The Hoops HD Report: February 7th

Posted on February 7, 2022 by David Griggs

We begin tonight in the Mountain West, and how there are four teams that are currently inside the bubble and two more that can get there.  Boise State just had their long winning streak snapped, but is still in excellent shape, and Wyoming had a fantastic week with wins over Boise, Colorado State, and at Fresno State.

We look at all of the other major conferences and discuss Duke’s upset loss at home to Virginia and how that probably knocks Duke off the #1 line, if they were even there to begin with.  Wake Forest and North Carolina are fighting to improve their Tournament resumes.  UCLA had a surprising loss to Arizona State out in the Pac 12, but is still well within the range of a protected seed along with Arizona.  In the Big East, Providence continues to be undervalued and we think they should at least be in the discussion for a #1 seed.  The West Coast Conference remains strong and still looks like it will get four teams into the field.  The SEC and Big 12 are also ridiculously tough from top to bottom and we discuss that as well.  All that, and more!!

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

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Hoops HD Staff Projections (From the Puppet) – February 7th

Posted on February 7, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games

Before you look at the bracket, I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at.  This is the way I think the bracket SHOULD look if today were Selection Sunday.  I am not trying to guess what the actual committee will do.  I don’t care.  If that’s what you’re looking for, then CLICK HERE check out JON TEITEL’S BRACKET.  He is objectively one of the best in the world when it comes to guessing what the actual committee will do.

I have some comments below explaining some of what I did, and there are more comments below that from Chad and possibly a few others from Hoops HD.

OTHERS CONSIDERED: Cincinnati, UAB, Florida, Dayton, Belmont, Wake Forest, Utah State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington State, Fresno State

 

NOTES FROM THE PUPPET:

-I would like to start off by stating the obvious, and that’s that this is a perfect bracket.  I am an Expert by trade, and what I have created is so perfect that I don’t think anyone else should even be allowed to comment on it or critique it.

-I have Kentucky on the #1 line.  I’m not entirely sure if the real committee would give them one (at least, not yet), and if I were trying to guess the real committee I probably wouldn’t have them up there, but based on what they’ve done away from home the last three weeks, I think that they have shown that they are one of the four best teams on the court, and one of the four most deserving teams on paper.  They won at Kansas and at Alabama when they had a full roster.  They lost at Auburn without a full roster, but were very competitive against the top ranked team in the country, and they had a lead until they lost a key player in that game.  Besides, even had they been at full strength losing on the road to the #1 team in the country does not constitute moving down from the #4 overall spot.

-I don’t have North Carolina in the field.  I don’t have them in for the same reason I don’t have Washington State in.  They’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve it on paper, and they haven’t looked anything like an NCAA Tournament team on the court.  I self explanatory and not requiring any explanation as to why they’re not in.  If anything, it’s those that are putting them in who need to explain themselves.

-BYU was a #11 seed, but needed to be switched with San Diego State on the #12 line to make the bracket work.

-I had been beating up on Loyola Chicago in recent weeks, but their win on Sunday at Missouri State was big and they’ve finally started to look good again on the court, so I’ve got them right on the #9 line.

-I have Providence on the #3 line and Marquette on the #4.  I just don’t get why they aren’t getting more love.  Providence is the first place team in the Big East.  That alone should be worth quite a bit.  Marquette just keeps adding big wins to their resume.  How many good teams do Providence and Marquette have to beat before there is a consensus that they both should be protected seeds?

-I always say that you should never make selections or seedings that are historically categorical.  There will be something in every year’s bracket that has never been in a bracket before.  That being said, there are some categorical outliers in this one, particularly Iowa State and West Virginia being in the field despite being 4 and 5 games below .500 in conference play.  West Virginia is also in last place and on a seven game losing streak.  LSU has lost six of their last seven, which isn’t quite as bad, but still much worse down the stretch than any team that I can ever remember making the field.  The thing is, when you look at the “entire body of work” there is enough there to where I can’t really seem to replace any of them with any of the teams I left out.

-Let’s go down to the last few teams in.  New Mexico State and North Texas are actually sandwiched in between my First Four teams, so I guess they are technically inside the bubble.  The problem is when you’re straddling the bubble like that, a loss of any kind could knock you outside of it, so in a way they really AREN’T inside the bubble because a loss in their conference tournaments (or at any other time) would probably knock them below the cutline.

-Last but not least, I agree with Chad’s bracket from a week ago that Carver Bible College belongs in the field!!  Like Chad did a week ago, I have included them in the First Four, but UNLIKE Chad, I have opted to put them on the #16 line and have essentially created a sixth First Four game and expanded the field to 69 teams.  The rules at Hoops HD for the individual Staff Brackets are that we can whatever we want to do for whatever reason!  I am exercising my executive privilege!!

 

STAFF COMMENTS

From Chad:

– At least David admitted what he did by putting Kentucky on the 1 seed line — completely over-reacted to one single game.  At least if you are going to react to a single win, have a team with the overall resume to back it up — and place Kansas there for what they did to Baylor.  Rock Chalk has three more Quad 1 wins, and 5 more Quad 1 and 2 combined wins than UK.  And one less loss.  I know that Kentucky won head-to-head, but Kansas’ overall resume is so much better than Kentucky that head-to-head does not matter.  Kentucky should be at the bottom of the 2 seed line.

– Having Duke on the 1 line over Purdue is also pretty stupid.  David hates North Carolina, yet he awards Duke for winning at Chapel Hill.  Purdue’s resume (including three tier 1A wins away from home) is flat out better and they belong on the 1 seed line, probably at #3 overall.

– Oregon is an 8 seed in David’s bracket.  Oregon, but for three days in buildings without fans in Los Angeles, would not even be close to being in the field.  They won at UCLA and at USC (the latter not looking that great anymore) and that is it.  Add in two Tier 3 home losses to Colorado and Arizona State and the only case that can be made for the Ducks wearing white in their first Tournament game would be as the higher seeded team in a First Four game in Dayton.

– I thought David was an “Under the Radar” guy.  Apparently he totally missed Iona’s loss at Niagara yesterday.  I do think the Gaels have a path to an at-large bid, but they literally have to win every game until the MAAC tournament now.  If they had beaten Niagara, a 10 seed would be reasonable.  With the loss, they are a 12 seed at best, and quite possibly below the First Four teams.

– I hate to argue in favor of the Hoosiers, but Indiana is way under-seeded on the 11 line.  This team has huge wins over Ohio State and (what should be 1 seed) Purdue.  They won away from home against Notre Dame, which is rightfully now in David’s field.  They also have a pair of true road wins, so at least they can win against someone away from Assembly Hall.  Indiana should be an 8 or 9 seed.

– I was actually ok with most of David’s bracket until I reached his First Four.  Iowa is better than the First Four as some of their best wins have actually improved (by those teams playing better) lately.  VCU got crushed last week at home by Dayton.  They are on the board, but OUT.  Saint Louis picked up a nice win over Dayton (at home) but they have not really done much other than winning at Boise State when Boise was playing bad early in the year.  The Billikens may be close, but they are OUT.  West Virginia has lost 7 in a row and is in last place in their conference.  They are NOT EVEN CLOSE.  How does a win at UAB (which is not in the field) get you into it?

– Florida deserves to be in right now.  Even without Colin Castleton, who should be back, they have won three in a row to improve to 15-8 overall.  That is more than enough to overlook whatever happened early in the year against Texas Southern and put this team in.

– Wake Forest also belongs in.  The Deacons have 19 wins and are 9-5 in conference.  They pickled up another Tier 2 road win at Florida State this weekend.  That is enough to be sent to Dayton over the garbage teams that David put in there.

– My last team in would be Stanford, but cases can be made for Belmont, North Carolina (no bad losses is better than the rest of the bubble’s bad losses) or Oklahoma.

– Carver Bible is way better than a 16 seed.  In fact, I like them better than a couple of David’s 1 seed choices.

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Happy Anniversary!: HoopsHD interviews Hall of Famer Dan Issel

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Jon Teitel

Before the days of Kentucky big men like Karl-Anthony Towns/Anthony Davis there was Dan Issel. He never won a scoring title or conference POY award since his career overlapped with another decent player at LSU named Pete Maravich but he still won 3 straight SEC titles while putting up some amazing stats. He scored more than 2000 career PTS, grabbed more than 1000 career REB, and averaged almost 34 PPG as a senior thanks to a 53-PT performance in a victory over Mississippi. He later became an All-Star in both the ABA/NBA and won the 1975 ABA title with the Kentucky Colonels before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Dan about playing for Adolph Rupp and being part of the highest-scoring game in NBA history. Today marks the 52nd anniversary of his 53-PT game on February 7, 1970, so we take this time to remember that remarkable record.

You were a 2-time All American for Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp at Kentucky: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Coach Rupp had great power at UK and could give as many scholarships as he wanted: my freshmen year we had 12 players on scholarship. He always had great talent but also was ahead of his time as far as basketball fundamentals were concerned. Every opponent knew exactly what plays we were running but we ran them with such precision they still could not stop us. The best lesson I learned from Coach Rupp was, “The harder you work the luckier you get”.

On February 7, 1970 you scored a school-record 53 PTS/23-34 FG in a win at Mississippi: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? They did not all go in but I suppose that I was in a zone. I also broke Cotton Nash’s career scoring record in that game. The thing I remember most about that game was that my dad was there to witness it.

In the 1970 NCAA tourney you had 28 PTS/10 REB before fouling out of a 6-PT loss to eventual national runner-up Jacksonville: where does your future pro teammate Artis Gilmore (24 PTS/20 REB) rank among the best college players that you have ever seen? I can still see very clearly the scoreboard reading 10:32 remaining in the game as I walked to the bench. Artis was amazing: I was very blessed to have played with him for 4 years with the Kentucky Colonels. He was not only 1 of the best college players I ever saw but 1 of the best pros as well.

Your career 25.8 PPG remains a school record: what was your secret for being a great scorer, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? I stayed healthy and got a lot of good shots in Coach Rupp’s offense. I do not know about the scoring average record but I doubt that anyone will break the total points record because anyone who is good enough to do that will be in the NBA very quickly.

After graduating you were picked by Detroit in the NBA draft and by Kentucky in the ABA draft, and after signing with Kentucky you led the ABA with 29.9 PPG and were named ABA co-ROY (along with Charlie Scott): what made you choose the Colonels, and how were you able to make such a smooth transition from college to the pros? I actually signed with the Colonels before the NBA draft. I fell in love with Kentucky: my wife Cheri is from there so it seemed very natural to go 75 miles down the road and play with my dear friend (and fellow Wildcat) Louie Dampier. The ABA played a more wide-open/up-and-down style, which really suited my game. I am not sure if I would have had the same initial success had I gone straight to the NBA.

In the 1975 ABA Finals you beat Indiana in 5 games: what did it mean to you to win a title after losing Game 7 of the Finals in both 1971/1973? It was the greatest feeling in the world to finally accomplish the goal that we had been seeking for so long. We had some great teams in Louisville and should have won more than 1 championship: it took Coach Hubie Brown to get us over the hump.

On December 13, 1983, you scored 28 PTS in a 186-184 3-OT home loss to Detroit: what are your memories of the highest-scoring game in NBA history? The amazing thing about that game is there were not that many 3-PT shots taken. I remember being very tired and losing the game: it was not until later that we learned it was the highest-scoring game in league history.

You were nicknamed “the Horse” due to playing in 1218 games and missing only 24 during your 15 seasons as a pro: who gave you the nickname, and how were you able to remain such a durable player? I tell people that I did not run fast enough or jump high enough to get hurt! I was just very fortunate that I never sustained a major injury. In 15 years of pro basketball I never even missed 2 games in a row. Bob King was our assistant general manager and gave me the nickname. I played a good game 1 night and the next day the newspaper said that I played like a thoroughbred. Bob said he thought I played like a Clydesdale, and then Clydesdale became “Horse”, and it stuck.

In 1993 you were inducted into the Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? Being inducted into the Hall of Fame was obviously the best individual honor that I ever received…but basketball is a team sport so winning the ABA championship is still #1 on my list.

In the 1994 Western Conference 1st round as head coach of Denver you won Games 4 and 5 in OT to become the 1st #8 seed to ever win a playoff series: how on earth did you do it?! What a lot of people forget is in our next series against Utah we were down 3 games to none but almost came all the way back to win that series, which is something that has never been done in the NBA. We had a great group of players who were tired of losing and sacrificed for one another to win. We also had nothing to lose and I think the further that series went the tighter Seattle got.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Feb 7

Posted on February 7, 2022 by David Griggs

-We will be recording our Hoops HD Report tonight, so be on the lookout for that late tonight/early tomorrow morning.

-Loyola Chicago picked up a nice road win at Missouri State 71-62.  More importantly than what it means on paper is that they actually looked really good on the court for the first time in a while.

-San Diego State, who is right on our bubble, had to sweat out Nevada, but held on to win 65-63 and avoided what would have been a damaging home loss.

-Wyoming, who had a big week with home wins against Colorado State and Boise State, capped off a huge week with a road win at Fresno State.  Fresno isn’t in our field, but they had been playing really well and were on our board, and to win that game on the road was huge for the Cowboys.

-Houston and Providence both picked up road wins, and Ohio State held off Maryland at home, all without too much trouble.

-VIRGINIA AT DUKE (ACC).  Duke continues to be on pace for a #1 seed and should be able to pick this one up tonight against a Virginia team that has struggled all year long.

-ARIZONA AT ARIZONA STATE (Pac 12).  Normally I’d say this should be an easy win for Arizona.  Well…it still should be, but it is a rivalry game, Arizona State is coming off a very surprising win against UCLA, and Arizona will not want to overlook them.

-KANSAS AT TEXAS (Big 12).  Texas is getting better, and they are proving to be a very tough team to beat at home, but Kansas is coming off a very impressive blowout win against Baylor, so even though they’re at home this is a tall order for the Longhorns.

 

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Bracketology 2022: March Madness Predictions (Version 6.0)

Posted on February 6, 2022 by Jon Teitel

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

We are only 5 weeks away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 67 of the 68 teams that made the 2021 tourney, 62 of which were within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 47 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming weeks predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 13th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how we stack up with other websites (ranked 19th out of 135 entries over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com

SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE)
1: Auburn (SEC)
1: Gonzaga (WCC)
1: Purdue (Big 10)
1: Kansas (Big 12)

2: Baylor (Big 12)
2: Arizona (Pac-12)
2: Kentucky (SEC)
2: Duke (ACC)

3: UCLA (Pac-12)
3: Wisconsin (Big 10)
3: Houston (AAC)
3: Villanova (Big East)

4: Texas Tech (Big 12)
4: Providence (Big East)
4: Illinois (Big 10)
4: Michigan State (Big 10)

5: Tennessee (SEC)
5: Ohio State (Big 10)
5: Xavier (Big East)
5: LSU (SEC)

6: Marquette (Big East)
6: Alabama (SEC)
6: Connecticut (Big East)
6: Texas (Big 12)

7: Iowa State (Big 12)
7: USC (Pac-12)
7: St. Mary’s (WCC)
7: Indiana (Big 10)

8: Iowa (Big 10)
8: Boise State (MWC)
8: Colorado State (MWC)
8: TCU (Big 12)

9: Arkansas (SEC)
9: Davidson (A-10)
9: BYU (WCC)
9: Loyola-Chicago (MVC)

10: Murray State (OVC)
10: Seton Hall (Big East)
10: San Francisco (WCC)
10: Miami (ACC)

11: Wake Forest (ACC)
11: Wyoming (MWC)
11: Oklahoma (Big 12)
11: North Carolina (ACC)

12: Creighton (Big East)
12: San Diego State (MWC)
12: Oregon (Pac-12)
12: West Virginia (Big 12)
12: Iona (MAAC)
12: North Texas (C-USA)

13: Chattanooga (SoCon)
13: Ohio (MAC)
13: South Dakota State (Summit)
13: Vermont (America East)

14: New Mexico State (WAC)
14: Cleveland State (Horizon)
14: Wagner (NEC)
14: Jacksonville State (Atlantic Sun)

15: Weber State (Big Sky)
15: Yale (Ivy)
15: Colgate (Patriot)
15: Appalachian State (Sun Belt)

16: Longwood (Big South)
16: UNC-Wilmington (CAA)
16: Fullerton (Big West)
16: Norfolk State (MEAC)
16: New Orleans (Southland)
16: Southern (SWAC)

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Feb 6

Posted on February 6, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Auburn got a much bigger scare from Georgia than what they were expecting.  Georgia actually had the lead in the final couple of minutes, and it took a shot with just seconds remaining to give the Tigers the 74-72 win.

-Gonzaga didn’t just win at BYU, they blew BYU to Kingdom Come 90-57.  The Cougars have now lost four straight and are in real trouble.  Losing to Gonzaga isn’t a setback, but BYU didn’t even look that good and hasn’t looked that good for the past couple of weeks.

-UCLA, who we all thought had a chance at a #1 seed, now has a much less likely chance of getting a #1 seed.  They fell on the road to Arizona State in triple overtime 87-84.  The teams were separated by 138 spots in the NET, making this a rather notable upset.

-Kentucky has looked better than anyone in the country over the last three weeks.  Their only loss was at Auburn in a game where they were shorthanded in the second half, and were leading until they lost a key player.  They’ve won at Kansas, and now at Alabama.  They can win the whole thing based on how they’re playing right now.

-Arizona closed out a big week at home by beating their second ranked opponent in a row.  They took down USC 72-63 and are now in command in the Pac 12.

-Kansas absolutely blew Baylor’s doors off and are now in control of the Big 12.  As for Baylor, they’re still in good shape, and could still likely end up as a #1 seed, but they have lost two of their last three and are 4-3 in their last seven games.  All those losses were to high level teams, but the thing about #1 seeds is that they rarely lose to anyone.

-Duke blew out North Carolina 87-67 in a game that really shouldn’t have surprised anyone.  Duke has looked like a #1 seed for most of the year, and North Carolina has looked like an NIT team for the entire year.

-UConn is in a bit of a tailspin.  They fell at Villanova 85-74.  Their profile is certainly still very strong, and there is no harm at all in losing to Villanova, but it is two straight losses for a Huskies team that seemed to be cruising to a protected seed a short while ago.

-Michigan State was just completely blown out by Rutgers 84-63.  Rutgers hasn’t looked all that good this year except when they’ve been at home against the top of the Big Ten.  They’ve beaten Purdue, and now have handily beaten Michigan State.

-Texas Tech picked up what was just their second true road win of the year at West Virginia 60-53.  It was close all throughout, and WVU had a lead for much of the game, but Texas Tech pulled it out in the end.

-Illinois picked up a nice road win at Indiana 74-57.  The Illini have really been on a roll lately, and this road win helps sparkle up their resume even more.

-Texas had no trouble at home against Iowa State today and won handily 63-41.  The Cyclones still look like they will safely make the field, but they are now just 3-7 in conference play and need to get that a little closer to .500 in order to feel completely safe.

-Xavier fell at home to DePaul in another surprising upset.  As well as Xavier had been playing, one thought holding serve at home against DePaul would have been rather routine.

-LSU is now in serious trouble.  They lost at Vanderbilt 75-66.  This Vandy team is obviously nowhere close to making the field, and the Tigers have now lost six of their last seven with their last two being to rather weak teams.

-Wake Forest got a nice win at Florida State.  It isn’t enough to put them safely into the field by any means, but it was at least something.

-Oklahoma may be going in the wrong direction.  They fell to rival Oklahoma State today 64-55, and are now just 3-7 in Big 12 play.  They need to even that out some if they want to be safely inside the bubble.

-Miami FL, who had been on a roll, has now lost two straight.  They fell to Virginia 71-58.

-TCU, who had been playing well recently and appeared to be climbing the seedlist, lost at home to Kansas State 75-63. which is a bit of a setback for them.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-PROVIDENCE AT GEORGETOWN (Big East).  These two teams are polar opposites with Providence looking to be the hottest team in the Big East and Georgetown still being winless in the conference.  Providence appears to be cruising to a protected seed and will remain on that track if they can hold serve today.

-MARYLAND AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  Ohio State has looked good all season and shouldn’t have any trouble at all at home against a Maryland team that has struggled for most of the year.

IONA AT NIAGARA (Metro Atlantic).  As we always say, Iona is inside the bubble and will stay there so long as they can continue to hold serve.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT MISSOURI STATE (Missouri Valley).  This is a hugely important game for Loyola Chicago, who looked good in their last game, but prior to that had been sleepwalking.  Missouri State is playing really well, they’re tough to beat at home, and a win would draw them even in the standings with Loyola, and in all likelihood knock them outside the bubble for now, so this game is extremely pivotal for the Ramblers.

-NEVADA AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West).  San Diego State is straddling the bubble right now, which means they need to win games at home against teams that are nowhere near the bubble.

-WASHINGTON AT STANFORD (Pac 12).  Every time we start to like Stanford, they lose, so they once again have to climb their way back into the picture.  Losing at home to Washington is not the way to do that.

-MINNESOTA AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Iowa is inside the bubble, but in the 9-11ish seed range, so they can’t afford to put it on cruise control just yet.  They need to win their home games against teams that aren’t in the field right now.

-HOUSTON AT CINCINNATI (American).  Houston continues to blow through their schedule and will end up as a protected seed if they continue to do so.  This Cincinnati team has been playing really well lately, and with them being at home it will likely be one of the bigger remaining tests for the Cougars.

-WYOMING AT FRESNO STATE (Mountain West).  Wyoming has been really hot lately with wins over both Colorado State and Boise State, but both of those came at home.  Today will be a really tough road test against a Fresno State team that’s had a pretty good year and who could make a run at the bubble if they can finish strong.

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