Hoops HD

For John Stalica’s Under the Radar Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

For all of the info you would ever want or need about all of the currently ongoing In-Season Tournaments, which includes brackets and schedules – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Alabama knocked off a pretty good Oregon team 99-91 in the Emerald Coast Classic. They did lose the game to Ohio State, but their early season profile still looks really good, and more importantly they look really good on the court. Nate Oates and CO. should once again have a big year on the hardwood.

-In the other Emerald Coast Classic game, Ohio State blew Santa Clara off the floor 86-56 to win the event. The Buckeyes weren’t ranked in the top 25 coming into this, but they definitely should be after this. Santa Clara came in with a 6-0 record and had some good wins, so for Ohio State to just dominate them like that means quite a bit, including that they don’t overlook good teams without big time brand names.

-UNC Greensboro got a solid 88-77 win against Delaware down in the Baha Mar Hoops. It was the first loss of the year for the Blue Hens, and UNCG improves to 5-1 and are looking like they can make quite a bit of noise in the SoCon this year.

-Liberty is 6-0 after their blowout win against UMES. That’s not too surprising. We knew Liberty would be really good.

-Evansville is also 6-0 after their blowout win against SEMO. That is VERY surprising! How about the Aces!!!!

-Princeton is also 6-0. They had no trouble with Northeastern.

-Bradley also improved to 6-0 with a home win over a solid Vermont team. Bradley, Princeton, and Liberty have all looked like top 40ish caliber teams so far.

-Northern Illinois improved to 5-1 on the year and picked up their second road win after beating DePaul 89-79. I know that DePaul is not good, but it’s still a good start for NIU.

-Hawaii beat San Diego 77-66 in the Acrisure Invitational to improve to 5-0 on the year.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-FLORIDA ATLANTIC VS VIRGINIA TECH (ESPN Events Invitational). FAU has rebounded from their shocking loss to Bryant in a big way and really played well in this event, particularly with their win over Texas A&M on Friday. VA Tech is a team that we weren’t expecting much out of (at least I wasn’t), but they come into this at 5-1 with a couple of notable wins of their own. They look to have the early makings of a Tournament Resume themselves, and that will be even more true if they can win this one today.

-WYOMING AT TEXAS. Wyoming is 4-1 on the year, but this is their first true road game and we’ll find out if they’re for real or not based on how well they play today. Texas comes in ranked in the top 20 with a solid 4-1 record and should be able to hold serve at home.

-YALE AT RHODE ISLAND. Coming into the year, Yale was the Under the Radar team that most of us at Hoops HD liked the most. They are 4-2, and one of those losses was to Gonzaga, so they certainly haven’t been bad at all, but this is a road game that a tournament caliber team needs to be able to win. Rhody is good, and they’re 4-0 at home, but that’s just it. Getting to The Tournament is hard. You have to win games that are hard to win in order to get there. Hence, this is the kind of game that Yale needs to win. This isn’t a top-15/protected-seed caliber team on the road. It’s Rhode Island on the road.

-BUTLER VS BOISE STATE (ESPN Events Invitational). There should be a sense of urgency for both of these teams, at least an early season version of it. Neither has played badly, and Butler has probably played better than expected so far, but both have work to do to start putting their resumes together, and the loser of this game will be off to a bit of a slow start.

-HARVARD VS INDIANA (Indianapolis IN). This is a buy game, but it’s worth watching for several reasons. Harvard comes in at 5-1 with some decent wins already. In fact they’ve arguably outperformed Indiana so far this season. Indiana is 4-1 with the only loss coming to UConn, but they had to sweat out three home buy games and Louisville to get those four wins. Harvard is a lot better than all four of those teams. It’s also the kind of game Harvard needs to be able to win if they want to make a run at getting inside the bubble.

-TEXAS A&M VS IOWA STATE (ESPN Events Invitational). Both teams are 5-1, and both suffered their first losses of the season this past Friday. But, getting a second win in this event, especially in a game like this, would put the winner in a really good spot. This still looks like it will end up being the kind of game that looks good on a resume.

-UIC VS UNC GREENSBORO (Baha Mar Invitational). We all thought UNCG would be good this year, but UIC getting into this game at 5-1 is a bit of a surprise. They knocked off George Washington earlier in the week and it would be jaw-dropping if they could somehow find a way to win this one today.

-MINNESOTA AT SAN FRANCISCO. Both teams have solid records, but both need some wins of substance in order to grow the value of their tournament resumes.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:

-UNC Asheville vs Western Kentucky – this is perhaps a UTR Showcase, but I still think UNCA can have a big year, and WKU is off to a decent 4-2 start
-Eastern Michigan vs North Dakota (Central Arkansas Classic) – both teams have done much better than expected with EMU coming in at 4-2 and North Dakota at 5-1
-Air Force @ South Dakota – another story of two teams doing better than expected. AFA is 5-2 and looking for their second road win, and the Yotes come in at 4-2
-Iona @ Colorado – I don’t think the Buffs are a top 20 team, but I do think they’re a top 40 team and should get this one at home
-SEMO @ Chattanooga – a win gets the Mocs to 5-1 on the year
-Stonehill @ Quinnipiac – they’re still about 1000 miles from the bubble, but a win for Quinnipiac does get them to 5-1
-Cal State Fullerton @ Nebraska – most wins have been in buy games, but the Huskers can improve to 7-0
-UL Monroe @ SMU – SMI can get to 5-2
-Bethune-Cookman @ Longwood – also still 1000 miles from the bubble, but Longwood can improve to 6-1
-North Alabama @ Western Carolina – WCU can improve to 5-0. I really like this team so far
-Stetson @ UCF – UCF can get to 5-1 with a win
-George Washington vs Delaware (Baha Mar Hoops) – both teams are coming off a loss, but for both of them it was their first loss of the season, and both have looked better than expected so far
-Charleston @ Kent State – two pretty good UTR teams who could really use a good win right now

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

For all the brackets, results, dates, times, and everything else you would want to know about the currently ongoing In Season Tournaments – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Florida Atlantic got a big-time win against one of the best teams in the SEC yesterday as they held off Texas A&M 96-89 in the ESPN Events Invitational. I don’t know what happened the other week with their home loss to Bryant, but it appears to just be an anomaly. This is still a very solid FAU team.

-Baylor got a battle from Florida in the Preseason NIT (which I know isn’t the official name anymore, but it’s still what I like to call it), but held on to win 95-91. I know Florida didn’t get the win, but I think I’m actually more sold on them now than I was before the game. The Gators are for real this year!

-After a close first half, North Carolina took complete control of Arkansas in the second half and cruised to an 87-72 in in the Battle 4 Atlantis. It’s the Tarheel’s best win of the season to date, and probably the best they’ve played to date, especially in that last 20 minutes.

-Ohio State got a really impressive 92-81 win against Alabama in the Emerald Coast Classic. Both teams shot well, but Ohio State just looked like the better team. Chris Holtmann once again has the Buckeyes looking like a solid top-25 caliber team.

-Santa Clara picked up a really strong 88-82 win over Oregon in the Emerald Coast Classic yesterday. Oregon wasn’t entirely at full strength, and that definitely played a role in the game, but it was still a solid win for the Broncos who are now 6-0 on the year.

-Oklahoma is now 6-0 after a hard fought 72-70 win against USC. Some of us at Hoops HD really liked this Sooners team coming into the year. I must admit that I wasn’t one of them, but I like them now! USC falls to 4-2 and while they’re talented enough to build up a really strong tournament profile, they are a little slow out of the gate.

-Evansville, a team that none of us thought would do anything, is now 5-0 with two true road wins as they came from behind at Chattanooga and handed them their first loss of the year. I’m starting to believe in the Aces! (At least a little bit).

-Indiana State is now 5-1 with a win over a fairly decent Toledo team. The Missouri Valley Conference and the Ivy League are two conferences to really start watching. Multiple teams from those leagues are starting to bloat out their records, and they’re not doing it by simply staying at home and playing buy games. They’re going to these MTEs and going out on the road and winning.

-Villanova absolutely clobbered Memphis in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The final score was 79-63, but for much of the game Nova was actually blowing them out by 20+. It was probably the best single game that Nova has played since Kyle Neptune took over as head coach.

-UC Irvine is now 6-1 after beating Rice in the Ball Dawgs classic and is looking more and more like an under the radar team that can land inside the bubble.

-Virginia Tech picked up a nice 71-62 win against Iowa State in the ESPN Events Invitational. They are now 5-1 on the season and looking a lot better than most of us were expecting. At least so far.

-Texas Tech also improved to 5-1 after their 73-57 win over Michigan in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

-BYU is now 6-0 after knocking off a pretty solid NC State team 95-86 in the Vegas Showdown. BYU was also without a key player due to him being suspended for throwing a punch in the previous game, which makes this come from behind win even more impressive. The Cougars are for real!

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-ALABAMA VS OREGON (Emerald Coast Classic). Oregon was a little shorthanded yesterday as they fell to Santa Clara for their first loss of the season, and they’ll face a much tougher Alabama team today. Bama lost to an Ohio State team that shot the ball really well, but they’re still looking really strong and should remain in the top 25 for most of the year. A win today would be a nice bounce back for whoever pulls it off, and it would likely end up being a good resume win.

-UNC GREENSBORO VS DELAWARE (Baha Mar Hoops). Circle this one down in the Bahamas!! Delaware comes in unbeaten and has looked pretty good, but today will be their biggest test of the season to date. UNCG has that big win at Arkansas, and their only loss was a close game at Vanderbilt. I know this wouldn’t be big in terms of brand name wins, but this would be a nice resume-building win for two teams that have limited opportunities to rack up quad-1 and quad-2 wins.

-FURMAN AT UAB. A pretty solid UTR game. Neither team is out to an amazing start, but both are pretty solid and both could still end up having really big years. I don’t know if either one will end up being good enough to make a run at the bubble, but these are the kinds of games they need to be able to win in order to do that.

-UIC VS GEORGE WASHINGTON (Baha Mar Hoops). I wasn’t big on either team coming into the season. Not even close. But both have played well so far with UIC managing a 4-1 record and GW coming in at 5-0. We’ll see what they do against each other today down in the Bahamas.

-OHIO STATE VS SANTA CLARA (Emerald Coast Classic). Santa Clara is worth keeping an eye on even if they don’t get the win today. They looked pretty good in their win against Oregon yesterday, and even though Oregon wasn’t quite at full strength it was still a really good win for the Broncos. Ohio State got an amazing win over Alabama and will likely crack the top 25 next week. If Santa Clara can somehow get this win today, then this is the kind of win that can land teams into the rankings and inside the bubble.

-VERMONT AT BRADLEY. This is another outstanding UTR game that features two teams whose seasons are off to outstanding starts. Bradley is unbeaten with notable wins at UAB, and against Utah State, Tulane, and UTEP. In fact Utah State, Tulane, and UTEP each have just one loss right now, and Bradley is the team that beat all of them. Vermont comes in with just one loss and is looking (again) like an America East frontrunner.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES/BUY GAMES:

-Loyola MD @ Missouri – Mizzou is off to a slow start and can’t afford another home buy game loss
-UMES @ Liberty – Liberty can get to 6-0 and is looking like a top 40ish caliber team
-Canisius @ Western Kentucky – WKU can get to 5-1 with a win, which is a better start than we were expecting
-Evansville vs SEMO (Chattanooga TN)- Evansville had a big win yesterday against Chattanooga, and is looking to follow it up today
-Northeastern @ Princeton – Princeton has looked like the strongest UTR team other than James Madison and can get to 6-0 with a win today
-East Carolina @ George Mason – I wasn’t all that big on Mason coming into the year, but they can get to 5-1 with a win today
-South Carolina State @ Missouri State – Missouri State can get to 5-1
-Tulsa @ Little Rock – Tulsa comes in 4-0, but this is their first true road game
-UNC Wilmington @ FGCU – I like how UNCW has played this year and a win today gets them to 5-1 overall and gives them their second true road win
-UTEP @ LMU – UTEP is off to a 5-1 start, but this is their first true road game
-Holy Cross @ Saint John’s
-Texas Southern @ Drake
-California vs San Diego State (SoCal Showcase) – normally it’s a big deal when SDSU squares off against the Pac 12, but not if the Pac 12 team is Cal
-Norfolk State @ Wichita State – Wichita had a strong showing in their MTE and can get to 6-1 with a win today
-Dartmouth @ Saint Louis
-North Dakota State @ Grand Canyon – should be a really fun UTR game between two conference frontrunners
-Northern Illinois @ DePaul – this is a winnable road game for Northern Illinois and a win gets them to 5-1 on the year
-Hawaii vs San Diego (Acrisure Invitational) – I’m still not totally sold on either team, but Hawaii comes in unbeaten and San Diego has just one loss

NEWS AND NOTES:

For all of the brackets and information you could possible need about the In-Season Tournaments – CLICK HERE

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

-To watch or listen to the latest Under the Radar Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-Arizona was in control for most of the game against Michigan State, but the Spartans hung in there and made it close at the end. Arizona ended up with a 74-68 win, which is their second win against a ranked team away from home this season (the other being at Duke), so if you’re doing an early season assessment of which teams are picking up #1 seed caliber wins, Arizona definitely makes the list.

-Colorado State faced off against Creighton and blew them out 69-48 in the Hall of Fame Classic. Creighton was ranked 8th, and almost everyone agreed that they belonged in the top ten, so for Colorado State to just blow up and run them off the floor like that was more than a bit of a surprise. The Rams are suddenly looking really good at 6-0 overall, 3 wins away from home, and a blowout win against a top ten team.

-Villanova needed a big win, and got it yesterday in an overtime 83-81 battle against North Carolina. After an early season setback to Penn, and a lot of people questioning whether or not this team could get it done under Kyle Neptune, they’ve rebounded with some really nice wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis and will face a really good Memphis team in the championship game today.

-Memphis outlasted a super talented Arkansas team to remain unbeaten, and while they’re not currently in the rankings, they should be after how well they’ve played in this event even if they don’t win the championship game against Villanova today.

-Florida Atlantic got the 91-86 win against Butler, and while Butler is getting better as a program, they’re not Top Ten/Final Four level good yet. Yet, FAU still struggled against them, and this comes right after a surprising home loss to Bryant. FAU is good. We definitively know that. They were in the Final Four a year ago and virtually the entire roster is back. But, they haven’t looked like a top ten team this past week.

-Oklahoma looked good in their 79-67 win against Iowa in the Rady Children’s Invitational. They are another team that came into the season unbeaten, but have strung together some notable wins and are worth keeping an eye on.

-Virginia Tech is now 4-1 after a pretty nice win over what we think is a pretty good Boise State team. The Hokies are another team that have emerged early with a decent record and some decent wins.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-TEXAS A&M VS FLORIDA ATLANTIC (ESPN Events Invitational). Both teams are ranked in the top 20 and it’s a chance for both of them to pick up a resume-building win today. This game, and this whole event, is more important for FAU because they’ll have fewer opportunities at notable wins once they get into this season, and they’ve already sustained a rather questionable loss to Bryant.

-ARKANSAS VS NORTH CAROLINA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are coming off losses, and this would end up being a really big bounce back win because it would still likely end up being a big resume-building win for whichever team pulls it off. North Carolina’s only win to date that wasn’t a home buy game was against a Northern Iowa team that is currently winless, and Arkansas’s only win of note was a double overtime game agains Stanford, so perhaps a sense of urgency in this one as neither team has really looked all that good yet.

-PENN STATE VS BUTLER (ESPN Events Invitational). We weren’t expecting much out of either team, but Penn State is 4-1, Butler is 3-2, and both have looked a little better up to this point than we thought they would this season, so…

-EVANSVILLE AT CHATTANOOGA. I know it’s early, but both of these teams are undefeated. I’m not quite a believer in Evansville yet, but if they can go on the road and get this one I certainly will be! This looks like a pretty good Chattanooga team that will be a frontrunner in the SoCon.

-OREGON STATE VS PITTSBURGH (NIT Season Tip-Off). Pitt is coming off a loss to Florida, but they shouldn’t have too much trouble bouncing back today and getting at least one neutral floor win on their resume. Oregon State comes in at 3-2, but I just don’t think they’re going to be anywhere near the postseason come March.

-USC VS OKLAHOMA (Rady Children’s Invitational). Oklahoma is unbeaten and beat a fairly solid Iowa team yesterday. This game today against USC will be their biggest test of the season so far, but it’s the first of many big tests yet to come. USC rebounded yesterday with a win over seton Hallfter struggling in their last two games.

-MEMPHIS VS VILLANOVA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams came into this event needing to do well and pick up some notable wins for their resumes, and up to this point these two teams have done exactly that. Nova knocked off North Carolina yesterday, and Memphis beat a pretty good Arkansas team. It should be fun watching them go up against each other, and it’s probably a little more important to Memphis because their conference and remaining schedule isn’t quite as strong as Villanova’s, but regardless of the outcome both teams will leave this event looking pretty good.

-DAVIDSON AT SAINT MARY’S. Saint Mary’s has underperformed so far this season, and the hill they need to climb to get back on track will be even steeper if they drop another game like this at home today.

-BAYLOR VS FLORIDA (NIT Season Tip-Off). I really like this Baylor team, and Florida has been a bit of a surprise, especially in their last few games, so this should be a really fun game. Since losing by just 3 to Virginia, the Gators have blown out Florida State, and beat a pretty good Pittsburgh team rather handily in the semifinals of this event.

IOWA STATE VS VIRGINIA TECH TECH (ESPN Events Invitational). Iowa State is off to a 5-0 start, but they haven’t been tested much and just barely beat a so-so VCU team in their first game of this event. VA Tech is a team we weren’t expecting much out of this year, but to date they’ve actually looked better than Iowa State. They did drop a game to South Carolina, but they’ve won all the rest and beat a pretty solid Boise State team yesterday.

-SETON HALL VS IOWA (Ready Children’s Invitational). This is a bit of a bounce back game and a chance to help each team at least put some sort of win other than a home buy game onto their resumes.

-MICHIGAN VS TEXAS TECH (Battle 4 Atlantis). After the first couple games we thought Michigan looked pretty good. In the last few games we think they’ve looked disappointing. They did (barely) get the win against Stanford yesterday and can close out this even with another decent win against a Texas Tech team that’s also still looking for their first notable win of the year.

-ALABAMA VS OHIO STATE (Emerald Coast Classic). This game won’t generate the same amount of interest that a match-up in football would, but it’s still a pretty good early season game. Alabama is unbeaten, and I think they’re really good. This is a chance for them to pick up a win against a probable tournament team in Ohio State who has only managed to win home-buy games up to this point, but whose only loss came against a pretty good Texas A&M team. So, there’s something at stake for both teams here.

-VCU VS BOISE STATE (ESPN Events Invitational). We were big on Boise State coming into the year, but they’ve missed some opportunities at notable wins early on, and really need to take care of business against a VCU team that isn’t likely to be on the bubble come March.

-OREGON VS SANTA CLARA (Emerald Coast Classic). A west coach match-up between two unbeaten teams that’s being played in…(checks notes)… FLORIDA! Santa Clara has our attention. We at Hoops HD currently disagree somewhat on how good they actually are, but they come in unbeaten and we are watching. If they can knock off the Ducks, who are also unbeaten, they will certainly be KEEPING our attention!

-NC STATE AT BYU (Vegas Showdown). Both teams come into this one unbeaten, both have the potential to have big years, but both could also use some early season quality wins on their resume, and to date this is the biggest test for both of them so far.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-UNC Greensboro vs Kansas City (Baha Mar Hoops) – UNCG has a big win at Arkansas and can add some more wins away from home to their resume
-Bryant @ Xavier – it’s a buy game, but Bryant already has a somewhat surprising win against Florida Atlantic
-Charleston Southern @ Wake Forest – Wake has not looked all that good and needs to get things turned around
-Brown @ Delaware – Delaware can get to 5-0
-Manhattan @ UConn – UConn is unbeaten and ranked in the top 5
-Nicholls @ Mississippi State – Mississippi State is 5-0, and Nicholls looks to be one of the best teams in the Southland
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Ball State – a win for Ball State gets them to 5-1
-Indiana State vs Toledo (Ball Dawgs Classic) – A chance for Indiana State to pick up their 3rd win in this event and improve to 5-1
-Montana @ Houston
-Utah Tech @ Washington State – Wazzu can get to 4-1 with a win
-Rice vs UC Irvine (Ball Dawgs Classic) – UCI can get to 6-1 on the season and their resume is starting to look pretty solid
-Southern Indiana @ Duke
-Pepperdine @ New Mexico
-Marshall @ Kentucky
-Lehigh @ Providence
-George Washington vs Ohio U (Baha Mar Hoops) – GW is unbeaten and should get a decent test today from an Ohio U team that is a likely MAC frontrunner
-Youngstown State @ Dayton – if Dayton has any hopes at all of making a run at the bubble, they pretty much need to win…well…everything
-Hawaii vs UTRGV (Acrisure Invitational) – Hawaii is 3-0
-Alcorn State @ Clemson – Clemson can get to 5-0
-Vanderbilt vs Arizona State (Vegas Showdown) – both teams have potential. Maybe. But both really need to start stringing together notable wins
-Western Illinois @ Illinois
-Arkansas State vs San Diego (Acrisure Invitational) – San Diego can get to 5-1