Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We will be recording The Hoops HD Video Podcast tonight, and it should be a busy show as we recap all of the tournaments from last week. We will also have this week’s bracket posted a little later on today, so be on the lookout for that.

-Texas A&M came from behind to beat Iowa State 73-69 in the ESPN Events Invitational and improves to 6-1 on the season. Iowa State falls to 5-2, but I really like how they played in this event and think they’re poised to have a good year from here on out. Once again, Iowa State had little expectations coming into the year, but may actually have the makings of a tournament team.

-Florida Atlantic blew Virginia Tech into the sun 84-50 in the ESPN Events Invitaitonal. I’d say FAU is back to looking like a top ten caliber team.

-Mike Rhoades at Penn State faced off against his old VCU team in the ESPN Events Invitational. It was a setting worthy of an early season tournament. They were playing at Disney World at 11am in front of a sparse crowd. VCU picked up the 86-74 win and both teams are now 4-3 with a lot of work to do.

-Yale went to Rhode Island and blew what appeared to be a commanding double digit lead and ended up losing 76-72. This is the kind of game that Yale needed to win if they wanted to argue that they belonged inside the bubble. It was a tough game, but it was certainly a winnable game for a tournament-caliber team.

-Harvard was another Ivy League team that had a shot at a notable and winnable road game, but fell to Indiana 89-76. Most of Indiana’s wins prior to this have been close games against weaker teams, so it was probably the best the Hoosiers have looked all year. (Note from Stalica – technically this was a neutral-court game in Indianapolis and the NET will treat it as such, even though it was for all intents and purposes a de facto home game for Indiana.)

-Butler ended up with a pretty impressive 70-56 win over a Boise State team a lot of us liked. To be fair, Boise has been somewhat disappointing this season, but also to be fair, Butler has been a lot better than expected.

-UIC vs UNC Greensboro in the Baha Mar Hoops final was a wild game with a crazy finish. UIC hit a go ahead jumper with about 7 seconds left to take a 57-56 lead. We then had a video review for what seemed like forever to determine whether or not he got the shot off in time before the shotclock expired (thanks to Chad Sherwood for clarifing that for me. I was watching with the sound off). After that, UNCG went the length of the floor, lost the ball, got it back, and got fouled in the final seconds. They hit both freethrows for the 58-57 win, they won the event, and improve to 5-1 on the year with a pretty impressive looking resume. As for UIC, they did lose the game, but they have also been one of the more surprising UTR teams this year. I thought they’d be a doormat in the Missouri Valley, but they’ve had some nice wins and almost beat a really good UNC Greensboro team yesterday.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NORTHERN ILLINOIS AT NORTHWESTERN. This is a buy game, but Northern Illinois has been surprisingly good this year with a 5-1 overall record and two true road wins so far. Granted, they haven’t beaten anyone on Northwestern’s level, and were beaten handily by Marquette in the opener, but they should be able to give the Wildcats a better than expected game.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT FRESNO STATE. UCSB is a good UTR team (or so we think) that’s off to ab it of a slow start, and Fresno State is a potential sleeper in the Mountain West, so the match-up is compelling.

-UTAH AT SAINT MARY’S. Saint Mary’s has dropped two games that you would expect a team of their caliber to be able to win, and is a little light on notable resume-building wins so far despite having multiple opportunities early. They should be able to get this one at home, but they better not overlook the Utes.

-Oakland @ Xavier – buy game
-New Hampshire @ UConn – buy game
-Saint Peter’s @ Rutgers – Rutgers has won four straight since losing the opener to Princeton
-Western Illinois @ Wisconsin
-Houston Christian @ TCU – TCU is 5-0, but all five wins have been home buy games
-Point Loma Nazarene (nonD1) @ San Diego State – where did the Aztecs dig this team up from?
-Eastern Washington @ Washington State (Top Range) – Wazzu can get to 5-1 on the year

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