NEWS AND NOTES
-Gonzaga vs Baylor was cancelled just hours before it was scheduled to tip. It’s hard to put a positive spin on that, but I’ll try. We don’t always get a 1 v 2 match-up during the regular season! When it happens, it’s special! But, we’ve NEVER seen a 1 v 2 match-up get cancelled on the day it was supposed to be played!! NOT EVER!! WE WITNESSED HISTORY YESTERDAY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!
(on a side note, CBS reran the 2019 National Championship game instead. There was a group on twitter that went ballistic over the decision to do that. Ummm…okay?? I don’t know what the hell else CBS was supposed to do?? They needed to show something, and they couldn’t just send that crew to another part of the country to do another game that they probably didn’t have the rights to broadcast anyway, so I don’t know why so many people thought it was so outrageous that they reran the last national title game. I didn’t watch the rerun, BTW. I was watching Toccoa Falls vs The Citadel. That is not a joke. That is honestly what I was watching instead of Baylor v Gonzaga).
-Kansas had to sweat out North Dakota State, and actually trailed for much of the second half, but finally got control of the game with less than a minute to go. NDSU remains winless on the season.
-Arizona struggled against Eastern Washington, who we think will be the Big Sky frontrunner, but managed a bit of a second half comeback and avoided the upset.
-SMU trailed Dayton for most of the game, but kept it close, got the lead late in the game, and ended up getting a nice road win. I think we will see both of these teams in the NCAA Tournament this March, so this will probably turn out to be an important game that the committee looks at.
-BYU got a nice win over rival Utah State in a game that gave us a really good atmosphere despite having such a limited number of fans. BYU improves to 5-1 on the season and in pretty good shape overall.
-We also had one of the more surprising UTR losses yesterday – preseason OVC favorite Belmont got sand-blasted at home against Samford. To put this in perspective, Belmont was ranked 227 spots ahead of Samford in KenPom’s rankings prior to yesterday’s game. This was the same Samford team that had lost at home to Alabama A&M a few days earlier.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-VILLANOVA AT TEXAS (Big East/Big 12 Challenge). Both of these teams have been busy early in the season, and both have picked up some pretty impressive wins already. This is a fun early season match-up between two top twenty teams that have already proven themselves somewhat, and that are looking for what would be their biggest win of the season up to this point. We think Nova is a Final Four caliber team, and aren’t quite sure where Texas’s ceiling is yet, so we should learn something about both of them.
-MISSOURI AT WICHITA STATE. We weren’t expecting either team to do much, but both come into this game without a loss and Mizzou was able to pick up a big win against Oregon, so these two teams could end up exceeding expectations.
-XAVIER AT CINCINNATI. This game is normally electric (at least with the fans), but it’ll be a totally different feel this year. Cincinnati has only played one game and they had to sweat out Lipscomb. Xavier has also had to sweat out some UTR teams, so this would be the biggest win of the season so far both on and off paper for whoever pulls it off. Also noteworthy for the Musketeers – they will have freshmen Colby Jones (originally a projected starter) and CJ Wilcher available for the first time this season; Adam Kunkel (transfer from Belmont) also had his waiver approved to be immediately eligible.
-OKLAHOMA AT TCU (Big 12). Neither team has a loss yet, and TCU has actually been tested a little bit. In addition to this being a chance to pick up a nice early season win, it’s also a conference game.
-WEST VIRGINIA AT GEORGETOWN (Big East/Big 12 Challenge). WVU’s only loss was a hard fought game against Gonzaga. They’ve already shown they can win away from home and shouldn’t have too much trouble against a Georgetown team that (so far) looks to be among the worst in the Big East.
-PEPPERDINE AT SAN DIEGO STATE. San Diego State continues to look impressive. I’m not sure why they aren’t in the rankings yet, but they will be soon enough. Pepperdine’s only loss was a triple OT game to UCLA, so they look to be much improved and have another shot at an early statement win today.
-KENTUCKY AT GEORGIA TECH. Kentucky has dropped their last two, but they’ve got a more manageable game today even though it is on the road. Georgia Tech was a team that we thought would be improved this year, but they’ve struggled out of the gate so far.
-DEPAUL AT IOWA STATE (Big East/Big 12 Challenge). This is the first game for a DePaul team that had a good start out of the gate a year ago, but fell apart once conference play started. Winning on the road would be a good way to start the season this year.
-SETON HALL AT PENN STATE. Seton Hall is off to a rather disappointing 1-3 start. They’ve played some quality teams, but have yet to look like an NCAA Tournament caliber team. Penn State is 2-0, but pretty much untested, so this is a chance for us to learn something about them.
-CALIFORNIA AT UCLA (Pac 12). It’s the conference opener for a UCLA team that finished strong a year ago, but has limped out of the starting gate this year. Still, this is a conference home game against a rather weak Cal team, so they should be able to win it.
-LOUISIANA TECH AT LSU. LA Tech is unbeaten, and LSU is a strong tournament caliber tam. If LA Tech wants to make a statement this is their chance.
-LA SALLE AT ARMY. Look out for Army who can get to 4-1 with a win! Their only loss was a close on to Florida.
-UCF AT MICHIGAN. Both teams come in without a loss, but Michigan appears to be a lot more proven at this point.
-CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT WESTERN ILLINOIS. A win gets CMU to 3-0
-BUFFALO AT BOWLING GREEN (MAC). Bowling Green is the preseason favorite to win the MAC. If they want any shot at all at finishing inside the bubble then they need to dominate the league.
BUY GAMES (or games that might as well be)
-Tennessee Tech @ Western Carolina – a win for WC gets them to 5-1
-Grambling @ Tennessee Tech
-South Wesleyan (nondiv1) @ Mercer
-Cleveland State @ Ohio U
-Stetson @ Florida
-Stanford @ NC A&T (road buy game?)
-Stony Brook @ Saint John’s
-Saint Ambrose (nondiv1) @ Drake
-Central Arkansas @ Little Rock
-Mississippi Valley State @ Western Kentucky
-Troy @ UAB
-UTRGV @ Texas A&M
-Western Michigan @ Michigan State
-Detroit @ Notre Dame
