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

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Tagged | Comments Off on News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 27th

All-access at the Wooden Legacy: Day 1 Recap

Posted on November 26, 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 is 1 of the few people in Anaheim this week who is NOT at Disneyland so that he can bring you as much basketball as possible. He commences his coverage with a review of Thursday night’s doubleheader.



1 of the 4 squads will be thankful to hoist this trophy on Friday night:



Thanks to my friend Sam who is staying at the Marriott I had an easy walk to the Convention Center for a night of Thanksgiving basketball. Thanks to COVID my Thanksgiving media meal was…a box lunch, but I learned long ago to not complain about free food. The crowd is pretty sparse for Game 1 because St. Joe’s is 2700 miles from Anaheim and USC…loves their football team. I knew that the Hawk was famous for waving his wings throughout the entire game, but I did not know that he waved 1 wing during the national anthem while placing the other over his heart:



Let’s serve it up and see who wants to eat!



The Hawks flew across the country for their 1st game all year away from Hagan Arena so I was not sure how much energy they would have, but they kept it competitive for the 1st 20 minutes. Their leading scorer is Taylor Funk and he brought both the noise and himself with a 3 and a pair of jumpers:



The surprise star was grad student Ejike Obinna who transferred in after playing at Vandy. I still cannot tell if he has an outside shot, but the good news is that it does not matter because he just kept making hook shots off the glass and layup after layup against a USC team whose average height of 6’7” is top-5 in the nation:



1 of those tall Trojans is 6’9” Chevez Goodwin, who matched Obinna dunk for dunk and hook for hook:



USC coach Andy Enfield brought Boogie Ellis in as a transfer after 2 years at Memphis and it seems to be working out well for everyone involved as both his old team and new team are currently undefeated. He got off to a hot start this year from behind the arc with 8-17 3PM but did most of his damage in the paint on Friday by driving in for leaners/layups/put-backs to help his team build a 38-26 halftime lead:



It was a different half/same result for Obinna in the 2nd stanza: hooks/layups/dunks as he recorded his 2nd double-double of the season with 18 PTS/9-13 FG/10 REB in only 28 minutes of action. Coach Billy Lange must have told his team to stop letting Ellis “boogie” his way into the lane…but instead of battling the big men the 6’3” guard just took what the defense gave him and made several jump shots to finish with a team-high 17 PTS. The man responsible for inside scoring was Joshua Morgan, who last stepped onto this court 2 years ago when he was a player at Long Beach State and I was at the media table watching my Penn Quakers score 95(!) PTS against the Beach. I may not have aged gracefully since then but Morgan certainly has with a dunk and some layups. He entered this game having made exactly 1 FT this season and 0 last season, but looked rather comfortable at the line by making 5-6 against St. Joe’s as his team won handily by a score of 70-55:



In the noticeably dark postgame press conference I asked Coach Lange about how he had unlocked Obinna’s potential. He politely said that Obinna deserves all the credit because he loves basketball and is 1 of the best “souls” that he has ever met:



Since Obinna faced several big SEC opponents during his time at Vandy I wondered if he changed his style of play when facing a supersized team like USC. He responded that he approaches every game the same way and just does whatever it takes to win because, “I am a winning guy”:



My question for Morgan was how it felt to be back in Anaheim on an undefeated team after playing here 2 years ago on a team that lost 21 games. He laughed in disbelief and said that it was a definitely a different experience because it is always fun to win:



His teammate Ellis knows a lot about winning, especially in neutral-site games (as he won each of his last 4 in March en route to an NIT title), so I inquired how he plays so well when there are few fans cheering/booing in the stands. His answer was that it is due to a lot of effort/communication and that he felt his team was in control of the pace of the game the entire time:



I missed the start of the nightcap because the 1st press conference ran long. Proving the adage that there is no rest for the weary, I saw Coach Enfield sitting courtside for the 1st half of Georgetown-San Diego State to do some quick scouting:



I knew the San Diego State student section (aka The Show) is legendary at Viejas Arena, but I was happily surprised to see that the alumni could keep it up 90 minutes away in Anaheim on a weeknight holiday. Even though USC is a considerably shorter distance away the Aztec fans were by far the best ones here: chanting/standing/stomping to help support their team. However, it was a young Hoya duo who did a decent job of silencing them early. Defending Big East tourney MOP Dante Harris made a ton of jump shots early to rack up 10 PTS in the 1st 8 minutes:



Preseason Big East Roy Aminu Mohammed kept getting to the rim for layup after layup and had 11 PTS in the 1st 10+ minutes:



The good news for Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing is that his 2 young stars outscored San Diego State all by themselves in the 1st 11 minutes (21-17)…but the bad news is that it is hard to beat a team that has won 9 of 11 neutral-site games during the past 24 months when nobody else in your lineup is scoring:



I saw plenty of Matt Bradley during his career at Cal when he went 0-4 vs. my Wildcats. 1 thing I had not see him do was wear Demarshay Johnson’s #11 jersey:



I asked several media folks why this was happening but nobody seemed to know. I tracked down Bradley’s SID and was told it was because he did not have his own jersey with him: oh well, I do not function at 100% after a day of turkey and stuffing either! As far as his on-court performance it was spectacular on both ends of the court. On offense he made a few jumpers as well as a 3, while on defense the 6’4” senior took a charge against Mohammed and then somehow blocked a dunk attempt by 7’2” Ryan Mutombo. 1 player who was unstoppable at dunking was Bradley’s teammate Tahirou Diabate, who scored 8 PTS in the 1st half on a 1 layup and 3 dunks:



The Aztecs’ ability to keep calm and watch even their secondary scorers knock down threes as the clock was winding down was awesome. Trey Pulliam (a 25% 3-PT shooter this season) made a 25-footer late in the half to beat the shot clock, and his teammate Adam Seiko (a 21% 3-PT shooter this season) nailed a 3 at the halftime buzzer to give his team 40-32 lead. Georgetown was unable to respond from long range in the 2nd half: they were top-15 in the nation this year at over 41 3P% but only made 4-20 on Friday night. They also were underwhelming at passing the ball. Pulliam did not score that well with just 7 total PTS but he had more AST (8) than the entire Georgetown team (6), proving once again that having a SR PG who you can trust to run the offense is a great luxury:



After doing very little in the 1st half, Pulliam’s teammate Lamont Butler exploded in the 2nd half with steals/layups/threes. The sophomore guard had only averaged 8 PPG during his 1st 4 games this year, but scored 11 straight PTS by himself in the 1st few minutes after halftime to help his team keep from cracking:



Mohammed is only 4-12 from behind the arc as a freshman but you can see him continuing to improve every single game. He kept getting into the lane over and over to finish with a career-high 20 PTS, including a layup that cut the deficit to 57-53 and brought some loud cheers from the few Hoya fans in the house. However, his teammates faded down the stretch and were outscored 16-5 in the final 10 minutes of a 73-56 loss as Coach Brian Dutcher picked up his 100th win as a D-1 head coach in only 132 games on the sideline:



There were no Georgetown players at the press conference so I just asked Coach Ewing how impressed he was with Mohammed’s improvement from day to day. His answer is that he expects Mohammed to be 1 of his team’s best players, but that while he was happy with his effort the team did not play the way he wanted them to as a group:



My question for Coach Dutcher was about Butler’s 2nd half stats. He said that Lamont is like any other player in that, “When you make the 3 you are always dangerous”:



I read that Bradley grew up 45 minutes away from Anaheim so I wondered if he had a lot of family/friends in the arena tonight. He responded that he had about 20-25 family members there and that it was just really nice to play in front of any fans after being unable to do so last year. I followed up by reminding him that he is winless in 4 career games against the Trojans. He agreed that it is a game that he really wants to win and that “we have had it marked on our calendar”:



That’s a wrap for Day 1, check back in the days ahead for continuing coverage from the happiest place on earth: a college basketball court!

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Nov 26

Posted on November 26, 2021 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-We’ve had an Under the Radar team knock off a top ten team!  Iona and Alabama played in a thrilling game that went back and forth, but that Iona pulled out in the end with a 72-68 win in the ESPN Events Invitational.  It was a huge quality win for the Gaels, and you have to start thinking of them as a team that can make the NCAA Tournament without the auto-bid.  It really doesn’t lessen my opinion of Alabama all that much.  I still think they’re really good, and can have a big year, and can earn a protected seed, and can even contend to win the SEC.

-Auburn rebounded from their overtime loss to UConn, which really didn’t even qualify as a setback, and knocked off a good Loyola Chicago team 62-53 in the Battle 4 Atlantis.  Loyola could have really benefited from at least one big win in this event, but they still aren’t totally sunk.  It probably is important that they beat Arizona State today, though.

-Michigan State wasn’t in the rankings coming into this week, but they are about to be.  They knocked off UConn in a thriller to advance to the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship game.

-Maryland got a nice 86-80 win against a Richmond team that we thought would be an NCAA Tournament team this year, but that has struggled out of the gate.  Both teams have important games coming up as Maryland will face Louisville, who blew out Mississippi State, who isRichmond’s next opponent.

-Belmont picked up a huge 74-69 win against Drake in the ESPN Events Invitational.  It’s big because it adds what should turn out to be a quality win to their resume, and it gives them the chances to play higher caliber opponents throughout the rest of the event and build their resume even more.  With that being said, Belmont will face Iona, who knocked off Alabama, and Drake will get a shot at the Tide.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-DUKE VS GONZAGA (Continental Tire Challenge) (***Spotlight Game***).  Gonzaga is playing their third top five opponent this season, and they won the previous two without too much trouble.  Duke is also unbeaten and super talented so this is another fantastic early season showcase between two teams that we could see end up as #1 seeds.

-BAYLOR VS MICHIGAN STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis).  Both teams are already putting together the types of resumes that protected seeds end up with, both have gotten this far by picking up two big wins, and they’ve got another chance at another one today.

-MIAMI FL AT NORTH TEXAS (ESPN Events Invitational).  North Texas fell to Kansas and Miami FL fell to Dayton.  Neither team has picked up any wins that look to be all that notable, so it’s important that the finish strong in this event.

-DAYTON VS KANSAS (ESPN Events Invitational).  Dayton had gotten off to a rough start, but they really played well in their win against Miami FL yesterday.  Having said that, they’re probably way overmatched today.  The last time these two met in an MTE it was an absolute classic, but it’s probably a bit of a mismatch today.  But, to be fair to Dayton, they did look a lot better yesterday.

-VCU VS UCONN (Battle 4 Atlantis).  UConn has looked really strong so far this season despite the loss yesterday and can still finish this event with a very strong resume.  VCU has also played well.  Our expectations for them went down a bit prior to the start of the season, but they’ve shown they can still play like an NCAA Tournament team, and really have the chance to pick up a big win today.

-OKLAHOMA STATE AT ORAL ROBERTS.  Oklahoma State isn’t eligible for the NCAA Tournament, but they will still have an impact on all of their opponents’ profiles.  This is a tough road game against an Oral Roberts team that finished strong last year by going to the Sweet Sixteen, has a lot of that talent back, and has a bit of a showcase home game against a P5 brand name school.

-ALABAMA VS DRAKE (ESPN Events).  Alabama was upset by Iona yesterday, but we still think this Tide team could end up as a protected seed, and perhaps even win the SEC.  They face a Drake team who lost to Belmont, but who we still think will be a big time force in the Missouri Valley and will have a chance to land inside the bubble.  This game has a bit of a pivotal feel for both teams.  Drake needs a quality win, and Alabama doesn’t want to lose it’s second straight to an Under the Radar team while having such a high ranking and high expectations.

-SYRACUSE VS AUBURN (Battle 4 Atlantis).  A neutral floor match-up between two likely tournament teams that have already picked up some big wins.

-IONA VS BELMONT (ESPN Events Invitational).  This is probably the match-up that many of us were expecting, but perhaps not the part of the bracket we were expecting to see it in.  Both are really good under the radar teams, bot have a shot at making the NCAA Tournament without the automatic bid, both picked up a big win yesterday, and both are looking to add to it today.  This is important because their opportunities at notable wins will be limited (or…nonexistent) once league play starts.

-XAVIER VS VIRGINIA TECH (NIT Season Tip-Off).  Xavier looked pretty bad in their loss on Wednesday night, and while Virginia Tech really battled Memphis they couldn’t quite get it done.  Nevertheless, this is still a chance for both teams to pick up what should be a notable win away from home tonight.

-ARIZONA STATE VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Battle 4 Atlantis).  It’s the 7th place game, and Loyola has played well but not managed a notable win.  They don’t want to walk out of this completely empty handed.  It’s important that they at least pick up this one.

-PENN STATE VS LSU (Emerald Coast Classic).  We are way higher on LSU, who comes into this game unbeaten, but Penn State is 3-1 and can change some opinions about their potential really quickly if they’re able to pull off this (surprise) win.

-IOWA STATE VS MEMPHIS (NIT Preseason Tip-Off).  Iowa State had very low expectations this year, but they come into this one unbeaten and beat a pretty good Xavier team in their last game.  We had concerns about Memphis being able to utilize their talent.  Based on their 5-0 start and some of the teams they’ve already beaten, that is no longer a concern.  It’s a resume building opportunity for both teams, and the chance to stay unbeaten.

-WICHITA STATE AT MISSOURI.  Missouri has looked a little better than expected, but still seems to be a long way from a tournament team, so it’s a winnable road game for Wichita State who will improve to 5-1 on the year if they pull it off.

-USC VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Wooden Legacy).  USC is unbeaten and in the rankings, and San Diego State is off to a really good 4-1 start and looking to add to their resume with a really impressive neutral floor win.  This one should be good!

-SAN FRANCISCO VS UAB (Las Vegas Invitational).  Both teams are off to really good starts, we think both could end up inside the bubble, and therefore both could really use this on their resume.

BUY GAMES AND OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-Georgia Southern @ Georgia Tech – both teams 4-1
-Omaha @ Purdue
-Charleston Southern @ Clemson
-Tennessee Tech @ Tennessee
-Concordia (nonD1) @ Ohio U
-Mississippi Valley State @ Ole Miss
-Northern Kentucky @ DePaul – DePaul can get to 5-0
-North Florida @ Kentucky
-Eastern Kentucky @ West Virginia – both teams have just one loss
-Portland State @ Iowa
-Lehigh @ Virginia
-UTRGV @ Illinois
-Hastings (nonD1) @ Wyoming
-Oregon State vs Wake Forest (Emerald Coast Classic) – Wake can get to 6-0 with a win

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Tagged | Comments Off on News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Nov 26

Under the Radar: Thanksgiving Edition

Posted on November 25, 2021 by David Griggs

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM HOOPS HD!!  On days like today, we all want to remember the things that are really important…and the things that are really truly important are college basketball games!!

We feature the Patriot League this week and talk about some of the big wins that Navy has pulled off, and how Colgate is also off to a good start.  After that we run through the other 21 UTR conferences and discuss the big start for Oakland, the big opportunities for teams like Loyola Chicago, Drake, Iona, and Belmont this week, teams that managed big wins in their exempt events, and teams that have struggled more than expected like New Mexico State, Missouri State, and Northern Iowa.  All that, and much 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…

Posted in Podcasts, Under the Radar, Videocasts | Comments Off on Under the Radar: Thanksgiving Edition

News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 25 (Thanksgiving Edition)

Posted on November 25, 2021 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!  We hope you all have a good, fun, and safe holiday!  For those who can’t be with their families and want to be, or can’t avoid being with their families and don’t want to be, or who simply just don’t have any other plans for today…turn on the games, jump on Twitter, and interact with us!  We’ll be there!!  @HoopsHD

-Oregon has not looked good at all this year.  It’s not that losing to Houston is bad, but getting blown out the way that they did to fall to 3-3 is kind of bad.  I do think the Ducks will kick it into gear before the end of the year, but it hasn’t happened yet.

-UConn and Auburn played a double overtime thriller down in Atlantis with UConn finally pulling away for the 115-109 win.  It was just a high level, back and forth, well played game between two really good teams, and a really nice win for UConn’s resume.

-Seton Hall held on to beat a pretty bad California team in the Fort Meyers Tip-Off…but barely.  They really had to sweat out the 62-59 win and avoided what would have probably been a bad loss.

-Florida and Ohio State was another exciting game in the championship side of the Fort Meyers Classic.  It was a back and forth affair with the Gators winning at the buzzer 71-68

-Iowa State, who is not a team we thought would do anything this year, knocked off Xavier 82-70 yesterday and basically led from tip to buzzer.  Xavier was without some key players, but it was still a surprising result for the Cyclones, and while Xavier has the win against Ohio State, it raises the question as to whether they can play to that level away from home.

-Loyola Chicago and Michigan State came down to the wire in Atlantis with Michigan State making a game winning ally oop on their last possession of the game.  Loyola held a lead for much of the game, but just wasn’t holding it when time ran out.  While this certainly isn’t a damaging loss for the Ramblers, it was a missed opportunity and they only get so many of those due to playing in an Under the Radar conference.  Fortunately, even though they lost, they’ll have a couple more opportunities in this event including today against Auburn.

-Wisconsin knocked off Saint Mary’s to win the Maui Invitational 61-55, but both teams have really good runs in this event and are off to fantastic starts.  Whatever questions there were about these two teams have been answered.

-Florida State needed overtime at home to get past Boston University.  But, they avoided the near upset with an 81-80 win.

-George Mason has now lost four straight since their win at Maryland.  South Dakota State, who to be fair is good, knocked them off 80-76 in the Crossover Classic yesterday.  South Dakota State is now a respectable 6-2 on the year.

-There were a few good under the radar teams getting some wins yesterday with Vermont beating Appalachian State in the Gulf Coast Showcase to get to 5-2, and Murray State looking good on the year so far with a win against James Madison in the Naples Invitational to get to 5-1.   Middle Tennessee is also out to an unexpected 5-1 start after dominating Mercer in the Cancun Challenge yesterday.  Oakland knocked off Delaware in the Gulf Coast Showcase to continue to add wins to their resume, and Toledo is out to a 5-1 start with their win against Coastal Carolina in the Nassau Championship.

-Air Force win a Front Range thriller over Denver 66-65!!  WE AT HOOPS HD LOVE THE FRONT RANGE!!!

-The night ended early this morning with two unbeaten teams going at it in the SoCal Challenge as Fresno State knocked off Santa Clara 59-52.  Neither team has made an impression nationally yet, but both are worth keeping an eye one.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-UCONN VS MICHIGAN STATE (Battle 4 Atlantis).  Both of these teams won in thrilling games yesterday.  Michigan State knocked off Loyola Chicago with an ally oop in the final seconds, and UConn needed two overtimes to get by Auburn.  Both teams have already managed some good early season wins, and both have the opportunity today build on it even more.

-DAYTON VS MIAMI FL (ESPN Events Invitational).  Miami is 3-1 and while they haven’t made any big national splash yet, they’ll get the chance to pick up some notable wins in this event.  Dayton is off to a terrible start at just 1-3, which includes some losses in buy games.  If they were to do well in this tournament it could turn things around, but that’s easier said than done.

-NORTH TEXAS VS KANSAS (ESPN Events Invitational).  North Texas is off to a respectable 2-1 start and they should be able to make some noise in CUSA this year, but this still appears to be a rather big mismatch.

-AUBURN VS LOYOLA CHICAGO (Battle 4 Atlantis).  This is an important event for Loyola Chicago because they need some notable wins on their resume.  They just missed a big chance yesterday, but the good news for them is that the loss didn’t deny them a chance from picking up what would be a big win today against a really good Auburn team.

-BAYLOR VS VCU (Battle 4 Atlantis).  VCU picked up a big win yesterday against Syracuse.  Even though it’s still early in the year, you get the sense that it was a win they really needed.  Baylor continues to look awesome and could end up winning this whole event, which would certainly sustain their top ten ranking.

-ALABAMA VS IONA (ESPN Events Invitational).  This is a rematch from an NCAA Tournament game a year ago.  We really liked this Alabama team coming into the year, and they’ve certainly lived up to it so far.  Iona is an Under the Radar team that we really like who also comes in unbeaten.  While the Gaels may be overmatched today, I think they’re still good enough to pick up some really good wins in this event and help their resume.

-UAB VS NEW MEXICO (Las Vegas Invitational).  Both teams come in 4-1, and UAB is an Under the Radar team that we think can land inside the bubble.

-MARYLAND VS RICHMOND (Bahamas Championship).  We really like both these teams, but both are also a little slow out of the gate.  Maryland has the loss to George Mason, and Richmond has missed some opportunities at notable wins at 3-2.  So, you kind of get the sense that this is big for both teams because both could use a notable win.

-ARIZONA STATE VS SYRACUSE (Battle 4 Atlantis).   Both teams are coming off losses, but both still have the chance to pick up some big wins in this event.

-BELMONT VS DRAKE (ESPN Events Invitational).  You kind of hate that these two got paired against each other.  They’re both really good Under the Radar teams, they’re both teams who we think can land inside the bubble, but in order to do that they both need big wins in this event.  So, this has a really pivotal feel to it because the winning team will get on the winning side of the bracket and have better chances at big wins in their final two games.

-USC VS SAINT JOSEPH’S (Wooden Legacy).  USC can get to 5-0 with a win.

-SAN FRANCISCO VS TOWSON (Las Vegas Invitational).  San Francisco is off to an impressive start and can get to 7-0 with a win.

-LOUISVILLE VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Bahamas Championship).  Both teams are expected to be tournament teams.  Louisville is starting off a little slow with Chris Mack being suspended and having already lost a game to Furman, but this event is a chance to get it turned around.  Mississippi State is unbeaten, but this is their biggest test of the year up to this point.

-GEORGETOWN VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Wooden Legacy).  We like this San Diego State team and this event is a chance for them to pick up some big wins.

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