Chad and the panel run down all of the bracketed MTEs that are about to start!! We preview each team that’s in each event, discuss the important early season resume building opportunities that exist, particularly for UTR teams that are trying to add quality wins to their profile, and pick who we think all of the winners are going to be!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
NEWS AND NOTES:
-For Johon Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a FABULOUS one that feature’s the Mississippi University for Women playing in a MEN’s college basketball game – CLICK HERE
-Davidson fell behind by 21 on the road against Wright State. Wright State looked absolutely flawless and it appeared that it was going to be a route, but Davidson chipped away in the second half, and with 5 minutes to go got the lead, and it seesawed back and forth for the rest of regulation, then overtime, and then double overtime before Davidson finally got the win. It was an impressive come from behind win on the road against a pretty good team.
-South Dakota State picked up a big win at Boise State 68-66 in a game that was close all throughout. South Dakota State maintained a lead for most of the game, but Boise was always within reach. On Monday night South Dakota State lost in overtime at Akron, so they’re showing early that they’re capable of playing with and beating decent teams on the road.
-Bellarmine went on an early 19-2 run against Louisville and was seemingly in control for the whole game until the last few minutes. Louisville never got the lead, but they had several chances, including a possession in the final seconds where they could have hit a game winning shot, but couldn’t get it done. It was a feel-good win for Bellarmine. They’re in their final year of transitioning to D1, it was their first ever win against a P5 program, and it came against a crosstown foe. But, to be fair, the real assessment of this game is that Louisville is really bad this year. They’re perhaps worse than I can ever remember them being.
-FGCU could not follow up their big win at USC with another win at San Diego. They trailed most of the game and ended up losing 73-79.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT EASTERN KENTUCKY. This is the Battle OF the Bluegrass!! This is not to be confused with the Battle FOR the Bluegrass between Louisville and Kentucky (which will probably be more of a massacre this year than a battle). Western Kentucky is a team we are big on this year. We feel they’re talented enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament even without winning their conference tournament, but like all teams outside the multi-bid leagues the margin for error is obviously small. Even though this is the first game of the year, it’s still one they need to win because if they want to land inside the bubble they just don’t have that many strikes.
-TOWSON AT UMASS. Both teams come in at 1-0, and we really like this Towson team. This would be a nice true road win for them against a UMass program that’s rebuilding. It would also be a nice early season win for UMass who needs to win games like this in order to rebuild, so a little something at stake for both teams tonight.
-VERMONT AT SAINT MARY’S. This is probably the game of the night, which gives you an idea of just how lame tonight is. Both teams come into this one at 1-0, and while it’s a buy game, Vermont is the preseason favorite to win the America East. They’re probably overmatched today, but it’s still a good chance to see what they can do in a tough road game.
BUY GAMES:
-Baldwin Wallace (nonD1) @ Kent State – Kent State is 1-0
-Lehigh @ Virginia Tech
-Charleston Southern @ Ohio State – both teams 1-0
-Sacred Heart @ Rutgers – both teams 1-0
-Loyola MD @ Penn State
-Western Carolina @ Maryland
-SW Adventis @ Sam Houston – Sam Houston won at Oklahoma in their opener so we are keeping an early eye on them
-North Dakota State @ Kansas
-Texas Southern @ Texas Tech
-Southern Illinois @ Oklahoma State – both teams 1-0
-Cleveland State @ Cincinnati
-Central Michigan @ Marquette
-Omaha @ Nebraska
-Radford @ Notre Dame
-Bethune Cookman @ Indiana
-North Dakota @ Creighton – both teams 1-0
-Houston Christain @ Texas
-Northern Arizona @ Arizona State
-Nicholls @ Wyoming – Nicholls may make some noise in the Southland, but will probably make very little noise tonight
-Cal Poly @ San Francisco – both teams 1-0
-Georgia Southern @ Santa Clara – Santa Clara 1-0
-Alabama State @ USC – USC looking to bounce back after losing their opener to FGCU
Mississippi University for Women (0-0) at Troy (1-0) – 7:00 PM (ESPN+)
No, that is not a misprint – Troy will be playing a school that has been officially co-ed since 1982. Per Wikipedia, they were founded in 1884 as the Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls. While they were renamed the Mississippi College for Women in 1920, they were not racially integrated until 1966 (and even then, dormitories were not integrated until 1968). Because of a Supreme Court case in 1982, what finally became the Mississippi University for Women finally admitted men into the university – hence the name of the university.
As for Troy, they debuted their season against non-D1 opponent Montevallo on Monday with an 87-67 victory. Barring a catastrophic loss tonight, Troy should be 2-0 after tonight for the first time since 2016-17 before beginning the D1 portion of their schedule with a game at Florida State on Monday night. Nelson Phillips led the Trojans with a 17-point performance against Montevallo.
NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Lipscomb and South Dakota – CLICK HERE
-Two Big East teams had very close calls last night as Providence had to come from behind to beat Rider 66-65, and Georgetown needed overtime to get by Coppin State 99-89, but both held on to win and avoided damaging losses at home. Granted , based on how they played, and how Georgetown in particular has been playing for the past several years, chances are there are many damaging losses to come this season.
-One more result of note is how Duquesne absolutely blasted Montana 91-63. I thought Duquesne was going to be very sucktacular this year, and while I wasn’t expecting Montana to be good, I thought they’d at least be decent. Duquesne just pounded them. Maybe the Dukes have a little more than what we thought this year
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-DAVIDSON AT WRIGHT STATE. Props to Davidson for scheduling a game, especially a game this early in the season, that many teams would be hesitant to play. It’s a road game against a good UTR team. Wright State will likely win a lot of games at home this year, and if the committee is paying attention like they say they are (and I think that they are) Davidson will get some credit for winning this. It’s the season opener for Wright State, and Davidson is looking to move to 2-0 and put a decent road win on their resume.
-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT BOUSE STATE. South Dakota State had a tough road at Akron in Overtime just two nights ago, and they’ve got another really tough road assignment tonight. I still think South Dakota State can be a top level UTR team this year, and if they can pick this win up on the road it will really look good on their resume down the stretch.
-BELLARMINE AT LOUISVILLE. This is a buy game, but for the storyline alone it is worth watching. Bellarmine may be the best team in Louisville, and they can prove it by picking up this win on the road tonight. Granted, it’s just a few miles down the road, but it’s on the road nonetheless.
-FGCU @ SAN DIEGO. Both teams are 1-0, and FGCU is coming off an upset win at USC, which should end up looking really good on their resume. If they’re able to pick up a second win on the road tonight, the committee should set up and take notice. If it’s all about the results, then two road wins to start the season, and one of those coming against USC, is about as good of a start as any team can ask for regardless of their conference.
BUY GAMES:
-IUPUI @ Drake
-Kansas City @ LSU
-Monmouth @ Seton Hall – fun little New Jersey match up
-San Diego Christian (nonD1) @ Grand Canyon
-FAMU @ Portland
Lipscomb (0-0) at South Dakota (0-1) – 8:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes place in the Heartland where the South Dakota Coyotes will host the Lipscomb Bisons. South Dakota got their season off to a slow start with an 85-59 loss to Wisconsin on Monday night; the Coyotes trailed by 10 at halftime and never really warmed up throughout the game. Kruz Perrott-Hunt led the ‘Yotes with 21 points in the game.
Lipscomb makes their season debut tonight; the Bisons were projected to finish 6th in the Atlantic Sun by the coaches (8th by the media). Ahsan Asadullah was one of three unanimous selections to the preseason All-Conference team – it would appear to be a no-brainer given that he’s already been named three times to the first-team All-ASUN list.
NEWS AND NOTES:
-For John Stalica’s Under the Radar Game of the Day between Sacred Heart and Hartford – CLICK HERE
-All 25 teams in the top 25 played yesterday, and they all won. I’m not sure if that’s ever happened before, but I can say with reasonable certainty that it at least TIES a record for the number of top 25 teams that have played and won on the same day.
-One of those top 25 teams nearly lost. The game of the day was what nearly turned out to be the upset of the century. Arkansas Pine Bluff, who isn’t expected to be good even by SWAC standards, went into TCU, stayed with them for an entire game, and missed what would have been a game winning shot at the buzzer as TCU BARELY held on 73-72.
-FGCU, who we really didn’t expect much at all from this year, is off to a fantastic start with an upset road win at USC, who we all thought would be a solid tournament team out of the Pac 12. FGCU dominated the second half, and looked so good that you start to wonder if they are up there with Liberty as the team to beat in the Atlantic Sun and possibly end up inside the bubble. They go to San Diego tomorrow, and to start the season off with two road wins certainly gets them out of the gate early in any sort of race toward the bubble.
-Not that I needed to be sold on Houston, but if I had needed to be, yesterday would have done it. They totally shut down a pretty decent Northern Colorado team 83-36. I know that’s a game that you would expect them to easily win, but Northern Colorado actually does have a pulse and Houston TOTALLY shut them down.
-As expected, Akron and South Dakota State was a thriller with the game going into overtime and Akron holding on for the win. I think both these teams are top notch UTR teams, and if everything falls right they could make a run at the bubble. Starting off with a win on the road against an Akron team that isn’t likely to lose much at home would have REALLY helped South Dakota State, but they will get other opportunities.
-Colgate, the preseason favorite to win the Patriot League, came up just short at Buffalo 81-80 and just barely missed a chance to pick up a nice road win.
-Temple, who is a team that most of us at Hoops HD were big on, fell to Wagner, who is a team that most of us at Hoops HD weren’t expecting to do all that well in the NEC. This was certainly one of the bigger surprises of the day.
-Stetson winning at Florida State 83-74, and basically holding a lead for the entire game, was the other big surprise. We weren’t all that sure what to make of Florida State because they had so many new pieces, but I think we were all expecting them to beat Stetson. I know they could still end up having a really big year, but this is an undeniably bad start.
-Sam Houston pulled off a surprising upset at Oklahoma 53-52. They hit a game winning 3-pointer with 4 seconds to play, and they now have our attention. The WAC is already shaping up to be a pretty interesting league.
-Memphis got a nice road win at Vanderbilt 76-67 in what appeared to be the most competitive match-up of the day coming in. Any road win is a good win, but I think Vanderbilt might be a little better than expected, sot his may end up helping Memphis out a little more than what most people think.
Grand Canyon fell behind big in the first half against Montana State, but roared back in the second half to pick up the 60-54 win. Both of these teams are the preseason favorites to win their conferences, so this was a fantastic opening night match-up.
-Saint Mary’s knocked off a pretty good Oral Roberts team 78-70. ORU actually came back after falling way behind in the first half.
-And last but not least, Queens won their D1 debut against Marshall 83-82. Queens got to open at home, and the atmosphere was fantastic. The game winning shot for Queens came with about ten seconds to go, and Marshall missed what would have been a game winning shot at the Queens Royals held on and the fans went absolutely nuts!
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-This may be a first, but there aren’t any. This is largely due to the combination of so many teams having played yesterday, and so few teams wanting to play on what is (supposedly) the NCAA’s Day of Civic Awareness
BUY GAMES:
-Rider @ Providence
-Milwaukee @ Purdue
-South Carolina State @ South Carolina
-Coppin State @ Georgetown
