Merit Rankings and Bracket Projections – Dec 8th (From the Puppet)

Posted on December 8, 2020 by David Griggs

For Today’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

For Today’s News, Notes, and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

For the latest Hoops HD Report – CLICK HERE

Before you go any further, it is important to know what you are looking at.  This is merely a CHECKPOINT of CURRENT MERIT.  It is NOT a ranking of how good I think the teams actually are, nor is it a forecast of how I think the NCAA Tournament will look in March.  If that is what you are looking for, then you need to look somewhere else.  If you don’t understand that then this will look utterly ridiculous.  Even if you do understand that, it still may look utterly ridiculous.

I do not believe that Mercer is better than Duke or Iowa.  I do think that beating Georgia Tech on the road is harder to do than winning home buy games.  Since this is a ranking of merit, that is why Mercer is so far ahead.  As the season progresses and the better teams get better opportunities at better wins, this ranking will begin to look more and more like a ranking of how good the teams actually are.

This only reflects games played before December 8th.  Anything on or after December 8th is not factored in.

There are some (probably) good teams that have not yet played.  This is a merit ranking, so teams that have not yet played have amassed no merit and are therefore not yet ranked.

  1. GONZAGA – unbeaten with wins vs Kansas and West Virginia
  2. BAYLOR – Unbeaten with a win over Illinois
  3. VIRGINIA TECH – Unbeaten with a over Villanova
  4. VILLANOVA – good win at Texas
  5. MICHIGAN STATE – unbeaten with a win at Duke
  6. Texas – wins vs North Carolina and Indiana, only loss to Villanova
  7. HOUSTON – unbeaten with a win vs Texas Tech
  8. MISSOURI – 3-0 with a win vs Oregon
  9. North Carolina – win vs Stanford, only loss to Texas
  10. SAN DIEGO STATE – unbeaten with a win over UCLA
  11. WESTERN KENTUCKY – wins over Northern Iowa and Memphis
  12. WINTHROP – 2 good UTR wins
  13. RICHMOND – unbeaten and won at Kentucky
  14. Kansas – win vs Kentucky
  15. ARIZONA STATE – 3-1 with a win vs Rhode Island
  16. West Virginia – 3 decent wins, only loss to Gonzaga
  17. Connecticut – unbeaten with a win vs USC
  18. Indiana – wins vs Stanford and Providence, only loss to Texas
  19. Oregon – win vs Seton Hall, loss vs Missouri
  20. Saint Louis – home win vs LSU
  21. Marquette – home win vs Wisconsin, loss to Oklahoma State
  22. MERCER – unbeaten with wins over Georgia Tech and Georgia State
  23. Smu – unbeaten with a win at Dayton
  24. Clemson – unbeaten with win vs Purdue
  25. Louisville – unbeaten with a home win vs Seton Hall
  26. Xavier – unbeaten with a win at Cincinnati
  27. Saint Mary’s – wins vs South Dakota State, only loss to Memphis
  28. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE – wins at Iowa State and Bradley
  29. Usc – win vs BYU, only loss to Connecticut
  30. Byu – wins @ Utah State and vs Saint John’s, only loss to USC
  31. Oklahoma – unbeaten with a win at TCU
  32. Tcu – wins vs Tulsa and Liberty, loss to Oklahoma
  33. Purdue – win vs Liberty, loss to Clemson
  34. LIBERTY – wins vs South Carolina, Mississippi State and BC
  35. Florida – unbeaten with a win vs Boston College
  36. Alabama – win vs Providence, only loss to Stanford
  37. Rhode Island – wins vs San Francisco and Seton Hall, loss to Arizona State and BC
  38. GEORGIA STATE – win at Georgia Tech
  39. East Carolina – unbeaten, road win at Charlotte
  40. DRAKE – unbeaten with a win at Kansas State
  41. Chattanooga – 2 road wins
  42. Michigan – okay win against UCF, the rest are buy wins
  43. BOWLING GREEN – only loss at Michigan a road win at App St.
  44. UC SANTA BARABARA – win vs LMU
  45. Marshall – win @ Wright State
  46. Colorado – road win at Kansas State
  47. Furman – unbeaten, road win @ Charleston
  48. Rice – unbeaten with 2 road wins
  49. Nevada – win @ Nebraska, only loss to San Francisco
  50. Saint John’s – win vs Boston College, only loss to BYU
  51. Ucla – wins vs Pepperdine and Cal, only loss to San Diego State
  52. Penn State – win vs VCU, loss to Seton Hall
  53. Vcu – wins vs Memphis and Utah State, losses to West Virginia and Penn St
  54. Iowa – only buy wins
  55. Creighton – only buy wins
  56. Ohio State – only buy wins
  57. Illinois – only buy wins
  58. Maryland – only buy wins
  59. Rutgers – only buy wins
  60. Duke – only buy wins
  61. Texas Tech – only buy wins, loss to Houston
  62. Minnesota – only buy wins
  63. ARMY
  64. UMASS LOWELL – 3 losses, but win vs San Francisco
  65. NC State – only buy wins
  66. Arkansas – only buy wins
  67. Syracuse – only buy wins
  68. MONTANA STATE
  69. EASTERN KENTUCKY
  70. Washington State – only buy wins
  71. Texas A&M – only buy wins
  72. Georgia – only buy wins
  73. Arizona – only buy wins
  74. Florida State – only buy wins
  75. Wiscnosin – only buy wins, loss @ Marquette
  76. Virginia – only buy wins, loss to San Francisco
  77. ABILENE CHRISTIAN – unbeaten
  78. SAINT PETER’S
  79. UIC – 3 div1 wins
  80. SAINT FRANCIS U
  81. TEXAS SOUTHERN
  82. DREXEL
  83. GRAND CANYON
  84. NORFOLK STATE

 

COMMENTS FROM THE STAFF (coming soon….maybe)

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Tuesday, December 8th

Posted on December 8, 2020 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games that feature 3 Spotlight-worthy games – CLICK HERE

For last night’s Hoops HD Report podcast – CLICK HERE

Austin Peay (3-1, 0-0 OVC) at Murray State (2-1, 0-0 OVC) – 8:30 PM EST (ESPN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the far reaches of Western Kentucky for the Ohio Valley conference opener between Austin Peay and Murray State. The Govs started the season with a second place finish in the #BeachBubble at Fort Myers – they beat Omaha and East Tennessee State before falling to Abilene Christian in the championship. Throw in a non-D1 win against Carver, and Terry Taylor is looking like a leading OVC Player of the Year candidate with 19.5 points a game and 12 rebounds a game through their first four games.

Murray State opened their season with a glorified exhibition against non-D1 Greenville with a 173-95 victory; they have split their first two games against D1 competition with a loss at Middle Tennessee State and, most recently, a 76-65 home victory against Illinois State. Tevin Brown scored 22 points for the Racers against Illinois State and became the 44th member of Murray State’s 1,000-point club. He is only a junior and may be on pace to potentially be a future 2,000-point member as well!

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Dec 8th

Posted on December 8, 2020 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for our the latest Hoops HD Report

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-CREIGHTON AT KANSAS.  Two top ten teams that are looking for what would be their biggest win of the season so far.  Kansas does have the win against Kentucky, but based on how they’ve looked, beating Creighton would probably be the bigger win.  This is almost assuredly a game that will impact what seedline these two teams end up on.

-PURDUE AT MIAMI FL (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both teams are off to respectable starts, but could also use some notable wins to boost the value of their resumes.

-COLORADO AT TENNESSEE.  It’s the season opener for the Vols (FINALLY!!) and they take on what appears to be a pretty good Buffs team that comes into this one at 2-0 and is looking to make a run at an NCAA Tournament bid.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT MINNESOTA (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  BC has looked good in the games that they’ve played, but they’ve only managed a 1-3 record.  Minney comes in at 4-0, but has pretty much just played buy games, so both teams could really use this one today.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT IOWA (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both teams are highly ranked and looking for a big time win to show that they deserve the ranking.  Both teams are potential/probable protected seeds, and this is the kind of win that can help get a team up there.

-OHIO STATE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Ohio State is unbeaten, but this will be their first road test of the year.  They’ll go up against a Notre Dame team that has struggled this season.

-PENN STATE AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Penn State has shown some early life, but a win in a game like this could give them a whole lot of early life.  VA Tech is already unbeaten and already has some big wins, so they come in to this one trying to hold serve.

-ILLINOIS AT DUKE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both teams are ranked in the top ten, but neither of them have a really big win yet like this one would be.  It falls into the category of another early season match up between two highly ranked teams that are possible/probable protected seeds and looking for a big win for their resume.

-SYRACUSE AT RUTGERS (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both teams are unbeaten, but also untested.  Both also have limited opportunities out of conference to prove themselves, so this one is important.

-UC IRVINE AT USC.  They are probably overmatched in this one, but we think UCI will be a Big West frontrunner and it will be fun to see what they can do against a USC team that’s off to a good start.

-DELAWARE AT UMBC – Delaware is 1-0

-UTEP AT SAINT MARY’S.  UTEP is 2-0 and SMC is a pretty respectable 4-1

BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)

-Wagner @ Seton Hall
-Idaho State @ Utah
-Northern Kentucky @ Dayton
-Rider @ Saint John’s
-Montana @ Georgia
-Tennessee State @ Belmont
-Central Arkasnas @ Saint Louis
-Mississippi Valley State @ Memphis
-Oral Roberts @ Oklahoma State
-Green Bay @ Marquette

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The Hoops HD Report: December 7th

Posted on December 7, 2020 by David Griggs

We recap a busy week of games that featured both Gonzaga and Baylor picking up wins against highly ranked teams, but then unfortunately having their game against each other cancelled.  Michigan State is also off to a big start with their win over Duke, and a lot of the rest of the Big Ten appears to be strong.  Two Big East teams won rivalry games as Marquette knocked off Wisconsin in an upset thriller, and Xavier held off Cincinnati to remain unbeaten.  San Diego State has played their way into the rankings, Saint Louis and Richmond continue to look strong in the Atlantic Ten, Missouri had a big week out of the SEC, and Kentucky continues to struggle.  We discuss all that and more!!

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: Monday, December 7th (and other News, Notes, and Games)

Posted on December 7, 2020 by John Stalica

Hampton (1-0) at Norfolk State (2-1) – 7:00 PM EST

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Tidewater region in Virginia – a pair of old MEAC rivals square off tonight in the Battle of the Bay where the Hampton Pirates (now in the Big South) pay a visit to the Norfolk State Spartans. Hampton opened their season with an 82-78 victory at George Washington. Davion Warren led the Pirates with 20 points, including 18 points in the second half. Hampton was also supposed to have a game at William and Mary two days later, but that game was canceled because of COVID-19.

Norfolk State opened their season with two wins on James Madison’s campus against the host Dukes and Radford on Thanksgiving weekend. In their most recent outing, the Spartans suffered an 80-66 loss at home against Old Dominion. Devante Carter has averaged 14 points a game through NSU’s first three games of the season.

 

OTHER NEWS, NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-Tonight we will be recording the Hoops HD Report, so be on the lookout for that.  I will also ATTEMPT to get this week’s Merit Rankings and Bracket Projections posted some time today.  It is a very busy day in the Puppet Bunker, and the weekly Monday Bracket may not make it to press until Tuesday.  But, it’s 2020, so there are no rules!!

-Villanova picked up a really nice win against Texas.  I was actually impressed with both teams.  Nova is a national title contender that looked like it by beating a ranked team on the road, and Texas is a legit top 25 team that looked like it by hanging with a national title contender.

-Kentucky has fallen to 1-3 after losing to a Georgia Tech team that came into the game 0-2 with two losses to (albeit good) UTR teams.  Every year I say that you can’t read too much into Kentucky early in the season because they really don’t get going until about their tenth game.  But yesterday they looked exceptionally bad.  I still think they’ll come around and be a force by the end of the year, but they’ve got a long way to go to get there.

-Xavier is now 6-0 after their win at Cincinnati.  This game has been a nearly unwatchable rock fight in recent years, but yesterday’s game actually had a flow to it, both teams played well, and it wasn’t until the final minute that Xavier got control and pulled ahead.  And, just so everyone knows, Gold Star is better!  #GoldStarIsBetter

-Oklahoma went on the road and handed TCU their first loss of the season.  This was also the Big 12 opener for both teams, so a nice job for the Sooners opening things up with a road win.

-Congrats to Bellarmine who picked up their first ever win as a D1 program with a 84-63 win over Howard.

-WOFFORD AT RICHMOND.  It doesn’t look like Wofford will be a SoCon frontrunner this year, but they do come into this game 2-0.  For Richmond it’s their first game since their big win at Kentucky and they are trying to build on that.

-EASTERN WASHINGTON AT OREGON (buy game)

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Sunday, December 6th

Posted on December 6, 2020 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

Buffalo (1-1, 0-0 MAC) at Bowling Green (3-1, 0-0 MAC) – 6:00 PM EST (ESPN3)

Tonight’ UTR Game of the Day is the Mid-American Conference opener for both the Buffalo Bulls and the Bowling Green Falcons. Both teams are expected to contend for the MAC’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid; the Falcons were the preseason favorite. BGSU has won three straight games after a season-opening loss at Michigan; Justin Turner had 19 points in their last outing – an 88-67 victory against non-D1 Purdue-Northwest.

While Buffalo isn’t quite on the level of teams that they enjoyed under Bob Hurley and Nate Oats; they did end up finishing 5th overall in the MAC last season. This year, they have played 2 games in Bubbleville at the Mohegan Sun – a win against Towson and a loss against Army. Jeenathan Williams averaged 21.5 points a game in the Bulls’ two games played.

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