Hoops HD

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

For the latest HOOPS HD REPORT Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Marquette got a huge home win last night against Illinois 67-66.  The Illini weren’t quite at full strength and struggled with turning the ball over, but it’s still a big early season win for Marquette that gives both their resume and their confidence a huge boost.

-Liberty stayed with LSU for about 30 minutes and actually held a lead for much of the game, but LSU got control and pulled away down the stretch to stay unbeaten.  This isn’t a season defining win for LSU by any means, but Liberty is a good team and it’s at least a solid win for the Tigers.

-Furman and Belmont was close all throughout, but in the latter stages of the second half Furman appeared to be in control.  With less than 10 seconds to play Furman appeared to be in control, but they fouled a 3pt shooter, he drained all 3 freethrows to tie the game, and Furman could not convert on their last possession.  Belmont took that momentum into overtime and pulled out a really nice win.  As for Furman, it was a missed opportunity, but I wouldn’t exactly call this a damaging loss.  Belmont is good, they may not lose at home all season, and Furman also has a road win at Louisville on their resume.

-Buffalo picked up their first road win at North Texas in a game that they had to come from behind and win.  North Texas probably isn’t quite as good as they were a year ago, but it’s still a nice win for the Bulls against a team that will likely lose very few games at home this year.

-We thought Kansas City would be improved this year and we didn’t think Mizzou would be any good at all, but to see Kansas City totally dump-truck Mizzou was still a big surprise.  The final score was 80-66, but for much of the second half the lead was around 20 for the Roos.

-Providence got a really big early season road win at Wisconsin 63-58.  The game was not a blowout by any means, but Providence lead through most of it and was seemingly always in control.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-UMASS LOWELL AT OKLAHOMA STATE.  UMass Lowell is coming off a surprising win at Dayton that got our attention.  If they can some how follow that up with a win in this one, then they will REALLY have our attention.

-CREIGHTON AT NEBRASKA (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  It’s a rivalry game, and it’s an early season win that both teams could really use right now.  We aren’t forecasting either team to be there in March, but this game will give the winner some early season momentum.

-GEORGIA STATE AT RICHMOND.  We really like this Richmond team, but they have already suffered an early loss and are looking to rebound.  Georgia State is coming in 2-0 and looking for what should be a big resume building road win.

-HOFSTRA AT IONA.  This is an under the radar game worth keeping an eye on.  Hofstra put up a hell of a fight in their opener at Houston and followed that up with a road win at Duquesne.  Iona is 2-0 and appears to be one of the better teams in the MAAC who won’t be easy to beat at home.

-SAINT LOUIS AT MEMPHIS.  When SLU lost so many key players to injuries before the start of the season, it was kind of easy to blow them off, but they have looked good in their first two games.  Even though neither opponent was all that strong, they still blew through them.  Memphis has tons of talent, but the question is whether or not that talent can come together.  This is the first real test for either team, and it should be a good one.

-VIRGINIA AT HOUSTON.  Virginia has high expectations this year, but they are still looking to bounce back from an opening loss to Navy.  Houston also has high expectations, and while they’ve avoided an early loss so far, they’ve also struggled.  Both teams should improve as the season goes on, and this is a good early test for both of them tonight with a chance to get a nice resume building win.

-CHICAGO STATE AT LOYOLA CHICAGO.  Both teams are unbeaten!!  Both teams have won two games against D1 opponents!!  So, if we didn’t highlight this one, Chad Sherwood would have let me hear about it!  In all seriousness, Chicago State has a chance to win their biggest game in my lifetime tonight.  I don’t think that’s an overstatement.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLESTON.  An early season road game that UNC shouldn’t have too much trouble with, but they did struggle with Brown their last time out and Charleston is 3-0 on the season under new head coach Pat Kelsey.

-SETON HALL AT MICHIGAN (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  Both teams come in unbeaten, and for the most part untested, although Michigan did beat a pretty good Buffalo team in their opener.  Michigan is way up in the rankings and appears to have the superior team, but it’s a chance for Seton Hall to make a major statement early on, and perhaps pick up what would probably turn out to be one of their most impressive wins of the season.

-NEVADA AT SANTA CLARA.  Nevada is in a bit of a rebuild mode, and Santa Clara is a potential dark horse.  They already have a win against Stanford and a win tonight gets them to 3-0.

-BYU AT OREGON.  A really fun early season match-up between a BYU team that we think is a solid NCAA team, and an Oregon team that we think is a solid protected seed.  Both teams are 2-0, and both have already had a reasonably good test with BYU beating San Diego State and Oregon toppling SMU.

BUY GAMES AND OTHERS WORTH MENTIONING:

-USC @ FGCU – Interesting road game for the Trojans as Andy Enfield returns to Dunk City where he had his fantastic Sweet Sixteen run.
-Miami FL @ Florida Atlantic – Another interesting road game.  Perhaps a chance to pad the road wins on their resume?
-Howard @ Villanova – both teams unbeaten
-Wright State @ Purdue
-Gardner Webb @ Duke
-Mount Saint Mary’s @ Kentucky
-Colgate @ Cornell – worth keeping an eye on.  Cornell has won two road games and Colgate gave NC State all they wanted over the weekend
-Winthrop @ Middle Tennessee – both teams 2-0
-James Madison @ Eastern Kentucky – both teams unbeaten
-Alabama A&M @ Cincinnati
-Johnson & Wales (nonD1) @ Brown
-NJIT @ Rutgers
-Jacksonville @ UCF – both teams unbeaten
-South Alabama @ Alabama
-Murray State @ Illinois State – Murray can get to 3-0
-Alabama State @ Iowa State
-Tarleton @ Wichita State
-New Orleans @ Northwestern
-Central Connecticut @ NC State
-High Point @ Notre Dame
-American @ Georgetown – one of these teams is unbeaten and it’s not Georgetown
-NC Central @ Iowa
-North Dakota State @ Arizona – NDSU will do well in the Summit League, but they’re probably overmatched tonight