News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – Thursday, Nov 17th

Posted on November 17, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

For our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

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

-Texas basically controlled Gonzaga from tip to buzzer and came out with a decisive 93-74 win.  Gonzaga’s defense didn’t exactly look the best.  Not to take anything away from Texas, who is a really good team, but in order for Gonzaga to be considered a Final Four caliber team there are certainly some areas where they need to improve.

-Arkansas didn’t have too much trouble with South Dakota State, who was playing their second game in two days.  The score was 71-56, but at no point did it ever feel like the Razorbacks were not in control.  South Dakota State will likely win a lot of games this year.  They were just swinging way over their heads last night.

-Cincinnati wend down the road and across the Big Mac Bridge a few miles, but fell to Northern Kentucky 64-51.  This is a good NKU team, but they’re still the kind of team that you would expect a top 40 at-large caliber team to be able to beat on the road.  So, Cincinnati still has a lot of work to do.

-Iowa picked up a nice road win at Seton Hall. 83-67  It was a solid road performance and the kind of game teams need to be able to win if they want to make the NCAAs Tournament.

-San Francisco, who we thought would be in complete rebuild mode this year, got a really nice road win against Fresno State 67-60 last night.  They’re now 4-0 on the season, and have a nice road win to go along with that record.

-Congrats to Chicago State for their somewhat decisive 87-74 win against Valparaiso last night.  Chicago State has now won back to back games against D1 teams.  I’m sure that’s happened before, but it can’t have happened all that often in the last several…well…decades or so.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-FURMAN VS PENN STATE (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Neither team has lost yet.  We really like this Furman team, and some feel that Penn State can be a dark horse in the Big Ten.  For UTR teams like Furman, doing well in events like this one can be the difference of whether or not they end up inside the bubble come March.

-COLORADO VS UMASS (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Colorado stubbed their toes with the home loss to Grambling, but made up for it (and then some) with their win against Tennessee in Nashville.  They’ve got another winnable neutral floor game today against a UMass team that I think will be good someday soon under new coach Frank Maritn, but probably not today.  Still, a good showing in an event like this can catapult a team onto the national map.

-OLD DOMINION VS VIRGINIA TECH (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  An in-state battle taking place in another state!!  ODU doesn’t appear to have much this year, and we think VA Tech might have some potential.  But, like we always say, events like these are great opportunities for UTR teams like Old Dominion.

-MURRAY STATE VS TEXAS A&M (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  This would have been a fantastic game a year ago, but this year it looks to be a bit of a mismatch.  TAMU is ranked in the top 25 and this event is a chance for them to show that they deserve it.

-COLORADO STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Many a Hoops HD really like this Colorado State team, and while South Carolina doesn’t appear to be anything too special (although they are coming into this without a loss), this event is a chance for the Rams to get some good wins away from home and start to build up their resume.

-NEBRASKA AT SAINT JOHN’S (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Some say this is more of a pillow fight than a major clash, but I for one think Saint John’s can surprise some people this year.  A home win over Nebraska probably won’t end up counting for that much, but we can still learn something about them in this one.

-WICHITA STATE AT RICHMOND.  I believe the Spiders can be a dark horse in the Atlantic Ten, and that they should be able to pick up this win and improve to 3-1 on the year.

-BOISE STATE VS CHARLOTTE (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Boise could potentially make some noise out in the Mountain West this year, and this event is a chance to give their resume some good early wins.  Charlotte is unbeaten, but untested.  They’ll be tested in this event and have some chances to add a few decent wins to their resume.

-DAVIDSON VS CHARLESTON (Charleston Classic, Charleston SC).  Charleston is the host team, and while we weren’t expecting much out of them this year, they did play really well against North Carolina last week, and they have a really good coach in Pat Kelsey.  This event is a tremendous opportunity for them.  Davidson comes in at 3-0 with a decent win at Wright State under their belts, but they could really boost their resume with a strong showing in this tournament.

-UTAH STATE AT SAN DIEGO.  We really weren’t expecting much out of either of these teams, but both come into this unbeaten and both have shown some signs of life in their first three games.  It’s Utah State’s first road game, so we should learn something about them.

-MICHIGAN VS ARIZONA STATE (Legends Classic, Brooklyn NY).  Michigan had absolutely no trouble with Pittsburgh last night.  Pitt is not a good team, but Michigan still played what appeared to be their best game of the season so far.  Arizona State just barely got by VCU and could potentially get blown out tonight if they don’t play better than that.

-SAM HOUSTON AT UTAH.  Sam Houston already has a win at Oklahoma, and I wouldn’t count them out of this game tonight.  If you want to know how teams from one bid/UTR conferences can get bids to the NCAA Tournament, this is how.  Utah is also unbeaten, but also untested.  This will be their biggest test of the year so far despite it technically being a home buy game.

HOFSTRA AT SAN JOSE STATE.  Hofstra has racked up some decent wins already and can add yet another at least decent road win against a San Jose State team that will likely struggle this year, but that is currently unbeaten.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Bryant @ Florida Atlantic – Bryant is 2-0 and looking for their second road win, and FAU just won at Florida
-Towson @ UNC Greensboro – I really like this Towson team and think they can pick up their third road win of the year tonight
-Samford @ Alabama A&M – Samford is 3-0 and looking for their first road win
-Louisiana Tech @ Louisiana – Neither team is expected to do much this year, but this is always a fun matchup
-Tennessee State @ Southern Illinois – Southern Illinois has the big win at Oklahoma State, and Tennessee State comes in 3-0
-Portland @ Air Force – I’m not a full blown believer in Portland yet, but they are 3-1 and this is another winnable road game
-Loyola Chicago @ Tulsa (Myrtle Beach Invitational, Conway SC).  Loyola can stay unbeaten and set themselves up for some quality games in later rounds with a win

BUY GAMES:

-Merrimack @ Troy – Troy is 3-0 with a win at Florida State
-Saint Francis U @ Butler
-Kansas City @ Kansas State
-SC State @ Kentucky
-UL Monroe @ TCU
-New Orleans @ LSU
-Northern Illinois @ Georgia Tech – GA Tech 2-0
-UC Riverside @ Creighton
-Long Island @ Marquette
-Utah Tech @ Arizona
-Central Michigan @ Minnesota
-South Dakota @ Mississippi State
-CA Baptist @ Washington

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Happy Birthday! HoopsHD interviews Missouri legend Steve Stipanovich

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Jon Teitel

Missouri has gotten off to a great start this year (1 of 8 teams in the nation who are 4-0), which reminds us of the glory days of Tiger basketball when they won 4 straight Big 8 regular season titles under Coach Norm Stewart from 1980-1983. 1 of the stars of those teams was Steve Stipanovich: 1980 Big 8 Newcomer of the Year, a #2 seed in the 1982 NCAA tourney, and 1st-team All American in 1983. He was drafted 2nd overall by Indiana in the summer of 1983 and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1984. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Steve about his NBA career and his athletic family. Today is Steve’s 62nd birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!

At De Smet Jesuit High School you won back-to-back Missouri Class 4A state titles as part of a 60-game winning streak: what did it mean to you to win a pair of titles, and did it just reach a point where your fans expected you to win every time that you stepped onto the court? We had a very good team but were not head and shoulders above everyone else. We had a legendary coach (Rich Grawer) who helped us win a lot of close games. We also had some decent athletes: our power forward from my senior year later played college football, another guy played college baseball, and 1 played college golf.

You played for College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Norm Stewart at Missouri: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He was a great teacher of the fundamentals: he kept things simple but taught us the basics. He was tough and pushed us very hard to learn how the game should be played.

As a freshman you were named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year: how were you able to make such a smooth transition from high school to college? I was highly recruited out of high school but it was not that smooth: I had some ups and downs. I still needed a lot of work like most big men do but I was willing to work hard and had some great coaches.

In the 1980 NCAA tourney you scored 4 PTS but missed the 2nd half of a 10-PT win over San Jose State due to hyperventilation: were you just too excited after making it to the postseason? No: I think I was just sick with the flu.

In the 1983 Big 8 tourney title game Leroy Combs had 34 PTS/11 REB and made a scoop shot past you at the end of the 1st OT in a 1-PT 2-OT win by Oklahoma State: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It was a big game against a good team…but was not anywhere close to the most devastating because we were going to make the NCAA tourney anyway. We just woke up the next day and started preparing for the tourney.

You finished your career as both an All-American/Academic All-American: how were you able to balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? It was very difficult: people do not realize how hard playing a D-1 sport is. You go to practice, eat, and do homework. It forces you to be in a strict routine so you do not have a normal college experience, but the school provided a lot of help/guidance so we could maintain our grades. It raises the baseline very high because you are forced to do so much on a daily basis. When you get into the real world after graduation you know how to work hard, sacrifice, and be part of a team.

You were selected 2nd overall by Indiana in the 1983 NBA draft (1 spot behind Ralph Sampson): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? When you are 7’ tall you have a big advantage because teams back then were built around centers. As a little kid growing up in St. Louis all I did was play/watch sports: all of the boys I knew wanted to become pro athletes. It was a stressful time because I was going into a difficult world but lifelong dreams can come true. It gave me a great amount of satisfaction to be among the few pro basketball players in the world.

You only missed 7 games during your 1st 5 years in the pros but due to a degenerative knee condition you had to retire in 1988 with career averages of 13.2 PPG/7.8 RPG: how satisfied are you with your career, and how frustrating was it to not be able to go out on your own terms? It was very frustrating because everyone wants to play as long as they can. I was just starting to come into my own when the Pacers drafted Rik Smits in 1988, which would have allowed me to move to my more natural position of PF. My knee was still hurting at the start of year #6 so I sat out for 2 years and had several knee operations. It was disappointing to not reach my goal of getting 10 years in the league but I was still thankful to play 5 years. If I had gotten hurt in college then it might have been zero years!

Your father Sam played college basketball, your brother Ted was a state shot put champ in high school, and your kids/nephews/nieces play a bunch of different sports: who is the best athlete in the family? I think Ted was: he was heavily recruited out of high school to play football so coaches like Barry Switzer/Tom Osborne were around our house all of the time. He played a little at Colorado and eventually decided that he did not want to do it anymore. I was very coordinated for my size but some of my brother Mike’s kids also played D-1 sports. We are a big sports family so we gravitated toward that as kids.

You eventually became the owner/operator of a coal mine: how did you get into the business, and how do you like it? I have always been involved with heavy equipment. I buy/sell a lot of industrial equipment…and when you own a coal mine it is all about equipment! Power utility companies are my niche.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, November 17th

Posted on November 17, 2022 by John Stalica

For Jon Teitel’s interview about St. Francis University Head Coach Dr. William “Skip” Hughes – CLICK HERE

For last night’s Under The Radar podcast – CLICK HERE

Tennessee State (3-0) at Southern Illinois (2-1) – 8:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

We haven’t featured Tennessee State very often in our UTR Game of the Day, but this year figures to promise more appearances for the Tennessee State Tigers. They have won their first three games so far this season, including an 87-76 victory against Alabama A&M on Monday. Jr. Clay is currently averaging 21.7 points a game for TSU; they will need his production as they begin a 5-game road trip tonight that includes a trip to San Juan Capistrano as part of the SoCal Challenge this weekend.

Southern Illinois is coming off of a pair of games that have seen both a solid road win at Oklahoma State but also a decisive loss at Southern Indiana against a team that is beginning their transition up to Division 1 basketball. The Salukis will also be headed west after this game to the aforementioned SoCal Challenge, although they will be in a different 4-team bracket than Tennessee State. Both Lance Jones (15.3 PPG) and Marcus Domasl (14.3 PPG) lead the way for the Salukis.

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Happy Anniversary! HoopsHD interviews Bob Moore about Dr. William “Skip” Hughes

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Jon Teitel

Sometimes a coach has a team that is loaded with talent and sometimes a star player can lead his team to victory despite not being on the same page as his coach…but when the coach and the star player create a special bond then special things can happen. Dr. William “Skip” Hughes played basketball at Pitt and was later named head coach at St. Francis College in Loretto, PA. He spent more than 2 decades on the sideline and won almost 300 games but his teams from the early 1950s are the ones that had the most success: with star player Maurice Stokes leading the way they made it all the way to the NIT semifinals in 1955. Coach Hughes passed away in 1991 but HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with former St. Francis SID Bob Moore about Skip’s life/legacy. Today marks the 26th anniversary of Skip’s induction into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame on November 16, 1996, so we take this time to remember his remarkable career.

Hughes began his basketball career at Pitt where he was a 2-time captain: what made him choose Pitt, and how good a player was he back in the day? He was a very good player for Coach Doc Carlson. Later on when he became a coach he would occasionally put on a jersey and take the court with his players. He was a great athlete who eventually became a scratch golfer.

He later became coach at St. Francis: why did he take the job? He only lived about 30 minutes away. I think it is safe to say that St. Francis would never have become a D-1 school if Skip had not been there. There were rumors that he did not even receive a salary during his 1st few years!

While serving as coach he was also a full-time dentist: how was he able to balance the 2 gigs simultaneously? It was pretty difficult to drive up a mountain in the snow but he was a dentist by day and a coach by night. His players said that the night practices actually prepared them well for night games. He was a great recruiter: there was nobody who was his equal at that time because there was not a lot of competition around there.

His most famous recruit was Maurice Stokes from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh (who became 1 of the 1st African-American athletes in school history): how was he able to convince Stokes to come to St. Francis, and how big a deal was it back then to have a biracial team? It was a big deal. He cast a blind eye toward racial issues because he just wanted to win games. Stokes had a good friend/high school teammate named Eugene Phelps who had been recruited by Skip so that helped Stokes follow suit. The school did not have a lot of Black students but after a couple of 20-win seasons he was glad that he stuck around. He is buried on campus, which is proof of what he thought about the place. A lot of the students were vets from WWII so to make the NIT meant as much to the team as beating their local rival (Duquesne).

He stuck with his starting 5 most of the time and would only put in a substitute if a starter got in foul trouble: how exhausted were his starters by the end of the season? He ran them so hard during practice that they were “built for the night.” There was some grumbling by the bench players who did not get into the game much and during the 1960s that system did not work well for him.

In 1952 he lost to Marquette in the National Catholic Invitational title game: what was the feeling like in the locker room afterward? For Catholic schools in the East in the 1950s it was a big deal. However, that loss to Marquette propelled them very far the following season.

In the 1955 NIT tourney MVP Stokes scored a career-high 43 PTS/15-17 FT despite playing with a sprained ankle in a 6-PT OT loss to eventual runner-up Dayton after the Flyers made a desperation shot in the final seconds of regulation: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of his career? I do not think that it was a devastating loss: I think the 5-PT OT loss to Cincinnati in the 3rd-place game was the more harmful one. Stokes got a lot of accolades from that run and is still viewed as 1 of the best players in the history of the NIT. Beating Duquesne (who won the 1955 NIT) was important because they had always lost to them and they were a power back then.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? I think he should be remembered as 1 of the finest recruiters of his era. He was able to attract a high quality of players while not getting compensated as much as other coaches…and he did all of this while having another profession at the same time! He even got players from Chicago, which was almost unthinkable back then. After retiring as a coach the school still used him to recruit, and he had a lot of guys who got drafted even when there were not as many college basketball programs back then.

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Under the Radar – Nov 16th

Posted on November 16, 2022 by David Griggs

It’s the regular season debut of Under the Radar!!  This week’s feature conference is the SWAC in light of how they won three games against the Pac-12 in the Legacy Series, including Grambling’s win over a Colorado team that went on to beat Tennessee.

After that we run through all 22 UTR conferences (plus our two independent programs), look back on some of the big wins from the first week of the season, and preview this week’s upcoming action.  UC Irvine is off to a fantastic start and has a blowout win at Oregon, Towson and Toledo have also been impressive so far.  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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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – Wednesday, Nov 16th

Posted on November 16, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We will be recording our Under the Radar Podcast tonight, so be on the lookout for that.  Speaking of Under the Radar, for John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-The first game of the Champions Classic may have been the game of the year so far.  Michigan State trailed Kentucky for most of it, but it was close all throughout.  They made some big plays at the end of regulation to force overtime, and then picked up the HUGE 86-77 overtime win.  Michigan State was not a team many of us were big on, at least not as a top ten caliber team.  However, in their last two games they nearly beat Gonzaga and then did beat Kentucky.  When you play two top four teams, miss a last second shot that would have beaten one of them, and then beat the other one, perhaps that’s a sign that you’re pretty damn good!!  Sparty should be ranked SUPER high in the next top 25.  I don’t know that they will be, but they SHOULD be.

-Duke vs Kansas was exciting, but both teams struggled from outside the arc.  Kansas ended up getting the 69-64 win, but didn’t pull away until there was less than a minute to go.

-We knew Dayton would be tested at UNLV because any true road game is a test.  They looked good in the first half and appeared to be in control.  Then I guess they just forgot to come out in the second half.  UNLV absolutely dominated the Flyers outscoring them 38-20 in the second half and picked up the 60-52 win.  This by no means ends Dayton’s season.  Not even close.  But as far as them ending up as a protected seed, the margin for error is very small, and losing to a team like UNLV (who doesn’t appear to be a tournament team), even if it’s on the road, can cost a team a protected seed.  Top 15 caliber teams simply have to win these kinds of games in order to stay in the top 15.  They just don’t get that many strikes, especially if there aren’t multiple highly ranked teams in their conference to potentially collect wins against.

-Appalachian State improved to 3-0 on the year after beating Louisville 61-60.  It looked like Louisville had won the game on a last second shot, but it was waived off.  Louisville has now lost three games, all by just one point.

-Temple is very schizophrenic this year.  They lose to Wagner, then they beat Villanova, and last night they lost at home (in overtime) to a Vanderbilt team that was winless on the year.

-Colgate absolutely smoked Syracuse.  The final score was 80-68, but the margin for much of the second half was more than that, and at no point did it look like Colgate was not the dominant team.  Two takeaways from this game: Colgate is really good (which we kind of already knew), and Syracuse isn’t good at all (which we kind of already knew).

-Purdue got a nice 75-70 win at home against Marquette, but one of the things I actually took away was that Marquette played well.  Purdue is a likely Tournament team, and they were playing at home.  We didn’t think Marquette would be anywhere near the NIT, but they looked good for much of the game last night.

-Saint Louis looked really good against Memphis for about 35 minutes, and then almost completely blew it at the end of the game.  Memphis came roaring back and almost stole it, but SLU held on to win 90-84.

-San Jose State, coached by Tim Miles, remains unbeaten on the season!!  3-0 after their win against Alabama State!!  They are on a Final Four pace!!

-And finally USC bounced back last night.  Sort of.  They held on to beat Vermont 59-57.  Vermont is good by UTR standards.  I know that.  But this is a USC team that I expected to be good by NCAA Tournament standards, and so far they simply have not shown it.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-MICHIGAN VS PITTSBURGH (Legends Classic, Brooklyn NY).  Michigan looks to be the superior team, especially after Pitt was blown out at home by West Virginia last week, but this is the first big test away from home for the Wolverines, and their last game against Eastern Michigan wasn’t exactly the cakewalk that it should have been.

-FGCU AT TENNESSEE.  We’ll highlight this one because FGCU does have the big upset win at USC, and Tennessee is coming off the somewhat surprising loss to Colorado.  It’s a chance for Gulf Coast to pick up another big win, whereas Tennessee is just looking to bounce back.

-IOWA AT SETON HALL (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  It’s the first real test for both teams.  Iowa is someone that we think can do well in the Big Ten and land inside the bubble, but it’s a good chance for Seton Hall to leap onto the radar if they can come out of this one with a win.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT ARKANSAS.  South Dakota State is playing their second game in just two days, and their first one wasn’t exactly awe inspiring.  They had to sweat out Saint Bonaventure last night.  Arkansas is stacked with talent, but is likely still getting used to playing together.  I would call this a test for them because I really like South Dakota State’s team, but Arkansas is at home, the team they’re playing just played yesterday, and they didn’t look all that good.  So…

-VCU VS ARIZONA STATE (Legends Classic, Brooklyn NY).  Both of these teams are still in the early stages of having something to prove.  VCU is unbeaten, but also untested.  Arizona State is coming off a rather surprising loss to Texas Southern and really needs to bounce back from that.

-GONZAGA AT TEXAS.  Gonzaga continues their gauntlet OOC schedule as they travel to Texas to face yet another highly ranked team.  The Horns haven’t really been tested during the regular season yet, but that will certainly change tonight.  Gonzaga is a #1 seed caliber team, and Texas is looking like a potential protected seed, so this would be a high caliber win on either team’s resume.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Arknasas Pine Bluff @ Kent State – Pine Bluff has had some near upsets, so Kent State better look out
-Oakland @ Toledo – Toledo looking to remain unbeaten
-Army @ Siena – Siena looking to remain unbeaten
-Cincinnati @ Northern Kentucky – Cincinnati is unbeaten, but this is their first road game.  It’s not the biggest challenge in the world, but it won’t necessarily be easy either
-Harvard @ Northeastern – (Bean Pot) – we mention this game only because we love the Bean Pot!!
-Missouri State @ BYU – BYU nearly upset San Diego State in their last game and should be able to bounce back at home tonight
-San Francisco @ Fresno State – San Francisco is unbeaten and lookin for their first road win

BUY GAMES:

-Hampton @ East Carolina
-Charleston Southern @ Tulane
-Eastern Illinois @ Ohio State
-Presbyterian @ UAB
-Texas Southern @ Houston
-Southern Indiana @ Notre Dame
-Southern U @ Saint Mary’s

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