The Hoops HD Report: November 29th

Posted on November 29, 2021 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel recap all of the MTE’s from last week.  What Dayton did was just flat out crazy.  They won the ESPN Events Invitational by collecting wins against Miami FL, Kansas and Belmont, and they did this after having lost three buy games at home.  Iowa State has cracked the rankings after winning the NIT Tip-Off where they knocked off Xavier and Memphis, which makes them one of the bigger surprise teams of the year so far.  The West Coast has several teams off to good starts with BYU being high in the rankings, and San Francisco being undefeated.  The Big 12 has four teams high in the rankings and looks to once again have a very strong league.  We talk about all that, and much more…

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

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Bracket Projections (From the Puppet): Nov 29th

Posted on November 29, 2021 by David Griggs

Before you go any further, I want to make sure you know what you are looking at.  The criteria for the seeding and selection is simply a team’s current merit.  I am making no attempt at all to select and seed teams on how good I think they actually are, nor am I trying to guess what the field will look like on Selection Sunday in March.  This is me asking myself how hard it was for a team to win the games that they’ve won up to this point.  Nothing more.  Because of that, you’re going to see some things that are just flat out crazy.  But, I want to get into the habit of evaluating what teams have done, and not in the habit of supposing how good (or bad) I think they are…

OTHERS CONSIDERED:  Fresno State, Florida State, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Creighton, Wichita State, UCF, Colorado, Saint Louis, South Carolina, Drake, Murray State, Virginia Tech, Texas, Utah, Minnesota, Miami OH, Santa Clara, Georgia Tech

NOTES ON THE BRACKET:

-So, believe it or not, most teams have played about half a football season at this point.  There is still a long ways to go, but the data is starting to take some sort of shape.  It will still shift a ton between now and the end, but it’s starting to sort of start to fall in to place to where there is enough to do brackets that make a little bit of sense.

-No teams that have only won home buy games were even considered, even if I think they’re good enough to be there in the end.  They aren’t there now, and now is all I care about.

-Iona has beaten Alabama on a neutral floor, and the loss they have wasn’t that bad.  That’s why they are on the #3 line.  I don’t think they are one of the 12 best teams in the country, but as of now I don’t think anyone that I have behind them has done more to earn the spot.

-Dayton was the last team in the field.  They probably don’t belong there, but I took them anyway.  They’ve already lost three home buy games (and two of those were to teams that aren’t that good even by Under the Radar standards) and I’m not sure that any team that has lost three home buy game has ever finished inside the bubble.  But they also have a win against Kansas, and two other neutral floor wins against Miami FL and Belmont.  That is the most bizarre resume I’ve ever seen, and you see a lot of crazy ones early.

-Iowa State has been one of the surprise teams of the year.  It’s crazy to think that they’d be on the #3 line, but look at their profile!  The voters seem to like them too.  They checked in ranked #19 today.

-Under the Radar teams that have gone out and won away from home are still higher up in the bracket than where the will probably end up.  But, I don’t care where they end up.  I only care about now, and right now, they’ve done more to earn those spots.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Nov 29

Posted on November 29, 2021 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For Jon Teitel’s All Access coverage of the Wooden Legacy – CLICK HERE

-Dayton has finished off what has to be the most improbable three week stretch in basketball history.  They came into the ESPN Events Invitational having lost three home buy games (and two of them to teams that aren’t all that good even by UTR standards), and then they end up winning the event after handling Miami FL, beating Kansas at the buzzer, and beating a really good Belmont team in a close one.  So, it’s hard to know what to make of this team just yet.  There is a lot of season to go, and chances are by the end of it they’ll have a good resume where you say the early games were a fluke, or a not-good resume where you say the three wins are a fluke.  But, this has to be one of the biggest and quickest turnarounds in the history of the sport.

-North Texas knocked off Drake in the same event yesterday.  This was NOT a loss that Drake needed on their resume.  North Texas is not bad.  We know that.  But if Drake wants to establish themselves as a tournament caliber team that belongs inside the bubble, they simply do not get that many strikes against teams that likely won’t end up inside the bubble.

-Colorado had to sweat out Stanford at home, but they got the 80-76 win in their (early) Pac 12 opener, and improve to 6-1 on the year.

-Fresno State lost their first game of the year at Cal.  Of all the games to have their first loss in, this one was a bit of a surprise.  We had been a little impressed with Fresno’s 5-0 start, and weren’t really expecting much out of Cal this season at all.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-IOWA AT VIRGINIA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Iowa is unbeaten and while Virginia has limped out of the starting gate, they are starting to get better and better as the season goes along, and should kick it into high gear and be a top 25 caliber team well before the end of the season.  This is a chance for both teams to add to their resumes.

-TULSA AT ORAL ROBERTS.  Oral Roberts lost a heartbreaker to Oklahoma State their last time out in a game they really could have used.  Tulsa comes in at 4-2 and this is their first true road game, so we are still learning about them.

-NOTRE DAME AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten/ACC Challenge).  Neither team is off to a bad start, but neither is off to a really good start either.  This is a chance for both of them to pick up a notable win and make their first big statement of the season.

BUY GAMES

-Central Michigan @ Kentucky
-Point Park (nonD1)  @ Buffalo
-Campbellsville (nonD1) @ Murray State
-Austin Peay @ TCU – Austin Peay does have a win at Dayton
-Mississippi Valley State @ Vanderbilt
-Sam Houston @ Texas
-Carroll College (nonD1) @ Utah State
-UT Arlington @ UC Santa Barbara
-Tarleton @ Gonzaga

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All-access at the Wooden Legacy: Day 2 Recap

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Jon Teitel

Thanksgiving used to be about food/family/football, but thanks to college basketball we now have tons of tournaments on Turkey Day including 2 in the Bahamas (Battle 4 Atlantis and Baha Mar Bahamas Championship), 1 in Vegas (Las Vegas Invitational), 1 in Florida (ESPN Events Invitational), and the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim. This year’s edition of the 1 way out west includes 2 teams from California (San Diego State/USC) and 2 teams from the East Coast (Georgetown/St. Joe’s). HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel was 1 of the few people in Anaheim last week who was NOT at Disneyland so that he could bring you as much basketball as possible. He concludes his coverage with a review of Friday night’s doubleheader.

Let’s tip things off:



It was not easy to get excited about the consolation game between St. Joe’s and Georgetown but (of course!) it turned out to be the most exciting game of the tourney. I am still unsure how Ejike Obinna is allowed to have his 1st name on the back of his jersey…and I am still unsure how to stop him as he kept making layup after layup against the Hoyas:



If only the guy whose name is on the back of this jersey (Iverson) was still on the Hoyas’ roster:



Jordan Hall was also solid with a pair of threes and a layup while distributing the ball to all of his shooters (finishing with a game-high 8 AST):



The star of the night was Taylor Funk who made a pair of 1st half shots from behind the arc which gave him 17 straight games dating back to last season with multiple makes from 3-PT range. He shot a respectable 35.4 3P% last year but would SIGNIFICANTLY increase that after today’s game:



Dante Harris tried to keep Georgetown close with a layup and a pair of jump shots but could not do it all by himself:



The shot of the night was courtesy of 7’2” Ryan Mutombo, who made the 1st/only 3-PT shot of his college career, besting his father Dikembe (who never attempted a single 3 during his own time with the Hoyas):



For any of you who think coaching does not matter, I refer you to Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing. His team was falling behind fast but by simply employing a full-court press midway through the 1st half he gave the Hawks FITS and was able to close the deficit enough to only be trailing 36-26 at halftime:



The 2nd half featured a pair of Nigerian big men showcasing their skills. Obinna kept posting up and getting into the lane for hook shots/alley-oop dunks but it was Georgetown 7-footer Timothy Ighoefe who set a career-high with 14 REB:



There would not ordinarily be that many missed shots available to be rebounded…but FR Aminu Mohammed followed his career-high 20-PT game on Thursday with an inexplicable 0-10 shooting night on Friday (although he did make 6-8 FTs and had 9 REB):



The other dynamic duel was between a pair of senior sharpshooters. Georgetown’s Kaiden Rice had 1 of the worst shooting nights of his life vs. American just 10 days ago when he was 0-7 from behind the arc…but made 7 threes vs. Siena on 11/19 and made ANOTHER 7 threes vs. St. Joe’s, including 1 that he banked in!



However, Funk more than held his own by making a career-high 8 threes of his own to set a Wooden Legacy record and help his team eke out a 77-74 win. He is currently top-10 in the nation in both 3PM (27) as well as 3P% (54), which is pretty funking great!



In the postgame press conference I asked Coach Ewing what his strategy is when an opposing player cannot seem to miss. He said that he told his team before the game that Funk is his opponent’s Rice and that, “He is an elite shooter and when he got shots he was able to knock them down”:



I wondered what Coach Billy Lange was feeling when Ewing called for the full-court press in the 1st half, and he responded that it was “Hoya Paranoia!” He knows all about the mystique of the Georgetown program but thought that his team handled it well after seeing it for a few possessions because once they broke the press it led to open threes that his team wanted to take:



My simple question for Funk was whether his performance (29 PTS/8-10 3PM/7 REB/4 STL) was the best of his life. His answer is that it was the best SHOOTING game of his life and that it felt fun:



The championship game featured the biggest crowd of any of the 4 games (as you would expect), most of whom were cheering for the Aztecs:



Sadly, it was also 1 of the ugliest shooting games you will ever see by a pair of good teams. Exhibit A was a long-range shot from Boogie Ellis that ended up wedged between the rim/glass:



USC big man Isaiah Mobley got off to a hot start in the 1st half with a put-back at the rim, a jumper in the lane, and even a 3:



The only good news for San Diego State was that Matt Bradley FINALLY found his jersey after having to wear a teammate’s jersey the previous night:



Perhaps the cheerleaders dropped it off, as the Aztecs were the only school who had any in the arena:



The bad news: they were down 22-15 at halftime. I missed the 1st 4 minutes of the 2nd half to watch the end of the Duke-Gonzaga game, which I assure you was well worth it, but when I finally walked back to the court I was able to confirm that the trophy is in the house!

Lamont Butler made 6-6 FG on Thursday but started out 0-8 from the field on Friday before flipping the script with a pair of layups, a jumper, and a 3:



Through the 1st 35 minutes the 2 teams combined to miss 17 of 22 FTs and 22 of 26 threes: I cannot include a photo that would accurately portray the craptacular level of shooting because this is a family website. On the plus side, Mobley continued making shots from all over the court, recorded his 1st double-double since February, and propelled his team to a 58-43 win en route to being named Wooden Legacy MVP:


The Trojans took the court for their official trophy photo:

…followed shortly by their unofficial trophy photo:

Coach Dutcher stated that it was a defensive struggle but I challenged him by arguing that a combined 5-22 FTM translates to a pair of teams that are just exhausted by playing on back-to-back nights. He agreed that both teams have to make their FTs, especially the trio of 1-&-1 opportunities for Nathan Mensah in the final 5 minutes of the 1st half that resulted in 3 straight misses:



I noticed that undefeated USC’s next 2 games were against undefeated conference foes Utah/Washington State so my question for Coach Andy Enfield was whether his team is ready for Pac-12 play. He smirked and said that since his team is 53-17 in its past 70 games the short answer is “yes”:



I pointed out to Mobley that between his double-double and his brother Evan’s impending return to the NBA court after spraining his right elbow earlier this month his family has a lot to be thankful for during Thanksgiving weekend. He smiled and stated that he just hopes he can help his team keep winning…and that the Cavs can have some success as well:



That is a wrap from Anaheim, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, check back next month for some action from back home in DC!

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Nov 28

Posted on November 28, 2021 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Northern Iowa finally looked like the team we were expecting to see yesterday as they went on the road at Saint Bonaventure and picked up the 90-80 win.  UNI has a lot of ground to make up, and while they’re not out of strikes yet, they’re close, but this is the kind of win that can breathe new life into a season.  Saint Bonaventure was in the rankings (and will likely finish there), and they were at home (where they may not lose again all season), so this is a super high caliber win for Northern Iowa.

-Cincinnati has got to be the most schizophrenic team in college basketball this year.  After struggling early on in the season (but still managing to win), they went into their exempt event and beat Illinois handily, and then nearly beat Arkansas in the next game.  They followed up that performance with a home loss to Monmouth in a buy game 61-59.  Now to be fair to Monmouth, they are suddenly 5-1 with a really nice win on their resume, so we will start watching them for Under the Radar, but this was a bit of a shocking loss for the Bearcats.

-BYU is 6-0, and has a road win against their heated rival on their resume now as they knocked off previously unbeaten Utah 75-64.  BYU is gonna be ranked high next week!

-Louisville won the Bahamas Championship as they knocked off Maryland 63-55 to wrap up a couple of notable wins away from home in the event.

-Mississippi State won the 3rd place game of the Bahamas Championship over Richmond 82-71.  Richmond may be in a little trouble.  There is still a lot of season left, but at 3-4 the Spiders aren’t looking like the NCAA Tournament caliber team that we were expecting.

-Oklahoma picked up a nice win at UCF, who had been unbeaten before the game.  The Sooners are now 6-1 on the year, and this could turn out to be a notable win because UCF has some potential this year.

-Rutgers went into UMass…and lost.  That hurts!

-It was a rougher day than expected for a couple of Big East teams.  Saint John’s needed overtime to get past NJIT, and Creighton trailed SIUE for most of the game before getting control late.

-Washington State had more than just a rough time against Eastern Washington.  The previously unranked Cougars lost at home 76-71 after giving up a 12 pt halftime lead and just getting totally outplayed in the second half.

-LSU beat Wake Forest in the Emerald Coast Classic rather handily.  Both teams came into the game unbeaten, so it could turn out to be a semi-decent win for LSU if Wake can keep it up.

-Keep an eye on UC Irvine!  They are now 4-1 on the year and handed Santa Clara their first home loss of the season last night 69-64.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-KANSAS VS IONA (ESPN Events Invitational).  Kansas was shocked by Dayton in their last game, and Iona fell to Belmont after shocking Alabama.  Kansas will almost assuredly end up as a protected seed, and Iona looks like they are good enough to put together the type of profile they need to land inside the bubble.  That will be especially true if they can somehow win today.

-DAYTON VS BELMONT (ESPN Events Invitational).  This is one of the most improbable championship games in an MTE in the entire history of MTEs.  Dayton had three losses in home buy games, and followed that up with a decisive win against Miami FL and a last second win against Kansas.  That is arguably the quickest-biggest turnaround in college basketball history.  Belmont is an excellent team that is good enough to land inside the bubble, and if they can win today it would help boost their resume.  So, this is kind of a fun match-up between two teams that we weren’t expecting to see playing in this game.

-MIAMI FL VS ALABAMA (ESPN Events Invitational).  Alabama can pick up a somewhat notable neutral floor win today.

-STANFORD AT COLORADO (Pac 12).  A very rare November conference game.  Both teams still have a lot of questions about them, but both also have the potential to play their way inside the bubble.

-FRESNO STATE AT CALIFORNIA.  Fresno State is 5-0, and although they haven’t had any big tests (and today’s game probably doesn’t qualify as a big test either), we’ve got our eyes on them.

BUY GAMES AND OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-North Texas vs Drake (ESPN Events Invitational) – Drake has lost two straight and didn’t pick up any notable wins in this event.  They need to at least pick this one up today
-Bethune Cookman @ Seton Hall
-Troy @ Florida
-North Florida @ FIU – FIU can get to 6-1 on the year
-Rider @ South Carolina – a win for SC gets them to 5-1
-Eastern Michigan @ DePaul – DePaul is unbeaten
-UL Monroe @ SMU
-Penn @ Arkansas
-Stephen F Austin @ Northwestern State – first road game for SFA
-North Dakota @ Kansas State
-Villanova @ La Salle (Big Five).  Nova should absolutely roll in this one.  They have two losses on the season, but aren’t likely to lose too many more

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 27th

Posted on November 27, 2021 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

For Jon Teitel’s All Access Coverage of the Wooden Legacy – CLICK HERE

-The game of the day was a thriller.  Duke led Gonzaga for most of the game, but it was always close with Gonzaga getting the lead at times, and the Zags had a chance to win all the way up until the final minute.  Duke ended up pulling it out though with an 84-81 win.  Gonzaga, who has wins over Texas and UCLA, will likely fall out of the #1 spot, but this will hardly hurt their chances at getting a #1 seed.  They’ve already managed to beat two other highly ranked teams.  It’s also a big statement win for Duke.  It’s not that we didn’t think Duke was good, but now one can objectively say that they can beat anyone in the country.

-The biggest surprise of the day, and the year, and perhaps the last several years, was Dayton’s win over Kansas in the ESPN Events Invitational.  It’s not just that a highly ranked team lost in an upset, but that Dayton had basically stunk up until the start of this event.  They had lost three home buy games, and two of them were to UTR teams that aren’t even that good UTR standards.  So the idea that they could come in, not even sweat against Miami FL, and then beat Kansas, was preposterous.  But…that’s what happened.  Now the question is whether or not Dayton has turned their season around and can play at a high level the rest of the way.  They’ll face Belmont in the championship game tomorrow.  About Belmont…

-Belmont was one of the under the radar teams we were really big on coming into the year, and who we thought could finish inside the bubble.  After some missed opportunities at Ohio U and at LSU, they have picked up two big wins in this event (Drake and Iona) and have the chance to win it today against Dayton.  Their margin for error is thin, but there might be enough on their resume to land them inside the bubble if they can win on Sunday, and if they can avoid stubbing their toes the rest of the way.

So…who all out there had Belmont and Dayton meeting in the finals of this event??

-Baylor blew passed Michigan State to win the Battle 4 Atlantis.  It was close for a while, but Baylor opened it up down the stretch.  There were some questions as to whether or not Baylor would be able to replace all the talent they lost from a year ago.  I believe that those questions have been answered.  They absolutely can.

-Iowa State, along with Cincinnati, is one of the surprise teams of the year.  We were expecting absolutely nothing out of the Cyclones this year, but they went to the NIT Tip-Off and beat two ranked teams in about 24hrs.  They are unbeaten with two wins away from home against ranked teams, and they kinda blew Memphis out yesterday.  That objectively qualifies as being good.

-UConn held off VCU in overtime 70-63 to improve to 6-1.  VCU, who still has potential but who also has a long way to go, now falls to 3-4.

-Xavier bounced back from their loss to Iowa State to win a 59-58 thriller against Virginia Tech in the third place game of the NIT.  It was something Xavier needed.  A nice notable win away from home.

-Oral Roberts fell to Oklahoma State in overtime 78-77.  It drops ORU to 3-3, and while there is still a lot of season left, they have missed some early chances to establish themselves as an Under the Radar team that can get inside the bubble.

-West Virginia really had to sweat, but survived against Eastern Kentucky with an 80-77 win.  This kind of raises the question…how good is Eastern Kentucky??

-LSU remains unbeaten after beating Penn State in the Emerald Coast Classic in a game where a crazy last second shot sent it to overtime.

-Wichita State improves to 5-1 with a nice road win against Missouri.

-San Francisco is now 8-0 after beating a pretty good UAB team in the Las Vegas Invitational last night.  Our eyes are on the Dons.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-LOUISVILLE VS MARYLAND (Bahamas Championship).  Both teams have been tested and both have won some notable games.  This is a chance to pick up another resume boosting win away from home.

-RICHMOND VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Bahamas Championship).  I still think both of these teams could end up having big years, but Mississippi State is still looking for their first notable win, and Richmond has stumbled out of the gate and struggled a little more than expected.  Both of these teams could use this win so they can leave this event with something good on their resume.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT SAINT BONAVENTURE.  Northern Iowa was a team we had high expectations for coming into the season, and while there is still a lot of season left they have not lived up to them at this point.  At just 1-3, and with several missed opportunities at notable wins, they’d basically have to blow through most of the rest of their schedule to land inside the bubble.  The Bonnies, on the other hand, are still unbeaten and are climbing the rankings.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT COLORADO STATE (Front Range).  WE AT HOOPS HD LOVE THE FRONT RANGE!!!!!  Colorado State is a really good team that is inexplicably not in the top 25 right now, and shouldn’t have too much trouble improving to 7-0.

-OKLAHOMA AT UCF.  UCF is unbeaten, but this is their first real test of the year.  It’s arguably the biggest test of the year for the Sooners so far since it’s a road game against an unbeaten team that has the opportunity to make a statement.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT NC STATE.  LA Tech is a really strong UTR team who we think will make quite a bit of noise in Conference USA, and who has the chance to make a little bit of a splash on the national scene today.  NC State better not overlook them.

-RUTGERS AT UMASS.  Rutgers is starting off slow, and doesn’t want to fall behind the pack even more.  They need to win this one.

-CHARLESTON AT CHATTANOOGA.  Two pretty good Under the Radar teams, and Chattanooga is looking to get to 6-0 on the season.

-UCLA AT UNLV.  UCLA, despite the loss to Gonzaga earlier this week, could still have a big year and wind up as a #1 seed.  This is a winnable road game against a UNLV team that is improving and that should be up for this one, but they’re probably still swinging over their heads.

-LSU VS WAKE FOREST (Emerald Coast Classic).  Both teams come into this one at 6-0 and can keep that momentum going with a win today.  I don’t think we were all that excited about either team before the season started, but both have played well so far and it’ll be interesting to see what they do against each other today.

-UC IRVINE AT SANTA CLARA.  UC Irvine has been the most impressive team out of the Big West so far, and they can continue to add to their resume if they’re able to pick this one up on the road.  Both teams come in with just one loss, and both are on our early season radar, so this should be a fun one tonight.

-BYU AT UTAH.  There probably isn’t a more heated rivalry in college sports.  I’m not saying it’s the “biggest” because there are rivalries out there that are more important as far as how they impact the national scene, but I don’t think there are two programs that hate each other more than these two.  Both come in unbeaten, and both have the potential to make the NCAA Tournament, so it means something on paper because it’s likely a resume booster for the team that wins it.  But, that is a secondary storyline to this just being a fierce rivalry.

BUY GAMES AND OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-Saint Peter’s @ Providence
-Coppin State @ East Carolina
-South Dakota @ Nebraska – perhaps a sneaky good game?  The Yotes are 4-1 and they may be able to make the Huskers sweat some
-Monmouth @ Cincinnati – This Cincinnati team is for real, and they can improve to 6-1 today
-Furman @ SC Upstate – Furman has a nice win against Louisville and just needs to hold serve
-Idaho State @ Air Force – AFA can get to 6-1
-Georgia State @ Rhode Island – both teams are off to respectable starts
-Lamar @ Texas Tech
-NJIT @ Saint John’s
-Vermont @ UNC Greensboro – two strong UTR Teams
-Northeastern @ Harvard (Bean Pot) – We at Hoops HD love the Bean Pot!!!!
-Denver @ Utah Valley – Utah Valley can get to 6-1 with a win
-SIUE @ Creighton
-Grand Canyon @ Pepperdine – Pepperdine has struggled early, but GCU is off to a respectable 4-1 start and can pick up a road win tonight
-Marshall @ Indiana – IU is unbeaten, but Marshall is 4-1 and a little better than most buy game opponents
-Sacramento State @ Arizona
-Eastern Washington @ Washington State
-Northern Illinois @ Marquette
-UT Arlington @ Utah State
-Weber State @ Dixie State – Weber can get to 6-0 with a win
-Winthrop @ Washington – Washington probably won’t be on the board this March, but they’ve shown moments of being able to play well

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