Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Tuesday, Feb 21st

Posted on February 21, 2023 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For the latest HOOPS HD REPORT Video Podcast, where we run through the major conferences and discuss all the teams – CLICK HERE

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

-Kansas picked up another big win as they knocked off TCU 63-58.  This avenges a blowout home loss from earlier in the year, and it also gives the Jayhawks what may arguably be their best true road win of the season so far.

-Oklahoma State, who I was super big on, has now been blown out in back to back games.  Granted, none of these games are easy, but they still have some work to do.  West Virginia, who also has some work to do, did do some work last night with the decisive 85-67 win.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-BAYLOR AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12).  Both these teams are on pace to earn protected seeds, and while Baylor did lose over the weekend to Kansas they could still end up on the #1 line if they can have a really strong finish to the season.  If they pull off this one on the road they would certainly belong in the discussion.

-TENNESSEE AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  TAMU has played amazingly well in SEC play, but their schedule is backloaded with their toughest tests coming in the last couple weeks.  Having said that, they did get a huge win against Missouri this past weekend, and will be tested again at home today by a Tennessee team that, while they’ve dropped some games recently, is still on pace to get a solid protected seed and possibly go far in the tournament.

-MIAMI FL AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  I really like this Miami team and despite them being ranked as high as 13th I still think people are overlooking them.  Having said that, this won’t be an easy one tonight.  VA Tech is likely headed to the NIT, but they can still be very tough to beat at home.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT MISSOURI (SEC).  This is a really important game for both of these teams because both of them could really use some more good wins on their resume.  That’s especially true for a Mississippi State team that is right on the bubble.

-MAC.  Again, a strange way to write up some games, but the top four teams in the MAC all square off tonight as Akron visits Toledo, and Kent State travels to Ball State.  Both games have first place implications, and I still think that Kent State will get at least a look from the committee if they can win out through the regular season, but fail to win the conference tournament.

-MARQUETTE AT CREIGHTON (Big East).  Marquette has looked like the best team in the Big East for the past several weeks, but even for them road wins against other top level teams in the conference have not come easy, and this will certainly be a challenge tonight against a Creighton team that’s 9-1 in their last ten games with the only loss being in overtime at Providence.  Both teams are solidly in the field, and Marquette could still make a run at the #2 line if they can put together a really strong finish.

-IOWA STATE AT TEXAS (Big 12).  Iowa State has slipped a little bit in recent weeks having lost four of their last six, but can still end up as a protected seed if they can turn things around.  Tonight is a tall order, though, seeing as how Texas still has a #1 seed within their reach.

-INDIANA AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Indiana was given a protected seed by the committee in the bracket reveal over the weekend, but they need to hold serve in order to keep it, and perhaps do a little bit more.  Michigan State appears to be safely in the field, but they could give their resume a HUGE boost if they could some how pull this one out tonight.

-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12).  As nuts as this is to say, we are starting to think that Texas Tech may actually have a path to the bubble.  They have to keep winning, though, and they can’t afford to drop this one tonight.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Villanova @ Xavier (Big East) – Xavier is capable of playing as well as anyone in the Big East, and is on pace to end up with a protected seed if they keep winning at the clip they have been
-Georgia Tech @ Pittsburgh (ACC) – Pitt is coming off a loss, but they’re still in a stretch where they’ve played really well and should be able to get this one without too much trouble
-VCU @ Saint Joseph’s (Atlantic Ten) – if anyone from the A10 can get a look from the committee, it’s VCU, but they need to win out in order for that to happen
-Georgia @ Arkansas (SEC) – Arkansas is inside the bubble, but not safely.  They can’t afford to drop a game like this
-Utah State @ Wyoming (Mountain West) – Utah State is outside the bubble, but may be able to reach it if they can really finish the season strongly
-San Jose State @ Nevada (Mountain West – Nevada is clinging to the bubble and can’t afford to lose a game like this at home
-Colorado State @ San Diego State (Mountain West) – San Diego State appears to be safely inside the field and should go in on the first ballot so long as they hold serve

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, February 21st

Posted on February 21, 2023 by John Stalica

Kent State (22-15, 12-2) at Ball State (19-8, 10-4) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day goes to Muncie, Indiana for a matchup between the Kent State Golden Flashes and the Ball State Cardinals (home to distinguished alumni like David Letterman). Ball State had been on a 6-game winning streak in the MAC going into the weekend, but they were caught looking ahead to tonight after a surprising stumble at Western Michigan over the weekend. Jarron Coleman averages 14.9 points a game and 3.7 assists a game for Ball State.

Since losing the first round of the Wagon Wheel at Akron, the Golden Flashes have won 4 straight games that includes a 72-65 win at Buffalo. The Akron and Northern Illinois losses have probably ended Kent’s at-large chances, but as we saw in December against Houston and Charleston, the Golden Flashes are going to be a dangerous draw should they end up winning the MAC Tournament. Sincere Carry averages 16.3 points a game and 5.1 assists a game for the Golden Flashes.

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The Hoops HD Report – Feb 20th

Posted on February 20, 2023 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel start off in the Big Ten tonight and take a look at Northwestern, who has been one of the bigger stories in all of college basketball this year.  Purdue and Indiana are both still looking really good, and we look at Nebraska who has gotten hot all of a sudden, and while it’s a long shot we think they could get a look from the committee if they can avoid a loss before the Big Ten semifinals.  The Big 12 continues to look incredibly strong with as many as six teams still fighting for protected seeds, and nine out of ten who are still within reach of making the NCAA Tournament.  Every game is a huge match-up.  Marquette still looks to be the best team in the Big East, and Xavier is right on their heels despite some fluke losses to the likes of DePaul and Butler earlier in the year.  UCLA and Arizona are solid protected seeds out of the Pac 12, and Houston continues to string together wins and is good enough to win it all out of the American.  We also look at all the bubble teams in conferences like the SEC, ACC, and Mountain West.  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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Hoops HD Staff Bracket – Monday, February 20th

Posted on February 20, 2023 by John Stalica

With our colleague David Dorman out of town as of this writing, it has fallen onto our colleague John Stalica to submit the Hoops HD Staff Bracket for this week. This is not to be confused with what Jon Teitel posts every week; that is where he attempts to guess what the Selection Committee will do as of that week’s checkpoint of games. Rather, this is how Stalica feels the field should look like.

And here is the bracket below:

First Four Out: West Virginia, Utah State, Texas Tech, North Texas

Worth a look: Wake Forest, North Carolina, Clemson, Seton Hall, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Santa Clara, Arizona State, Utah, Oregon, Saint Louis, Nebraska, Vanderbilt

COMMENTS FROM JOHN:

– I still believe that Alabama, Kansas, Purdue and Houston are the #1 seeds among all the teams, but Purdue is starting to lose its stranglehold it enjoyed at the top after losing 3 out of their last 4 games. I would have seriously considered adding Baylor to that group had they finished the season sweep of Kansas, but alas that did not happen.

– The real Selection Committee had 5 Big 12 teams when they submitted their list; they debated their list on Monday, Tuesday and early Wednesday. That tells me that they probably didn’t consider Marquette’s win at home against Xavier to take control of the Big East conference lead. Likewise, had Xavier not swept UConn in the regular season, the Musketeers would probably be hanging around the 5-line after surprise losses at DePaul and at Butler.

– Had Northwestern not lost at home against Ohio State and gotten swept by Michigan, the Wildcats would be looking at a protected seed themselves right now. They can actually get there with a strong performance in the B1G Conference Tournament in a couple weeks.

– Texas A&M is now becoming a fast riser up the list now that they have season sweeps of Auburn and Missouri on the books. They can rise up even faster if they can beat either Alabama or Tennessee at home in the final 2 weeks of the regular season.

– When we do our scrub of the Survival Board, one of the questions we ask when listing teams Under Consideration is: Should they win all their remaining games and lose in the conference championship, should they be considered a potential at-large NCAA Tournament team?

– Teams like Nebraska and Vanderbilt would have been preposterous a couple weeks ago. But the Huskers have suddenly won 3 straight games at home against Wisconsin, AT Rutgers and at home against Maryland. (Also keep in mind they’re the only opposing team to win at Creighton.) Vanderbilt is even hotter with a 5-game winning streak and could actually sneak into the Top 4 of the SEC – meaning a double-bye in the conference tournament.

CHAD’s COMMENTS

– The Selection Committee has Houston #2 overall, and I believe they got it right.  The metrics love this Cougars team, and they just do not have the chances for wins in conference play that the other teams on the top line have.  Their win this weekend over the second best team in the conference, Memphis, emphasized that they deserve to be at or near the top of the overall seed list, not #4 overall.

– I still need someone to explain to me why Duke belongs in the top half of the bracket.  The only thing that I see on their profile that gets them in that discussion are the letters D-U-K-E on the top.  This team has no road wins over anyone close to making the field.  They beat Iowa when Iowa was playing awful.  The only thing decent they did was beat Miami at home and Xavier on a neutral court.  That is enough for a bid, but not for a top 8 seed.  I would have the Blue Devils in a 7/10 game — as the 10 seed.

– FAU on the 11 line is a sin.  Yes, they lost this past weekend, but this team is still a solid at-large team and belongs at least in an 8/9 game.

– Wisconsin is now 15-11 overall with bad metrics.  That is an NIT resume.  New Mexico has 3 wins over at-large worthy teams and 4 losses to teams nowhere near the field.  I think they are at least close, but would have left the Lobos out (a 2-0 week at Boise and home vs San Diego State this week would change my opinion however).

– Given who he put in, I love John’s top four out.  I would have BOTH Big 12 teams in right now (yes 9 out of 10 teams from the league IN).  This conference is insane and Texas Tech is quickly rising up.  Their win at West Virginia was huge this weekend.  I also love the North Texas at-large bid case (given how bad the rest of the choices are).  Utah State is a team that I simply do not think is very good, but is probably right now where John has them due to a resume with a lot of wins and not much bad on it.

– At the bottom of the bracket, where is the SWAC love?  Alcorn State was two road wins in Tier 2 (at Wichita State and at SFA) and only two Tier 4 losses.  Texas A&M-CC has no wins above Tier 3 and *five* Tier 4 losses.  Let’s get Alcorn out of Dayton and send Corpus Christi instead!!!

DAVID’S COMMENTS

-I concur with Alabama being the #1 overall team.  I know they lost at Tennessee this week, but I believe all their losses have been on the road against protected seed caliber teams, and they are perhaps the only team in the country that is able to say that.

-The selection of Wisconsin really has me holding my nose, but it’s a 68 team tournament and you have to take SOMEONE.  I do like that North Texas was considered as strongly as they were, and I actually like them more than Wisky.  I would have probably selected them over all the other teams Stalica has on his bubble.

-I agree with Chad, which is something I hate doing, that Florida Atlantic on the #11 line is too low.  I think they’re a little further inside the bubble than that.

-Texas A&M on the 7 line is perhaps a little higher than I would have had them, and I’m someone that’s been big on TAMU for a while now, but I actually don’t have a huge issue with it.  They deserve a lot of credit for their win at Missouri, and can move up the seedlist even more if they can pick up wins against the likes of Alabama and Tennessee.

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Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Monday, Feb 20th

Posted on February 20, 2023 by David Griggs

-For J0hn Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Yesterday was actually pretty chalky.

-NC State got a win over North Carolina and the Tarheels have still struggled to put quality wins onto their profile.

-Chicago State will finish the season with a perfect 8-0 record at home!!  They knocked off Hartford 75-53 in what will be Hartford’s final game as a D1 program.

-Maryland has been a terrible road team all year, and yesterday they showed yet again that the road just is not their thing.  They fell at Nebraska 70-66.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA.  Oklahoma State had been playing better, but after two straight losses they need to start stringing together wins, and taking care of business in the winnable games.  This is a tough road game, but for it’s a game that the Pokes really need to win given the situation they are currently in.

-LOUISVILLE AT DUKE (ACC).  Duke should win this easily, but in Louisville’s last two games (albeit both were at home) they took Virginia to the wall and beat Clemson, so they are suddenly playing at a much higher level than what we’ve seen all season.

-KANSAS AT TCU (Big 12).  Kansas was on the #1 line this past week, and can keep themselves up there with what may be one of their higher quality wins of the season considering that this is a true road game.  TCU blew them out at Kansas in the first game, but has since dealt with injuries and has gone through a bit of a decline.  A win today would certainly start to reverse that.

-MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Illinois has lost three out of their last four, but their most recent loss was a close one at Indiana, so things aren’t entirely off the rails and this should be a very winnable conference game for them.

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Happy Birthday! HoopsHD interviews Max King about Rawle Marshall

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Jon Teitel

Rawle Marshall had a long journey to the NBA. Born in Guyana, he began his college career at Ball State before transferring to Oakland University. He was named MCC Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in 2003, MCC conference tourney MVP in 2005, and graduated as the school’s all-time leader with 101 BLK. He later played a couple of years in the NBA before heading overseas to play pro basketball for a decade. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former Oakland SID Max King about Rawle being a great defender and making the NBA. Today is Rawle’s 41st birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!

 (photo credit: draftexpress.com)

In 2003 Rawle was named conference DPOY: what did it mean to him to receive such an outstanding honor? Coach Greg Kampe’s teams are typically known for their offense so to be a DPOY is not something that was talked about a lot but it still had a pride factor. It showed how good a player he was on both sides of the ball.

He led the conference in SPG in 2003 and in PPG in 2005: how was he able to balance his offense with his defense? Just using his size: he had great length. He was not the strongest player but had a great motor, which really helped him.

He graduated as the all-time leading shot-blocker in school history (101) despite only playing 90 games: what was his secret for playing good defense? He was a great athlete who could get above the rim. He also had good timing/recognition to block shots.

Take me through the magical 2005 MCC tourney:
Despite entering the tourney as the #7 seed with a record of 9-18, the Grizzlies had a 4-PT win over UMKC, a 3-PT win over Chicago State, and a 1-PT win over #1 seed Oral Roberts in the title game thanks to a 3-PT shot by Pierre Dukes with 1.3 seconds left (his only shot of the 2nd half): how big a deal was it to win the 1st-ever MCC tourney title in school history? It was a wild couple of days for Oakland basketball. Pierre actually left the team at 1 point because he did not feel like playing any more but Coach asked him to come back because they needed the depth. Thank God he did because he hit 1 of the biggest shots in school history!

Marshall scored 18 PTS in the title game en route to being named conference tourney MVP: how was he able to play his best when it mattered the most? Big-time players make big-time plays when they need to. He was a leader of that team and helped us string together some good wins. It just snowballed and it was contagious as they tried to continue that momentum.

He finished his college career at the 2005 Final 4 as part of the NCAA Dunk Contest: how good of a dunker was he back in the day? I remember that he was not afraid to attack the rim and did not back down from anyone. You need to have that mindset if you are a great dunker.

He was not selected during the 2005 NBA Draft but played so well in the summer league that Dallas eventually signed him to a 1-year contract: what did it mean to him to become an NBA player? It was huge! He is a player of many “firsts” for Oakland: 1st NBA player, 1st NCAA tourney, 1st tourney win, etc. He helped put Oakland on the map.

He spent most of the following decade playing pro basketball overseas: how proud are you of all that he has accomplished? He is a great ambassador for the team and paved the way for the guys who came after him. He is a great example that putting in the work can pay off.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As a trailblazer: his list of “firsts” is so long. They had only been in D-1 for a couple of years before he arrived and he helped put a stamp on the program.

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