Hoops HD Staff Bracket (From the Puppet) – January 24th

Posted on January 24, 2025 by David Griggs

IT IS STAFF SELECTION FRIDAY!!!!!

-For today’s Hoops HD Daily Rundown – CLICK HERE

Before anyone actually starts to pick apart the bracket I want to make sure everyone knows what they are looking at. This IS NOT what I think the Selection Committee will do on Selection Sunday, nor is it what I think the committee would do if today were Selection Sunday. For the sake of this exercise, I don’t give a damn about the Selection Committee. If someone from Bracket Matrix sees this and puts this on there, it will compromise the matrix. I’m not trying to guess the committee. Jon Teitel does that! He is FANTASTIC at doing it! I couldn’t compete with him if I wanted to. If that’s what you’re looking for, you can check out his bracket HERE

-If I were king, and in charge of everything, and the season ended today, this is who I would have in the bracket and where I would have them seeded. I’m also doing this on the basis that if the season ENDED TODAY, this is what it would be. I think Houston is a Final Four team, but when you look at who’ve they’ve played and who they’ve beaten, I feel that as of today everyone I have seeded ahead of them has done more. By the end of the year it wouldn’t shock me at all if Houston were a #1 seed, but that’s now how I choose to do it.

I have a few comments below, and some staff members may chime in as well. Understand that if they disagree with ANYTHING that I have done, then THEY ARE WRONG!!!!

OTHERS CONSIDERED: UCF, Arizona State, UC San Diego, Bradley, North Texas, Xavier, Indiana, Dayton, Boise State, Nebraska, Penn State, Cincinnati, San Francisco

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-I mentioned Houston earlier. They were my preseason pick to win it all. I still think they can win it all, and I think they’ll win the Big 12, and will be shocked if they’re seeded any worse than the 2-line come Selection Sunday. But as of now they don’t have any wins against any of the teams that are ahead of them, so I don’t have them seeded that high yet. But…I will.

-A team like Oregon actually seems to be better away from home than they are at home. They are actually kind of tough to place. They have some great wins, but then a smattering of home losses to teams that they clearly appear to be better than.

-Gonzaga on the 8-line may seem low. Well…show me where at any point this season they’ve looked better than that! This was one of my Final Four teams coming into the season, and while they haven’t looked so bad that they should be left out, they’ve also not looked all that much better than an 8 seed at any point this year.

-Maryland on the 10 line may seem really low to a lot of people as well. Realize that until they beat Illinois last night, which was their first road win and first win of any real substance, I didn’t have them in at all.

-Drake and UC Irvine (despite the road loss yesterday) are Under the Radar teams that I have seeded inside the bubble and ahead of the First Four. I realize that both need to pretty much win out in order to stay there, but both are really good and have earned it so far.

COMMENTS FROM THE STAFF (coming soon…maybe):

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Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Friday, Jan 24th

Posted on January 24, 2025 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Maryland, who had not won a true road game prior to yesterday, got a HUGE road win at Illinois 91-70. They didn’t just beat the Illini, but blew them off the court and totally dominated the second half. This was, without question, the biggest win of the year for the Terps and make make the difference of them being an NCAA Tournament team as opposed to an NIT team.

-Saint Mary’s absolutely dominated a San Francisco team that had been playing well, but after last night does not quite look like they’re gonna make it inside the bubble. The final score was 71-51, and for part of the second half the margin was a lot more than that.

-UC Irvine fell in overtime to UC Riverside 84-80. They trailed by 12 midway through the second half, but came back to tie it and the lead seesawed back and forth the rest of the way. UC Irvine is a really good team, but any game they lose is going to hurt because any loss they sustain will be against a team that’s nowhere near the NCAA Tournament field. I still think the committee will select them if they win out, but anything short of that and they’ll probably need to win the Big West Tournament.

-It was actually a pretty exciting and busy night for a lot of Under the Radar teams. Maine got a huge win at UMass Lowell in overtime, Samford came from behind to beat Chattanooga on the road and remain in 1st place in the SoCon, Arkansas State held off Appalachian State at home to remain within a game of South Alabama in the Sun Belt, Lipscomb fell at North Alabama in a game between two of the better teams in the ASun, and Northern Colorado went down in a very surprising upset at Idaho.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-VILLANOVA AT MARQUETTE (Big East). Nova had been playing better, but they’ve now lost 3 out of 4 and have a very tough assignment tonight which will likely drop them to 4 out of 5 losses and keep them outside the bubble. Marquette still looks to be on cruise control for a protected seed.

-MICHIGAN AT PURDUE (Big Ten). Both teams are in the rankings, both have some really good wins on their resumes, and both could end up as a protected seed if they play up to their ceiling the rest of the way. A win tonight for either team would likely end up as a quad-1 win.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT VCU (Atlantic 10). I’m beginning to think that VCU is the only team from the A10 that can land inside the bubble and make the NCAA Tournament without winning the conference tournament, and to do that they pretty much need to win out between now and the end of the season. Any loss between now and the end would be coming against a non-tournament caliber team.

-UCLA AT WASHINGTON (Big Ten). UCLA has pulled themselves out of whatever tailspin they were in, and can pick up their third straight win tonight. It’s never easy to win on the road, but this is one the Bruins should be able to get.

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Under the Radar Game of the Day – Thursday, January 23rd

Posted on January 23, 2025 by John Stalica

UNC-Wilmington (14-5, 4-2) at Charleston (15-4, 5-1) – 7:00 PM ET (FloHoops)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day figures to be a dandy as the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks travel down Highway 17 to take on the Charleston Cougars in a matchup of two of the top teams in the CAA. Conference play wasn’t initially kind to Wilmington after losing their conference opener to Towson at home, but the Seahawks have won four out of their last five games. On Monday, Bo Montgomery scored 24 points as UNC-W beat William & Mary 85-74 to knock the Tribe down to a 3-way tie for first place along with Charleston and Towson.

Charleston has currently won two straight games after a surprising loss at Monmouth 12 days ago along the Jersey Shore. The road does get tougher for Chris Mack’s crew over the next four games; Elon and William & Mary will also be looming as the Cougars get into the heart of conference play. Ante Brzovic averages 18.5 points a game and 8.4 rebounds a game for Charleston.

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Hoops HD Daily Rundown – Thursday, Jan 23rd

Posted on January 23, 2025 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES:

For our latest UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast – CLICK HERE

-Florida only had a lead for about 2 seconds in their game at South Carolina, but it was the right two seconds as they hit a game winning shot to escape 70-69 and avoid a loss to a South Carolina team that’s nowhere near the field right now.

-Texas A&M was behind for pretty much the entire second half at Ole Miss, but they were able to keep it close and hit a game winning 3 with about 15 seconds to go to pick up a massive 63-62 road win. This is probably TAMU’s most impressive win of the year considering it was a true road win against a deservedly highly ranked team that was unbeaten at home coming into last night.

-Kansas also had to come from behind to win at TCU, but managed to put the game out of reach down the stretch and win 74-61.

-Saint John’s came back from 16pts down against Xavier to force overtime, and then pulled away in overtime for the 79-71 win. The Johnnies remain in solid shape with some big challenges coming up, and Xavier remains on the outside looking in.

-Nebraska, who I’ve tried to be nice to all season, continues to show why they can’t have nice things. They lost at home to USC 78-73. It’s hard to argue that a team belongs in the NCAA Tournament when they can’t win home games against teams that are nowhere near the NCAA Tournament.

-Georgia appeared to be steamrolling over an Arkansas team that appeared to be getting steamrolled, but Arkansas kicked it into gear in the last ten minutes of the game, came back from double digits, and ended up winning 68-65. This is the first SEC win for Arkansas, so they still have a lot of work to do. As for Georgia, it’s their second straight close loss and this one kind of hurts since it came to a team that is nowhere near the NCAA Tournament field.

-We keep saying that Air Force is hard to play against, and they are. Most teams find a way to beat them, but most teams struggle in doing so. Last night San Diego State needed overtime and barely escaped 77-76. AFA is just 3-16 on the year and 0-8 in MWC play, but they are still a potential landmine given their unique style of play that most teams just aren’t used to.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-WICHITA STATE AT MEMPHIS (American). Memphis has a tendency to sleepwalk through some of these conference games that they should be blowing through, but the expectation is that they will hold serve in this one.

-MARYLAND AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). Illinois is coming off a tough road loss at Michigan State where they almost pulled out a huge win. They should be able to bounce back tonight against a Maryland team that’s good, but not ‘able-to-beat-a-top-20-team-on-the-road’ level good.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast). San Francisco is a very solid 16-5, and is just one big win away from being on the bubble and on the committee’s radar. A win at Saint Mary’s, who is safely inside the bubble right now, would qualify as a big win, so this one is an important game that should be a lot of fun to watch.

-UC SANTA BARBARA AT UC SAN DIEGO (Big West). UCSD is perhaps out of strikes. They need to win out to have any shot at all at landing inside the bubble.

-UC IRVINE AT UC RIVERSIDE (Big West). Right now I’d say that I think UC Irvine is one of the 40 best teams in the country, and that they belong inside the bubble and in the NCAA Tournament even if they don’t win the Big West Tournament, and that their resume is strong enough to indicate that. Having said that, they absolutely need to keep winning!

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Under the Radar – Jan 22nd

Posted on January 22, 2025 by David Griggs

This week’s feature conference is the Sun Belt, where we’ve seen Arkansas State have a big year so far with some big OOC wins, but South Alabama has also come on strong and is sitting at the top of the standings. The other unique thing about this league is how much parity exists within it. As of now, just one game separates 4th place from 12th place, and given the crazy conference tournament format that should make for a compelling rest of the season.

After that we run through the other 21 OOC conferences and discuss what a surprise Maine has been this year and their big game coming up against UMass Lowell tomorrow, the overall strength of the Big South and how UNC Asheville is in 1st place, UC Irvine looks like they have a path to landing inside the bubble if they can continue to dominate the Big West, Drake and Bradley are having really big years in the Missouri Valley, and McNeese is starting to come on strong out of the Southland. We discuss all that, and more! And, as we do every week, we close with this week’s UTR Top Ten.

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 – Wednesday, January 22nd

Posted on January 22, 2025 by John Stalica

Longwood (14-6, 3-2) at Radford (13-7, 3-2) – 7:00 PM ET (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day heads to Radford, Virginia as the host Highlanders meet the Longwood Lancers in a Big South showdown. Radford had been tied with UNC-Asheville for the conference lead on the heels of a 3-game winning streak, but they fell a game behind after a surprising loss against Charleston Southern in their last outing. Jarvis Moss averages 13.7 points a game for Radford.

Longwood rebounded from a dismal performance against Winthrop (in the famed Winwood Cup) by beating High Point 82-80 at home to knock out the Panthers from first place as well. With 3 wins in their last four games (including a win against Asheville), Longwood is shaping up as a contender for the Big South title this year. Elijah Tucker led Longwood with 16 points in the aforementioned win against High Point.

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