News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Jan 9

Posted on January 9, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Miami FL completely catapulted themselves onto the national scene and is no longer hovering around the bubble, but solidly inside it.  They won at Duke 76-74, which to date is the most impressive win in a single game that any team has managed this season, and it will be hard for anyone else to top.

-UConn lost at Seton Hall in a double overtime thriller.  UConn appeared to have control, then they lost it, then they went into overtime, and Seton Hall made the plays they had to in order to get the win.  Both teams are still in really good shape and should end up in the top half of the bracket.

-North Carolina picked up a decisive road win against Virginia, where UMD called a lot of the plays.  It was a 74-58 final.

-TCU made Baylor sweat for a little bit, but Baylor ended up getting control in the second half and remains unbeaten on the season.

-Texas Tech had been a little anemic all year long and their resume needed some boosting.  Well, they got that today as they held off Kansas at home 75-67.

-Iowa State, who has been shockingly good this year, suffered their second loss of the season as Oklahoma knocked them off 79-66.

-Despite their high ranking, Texas still needs some quality wins on their resume, and had a chance to get one at Oklahoma State today, but they .  came up short and fell 64-51.

-Alabama, who appeared to have it all turned around, had what looked to be a gimme road game on their schedule against Missouri.  The only problem was that they didn’t win.  Mizzou gets a rare win against a good team, and Alabama suffers yet another setback.

-LSU got a nice notable win at home against Tennessee.  Both teams are solidly in the field, so this one gave LSU a nice little boost

-Villanova was sweating during the first half at DePaul, but not in the second half.  The Wildcats totally dominated and ended up with the winning record.

-Colorado State no longer undefeated after falling on the road to San Diego State 79-49.  San Diego State was pretty much in control for the entire game and this win really helps them.

-Texas A&M is a team to keep an eye on.  They improved to 13-2 overall yesterday after knocking off Arkansas 86-81 at home.

-Loyola Chicago needed to come from behind against Bradley, but they were able to hold serve and pick up the 78-71 win in overtime.

-Iona had a lead on the road against Saint Louis for what seemed like at least 39 minutes, but they weren’t in the lead when time expired.  Saint Louis hit a go ahead shot with less than ten seconds to go that ended up being a game winner after Iona failed to convert as time expired.  It was a big 68-67 win for the Salukis.

-Mississippi State, who was hovering around our bubble, fell on the road to rival Ole Miss 82-72 in a game they really could have used.

-BYU held of Saint Mary’s in a low scoring affair 52-43.  The Cougars pretty much led from tip to buzzer and improve to 14-3 overall this season.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-MINNESOTA AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  Indiana is coming off a big home win against Ohio State, and can make another big statement with another win today.  Minnesota is a very respectable 10-2 on the year and is 3-0 on the road, but given how well Indiana has played at well at home recently this may be a tall order.

-CINCINNATI AT MEMPHIS (American).  Both teams need to put together a string of wins just to get on the committee’s radar.  A win today would be a big step forward.

-HOFSTRA AT JAMES MADISON (Colonial).  James Madison is not eligible for the automatic bid since they are leaving the Colonial and will not be allowed to play in the conference tournament.  They’ll need to get an at-large bid, and to get that they’ll basically need to win out.  Hofstra is one of the stronger teams they will face between now and the end.  JMU is unbeaten at home this year, so this will be a test for the Pride.

-WASHINGTON AT COLORADO (Pac 12). Colorado is outside the bubble, but they seem to be good enough to get done all the work they need to get done.  That includes holding serve at home and not losing to non-tournament caliber teams.

-NORTHWESTERN AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  This is a conference match-up between two teams that could use a boost.  The difference is that Ohio State is trying to solidify themselves is for a protected seed and Northwestern is trying to play their way inside the bubble.

-WISCONSIN AT MARYLAND (Big Ten).  This is a winnable road game for a Wisconsin team that’s on a huge roll right now and could even be making a case that they’re the best team in the Big Ten.

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Hanging with the Hoyas: Part 4

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. Part 3 was published last month:
https://hoopshd.com/2021/12/19/hanging-with-the-hoyas-part-3-2
He continues his series with Part 4 featuring the Hoyas’ matchup last night against Marquette:

The pregame media meal featured a solid spread of chicken/mac and cheese/salad/chocolate chip cookies. A 6:30PM EDT Friday night start + cold weather outside + Georgetown spring semester not starting until next week = VERY few fans in the house:


Let’s tip it off!


Patrick Ewing and Shaka Smart have faced each other before…but it was at Madison Square Garden when Smart was coach at Texas in 2019:


The best sighting of the night was former Hoya Jamorko Pickett sitting on the baseline…and wearing his Pistons sweatpants (he has a 2-way contract with the Detroit as well as the Motor City Cruise of the G League)!


Georgetown has been on a COVID pause for a few weeks so even the refs were wearing masks:


I was happy to see Georgetown forward Kobe Clark playing his 1st game since suffering a hamstring injury in November but was stunned to see him wearing a mask WHILE PLAYING, although he gave up on it and took it off after the under-8-minute timeout:


Marquette was coming off of a 32-PT home win over Providence last week and kept the momentum rolling on Saturday. Olivier-Maxence Prosper (aka O-Max!) set a career-high last month with 13 PTS in a loss to UConn: he tied that in the 1st half with a pair of 3-PT shots, a hook in the lane, and a thunderous alley-oop dunk off a pass from Stevie Mitchell.


The Golden Eagles leading scorer this year is Justin Lewis (16 PPG), who dominated inside with a couple of dunks before stepping outside to make a baseline jumper:


PG Tyler Kolek kept getting into the lane and made several layups to contribute to his team’s huge 1st half lead, but Georgetown freshman Aminu Mohammed helped his team stage a late comeback by virtue of a very unique 4-PT play (layup by Mohammed while getting fouled, then a technical foul on Coach Smart, then a FT by Dante Harris and then another FT by Mohammed!).


Despite an 11-0 run by Hoyas in the final 3 minutes of the half they still trailed 45-37 at halftime. Coach Ewing only used 8 players in the game since Donald Carey/Ryan Mutombo were unavailable, which gave some other players a chance to shine. Sophomore F Collin Holloway made his 2nd career start and took full advantage by scoring a team-high 17 PTS including a reverse layup, a 3, and a tip-in:


C Malcolm Wilson had a chance for a 3-PT play in the 2nd stanza but ended up missing a 1-handed FT: I was so shocked that I did not even have time to take a photo! Harris gutted out a 1st half injury by finishing with 15 PTS/2 STL but kept grasping/flexing his injured hand all night long:


Marquette F Oso Ighodaro only scored 2 PTS in a loss to UConn last month but has been nearly perfect on offense during his past 3 games with 15 PPG/20-24 FG/6-6 FT. The Hoyas tried to keep creeping back into it but Ighodaro made a pair of layups to wrap up a 15-0 Marquette run (in under 3 minutes!) and put the game out of reach. Prosper kept attacking the paint with a series of layups/dunks and had the game of his life with 22 PTS/9-11 FG/2 STL/0 turnovers. Kolek entered the game as a career 27% FG shooter but he actually made his 1st 6 shots of the game before missing a late 3 to finish with 13 PTS/7 AST:


Marquette won by a comfortable score of 92-64, giving them back-to-back conference wins by a combined 60 PTS(!). Their next 4 weeks will feature 7 opponents in the top-50, but if they can survive that gauntlet then they can ease into postseason play with each of their final 6 regular season opponents currently sitting outside the top-50. That is a wrap: check back later this month (COVID permitting).

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Jan 8

Posted on January 8, 2022 by David Griggs

-PURDUE AT PENN STATE (Big Ten).  Penn State is showing a little bit of life having won their last two games, but beating Purdue is a very tall order even with them being at home.  Having said that, as good as Purdue is they don’t have a true road win yet.

-WICHITA STATE AT HOUSTON (American).  Houston is a bit depleted, but they’re still racking up the wins.  They’ll face another test at home today against a Wichita State team that is trying to chase the bubble.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  This is a win that the Johnnies could REALLY use.  They are outside the bubble and need some signature wins, and this would certainly qualify.  Providence still has an excellent profile, but could use this win just to wash the taste of the blowout loss to Marquette out of their mouths.

-UCONN AT SETON HALL (Big East).  Both teams are tournament caliber teams, both have good resumes, and both can add to it with a win today.  It’s a tall order, but UConn is looking for their second true road win of the season.

-VIRGINIA AT NORTH CAROLINA (ACC).  Virginia has so much work to do just to catch up to the bubble, but they have won three of their last four and look noticeably better.  North Carolina is in our field right now, but they certainly have room for improvement and certainly do not have unlimited strikes.  This is a big game for both teams because, quite frankly, both need to do better.

-ARKANSAS AT TEXAS A&M (SEC).  Both teams are chasing the bubble and both have a lot of work to do in order to catch up to it.  A win today would be a nice start.

-TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12).  After not winning any games of note for most of the OOC, Texas continues to add to their resume and can add to it again today with a notable conference road win.  It would be their second true road win of the season.

-VILLANOVA AT DEPAUL (Big East).  Villanova is playing like a solid protected seed again, and while it’s never easy to win on the road, this is a game that a protected seed should be able to win.  DePaul has shown some life this season, but is now just 0-3 in league play.

-SYRACUSE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  Wake Forest is hovering around the bubble, and in order to stay there they need to hold serve in games like this, which are home games against non-tournament caliber teams.

-KANSAS STATE AT WEST VIRGINIA (Big 12).  West Virginia has a pretty solid profile and they should be able to hold serve in this one.

-RHODE ISLAND AT DAVIDSON.  We havne’t talked much about Rhody, and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that five of their last six games have been either cancelled or postponed, but they come in to this one with an 8-3 record and if they can pick this one up on the road then we may need to start paying attention to them.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten).  One of these teams is as good as we expected this year!  The other isn’t.  Michigan doesn’t need this win so they can have bragging rights, or so they can claim a higher protected seed.  They need this win because their resume is lousy and they need some big wins just to get themselves back into the discussion.  Michigan State, on the other hand, is looking like a top ten team and this is the kind of road game you would expect them to win.

-ALABAMA AT MISSOURI (SEC).  This is a winnable road game for Bama, and they should be able to hold serve.

-KANSAS AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  On last night’s podcast I beat up on Texas Tech for not having any big wins on their resume.  Well…this would certainly qualify as a big win even though they are at home.  Kansas is fantastic, but this will not be an easy road game to pick up.

-COLORADO STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West).  This is one of the tougher challenges that Colorado State has remaining on their schedule.  They are solidly in the rankings and solidly inside the bubble.  San Diego State is one of the better teams in the MWC, but they need some notable wins on their resume, so this one is huge for them.

-MURRAY STATE AT SIUE (Ohio Valley).  Murray State needs to hold serve the rest of the way, and if they can do that they should end up inside the bubble.

-UAB AT RICE (Conference USA).  UAB deserves some attention and I hope the committee members are giving it to them.  If they can run through CUSA, they should at least be on the board, and probably in the field.

-DIXIE STATE AT UTAH VALLEY (Bee Hive)  We at Hoops HD Love the Bee Hive!!!!

-BRADLEY AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley).  Loyola Chicago is safely inside the bubble right now and is working their way toward the top 25.  They’re coming off a nice win against San Francisco and should be able to hold serve in this one.

-THE CITADEL AT CHATTANOOGA (SoCon).  Chattanooga will have a case for a bid if they win out, but they pretty much have to win out.

-BELMONT AT UT MARTIN (Ohio Valley).  Belmont is another team that’s inside the bubble and should be able to stay there by blowing through the conference schedule.

-BAYLOR AT TCU (Big 12).  TCU is having a nice season, but they need some big wins.  Well, this would certainly qualify.  Beating Baylor anywhere (even at home) is a very tall order, though.

-IOWA STATE AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12).  Iowa State continues to impress and continues to look like a protected seed.  This is another tough road test against an Oklahoma team that is good and who can boost their tournament resume with a win today.

-GEORGIA AT KENTUCKY (SEC).  Georgia received some votes in this week’s AP Poll!!  It was by mistake and the writer meant to vote for Gonzaga, but they still received votes!!  Chances are they won’t next week, and chances are they won’t win at Kentucky either.

-TENNESSEE AT LSU (SEC).  Both teams are good, both have good resumes, and both have the chance to make those resumes look a little better if they’re able to pick up a win today.

-SAN DIEGO AT SAN FRANCISCO (West Coast).  San Francisco is coming off a loss to Loyola Chicago, but shouldn’t have too much trouble bouncing back tonight.

-MIAMI FL AT DUKE (ACC).  Miami is a reasonably impressive 12-3 and is chasing an NCAA Tournament bid.  They probably don’t have it in them to win at Duke, who is chasing a #1 seed, but if they could somehow pull this off it would catapult them inside the bubble.

-UCLA AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12).  It’s nice to see some of these teams back on the court.  UCLA is In fantastic shape and shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up this conference road win.

-FLORIDA AT AUBURN (SEC).  Auburn is so good that we think they can win the SEC and even end up with a #1 seed.  Florida is probably a tournament caliber team, but could use some more big wins on their resume to verify that.

-LOUISVILLE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC).  The good news for Louisville is that they’ve put together a string of wins.  The bad news is that they really haven’t looked all that impressive doing it.  This is another game that teams who make the tournament are expected to be able to win.  Florida State has a lot of talent, but it’s been a disappointing year so far.

-UTAH STATE AT NEW MEXICO (Mountain West).  I get the feeling that Utah State has underperformed somewhat, but that they are still capable of stringing together a bunch of wins and getting themselves back into the discussion.  That being said, they need to win this one tonight.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE AT OLE MISS (SEC).  It’s a conference game, it’s a rivalry game, and it’s an important game for a Mississippi State team that we have on the bubble right now.

-PEPPERDINE AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  You get this a lot with the Zags, but it’s a conference game that may as well be a buy game.

-SAINT MARY’S AT BYU (West Coast).  Both teams are good, both are chasing spots in the tournament, and both could really use this win.  This one should be fun!

-OREGON AT OREGON STATE (Pac 12).  Both teams have been very disappointing this year.  Oregon State is probably a lost cause, but Oregon can get themselves back into the picture if they can string together some wins and start playing up to their potential.  This is a rival game, it’s a winnable road game, and it’s one they can’t afford to lose.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Jan 7

Posted on January 7, 2022 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for our first BRACKET RUNDOWN of the season!!

-Loyola Chicago picked up a really nice win against San Francisco out in Salt Lake City in a game that was scheduled because both teams had games that had been cancelled and both wanted a quality opponent.  That game should (and will) help Loyola’s resume.

-Indiana had nothing on their resume to speak of prior to yesterday, but their win over Ohio State is something to sit up and take notice of.  The Hoosiers were in control for pretty much the entire second half and ended up with an impressive 67-51 win.

-UAB picked up a nice road win at North Texas.  This is a really good UAB team, and while North Texas probably isn’t a tournament caliber team, they’re still a team that’s very tough to beat on the road, so the Blazers should get some credit for this one.

-In Under the Radar news, Wagner needed overtime to get past Bryant, and actually had to come back to get it to overtime, but held on to win 84-81.

-MARQUETTE AT GEORGETOWN (Big East).  Marquette has a pretty solid resume, but it could use some stabilizing, and winning conference games on the road tends to do the trick.  This is one they should be able to pick up.

-KENT STATE AT OHIO U (MAC).  We will keep saying this for every Ohio U game.  If they can blow through their conference, they should at least be on the board come Selection Sunday.

-XAVIER AT BUTLER (Big East).  This should be a winnable road game for Xavier.  They have a pretty good resume overall, but to date they have just one true road win and they’re going to want to add to that.

 

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Hoops HD Bracket Rundown: January 6th

Posted on January 6, 2022 by David Griggs

The seedlist reflects all games that were completed before 9pm, est on Monday, January 6th.  None of the games that went final after that were considered

It is our first Bracket Rundown show of the year!!  For this edition we try out a different format where we use our very own JNG Rankings as a base, and then scrub it line by line as we build the seedlist.  We discuss, debate, and assess each team as we go through it line by line.  Find out who we have on the #1 line, who the protected seeds are, who is on the bubble, and much more!!

The bracket below was put together using the seedlist we built, but don’t look at it until you’ve watched the show!!

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

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Jan 6

Posted on January 6, 2022 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-CLICK HERE to watch our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast

-Iowa State survived an absolute rock fight against Texas Tech.  It was a defensive battle where the Cyclones jumped out to an early lead, but Texas Tech fought back and had a chance to win in the final minutes, but just couldn’t hold on.  Iowa State picks up another big win on paper to improve to 13-1 on the year.  It’s crazy how good they are this year.

-Alabama got a solid road win at Florida 83-70.  It’s not an easy place to go and win, and the fact that the Tide did it shows (again) that they can beat tournament caliber teams on the road.

-Tennessee needed overtime at home to get by Ole Miss, but did manage to hold on and win.

-Villanova blew Creighton into the sun.  It was 75-41.  Whatever issues we thought Villanova was having, they’re not having anymore.  They look like a team that’s good enough to win it all, which is what we expected at the beginning of the year.

-UCF had been looking really strong recently, but not last night.  They lost at home to Temple 66-62, and to call that a damaging loss is an understatement.

-North Carolina could not get the road win at Notre Dame.  Notre Dame probably isn’t a tournament team, but they are good enough to where they are really tough to beat at home.  It would have been a nice win for the Tarheels, and they’re in a position to where they could have really used a nice win, but the loss isn’t going to hurt them too much.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-At the time I’m writing this, 15 games have been either cancelled or postponed

-SAN FRANCISCO VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Game in Salt Lake City, UT).  I’m looking forward to this one!  Both teams are inside the bubble, and both were able to work this out after having games cancelled.  It’s a resume building opportunity for both teams, and it wouldn’t shock me if we saw both of them in the top half of the bracket.

-OHIO STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  Ohio State is continuing to look like a solid protected seed caliber team. This should be a winnable road game for them.  It won’t be a cakewalk, but it should be winnable.

-MARYLAND AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Illinois has really kicked it into gear and is looking like the team we thought they’d be prior to the start of the season.  They should be able to hold serve at home in this one.

-LONG BEACH STATE AT UCLA.  Buy game.

-SEMO AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley).  Belmont should land inside the bubble so long as they don’t lose to anyone other than Murray State the rest of the way.

-UAB AT NORTH TEXAS (Conference USA).  These are two of the better teams in CUSA, and both are good enough to end up on the bubble.  A win tonight would be huge for whoever can pull it off.

-IOWA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Wisconsin is coming off one of the biggest wins of the year at Purdue.  They should be tested a little bit tonight by an Iowa team that’s pretty good and it will be interesting to see how they respond after such a big wins.  But, they’re at home and they look to be the better team, so they should be able to hold serve.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT COLORADO (Pac 12).  Colorado is on the outside looking in and needs to string some wins together.

-PACIFIC AT BYU (West Coast).  BYU shouldn’t have too much trouble holding serve in this one.

-SMU AT CINCINNATI (American).  Cincinnati has had their ups and downs this year, but right now it doesn’t look like they’ve had enough ups to be considered a tournament caliber team.  SMU has some work to do, but they can get there.  A road win tonight would certainly help them.

-USC AT CALIFORNIA (Pac 12).  USC is finally back on the court.  Cal is better this year than what they have been, but I don’t think they’ve got it in them to really step up on a top ten caliber team, even if they are at home.  But, with all the pauses and shutdowns and everything else, who knows??

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