Hoops HD

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!  Here is your Holiday dose of hoops for tomorrow and the day after!!

NEWS AND NOTES

-Rutgers looked fantastic in the first half at Ohio State, but then totally fell apart in the second half.  It was their first win of the season, but they’re still in good shape.  It was also a nice win for Ohio State who picked up their first win against a ranked team this year.

-Xavier and Creighton gave us another Big East thriller between two ranked teams.  The lead seesawed back and forth and Xavier had a chance to tie the game on their final possession, but missed a 3pt shot and suffered their first loss of the season.  Creighton got another nice win for their resume as they picked up their first win against a currently ranked team.

-Providence had been looking good, and Butler had been struggling, but the Bulldogs flipped the script and picked up a bit of a surprising win against the Friars.

-Northwestern followed up their big win against Michigan State with another big win against Indiana.  The Wildcats, who weren’t expected to do anything this year, are suddenly looking like a top 25 team.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (Friday)

-WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN STATE.  Both teams are high in the rankings, both are probable protected seeds, and both are in the hunt to win the Big Ten.  This game will impact all of that.  Michigan State is looking to bounce back from a somewhat surprising loss to Northwestern and avoid dropping to 0-2 in B1G play.

-MARYLAND AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  It is too early to definitively say this, but I get the sense that both of these teams are on the outside looking in and still have a lot of work to do.  A win today would be a nice start.

-MICHIGAN AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten).  Michigan is unbeaten and this is a winnable conference road game, so they should be able to stay that way.

-IOWA AT MINNESOTA (Big Ten).  I’m looking forward to this one.  Iowa is high in the rankings and Minnesota has an impressive 7-1 record and is coming off a nice win against Saint Louis.  It will be interesting to see what Minney can do against a top five team at home.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES (Saturday)

-KENTUCKY AT LOUISVILLE.  It’s one of the most bitter rivalries in all of college basketball.  Kentucky has a tendency to start off the season a little slow, and it’s usually in their game against Louisville that they seem to snap out of it and begin playing like a solid top ten team.  This year they’ve started off a lot slower than normal, but a big win in a rivalry game could help give their season the jumpstart it needs.  Louisville hasn’t won this game very often lately and is looking to snap that losing streak.  They’re also trying to improve to 6-1 on the year and add another notable win to their resume (although right now it’s not looking all that notable).

-HOUSTON AT UCF (American).  Houston is unbeaten on the season and has basically been dominating their opponents.  Not much was expected out of UCF, but they’ve won their last two games against Cincinnati and Florida State, so they should be coming into this one with quite a bit of confidence.

-OHIO STATE AT NORTHWESTERN (Big Ten).  This game is much more intriguing than it looked like it was going to be a week ago.  Northwestern has beaten Michigan State and Indiana in their last two games and is suddenly looking like a top 25 team.  This team came out of nowhere!  They just walked right out of Lake Michigan!  Ohio State is coming off a nice win against Rutgers, is in the rankings, and his having a nice season of their own.

-GONZAGA VS VIRGINIA (Fort Worth, TX).  Another heavyweight match-up for top ranked Gonzaga.  On the court it should be fun to watch Gonzaga’s outstanding offense go up against Virginia’s pack-line defense.  Virginia’s only loss was to San Francisco, but this would by far be their biggest win of the season up to this point, and perhaps their biggest win all year, if they’re able to pull it off.

-INDIANA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Indiana comes in to this with a modest 5-3 record and some good wins, but they still have a lot of room to improve.  Illinois is still high in the rankings, but they’ve also suffered three losses and are looking to hold serve and sustain the strength of their early season resume.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be, all on Saturday)

-Nicholls @ LSU
-Norfolk State @ George Mason

NEWS AND NOTES

-Kansas pulled away from West Virginia late in the second half for one of the more impressive wins of the year.  Gonzaga pulled away from Kansas.  Gonzaga beat beat West Virginia, but did not pull away from them.  Kansas pulled away from West Virginia.  Yesterday’s win on the court was up there with the most impressive single game performances we’ve seen from any team this season.

-Missouri, on the other hand, played in a game against Bradley that made peoples’ eyes bleed.  The effort was there, but it was a poor shooting performance by both teams and just rather sloppy play.  the exciting ending made up for it as Missouri converted an and-1 in the final seconds to get the 54-53 win and remain unbeaten on the season.

-Richmond fell at home to Hofstra in a game that was a bit of a shock.  We like this Hofstra team by Colonial standards, but didn’t expect them to go on the road and beat a team like Richmond.  It remains to be seen just how damaging this loss will be for the Spiders.  They had what looked to be a big win at Kentucky to start things off, but that isn’t looking so big right now and their resume is starting to look a little flimsy.

-Texas Tech had to really sweat out Oklahoma, but held on for the win after Oklahoma had multiple chances to tie in in the final possession, and even got an offensive rebound after an intentionally missed basket, but couldn’t get the put back.

-NC State knocked off rival North Carolina to improve to 5-1, put a quality win on their resume, and earn some of bragging rights as well.  NC State actually had a much bigger lead in the game.  The Tarheels came back, but couldn’t quite get all the way back and fell 79-76.

-Ohio U was a team that we were really big on after the first few weeks, but they got absolutely smoked by Akron yesterday.  Akron is now 3-1 on the year and while they haven’t been on the court all that much, they definitely have our attention now.

-Colorado State handed Santa Clara their first loss of the year with an impressive (mostly) road win.  The Rams, along with Boise State and San Diego State, are a team to watch in the Mountain West.

-UCF followed up their big win against Florida State with a conference home win against Cincinnati last night.  They are now 3-1 on the year and while they haven’t played much, their resume is off to a good start.

-San Diego State blasted Saint Mary’s.  Whatever problems they had in their previous game against BYU had been worked out before last night’s game.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-XAVIER AT CREIGHTON.  Xavier has looked really good this year and has played their way into the top 25.  They’ve been tested, but this will be their biggest test of the year up to this point.  Creighton is high in the rankings and has some pretty good wins on their resume, but given that Xavier is unbeaten and in the rankings this would arguably be their best win of the season so far as well.

-UCLA AT OREGON (Pac 12).  This is a big game for both teams who could really use a win like this on their resumes.  Oregon is 6-1 with their best win being against Seton Hall, and UCLA is 5-2 with their best win being against Marquette.  Both teams are decent, but both are also fighting for more respect.

-RUTGERS AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  Another top 25 match-up between two teams that could end up as protected seeds.  Rutgers struggled on the road last year, and while it isn’t quite the same this year with no fans, this would still be a big statement win for Rutgers that they can beat good teams on the road.

-GEORGETOWN AT SETON HALL (Big East).  Georgetown wasn’t expected to be all that strong this year, but they have shown signs of life.  Seton Hall has been a little slow out of the game and won’t want to drop what appears to be a winnable home conference game.

-PROVIDENCE AT BUTLER (Big East).  Providence has really been on a roll in the last couple weeks, whereas Butler continues to struggle.  They have just one win on the season and are in danger of having the hill they need to climb get steeper and steeper.

-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE.  Marquette is just 5-4 on the season, but two of their wins have come against highly ranked teams, so Nova can’t just come in as the road team and think this will be an easy win.

-NORTHWESTERN AT INDIANA (Big Ten).  We had written Northwestern off before the season even started, but with a 4-1 record and a win over Michigan State they certainly have our attention now.  If they can pull off a win against Indiana tonight (who has been up and down this year, but mostly good), then they will REALLY have our attention!

-NEW MEXICO AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West).  This is a very good Boise State team.  They won handily the other night and it wouldn’t shock me if they did the same tonight.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-SC Upstate @ Tennessee
-Northwestern State @ Washington State
-Weber State @ BYU
-Kansas City @ Saint Louis
-Bethesda (nondiv1) @ Santa Clara
-Western Illinois @ DePaul

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NEWS AND NOTES

-Southern Illinois remains unbeaten after picking up a road win at Butler.  They actually controlled most of the game, but Butler went on a furious late run to get themselves back in it and actually had a chance to win it, but couldn’t quite get over the hump.  the Salukis have our attention now!

-Penny Hardaway received a five year extension from Memphis yesterday, and celebrated that with a home loss to Frank Haith and Tulsa.

-Boise State handed New Mexico their first loss of the year, and didn’t mess around while doing It.  They blew out the Lobos 77-53.  The more I see Boise State, the more I think they are a solid tournament team.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MERCER AT KENNESAW STATE.  It’s a winnable road game for Mercer, which would be their third of the year and they’d improve to 7-1 overall.

-OHIO U AT AKRON (MAC).  Ohio has looked really good this year, but didn’t pick up any wins that would define them as an NCAA Tournament team yet.  That gives them a small margin of error for the MAC, so they’ll need to pretty much come close to running the table if they want to be inside the bubble.

-CHATTANOOGA AT TENNESSEE STATE.  Chattanooga is 8-0 and will go after their 5th true road win today.

-TULANE AT EAST CAROLINA (American).  Both teams suffered their first loss of the season their last time out and are looking to bounce back.  I don’t think either one of them will be inside the bubble come March, but both programs are improving and, at least for now, are worth paying attention to.

-COLORADO STATE AT SANTA CLARA.  Colorado State finally has a few games under their belts, but the rust has still been there and they’re looking for their first notable win.  Santa Clara is unbeaten, but also untested, and this is probably their biggest game of the season up to this point.

-CINCINNATI AT UCF (American).  UCF is coming off a big win against Florida State.  they weren’t a team we were particularly excited about coming into the season, but it’s kind of hard to not sit up and take notice after that.  Cincinnati was run off the floor by Georgia in their last game and is looking to wash that taste out of their mouths.

-ABILENE CHRISTIAN AT ARKANSAS.  This would normally be a buy game, but with ACU being one of the better UTR teams out there and their only loss coming in a close game at Texas Tech, and with Arkansas being unbeaten but untested, this is actually one of the more intriguing games of the day.

-NEBRASKA AT WISCONSIN.  Wisky might be one of the best teams in the Big Ten this year, and Nebraska is perhaps the worst.

-BRADLEY AT MISSOURI.  Another game that would normally be a buy game, but with Bradley out to an impressive 6-2 start with one loss being by just 1 point to Xavier, and with Missouri suddenly ranked in the top 15, it’s a game with quite a bit of intrigue.

-TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA (Big 12).  Texas Tech looked really good in their last game against Kansas, but as of now their resume is lacking any real notable wins.  That’s what makes this game tonight so important.  It’s a big game for Oklahoma as well because while they only have one loss, a win against a ranked team would really give their resume a boost.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT NC STATE (ACC).  This is a rivalry game that both teams kinda need to win.  NC State is 4-1, but is lacking statement wins.  UNC has wins against Stanford and Kentucky that sound good, but right now aren’t actually looking that good, so to get this one on the road would help them as well.

-WICHITA STATE AT SOUTH FLORIDA.  South Florida is off to a 5-2 start and beat Cincinnati in their first conference game.  With another win tonight they could have the early makings of being a surprise team in the American.

-VANDERBILT AT DAVIDSON.  Both teams are on the outside looking in, and if I had to guess I’d say both will remain on the outside all the way up until March, but both have also shown some promise and really need this win tonight if they want to build some hope for the season.

-LOUISVILLE AT PITTSBURGH (ACC).  Louisville was blown out by Wisconsin over the weekend and is looking to bounce back from that.  Pitt has won five straight since that awful loss in their season opener and has actually been looking really good.  A win tonight would make the Panthers look even better.

-LA SALLE AT MARYLAND.  Not a buy game, but still a game that Maryland should be expected to win if they want to demonstrate that they’re an NCAA Tournament team.  The better way of putting this is that losing this would demonstrate that they are NOT a tournament team.

-TEMPLE AT HOUSTON (American).  Temple has just been able to play one game this year, whereas Houston is 5-0 with some really nice wins and ranked 6th in the nation.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT KANSAS.  Just another top ten match-up out of the Big 12.  We are going to be seeing a lot of those this year.  Both teams have only one loss, and it’s to the same team (Gonzaga).  Both are contenders for #1 seeds, and winning a game like this is how you get a seed like that.

-PURDUE AT IOWA (Big Ten).  Iowa is coming off their first loss of the season (to Gonzaga), but they are still ranked really high and are still one of the better teams in the Big Ten.  Purdue has a couple of losses, but has also looked really good in their last few games with wins over Ohio State and Notre Dame.  A win tonight would really be a huge boost for the Boilers.

-SAINT MARY’S AT SAN DIEGO STATE.  San Diego State fell out of the rankings after their loss to BYU, but I still think they’re one of the 25 best teams in the country and will have no trouble getting into the top half of the bracket come March.  Saint Mary’s has been a bit of a surprise team this year with an 8-1 record and some decent wins.  If they can pick up the win tonight then they will have really made a statement.

-COLORADO VS GRAND CANYON (Las Vegas, NV).  Colorado’s only loss is to Tennessee and they’ve looked really good all season long.  Grand Canyon has lost their last two games by a combined total of 4 points to two pretty good teams, so a win tonight would help take some of the sting out of those losses.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Alcorn State @ Liberty
-William & Mary @ Virginia
-Hofstra @ Richmond
-James Madison @ VCU
-UT Maritn @ Ole Miss
-UNC Asheville @ Marshall
-North Dakota @ Drake – Drake looking to stay unbeaten
-Montana @ Arizona
-Tennessee Tech @ Western Kentucky
-Northeastern @ Georgia
-East Tennessee State @ Alabama
-Northwestern State @ Gonzaga
-North Dakota State @ TCU