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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

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-West Virginia had no trouble with Richmond.  They ended up winning 87-71 and had a bigger lead than that for much of the game.  Considering WVU’s only loss was a close game against Gonzaga, you start to wonder if they should be ranked in the top five or so.

-Arizona State survived a scare at Grand Canyon.  The Lopes, who entered the game without a loss, missed what would have been a game winning shot at the buzzer and ASU held on for a 71-70 win.  Grand Canyon may not be good enough or have the chances they need to land inside the bubble, but so far this season Bryce Drew’s team has looked like a very good UTR team.

-Western Kentucky picked up another notable win as they held off Rhode Island 68-65.  They are starting to piece together they type of resume needed to land inside the bubble, but like all UTR teams their margin for error is small.

-Michigan picked up a big win against a Penn State team that had been looking really good.  Despite the loss, I think Penn State has more to be optimistic about than pessimistic about.

-Marshall beat a very good Ohio U team rather handily yesterday 81-67.  The game was on CUSA TV, so I know that not many people saw it, but for those that did you saw what is clearly a very good Marshall team.  WKU is getting a lot of love out of CUSA, but Marshall has looked just as good as they have this season.

-San Francisco continues to be wildly inconsistent.  They have a win agains Virginia, and several head scratching losses to go along with it, most recently yesterday against California who hit a game winning three point shot at the buzzer for a 72-70 win.

-Georgetown is going to win some games and make some noise in the Big East this year.  They will almost assuredly not be the Stallings Award winners.  They played very well against Villanova earlier this week, and knocked off Saint John’s in overtime yesterday.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-RUTGERS AT MARYLAND (Big Ten).  Rutgers is unbeaten with a win against a Syracuse team that looks to be better than what we thought.  Road wins were hard to come by last year for Rutgers, but now that they have more experience and that there are no fans, they should be able to pick up more this year than they did a year ago.

-MARQUETTE AT CREIGHTON (Big East).  Creighton is off to a fantastic start with their only loss being by a single point at Kansas.  Marquette is off to a pretty good start as well, but is coming a loss to UCLA.  This would be a monster road win if they’re able to pull it off.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT COLORADO (Front Range).  Colorado is 2-1 and we think they may be good enough to sneak into the NCAA Tournament.  Northern Colorado is 2-0 and we think they are a team that will be a Big Sky frontrunner.  Oh yeah!  And We at Hoops HD Love the Front Range!!!!

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Sam Houston State @ LSU
-Northern Arizona @ Colorado State
-Central Arkansas @ Ole Miss