News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Dec 29th

Posted on December 29, 2020 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast

NEWS AND NOTES

-There are now nine teams in the Big Ten, and with Maryland getting a surprise road win at #6 Wisconsin yesterday, we may be closing in on a tenth if everyone else can hold serve this week (which is admittedly assuming a lot).  Speaking of not holding serve…  (NOTE FROM CHAD:  No David, there are still 14 teams in the Big Ten.  There are, however, nine **ranked* teams)

-Michigan State was completely blown out by Minnesota yesterday.  The game was pretty much blown open in the first few minutes and Sparty just never caught back up.  Minnesota, who wasn’t expected to do much of anything this year, is now 9-1 with wins over Saint Louis, Iowa, and Michigan State in their last three games.  They have done all this at home and they need to do something on the road to round out their resume, but so far they are off to an incredible start.

-Southern Illinois suffered their first loss of the season as they fell at home to Evansville.  It is Evansville’s first conference win since March 2019.  They had more recently beaten a #1 team on the road (Kentucky at Rupp Arena last year) than they had won a conference game.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MIAMI FL AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  Miami FL has had to deal with injuries this year, which has made things tough for them.  VA Tech is still in the rankings, still has a solid resume, and is looking to hold serve at home tonight.

-PURDUE AT RUTGERS.  Rutgers continues to play for a protected seed and is looking to hold serve.  Purdue is trying to play their way inside the bubble and is looking for a big road win.

-FLORIDA STATE AT CLEMSON (ACC).  Both teams are probably tournament teams looking for a notable win.  Florida State is currently in the rankings and Clemson isn’t that far out.  A couple of wins this week should land them there.

-SANTA CLARA AT USC.  Santa Clara has a bloated record, but they went to the bakery to build it up and lost the one game where they were tested.  They need a win in a game like this to help build their tournament resume.  USC is 4-1 and could also use some more quality wins on their profile.

-TEXAS A&M AT LSU (SEC).  This is a conference game between two teams with good records, but who need more good wins on their resumes.

-WOFFORD AT MERCER (SoCon).  Mercer needs to run through the SoCon in order to be inside the bubble, but so far they look like they may be good enough to do it.

-HOUSTON AT TULSA (American).  Houston appears to be cruising toward a protected seed and is good enough to totally run away from the rest of the American.  This is a winnable road game for them tonight.

-NORTHWESTERN AT IOWA (Big Ten).  A great game tonight between two ranked teams who come into this with two different kinds of momentum.  Northwestern has won three big games in a row and is looking to pick up their biggest win of the year so far.  It’s against a top ten team on the road.  Iowa, while in the top ten, is coming off a rather surprising loss to Minnesota and is trying to avoid losing their third game out of their last four.

-OLE MISS AT ALABAMA.  Another case of two potentially good teams who need more good wins on their resume.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Northeastern @ West Virginia
-Central Arkansas @ Baylor
-Incarnate Word @ Texas Tech
-Dixie State @ Gonzaga

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The Hoops HD Report: December 28th

Posted on December 28, 2020 by David Griggs

The Big Ten is off to a fantastic start with nine teams in the rankings this week, including Northwestern and Minnesota who are off to incredibly surprising starts.  We talk about that, discuss Michigan State’s struggles, and look at how many teams will end up on the NCAA Tournament.  Gonzaga continues to win big against ranked teams and we look at what they did in their last game against Virginia.  Houston continues to be the class of the American with SMU and UCF also looking good.  Boise State and San Diego State are off to very good starts in the Mountain West.  We discuss all that, and more in our last Hoops HD Report of 2020.

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

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Monday, December 28th

Posted on December 28, 2020 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

For a slightly saner bracket projection from the Puppet – CLICK HERE

Evansville (2-5, 0-1) at Southern Illinois (7-0, 1-0) – 6:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Carbondale, Illinois for the second leg of a conference series between the Evansville Purple Aces and the Southern Illinois Salukis. SIU won yesterday’s game 63-57 thanks to a 19-point outing from Lance Evans. This game came on the heels of a 76-73 victory at Butler that snapped what was a 59-game nonconference winning streak by Butler.

Evansville is now into the first full season under head coach Todd Lickliter – they briefly built some momentum in their season with back-to-back home wins against their OVC neighbors Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State. The Aces lost 72-63 at home against Belmont before beginning conference play last week. Jawaun Newton is averaging 14.3 rebounds a game through their first seven games.

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Bracket Projections (From the Puppet): Dec 28th

Posted on December 28, 2020 by David Griggs

Below is my bracket projections for this week.  These will no longer be based strictly on merit rankings, and will instead be based on what we personally think the NCAA Tournament should look like if the season were to end today.  It is not an attempt to guess what the real committee will do in March, nor is it an attempt to project what we think the real committee would do right now.  This is simply entirely our own opinions.

I have some comments below, and other members of the staff may decide to comment as well.  If they disagree with anything that I have done, then they are wrong and should not be listened to!!

OTHERS CONSIDERED: Dayton, Indiana, Oklahoma, UCLA, Duke, Drake, Alabama, Chattanooga, VCU, Davidson, Marshall, Saint Bonaventure, Arkansas, LSU, Arizona, Arizona State, Georgia, Florida, Washington State, East Carolina

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID

-Things are obviously a lot different this year, and there are cases where we think teams are better than what their resume is showing, but that they haven’t had the opportunities to build their resumes due to games being postponed or cancelled.  But, at the end of the day, this is still pretty much the same process.  You look at what teams have done, and you rank them accordingly.

-New Mexico State and Vermont are two teams that are not in the bracket due to simply not having done enough, and that is simply due to not having played enough.  I hope they’re able to get some good OOC games squeezed in between now and the end so they can grow their resumes.

-Northwestern on the 4 line would have seemed outrageous just over a week ago, but they’ve beaten Michigan State, Indiana, and Ohio State in the last eight days and are 5-1 overall.  Yeah, that’s pretty 4-seedish.

-I don’t know if I think Kansas is better than Baylor, but I do know that when you look at the two profiles Kansas’s wins are stronger, so I have the Jayhawks higher on the seedlist and in as the Big 12 champion.  This will obviously sort itself out by the end of the season since the two are in the same conference, but for now I just like Kansas a little bit more.

-Duke is not in the field.  I think they will be there in March, but right now all they’ve done is…well…nothing.

STAFF COMMENTS

Jon Teitel:

West Region: could see a John Beilein game (West Virginia-Michigan) and a Gonzaga-USC game where the best player on the court is NOT a Zag (Evan Mobley)

East Region: could see a who-does-Chad-cheer-for game (Rutgers-GCU), a Matt Haarms revenge game (BYU-Purdue…in Indianapolis), and an old-school Big East game (UConn-Syracuse)

Midwest Region: could see a Wisconsin-Marquette rematch and Jeff Capel making the postseason for the 1st time since leading Oklahoma to the 2009 Elite 8

South Region: could see a battle of “mutual” companies (Northwestern-Liberty), a Lone Star showdown (Texas-Houston), and Missouri’s 1st #1 seed since 1994

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Dec 28th

Posted on December 28, 2020 by David Griggs

-It was a rather slow Sunday.  Drake and Southern Illinois remain unbeaten on the season, and Providence won an double overtime thriller against DePaul.

-We will be recording the Hoops HD Report tonight, so be on the lookout for that.

-NEW MEXICO STATE @ CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE.  New Mexico State, who we THINK is good, is finally playing against a D1 opponent today.  Their OOC schedule has been ransacked by cancellations due to COVID and we’re hoping they can string together some more games so they can begin to build their profile.

-DRAKE AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Drake looks to pick up another road win and remain unbeaten on the season.

-EVANSVILLE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley).  The Salukis are also unbeaten and are looking to finish off the season sweep against Evansville.

-MARYLAND AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Wisconsin is a probable protected seed and a possible #1 seed.  Maryland is decent, but currently has nothing on their profile that really jumps out.  Of course that would change if they’re able to pull off the win tonight.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT MINNESOTA (Big ten).  Minney just pulled off a huge overtime win against Iowa, which catapults them onto the national scene.  They have a solid 8-1 record, and they now have an outstanding win to go along with it.  They can build on that tonight and take yet another big step forward if they’re able to pull this one off.  Michigan State, on the other hand, isn’t in any real danger, but they could use a bit of a pick-me-up if they want to hang on to that high ranking.

-FRESNO STATE AT COLORADO STATE (Mountain West).  These are two MWC teams that have some potential, but just haven’t had the opportunity to play that many games yet.

-NORTHERN ARIZONA AT GONZAGA.  Buy game

-COLORADO AT ARIZONA (Pac 12).  Both teams need to improve their resumes, so both could really use this win tonight.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Sunday, December 27th

Posted on December 27, 2020 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and a few Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

UC-Santa Barbara (4-1, 0-0) at UC-Irvine (3-4, 0-0) – 7:00 PM EST (ESPN3)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to the OC in California where the hometown Anteaters of UC-Irvine host the UCSB Gauchos. Much is expected of the Gauchos this year – they are expected to contend for the Big West title this year. They opened the season with a pair of non-D1 wins at home before splitting a pair of games against Loyola Marymount. In their last outing, JaQuori McLaughlin led the Gauchos with 23 points in a 75-63 victory at Pepperdine.

UC-Irvine has been the most consistent team in the last decade in the Big West, but this year has been a tough slog so far with the Anteaters losing their first four games against D1 competition. They began with losses against Pepperdine and San Diego State in a multi-team event hosted by SDSU, but the Anteaters were much better in their last outing with an 85-53 victory at home against San Diego. Collin Welp averages 11.4 and 6.9 points a game for the Anteaters.

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