HoopsHD at the Wooden Legacy: Part 3 of 3

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Jon Teitel

There are a lot of great college basketball tournaments every late-November: the Maui Invitational, the Battle 4 Atlantis, etc. When the Wooden Legacy organizers announced that its 2019 field of 8 schools would include both Penn AND Arizona, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel had no choice but to request a media credential/buy a plane ticket/check out his 2 alma maters in person. He expected to see a total of 6 separate games (3 involving the Quakers and 3 involving the Wildcats) but due to some travel nightmares and wild finishes he only saw 3 games during the weekend. We posted Parts 1 & 2 earlier this week:

https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/06/hoopshd-at-the-wooden-legacy-part-1-of-3
https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/07/hoopshd-at-the-wooden-legacy-part-2-of-3

We now conclude our coverage with Part 3 featuring the Sunday evening championship game between Penn and Wake Forest.

Great pregame meal of Caesar salad/ziti with meat! Great company on press row as I found myself sitting next to brand-new HoopsHD podcast guest Aaron Torres: as they say down the street in Anaheim, it’s a small world after all. The lower bowl was full of Wildcat fans who were hungry for a championship:

The Arizona cheerleaders brought their alternate blue uniforms and were ready to help the fans cheer their team to victory:

I assumed that Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji was going to be the best big man on the court but 7-footer Olivier Sarr won that award. After doing very little in his 1st 2 games against BC/Columbia he has turned it on in a big way and averaged 15 PPG/11 RPG in his previous 5 games. He showed some nice touch off the bench with a turnaround jumper and baseline jumper, some nice power with a rebound/follow dunk, and seemed to single-handedly take Nnaji out of the game on the other end of the court:

Fortunately for the Wildcats’ 3 freshmen starters their elder statesmen rose to the occasion. Redshirt senior Chase Jeter made a reverse layup and a couple of pretty hook shots:

…while redshirt senior Dylan Smith made a pair of 1st half threes, a tough runner, and even a floater off the glass to help his team open up a 39-33 halftime lead:

Arizona coach Sean Miller watched his team extend its lead to 15 PTS in the 2nd half but Wake Forest coach Danny Manning’s team kept fighting back and eventually cut the lead to single digits thanks to a 23-17 advantage at the FT line:

Sarr continued making shots and grabbing rebounds en route to yet another double-double with 21 PTS/13 REB. His teammate Brandon Childress had a horrible shooting night from the field (4-18 FG) but by draining all 9 of his FTs and a couple of shots from behind the arc he actually made a competent contribution with 19 PTS:

Arizona’s freshman trio of Nnaji (who fouled out after committing 4 turnovers)/Josh Green/Nico Mannion had an equally-putrid effort with 6-24 FG but the 6’6” Green hit the boards hard to end up with a career-high 12 REB:

Fortunately Jeter/Smith combined for 37 PTS/13-19 FG to help clinch a 73-66 win and 1 shiny new trophy:

And Wilbur wanted it BAD:

I walked onto the court for the trophy ceremony and witnessed some nifty scenes. Smith hugged Green to thank him for all of his rebounds:

The champs were getting excited to finally hoist the trophy:

..and then the chance arrived:

Coach Manning kept his team on the court to see what might have been but they did not seem pleased.

Jeter was torn between holding onto the trophy and picking up his all-tourney team medal:

Mannion’s underwhelming night could not erase the memory of his pristine performances against Pepperdine/Arizona, which is why he was named the Wooden Legacy MVP:

Jeter/Mannion were joined on the all-tourney team by Penn’s AJ Brodeur (not pictured), Smith, and Sarr:

Coach Miller is 1 cool customer but I hope he will show a little more emotion the next time that he wins a championship:

I assumed this would be the end of my story…until I arrived at LAX the next day and noticed that (like me) the Demon Deacons were waiting for their own flight back to the East Coast. I never truly understood why former NBA players like Patrick Ewing/Penny Hardaway returned to college to become coaches until today. Manning earned almost $60 million during his 15-year pro career and could have easily stayed at home doing anything he wants. Instead he spends his time trying to teach his student-athletes to be the best they can be both on and off the court. On Sunday night about 10 minutes before the title game tipped off Coach Manning announced that he would be holding out 2 of his players who were allegedly behaving badly during the team’s trip to Disneyland the previous day. Less than 24 hours later he could have simply sat in the waiting area listening to music or reliving his 7-PT loss, but he decided to go buy a case of water and then hand the bottles out to his players so they could stay hydrated for the 5-hour flight back to Winston-Salem. Your actions when you do NOT know that you are on camera speak volumes about the kind of person you are. Thanks coach, and keep up the good work:

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

Posted on December 8, 2019 by John Stalica

For Jon Teitel’s second part of his photo essay of the Wooden Legacy – CLICK HERE

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

Central Michigan (7-2, 4-2 D1) at Valparaiso (5-4, 4-4 D1) – 2:00 PM (ESPN+)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to northwest Indiana and the edge of Chicagoland – the Valparaiso Crusaders are hosting the Chippewas of Central Michigan. Today is also Homer Drew Day – Valpo will be honoring its long-time head coach that was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame recently. They beat Toledo at home and Grand Canyon down in the Paraside Jam earlier this year, but the Crusaders have a 3-game losing streak against D1 competition that includes a 6-point loss at Eastern Michigan last Tuesday. Javon Freeman-Liberty averages over 22 points a game for Valpo.

CMU comes into the game with heavy hearts though – Don Chiodo was their main broadcaster for the past ten seasons and was killed in a car accident last week. (You can click here for that story, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press) He was also a 1990 graduate of the program. As for their team this year, the team is 4-2 and is currently on a 2-game winning streak that includes home wins against Youngstown State and UT-Martin. The last time they went on the road, the Chips had an 18-point lead at DePaul before the Blue Demons mounted a furious comeback to remain undefeated themselves. While this team has more balanced scoring and 4 players averaging over 10 points a game, Kevin McKay leads them with 15.6 points a game.

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

Posted on December 8, 2019 by David Griggs

For Part 2 of Jon Teitel’s photo essay of the Wooden Legacy – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES

-The Big East had itself quite a day yesterday. It started in the Big East/Big 12 battle that saw St. John’s pull off a mild upset at the Garden against previously unbeaten West Virginia. The Mountaineers were down 9 with 3 minutes to go and managed to tie the game in the final minute of regulation, but a pair of free throws from the Johnnies put them up for good and WVU’s prayer at the buzzer went unanswered.

-Marquette also got a nice road win at Kansas State – this now means that the Big East has a 4-0 lead against the Big 12 in their inaugural Battle series.

-Butler did get off to a slow start at home against Florida, but they blew open the game in the second half and ended up with a convincing win against the Gators. Butler now has the nation’s longest nonconference home-court winning streak of 56 games.

-Georgetown has 3 of their best wins away from home – one of those was last night in which they jumped out to a big lead right out of the gates against SMU and never allowed the Ponies into last night’s game. As for the rest of the Big East, Creighton, Villanova and Xavier all won their rivalry games against Nebraska, Saint Joe’s and Cincinnati respectively.

-It was not a good day for unbeaten teams; there were 16 at the start of the day but only 9 remained at the end of the day. In addition to West Virginia and SMU, other teams that fell included Arizona (at Baylor), Delaware (at GW), Colorado (at Kansas), Indiana (at Wisconsin) and Arkansas (at Western Kentucky).

-Maryland did survive what could have been their first loss of the season, and I do mean survive at home against Illinois. The Terps trailed almost the entire game, but a deep three-pointer from Anthony Cowan Jr. tied the game with a minute remaining, and a late loose ball foul by Illinois led to a game-winning free throw from Maryland. It was a tough week for Illinois in which they had two close losses that included games in which they had to come from behind AND to come from ahead to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

-Ohio State is making a case themselves for #1 in the country – right off the heels of a blowout win at North Carolina, they smashed Penn State and took what was a 9-point lead and turned it into a 32-point blowout after Lamar Stevens fouled out for the Nittany Lions.

-Boston College is 2-0 in the ACC. You heard that right – not only did they win their opener against Wake, they also won at Notre Dame for the first time since their Big East days. Now Notre Dame is 0-2 in the ACC and have yet to win a game, home or away, against a team outside of the UTR conferences.

-As for UTR teams, yesterday was a mixed bag. Arkansas State got a decent win at Tulsa, and Bowling Green survived in a back-and-forth game against Oakland at home yesterday. Wright State was upset at home against Indiana State and New Mexico State had a bit of a surprising loss at Washington State yesterday. Even UC-Irvine had a home loss against California Baptist yesterday.

-East Tennessee State also had a stumble yesterday at North Dakota State. While the Bison are 3-1 at home and a leading contender to win the Summit, it is nonetheless a strike against the Bucs as they look for a potential at-large NCAA resume.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-HOUSTON AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  I still think this could end up being a very good Houston team, but they have been slow out of the gate so far.  This would be a nice road win for their resume if they’re able to pick it up.  South Carolina isn’t expected to be inside the bubble come March, but they are at least decent and are off to a 6-3 start on the year.

-SAINT LOUIS VS TULANE (Game in Phoenix AZ).  I know no one is all that excited about either team, and as the season continues to play out both of them may fall off the radar, but for now both teams are coming into this game with 7-1 records, so there is a reason to sit up and take notice.

-CLEMSON AT FLORIDA STATE (ACC).  Florida State is looking to bounce back after their loss to Indiana earlier this week, and a winnable home game against Clemson is a good way to do it.  Clemson will certainly have the opportunities to land inside the bubble if they can string together some wins, but that’s easier said than done and it has been a while since Clemson beat a tournament caliber team away from home.

-SOUTH ALABAMA AT RICHMOND.  A win for the Spiders gets them to 8-1.  South Alabama should make quite a bit of noise in the Sun Belt this year, but is probably overmatched today.

-WICHITA STATE AT OKLAHOMA STATE.  This is a really good game between two teams that are (probably) better than what they’ve gotten credit for up to this point.  Oklahoma State is coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Georgetown, which was their first of the year, but they looked really impressive in the NIT Season Tip-Off blowing out both Syracuse and Ole Miss, and they get a shot at a Wichita State team that’s very close to playing their way back into national relevance as well.

-SAN JOSE STATE AT SAN DIEGO STATE (Mountain West).  If this wasn’t a conference game, it would be listed down with the buy games.

-TEXAS A&M VS TEXAS (Game in Fort Worth).  I’m just glad this rivalry is resuming!!  Granted, you kind of hate that the first edition of the revamped rivalry appears to be so one-sided with TAMU being in such a rebuilding mode, but it should still be fun seeing these two go at it again.  They met one time previously down in the Battle 4 Atlantis a few years back, but this is the first time the two have met in the state of Texas since the series stopped when TAMU left for the SEC.

-NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA (ACC).  North Carolina is really getting beaten up in the press after they were blown off their own court by Ohio State.  Virginia was blown out even worse at Purdue earlier this week, so both teams are kind of looking to pick themselves off, lick their wounds, and bounce back.

-DAYTON VS SAINT MARY’S (Game in Phoenix AZ).  This is one of the more important games of the day because both teams are good, but both also have limited opportunities to build up their resume.  This game is one of those opportunities.  Dayton looks to be more proven than SMC, but even still their best wins were against Georgia and Virginia Tech and it’s hard to say for sure if either one will be solidly inside the bubble come March.  SMC’s win over Wisconsin has also lost some of its sparkle as the season has played out, so it isn’t crazy to say that this would be the biggest win of the season on paper up to this point for whoever pulls it out.

-BUFFALO AT DEPAUL.  Buffalo has improved as the season has gone on, but they are coming off a rather unimpressive showing in a loss to Vanderbilt.  DePaul remains unbeaten and the hype around them is continuing to build.  They are riding a huge momentum wave coming into this game, and if they can get the win then they may find themselves in the rankings on Monday.

-NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE (Big Ten).  Purdue is suddenly red hot having won four of their last five, including a win over VCU and a blowout win against Virginia.  Their only loss was an overtime thriller against Florida State.  They shouldn’t have too much trouble with Northwestern tonight. Yet we just never know which Northwestern shows up on a day-to-day basis.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT SAM HOUSTON STATE.   LA Tech is coming off a huge win against Mississippi State and just needs to avoid the hangover loss against a Sam Houston State team that, quite frankly, isn’t very good.  This would be the third true road win of the season for LA Tech if they’re able to pull it off.

-LIBERTY VS GRAND CANYON (Game in Phoenix AZ).  Liberty is 10-0, but this is by far their biggest test of the season so far.  GCU has been rather unimpressive, but going on the road and winning there is still tougher to do than what Liberty has faced in their previous games. This game is actually being played in the Suns’ arena as part of a tripleheader (the Jerry Colangelo Classic) that includes SLU/Tulane and UD/Saint Mary’s.

-GONZAGA AT WASHINGTON.  Simply put, this is a huge rivalry game between two ranked teams.  It would look good both on and off paper.  Both teams have been tested this season as well, but this would still probably be the biggest win for either one of them up to this point, especially when you consider that it would be a true road win for the Zags.  Gonzaga did beat Oregon last week, but that was on a neutral floor.

-RUTGERS AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten).  Rutgers is improving, and Michigan State has faced more adversity than many were expecting up to this point.  Having said that, this still appears to be a huge mismatch.

-SETON HALL AT IOWA STATE (Big East/Big 12 Battle).  This is a really fun OOC game between two likely tournament teams (although Iowa State does need to start picking up some wins), and it will look good on the winning team’s resume.

-EASTERN KENTUCKY AT NORTHERN KENTUCKY. Not quite a buy game, but a game nonetheless that the Norse should be expected to win at home.

BUY GAMES

-Southern @ Akron
-SC Upstate @ Furman
-Northwestern State @ LSU
-Denver @ UCLA

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HoopsHD at the Wooden Legacy: Part 2 of 3

Posted on December 7, 2019 by Jon Teitel

There are a lot of great college basketball tournaments every late-November: the Maui Invitational, the Battle 4 Atlantis, etc. When the Wooden Legacy organizers announced that its 2019 field of 8 schools would include both Penn AND Arizona, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel had no choice but to request a media credential/buy a plane ticket/check out his 2 alma maters in person. He expected to see a total of 6 separate games (3 involving the Quakers and 3 involving the Wildcats) but due to some travel nightmares and wild finishes he only saw 3 games during the weekend. We began with Part 1 earlier this week:

https://hoopshd.com/2019/12/06/hoopshd-at-the-wooden-legacy-part-1-of-3

We now turn to Part 2 of our coverage featuring the Sunday morning game between Penn and Long Beach State.

I was hoping for some pregame pastries or bacon/eggs…but the pickings were slim for 10:30AM on the West Coast so a Rice Krispie treat and some water was the best that I could do. Even though the 49ers’ campus is only 12 miles due west of the Anaheim Area it must have been a little too early for a holiday weekend…which is why it appeared that there were approximately 100 people in attendance! Let’s huddle up and start the show:

Penn SR AJ Brodeur (making his 100th career start) is so reliable that you just know he will fill up the stat sheet every single time that he steps onto the court: he made 2 layups and a dunk to finish the 1st half with a quiet 6 PTS…but also had 5 AST/4 STL/3 REB/1 BLK. 1 reason that Brodeur was able to record so many AST was the offensive balance all around him: after Jarrod Simmons knocked down a pair of early FTs he became the 9th different Quaker to score in the 1st 9 minutes of the game! The shooting star was FR Max Martz: he only scored 20 PTS during the entire month of November but knocked down 4 shots from behind the arc off the bench against the Beach en route to 14 PTS in the 1st half. If he can develop some consistency from game to game then he will become a super-sub in no time at all:

Long Beach remained competitive due in large part to SO Chance Hunter. He made almost every type of shot you can imagine: a layup and a hook, then a 3 and a long jumper, and finished it up with an old-fashioned 3-PT play. His 21-PT 1st half tied his career-high for an entire game and he almost outshot Penn single-handedly from the FT line (3 for Hunter and 4 for Penn):

My personal highlight of the 2nd half was when a loose ball come my way. 1 of the perks of sitting in a near-empty arena is that I could slowly walk over to the ball/pick it up/pass it back to the ref (no photo available)! Some UCF players also dropped by to check out a bit of the action before preparing for their own game against Charleston:

Martz knocked down yet another 3 in the 2nd half, leading his team to a huge 31-8 advantage in bench scoring. The Quaker starting guards dominated in the 2nd half: Ryan Betley/Jordan Dingle/Devon Goodman only scored 9 1st half PTS combined but exploded for 36 in the 2nd stanza. They made layups and threes and the passing was near-perfect: the team had 21 AST on its 1st 23 FGs! Dingle could be 1 of the best 2nd half players in the nation: he had 10 1st half PTS combined vs. Arizona/Long Beach State but a ridiculous 38 after halftime in those 2 games. Hunter was the exact opposite, following up his great 1st half with an airball on his 1st possession after halftime and ended up with only 3 measly 2nd half PTS. Penn coach Steve Donahue must have been impressed as his team scored a season-high 95 PTS (their most since a 99-93 win at Brown in the 2018 regular season finale) in a 16-PT win to finish off their trip to Anaheim:

I am still unsure how I feel about the alternate grey uniforms…but if it helps them make 15 threes every afternoon then let’s go grey!

The sparsely-attended postgame press conference gave me an opportunity to pose a couple of questions. I asked Brodeur about his own 1st month as a college freshman and how impressed he was with his 2 freshman teammates who led the way that day (Dingle/Martz combined for 38 PTS). He explained how the college game is a different speed than high school and that most college freshmen are not used to simply being 1 option rather than the main man. He said it is easy to get sped up and make some mistakes: they are still learning but you can already see their growth:

My inquiry for Coach Donahue was whether his team’s hot 3-PT shooting (5th straight game with 11+ 3PM) would impact his offensive strategy going forward. He responded that his team had struggled with 3P% the past 2 years but that this year’s success has allowed them to avoid taking a single mid-range jumper so far this season. The key in his mind is putting pressure on your opponent at the rim, which is why he thinks that Brodeur is as good an all-around player as anyone in the country at any level. That is high praise but also factually accurate: the senior stud leads the Quakers in almost every single stat category and allowed his team to compete with Arizona in their previous game:

Hope you enjoyed Part 2, please check back later this weekend for Part 3.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Saturday, December 7th

Posted on December 7, 2019 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games featuring a number of conference and rivalry games – CLICK HERE

UNC-Asheville (4-2, 2-2 D1) at Western Carolina (6-2, 5-2 D1) – 4:00 PM EST (ESPN3)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Cullowhee, North Carolina – home of the Western Carolina Catamounts. They will be hosting UNC-Asheville in what is known locally as the Mountain Rivalry. Asheville is coming off of a win at Charlotte – something that Wake Forest and Charleston were not able to pull off this season. Taijon Jones (16.3 PPG) and DeVon Baker (15.7 PPG) lead the Bulldogs in scoring; Jones is also shooting over 41% from 3-point land this season.

The Catamounts have won the last two games in the Mountain Rivalry – they will be playing this game at the Ramsey Center for the first time since 2015. WCU opened SoCon play with an 87-77 victory against Chattanooga in which they were led by an amazing 29 points in the first half from Mason Faulkner (he would finish with 31). The Catamounts are a perfect 3-0 at home in D1 play with wins against Gardner-Webb, North Carolina A&T and Chattanooga; a win today would match their win total from all of last season.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Dec 7th

Posted on December 7, 2019 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-USC looked good for about 36 minutes against TCU, but almost fell apart at the very end.  TCU actually tied the game with less than ten seconds to go, but USC ended up scoring just before the final buzzer and holding on for an 80-78 in.

-Louisville and Michigan also picked up home conference wins, and Duke ran away from Virginia Tech in the second half on the road to pick up their first ACC win.

-Stephen F Austin wasn’t able to pick up the win at Alabama.  The Tide were actually in control for most of the second half.  I don’t want to say that’s a bad loss, but it was a missed opportunity for SFA to pick up another notable road win for their resume.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-MAINE AT CENTRAL CONNECTICUT (***Spotlight Game***).  I did not think it could be done.  I DID NOT THINK SO MUCH AWESOMENESS COULD BE PACKED INTO ONE ARENA!!!!!!  We are dispatching Lee Delvecchio!!!!!  That is….assuming he can stand all of the greatness that this game will give us!!!!

-PENN STATE AT OHIO STATE (Big Ten).  Penn State has looked decent at times.  Ohio State, in their last game at North Carolina, has looked as good as any team has all year.  They can keep that momentum going, pick up a conference win, and hold on to their high ranking (which may get even higher) with a win today.

-ARIZONA AT BAYLOR.  A really good road test for an Arizona team that’s been winning, but hasn’t always looked impressive.  They’ll have to play better than they have up to this point to knock off this Baylor team.  Both teams are ranked, both teams will likely be solidly inside the bubble, so this is a good resume building opportunity for both teams.

-FLORIDA AT BUTLER.  This should be a fun one.  Florida had huge expectations this year, but was slow out of the gate.  They seem to be getting better, and if they can knock off an unbeaten Butler team that’s been kind of a surprise this year, I think it’s safe to say that they are most of the way back.

-WEST VIRGINIA AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East/Big 12 Battle).  WVU is 7-0, and has looked good at times, but still hasn’t won over all the doubters.  They’ve got a decent resume, but not an outstanding one, and that won’t change even if they win today.  Still, they would remain unbeaten on the year and add a true road win to their resume.  Having said that, the Johnnies are 7-2, and a win for them kind of gives them some momentum as well.

-SYRACUSE AT GEORGIA TECH (ACC).  Syracuse hasn’t looked all that strong this year and needs to string together some wins just to get into the conversation.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT NOTRE DAME (ACC).  This is a winnable home conference game for Notre Dame, which can get them to a very respectable 7-2 on the season.

-NC STATE AT WAKE FOREST (ACC).  NC State is off to a decent start, but this is the kind of game that tournament teams are expected to be able to win.  It’s a road game, but it’s a road game against a team that will most likely struggle to make the NIT.

-NEVADA AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West).  Nevada has won four straight, including a decisive win over what appeared to be a decent Santa Clara team earlier in the week.  If they can pick up this conference win on the road then they are certainly back on the right trajectory.

-NEBRASKA AT CREIGHTON.  This is an in-state rivalry with a fair amount of heat.  Creighton is sitting at a decent 6-2, but they still have work to do.  Failing to beat a Nebraska team at home that isn’t likely to finish anywhere near the NCAA Tournament would be considered a setback.

-VILLANOVA AT SAINT JOSEPH’S (Big Five/The Holy War).  This is a rivalry.  I guess.  It’s probably more of a feud at this point, and Nova clearly has the upper hand, and leg, and everything else.

-BYU AT UNLV.  BYU just let one get away against rival Utah earlier in the week.  They need to start stringing together some wins if they want to end up on the right side of the bubble.  A road win at UNLV would certainly help.

-NEW MEXICO STATE VS WASHINGTON STATE (Game in Spokane WA).  New Mexico State has won their last two and appears to be getting back on track despite still being short handed.  This should be a winnable game for them despite the continued limited roster.

-ARKANSAS STATE AT TULSA.  We haven’t talked much about Tulsa, but they are 7-1.  Arkansas State isn’t that bad either with a 6-2 record.  Now neither one have really been seriously tested, but this is still a game that’s worth keeping an eye on.

-DELAWARE AT GEORGE WASHINGTON.  Delaware is 9-0, but they haven’t played the toughest of schedules, and that going to GW isn’t exactly going to toughen it up all that much.  Still, a win keeps them amongst the unbeaten.

-NEW MEXICO AT WYOMING (Mountain West).  New Mexico is out to a very respectable 8-2 start and can keep that momentum going with a winnable conference road game today.

-UNC GREENSBORO AT RADFORD.  UNCG still has a shot to land inside the bubble, but they have a very small margin for error.  They certainly can’t afford slip ups in games like this.

-INDIANA AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten).  Indiana wasn’t expected to do much this year, and even after their 7-0 start no one really took notice because all they were doing was winning buy games, but after their decisive win at home against Florida State earlier in the week you have to sit up and take notice.  Now the question is what will they look like when they play on the road?  Wisky has been somewhat disappointing so far this year and could use a bounce back win in a game like this.  So, something at stake for both teams.

-ILLINOIS AT MARYLAND (Big Ten).  Maryland clearly looks like the better team and will likely compete for a protected seed.  They just need to hold serve in games like this, which are home games against teams that aren’t likely to make the field.  Having said that, the Illini are 6-2 and if they could pull off an upset in a game like this it would catapult them onto the national stage.

-CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CLARA.  It isn’t likely that neither team will be on the committee’s radar come March, but for now both have decent records and it should be an intriguing game.

-CINCINNATI AT XAVIER (Crosstown Shootout).  A lot to unpack about this game.  It’s two teams with good records, but who also haven’t really passed the eye test and still have a lot more questions than answers.  It’s also a rivalry game.  It’s also a seemingly neglected rivalry game this year considering it is being played at the exact same time that Cincinnati’s football team is playing against Memphis (another rival) in the AAC Championship game for a chance to go to a major New Years Six bowl game.  So, half of the fans will likely be somewhat distracted.  How the hell does that happen??  Speaking of that….

-MEMPHIS AT UAB.  Memphis is trying to get to 8-1 and do it against their old CUSA rivals (or at least the closest thing they had to a rival at the time).  It’s probably not as important as the Xavier v Cincinnati game, but it’s still a pretty important basketball game that would garner a fair amount of interest if it weren’t being overshadowed by the AAC Football game.

-FRESNO STATE AT UTAH STATE (Mountain West).  A very winnable conference home game for Utah State.

-COLORADO AT KANSAS.  Colorado is 7-0, and while they’ve managed to pick up some big wins, none are in the same universe as a win at Kansas would be.  Both these teams are in the rankings, and both deserve to be there.  This will be a pretty meaty win for whoever ends up pulling it out.

-HAWAI’I AT OREGON.  Oregon is a solid 6-2 and still has a very high ceiling this year.  Hawaii is decent, but probably doesn’t have it in them to pull off a road win of this caliber.

-ARKANSAS AT WESTERN KENTUCKY.  Arkansas is 8-0, and although no one has gotten all that excited about them yet, they probably should if they’re able to pull off this win on the road.  It’s not front page headline type of win, but it is still a tough game to win.

-MISSOURI AT TEMPLE.  I’ve been very impressed with Temple this year, and feel that this is a very winnable game for them, which would get them to 7-1 and Temple will continue to warrant everyone’s attention.

-OLD DOMINION AT VCU.  This is a very heated rivalry, and it’s usually an entertaining game, but this year’s edition will likely end up resembling a buy game.

-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT NORTH DAKOTA STATE.  This is a tricky road game for ETSU.  North Dakota State isn’t likely to end up inside the bubble, but they are likely to win a lot of games at home this year, so if ETSU can pull it off the committee should give them some credit.

-MARQUETTE AT KANSAS STATE (Big East/Big 12 Battle).  Both teams have decent records, but you get the feeling that both have sort of fallen behind the pack a little bit.  They can still catch up, but there should be at least a slight sense of urgency to this game.

-GEORGETOWN AT SMU.  This game may fly under the radar a little bit, but it really shouldn’t.  SMU is unbeaten, and although they haven’t knocked off any real heavyweights, they haven’t all been home buy games either.  Georgetown just got a huge road win at Oklahoma State despite suddenly losing two key players.  This would be back to back road wins against unbeaten teams (at the time of the game) if they can pull this one off.

 

BUY GAMES (and equivalent games)

-CSU Bakersfield @ Ole Miss
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Kentucky
-Central Arkansas @ Utah
-SEMO @ Drake
-Cleveland State @ Kent State
-American @ George Mason
-Louisiana @ Arizona State

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