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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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Dec 27th

Posted on December 27, 2020 by David Griggs

Not much to say today, so no sub-headlines!

-Minnesota turned a lot of heads on Christmas evening when they knocked off Iowa in overtime.  It was a high scoring game that seesawed back and forth, but that Iowa still seemed to have control of late in regulation, until they didn’t.  It’s a big season defining win for Minnesota.

-Wisconsin improved to 8-1 with a win at Michigan State.  Sparty, as good as people think they are, are now off to an 0-2 start in Big Ten play so that is a bit of a hole to dig out of.

-Gonzaga crushed another ranked team.  This time it was Virginia 98-75.  Virginia’s pack line defense makes it difficult for even teams with a lot of offensive weapons to score against, but Gonzaga just racked up the points.  I’m starting to wonder if Gonzaga is more than just a #1 team, but a historically special #1 team.  They are just trucking highly ranked teams and have been all season long.

-Houston needed to sweat more than expected, but remains unbeaten after winning at UCF.  A lot of credit to UCF here who, despite the loss, still looks like a really good team.  Let’s not forget their wins against Florida State and Cincinnati.

-Northwestern is now 3-0 in Big Ten play and 6-1 on the year with some really high quality wins on their resume.  They knocked off Ohio State in yet another thrilling win and this team that we all thought would be buried at the bottom of the Big Ten should get into the top 25 tomorrow.

-Louisville beat rival Kentucky in a close and perhaps exciting, but somewhat of an ugly game.  It wasn’t easy despite the fact that it appeared to be a mismatch, and Kentucky had a shot to tie the game at the end of regulation, but missed a 3pt shot.  Kentucky has fallen to 1-6 on the year, and John Calipari is blaming himself for the slow start because he made the schedule too hard.  The schedule certainly hasn’t been easy, but Kentucky’s OOC schedule is always really hard and it always includes Louisville, so…

-DRAKE AT INDIANA STATE (Missouri Valley).  Drake is looking to stay undefeated and pick up their first conference win of the year.

-EVANSVILLE AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley).  Southern Illinois is also unbeaten and they shouldn’t have too much trouble staying that way as they have a really winnable game at home.

-ILLINOIS STATE AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (Missouri Valley).  Loyola Chicago has almost no margin for error to speak of moving forward, but they are another team that’s good enough to win this conference and go to the NCAA Tournament.

-DEPAUL AT PROVIDENCE (Big East).  DePaul’s season has been pretty much non-existant.  They played and won their first OOC game just a few days ago, and are really going to be tested today against a Providence team that’s been a little inconsistent this year, but still looks like an NCAA Tournament team.

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