Hoops HD

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NEWS AND NOTES

-Ohio State suffered their first loss of the season as they fell to Purdue.  Ohio State, while good, has a bit of a flimsy resume at the moment with no wins that really jump out at you, whereas Purdue is now 5-2 with a win against…well…Ohio State!

-Duke’s win at Notre Dame was by far their best of the year.  That’s not saying much since their only other wins are buy games, but they actually looked better than they have all season long.  More importantly than the conference road win on paper is that they appear to be improving as a team on the court.

-Pitt has won five straight since dropping their season opener.  They knocked off (a short handed) Miami FL team last night for their first ACC win.  I’m not ready to say that they’re a solid tournament caliber team yet, but I am willing to say they don’t stink nearly as much as I thought on the first day of the season.

-Mercer suffered their first loss of the season as they fell on the road to Georgia State.  Mercer and Georgia State are two good UTR teams who’s only losses are to each other.

-Marshall is another really strong UTR team that had a bit of a surprising loss yesterday.  They fell at home to Toledo.  They trailed for most of the game, but rallied late and came back to force overtime.  They appeared to have all the momentum, but then fell flat in OT and ended up with their first loss of the season.

-Cincinnati fell at home to South Florida.  The Bearcats are young and wildly inconsistent, and while they’ve shown some promise, yesterday’s loss certainly does not help them.

-Oklahoma State went down for the first time this year in a home loss to TCU, which was a bit of a shocker.  Both these teams have looked better than what we thought they’d look like coming into the year.  TCU improves to 6-2 on the year with some decent wins on thier resume.

-SMU handed East Carolina their first loss.  The game was close for about 30 mins, but then SMU pulled away.  They aren’t getting a whole lot of national attention, but I really like this SMU team.

-Arizona State lost at home to UTEP, and nothing against UTEP who now improves to 3-2, but Arizona State just has not looked good in the last week or so.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-KANSAS AT TEXAS TECH (Big 12).  Texas Tech was actually our preseason pick to win the Big 12, and while we expect to see a lot of improvement between now and the end, they haven’t really looked the part so far.  Of course, our opinions of them would change in a big way if they could knock off Kansas tonight.  It should be a good one between two probable protected seeds.

-CREIGHTON AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  Creighton has lost a couple of close games to Kansas and Marquette this past week and is looking to get that nasty taste out of their mouths.  This won’t be a cakewalk by any means as the Johnnies have shown quite a bit of life themselves this year, but it is a winnable road game.

-NC STATE AT SAINT LOUIS.  Neither team has a loss, and SLU has a pretty good win against LSU under their belts, but so far they’ve both had limited chances against quality opponents, so it’s good that we get to see them play each other tonight.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT OREGON.  San Fran is a wildly inconsistent team.  They have beaten ranked teams and lost to mid-level UTR teams within a 24 hour span.  They seem to be swinging a little bit over their heads tonight, but they’re still a fun team to watch and the Ducks better not overlook them.

-SETON HALL AT MARQUETTE.  Marquette has two huge wins under their belts against Wisconsin and Creighton.  They have a couple of losses as well, but neither one are damaging and they appear to have a very solid team.  Seton Hall has sputtered a little bit out of the gate, but they’ve won three straight and can really pick up some momentum if they’re able to win tonight.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Le Tourneau @ New Mexico
-Delaware State @ Coastal Carolina

NEWS AND NOTES

-Wisconsin had to sweat for a lot of the game, but they managed to pull ahead of a pretty good Loyola Chicago team and pick up a win that’s probably better than what most people realize.

-Virginia Tech pretty much lead Clemson from tip to buzzer.  Clemson actually came back from a substantial deficit and was in a position to win it in the final minutes, but the Hokies held on.  Virginia Tech seems to have figured out whatever it was that went wrong at Penn State as they pick up yet another win against a ranked (and previously unbeaten) team.

-Saint Bonaventure finally got to play a game!  And they picked up a win at Akron.

-Davidson lost at home to Charlotte.  This is bad for all kinds of reasons.  Despite playing well against both Texas and Providence in their MTE and showing quite a bit of promise, they didn’t win either game.  None of the games that they actually have won are against good teams, and on top of that they now have a loss to Charlotte who hadn’t won a game all season AND who is a rival.  So, not a good day for the Wildcats.

-Furman led Alabama for pretty much the entire game, and had a double digit lead for much of that time, but the Tide kept it close enough to where they were never out of the game, mounted a comeback in the second half, and ended up getting an 83-80 win.  For Furman it was a missed opportunity to pick up a win that would have impressed the selection committee.

-Kansas State won their conference opener at Iowa State.  After previously losing a game to Fort Hayes State, they are now technically the first place team in the Big 12!

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-UMASS AT LA SALLE (Atlantic Ten).  UMass split with Northeastern in the only two games they’ve played this year.  We think they can make some noise in the A10, but they haven’t played in many games yet so it’s hard to know what to make of them.

-RICHMOND AT VANDERBILT.  The Spiders are looking to rebound from their loss at West Virginia.  This should be a winnable road game for them.

-CAMPBELL AT ELON.  Believe it or not, both of these teams are unbeaten, so we are highlighting this game!

-PITTSBURGH AT MIAMI FL (ACC).  Pitt lost their season opener in a buy game, but has at least looked decent since then.  Miami FL has been all over the place.  They’ve looked great on some nights, while on another they lost a buy game to FGCU.  I’m not sure if either of these teams will be in the tournament picture in the end, but both could really use a win tonight.

-MERCER AT GEORGIA STATE.  This is the second meeting between these two teams.  Mercer won the first and is looking to remain unbeaten on the year, pick up another road win, and stay on pace to end up inside the bubble.  Georgia State’s only loss on the season is to Mercer, so they’re capable of making quite a bit of noise as well.

-TOLEDO AT MARSHALL.  Marshall picked up a big win against Ohio U over the weekend and are looking to remain unbeaten tonight.

-BUTLER AT VILLANOVA (Big East).  I think I like this Butler team, but seeing as how they’ve only played one game I don’t know what to make of them yet.  Nova, as we all know, is a Final Four contender and is looking to stay unbeaten in the Big East.

-OHIO STATE AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  Purdue has been decent at best, but this would be a defining win for them if they can pull it off.  Ohio State is unbeaten, and while they’ve played a few good teams they’ve also struggled in a few games and shown that they are vulnerable.  It definitely isn’t a sure thing tonight.

-SOUTH FLORIDA AT CINCINNATI (American).  Cincinnati’s resume may not jump out at you, but they’ve shown signs of promise this year.  They played Tennessee tough their last time out and should be able to win their conference opener tonight.

-TCU AT OKLAHOMA STATE (Big 12).  Oklahoma State looks like an NCAA Tournament team, and pending winning a waiver from the NCAA they should be able to play their way into the field.

-EAST CAROLINA AT SMU ((American).  I’m really looking forward to this one tonight.  Neither team has gotten national attention yet, but both are unbeaten and both are fun to watch.  To be fair neither of them have been hugely tested yet (although SMU did win at Dayton), but these teams appear to be better than what most realize.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT DENVER (Front Range).  This game is not noteworthy at all, but We at Hoops HD Love the Front Range!!!! (Fake News – this is our UTR Game of the Day! – John S.)

-DUKE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  Duke is in the rankings, and no one is really all that excited about the Irish, but the fact of the matter is that Duke has done nothing other than win home buy games whereas Notre Dame has played Michigan State and Ohio State tough and won at Kentucky.  I’m not saying ND is better, but up until now they’ve definitely done more than Duke has.

-MEMPHIS AT TULANE (American).  As excited as everyone was about Memphis’s talented roster this year, they haven’t looked exceptionally good and are coming off a loss to a rather weak Auburn team.  Tulane, on the other hand, is 4-0.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Northeastern @ Syracuse
-Omaha @ Colorado
-Carver College (nondiv1) @ Liberty
-CA Baptist @ Arizona
-UNC Asheville @ Chattanooga – Chattanooga is unbeaten
-Kennesaw State @ Belmont – Belmont is 5-1
-Southern @ UAB – UAB is unbeaten
-Sam Houston State @ Texas
-Hardin Simmons (nondiv1) @ Abilene Christian
-UTEP @ Arizona State
-New Orleans @ LSU

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NEWS AND NOTES

-Marquette had about as good of a bounce back as any team could have when they took down Creighton on the road 89-84.  Marquette has now beaten two teams that were in the top ten at the time of the game, and are still both solidly in the top 20, so maybe they now deserve a little more recognition than what they’re getting.

-Last year Rutgers was good, but struggled on the road.  Last night they had no trouble putting Maryland away and winning their conference opener, picking up their first road win, and remaining unbeaten on the year.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT AKRON.  The Bonnies are a potential tournament team that are finally getting the chance to play a game.  And, it won’t be easy.  Akron is just 1-0 and hasn’t played much themselves, but is capable of making quite a bit of noise in the MAC and winning in their building is not the easiest thing to do.

-STANFORD AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE.  Another somewhat unusual road game that we probably wouldn’t see in a non-pandemic world, but Stanford is trying to pick up their second road win of the year against a CSUN team that’s off to a decent 3-1 start.

-CLEMSON AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC).  This isn’t a game that we thought we’d be highlighting back in November, but both teams are off to incredible start with Clemson being unbeaten and in the rankings and VA Tech coming off their only loss of the season after having beaten Villanova a few weeks back.

-MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten).  Minney comes in at 6-0, but hasn’t really been tested at all.  Illinois still looks to be a top level team despite the two losses, which were also to top level teams.

-CHARLOTTE AT DAVIDSON.  This is a rivalry game, but perhaps more importantly on paper it’s the kind of game that Davidson really can’t afford to lose.  They’re 3-2 and both losses were close games to good teams, so they do have some potential this year.

-WESTERN CAROLINA AT VCU.  It’s a buy game, but an interesting one.  WCU is 5-1, but hasn’t played in many games as tough as this one, and VCU can’t afford a slip up here.

-LOYOLA CHICAGO AT WISCONSIN.  This is perhaps a mismatch, but it’s still an interesting game a Loyola Chicago team that’s a likely frontrunner in the Missouri Valley, and a Wisconsin team that’s a clear top 25 team that could end up as a protected seed.

-GEORGIA STATE AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC).  Georgia Tech followed up an 0-2 start with two big wins, so Florida State won’t want to overlook them in their conference opener.

-FURMAN AT ALABAMA.  This game is far more important than what most people realize.  We feel Furman is one of the better UTR teams out there and that they may be good enough to end up inside the bubble at the end of the season, but to do that they need to be able to win games like this.  Alabama is also a potential tournament team who needs wins like this on their resume.

-EASTERN WASHINGTON AT SAINT MARY’S.  EWU is just 1-3, but they’ve been competitive against a brutal schedule so SMC better not overlook them.  The Gaels have looked good this season as well and need a win to sustain that momentum.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Houston Baptist @ Rice
-Appalachian State @ Tennessee
-SC State @ Liberty
-SELA @ Texas A&M
-Indiana State @ Saint Louis
-Long Beach State @ UCLA