Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Xavier got a nice win against Ohio State 71-65.  The two teams rarely play, so it had to be a feel good win for the Muskies, and it should be a win that they’ll likely end up getting quite a bit of credit for even though they were the home team.  Ohio State is good enough to win more than their share of games on the road this year.

-Saint Bonaventure remains unbeaten, but it was once again an unimpressive win for what we think is a top 25 caliber team.  They held off Boise State 67-61 and face their first real test today against Clemson.

-Marquette picked up a nice 78-72 road win against Ole Miss.  With a road win against Ole Miss and a home win against Illinois, their resume is off to a fantastic early start.

-DePaul is 3-0@  They won an exciting game against Rutgers, who was also unbeaten coming into the game.  I don’t know how long DePaul will keep this up, but they’ve won all the games they’ve played so far.  This caps off a 6-2 win for the Big East over the Big Ten in the Gavitt Games.  The Big Ten so far has been collectively underwhelming.

-Wazzu blew out Idaho 109-61 in one of our favorite rivalries.  Until next year!!

-San Diego State needed to come from behind late, but they got the 65-63 home win against Arizona State.  Arizona State had looked really blah coming into this game, but they really kicked it into gear last night.  If they can play like that the rest of the way, they should be fine.

-Oregon State, who we liked coming into the year, lost at home to Samford last night 78-77.  I believe we are done liking Oregon State.

-Wyoming is now 3-0 after winning at Washington last night.  Winning at Washington appears to be something that is categorically not hard to do, but at 3-0 overall the Cowboys do have our attention.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-NEW MEXICO STATE VS UTAH STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational).  Both teams picked up wins yesterday.  This is a big opportunity for both of them to gather some notable wins away from home, especially New Mexico State whose chances for quality wins will likely be limited once they get into WAC play.

-BRADLEY VS COLORADO STATE (Paradise Jam).  Colorado State has a good team with a so-so schedule.  This tournament is a chance for them to add some decent neutral floor wins to their resume.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE VS CLEMSON (Charleston Classic).  This is a good match-up.  Both teams are unbeaten, and the expectations this season for Saint Bonaventure is high.  While they’ve won their first three games, they were for the most part unimpressive showings against weaker opponents.  Today’s game will be their first real test.

-BRADLEY VS COLORADO STATE (Paradise Jam).  Colorado State is unbeaten and we think they can finish really high in the rankings.  They need to do well in this tournament so they can pick up some (hopefully) notable wins away from home.

-BROWN VS CREIGHTON (Paradise Jam).  Creighton is unbeaten and Brown’s only loss was to North Carolina, who they hung with for much of the game.

-YALE AT VERMONT.  Yale has a blowout win against UMass and Vermont comes in 2-1 with a win at Northern Iowa and a strong showing at Maryland in their only loss.  This could end up being a good win on paper by the time the season is over for whoever pulls it off.

-LIBERTY AT IONA (MAAC/A-Sun Challenge).  We really like both these teams and think that both have a chance at landing inside the bubble come March, which makes this game really important for both of them.

-HOFSTRA AT MARYLAND.  Hofstra is 1-2, but their losses weren’t damaging at all as both were tough road games to Arkansas and Iona.  Maryland is looking to bounce back after their loss to George Mason, and it won’t be easy.

-OHIO U AT KENTUCKY.  This is a deceivingly good game if you’re not familiar with Ohio U.  They are one of several UTR teams that we think can land inside the bubble, and while they might be overmatched by Kentucky, they’re also good enough to really give them a game if UK overlooks them.  It goes without saying that this would qualify as a notable win for the Bobcats.

-AUBURN AT SOUTH FLORIDA.  This is a winnable road game for Auburn, and a chance to remain unbeaten on the year.

-GEORGE MASON AT JAMES MADISON.  George Mason just picked up a huge win at Maryland, and is making a statement that they belong in the top 25.  James Madison is also unbeaten on the season and is looking for a big win.  Landing inside the bubble, which is MUCH easier said than done, will be their only way into the NCAA Tournament since they will not be participating in the CAA Conference Tournament.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT MEMPHIS.  WKU is off to a somewhat disappointing 1-2 start given what their expectations were, but this is a chance to completely turn things around.  Granted, it won’t be easy.  This Memphis team is loaded with talent, and they’ve shown that they know how to play together well.

-OAKLAND AT ALABAMA.  Oakland is probably swinging way over their heads, but they do have a notable win at Oklahoma State already, and if they can somehow pull this off then you have to start thinking of them as a tournament caliber team.  Having said that, Alabama has played some pretty good UTR teams already, so props to them for scheduling them.  They’ve also looked rather impressive against most of them.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS VS COLORADO (Paradise Jam).  Colorado is unbeaten on the year and trying to pick up some key wins for their resume.  Southern Illinois is off to a bit of a slow start, but this is a chance for them to completely turn that around if they can rack up some wins in this event.

-GEORGIA TECH AT GEORGIA.  Not really big on either team, but it is a rivalry game, both teams are off to a modest 2-1 start, and the winner will have some early momentum built up.

-WICHITA STATE AT ARIZONA.  Both teams are unbeaten, and both have the chance to earn some respect with a win tonight.

-MICHIGAN VS UNLV (Roman Main Event).  UNLV is unbeaten, but this is clearly the biggest test they’ve had so far.  It’s really not even close.  Michgian is looking to bounce back from their home loss to Seton Hall earlier this week.

BUY GAMES AND OTHERS WORTH MENTIONING:

-UMass @ UNC Greensboro – UNCG entered this event unbeaten and can pad their resume by picking up some wins away from home.
-Troy vs North Dakota – (Paradise Jam)
-Norfolk State @ Bowling Green – Norfolk St. looking to remain unbeaten
-Wells (nonD1) @ Cornell – Cornell is 3-0
-Radford @ Furman
-PFW @ Minnesota – both teams unbeaten
-UMass Lowell @ George Washington – UMass Lowell is 3-1 with the notable win @ Dayton
-Coppin State @ Virginia
-Belmont @ Kennesaw State – winnable road game for Belmont
-Arkansas State @ SEMO – SEMO 1-1 with a notable win at Missouri State
-Middle Tennessee State vs Stephen F Austin (Cancun Challenge).  MTSU is unbeaten and SFA has just one loss
-Lafayette @ Duke
-Louisiana Tech @ Northwestern State – an in-state road test for what we think is a pretty good LA Tech team
-Bellarmine @ Gonzaga
-Cal Poly @ Santa Clara – Santa Clara is unbeaten
-Cal State Fullerton @ San Diego – San Diego is 3-1 with a win at Nevada, but a real bad loss to California
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CLICK HERE for the latest UNDER THE RADAR PODCAST, which is the first of the regular season!!

NEWS AND NOTES:

-George Mason wasn’t a team I was all that big on coming into the season, but I am HUGE on them now!!  They blew through a few early buy games, which isn’t all that impressive, but they still clearly passed the eye test, and last night they passed the paper test by knocking off Maryland on the road 71-66.  George Mason actually bell behind early, but made adjustments to get back into it, get the lead, and eventually get control.  A very impressive performance for the Patriots!

-Northern Iowa, after sleepwalking through their first two games, seemed to wake up yesterday and really made Arkansas sweat.  That’s the good news for UNI.  The bad news is that Arkansas still got the 93-80 win after getting control late in the second half.  I think this will end up being a win that Arkansas gets more credit for than what most realize now, because I do think UNI has finally woken up and will end up having a nice year.

-Oakland blew out Toledo last night.  I’m not ready to say that Oakland is clearly an NCAA Tournament at-large caliber team, but I am definitely going to say that we should be watching them right now.

-VCU picked up a 48-37 road win at Vanderbilt in a game that made watching paint dry seem not all that boring.

-Indiana held off Saint John’s in a 76-74 thriller.  The Hoosiers led for most of the game, but every time it looked like they were in control the Johnnies went on a run and got back into it.  It was a nice win for the Hoosiers even though they were at home, and perhaps the most noteworthy win that any Big Ten team has managed so far.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-WASHINGTON STATE AT IDAHO (***Spotlight Game***).  We had Hoops HD LOVE this rivalry and feel that it is grossly underrated every year!!  We discussed this on last night’s Under the Radar, but the two schools are just eight miles apart (actually a smidge closer), and on top of that they’ve NEVER met in the NCAA Tournament!!  No other rivalry in college basketball that I can think of can make that claim!!

-DAVIDSON VS NEW MEXICO STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational).  A match-up between two teams that we both think have potential and who need notable wins.

-SAINT BONAVENTRUE VS BOISE STATE (Charleston Classic).  Saint Bonaventure has understandably high expectations this year, but they’ve been kind of sluggish in their first two buy games.  They’ll need to play better today against a Boise State team that isn’t great, but that is a big step up from a buy game.

-PENN VS UTAH STATE (Myrtle Beach Invitational).  Utah State is a team that we have our eyes on.  They do have a bit of a surprising loss to UC Davis already, but a strong showing in this tournament can make up for that.

-CLEMSON VS TEMPLE (Charleston Classic).  Clemson doesn’t have us too excited, but every year someone plays well in these events and catapults themselves onto the national scene.  I’m not ruling out the possibility that it could be Clemson.  A win today gets them to 4-0.

-OHIO STATE AT XAVIER (Gavitt Games).  This is a fun one.  These two teams rarely play despite both being national programs and both being about 100 miles apart.  Ohio State has the earmarks of being the better team seeing as how they finished as a #2 seed last year and have most of that roster back, but Xavier will be geeked up for this one and anxious to try and make a statement.

-UAB AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  We really like this UAB team, and if they’re as good as we think they are, then this is a road game that they should be able to win.  We expect that they can play their way onto the bubble, and perhaps even inside of it, and in order to do that, these are the kinds of games they need to be able to win.

-MARQUETTE VS OLE MISS (Charleston Classic).  A really good match-up between a Marquette team that’s unbeaten and that’s coming off a big win against Illinois, and an Ole Miss team who is unbeaten and has potential, but is also untested and could use a win like this.

-DEPAUL AT RUTGERS (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  The Heavyweight Round of the Gavitt Games!!!  Well..not really.  But, both are unbeaten, so both still have our attention.  And, if I didn’t take a dig at Rutgers every now and then to annoy Chad Sherwood, then I wouldn’t be doing my job!!

-ARIZONA STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  San Diego State is coming off a loss to BYU, but that’s hardly damaging.  They’ve got what should be a winnable game at home tonight where they can bounce back.

-NEVADA AT SAN FRANCISCO.  this San Francisco team continues to rack up early wins and continues to build momentum.  A win tongiht gets them to 5-0 on the season.

OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-Green Bay vs UNC Greensboro (Jersey Mike’s Classic).  UNCG is unbeaten and can pick up some notable wins in this event
-UMass vs Weber State (Jersey Mike’s Classic).  Weber is unbeaten
-Milwaukee @ Florida – it’s a buy game, but Florida better not overlook Milwaukee.
-Charlotte @ Appalachian State – Charlotte is unbeaten, and this will be a bit of a tough road test.
-New Hampshire @ Providence
-Campbell @ Marshall – Marshall is 2-0, and Campbell hung in with Duke for about 30mins in their last game
-Saint Francis Brooklyn @ Penn State
-Alabama State @ Iowa
-Presbyterian @ Cincinnati
-Oklahoma vs East Carolina (Myrtle Beach Invitational)
-Stony Brook @ Kansas
-Nicholls @ TCU – Nicholls has a nice win already this season and is the favorite to win the Southlan
-SELA @ SMU
-McNeese @ LSU
-Saint Francis U @ Virginia Tech
-Northern Illinois @ Missouri
-Samford @ Oregon State
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Northwestern
-Presentation (nonD1) @ South Dakota State
-Elon vs West Virginia (Charleston Classic)
-Indiana State vs Old Dominion (Myrtle Beach Invitational)
-Southern Utah at California – Southern Utah is the Big Sky favorite, and Cal looks like they’re terrible.  It wouldn’t shock me if Southern Utah pulled off this win.
-Wyoming @ Washington – Wyomong can improve to 3-0 with a win

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Seton Hall trialed Michigan most of the game, but kept it within reach.  Then down the stretch The Hall started reaching more, and more, and more.  Then they got the lead and ended up holding on to it when time ran out for a huge road win against 4th ranked Michigan.  At the end of any college basketball season you can usually count the number of times a top five team lost at home on one hand.  Granted, it’s early, and who knows if Michigan will end up in the top five, but my point is that this was a hugely impressive win for Seton Hall!

-BYU picked up a hugely impressive win against Oregon, who they blew off the floor.  The game was in Portland, so it wasn’t quite the same as a home game, but it was a pro-Oregon crowd, so it was a really surprising and impressive win for the Cougars.

-Nebraska fell to Creighton in the other Gavitt Games game.  The Big Ten has won a lot of buy games, but has yet to win anything else.  Their next win of note will be their first

-Saint Louis had looked good early on, and there were questions about Memphis (at least from me) regarding how well they’d be able to play together.  Well…the answer is…pretty well!!  Memphis blew SLU off the court last night, and looked very much deserving of their #11 ranking.

-Alabama had to sweat out South Alabama, and actually trialed late in the game, but finally got control in the final couple of minutes for the 73-68 win.

-Virginia is making the loss to Navy look like less and less of a fluke.  To be fair, Houston is an excellent team, but they just manhandled the Hoos last night in a 67-47 win that didn’t even feel like it was that close when watching it.

-North Carolina picked up a nice early season road win at Charleston 94-83.  I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment.  Those are the kinds of road games that NCAA Tournament teams should be able to win most of the time, but they aren’t easy games to win, and while they can win most of them, they usually can’t win all of them.  Give the Heels some credit for winning on the road against an under the radar team that probably won’t lose too many games at home this year.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-GEORGE MASON AT MARYLAND.  We weren’t expecting all that much out of George Mason this year, but they do come into this one 3-0 and have the chance (albeit a very difficult one) to make a huge statement about how they belong in the national picture.  Maryland is also 3-0, but this will be their toughest test of the season up to this point.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT RHODE ISLAND.  We aren’t expecting big things from either team, but as of now both are unbeaten and this would be an early season momentum building win.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT BUTLER (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  The Big East has won every game of the Gavitt Games so far, but this appears to be one that’s slanted in the Big Ten’s favor.  Michigan state, like the rest of the Big Ten, is still looking for their first win of note.

-TOLEDO AT OAKLAND.  We will highlight this one because Toledo is unbeaten (albeit untested) and Oakland is 1-1 with a win at Oklahoma State, so while neither of them may be inside the bubble come March, at Present they are both off to a good start, so we’ll keep highlighting them until they give us a reason not to.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT ARKANSAS.  I don’t know what happened to the Northern Iowa team that won 23 games two years ago.  All those players are back, but they haven’t looked good at all in their first few games.  We had this one circled as a big chance for them to pickup a quality win, and it still is, but based on how they’ve played it could end up looking like just another ordinary buy game.  Arkansas has a fantastic team this year and is well deserving of their top 25 ranking.

-VCU AT VANDERBILT.  Vandy is currently 2-0 and while we think VCU has some potential, they already have a somewhat head-scratching loss.  It’s early, but this game still has a feel of urgency to it for both teams.

-NC STATE VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase).  This game is at the Mohegan Sun, and it’s unfortunate that the story line isn’t a little better.  Oklahoma State is (arguably unfairly) ineligible for the NCAA Tournament this year, but can still be viewed as a quality opponent for the teams they play when evaluating their resumes.  NC State is unbeaten, but it’s a very unimpressive 3-0.  They are looking for their first win of note.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT INDIANA (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Both teams are unbeaten, but they are also untested, so we should learn something about both of them today.  The Johnnies have some expectations this year, so this would be a  nice early season win for them.

BUY GAMES AND OTHER GAMES WORTH MENTIONING:

-Houston Baptist @ Texas A&M
-Long Island @ UConn
-Drexel @ Saint Joseph’s (Big Five Plus One) – Big Five games are fun!  And Joe’s is looking to remain unbeaten
-Lipscomb @ Dayton – it’s a buy game, but Dayton better watch out in this one
-Charleston Southern @ Wake Forest
-Marist @ Princeton – Princeton probably won’t be inside the bubble come March, but they do have some nice early season wins so far
-Saint Peter’s @ Wagner – a win gets Wagner to 3-0, and they’ve already got a nice win at VCU
-Central Arkansas @ Baylor
-Detroit Mercy @ Mississippi State
-Montana State @ South Dakota State – South Dakota State can improve to 3-1
-Tulane @ Florida State
-Omaha @ Kansas State
-Northern Colorado @ Texas – Northern Colorado is likely overmatched, but they are off to a decent 3-1 start
-Missouri State @ Sam Houston – Missouri State already has a surprising loss early and can’t afford too many more strikes
-Prairie View A&M @ Grand Canyon – win gets the Lopes to 3-0
-UC Davis @ Pepperdine – UC Davis can pick up a road win and improve to 3-0
-Little Rock @ LMU – Little Rock can improve to 4-0 with a win
-Bellarmine @ Saint Mary’s
-North Florida @ UCLA
-UC Riverside @ San Diego – a chance for UCR to pick up another road win.  They’ve already got one at Arizona State