to pick up their fifth true road win of the year tonight, which is something to pay attention to.

-FLORIDA VS MICHIGAN (Jumpman Invitational, Charlotte). Michigan has had moments of looking like a good team, but only moments. Overall they’re just 6-5 with a blah resume that they need to build up by stringing together some wins. The Gators have looked better, but still have some room to improve and a win like this on a neutral floor would help.

-MARQUETTE AT PROVIDENCE (Big East). It’s the conference opener for both teams. Providence has been better than expected this year, and they’re at home, but even when you take both of those things into consideration this is still a game Marquette should win. They’re high in the rankings and a legit Final Four contender.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:

-Morehead State @ Indiana – Indiana has looked sort of ‘meh’ all season long, but they did look good in their last game against Kansas despite the loss
-Coppin State @ Games Madison
-Troy @ Ole Miss – Ole Miss should be able to stay unbeaten
-USC @ Alabama State – USC has been somewhat disappointing this year, but this SHOULD be an easy road win for them, which would be their first of the year
-Tennessee State @ Indiana State – Indiana State can improve to 11-1 and it’s time that the country start paying more attention to them
-Winthrop @ South Carolina – Winthrop is a pretty decent team out of the Big South, but this should still be a rather routine win for what’s looking like a really good South Carolina team
-Bridgewater College (nonD1) @ George Mason
-Merrimack @ Cincinnati – Cincinnati is 8-2, but 6 of those wins were home buy games
-Alcorn State @ Drake – a win for Drake gets them to 11-1
-Saint Katherine (nond1) @ San Diego State
-Middle Tennessee @ Saint Mary’s
-Cal State Northridge @ UCLA

-We will be recording our Hoops HD Report Video Podcast tonight, so be sure and keep an eye out for that. We will also have our latest Bracket Projections posted a little later on today.

-Syracuse fell behind early against Oregon, then came back early, then went ahead, then went way ahead, and then stayed way ahead. They ended up blowing the Ducks off the floor 83-63 out in Sioux Falls and picked up their biggest win of the year, and probably their most impressive looking win on the court in a long time.

-Nebraska, who had seemingly bloated out their record by scheduling all their games from the pastry cart, went on the road to Kansas State and after keeping it close in the first half totally shut down the Wildcats in the second half for the 62-46 win. K State had just 12pts in the second half. Now suddenly Nebraska has a really solid road win to go along with all those home buy wins, and their resume instantly looks a lot better.

-Seton Hall was having what I would describe as a ‘meh’ season, but yesterday they went on the road to Missouri and picked up a somewhat surprising 93-87. This kind of changes the complexion of both Seton Hall’s and Missouri’s profiles.

-Nevada picked up a hard fought win out in Hawaii to improve to 10-1 on the year. There are not any super heavyweight knockouts on Nevada’s profile, but there are a few decent wins. They’ve won at Washington and at Hawaii now.

-Washington REALLY had to sweat out Seattle U last night. After trailing for much of the game, they needed a big play at the end of regulation to get it to overtime, and then in an OT period that saw a flurry of scoring for both teams they held on to win 100-99. It was a hugely exciting game, a heartbreaking loss for Seattle U, and a “road” win for Washington, which is their first of the year.

Tonight’s action…

-Oakland @ Michigan State – the Spartans are suddenly looking a lot better
-Bradley @ Duquesne – a win for the Dukes gets them to 8-2 on the year, which is much better than we are used to seeing from them
-Delaware State @ Wake Forest
-Maine @ UCF
-UT Martin @ Evansville

NEWS AND NOTES:

-The showcase game of the day saw Purdue give a very solid performance from tip to buzzer in the Indy Classic, and knock off top ranked Arizona 92-84. The year isn’t even half way over yet, but as of now Purdue may be putting together one of the strongest resumes I’ve seen in the last 20 years. They have wins over Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Alabama, and now Arizona. All of those wins came away from home. As for Arizona, they are still a #1 seed caliber team and will turn around and face a really good Alabama team later this week.

-Indiana had a lead against Kansas for over 35 minutes, and they led by as much as 13 in the second half, but just couldn’t hold on. Kansas had to really sweat, but they survived 75-71 after making some big plays in the final couple minutes. It was the by far the best the Hoosiers had looked this year despite them not winning the game.

-Houston was on cruise control against Texas A&M, but then went to sleep as TAMU came all the way back from over 15 down in the second half. Houston held on 70-66 to remain unbeaten, but it came down to the final minute of play.

-After taking the first five weeks of the season off, Michigan State is finally looking like the top ten team we thought they were. In fact yesterday they looked like a Final Four team as they absolutely blew unbeaten and 6th ranked Baylor off the court 88-64. The halftime score was 45-17. The Spartans still have a long way to go to make up for all the ground they’ve lost. They had lost three out of four prior to this, including a really bad looking loss to Nebraska, so maybe this is the game that finally turns their season around.

-Creighton and Alabama was a close and exciting game to watch as you would expect. The Bluejays got it done 85-82 at home, and bounced back from their somewhat embarrassing blowout loss to UNLV earlier in the week. As for Alabama, they fall to 6-4, but they’ve played a rough schedule and most of those losses were competitive games against really good teams, so I’m still a believer in the Tide. They’ll face Arizona later this week.

-Kentucky kept North Carolina at arms length for most of the game in the CBS Sports Classic, but UNC still made some runs and even took the lead late in the second half. The Wildcats made the plays they had to and held on to win 87-83 for what is their biggest win of the year so far.

-Clemson suffered their first loss on the road to Memphis 79-77. Memphis came from behind after trailing 39-32 at halftime and had some big defensive stops in key moments late in the game. While this would have been another big win for Clemson’s resume, the loss is hardly a setback. Memphis is the kind of team that should easily make the NCAA Tournament and be voted in on the first ballot.

-Virginia decided to start the holidays early and just didn’t show up for their game against Northeastern. They were behind for most of the game and barely got the win 56-54. The Hoos just barely avoided a huge landmine of a loss.

-Miami FL also didn’t look all that sharp of a lot of their game against La Salle, and haven’t really looked all that sharp for much of the year. They did hold on to win 84-77 and are a respectable 8-2 on the year, but for a team that was in the Final Four and that returned the bulk of their roster they just haven’t looked as strong as we were expecting this year. At least not so far.

-Indiana State is now 10-1 on the year after knocking off Ball State 83-72 in the Indy Classic. Indiana State should be getting way more attention than what they are. Their record is strong, but they’ve beaten som pretty strong teams along the way and are starting to look like they belong inside the bubble and should be talked about as a legit top 40 caliber team.

-Ohio State is now 9-2 after knocking off UCLA 67-60 in the other CBS Sports Classic game. I keep waiting for the Bruins to snap out of it and start stringing together wins, but it hasn’t happened yet. They are now just 5-4 on the year with no real wins of note.

-Utah State held off San Francisco 54-53 in an absolute rock fight in Salt Lake to improve to 11-1 and remain solidly on track to land inside the bubble. Utah State is another team that the nation needs to be paying more attention to. I know yesterday wasn’t pretty, but they did get the win and they’ve had a great overall season up to this point.

-Arkansas is another team that’s been very hot and cold throughout the year. They got a huge scare yesterday from Lipscomb, but held on to win 69-66. It wouldn’t have been Arkansas’s first home buy game loss this year had they not held on to win.

-Saint Mary’s, after taking the first four or five weeks of the season off, has finally started to string together wins and play like the top 15 team we thought they were going to be coming into the year. They still have a long way to go to get all the way back to being in the top 15, but they had a hard fought double overtime win against a UNLV team that just win a big game against Creighton, they’v now won three in a row to get their record out to 6-5, and they’ve beaten Cleveland State, Colorado State, and UNLV in that stretch.

.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-OREGON VS SYRACUSE (Sioux Falls SD). Syracuse has won four of their last five with the only loss coming to Virginia and they have a decent win over LSU in that stretch. Oregon’s record is 7-2, but neither team has much in the way of quality or notable wins yet, so both could really use this one.

-USC AT AUBURN. USC has been a little disappointing so far this season, but one way to turn things around in a hurry is to go on the road and win a game like this. Having said that, that’s far easier said than done.

-NEBRASKA AT KANSAS STATE. Nebraska is 8-2, but has really just made a living off of home buy games and needs a win like this before the committee really starts to pay attention to them. K State, despite losing a key player a couple weeks back, has continued to win and has knocked off Villanova and LSU in their last two games. They should be able to get this one at home as well.

-SETON HALL AT MISSOURI. Mizzou has been playing reasonably well since their loss to Jackson State a few weeks back and should be able to hold serve today and get to 8-3 on the year.

-WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE U. This is the first true road game for Washington, but it’s only technically a road game. Seattle U is doing the event management, but the game is in Climate Pledge Arena, and it will be at best a neutral crowd, and most likely a pro-Washington crowd. The Huskies are really having a good year and are coming off their huge win against Gonzaga from a week ago. They should be able to pick this one up at home…I mean on the road!!

-NEVADA AT HAWAII. This is a big road test for a Nevada team that’s off to an outstanding 8-1 start and has some decent wins already. Hawaii is 7-1 on the year, but most of their wins have come at home and they haven’t been tested that strongly yet, so it’ll be interesting to see what they can do tonight.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:

-Colgate @ Illinois. Colgate will likely blow through the Patriot League and they could give Illinois a decent game today, but it’s still a mismatch
-Cal State Fullerton @ Boise State – a win for Boise State gets them to 8-3 on the year
-North Texas @ Mississippi State – This should be the kind of game Mississippi State should blow through, but they’ve struggled (and even lost) some of their home buy games and better not overlook North Texas
-Louisana @ McNeese – McNeese just keeps on winning and will likely be favored through the rest of the season. A win today gets them to 10-2
-CSU Pueblo (nonD1) @ Colorado State
-Florida A&M @ Iowa State