Bowling Green (14-6, 5-3) at Ball State (11-9, 3-5) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day goes to Muncie, Indiana for a game between the Bowling Green Falcons and the Ball State Cardinals. Ball State recently went through a tough stretch of games where they lost seven of their last eight games, but they have finally rebounded with a pair of wins in the MAC against Buffalo and Northern Illinois. Basheer Jihad had 28 points in their 81-71 win against NIU.
Bowling Green had gotten off to a 5-1 start in the MAC, but they are coming off of back-to-back losses against Kent State at home and against archrival Toledo on the road. Marcus Hill averages 20.9 points a game and 2.3 assists per game for the Falcons.
The panel reviews all the action from the major conferences over the past week, and takes a look at all the big games coming up this week. The Big 12 continues to excite as we saw multiple overtime games and Texas Tech and TCU each picked up big wins. Out Arizona lost another head scratcher as they fell to Oregon State and that further jeopardizes their chances of getting a protected seed. Ole Miss got a big road win at Texas A&M and South Carolina got a nice win against Kentucky. The Mountain West also had several exciting games with Utah State getting a big win at Boise State, Wyoming having a crazy comeback against Colorado State, and New Mexico continues to roll. The Big East and ACC had crazy weeks too. We discuss all that, and more!!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
This week, it is our colleague John Stalica’s turn to do the weekly staff bracket for Hoops HD. This is not where we try to guess what the Selection Committee will do – that is what our colleagues like Jon Teitel and Rocco Miller do on a regular basis. Rather, this is who John would have in the field as of today.
First Four Out: Colorado, Virginia Tech, Miami, Virginia
Worth a Look: Wake Forest, SMU, Drake, Michigan State, James Madison
JOHN’S COMMENTS:
The 1-line is starting to take better shape and, from a resume perspective, Purdue gets the edge for #1 overall. As yesterday proved, UConn may well have the highest ceiling of anyone in the country right now.
I am starting to believe in what teams like Texas Tech and Iowa State have been able to accomplish in the Big 12. Baylor and Oklahoma (especially the Sooners) are in a bit of decline right now. Of course, their “reward” is a first-round matchup against Nebraska. In Omaha. Good luck with that.
Memphis might not even be in this field much longer at this rate. Had they lost at home against Vandy back in December, they certainly wouldn’t be.
OTHER COMMENTS:
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-This isn’t so much me disagreeing with Stalica as much as it is me disagreeing with virtually everyone. Oklahoma is way overvalued. Now to be fair, John has them lower than most people, and even makes mention in his notes that they are on the decline. John barely has Texas in. Texas has played a tougher strength of schedule, Texas has more road wins, Texas has more quad 1 wins, and on top of all that, Texas won handily AT OKLAHOMA!!! I’m not trying to gush over Texas so much as I am trying to dump on Oklahoma! Texas, by virtually every measurement, is better than Oklahoma, with the exception of perhaps one area. Oklahoma’s losses aren’t quite as bad. Texas lost to UCF and West Virginia (who both also beat Kansas) whereas Oklahoma’s losses were to better teams….like, say…TEXAS!!
-In looking at the top of John’s seedlist, I agree with all of his #1 line, and all but one of his #2 line. I like Marquette a little more, but John has them as #9 overall, so we aren’t exactly all that far apart on them.
-It’s interesting to see that he still has Princeton on the #10 line after they got beat so badly by Cornell over the weekend. I don’t think he’s wrong. In fact I’d probably argue for them to be there. I don’t think the real committee would have them there at this point, though.
COMMENTS FROM CHAD:
-I will take some exception with John’s top 4 lines. I just do not understand Baylor on the 3 line. The Bears have lost 3 in a row and have only one true road win. That is a 5 or 6 seed profile. I also don’t get Utah State on the 4 line. I would rather San Diego State be there with a way tougher Strength of Schedule. I just think the Aztecs are a better team. By several seed lines.
-My biggest issue is with Auburn. The Tigers have *ZERO* Quad 1 wins and do not have a win away from home against a team that is at-large worthy. They also have a loss to a team that is below the at-large cut line (at App State). I simply do not understand why everyone loves this team. Is it because they lose close games? You don’t get a protected seed for losing games!
-Iowa State is under-seeded on the 6 line. The Cyclones now have wins over Houston and Kansas and do not have a bad loss. I could see this team in the protected seed range instead of some of John’s other choices.
-Seton Hall was one of the hottest teams in the nation and climbing everyone’s seed lists. They now have a 3 game losing streak including a home loss to Providence. I think the Hall is still in the field, but at 13-8 overall and with a sub-.500 record against Quads 1-3, just barely in. I would have them in Dayton.
-Seton Hall’s conference mate, Villanova, is even worse shape. In addition to their three bad losses in the Big Five Challenge, the Wildcats have now lost 5 of their last 6 games — and the one win was at home over DePaul! I would have Villanova OUT right now.
-Nevada does not belong in right now either. The Wolf Pack are fading fast in the Mountain West and have only two wins against tournament teams, and one of those is against a Colorado State team that has been slipping a ton lately as well.
-Colorado (rather than Oregon), Michigan State and Virginia are the three teams John left out that I would have in. I also think the Gonzaga is very close to being back in this field as they keep winning and the rest of the Bubble keeps losing.
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE
-I believe the score of the UConn v Xavier game was 38-7 at one point, and it just never got any closer. The final score was 99-56. Xavier had been playing better, but they didn’t play very well yesterday. Having said that, UConn looked as good as any team has looked all season yesterday. Wow!
-Memphis has now lost three in a row as they fell to UAB 97-88. I think it’s time to drop Memphis out of the top 25 and stop mentioning them as having any chance of earning a protected seed. They’re a solid NCAA Tournament team, but they are not a protected seed.
-FAU did what FAU always seems to do, and that’s play unpredictably. They were at home against a North Texas team, who had admittedly been playing really well, and needed a last second shot to beat them 66-63.
-New Mexico blew Nevada’s doors off 89-55 and continues to look like the best team in the Mountain West right now. They’re playing at a ridiculously high level, and while many of their impressive wins have come at home, they’ve blown through a few road games as well.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:
-DUKE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). This may be a tougher road test than what it appears for Duke. VA Tech is an impressive 10-1 at home and while they’re outside the bubble they’re not so far outside of it that they can’t reach it if they can put together a strong finish to the season.
-NORTHWESTERN STATE AT MCNEESE (Southland). It’s the same story with McNeese. If they can hold serve the rest of the way the committee should give them a serious look.
-HOUSTON AT TEXAS (Big 12). They are finally going to play!! And after this year, they may not play again for another thirty years. Houston is the alpha program right now, and they appear to have the better team and resume this year. The Cougars are gunning for a spot on the #1 line, whereas Texas is trying to position themselves to get in on the first ballot. The Longhorns are coming off a loss to BYU, but they had two big back-to-back wins before that and have been playing much better. This one should be a war tonight.
North Carolina Central (11-8, 3-1) at Delaware State (11-9, 3-1) – 7:30 PM ET
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Dover, Delaware for a matchup between the NC Central Eagles and the surprising Delaware State Hornets. It wasn’t too long ago that Delaware State was our Centenary Award winner as the worst team in Division 1, but the Hornets started off conference play in the MEAC with wins in their first 3 games. Unfortunately they lost their last contest 66-64 at the buzzer against South Carolina State on the road. Martaz Robinson averages 17.3 points a game for Delaware State.
North Carolina Central opened MEAC play with a pair of home wins against conference contenders Howard and Norfolk State. They ended up splitting a pair of road contests against South Carolina State (a 71-68 loss) before rebounding with an 8-point win at Maryland-Eastern Shore. Fred Cleveland Jr. averages 15.1 points a game and 4.8 assists per game for the Eagles.
We are only 7 weeks away from Selection Sunday as we continue to make our NCAA tourney predictions. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel correctly picked 67 of the 68 teams that made the 2023 tourney with 65 of his 67 within 1 spot of their actual seed, including 53 right on the money. He will spend the upcoming months predicting which 68 teams will hear their names called on March 17th. See below for his list of who would make the cut if they picked the field today and if you agree or disagree then feel free to tweet us. To see how he stacks up with other websites (ranked 11th out of 174 entries over the past 5 years), check out: www.bracketmatrix.com
NOTE: BYU cannot play on a Sunday, and they also cannot play a conference opponent that they have faced twice in the Round of 32. The committee would probably move more teams around in an attempt to make it work, but I don’t think they’d want to move the protected seeds, nor do I think they’d move BYU down more than one line. For the sake of the exercise, they are bracketed to where they may face Baylor, which given the circumstances is something the committee might actually also do even though it technically breaks bracketing rules.
SEED: TEAM (CONFERENCE) 1: Purdue (Big 10) 1: Connecticut (Big East) 1: Houston (Big 12) 1: North Carolina (ACC)
Bracketology – Staff Bracket (Monday, January 29th)
This week, it is our colleague John Stalica’s turn to do the weekly staff bracket for Hoops HD. This is not where we try to guess what the Selection Committee will do – that is what our colleagues like Jon Teitel and Rocco Miller do on a regular basis. Rather, this is who John would have in the field as of today.
First Four Out: Colorado, Virginia Tech, Miami, Virginia
Worth a Look: Wake Forest, SMU, Drake, Michigan State, James Madison
JOHN’S COMMENTS:
The 1-line is starting to take better shape and, from a resume perspective, Purdue gets the edge for #1 overall. As yesterday proved, UConn may well have the highest ceiling of anyone in the country right now.
I am starting to believe in what teams like Texas Tech and Iowa State have been able to accomplish in the Big 12. Baylor and Oklahoma (especially the Sooners) are in a bit of decline right now. Of course, their “reward” is a first-round matchup against Nebraska. In Omaha. Good luck with that.
Memphis might not even be in this field much longer at this rate. Had they lost at home against Vandy back in December, they certainly wouldn’t be.
OTHER COMMENTS:
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-This isn’t so much me disagreeing with Stalica as much as it is me disagreeing with virtually everyone. Oklahoma is way overvalued. Now to be fair, John has them lower than most people, and even makes mention in his notes that they are on the decline. John barely has Texas in. Texas has played a tougher strength of schedule, Texas has more road wins, Texas has more quad 1 wins, and on top of all that, Texas won handily AT OKLAHOMA!!! I’m not trying to gush over Texas so much as I am trying to dump on Oklahoma! Texas, by virtually every measurement, is better than Oklahoma, with the exception of perhaps one area. Oklahoma’s losses aren’t quite as bad. Texas lost to UCF and West Virginia (who both also beat Kansas) whereas Oklahoma’s losses were to better teams….like, say…TEXAS!!
-In looking at the top of John’s seedlist, I agree with all of his #1 line, and all but one of his #2 line. I like Marquette a little more, but John has them as #9 overall, so we aren’t exactly all that far apart on them.
-It’s interesting to see that he still has Princeton on the #10 line after they got beat so badly by Cornell over the weekend. I don’t think he’s wrong. In fact I’d probably argue for them to be there. I don’t think the real committee would have them there at this point, though.
COMMENTS FROM CHAD:
-I will take some exception with John’s top 4 lines. I just do not understand Baylor on the 3 line. The Bears have lost 3 in a row and have only one true road win. That is a 5 or 6 seed profile. I also don’t get Utah State on the 4 line. I would rather San Diego State be there with a way tougher Strength of Schedule. I just think the Aztecs are a better team. By several seed lines.
-My biggest issue is with Auburn. The Tigers have *ZERO* Quad 1 wins and do not have a win away from home against a team that is at-large worthy. They also have a loss to a team that is below the at-large cut line (at App State). I simply do not understand why everyone loves this team. Is it because they lose close games? You don’t get a protected seed for losing games!
-Iowa State is under-seeded on the 6 line. The Cyclones now have wins over Houston and Kansas and do not have a bad loss. I could see this team in the protected seed range instead of some of John’s other choices.
-Seton Hall was one of the hottest teams in the nation and climbing everyone’s seed lists. They now have a 3 game losing streak including a home loss to Providence. I think the Hall is still in the field, but at 13-8 overall and with a sub-.500 record against Quads 1-3, just barely in. I would have them in Dayton.
-Seton Hall’s conference mate, Villanova, is even worse shape. In addition to their three bad losses in the Big Five Challenge, the Wildcats have now lost 5 of their last 6 games — and the one win was at home over DePaul! I would have Villanova OUT right now.
-Nevada does not belong in right now either. The Wolf Pack are fading fast in the Mountain West and have only two wins against tournament teams, and one of those is against a Colorado State team that has been slipping a ton lately as well.
-Colorado (rather than Oregon), Michigan State and Virginia are the three teams John left out that I would have in. I also think the Gonzaga is very close to being back in this field as they keep winning and the rest of the Bubble keeps losing.