Under The Radar Game of the Day – Sunday, February 19th

Posted on February 19, 2023 by John Stalica

Hartford (2-22) at Chicago State (6-18) – 3:00 PM ET

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Windy City for the second matchup of the season between the nation’s two independent programs in Division I as the Hartford Hawks visit the Chicago State Cougars. Chicago State won the first meeting 62-49 at Hartford thanks to 13 points from Wesley Cardet Jr. That game capped a 3-game winning streak for the Cougars in mid-season as they also beat non-D1 Aurora at home and Citadel on the road.

This will also be the farewell game for the Hartford Hawks this season as they prepare to move down to NCAA Division III next season. It’s been a stunning fall from grace from a program that won the 2021 America East championship and made their lone NCAA Tournament appearance in their brief Division I era. Fairleigh Dickinson and Stonehill were the only D1 opponents that the Hawks have been able to defeat this season. As it is, the Hawks remain as a potential candidate to walk off with the Centenary Award this year given that they’ve only won the aforementioned 2 D1 games this season.

Posted in CBB, Daily Rundown, News and Notes, Under the Radar | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Saturday, Feb 18th

Posted on February 18, 2023 by David Griggs

For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which could be part of a historic season for Fordham in the Atlantic Ten – CLICK HERE

SURVIVAL BOARD WATCH:

-ALBANY AT MAINE (American East).  Albany will be eliminated with a loss today and an NJIT win over Vermont.  They could still tie either Maine or NJIT for 8th place, but would not have either tiebreaker if they lose their next two.

–ATLANTIC SUN – Austin Peay was eliminated from the Atlantic Sun on Thursday.  Jacksonville State could be eliminated today if they lose and both Queens and Jacksonville win.

-HARVARD AT CORNELL (Ivy League).  Harvard is eliminated with a loss today.

–MAC – Miami OH will be eliminated due to tiebreakers if they lose at Northern Illinois and Central Michigan beats Ohio U.  Western Michigan could also be within one game of elimination of they lose and Central Michigan wins

-EASTERN ILLINOIS AT LITTLE ROCK (Ohio Valley).  Little Rock will be eliminated if they lose.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-ILLINOIS AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  I like this Illinois team and how they’re playing, but I like this Indiana team more.  Indiana is also at home, and I believe as a path to a protected seed if they can keep winning at the clip they have been.  Illinois has a good profile, and a loss today won’t hurt them much (if at all), but a win would really help them.

-SETON HALL AT UCONN (Big East).  UConn is coming off a close loss at Creighton, but the had won four out of five before that and after a slump back in January seem to be playing at a high level again.  They’re at home against a Seton Hall team that is squarely on the bubble.  A win in a game like this for the Pirates could make their season and be the difference as to whether they make it or not.

-TEXAS TECH AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12).  West Virginia’ schedule and season has been brutal.  They need wins down the stretch, and this is perhaps their most winnable remaining game.  It comes against a Texas Tech team that has started to play better these past couple of weeks and has beaten Kansas State and Texas in their last two games, but who has struggled on the road and against the strength of the Big 12.

-RUTGERS AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Rutgers has two really strong road wins this year, but that’s all they done on the road.  They’re safely inside the bubble, but I think they can help their resume and their seed if they can manage a win today.  Wisconsin is squarely on the bubble, and while they’ve looked good at times throughout the season, they’ve looked not good more often than not these last few weeks and need some wins just to help them land in the field.

-TENNESSEE AT KENTUCKY (SEC).  Tennessee is a solid protected seed who is coming off of a big win against Alabama after two straight losses, and will want to keep that momentum going.  Kentucky is also coming off one of their biggest wins of the season at Mississippi State, which they needed just to help themselves secure a spot in the field.  They can help themselves out a lot more if they’re able to win this one today.  The Wildcats won the first meeting between these two down in Knoxville, which is the only reason we are projecting Kentucky into the field at all, so the Vols will be up for this one to get some payback.

-IOWA STATE AT KANSAS STATE (Big 12).  Iowa State had been slumping, but they are coming off a big win against TCU.  Still, as good as they Cyclones have been this year, they haven’t been the best team on the road, and they face a Kansas State team that looks to be on their way to a protected seed.  It’s possible that they both end up with protected seeds, especially if Iowa State can pull off this win today.

-WAKE FOREST AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  Wake is outside the bubble, but if they were to get a road win in a game like this it would be a huge step in the right direction.  Miami FL is a top 25 team that’s really just playing for seeding at this point, and who still has a shot at a protected seed if they can finish strong.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT TCU (Big 12).  Oklahoma State is coming off a loss at home to Kansas, but they’ve still been playing at a really high level these past few weeks and continue to build up a good resume and climb the seedlist.  TCU was having a fantastic year, but has been setback by injuries and could really use a big win to resuscitate things a bit after four straight losses.

-FLORIDA AT ARKANSAS (SEC).  For a few minutes I thought Florida was starting to come on strong and was about to make a run at the bubble, but only for a few minutes.  Arkansas is in that 10-12 seed range (or at least that’s how it feels) and cannot afford to lose a game at home to a team that’s outside the bubble.

-KANSAS AT BAYLOR (Big 12).  Both teams are ranked in the top ten, it’s the two most recent national champions, and both are within reach of a #1 seed.  So while this is obviously a big showcase game with #1 seed implications, it’s not like either team is playing for their Tournament lives today.  In fact we are at a point to where even if one of these teams fell completely apart and lost all of their remaining games they’d probably still end up making the NCAA Tournament, so it’s also a match-up of two teams that we think are total locks.

-PITTSBURGH AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  VA Tech is not within reach of the bubble, but they are extremely difficult to beat at home.  I think Pitt is solidly in the field right now, and will deserve a fair amount of credit if they’re able to win this one today, which would improve their seed.  The Panthers have just kept getting better and better as the season has gone along.

-UTAH AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac 12).  Aside from winning out and then getting several rounds into the Pac 12 Tournament, these two teams are pretty much out of chances.  I think if either of them wants any chance at all then they have to win this one today.

-DUKE AT SYRACUSE (ACC).  Duke has not been a good road team, and therefore can really help out their resume today if they’re able to win at Syracuse.  Syracuse isn’t a tournament team at all, but they’ve played well enough at home to where Duke will deserve (and get) some credit if they’re able to pull this off.

-TEXAS A&M AT MISSOURI (SEC).  TAMU is still on most people’s bubbles despite being 11-2 in SEC play.  They did get off to a slow start for the season, and they haven’t played the roughest of schedules in conference, but I still think they deserve to at least be inside the bubble at this point.  Well, if they win today, then I think most people will agree. Mizzou hasn’t always been good this year, but when they have been good, they’ve been REALLY good!  There have been times where they’ve also been REALLY bad, but they’re inside the bubble and if TAMU can win on their floor, then TAMU will be inside of it too.

-NEVADA AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West).  We have Nevada on the bubble, but inside it and Utah State outside the bubble and needing to string together a lot of wins in order to reach it.  A road win like this would really help strengthen Nevada’s profile and go a long way toward them making the field, and a win for Utah State keeps their NCAA Tournament hopes flickering for a little while longer.

-AUBURN AT VANDERBILT (SEC).  I’m highlighting this because I think it’s more important than what most may realize.  Auburn’s resume is still kind of flimsy despite their recent blowout win against Missouri.  Prior to that, they had lost five of six.  They need wins, and they need road wins, and while Vandy is not a tournament team, they can be kind of tough to beat at home.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Notre Dame @ Virginia (ACC) – Notre Dame had to sweat out Louisville in their last game, but did get the win will remain a solid protected seed so long as they continue to hold serve
-Oklahoma @ Texas (Big 12).  Texas is coming off a bit of a surprising loss at Texas Tech, but they are still a very strong team and still have a shot at reaching the #1 line
-Mississippi State @ Ole Miss (SEC).  Mississippi State is a bubble team that needs to avoid losses to non-bubble teams in order to end up on the right side of the bubble
-DePaul @ Xavier (Big East) – DePaul actually win the first meeting between these two, and Xavier would be in control of the Big East if they could just take care of business against the likes of DePaul and Butler
-Villanova @ Providence (Big East) – Nova has been playing better, but Providence is solidly inside the bubble, has been very tough at home all season, and should be able to win this one
-Georgia @ Alabama (SEC) – Bama is coming off a road loss to Tennessee, but is still on our #1 line should be able to cruise at home through this one
-Gonzaga @ Pepperdine (West Coast) – I normally say there are no easy road games, but this should be an easy one for Gonzaga
-Clemson @ Louisville (ACC) – I normally say there are no easy road games, but this should be an easy one for Clemson, who is right on our bubble and who needs to finish strong
-Creighton @ Saint John’s (Big East) – Creighton has been on a roll, they are climbing the seedlist, and can keep adding to their resume if they keep stringing together wins.  This should be a winnable road game for them
-Colorado @ Arizona (Pac 12) – Arizona is a solid protected seed and should be able to hold serve at home tonight
-Michigan State @ Michigan (Big Ten) – it can be tough to win at Michigan, and this is a rivalry game, but Michigan State is clearly the superior team and can get one step closer toward locking up a spot inside the bubble
-North Texas @ UTEP (Conference USA) – If North Texas wins out and avoids an early loss in the CUSA Tourney, and if the teams on the bubble continue to crash and burn, I think the committee will look at them.  Maybe SERIOUSLY look at them.
-BYU @ Saint Mary’s (West Coast) – Saint Mary’s still has an outside shot at a protected seed if they can win out, which would mean beating Gonzaga one more time
-Stanford @ USC (Pac 12) – Stanford has suddenly become kind of tough to beat after knocking off Arizona and nearly knocking off UCLA in the past week or so, but it’s a game that USC cannot afford to lose
-California @ UCLA (Pac 12) – UCLA is cruising and is on pace to get a protected seed, and depending on how things shake out they could end up as a #1 seed

UTR WATCH:

-FORDHAM AT VCU (Atlantic Ten).  These are the top two teams in the A10 and they are separated by just one game.  While there are still five games to go, it is an extremely pivotal game in regards to first place.

-LINDENWOOD AT MOREHEAD STATE (Ohio Valley).  Morehead State can clinch a share of first place and a bye into the semifinals of the conference tournament with a win today

-HOWARD AT COPPIN STATE (MEAC).  Howard has a one game lead with 5 games to go and is trying to hold on to 1st place

-SOUTHERN VS GRAMBLING (SWAC).  This game is actually being played in Salt Lake City as part of the NBA All Star Weekend, and will be getting extensive media coverage.  It’s obviously a big rivalry game, and it’s also important to the SWAC standings as both teams are trying to catch Alcorn State.  This game is being televised on ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV.

-SOUTHLAND – Northwestern State and TAMUCC are tied atop the standings, and both are in action today.

-BIG WEST – UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine are tied atop the standings with 4

AMERICA EAST – Vermont has a two game lead with just four games to go, and is at NJIT today.

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes, Survival Board | Comments Off on Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Saturday, Feb 18th

Under The Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, February 18th

Posted on February 18, 2023 by John Stalica

Fordham (21-5, 9-4) at VCU (19-7, 10-3) – 2:00 PM ET (USA Network)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day features a pair of top teams in the Atlantic 10 as the resurgent Fordham Rams travel down to Richmond to take on the VCU Rams. Since getting blasted by Dayton at home, Fordham has won 8 out of their last 9 games; their only loss in that span was a 68-58 defeat at Richmond two weeks ago. More recently, Fordham came back from an early deficit to defeat St. Bonaventure 78-63; Darius Quisenberry led the Rams with 15 points in that game.

VCU is in the last game of a 4-game stretch that will for better or worse determind whether or not they win the Atlantic 10 title. Following a win at Saint Louis, the Rams lost at home to Dayton to give them a season split with the Flyers. In their last outing, VCU trailed Rhode Island for much of the game before finally escaping with a buzzer-beating 55-54 win thanks to Zeb Jackson’s game winning shot.

Posted in CBB on TV, Daily Rundown, News and Notes, Under the Radar | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Under The Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, February 18th

Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Friday, Feb 17th

Posted on February 17, 2023 by David Griggs

For the latest HOOPS HD BRACKET RUNDOWN where the seedlists of all the staff members are cross country scored and ranked to create a master seedlist which is then bracketed, and that bracket is revealed via Selection Sunday Style – CLICK HERE

 

SURVIVAL BOARD UPDATE:

-IVY LEAGUE – Harvard is 3 games back of 4th place with 4 games to go.  If they lose tonigh to Columbia (not likely), and if both Penn and Brown win their games tonight they will be eliminated tonight.  I’m expecting them to make it through tonight, but not through Saturday.

 

NEWS, NOTES, AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

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

-College basketball has been on one hell of a bender this week!  The whole thing is just drunk!!

-It was as if Purdue forgot to come out for the second half in their game at Maryland.  The Terps just got complete control and ran the Boilers off the floor.  Purdue, as good as they are, have now lost three of their last four and are showing that they can absolutely be beaten.

-Florida Atlantic suffered their third loss of the season as they fell to Middle Tennessee.  It was close for most of the game, but MTSU was in the lead the whole way, and held on to win 74-70.  This is a setback for FAU, but I still think they are inside the bubbler.

-Memphis had a lead over UCF for most of the game, but almost blew it in the final minutes, and It actually came down to the final possession after a sloppy second half, but Memphis escaped 64-63.

-Oral Roberts, who all year long had been destroying the Summit League in their sleep, got a big scare from a rather underwhelming North Dakota State team yesterday, but managed to hold on 73-70 after blowing a huge second half lead.

-Saint Mary’s BARELY escaped at San Diego 62-59.  This would have been a loss that would have likely knocked them down several seed lines.

-LMU made a huge mistake when they beat Gonzaga earlier this season.  It made the Zags REALLY mad!!  They absolutely blew LMU off the floor, and dominated the first half in a way that we really haven’t seen since some of the ridiculously mismatched buy games from early in the year.

-Southern Miss, who we really liked as an Under the Radar team, and who we thought even might get some sort of look from the committee if they didn’t win the auto-bid even if they weren’t selected, has basically no shot of being selected now.  They were blown to the moon by South Alabama 85-54 in a game that has me scratching my head as much as any others that we’ve seen this week, and we’ve seen some CRAZY stuff this week!

-Morehead State and UNC Asheville both won their games, and both can clinch a share of first place in their conferences if they win on Saturday.

-Kennesaw State also came from behind to beat Liberty, which gives them a one game lead in the standings with three games to go.  They have not clinched yet, but they have the tiebreaker if the two teams end up tied, which means they are on track to have home court advantage throughout the entire ASun Tournament.

-NEW MEXICO AT SAN JOSE STATE (Mountain West).  After a great start to the season, New Mexico has gone into a tailspin and is at risk of missing the NCAA Tournament entirely if they can’t get things turned back around.  Tonight’s game won’t be easy against a San Jose State team that’s been playing really well these past few weeks and is actually ahead of them in the standings.

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off on Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Friday, Feb 17th

Happy Anniversary: HoopsHD interviews UMBC legend Larry Simmons

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Jon Teitel

Most people think that the history of UMBC basketball began in 2018 when the Retrievers upset #1-seed Virginia in the NCAA tourney…but most people are wrong. Larry Simmons played at UMBC back in the 1980s and finished his career with a school-record 1805 PTS. He finished 3rd in the nation with 90.2 FT% as a junior, was named to the D-1 All-Independent Team as a senior, and even played 2 years of varsity soccer during his free time. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Larry about playing multiple sports and being a great scorer. Today marks the 33rd anniversary of Larry breaking the school’s scoring record on February 17, 1990, so we take this time to remember his remarkable accomplishment.

You grew up in Indiana: what made you choose UMBC? That is very simple to answer: Coach Jeff Bzdelik. I had received many offers but narrowed my choices down to 5 schools. I visited Alabama, Northwestern, UNC-Wilmington, Ball State, and UMBC. Most of the larger schools had upperclassmen so I knew that I would have to probably redshirt during my 1st year. Being the competitive person that I am, I wanted the opportunity to play right away and make a significant impact at the school I was going to go to, plus I wanted to make sure it was a great fit with the coach who was going to be leading the program. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with Coach Bzdelik before I made my decision. I knew I could trust that my aspirations to play D-1 basketball and his desire to excel as a D-1 head coach would be a perfect fit at UMBC as they were entering D-1 for the first time in 1986.

What made Bzdelik such a good coach, and could you have ever imagined that he would keep going strong in the NBA for the next 3 decades? I absolutely could see him coaching to this day! His love for the game of basketball is unquestioned. His passion/dedication/ability to have a strong connection with all of the players that he coached was an incredible asset. He had an incredible desire to see his players not only excel on the basketball court but also in life.

You played both basketball/soccer in college: which sport were you best at and which 1 did you enjoy the most? That is a very hard question to answer as I absolutely love both sports. I think that if they would have let me play soccer for the 1st 2 years then I might have had a chance at being the leading scorer in both soccer AND basketball! I was All-State in basketball/soccer/football and enjoyed playing all sports. However, basketball and soccer were definitely my 2 favorites, by far.

As a junior you finished #3 in the nation with 90.2 FT%: what is the secret to making FTs? It took many years of being taught the correct fundamentals and practicing every day how to shoot the basketball. I would spend extra time at every practice shooting hundreds of free throws and jump shots. I was also fortunate enough to grow up in the town of Noblesville, IN, which had a great high school basketball program. Noblesville had a great high school coach named Dave Nicholson who was very passionate about focusing on the fundamentals of basketball so we worked on free throws every night. I believe that Scott Haffner, 1 of my high school teammates (who ended up making it to the NBA) was 1 of the best in the nation that year as well (90.1 FT%)!

Your PPG/SPG/FG% increased during each of your 4 years on campus: how were you able to keep improving every single year? With a lot of hard work and off-season practice! I cannot tell you how many days/afternoons/nights that Bobby Mills and I were out practicing our shooting, playing 1-on-1, looking for pick-up games, etc. I also think that as I matured throughout my 4 years of playing D-1 basketball: the game started to slow down for me. I was able to see/understand what was happening quicker and my ability to perform steadily improved each year.

In 1990 you were named an All-American: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was an awesome honor for all of the hard work I had put in during my entire life. Just being blessed to play D-1 basketball and then to be recognized for all of the hard work/dedication I had put in over the years as an All-American felt amazing. I never had the opportunity to play in a conference as UMBC was just entering D-1, so that made the honor even more special!

In 1996 you were inducted into your school’s Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? I have been very fortunate to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Silver Anniversary Team, the UMBC Athletic Hall of Fame, the Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame, and Noblesville’s Athletic Hall of Fame. I feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to play both basketball and soccer at UMBC. To be recognized for all of my hard work at such a great institution is right there at the top: Go Retrievers!

You remain the all-time leading scorer in school history: did you realize at the time how prolific a player you were, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? Did I ever think that I would be the all-time leading scorer at UMBC when I 1st started: absolutely not! All I knew was that if I worked hard every day to improve my game, I would be given the same opportunity as every other player who was on the team. I was fortunate enough to never miss a game during my 4 years of playing at UMBC but I am amazed that the record has lasted this long. I was so rooting for Jairus Lyles to break the record with the amazing run UMBC had in the 2018 NCAA tourney! Since we were not in a conference during my 4 years at UMBC we only played 28 games/year. Now that UMBC is in the America East and has a conference tournament they can play 32+ games/year. They also had an incredible coach in Ryan Odom who developed a formidable program so I am sure that someone will break the record.

You also have the most STL in school history: how did you balance your offense with your defense? I have always been a very competitive person: if my opponent had the ball then I wanted it! I think that playing both basketball/soccer gave me the ability to see offenses/defenses/plays before they happened. I believe this gave me the ability to put myself in situations where I had the opportunity to steal the ball from the opposing player. I have never really believed in luck: I believe that if you work hard, have the right fundamentals, and put yourself in the right situation then success will happen.

What have you been up to since retiring from basketball, and what do you hope to do in the future? It is hard to believe that it has been almost 3 decades since I graduated from UMBC! I have been working in the world of banking for most of that time and am currently back home again in the great Hoosier state of Indiana! I have coached both youth basketball/soccer for the last quarter century and my wife made me “officially” stop playing both sports when I turned 50: wow, life goes fast! I have 4 beautiful children/2 grandchildren and just plan on watching them all grow up. Who knows: maybe I will go into coaching high school basketball here in Indiana?!

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Happy Anniversary: HoopsHD interviews UMBC legend Larry Simmons

Under The Radar Game of the Day – Friday, February 17th

Posted on February 17, 2023 by John Stalica

Yale (17-6, 7-3) at Pennsylvania (14-11, 6-4) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPNEWS)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the historic Palestra in Philadelphia where the Penn Quakers will host the Yale Bulldogs in a pivotal Ivy League matchup. Yale is tied with Princeton for first place in the Ivy and brings a 6-game winning streak into what has been one of the most difficult road trips in all of college basketball: the Princeton-Penn back-to-back doubleheader. Matt Knowling averages 14.9 points a game and 5.2 rebounds a game for the Bulldogs.

Penn had a 3-game losing streak in midseason against Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale, but now they get a chance to avenge all three losses in the final 4 games of the regular season. The Quakers have since won 5 straight games, most recent was a win at Harvard last weekend. Jordan Dingle is one of the most prolific scorers in the NCAA – he averages 24 points a game.

Posted in CBB on TV, Daily Rundown, News and Notes, Under the Radar | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment