Under The Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, February 11th

Posted on February 11, 2023 by John Stalica

Morehead State (16-10, 9-4) at Southeast Missouri State (13-13, 8-5) – 5:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day heads to the Bootheel of Missouri for a matchup of OVC heavyweights (or flyweights when you consider the conference winner is likely headed to Dayton for the First Four) between the Morehead State Eagles and the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks. The Eagles recently had a 6-game winning streak and looked like they were starting to gain separation from a 6-way tie for first place a few weeks ago. However, they stumbled at Little Rock 72-68 to fall to 1 game above 3 teams for second place in the OVC. Mark Freeman leads Morehead with 16.1 points a game and 3.7 assists a game.

SEMO is another team that looked like they were starting to get momentum with a 4-game winning streak that included wins against Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State at home. However, thanks to back-to-back losses on the road against both of the above-mentioned Tennessee schools, the Redhawks are now a game back of Morehead in the standings. Phillip Russell averages 19.0 points a game and 5.7 assists a game for SEMO.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day (and the Hoops HD Daily Rundown) – Friday, February 10th

Posted on February 10, 2023 by John Stalica

For the latest HOOPS HD BRACKET RUNDOWN, where we build a seedlist on the air and discuss all the teams as we go – CLICK HERE

Saint Louis (16-8, 8-3) at Dayton (16-9, 8-4) – 8:00 PM ET (ESPN2)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day is a sacred day on the Hoops HD Calendar as the first leg of the Arch Baron Cup takes place with the Dayton Flyers hosting the Saint Louis Billikens. Saint Louis snapped a 2-game losing streak at home with a 76-71 victory against Rhode Island. Prior to that game, the Billikens lost a pair of games against A-10 contenders Fordham on the road and at home against VCU despite a “Billiken Blizzard” promotion for the fans. Yuri Collins averages 11.7 points a game and 10.1 assists a game for SLU.

Dayton began the year ravaged with injuries and got off to a slow start thanks to losses at UNLV and an 0-3 trip to Atlantis during Thanksgiving. In their last game, the Flyers snapped a 3-game road losing streak with a 62-58 win at VCU in which Toumani Camara had 26 points and 15 boards. This game moved the Flyers to 1 game behind VCU in the standings and a half-game behind Saint Louis. DaRon Holmes is another potential candidate to win the Harewood Horse trophy as game MVP; he leads the Flyers with 17.6 points a game this season.

 

HOOPS HD DAILY RUNDOWN (From the Puppet):

-LMU is nowhere near the bubble, but they’ve pulled off two of the biggest upsets of the season this year.  First with a 68-67 thriller on the road against Gonzaga back in January, and last night they defeated Saint Mary’s in overtime 78-74.  SMC had a lead for most of regulation, but it was close all throughout, and they just couldn’t put the Lions away.

-USC had been playing really well, but they ran into a brick wall last night as Oregon just blew them off the floor 78-60.  Oregon still has a lot of work to do, but they’ve now won six of their last eight and while their profile is still very questionable due to a subpar start to the season, they now are at least looking like an NCAA Tournament caliber team.  They still have a ton of work to do to get their resume up to the level it needs to be at, though.

-KENT STATE AT BUFFALO (MAC).  If Kent State win out and be the outright first place team in the MAC they could get a serious look from the committee, but even that may not be enough to get them in without the auto-bid.

-XAVIER AT BUTLER (Big East).  Xavier has a very wide path to a protected seed and just needs to hold serve in games like this.

-SAINT LOUIS AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten).  There are three teams in the Atlantic Ten that could potentially be dangerous in the Round of 64 and these are two of them, but the real reason we are highlighting this game is because IT IS THE ARCH BARON CUP!!!!!!  The Greatest and Most Intense Rivalry in Human History!!!!

-NEW MEXICO AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West).  This should be a winnable conference road game for a New Mexico team that is inside the bubble and needs to hold serve in order to stay there.

-FRESNO STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West).  This should be a winnable conference home game for a Nevada team that is inside the bubble and needs to hold serve in order to stay there.

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Hoops HD Bracket Rundown (and a Special Bonus Bracket Build!) – Feb 9th

Posted on February 9, 2023 by David Griggs

NOTE:  This broadcast was recorded at 10pm, est on Thursday, February 9th.  No games that went final after that, particularly Saint Mary’s vs LMU or Oregon vs USC, were considered when creating this bracket.

Chad and the panel build a seedlist line by line and debate, discuss, and assess each team as they go.  Find out who they have on the #1 lines so far, who is safely in, who still has work to do, and who on the bubble just made it in and just missed it.

And below is our special Bracket Build Podcast, where we show you exactly how the seedlist is converted into a bracket and how all of the different bracketing rules come into play

Below is a final copy of the bracket, but don’t look at it until you’ve watched the show!!

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

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Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Thursday, Feb 9th

Posted on February 9, 2023 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For the latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast, where we run through all of the non-major conferences – CLICK HERE

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a BIG one between Louisiana and Southern Miss and may not just be the Under the Radar Game of the Day, but the Game of the Day PERIOD – CLICK HERE

-For Jon Teitel’s interview with Charles McClelland, who is the SWAC Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee – CLICK HERE

-Tennessee struggled throughout the entire game at Vanderbilt, but appeared to have it won in the final seconds…until they didn’t.  Up 65-63 and with the ball, the Vols passed up what would have been a wide open dunk, which would have given them a 4pt lead, in order to force Vandy to foul.  This is simply NOT thinking through how a 4pt lead is a two possession lead.  I think by now you all know how this one ended.  A couple fouls later, Tennessee misses the freethrow and Vandy hits a game winning 3 to pull off the huge 66-65 upset.

-I had been saying for over a week I like how Florida has been playing, and I was half expecting them to be very competitive at Alabama last night.  They were not.  WOW!!  Bama blew them off the floor 97-69, and that score probably understates just how dominant Bama was.

-West Virginia desperately needs wins, and given the strength of their remaining schedule they are going to be extremely hard to come by, but they got a BIG one last night knocking off Iowa State 76-71.  Iowa State now in a bit of a slump having lost three of their last four, but are in absolutely no danger at all.  The one game they did win in that stretch was a blowout win over Kansas.

-Creighton went on the road and got a huge 75-62 win against a Seton Hall team that had been playing really well.  This is actually probably a better win than what it looks like on paper because Seton Hall is in the middle of a stretch where they’ve been looking really good, and for Creighton to go on the road and win in the fashion that they did is really impressive.

-San Diego State held on for a nice 63-61 road win at Utah State.  They had a commanding lead at the half, but almost gave it up.  The game was exceptionally heated, and in the first half exceptionally poorly played and overly officiated.  Several technicals and even ejections were issued, and after what seemed to be a 15 minute pause for replay the game finally resumed, but the flow was completely gone.  Nevertheless, it is a nice road win for the Aztecs and they remain safely inside the bubble.

-Wisconsin and Penn State both really needed the win last night when the two faced each other, and Wisconsin got it.  A 79-74 road win will hopefully (for their sake) help the Badgers start to turn things around.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-IOWA AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  Purdue is still the top overall #1 seed in most peoples’ fields, including our own, and they will remain there if they can hold serve tonight.  Iowa is relatively safe despite having some holes in their resume, but they could REALLY boost the value of their profile if they could somehow pull off the upset tonight.  That is much easier said than done, though.

-RICE AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC (Conference USA).  FAU is safely inside the bubble and will likely go into the field on the first ballot if they can win out through the regular season, which they are good enough to do.

-NORTHWESTERN AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  Northwestern continues to hover around the bubble, but right now I think they are inside of it.  They need this win on the road in order to stay inside it.  It’s not easy winning on the road, but this is still the kind of game that a tournament caliber team should be expected to win.

-UCLA AT OREGON STATE (Pac 12).  UCLA is will within the range of a protected seed and should be able to hold serve tonight.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  Gonzaga is hovering around the 4/5 seed range in our brackets and should stay there so long as they hold serve the rest of the way

-SAINT MARY’S AT LMU (West Coast).  Saint Mary’s is now in sole possession of first place in the WCC and could even end up with a protected seed if they can finish running the table.

-ARIZONA STATE AT STANFORD (Pac 12).  Arizona State is outside the bubble and needs to string together some wins down the stretch just to reach the field.

-ARIZONA AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12).  Even though this is a road game it should still be a cakewalk for Arizona, who still has an outside shot at a #1 seed if they can win out.

-USC AT OREGON (Pac 12).  This could be a tough road game for a USC team that has been playing better and who has also played their way inside our bubble, but who would also be much more safer if they’re able to pick up a win like this one.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, February 9th

Posted on February 9, 2023 by John Stalica

Louisiana (20-4, 10-2) at Southern Miss (21-4, 10-2) – 8:30 PM ET (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day goes to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for a matchup of the top 2 teams in the Sun Belt; the Southern Miss Golden Eagles host the Louisiana Rajun’ Cajuns. The Cajuns are in the midst of a 10-game winning streak and includes a 75-61 home win against Southern Miss earlier in the season. More recently, Jordan Brown had 26 points in Louisiana’s 77-67 win at home against fellow league contender Marshall.

Southern Miss started off the season 8-0 before losing against co-Southland leader Northwestern State on the road. The Golden Eagles did get off to a relatively slow 3-2 start in the Sun Belt, but the two losses were on the road against Louisiana and Marshall. Since then, Southern Miss has won seven straight games in conference play. Felipe Haase had 26 points in the Golden Eagles’ last outing – a 79-71 victory on the road at Georgia State.

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Under the Radar – Feb 8th

Posted on February 8, 2023 by David Griggs

This week’s featured conference is the Big West, which as it is most years has been hugely exciting all year long.  UC Santa Barbara has been the frontrunner for most of the year, and we thought they might actually be able to get a serious look from the committee if they were able to win out, but they suffered a very surprising loss to Cal State Northridge this week.  UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Hawai’i and Long Beach State are other teams that are right up there in the conference race.

After that, we move on and look at the other 22 UTR leagues and start off with a rather bizarre night in Maine as their game against Vermont was delayed because the floor was crooked and needed to be re-laid.  Teams like Oral Roberts and Colgate are getting very close to clinching first place bids, the Ivy League and SWAC races are heating up both at the top of the standings and to make the cutline for the conference tournaments.  Hofstra is actually tied with Charleston in the Colonial, and although their season profile isn’t as strong as CofC’s we feel that they may actually be more dangerous right now.  We discuss all that, and more.  And, as we do every week, we close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.

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

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