Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES

-San Diego State remains unbeaten after blowing it open against nationally ranked Arizona in the second half.  San Diego State does move the needle nationally, but probably not as much as they should.  Dating back to last year the Aztecs has won 33 of their last 34 div1 regular season games, and while they haven’t played a ton of top 25 teams, they have played five of them and beaten them all.  That’s a pretty damn good run!  In looking at the rest of their schedule, I don’t see a single game that they won’t be favored to win.

-South Dakota State had to sweat out their winless rivals from North Dakota State, but held on to the win.  This is important.  South Dakota State is a team that’s good enough to finish inside the bubble, but a loss last night could have sunk those chances.  If we see them make the NCAA Tournament, just remember that it may not have happened had they not held on to win last night.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NORTHEASTERN AT UMASS.  It’s the first game of the season for both teams!  We hope!  Neither team is expected to do much, but we at Hoops HD feel that both are better than what the preseason polls indicated and that both could make some noise this year once they’re able to start playing.

-SAINT JOHN’S AT SETON HALL (Big East).  We are expecting more out of Seton Hall than what they’ve shown us so far, but I still think that they’ll end up having a really big year.  The Johnnies have just one loss on the season, but they haven’t been in too many games that will test them the way this one will.

-SOUTH DAKOTA STATE VS NORTH DAKOTA (Dakota Showcase).  Again, these teams are both members of the same conference but this is not a conference game.  South Dakota State is good enough to finish inside the bubble if they continue to take care of business.

-NEBRASKA AT CREIGHTON.  Creighton is looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Kansas in a game where they played fantastic but came up just short.  Beating Nebraska handily at home, which they should be able to do, should cheer them up!

-VILLANOVA AT GEORGETOWN (Big East).  It’s the Big East opener for both teams.  Nova is good enough to win it all!  Georgetown is bad enough to struggle to win the Patriot League (although they did play well against West Virginia).

-IOWA STATE AT IOWA.  This appears to be a big mismatch, but this series has had its share of surprises.  This is a BITTER rivalry, and although not having fans may take away from some of the energy it will still likely be a game with a lot of intensity.

-NEVADA AT GRAND CANYON.  I don’t think we will see either team inside the bubble come March, but both are off to decent starts and could end up having a better year than what most were predicting.  It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this one tonight.

-MARQUETTE AT UCLA.  Both teams are 4-1.  UCLA has shown some early rust but they’ll be in good shape if they can pick up this win tonight.  Marquette already has a big win against rival Wisconsin, and will have a strong case for the top 25 if they can win this one tonight on the road.

-SAN JOSE STATE AT SAINT MARY’S.  A win will get SMC to 6-1 on the year, which is a pretty good start.

BUY GAMES

-North Texas @ West Virginia
-Omaha @ Kansas
-Georgia Southern @ Davidson

CLICK HERE for last night’s UNDER THE RADAR Video Podcast

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between North Dakota State and South Dakota State – CLICK HERE

-Texas Tech had to sweat out Abilene Christian, but ended up picking up the win 51-44.  While Texas Tech hasn’t looked like a Big 12 frontrunner yet this season, and certainly didn’t look that way the other night, it’s also worth nothin that ACU played an outstanding game.  It was their first loss of the year, and chances are they’ll be able to make quite a bit of noise in Southland play, so they’re a really good UTR team to keep an eye on.

-Florida State needed overtime to knock off Indiana.  As frustrating of a loss as it was for the Hoosiers, they still played an outstanding game on the road against a really good team, and there is more reason for optimism than pessimism right now.  It’s been a while since we’ve been able to say that about IU.

-Richmond once again played a decent first half and a terrific second half.  They pick up the win against Northern Iowa and remain unbeaten on the year.  Northern Iowa is just 1-4, but that’s partly due to the schedule that they’ve played so far.  By the end of the year I think they’re going to have a lot of wins.

-Cincinnati picked up a close win against Furman.  That may not sound impressive to those that don’t follow Under the Radar, but we think Furman is a team that’s good enough to land inside the bubble, and we were actually kind of expecting them to beat Cincinnati last night.  So, for Cincinnati to play Xavier tough and then beat Furman, there is some promise there that the Bearcats might be good enough to go dancing.

-Clemson is a far better team than what any of us thought, especially on the defensive end.  They ate Maryland’s lunch yesterday and remain unbeaten on the season.

-Providence picked up a nice road win against TCU.  Despite some early stumbles and stretches where they appeared to underperform, they’re 4-2 with some decent wins away from home.  I’d say their footing is still solid and their prospects are still good.

-Xavier improved to 7-0 with an impressive blowout win against Oklahoma.  The Musketeers have let to leave the city of Cincinnati, but they’ve won all the games they’ve played, and appeared to have their best game of the year for the second game in a row.

-Missouri remains unbeaten after taking a pretty good Liberty team that had some nice wins of their own and should dominate the Atlantic Sun.  I don’t want to overstate a win over Liberty, but this Mizzou team has looked pretty solid all season long.

-Boise State picked up a really nice win at BYU.  We didn’t think too much of them coming into the year (at least I didn’t), but after seeing them last night and considering their only loss was to an outstanding Houston team, I’d have to say they look more like a tournament team than not at the moment.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT ARIZONA STATE.  Both teams are ranked and both already have some decent wins.  Both will also likely be in the top half of the bracket, so this is a resume building opportunity and it should be a fun one.

-Purdue Northwest (nondiv1) @ Ohio U – buy game
-North Florida @ East Carolina – buy game
-Jackson State @ Ole Miss – buy game, first game for Ole Miss
-Kansas City @ Minnesota – buy game
-Gardner Webb @ Western Kentucky – buy game
-Long Beach State @ San Francisco – buy game

NEWS AND NOTES

-It was a buys day that gave us three top 20 match-ups.  The most entertaining and best played game was Creighton at Kansas.  The lead seesawed back and forth.  Every time one team appeared to have control the other would go on a run, and you got the sense that had they played for 40 more minutes it would have come down to the last possession.  Creighton missed what would have been a game tying free-throw in the final seconds and Kansas held on to win 73-72, but I think there is more positive to take away than negative for both teams.  These teams were ranked in the top ten, and both of them looked like it’s where they belong.

-Duke got blown off of their own floor again as Illinois pretty much controlled the game from tip to buzzer.  It was the first really big test for the Illini and they passed it with flying colors.

-North Carolina stated with Iowa for a little while, but only for a little while.  To say Iowa blew them out would be overstating it, but there weren’t really many points in the game where Iowa had to sweat either.  It was a solid showing and a solid win for the Hawkeyes.

-A team that was not solid was Virginia Tech, who was totally blown out of the building by Penn State.  VA Tech was ranked in the top 20, and given how they had played for most of the season looked like they belonged there.  Penn State…not so much.  But last night, Penn State looked like they belonged in the top 20!  VA Tech…not so much.

-Ohio State really had to sweat on the road against Notre Dame, which was a bit of a surprise, but they did pick up their first road win of the season and remain unbeatem.

-Tennessee blew it open early against Colorado, but the Buffs came back and made a game of it.  It wasn’t until the final minute or two that Tennessee got control.  It was the first game of the season for the Vols, but they didn’t show signs of having too much rust.

-Rutgers and Syracuse had only played (and won) buy games coming into yesterday.  The two squared off and while Rutgers got the win, it was more of a battle than what I thought it would be.  Syracuse kept it close and even got a lead late in the second half, but Rutgers was able to finish strong.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-RHODE ISLAND AT WISCONSIN.  Wisky is looking to rebound from a loss to rival Marquette and actually pick up their first non-buy game win.  Rhody is off to a better than expected start and could really add a good win to their resume today.

-FURMAN AT CINCINNATI.  I really like this Furman team.  I think they can land inside the bubble, and perhaps even play their way into the top 25.  But, if they really are that good, then this is the type of game that they need to be able to win.  It wouldn’t be a bad win for a Cincinnati team that’s looking to rebound from a loss to Xavier over the weekend.

-MARYLAND AT CLEMSON (ACC/Big TenChallenge).  Clemson has some nice wins already and could end up being a surprise tournament level team this year.  Maryland comes in unbeaten, but this is by fair their best test of the year up to this point.

-PROVIDENCE AT TCU.  Providence is off to a slow start, but still has a high ceiling and could still have a big year.  This is the kind of road game that they need to be able to win if they want to demonstrate that they are a solid tournament team.

-NORTHERN IOWA AT RICHMOND.  Northern Iowa is off to just a 1-3 start, but they are still a dangerous team that could make quite a bit of noise in March.  Richmond is in the rankings and looking to add what I think will be another nice win to their resume (even if it may not look all that great now).

-ABILENE CHRISTIAN AT TEXAS TECH.  It’s a buy game, but ACU is unbeaten and will likely be a Southland frontrunner, and while we really like this Texas Tech team they haven’t looked all that great yet this season.

-INDIANA AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Indiana has been a little inconsistent this year, but that’s far better than being consistently bad.  They have shown that they can play like a top 25 team, and they may have to tonight if they want to beat what looks to be a very good Florida State team.

-GEORGIA TECH AT NEBRASKA (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Georgia Tech has potential this year, and they’re coming off a nice win against Kentucky, but they’re still running a little up hill after an 0-2 start and could really use this road win today.

-OKLAHOMA AT XAVIER.  Xavier is unbeaten and just picked up a nice road win at Cincinnati, but they’ve got another test today against an Oklahoma team that’s 2-0 and is looking for a statement win of their own.  In short, I believe this is a resume building opportunity for both teams.

-LIBERTY AT MISSOURI.  This game should be fun.  Liberty is someone we thought would be rebuilding this year, but they’ve looked really solid so far.  Mizzou is a team that we thought was so far behind that they wouldn’t even be able to start rebuilding until next year, but they’re unbeaten, they’ve looked fantastic, and will have a chance to pick up another nice win tonight.  I love it when good UTR teams play good P5 teams!

-IDAHO AT WASHINGTON STATE.  This is the big one!!  These two schools are just eight miles apart!!  They’ve also never met in the NCAA Tournament!!  It meets all the checkpoints for being one of the biggest rivalries in all of college athletics!!  Also…Wazzu is unbeaten, so all kidding aside we will be paying attention to them until we have reason not to.

-BOISE STATE AT BYU.  Both teams have work to do, which makes this game important.  BYU’s NCAA Tournament chances seem to be better than Boise’s, but that can change.  Especially if the Broncos can pick up the win tonight.

-PITTSBURGH AT NORTHWESTERN (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Not much is expected from either team this year, but Northwestern is unbeaten.  They’re also untested, but at least for now they are unbeaten.

-DENVER AT WYOMING.  We at Hoops HD love the Front Range!!!!

-MARSHALL AT CHARLESTON.  A win gets Marshall to 3-0 and gives them their second road win.

-CHATTANOOGA AT BELLARMINE.  A win for Chattanooga gets them to 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in road games, but it won’t be easy.  Bellarmine is a transitional team, but they’re capable of playing well.

-SFA AT BAYLOR.  Both teams are unbeaten, but one has been tested substantially more than the other.

-SANTA CLARA AT CAL POLY.  The first road game of the year for an unbeaten and untested Santa Clara team.

-CALIFORNIA AT PEPPERDINE.  Pepperdine has shown some promise this year, but they’ve still got a lot of work to do if they want to land inside the bubble and can’t afford to drop a home game like this.

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Chicago State @ Loyola Chicago
-Toledo @ Michigan
-Cal State Bakersfield @ Arizona
-NC A&T @ VCU
-Texas State @ Texas
-Southern @ Arkansas
-McKendree (nondiv1) @ Drake
-San Diego @ UCLA
-Florida A&M @ Oregon