Hoops HD

Hanging with the Revolutionaries: Part 1

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. However, since it is a rare occurrence to have a top-100 match-up in DC these days, he was in attendance Friday night for the George Mason-George Washington game at the Charles E. Smith Center and prepared this photo essay.

I made it to the other 3 gyms in DC back in November (American/Georgetown/Howard), but it took me a few months to complete the superfecta. GW follows the ain’t-broke-don’t-fix approach to pregame meals because it works just fine: pizza and Coke Zero. Tonight’s color commentator is 1 who is very familiar with the District: former Hoya star/2-time NBA All-Star Roy Hibbert:

But the star of the show is GW strength and conditioning coach/HoopsHD legend Robert “Handy” Handerahan!

Let’s tip it off on Friday the 13th:

We have 2 solid coaches tonight in GW coach Chris Caputo (bottom)/GMU coach Tony Skinn (top):

Unfortunately for the former, it looks like GW is still missing 2 starters due to injury (Rafael Castro/Bubu Benjamin). In Castro’s absence, C Luke Hunger caught fire early with 12 PTS in the 1st 9 minutes on a pair of layups, a fadeaway jumper, and a pair of threes:

GMU started 18-1 this season but had lost 3 of 6 since then and were searching for a way to get back on track. G Masai Troutman (left) almost matched Hunger’s hot start with 9 PTS in the 1st 9 minutes, and big man Riley Allenspach (right) dominated the paint with a layup/turnaround jumper/dunk to keep the Patriots within striking distance at halftime as they only trailed 32-30:

I walked down to the court during halftime and got a nice view of the jersey retirement of former GW PG Shawnta Rogers, who was named 1999 A-10 POY as a SR after leading the nation with 3.6 SPG, then spent more than a decade playing pro basketball in several foreign countries:

GMU G Jahari Long tried to keep his team in it during the 2nd stanza with a trio of trifectas, but as you might be aware, this has not been a good sports week for any Patriots:

In contrast, GW PG Jean Aranguren is having a heck of a February. Last weekend he had a triple-double at Duquesne, and tonight he got to the basket at will in a near-perfect effort with 16 PTS on 7-8 FG/1-1 FT:

Since Oscar Night is rapidly approaching, I think the best way to describe tonight’s result is “The Hunger Game”. The big man made all 3 of his shots from beind the arc despite being just a career 20% 3-PT shooter, finished with 31 PTS after only scoring 31 PTS in the entire month of January, and helped his team pull away in the 2nd half as they cruised to a 72-53 win.

In the postgame press conference, I noticed that Coach Skinn’s team had been 4-0 this year while wearing gold, so I asked him if he was a superstitious guy who would immediately burn those jerseys. He smiled and said that he did not even know it was Friday the 13th (strike 1):

In 1 of my most leading questions ever, I wondered if Coach Caputo ever recalled beating an opponent this good by this many PTS with this many injured starters. I expected a resounding “no”…but instead he claimed it would have been 2 weeks agao against St. Louis if some calls had gone his way. He did admit that this 1 is up there with some of his best victories: he has beaten Dayton a couple of times in conference play when they were a top-100 team, and he beat a South Florida team earlier this year that has a good chance of winning the American (strike 2):

Hoping to avoid the strikeout, I begged Hunger to explain how it was possible to score 31 tonight after scoring 31 in January. He said that while most of his looks tonight were good ones, there were 2 shot that he threw up which happened to go in. His MO is to be consistent: even when he arrived and knew that he would have to take a backseat to Castro, he just tried to be the best teammate that he could be. He never gets too down: even if he is only playing 10 minutes, he always has a positive mindset.

That is a wrap for now, but check back in the weeks ahead as the postseason is almost here!

Posted in News and Notes | Tagged George Mason, George Washington | Comments Off

Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Friday, Feb 13th

Posted on February 13, 2026 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We have had our first SURVIVAL BOARD elimination. Western Illinois fell at home to Little Rock 77-58, which mathematically eliminates them from making the Ohio Valley Tournament. 359 TEAMS REAMIN!!!

-Hofstra seems to be back on track after almost inexplicably hitting the skids. They picked up a nice 66-62 road win at Charleston last night. Even though the Pride are not at the top of the standings they appear to be the strongest team right now, although UNC Wilmington is also looking really good.

-Belmont bounced back from their overtime loss at Bradley with a 91-86 win over a Northern Iowa team that had been playing really well, but it’s probably not going to be enough to put them on the bubble even if they win out. Another case of a good UTR team that would have made it inside the bubble had they just had more opportunities during the season to prove themselves.

-And UC Irvine!!…my pick to win the Big West!!…..NEVERMIND!!!! (the lost at Cal Poly 79-73 and will fall another game behind Hawaii)

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-MICHIGAN STATE AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Wisconsin has two of the best wins that any team has managed this season having won both at Michigan and at Illinois. They have not always played at that level, though. They’ll have a tough test tonight against a good Michigan State team that’s also coming off a really big win as they knocked off Illinois in overtime.

-OHIO U AT MIAMI OH (MAC). The Battle of the Bricks!!! This is a good rivalry and tonight may be the brightest spotlight it has ever had on it. Miami is the more storied team this year and they are at home, but Ohio U will be way up for this one. It should be a fun one!!

-Yale @ Dartmouth (Ivy League) – Yale is fighting for 1st place and Dartmouth is fighting for a spot in the top 4 so they can make the conference tournament

-Brown @ Harvard (Ivy League) – Harvard is tied with Yale atop the standings and looking to stay there

-Saint Louis @ Loyola Chicago (Atlantic 10) – Saint Louis continues to blow through their schedule and should easily land in the top half of the bracket

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off

Hoops HD Staff Bracket Projections (From the Puppet) – Feb 12th

Posted on February 12, 2026 by David Griggs

Below are my Bracket Projections. It projects the field as if today were Selection Sunday, and if I was a committee of one. I am not trying to guess what the actual selection committee will do on Selection Sunday. I am merely showing you what the field would look like if today were Selection Sunday and I were on complete charge of selecting and seeding the teams. If you want to see a bracket where someone is trying to guess the committee, check out Jon Teitel’s latest Bracket in our BRACKETOLOGY Tab at the top of the page…

OTHERS CONSIDERED: New Mexico, UCLA, Calfornia, VCU, San Diego State, Seton Hall, Ohio State, West Virginia, Nevada, Oklahoma State, Tulsa

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-It would be both cruel and hilarious if things played out this way, but never has a #1 seed been more cursed than Connecticut by the bracketing rules of this particular bracket. They are sent to the South Regional where they could conceivably have to play Houston in Houston in the Elite Eight, but may also have to face Villanova in Philadelphia and Texas Tech in Houston along the way. So much for being protected!!!

-Arizona is still my overall #1 seed despite the loss at Kansas. It does not undo all of the good that they’ve done, and holy crap have they done a lot of good! Including a true road win at UConn, which is perhaps the single most impressive win that any team has managed this season.

-The teams that have moved the most for me are probably Missouri and Miami FL. In fact I think this is the first time I’ve actually selected Missouri, and I have them several lines inside the bubble on the #9 line. The top of their profile is really good and they had a great win at Texas A&M the other night.

-Below are some comments from the staff. If any of them says anything that is critical of the masterpiece of a bracket I have put together, or if they simply disagree with anything….THEY ARE WRONG!!!!

STAFF COMMENTS:

From Chad:

I don’t have as many disagreements with the top of this bracket as I normally do with Griggs, though Vanderbilt as a 6 seed perplexes me. The Commodores have bounced back from their three game losing streak to win 4 of 5, including a road win at Auburn. This team is still in prime position for a protected seed, and they should not be any lower than the 5 line.

Miami (FL) seems bit high to me on the 9 line. I get that they beat Carolina, but as Griggs would say, it was only a home win so it should not even count. Further, that is their only win against an at-large caliber team. I would have the ‘canes in as well, but in or very close to the First Four.

Virginia Tech and TCU would not be in for me right now, but both teams are very close. TCU’s profile is all over the place, with wins and losses in all 4 tiers. Va Tech has a lot of losses for a profile with only 2 wins of note. I would probably choose UCLA and New Mexico right now, with a strong look at Ohio State.

Finally, I know that Griggs wrote this bracket before St. Thomas lost at Omaha tonight, but why are the Tommies even in the field over conference leader North Dakota State? It makes no sense to me, and the only answer is that he is just a #StupidPuppet. For this reason, despite doing a great job on the rest of the bracket, I give his efforts a solid D-. Which is better than the F I gave him last time!

From Stalica:

Chad has acquired a copy of the Selection Committee’s Rules and Procedures for 2026; it typically doesn’t allow for conference matchups until the Sweet 16 if teams match up twice during the season. That rule CAN be relaxed if a conference has 9 or more teams in the NCAA Tournament. The Big East will get at most 3 bids this year without a bid thief in the conference tournament. While I do appreciate the Puppet’s efforts to troll Zach, the UConn-Villanova matchup would not be permissible this early in the bracket.

While Vanderbilt has been wildly inconsistent, I don’t see how they should be lower than a 5 seed. They do have 6 games against teams that are likely to be in the field versus only one loss against a team not in the field. And isn’t the Puppet always harping on teams needing a great record away from home? The Commodores are 9-2 away from home.

I agree that Georgia is a team that should not feel safe as far as NCAA Tournament inclusion. Texas A&M and Auburn also need to start feeling a sense of urgency; Auburn is the first team in this field to reach double-digit losses, although none of them are against non-tournament teams. If not for their win at Florida, Auburn might not even be in this field. Texas A&M is now on a 3-game losing streak since the difficulty of their SEC schedule started to get much higher.

I actually agree with Griggs when it comes to including TCU and Santa Clara in the First Four, but I also believe the Hoosiers may actually be safer than he thinks they are. Winning at UCLA might be a fatal blow for the Bruins, and the Wisconsin win looks better now that the Badgers are starting to look like more than a 1-trick pony.

It’s very UTRish, but could the Horizon be down on the 16-line this year? Neither Wright State nor Oakland seem to want to win the top seed, and it’s very much possible that Doug Gottlieb could be the Comeback Coach of the Year should the Phoenix win the Horizon autobid this year.

Posted in Bracketology, News and Notes | Comments Off

Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Thursday, Feb 12th

Posted on February 12, 2026 by David Griggs

For our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

SURVIVAL BOARD UPDATE:

-LITTLE ROCK AT WESTERN ILLINOIS (Ohio Valley). Western Illinois becomes mathematically eliminated from making the conference tournament if they lose this one tonight. They are coming off their first conference win of the season after knocking off Eastern Illinois a couple nights ago.

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Michigan and Connecticut both sweated a little bit on the road against what appeared to be vastly inferior opponents, but both got control in the second half and both held serve.

-Florida went on the road and absolutely blew out Georgia. This was a Georgia team that at least looks like they can get inside the bubble, and Florida just blew them off their own floor 86-66 is rather impressive. The Gators haven’t been perfect, but they’ve looked like the best team in the SEC.

-Virginia Tech got a massive 76-66 road win at Clemson, which will help their resume out a ton. Clemson had won 13 of their last 14 going into this one, so for VA Tech to beat them at home is huge.

-Iowa, who had been looking really solid, stubbed their toes last night with a road loss at Maryland. Maryland has a losing overall record and is just 3-10 in Big Ten play, so this is a bit of a black eye for the Hawkeyes.

-USC could not get it done at Ohio State in a game between two teams that are right on the bubble. Ohio State pulled it out 89-82. I don’t think this gets the Buckeyes in yet, but it certainly helps.

-California needed to show they could routinely win on the road against mediocre teams and last night they failed to do that. In a crazy game that saw multiple overtimes and saw the lights go out, Cal fell at Syracuse 107-100 in what is a very damaging loss.

-Missouri got one of their biggest wins of the year as they went on the road and beat Texas A&M in an 86-85 thriller. Mizzou was floating around the bubble, so for them to pick up a true road win against a team that’s likely in the middle of the bracket is really big for them. TAMU has now lost three straight after getting off to a fantastic start.

-New Mexico picked up a really nice 70-64 win at Grand Canyon. GCU is not the easiest place to win, and the committee should give the Lobos some credit for this, but it may not be enough in and of itself to put them back inside the bubble.

UTR WATCH:

-Tonight’s slate is all Under the Radar games

-NJIT @ New Hampshire (America East) – NJIT is tied with UMBC in the loss column for the 1st place spot in the AEast

-UMBC @ Maine (America East) – this may be a tough road test for UMBC given how much better Maine has been playing

-Marist @ Merrimack (Metro Atlantic) – Merrimack is still holding on to the 1st place spot in the MAAC

-High Point @ USC Upstate (Big South) – High Point is tied with Winthrop atop the Big South standings. This should be a winnable road game against an Upstate team that’s struggled this year

-Detroit Mercy @ Wright State (Horizon League) – Wright State has a one game lead on Oakland in the HL standings and needs to hold serve at home

-Elon @ UNC Wilmington (CAA) – UNCW sitll has a one game lead over Charleston and has basically beaten everyone except William & Mary. They may get a test today even though Elon is pretty far down the standings

-Portland State @ Northern Arizona (Big Sky) – Portland State is running away from the Big Sky and should wrap up the top seed in the tournament soon

-UT Martin @ Lindenwood (Ohio Valley) – UT Martin still has a one game lead in the standings despite their loss to Morehead State last week. They could be challenged on the road tonight by a Lindenwood team that’s fighting to position themselves in the conference standings

-California Baptist @ Southern Utah (WAC) – Cal Baptist has won eight straight conference games and is tied with Utah Valley atop the WAC standings. They need to keep winning to lock up the top spot

-Northern Iowa @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – Belmont’s at-large hopes may have vanished after their loss at Bradley over the weekend. They face a very good and red hot Northern Iowa team that is exceptionally dangerous now that they’re healthy. This should be a good one tonight

-Utah Valley @ Utah Tech (WAC, Bee Hive) – this is a big game in the WAC standings. Unfortuantely we may not be able to see it unless Utah Valley pays the fine before tipoff. Their games cannot be streamed.

-Hawaii @ Cal State Bakersfield (Big West) – It’s never easy for Hawaii to go on the road and win, but this is one they should pick up and they should be able to maintain their one game lead over UC Irvine

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes, Survival Board | Comments Off

Under the Radar – Week 15

Posted on February 11, 2026 by David Griggs

Tonight’s feature conference is the Big West where Hawaii, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara are battling it out and where we have several key games coming up this week. Hawaii has been nearly unstoppable at home and UCSB is starting to look a lot better.

After that we run through the other 22 UTR leagues and look at how Liberty is still unbeaten (albeit barely) in Conference USA, and Belmont had a tough loss at Bradley that will probably end their at-large hopes. Stephen F Austin has a two game lead over McNeese in the Southland and has a big week coming up. The CAA and Sun Belt are both wide open with several big games coming up this week. We discuss all that, and more!! And as we do every week, we close with this week’s Under the Radar Top Ten.

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

Posted in Podcasts, Under the Radar, Videocasts | 1 Comment

Towering Twin: HoopsHD interviews McDonald’s All-American Darius Ratliff

Posted on February 11, 2026 by Jon Teitel

If you want to win an NCAA title then you usually need a good coach, a great resume…and a McDonald’s All-American. Only 2 championship teams from 1979-2020 did not have such a player (2002 Maryland/2014 UConn), and while Florida won a title last April without 1, Coach Todd Golden added Arkansas transfer/2024 McDonald’s All-American Boogie Fland to his roster last May. The rosters for this year’s McDonald’s All-American Game were announced last week after selecting the 24 best players in the nation from a list of several hundred nominees. If you do not think these guys can make an immediate impact in the fall, just ask Coach Tommy Lloyd how he likes having 2025 honorees Brayden Burries/Koa Peat at Arizona! Unlike most years when 1 school stands out as the big winner with the most All-Americans, there are 3 different programs tied for the current lead with 2 each (Duke/Missouri/USC) and a whopping 8 players who have not yet committed to a college. Earlier this week HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Darius Ratliff about being named a McDonald’s All-American and sharing the honor with his twin brother.

You missed part of last season with a foot injury: how bad was it, and how were you able to get back onto the court? It was not too bad, just a stress fracture, but I went to rehab and had to miss the 2nd half of last season.

You received offers from several great schools including Alabama/Arkansas/Texas but signed with USC last October: what was the biggest factor in your decision? The commitment they had to both me and my brother: during our visit they said that we were a priority.

Coach Eric Musselman’s team is currently 18-6: do you think they will make the NCAA tourney next month? If they stay healthy: definitely.

Earlier this month you were named a McDonald’s All-American: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a lot and showed all the work that I have put in. I have been to 3 McDonald’s games in the past as a spectator, so it is exciting to finally be going there as a player.

Your twin brother Adonis received the same honor: how special is it for your family to have 2 Ratliffs on the team? It is a blessing because it does not happen a lot. It shows how hard we have pushed each other to succeed.

Adonis will be joining you at USC this fall: is it true that playing together in college was “non-negotiable”? No: we were recruited separately by different schools.

Your high school teammate Jasiah Jervis was also named an All-Americans: what is it like to play on a team with so much talent? It makes the game easier: if our opponent focuses on just 1 player, then we can still find someone else to beat them.

You are listed at 7’: what position do you play now, and what position will you feel most comfortable at in college? I am playing center now and would feel comfortable playing PF in college.

Your father Theo was an NBA All-Star in 2001 and led the league in BLK 3 times from 2001-2004: who is the best athlete in the family? I would say my dad due to all the accolades he has.

Your high school team has won 3 straight state titles: do you think you can make it 4 in a row this spring? Yes: we have the pieces/size/IQ, so we just need to buy into it as a team.

Posted in News and Notes | Tagged Darius Ratliff, usc | Comments Off