Under The Radar Games of the Day – Thursday, November 24th

Posted on November 24, 2022 by John Stalica

For Jon Teitel’s recap of Day 2 of the Continental Tire Invitational in Las Vegas – CLICK HERE

Manhattan (1-2) vs. Northeastern (0-4) – 12:00 PM ET

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hoops HD staff! We feature a unique doubleheader today that will be played in London, England at the Copper Box Arena that is part of the London Basketball Classic. The first game features the Manhattan Jaspers and the Northeastern Huskies – Manhattan lost at Fairleigh Dickinson 77-74 in their previous D1 game (they did beat Mount St. Vincent in a non-D1 contest). Northeastern is coming off of a loss where they lost at Syracuse; the game was noteworthy in that it was Jim Boeheim’s “official” 1,000th victory.

Princeton (2-2) vs. Army-West Point (2-3) – 2:30 PM ET

In the second game, Princeton will be playing Army-West Point’ – the Tigers are coming off of a 62-55 win at Marist. The Black Knights are coming off of a pair of back-to-back losses in William & Mary’s multi-team event against William & Mary and Radford.

 

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What Happened in Vegas: All-Access with HoopsHD at the Continental Tire Main Event (Day 2)

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Jon Teitel

A lot of in-season tournaments around Thanksgiving feature a couple of big-time schools and a couple of not-so-big-time schools…but this year’s Continental Tire Main Event is not 1 of them. We have 2 of the past 3 NCAA champs (Baylor & Virginia), the school with the most titles in NCAA history (UCLA), and another school that ranks top-25 all-time in winning percentage (Illinois). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel has accepted the tough assignment of traveling west to Las Vegas to see a quartet of top-25 teams battling it out and has prepared the following photo essay from the 2nd day of games on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.

Game #1: Illinois-Virginia
Unlike a normal tournament that saves the best for last, it is a noontime local start for the championship game. UVA has kept it classy by wearing warmup shirts featuring the last names of the 3 football players who were murdered the previous weekend (Devin Chandler/Lavel Davis Jr./D’Sean Perry):

If you are looking for a detailed account of the 1st 15 minutes of the game…then you are in the wrong place because the power strip at the media seating was not working. Illinois’s game 1 star (Terrence Shannon) was not draining 8 threes tonight but turned into a great distributor with 5 AST in the 1st half:

Illinois has a guard named Clark (FR Skyy) but it was Virginia’s guard named Clark (SR Kihei) who got off to the hot start with a pair of layups and a pair of 3-PT shots to keep his team in it as UVA only trailed 31-29 at halftime:

Illini F Coleman Hawkins was a non-factor early (0-5 FG in the 1st 20 minutes) but came alive in the 2nd half with a scoop, a floater, and a pair of threes:

The sea (of orange) was alive that day my friends, as most of the crowd was standing during the final 4 minutes: it really felt like an Elite 8-caliber game with 2 big-time schools playing in front of 2 passionate fanbases. However, it seemed like the most passionate people in the entire arena were Virginia’s bench players, who were jumping around and cheering on their teammates:

The Cavaliers’ biggest advantage was the FT discrepancy, as they attempted 23 more (32) than their opponents (9). Reece Beekman kept getting to the basket for dunks/3-PT plays/scoops off the glass en route to being named tourney MVP and getting a fancy gold chain as his team hung on to win 70-61:

I made it down to the court to watch the team celebrating a remarkable performance considering the tragedy that occurred on their campus just 1 week before:

In the postgame press conference I asked Virginia coach Tony Bennett how he felt about the big FT discrepancy in both of his games this weekend. He said that both of the teams they played switched 90% of the time on defense so they made a concerted effort to attack whenever they could. Baylor/Illinois are both so physical and FTA was always a big stat for his former boss at Wisconsin (Bo Ryan) so he hoped they could keep that up and be more assertive going forward:

I noticed that Jayden Epps grew up in Norfolk, VA, which made me wonder how he felt about the Hoos. He said that 1 of his friends plays for UVA (Chase Coleman) and that he was a fan of their team while growing up a couple of hours away. He confirmed that he has a lot of respect for them coming out and competing while going through everything that happened last weekend:

I tried to see if Coach Underwood felt that Shannon needed to score a lot of points in order for his team to win a lot of games. He assured me that he will always put his players in a position to be successful, but that Terrence cannot forget where his bread is buttered and needs to drive to the rim. He needs to grow from this because they are counting on him to be good because good players do not have bad games against good teams:


Game #2: Baylor-UCLA
The arena really emptied out after the 1st game of the doubleheader, which was a shame because the nightcap featured 1 of the best consolation games (a top-10 matchup!) that you will ever see. After watching a battle of Clarks in Game #1 (Skyy vs. Kihei) we got to see the best Clark of them all (UCLA’s Jaylen). He only scored 7 PTS vs. Illinois on Friday but after his teammate Jaime Jaquez picked up 2 early fouls vs. the Bears and sat for most of the 1st half he took over with all manner of layup/follow dunks/runners as he had 17 early PTS on 8-10 FG:

With Jaquez on the bench we did not get to see his signature shot (a fadeaway jumper) but Baylor PG LJ Cryer showed off his own signature shot (a runner in the lane) by making several of them as Baylor only trailed 37-35 at halftime:

Jaquez made it back onto the court in the 2nd half and did a little of everything on offense (layup/tough bank shot/old-fashioned 3-PT play/that signature fadeaway J) to finish with 15 PTS in just 26 minutes:

UCLA PG Tyger Campbell also poured it on after halftime with a floater in the lane and a couple of bank shots but his 12 PTS/5-15 FG would simply not be enough:

Cryer was near-unstoppable with a career-high 28 PTS including a quartet of trifectas in the 2nd stanza, and his backcourt mate Adam Flagler also finished the game with 4 shots from behind the arc as Baylor hung on to win 80-75:

In the postgame press conference I tried to get Baylor coach Scott Drew to admit that he had the best backcourt in the country. He did not take the bait but confirmed that they have potential because of their experience, since games like the ones this weekend really test freshmen:

I knew that Jaylen Clark was unhappy to lose twice in Vegas but I wondered if it at least gave him some hope that his team can play with anyone. He declared that there are no moral victories but that if his team can improve defensively then they can play with any team in the country:

I revisited the topic of his team’s humility with UCLA coach Mick Cronin and then sat back while he educated the media. “I tell guys the truth, which is not very popular in this era, as their outer circle is telling them that I am the problem and that they are great players, the goal of coaching is to overcome that, we have good guys but are just not good enough defensively to stop elite teams, if you told me that we would shoot 49 FG% and only have 8 TO against 1 of the best teams in the country then I would think we were supposed to win, we will find out Wednesday (when UCLA hosts Pepperdine) what we are made of but right now we are not tough enough on defense”:

That is a wrap from Vegas, hope you enjoyed the write-ups as much as I enjoyed all 4 games, and check back next month for some home-cooking back at Georgetown!

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – Wednesday, Nov 23rd

Posted on November 23, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For the latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

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

-Creighton remains unbeaten and continues to pick up big wins.  They took care of 9th ranked Arkansas yesterday 90-87.  They led for most of the game, but Arkansas came back late and had a chance to steal it, but the Bluejays held on out in Maui.

-In the other big game out in Maui, Arizona ran away from San Diego State in the second half for the 87-70 win in what was one of the more impressive showings and overall wins we’ve seen this season.  It was a decisive win against a ranked team on a neutral floor.  That’s always gonna look good!  Arizona and Creighton will face each other later today (more on that below).

-The other two Maui games were blowouts.  Texas Tech blew out Louisville and Ohio State blitzed Cincinnati.

-Toledo dropped their second straight game to a team that isn’t likely to end up anywhere near the NIT.  It’s hard to say Toledo is a tournament caliber team when they twice in a row fall to sub-level NIT teams  East Carolina got the win 86-75 down in the Gulf Coast Showcase.

-LSU knocked off a pretty good Akron team 73-58 in the Cayman Islands Classic after totally dominating the second half.  The Tigers may have more life in them than what we realized.

-San Francisco improved to 6-0 with a 67-63 win over a Wichita State team that had been playing really well.  The Dons have now gotten our attention!  This was a team that went through tremendous turnover, but seems to once again be really good.

-Southern Miss got a nice win against Winthrop to remain unbeaten, and UAB blew out Georgia in the Sunshine Slam.  Those are two UTR teams that deserve attention as well.  Both are playing REALLY well.

-Louisiana is another Under the Radar team that’s starting to make a name for themselves.  They are 5-0 on the season with some pretty decent wins, and won at SMU in overtime last night 76-72.

-Saint John’s, who not very many here at Hoops HD were big on coming into the year, is still unbeaten and picked up a decent win against Syracuse in overtime yesterday.  Since these are two old and long time rivals that don’t normally play anymore, this was probably more important off paper than it was on paper.  Syracuse probably isn’t a tournament team.  But it’s still very much a feel-good win for the Johnnies!!

-Kansas State needed overtime to get by Nevada down in the Cayman Islands, but ended up picking up the win and remaining unbeaten on the year.  We weren’t all that big on Nevada or K State coming into the season, but both have played well so far and are worth continuing to watch.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-KENT STATE AT CHARLESTON (***SPOTLIGHT GAME***).  Yes, this is the game I am spotlighting!  It is the one I’m looking forward to the most, and in many ways feels it is the most important because of how good both the teams are, but yet how limited each team’s chances are for notable wins in the future.  It is a ridiculously good game between a Kent State team that’s unbeaten and that has looked really good, and a Charleston team whose only loss is at North Carolina, and who just won the Charleston Classic by knocking off some pretty good teams.  Both these teams could end up in the NCAA Tournament, and even inside the bubble, so today’s match-up his HUGE!

-NC STATE VS KANSAS (Battle 4 Atlantis, Nassau Bahamas).  Both teams come into this unbeaten, but Kansas clearly has the higher expectations and has already managed a really big win against Duke.  NC State will be tested for the first time today, and it is a chance to go from zero to a hundred on the national radar.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY VS TULANE (Cayman Islands Classic, George Town Cayman Islands).  Both teams have lost a game in this event, but both still have a very high ceiling and this is one of those games that’s kind of buried from the spotlight now, but that could be a very pivotal game come March when the committee is looking at these resumes because both could potentially end up on the bubble.

-TEXAS TECH VS OHIO STATE (Maui Invitational, Maui HI).  Both these teams won lopsided games yesterday, both look like solid Tournament teams, and this is an early season resume building opportunity.

-DAYTON VS WISCONSIN (Battle 4 Atlantis, Bassau, Bahamas).  This event is important for Dayton In regards to getting early quality wins and making a case that they were an at-large caliber team.  They are without a key player, and that will obviously effect them.  Wisconsin is unbeaten and is a team we think was a little undervalued coming into the season.  Doing well in this event would really help both teams, as would a win today.

-CREIGHTON VS ARIZONA (Maui Invitational, Maui HI).  Arizona looked really impressive against San Diego State yesterday, and Creighton held on to beat Arkansas after holding a lead for much of the game, but then having it come down to the final seconds.  Both teams are looking like potential protected seeds, and this would be a signature win for the resume of whoever ends up pulling this one off.

-AKRON VS NEVADA (Cayman Islands Classic, George Town Cayman Islands).  Both have picked up a smattering of decent wins lately and are beginning to make a case for themselves.  Watching them square off today against each other should be fun, and for a team like Akron that really needs these early season wins it’s actually a rather important opportunity.

-BYU VS USC (Battle 4 Atlantis, Nassau Bahamas).  USC has won three straight since dropping their opener to FGCU, and BYU comes in with just one loss as well.  Neither team really has any big signature wins yet, so this event is an important early opportunity for both of them to get those.

-BUTLER VS TENNESSEE (Battle 4 Atlantis, Nassau Bahamas).  Tennessee has an early loss to Colorado, but doing well in this tournament should more than offset that.  They’ve got a winnable game today against Butler, who is a respectable 3-1, but that hasn’t managed any notable wins yet.  Of course, if Butler wins this one, that suddenly changes.

-LSU VS KANSAS STATE (Cayman Islands Classic, George Town Cayman Islands).  We didn’t expect much out of either team this year, but both are unbeaten and both have won some notable games.  No real signature wins, but a few decent ones.  It’ll be interesting to see what they do against each other today.

-AUBURN VS NORTHWESTERN (Cancun Challenge, Cancun Mexico).  Northwestern is unbeaten, but also largely untested.  That changes today as they face what appears to be a very good Auburn team.  Having said that, up until now Auburn really hasn’t been tested either.

-UTAH VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Fort Meyers Tip-Off, Fort Meyers FL).  Utah comes in at 4-1 and Mississippi State comes in at 5-0.  Both have played well and shown some potential, but neither team has been super tested yet.

-ARKANSAS VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Maui Invitational, Maui HI).  The fact that this is a third place game does not matter.  It’s a neutral floor game between two top 20 teams, and will look very good on the resume of the team that manages the win.  Because the Mountain West isn’t quite as strong as the SEC and won’t provide as many opportunities at big wins later on this probably means a little more to San Diego State, but no matter the outcome both of these teams look like solid tournament teams.

-PEPPERDINE AT UCLA.  Pepperdine is a decent team that could end up having a big year, but to win at UCLA may be too far over their heads.  This is actually a bit of a get-well game for the Bruins, who have lost two in a row.   Both were good games against highly ranked teams, but it’s still important to bounce back.

-MINNESOTA VS UNLV (SoCal Challenge, Los Angeles CA).  UNLV is unbeaten and actually has a few decent wins, but most of what they’ve done has been at home.  Minnesota has one loss and most aren’t expecting them to stay on the radar, but doing well in this event can change people’s minds.

-SAINT MARY’S VS VANDERBILT (Wooden Legacy, Anaheim CA).  I think this Saint Mary’s team is a top 25 caliber team and am a little surprised they aren’t in the rankings yet.  If they keep stringing together wins they’ll get there soon enough.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Toledo vs Northern Kentucky (Gulf Coast Showcase) – the game we were expecting to see in the championship game is now the 7th place game
-Charlotte @ Detroit Mercy – Charlotte is coming off a good showing in their MTE and has a chance to pick up a true road win today
-Sam Houston vs South Dakota ( Fort Meyers Tip-Off).  Sam Houston is unbeaten with some notable wins already, and this event is a chance for them to keep building their profile
-Valparaiso @ Samford – Samford is unbeaten
-Purdue Fort Wayne vs Southern Miss (Cancun Challenge) – Southern Miss is unbeaten with some nice early wins
-Georgia Tech vs Marquette (Fort Meyers Tip Off) – both teams need to start stringing together wins if they want to avoid falling off the radar
-UMass Lowell @ Brown – UMass Lowell has just one loss on the season, and may be tested on the road tonight
-Louisville vs Cincinnati (Maui Invitational) – 7th place game between two long time rivals that don’t normally play anymore
-Cal State Bakersfield @ UTEP – both teams with just one loss
-Fresno State @ Washington – Washington trying to get to 4-1
-North Alabama @ UC Santa Barbara – both teams with one loss

BUY GAMES:

-McNeese @ Baylor
-North Florida @ Kentucky
-Little Rock @ Indiana
-Saint Francis Brooklyn @ Miami FL
-Evansville @ UCF
-Alabama State @ Duquesne
-Merrimack @ Providence
-Coastal Carolina @ Missouri – Mizzou is still unbeaten
-Paul Quinn (nonD1) @ Saint Louis
-Jackson State @ Michigan
-South Carolina State @ Wake Forest
-Pacific Luthern (nonD1) @ Seattle U

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Wednesday, November 23rd

Posted on November 23, 2022 by John Stalica

For last night’s UTR Podcast – CLICK HERE

For Jon Teitel’s interview with Dave Corzine about George Mikan – CLICK HERE

Florida Gulf Coast (4-2) vs. Kansas City (3-4) – 7:30 PM ET (FloHoops)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day features the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase between the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast and the Kansas City Roos. FGCU advanced to this stage with an 82-61 win against Northern Kentucky on Monday and a 67-59 win against Drexel last night. Isaiah Thompson scored 17 of his 27 points in the 2nd half to lead the Eagles over Drexel.

More surprising is Kansas City’s run to the title game; the Roos got off to an inauspicious start to the season with a loss to non-D1 Lincoln 59-56. Since their 1-4 start, they upset Toledo 83-71 in the opening round and then beat Indiana State 63-61 last night. Shemarri Allen missed the second of two free throws with about a second remaining, but his offensive rebound sealed the win for the Roos.

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Under The Radar – Nov 22nd

Posted on November 22, 2022 by David Griggs

Chad, David, and Rocco take a look at one of the busiest and most crucial weeks of the season for UTR teams.  The MTEs are hugely important opportunities for those who are trying to get statement wins that the selection committee will notice.

The feature conference tonight is the Sun Belt with teams like James Madison, Louisiana, and Southern Miss are off to incredible starts.  From there we move on to the other 21 UTR conferences and discuss Sam Houston from the WAC, a trio of teams from the Colonial (Hofstra, Charleston, and Towson) who have been very impressive early on, what teams like UAB and Toledo are doing in their tournaments, and much more.  And, as we do every week, we close with our UTR Top Ten.

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

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

Happy Anniversary! HoopsHD interviews Dave Corzine about George Mikan

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Jon Teitel

CLICK HERE for today’s NEWS, NOTES, AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

CLICK HERE for the latest HOOPS HD REPORT Video Podcast

When your nickname is “Mr. Basketball” you better have the resume to back it up…and George Mikan certainly did. At DePaul he practiced his hook shots with both hands so much that it became known as “The Mikan Drill”. He was a 3-time All-American, 2-time national POY, and led the Blue Demons to the 1945 NIT title en route to being named NIT MVP. After graduating in 1946 he played in the NBL/BAA/NBA and won 7 titles in 8 years from 1947-1954. He was so dominant that the NBA widened the lane from 6′ to 12′ (aka “The Mikan Rule”). In 1967 he was named the 1st commissioner of the ABA and instituted the 3-PT line. Mikan passed away in 2005 but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Mikan’s fellow DePaul All-American Dave Corzine about the man voted Greatest Player of the 1st Half-Century. Today marks the 72nd anniversary of Mikan playing in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history (19-18) on November 22, 1950, so we take this time to remember his life/legacy.

Mikan learned how to use his size in the paint by making hook shots with either hand: how did he and Coach Ray Meyer come up with “The Mikan Drill”, and did you learn it yourself when 1st learning the sport? I do not think that I started practicing it until I got to DePaul where I learned it from Coach Meyer himself.

Hall of Famer Rick Barry was well known for shooting FTs underhanded but Mikan used that technique as well: what made it so effective, and can we assume that nobody laughed at him because he was bigger than everyone else?! Rick swears by it and George was a pretty good free throw shooter as well so I guess that it works, although I never tried it much myself. Rick says that it is a better angle to shoot from: the ball has a better spin and you have better control when releasing the ball with two hands. However, Rick could not even get his own sons to try it!

He led the nation in scoring for 2 years in a row (1945/1946) and was named 1945 NIT MVP after leading DePaul to the title by scoring 120 PTS in 3 games (including 53 PTS in a 97–53 win over Rhode Island where he equaled the score of the entire Rams team!): what made him such a sensational scorer? He was physically dominant and very aggressive. Plus: practice, practice, practice.

He finished his college career as a 2-time national POY/3-time All-American: where does he rank among the greatest players in the history of college basketball? It is hard to rank players from different eras but he is obviously one of the most dominant players in college basketball history. Out of sight, out of mind: recent players always get more recognition.

He completed his first season with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 by leading the NBL in scoring/being named MVP/winning the title: how was he able to make such a smooth transition from college to the pros? Just as great players do today, it is a matter of having the physical/mental capabilities to succeed…and he obviously had them.

On November 22, 1950 he participated in 1 of the most notorious NBA games ever played (after Fort Wayne took a 19-18 lead in the 4th quarter they became worried that Mikan would beat them singlehandedly [he scored 15 of his team’s 18 PTS to set an NBA all-time record with 83.3% of his team’s offense] so the Pistons simply passed the ball around without trying to make a basket and won the lowest-scoring NBA game of all time): how did he feel about the outcome of the game, and did he take any pride in the fact that the league had to invent the shot-clock specifically because of his superb skills? I would bet that he was actually pissed about the new rules because they were implemented specifically to limit his own success.

His terrific talent also caused the league to institute some other rule changes including making goaltending illegal and widening the foul lane from 6’ to 12’ (aka “The Mikan Rule”): do you think that when Dr. James Naismith came up with the original rules for basketball he simply could not have envisioned anyone with Mikan’s size being able to dominate the sport? I do. It was just a game he made up for his gym class so I doubt that he could have been that far-sighted.

In January of 1952 he scored a career-high 61 PTS and set an NBA record with 36 REB in a 10-PT 2-OT win over Rochester: where does that rank among the greatest basketball performances that you have ever heard of? There was Wilt’s 100-PT game and I have been around for some of Michael Jordan’s/Kobe Bryant’s great games. I actually scored 8 PTS in the 1986 playoff game where Michael scored 63 PTS in Boston. George’s game is among the best but I am unable to rank them.

He sustained 10 broken bones/16 stitches during his career, often having to play through his injuries despite the limited medical care available in the 1950s: how crucial was his toughness to his success? Toughness is always crucial to success. 16 stitches does not seem like that much…but I would love to hear how he managed to break 10 bones! Back then I think that many guys just played with those kinds of injuries. I heard that they taped a metal plate to his leg after he shattered the bone and he somehow played with the plate during the playoffs.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1959, named 1 of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players ever in 1996, and passed away in 2005 after a long battle with diabetes: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As one of the most dominant players of any era in both college/pro basketball.

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