NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-Virginia trailed for most of the game at Michigan, and had to come from behind in the second half and then make a big defensive play at the end of the game to hold on for a 70-68 win. It was probably the best the Wolverines looked all year. They certainly had a chance to win it, and some would say there was a foul at the end of the game, but to me it looked like a really good defensive play by the Hoos.
-A team that did NOT have their best game of the year yesterday was Baylor. In fact they barely bothered to get off the bus at Marquette, and got absolutely wrecking-balled 96-70. It was Baylor’s first true road game, and while Marquette hasn’t looked bad at all this year, they’re not exactly on the level of Kansas, and Texas, and…well…nearly all of the Big 12, so Baylor will need to get their road issues figured out. As for Marquette, you kind of have to sit up and take notice of them after they absolutely blew the doors off of a top ten team like that.
-The game of the night was UC Irvine at San Diego State. It seesawed back and forth all night, and you got the impression that had they played for 400 minutes instead of 40, the largest lead either team would have managed would have been 5pts. UC Irvine had a lead with ten seconds to go, San Diego State hit a 3 in the final seconds which ultimately ended up being the game winner in a 72-69 game. It’s a good win for the Aztecs, but another takeaway from this game is how good UC Irvine is. They blew out Oregon at Oregon earlier this year, this was just their second loss of the year, and it came in a very close game against a legit top 25 caliber team.
-UMass is now 6-1 on the year after their win at South Florida. South Florida is hardly a good team, but it was still a road win and UMass is looking a lot better than most of the rest of the A10 right now (which, admittedly, isn’t saying much, but still…)
-Duqeusne is also 6-1 after their home win against UC Santa Barbara. UCSB is hardly a top level team, but it was still a win for a Duquesne team that’s looking a lot better than most of the rest of the A10 right now (which, admittedly, isn’t saying much, but still…)
-Charlotte got a really nice/feelgood win over their rivals Davidson 68-66 with a shot at the buzzer to win the game. Charlotte isn’t a team we expected much out of, but they’re now 6-2 on the year with a pretty notable road win to go along with that record.
-Clemson held off a pretty good Penn State team 101-94 in overtime for the win. Clemson is probably closer to an NIT team than a Tournament team, but one takeaway from this is that beating NIT teams on the road will still get you some credit from the committee, and Penn State (who’s still got a very good 6-2 record) was right in there for the entire game. They didn’t get the win, but Penn State showed (again) that they’re better than what most people predicted them to be coming into the season.
-Missouri remains unbeaten at 8-0 and picked up a really nice win at Wichita State, who had been playing well coming into this game. It was the first true road win for the Tigers on the year, and it certainly polishes up their early season resume.
-Southern Miss is also 8-0 on the season (although some of those were against nonD1 teams) after their win against Montana.
-Wake Forest, who was a team we all thought was kind of ‘meh’ this year, got a really nice road win at Wisconsin 78-75, and improves to 7-1 on the year. It is typically VERY difficult to win at Wisconsin. Just ask all the ranked teams in the Big Ten who fail to do it year after year. Just like that, Wake has gone from ‘meh’ to “oh DAMN!’
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WYOMING AT SANTA CLARA – Wyoming has been without their best player Graham Ike, and it has certainly impacted their season and are off to just a 3-3 start. Santa Clara is 5-2 with some decent wins on their resume so far. Both still have a ton of work to do, but this is a good game for both these teams at this juncture of the season.
-KANSAS STATE AT BUTLER (Big East-Big 12 Battle). K State is unbeaten on the season with some pretty decent wins on their profile. They have another winnable road game tonight.
-AKRON AT MARSHALL. It was kind of easy to write Marshall off after they lost their opener to Queens, but they haven’t lost since. They’ll be tested by an Akron team that’s just 3-3 on the season so far, but that’s also probably better than their record indicates.
-DRAKE AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley). You don’t get many conference games in the month of November, but we’ve got one tonight, and it’s a big one. Drake is a team most of us were expecting to be in the top 25 by the end of the year, and they come into this game unbeaten and are coming off what was perhaps their best performance of the season. Indiana State has been a bit of a surprise and comes in with a 6-1 record of their own. With the Trees being at home, this is a really big test for Drake.
-RICHMOND AT TOLEDO. Toledo did not do well in their exempt event and basically needs to rampage through the rest of their schedule to get a serious look from the committee. Richmond is off to a somewhat disappointing 3-3 start and could use a road win like this to help them get things turned back around.
-VANDERBILT AT VCU. Both teams have a lot of work to do. I really don’t think there is anymore to say.
-PURDUE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge). Purdue was extremely impressive out at the Phil Knight Events in Oregon, and likely won’t be challenged all that much today despite being on the road.
-OHIO STATE AT DUKE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge). Ohio State played well out in Maui, but playing on the road at Duke will be their biggest challenge of the season so far. Duke is coming off a blowout loss to Purdue and will be lookin to rebound from that.
-RUTGERS AT MIAMI FL (ACC/Big Ten Challenge). This game is not on a lot of people’s radars, but Miami FL is 6-1 on the season and has basically their entire roster back from a team that made the Elite Eight a year ago, and Rutgers comes in at 5-1. The thing is, about 100 teams would be 5-1 against the schedule Rutgers has played so far, so this is their first real test.
-SMU AT TEXAS A&M. TAMU got beaten up pretty good in their MTE and now stands at 4-2 and needs to start stringing together some wins to get back on track.
-GEORGETOWN AT TEXAS TECH (Big East-Big 12 Battle). Texas Tech has lost two of three and should be able to rebound at home against a Georgetown team that isn’t good, but also isn’t quite as bad as they were a year ago.
-PROVIDENCE AT TCU (Big East-Big 12 Battle). TCU kind of slept through their alarm the first few weeks of the season, but they looked really good in their last game against Iowa and now appear to be on track. Providence is off to a modest 5-2 start, but has yet to win any games that weren’t home buy games.
-LMU AT COLORADO STATE. Both these teams have work to do, but both are off to better starts than what many (including myself) were probably expecting, so this should be a good game to watch tonight.
-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE (Back Range). UTEP is 5-1 on the year, but still lookin for their first road win, and will be challenged on the road against a rival tonight.
-SAMFORD AT DEPAUL. Samford is a team we have high expectations for this year, and they come in at 6-2, but they’re coming off an absurd loss to a nonD1 team and will need to rebound from that. DePaul isn’t the best team in the world, but it can still be hard to win there.
-NORTH CAROLINA AT INDIANA (ACC/Big Ten Challenge). North Carolina has lost two straight and has fallen from 1st to 18th in the rankings, and they’ll be challenged in a big way tonight against an Indiana team that’s 6-0 and who has a win at Xavier. Still, this is a big test for the Hoosiers, who outside of the win at Xavier have not been tested at all.
-MICHIGAN STATE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC/Big East Challenge). Notre Dame is perhaps the least impressive 5-1 team I’ve ever seen. Nearly all their wins have been close games at home against bad UTR teams. Michigan State has played about as tough of a schedule as any team possibly can and already has some big wins, but this would be their first true road win of the season if they’re able to pull it off.
-NEW MEXICO AT SAINT MARY’S. New Mexico is unbeaten, but this is their first real test of the season. We will find out tonight if the Lobos really are for real. SMC hasn’t played too many away from home yet, but from all accounts are a team that we expect to land solidly inside the bubble and in the NCAA Tournament.
-USC AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12). USC is off to a bit of a slow start, but this should be a winnable conference road game for them.
BUY GAMES:
-Merrimack @ UMass Lowell – Lowel can get to 7-1 on the season
-Western Michigan @ Dayton – Dayton just 3-4 on the year
-Howard @ Yale – Yale can improve to 7-1 on the season and rebound from a tough loss at Colorado
-McNeese @ Tennessee
-Maine @ Fordham – Fordham can get to 7-1 on the year
-Jacksonville @ UAB – both teams with just one loss
-North Dakota @ Iowa State
-North Alabama @ Memphis
-Florida A&M @ Florida
-SELA @ Xavier
-Tennessee State @ Saint Louis
-Little Rock @ San Francisco
-Cal State Fullerton @ Seattle U
