News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 13

NEWS AND NOTES

-The game of the night, and perhaps the season so far, was one that you may have had to stay up past your bedtime to watch.  UCLA knocked off Villanova in overtime last night 86-77.  Both teams were ranked in the top five, both are legit Final Four contenders, and both played really well last night.  Villanova built up a 10pt lead, but UCLA came back and hit a shot in the final minute of regulation to tie it.  Nova had a chance to win on their final possession, but couldn’t convert, and UCLA managed to pull away in the extra period in front of their home fans to pick up the massive win.  As for Nova, it would have been a great, #1 seed caliber win had they pulled it off, but the fact that they didn’t barely even qualifies as a setback.  It does nothing to hurt them.  Their chances of getting a #1 seed have not been hurt at all by the loss.

On top of that, it was a crazy day with some unexpected results and some games that were much closer than expected…

-Furman went into Louisville and pulled off a huge upset win in overtime.  Furman is picked toward the top of the SoCon, and the SoCon is usually a really good league, so while we thought they’d be good we didn’t have them pegged as a team that we thought had a chance to land inside the bubble.  Well…after this…we now have them pegged as that.  They may not sustain this throughout the entire season, but this is a MASSIVE early season win for Furman!.  As for Louisville, they didn’t look all that good in either game.  They actually struggled a little big against Southern in their opener.

-North Carolina got a battle from Brown, and actually trailed for much of the game, but finally got control in the final minutes of play to escape with the 94-87 win.

-Clemson struggled with Wofford last night, and for about 39 minutes it looked like Wofford may actually win.  They finally got control late and avoided the upset, though.  Not the most impressive night for the ACC!

-Ohio State had to sweat out Niagara, but escaped with an 84-74 win.  Niagara was picked to finish near the bottom of the Metro Atlantic, but in their first two games they’ve really stepped up on Xavier and Ohio State.  This is the second game Ohio State had to kind of sweat out as they needed a last second shot to get by Kent State in their opener.

-Texas A&M needed overtime to get past Abilene Christian, and got a little bit lucky at the end of the game.  ACU was up 2 when TAMU missed a freethrow with just five seconds to go in OT.  ACU could not collect the rebound, and it went out of bounds to TAMU, which gave them another shot.  After that, they drained a 3 at the buzzer for the 81-80 win, and avoided what would have been an upset.  This Abilene Christian program has had some big moments in recent years.  Last year they knocked off Texas in the NCAA Tournament, they’ve moved to the WAC which is a bit of an upgrade in terms of basketball competitiveness, and they damn near upset Texas A&M last night!

-Oregon blasted a pretty good SMU team last night.  It was actually a very impressive performance.  Watch out for the Ducks this year!  Not everyone in the Pac 12 is off to a great start, but Oregon and UCLA sure seem to be firing on all cylinders.

-Alabama got a battle from a really good South Dakota State team (that you’re going to want to keep an eye on all season), but pulled away in the end for a 104-88 win.  Alabama opened against two really good Under the Radar teams, and looked good in both games.

-Utah State got a big win against Richmond 85-74 on a neutral floor in Annapolis MD.  Richmond is a team that we thought would be a solid NCAA Tournament team, and that could still easily end up happening, so this is no small early season win for Utah State!

-BYU got a tough home win against a good San Diego State team last night 66-60.  Neither team is in the rankings (at least not currently), but I believe that both are good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, so it was a good early season game.

-Western Kentucky is an under the radar team we thought would be good, and Minnesota was a Big Ten team that we thought would be terrible.  Last night proved for about the millionth time that not everything we say in the preseason ends up being correct.  The Gophers pretty much led throughout the whole game, and although they final margin was  just 73-69, they were pretty much in control the whole way as well, so a nice early season win for a Minnesota team we may have underestimated.

-Yale blew UMass out of the gym last night to improve to 2-0.  Blowing out UMass in and of itself is hardly noteworthy, but it does seem to confirm that this Yale team will be one of the stronger teams in the Ivy League and that we may be seeing them in The Dance come March.

-Princeton pulled off a road win at South Carolina, so the Ivy is shaping up to be interesting this season after not getting to play any games a season ago.

-Chicago State is 2-0!  And they’ve beaten two D1 teams!  I can’t remember the last time t hat happened!

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-TEXAS AT GONZAGA (***Spotlight Game***).  This is the second game in a 24 hour period to feature two top five teams!!  It is also the second game in a 24 hour period featuring top five teams that will undoubtedly in way past midnight in the east!  It’s worth staying up for, though!  Both teams are being forecasted as being Final Four caliber teams. When the committee is looking at who should get #1 seeds, wins against top five teams look very good! (that was perhaps the most obvious statement of the day).  It’s two fun styles between two good teams that could end up having an impact on who gets a #1 seed!  What’s not to like??

-UCF AT MIAMI FL.  Both teams come into this one 1-0, and this is a good early season regional match-up for both teams.  It’d be a decent win on paper (at least for now), but it’d be a nice momentum boost off paper as well.

-VERMONT AT MARYLAND.  Vermont is coming off a really impressive win against Northern Iowa in their opener.  They managed this without their best player.  I don’t know what his status is for this one, but they could end up giving Maryland a much bigger challenge than what they’re expecting if Maryland overlooks them.  If Vermont does somehow pull this off, this is the kind of win that can make the selection committee take a UTR team even if they don’t win their conference tournament.

-OLD DOMINION AT JAMES MADISON – these are former Colonial rivals and it’s always fun to see these two play each other.  Both come into this 1-0, and while neither team received a ton of preseason praise, I think both are potential dark horses in their respective conferences.

-NEW MEXICO AT COLORADO.  Both teams come in 1-0 and both seem to have a lot of potential, but also a lot of questions as to just how good they’ll end up being this year.  This is a good early season test for both of them.

-USC AT TEMPLE.  We are expecting much bigger things out of USC than out of Temple, and although Temple did win their first game, it wasn’t exactly the type of performance that made you go “WOW!”  But, a win is a win, and they did win it, and if they are able to win today it would totally change my perception of them.

-MONTANA AT MISSISSIPPI STATE.  This is a buy game, but we’ll go ahead and highlight it.  Both teams won their season openers, and it’s a chance for Montana to really put a high quality early season win on their resume.  It’s much easier said than done, but I wouldn’t go so far to say that it’s impossible.

-GEORGIA AT CINCINNATI.  The expectations for these two teams are very low this year.  Now if they were to play in football (which they did in a bowl game last year), then that’d be a game to watch!!  But, as for this basketball game, both do come in 1-0, and the winner will have some much needed early season momentum and will continue to hold our attention until they give us a reason to not pay attention anymore, but I don’t think either team makes the NCAAs this year.

-OHIO U AT CLEVELAND STATE.  Ohio U beat a really good Belmont team in their season opener, but this will be a really tough road test against a Cleveland State team that is picked to finish atop the Horizon League, and who gave BYU a hell of a game in their season opener.

-DAVIDSON AT SAN FRANCISCO.  I like this San Francisco team this year, and I think Davidson may end up being a little better than expected.  This is a good early season test for both of these teams to see where each of them are.  Both are also coming in without a loss.

-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE.  It’s a rivalry game, and it will soon be a conference rivalry game, and both teams come in 1-0.  I think New Mexico State’s ceiling and expectations are much higher, but rivalry games between unbeaten teams, even in the first week, will get highlighted!

OTHERS WORTH MENTIONING (sort of)

Georgia Southern  @ South Florida – both teams 1-0
Mount Saint Mary’s @ Saint Joseph’s – not expecting much out of Joe’s this year, but a win gets them to 2-0
Harvard @ Iona – both are 1-0 and both could end up making noise in their conference this year
Mercer @ Winthrop – Winthrop can improve to 2-0, and Mercer is worth keeping an eye on this year after they played Arkansas tough in their opener.
Lamar @ Miami OH – both teams 1-0
-FGCU @ Loyola Chicago – both teams are 1-0.  We really like this Loyola team and believe they are once again good enough to end up inside the bubble
-South Alabama @ Wichita State – both teams 1-0
Evansville @ Belmont – we really like this Belmont team, but their margin for error is very thin the rest of the way.  They dropped their opener at Ohio U.
-Youngstown State @ SEMO – SEMO had a surprising win in their opener at Missouri State.  They can get to 2-0 with a win today.
-Eastern Kentucky @ Milwaukee – both teams are unbeaten, and both have the potential to be good this year.
Hofstra @ Duquesne – Hofstra battled Houston in their season opener, and despite the loss they showed they could play at a higher caliber than what we expected.  They should be able to pick up this one on the road tonight.  Duquesne did win their opener against Rider, though
California @ UNLV – it’s hard to be excited about this game, and perhaps if it weren’t for the brand names we wouldn’t even be mentioning it, but…you know what? That’s all I got!
Boise State @ UC Irvine – UCI is a Big West frontrunner who could end up being very dangerous.  They are looking for their first win after falling to a good New Mexico State team in their opener
George Washington @ UC San Diego – both teams are 1-0, and although GW isn’t expected to be good this year and UC San Diego is still transitioning, UCSD did beat Cal in their first game, so if GW were to win this we would sit up and take notice.

BUY GAMES

-Coppin State @ UConn
-Cal State Northridge @ Notre Dame
-Dartmouth @ Georgetown
-Colgate @ NC State – both teams 1-0, and while Colgate may be overmatched today, they should be a frontrunner in the Patriot League
-Gardner Webb @ Arkansas
-Saint Peter’s @ Saint John’s
-UMass Lowell @ Dayton – both teams 1-0
-Central Michigan @ DePaul
-NC Central @ Memphis
-Wagner @ VCU – both teams 1-0
-Prairie View A&M @ Michigan
-Campbell @ Duke – both teams 2-0
-Alabama State @ Missouri State – Missouri State looking for their first win
-Sacramento State @ Utah – both teams 1-0

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Friday, Nov 12

NEWS AND NOTES

-So the game of the night was not the game that anyone would have ever guessed would have been the game of the night.  UC Riverside stayed with Arizona State for the entire game, and the lead seesawed back and forth.  After Arizona State hit what appeared to be a game winning shot with less than 2 seconds to go, All UCR could do was throw up one last prayer from beyond mid court.  The thing is…IT WENT IN!!  They pull off the huge upset win 66-65.  This is a program that has made huge improvements in the last year or two, and they perhaps took another big step forward today.

-I thought Maryland was going to absolutely maul George Washington, but GW hung in for the entire game and with just a few minutes to play they were actually still in a position to win it.  It was a really sloppy game, and I suppose both teams are still working off the rust that comes with the early part of the season, but even with that it was a bit of a surprise that GW stayed with them.  They may be poised to have a better season than what I thought.

-Northern Iowa is poised to have a much worse season than what we thought.  Two years ago they won 26 games, and after several key players missed last season due to injuries, they are now pretty much all back.  But, they are not back to the form they were two years ago.  They’re now 0-2 after falling at home to Vermont.  We really like this Vermont team as well.  This is a nice win for them, and they got it despite not having their best player.  The problem is that if you’re an Under the Radar team, you just don’t get that many strikes, and Northern Iowa already has two nasty ones.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-VILLANOVA AT UCLA (***Spotlight Game***).  It’s a late tip, but it will be worth staying up for!!  Both teams are ranked in the top five, both are potentially Final Four caliber teams, both have a shot at ending up as #1 seeds, and a win today for either team would be a huge resume building win.  It’s not a stretch to say that it may end up being the best win that either team has all season.  It should be fun!!

-UTAH STATE AT RICHMOND.  We think both these teams have potential this year.  Utah State is lookin to bounce back from their opening loss, but it won’t be easy.  Richmond won their season opener and we think they’re good enough to land inside the bubble.  If that’s true, then they need to be able to take care of business at home in games like this.

-WESTERN KENTUCKY VS MINNESOTA.  Both teams come into this one 1-0.  This one is being played in Asheville NC, so it’s a chance for both to pick up a notable (at least for now) win away from home.

-NORTHEASTERN AT GEORGIA STATE.  A fairly good game between two decent UTR teams.  Georgia State is looking to improve to 2-0.

-MOREHEAD STATE AT UAB.  This is most likely a buy game, but Morehead State is a fairly decent UTR team, and UAB is good enough to possibly land inside the bubble, so we will go ahead and highlight it.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE AT ALABAMA.  Really interesting game here between a good UTR team in South Dakota State, and a team who we think can win the SEC in Alabama.  South Dakota State is likely overmatched, but this is a tremendous opportunity for them.  Winning a game like this would go a long way toward them not needing to win the conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.

-VIRGINIA TECH AT NAVY.  This game has a storyline that at this time last week we were not expecting it to have.  Navy opened the season with a win at Virginia.  They now get to come home and play a very good Virginia Tech team in front of what should be a very enthusiastic collection of Midshipmen!  VA Tech also won their opener and is looking for a road win, and perhaps looking a little more difficult than they initially thought.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT BYU.  We think both teams are likely solid tournament teams, and it wouldn’t shock me if they both ended up in the top 25 before the season is over.  This was also a pretty good rivalry when they were both in the Mountain West, so it’s kind of fun to see them squaring off again.

-SMU AT OREGON.  Oregon is ranked in the top 15 and we think they’re good enough to contend for a protected seed.  We think SMU is a potential tournament team.  Now if they can win on the road against Oregon, we will suddenly look at them as a lot more than just being a POTENTIAL tournament team.

-PITTSBURGH AT WEST VIRGINIA.  Backyard Brawl!!!  This game used to never disappoint!!  It could disappoint tonight, though.  Pitt lost their opener to The Citadel.  West Virginia is much better, and they’re at home, and they’re a hated rival.  It could be a rough night for Pitt.

-WOFFORD AT CLEMSON.  It’s a buy game, but it’s kinda fun to see these two teams play.  Both come into this one at 1-0, and it’s a chance for Wofford to really surprise some people if they can pull off the upset.   That’s MUCH easier said than done, though.

-NORTH DAKOTA STATE AT CAL POLY – both teams 1-0

-UNC GREENSBORO AT NORTHERN KENTUCKY – both teams 1-0, and we think both are pretty good UTR teams this year.

-FORDHAM AT MANHATTAN.  We aren’t expecting to hear from either of these teams in March, but for now both are 1-0 and it is a bit of a rivalry game, so it should be fun.

-NORTHERN ILLINOIS AT INDIANA.  It’s a buy game, but both teams are 1-0, and Northern Illinois actually had the more impressive win in the opener.  They won on the road at Washington.

-RICE AT HOUSTON.  This will likely be a big mismatch, but it is a (sort of) rivalry game, and both teams are 1-0, and Houston did struggle to win their opener in a buy game the other night.

-AUSTIN PEAY AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.  This is a buy game, but we highlight it because Southern Illinois simply cannot afford to lose it.  Even though it’s early, it would be a very damaging blow.  They did not look good in their opener the other night.

-LOUISIANA AT SOUTHERN MISS.  Both teams 1-0

-TEXAS STATE AT LSU.  It’s a buy game, but both teams come in 1-0, and while Texas State may be overmatched tonight we think they can make some noise in the Sun Belt, so we’ll go ahead and highlight it.

-UMASS AT YALE.  We aren’t expecting much out of either team, but as for now both are 1-0

-SAN DIEGO AT NEVADA.  Both teams come into this one after having won their season opener.  It could still end up being a long season for San Diego, but we’ll keep paying attention to them until they give us a reason not to.  Nevada is expected to have a rough year as well, but one of these teams is gonna leave this game 2-0.

-STANFORD AT SANTA CLARA.  It’s a Bay Area match-up!  Both teams come into this one 1-0, and it should be a fun one.

 

BUY GAMES

-Morris College (nonD1) @ The Citadel – Citadel can get to 2-0
-Bryant @ Rhode Island – both teams 1-0
-Kent State @ Xavier
-Central Arkansas @ Butler
-Western Michigan @ Michigan State
-Army @ Duke – both teams 1-0
-Robert Morris @ Kentucky
-Niagara @ Ohio State
-Radford @ Virginia – UVA lookin to bounce back after an upset loss to Navy in their season opener
-Charleston Southern @ Ole Miss – both teams 1-0
-Furman @ Louisville – both teams 1-0
-Holy Cross @ Boston College – both teams 1-0
-Jackson State @ Louisiana Tech
-Western Carolina @ Wake Forest – both teams 1-0
-Tarlton @ Kansas
-UL Monroe @ Auburn
-Carver (nonD1) @ Nicholls – Nicholls won their opener against Northern Iowa
-Grambling @ Texas Tech
-UTSA @ Oklahoma – both teams 1-0
-Green Bay @ Wisconsin
-High Point @ Northwestern – both teams 1-0
-Kansas City @ Iowa
-Eastern Illinois @ Saint Louis
-Abilene Christian @ Texas A&M
-Indiana State @ Purdue – both teams 1-0
-Incarnate Word @ Baylor
-New Hampshire @ Marquette – both teams 1-0
-Arkansas State @ Illinois – both teams 1-0
-Brown @ North Carolina – both teams 1-0
-UTRGV @ Arizona – both teams 1-0
-Princeton @ South Carolina – both teams 1-0
-Seattle @ Washington State – both teams 1-0
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Colorado State
-Texas Southern @ Saint Mary’s

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 11th

Let me start with this.  It is November 11th.  It is 11/11.  It is Nigel Tufnel Day!!  CLICK HERE TO CELEBRATE!!

For the latest Hoops HD Report, where we recap the busy first couple of days of the season and preview all of the upcoming MTEs – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES

-Yesterday I mentioned that when 184 games are going on in one day, it’s really hard to keep up with everything.  And…I missed something.  I forgot to mention Miami OH’s win at Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.  Thanks to all of those who pointed out the omission.  If there is one thing I can say about our readers/viewers, it’s that they are an informed group!  When we screw up (which does occasionally happen), they usually let us know!  When things like that happen, it’s almost always Chad Sherwood’s fault!!  Georgia Tech won the ACC Tournament last year, and while many aren’t penciling them in to the NCAA Tournament yet, it’s still a great win for the Redhawks.

-As for yesterday, it was a much slower day.  The key game of the night was Buffalo at Michigan.  Michigan sprinted out to an early 20+ lead in the first half.  Buffalo showed a lot of guts and got it as close as 6, but couldn’t come all the way back and Michigan ended up winning without having to sweat too much.  This is a really good Buffalo team.  They’re not good enough to routinely beat teams in the top ten, especially after spotting them 20+ points, but it wouldn’t shock me at all to see them put together the kind of season that lands them inside the bubble.

-Rutgers made the NCAA last season for the first time in over 600 years, or something like that. (I actually think it was around 30, but it had been awhile).  We knew that they’d be in a bit of a rebuild-mode this year.  But…I don’t think we were expecting them to have to sweat out teams that were picked to finish last in the leagues like the Patriot League.  Lehigh has had some good teams in the past, but from all accounts they didn’t seem to have one this year.  Nevertheless, Rutgers needed overtime to beat them.  Now, this could also mean that Lehigh is A LOT better than what many of us thought, but I also think it means that Rutgers isn’t quite as good as they were last year.

-Most of the games last night involving the teams on our radar were home buy games.  Long Beach State at Idaho was one of the few entertaining games, and an exciting night for Idaho as they opened their new arena, but I don’t think we’ll be talking about either team come March.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-VERMONT AT NORTHERN IOWA.  We really liked both these teams coming into the season, but Northern Iowa already has one surprising (and likely very damaging) loss on their resume as they dropped their opener to Nicholls State.  This is a weird thing to say just 72 hours into the season, but there is a huge sense of urgency for Northern Iowa coming into this game.  When you’re an Under the Radar team, you don’t get very many strikes, and they’ve already got one.  Vermont looks to be really strong this year themselves.  This would be a big road win for them if they can pull it off, and perhaps then it would be time to start looking at their NCAA Tournament chances.

-GEORGE WASHINGTON AT MARYLAND.  Both teams come in 1-0 so we’ll give it it’s proper spotlight, but chances are this will be a mauling.

BUY GAMES

-Sacred Heart @ Providence – both teams 1-0
-McNeese @ TCU
-UC Riverside @ Arizona State – we like UCR, but they are likely overmatched tonight
-Kennesaw State @ Creighton
-Northern Arizona @ Washington – we’re not ignoring Washington yet, but…we’re close to that point
-Prairie View A&M @ San Francisco

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off on News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Thursday, Nov 11th

The Hoops HD Report: Exempt Tournament/MTE Special

The season is finally underway!!  Chad and the panel begin by looking back at the first night of the season and discuss the Champions Classic with Kansas beating Michigan State and Duke beating Kentucky, and run through some of the upsets and near upsets. After that, they run through all of the MTE’s that are coming up in the next couple of weeks and discuss which teams they expect to do well in each event, and how important these tournaments are for some of the Under the Radar teams who can add quality wins to their NCAA Tournament Resumes.

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

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 10th

NEWS AND NOTES:

-I believe I say this every year on the first night of the season.  It’s almost too much of a good thing.  There are so many games going on at once that you just can’t keep up with all of them.

-A lot of teams chose to go to the pastry cart, and just scheduled home buy games against opponents that they blew out, but there were still some great games last night…

-We did have one jaw dropping upset last night, and that was Navy who went into Virginia and got the win.  It was close all throughout, but the Hoos just could not get control of the game and Navy actually opened it up down the stretch.  Navy’s road win is probably the most impressive win that anyone has managed so far this season!

-The Citadel, who is perennially not just at the bottom of the SoCon, but oftentimes near the bottom of all of college basketball, went into Pitt and got a 78-63 win.  It has been pointed out that Pitt wasn’t at full strength.  But…THEY WERE PLAYING THE CITADEL!!  AND THEY LOST BY 15!!  We may actually see the Bulldogs in my bracket this Sunday!!  BIG congrats to The Citadel on a fantastic win and moment for their program!

-It wasn’t nearly as big of an upset, but Western Illinois’s 75-74 win at Nebraska was still a big surprise.  We weren’t expecting much out of the Leathernecks, but they are certainly off to a fantastic start.

-We had a few near upsets as well…

-Houston needed overtime to get past Hofstra, and actually trailed for a good portion of the game.  The Pride are now a team that we’ll be keeping a close eye on in the Colonial.

-After 39 minutes and 58 seconds of play, Akron had a lead over Ohio State.  It was back and forth for the whole game, but Akron actually took the lead on their final possession of the game after converting a four point play.  The problem was that Ohio State scored at the buzzer to win 67-66 and avoid what would have been a huge upset, and steel what would have been a huge quality win away from the Zips.  That’s the kind of win that can get Under the Radar teams into the NCAA Tournament if they fail to win their conference tournaments.

-Kansas got a nice win against Michigan State, which in all probability will look very good on their resume come March.  I wouldn’t call this a blowout by any means, but you never got the sense that Kansas was really sweating either.

-Duke had a lead over Kentucky most of the way, but every time it looked like they were going to get control of the game Kentucky would fight back.  Duke ended up getting the 79-71 win, and it’s a win that will also look very good on their resume come March (likely one of many), but I was actually kind of impressed with Kentucky.  Most people forget this every year, but Kentucky typically isn’t firing on all cylinders at the start of the year.  They often struggle in some early season games.  But, like most years, they appear to have a high level of potential.

-Look out for Alabama this year.  They blasted what we think is a really good Louisiana Tech team 93-64.  I know LA Tech doesn’t necessarily have the recognizable brand name, and that score isn’t going to get too many people too excited, but that’s a dominant win against a good team.

-Ohio held on to win at home against a very good Belmont team.  I know that Ohio U and Belmont don’t have the brand names to get people overly excited, but both are good teams and as the season goes on I think this game is going to end up having quite a bit of importance and that the committee will look closely at it.

-It was a rough night for a couple of teams in the Missouri Valley that we are expecting to have big seasons.  Northern Iowa fell at home to Nicholls, which is certainly not how you want to begin things.  Missouri State also suffered a surprise loss to SEMO.  Southern Illinois also fell on the road at Little Rock, which was a bit of a surprise.

-It was also a rough night for a couple of teams in the Pac 12.  Cal lost at home to UC San Diego, and Washington fell at home to Northern Illinois.

-Colorado State winning at home against Oral Roberts isn’t necessarily jaw dropping, but WOW the Rams looked good!  ORU was in the Sweet Sixteen a year ago and has returned the bulk of that roster.  Colorado State just ran them off the court.

-Indiana, VCU, Butler, West Virginia, Richmond, Clemson, Providence, Miami FL, Xavier, Western Kentucky, Creighton, Missouri, Stanford, Colorado, and Oregon State all won home buy games, but none looked overly impressive doing it.  Pretty much all of their opponents were teams that aren’t expected to do all that well in their conferences, and most of the scores were closer than what you would have thought.  Louisville also kind of played with their food against Southern before getting control of the game in the second half.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-BUFFALO AT MICHIGAN.  Buffalo is a UTR team that we are really big on, and who we think can finish inside the bubble.  I don’t know if they’re good enough to beat a top ten team in a true road game, but Michigan better not overlook them.  This is also the only game tonight that wasn’t purchased at the pastry cart.  All others are just buy games.

BUY GAMES:

-UMES @ Temple
-Lehigh @ Rutgers
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Seton Hall
-Robert Morris @ UCF
-William & Mary @ Wake Forest
-Harris Stowe (nonD1) @ Saint Louis
-Florida A&M @ Kansas State
-Alabama State @ Vanderbilt
-Northwestern State @ Tulsa
-North Florida @ Texas A&M
-Youngstown State @ Penn State
-Penn @ Florida State
-Florida Atlantic @ New Mexico
-Coppin State @ DePaul
-San Francisco State (nonD1) @ UC Santa Barbara
-Gardner Webb @ UNLV

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off on News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Wednesday, Nov 10th

Season preview: HoopsHD interviews new Vanderbilt women’s coach Shea Ralph

We are keeping our fingers crossed in the hope that we can return to a “normal” version of college basketball this fall: fans in the stands, announcers without masks, etc. Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen but we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. We conclude our coverage with new Vanderbilt women’s coach Shea Ralph. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Ralph about winning 7 titles and her expectations for this season.

You set a North Carolina state record by scoring 39.1 PPG as a junior at Terry Sanford High School: what is the secret to being a great scorer? I do not think there’s a secret: like anything, being really good at something takes patience/work/having great teammates. When I was at Terry Sanford I learned the value of making sure that I focused on making the other players on my team better by setting good screens, cutting hard, and trying to get every rebound. I just did a lot of things that I knew our team needed and could put them in positions to be successful on the court. By proxy of the team that I played on I just had to score a lot of points. Thankfully, that was something that I really liked to do! I do not think that there was a secret to it: part of it was just me liking to score points and see the ball go through the net, and par of it was that it was what my team needed me to do. It was much more difficult in college: everybody can score points in high school. College was much more difficult and it took me a lot longer to learn how to be a complete player.

You won the 1995 Dial Award as the top high-school athlete/scholar in the US with a 4.2 GPA and in 1996 you were named the national High School Player of the Year: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I do not think I always balanced it well. It took some time for me to learn because I loved being on the court so much, especially later in my high school career. Sometimes I needed a little bit of nudging from my mom or my teachers. 1 of the traits that I am attracted to in players that I am recruiting is people who want to be great at everything they do. That includes wanting to be great basketball players, great students, great people, daughters, sisters, friends, teammates: all of those things. It is just something that you have inside of you. Thankfully, that was a trait that I was given by God, and I am grateful for it. It did not always come easy. I had to learn how to balance and time manage because I loved to play basketball so much. Fortunately, I had great guidance and my parents/teachers let me know that there would be no basketball without making sure my studies were aligned and everything was taken care of because one day the ball will stop bouncing…and they were right. It is something that I try to emphasize to our players now.

You were a player/assistant to Geno Auriemma at UConn: what makes him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Those are tough questions and I do not think there is simply one answer to either one of those. There are a lot of things that make him a great coach and there are a lot of important lessons that I learned from him. One of the things that I think separates him is his ability to know his players and know which buttons to push to absolutely maximize their potential. That is not a skill: it is just something innate that he has in terms of knowing people and relationships and all of that, like understanding what drives people. He was given that and has done really well with it and obviously developed it over the years with the different kinds of people that we worked with. He just has an innate ability to connect with people and figure out how they need to be pushed to be great. To me, that separates him from a lot of other coaches. In terms of what I have learned: I could talk to you for the next half hour about that, but as I enter this role at Vanderbilt it is about resiliency/consistency. Knowing that people are looking at me now everyday I have to figure out what they need from me in everything that I do. I have to set a standard not only for my players but for my staff and myself every day, and make sure that I take care of them both on and off the court. I think you need that with any great leader, but that was one of the things that I took away that I really am able to apply right now during this rebuild.

What are your memories of your final college game, which some have called “the greatest women’s basketball game ever played” (the 2001 Big East tourney title game where you tore your ACL in the 1st half before Sue Bird made a buzzer-beater to clinch a 2-PT win over Notre Dame)? Um, I remember that we won! I remember finding Sue after the game after she hit that shot and we exchanged a few words. That meant a lot to me as a player, but you know a lot of that is a blur. I do not think in that moment I thought it was going to be my final game and I was not ready to accept that. I thought maybe I could try to figure out a way to keep playing because I did not yet know that it was my ACL…again, so I did not view it as the end. One of the takeaways from my career at UConn was that they made me a better person and a better teammate. Obviously, I had a lot to be disappointed about in that game, but that is not what I felt. At the end, I felt excitement and joy for my teammates for what they overcame. I know it was not easy for them to see what happened to me, but they all stepped up and accomplished something really cool. And we celebrated all night: I remember that. I mean, it was a joyous moment and that will always be my memory of that night.

You won the 2000 NCAA title as a player and 6 more titles in an 8-year span from 2009-2016 as an assistant coach: what is the key to winning championships? If there were tangible answers to that question that a lot of other people would win championships. I think a lot of teams would be really good and win if it was an exact science, but it is not. The key to winning anything and being great at anything for a long period of time is people, so you have to find the right ones and create the kind of culture that promotes growth/integrity/leadership. We get a lot of credit as coaches but I think that we probably get too much credit sometimes. What we do as coaches is really important in terms of helping our players succeed but we cannot play for them. Great players make great coaches. There were a lot of things that went into that long period of success. Most of it was finding the right players and the right staff, putting them all together, and then constantly feeding it every single day. That is the case for any great team/organization. UConn was lucky to do it for a really long period of time, which speaks to the kind of leadership that they have, but also to the players. You do not win that many championships without great players: you just don’t. One of the things that I talked about earlier was Coach Auriemma’s ability to connect with people. He is a great recruiter: he knew the kind of people that he wanted to have on a team and on a staff and he went out and got them and then developed them. That is how you win championships but it is not easy to do because it is not an exact science. We made some mistakes at UConn and we did not win championships every year but I learned that it is not as easy as people make it seem. UConn is this powerhouse and they steamroll people. It is very hard to stay on top: you are constantly having to challenge yourself and your players and find different ways to define your success because anything less than a championship is a failure. That is a lot of pressure but when you find the right people who welcome that and embrace it, then it is also really, really hard to top a team like that.

You were hired by Vanderbilt last April: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I took this job because I think it is one of the best jobs in the country (if not the best) for a lot of different reasons. Vanderbilt University speaks for itself academically. We are in the best competitive conference in women’s college basketball, and at the end of the day it was about the people: you win championships with people. So, talking to the leadership, not only in athletics with Dr. Candice Lee, but with Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and all of the other coaches/professors throughout the university, it was abundantly clear that this place is extremely special from the very top down…so it was absolutely a no-brainer. It has been challenging: this program was in need of something different so that is a process and a journey, and you cannot skip any steps. I know that to be true because I have been part of it. UConn was not “UConn” when I got there. They were not where we are now, but they were also not the program they are now. It is going to be exciting and there will be hills and valleys. For me the key is going to be consistency and resiliency. This is not going to be easy but it is going to be amazing and I am excited with the people that we have on our staff. I am excited for our players to approach this season, especially after COVID and all of the things they went through during the last couple of years to finally have a season where they can get out and play with their teammates and compete. We just want them to be their very best every single day, and to me that will be a win.

Your non-conference schedule includes a trip to the Paradise Jam in November for 3 games in 3 days vs. Arizona/Rutgers/DePaul: how do you plan to get through that coaching gauntlet featuring Adia Barnes (2021 NCAA tourney runner-up)/Doug Bruno (made the postseason every single year since 2003) [note: Rutgers recently announced that Vivian Stringer (5th-most wins in women’s college history) will be sitting out this season due to COVID concerns]? I am going to coach the way that I coach every day. I am excited about the competition and am looking forward to the trip with our players because it is over a holiday and we will be together and be somewhere really nice. We are grateful to our athletic department for making this trip happen for our team. It will be challenging but that is the only way that you get better. I will not coach any differently at a tournament that I do today or tomorrow or any other day and hopefully my players will feel that way and feel that for me. Again, consistency will be there for them. My approach and my demeanor every day is that we are going to prepare like we would prepare for any game and my concern is never our opponent: my concern is always about our own growth.

Your husband Tom Garrick played in the NBA and is now 1 of your assistants: what is the best part of having your husband as an assistant? We obviously talk a lot about having a family environment in schools: we literally are a family environment because he is my husband, right?! He is a great guy…although I am a little bit biased. I know that to be factual, but even more than that I know he is an incredible coach so I need him on this staff. He has been a head coach before and our demeanors/styles complement each other. At the end of the day I know that he is going do whatever it takes to make sure not only that I succeed but that we succeed as a team and a program here. We talked about doing this for a very long time and just had to find the right place so we are enjoying every moment. The coolest part is that I know he is the exact person I need next to me in a job of this magnitude.

Your mother Marsha was an All-American basketball player at North Carolina: who is the best athlete in the family? I am totally not answering that: it is a trick question because we are all great athletes!

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Instead of calling them goal we call them “standards”. We need to really shorten our view and take a day-to-day approach with this team. Are we better today than we were yesterday? And if not, then what do we need to do to become better tomorrow? What are the lessons that we learned today? My standards and expectations for the team, always, are to do what you can do well and control what you can control. Do that every day to the best of your ability: that includes our effort, attitude, consistency, how we treat each other, and how we respond to both success and adversity. At the end of the day, for me and this team, we will define success by whether were we able to reach our full potential. What does that look like for this team? We have no idea. Most of these kids did not play last year and if they did it was in a small role, so we have a lot to learn about ourselves. I am not going to box our expectations in by numbers that you see on a stat sheet in terms of wins and losses or points per game: all of that is yet to be determined. I just want this team to reach its full potential both on and off the court.

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