Hoops HD

CLICK HERE for the latest Hoops HD Report where we discuss all the action in the exempt tournaments, and more!

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between Miami OH and South Alabama – CLICK HERE

-Let’s begin out in Maui, where Virginia Tech pulled off a stunning upset against #3 Michigan State.  I don’t think there has ever been a single game that shifted my opinion about a team more than that one did.  VA Tech lost all five of their starters from a season ago, along with their head coach.  All the buckets appeared to be empty and they looked like one of the bottom two teams in the ACC.  Now all of a sudden they are undefeated with a road win at Clemson (which is Clemson’s only loss) and a neutral floor win against Michigan State.  This is a solid top 25 caliber team.  24 hours ago I would have told you they were not even a top 100 team.

Also impressive out in Maui was Dayton, who will face Virginia Tech tonight.  They blew past a talented (but young) Georgia team in their game yesterday, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep that momentum going tonight.

-Cincinnati needed overtime to get past Valparaiso.  The good news for Cincinnati is that they’ve been winning their games.  The bad news is that they haven’t looked impressive at all in doing so.  The coaching change is probably effecting them since the style he wants to play is something they’re not used to, but to barely beat Illinois State, then lose to Bowling Green, and then barely beat Valpo….it wasn’t exactly a strong showing for them down at the Paradise Jam.

-Pittsburgh picked up a nice win against a pretty good Kansas State team, which was kind of a surprise.  Pitt now has wins against Florida State and K State, and a loss to Nicholls.  #SchizophrenicPitt

-Butler pretty much rolled past Missouri.  Butler looked to be shorthanded coming into the year, and then they lost a few more players to injury within the first couple of games, so I wasn’t expecting much from them at all.  But, they’re unbeaten and have some pretty good wins.  And on top of that, they’re starting to get healthy again.

-Stanford was another team that I wasn’t expecting much out of, but they are undefeated and looked pretty good yesterday as they absolutely rolled over Oklahoma.   Their game against Butler tonight should be a good one.

-Richmond picked up a huge win over Wisconsin.  Suddenly you have to sit up and take notice of the Spiders who are undefeated and now have a couple of notable wins on their resume.  If they can somehow knock off Auburn tonight then we may be talking Top 25 for the Spiders.

-Arkansas remained unbeaten with a bank-shot game winning three pointer at the end of overtime to knock off Georgia Tech on the road.  That’s a pretty good start for the Razorbacks.

-Nevada picked up their third straight win to win the Paradise Jam, which gets them to 5-3 on the year after a somewhat sluggish start.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NEW MEXICO STATE VS SOUTH FLORIDA (Cayman Islands Classic).  Both of these team were set up to have big years, and I suppose that they still can, but as for now they are both dealing with big time injuries that are impacting their teams.  Still, the winner will move on to the finals of this event tomorrow.

-GEORGIA VS MICHIGAN STATE (Maui Invitational).  Georgia lost big to Dayton yesterday, which may have been a bit of a wake up call for this young roster, but they’ve got another huge test today against a Michigan State team that fell to Virginia Tech in a really big upset.  Both teams are looking to bounce back and get notable neutral floor win on their resume.

-UCLA VS CHAMINADE (nondiv1) (Maui Invitational).  If UCLA loses this one then they are really in trouble.

-WISCONSIN VS NEW MEXICO (Legends Classic).  It’s the third place game, but that means absolutely nothing.  It counts the same as it would if this were just a regular season one-off on a neutral floor.  Wisconsin suffered a somewhat surprising loss to Richmond yesterday and is looking to bounce back against a decent New Mexico team that’s still looking for its first really big win.

-WICHITA STATE VS SOUTH CAROLINA (Cancun Challenge).  Wichita State is unbeaten and has looked pretty good, but they haven’t been challenged the way that they likely will be in this event.  South Carolina has just one loss and this is a chance for them to pick up some notable wins as well.

-APPALACHIAN STATE AT EAST TENNESSEE STATE.  ETSU is good enough to land inside the bubble this March, but they have to keep winning and avoid losses in games like this.

-ARIZONA STATE AT PRINCETON.  Kind of an odd road game for the Sun Devils, but it’s a winnable road game which will help out their resume more than just a regular home buy game would.

-FURMAN AT ELON.  A win for Furman gets them to 6-1 on the year, as well as their third road win of the season

-OKLAHOMA VS MISSOURI (Hall of Fame Classic).  Both teams have looked good at times, but both could also use a notable win on their resume, so this game does have a bit of a sense of urgency to it.  That being said, both will have many opportunities between now and the end of the year to prove themselves to the selection committee.

-AUBURN VS RICHMOND (Legends Classic). Richmond has been fun to watch this season, and they picked up a huge win against Wisconsin yesterday to get to the championship game tonight against an unbeaten Auburn team that absolutely steamrolled New Mexico.  It’s a resume building opportunity for both teams.

-GEORGE MASON VS NEBRASKA (Cayman Islands Classic).  Nebraska has been awful this year and George Mason has been better than expected.  They can continue to add neutral floor wins to their resume if they can get past the Huskers.

-CENTRAL MICHIGAN AT DEPAUL.  This is a buy game, but since Central Michigan has just one loss and since DePaul is unbeaten I guess we will go ahead and highlight it.

-DAYTON VS VIRGINIA TECH (Maui Invitational).  Dayton just looked fantastic in their win against Georgia, and in one sense you wanted to see what they could do against a heavyweight like Michigan State, but in another sense you’re excited to see what they can do against a Virginia Tech team that appears to be a much bigger heavyweight than what anyone realized.  This one should be fun tonight, and like so many of these games it’s a resume building opportunity.

-NORTHERN IOWA VS WEST VIRGINIA (Cancun Challenge).  A really interesting game here between a Northern Iowa team that we think is one of the better UTR teams out there, and a West Virginia team that’s looking to have a bounce back season.  Both teams come into this one unbeaten.

-WYOMING VS TCU (MGM Resorts Main Event).  TCU is off to a fairly decent start, but needs to bounce back from their overtime loss to Clemson and take advantage of some winnable games away from home like this one.

-STANFORD VS BUTLER (Hall of Fame Classic).  I didn’t expect either of these teams to be good this year, especially Butler with all of the injuries they’ve dealt with, but both have looked fantastic and both have knocked off some solid opponents along the way.  This should be a fun one tonight.

-KANSAS VS BYU (Maui Invitational).  BYU has been up and down this season, whereas Kansas has pretty much been up ever since they lost their season opener to Duke in what was a very close game.  The winner moves on to the championship game tomorrow night.

-COLORADO VS CLEMSON (MGM Resorts Main Event).  Both teams are coming into this with quite a bit of momentum, and a win in this game would look good on an NCAA Tournament resume, so it should be a fun one.

BUY GAMES (and equivalencies)

-Hampton @ San Francisco
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Notre Dame
-NJIT @ Rutgers
-Lindenwood (nondiv1) @ Illinois
-Houston Baptist @ Houston
-SFA @ Duke
-UC Davis @ California

NEWS AND NOTES

-Arizona State had a shot at the buzzer that would have tied the game against Virginia, but missed it.  The game was an absolute rock fight, but Virignia’s defense continues to suffocate basically anything that comes up against it, and they went on to win 48-45.

-Louisville held on to beat Akron 72-66.  They were never in danger of losing the game, but they didn’t exactly bury them either.  I know Akron ain’t bad, but Louisville is ranked #2 in the nation.  They have a nice win at Miami FL and five buy game wins on top of that.  Their next game against Western Kentucky in Nashville will probably be their biggest challenge of the season up to that point.  There are certainly bigger ones later on.

-Florida snapped out of whatever early season funk they were win by knocking off Xavier and winning The Charleston Classic.  Florida had a lead as big as 15pts in the second half, but Xavier fought back and actually had a shot in the final seconds to tie the game, but it didn’t go down and the Gators held on.  I now think that the Gators just hit the snooze bar when the season started, and that’s why they looked sub-par in their first four or five gamse.  They’re awake now!

-Utah State held on to win against North Texas in yet another game that was more of a challenge than you would expect, but they did get the win.

-Baylor picked up a really nice win against Villanova down in Myrtle Beach, and that is easily the biggest win of the season for the Bears up to this point.  Nova is still looking for their first really big win, although they did get a pretty good one against Mississippi State.

-Colorado stayed unbeaten after beating their Front Range rivals in the Las Vegas Something-or-Other tournament.  If you didn’t see this game, don’t bother to go back and watch it!

-Ron Hunter is off to a fantastic start at Tulane.  They knocked off Utah yesterday to improve to 5-1 on the year, and picked up a few neutral floor wins in the process.  By no means do I think Tulane has improved to the point of being a tournament caliber team, but they have improved.  It will be fun to watch what Ron Hunter does with this program in the coming years.

-LSU picked up a nice neutral floor win down in Jamaica against a Rhode Island team that had been playing pretty well.

-Saint John’s got by a UMass team that had done a little better than expected out of the gate to improve to 5-2.

-Duquesne blew out LMU in the finals of the Junkanoo Jam to remain unbeaten on the year.

-Bowling Green picked up their second really nice win in 24hrs after coming from behind to beat Cincinnati down in the Paradise Jam.  BGSU is now 5-1 on the season with neutral floor wins against Western Kentucky and Cincinnati.  This is a really fun team to watch and we will certainly have our eyes on them moving forward.

-Clemson needed overtime, but got by TCU, which was the first loss for the Horned Frogs and Clemson’s fifth straight win since they lost their season opener.

-UConn blasted past Miami FL to finish with two wins down in the Charleston Classic.  Their only loss was the double overtime thriller to Xavier, so UConn is certainly looking much improved this season.

-Vermont fell at home to Rider.  This is right after we were singing their praises and saying that we thought they were an at-large caliber team.  They are still very good, and nothing against Rider, but this was a rather inexplicable loss.

-Last, and probably least, Evansville snapped a three game losing streak with a triple overtime win, against Morgan State, in the 7th place game of the Island of the Bahamas Showcase.  They haven’t exactly been lighting the world on fire since their big win at Kentucky.  I’m now ready to simply call that win a fluke.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-COLORADO STATE VS NEW MEXICO STATE (Cayman Islands Classic).  I still think that at the end of the season New Mexico State will be a top 25 caliber team.  The problem is that they’ve been so beat up with injuries that they’re out to just a 2-3 start against so-so competition, so one of the games that they need to win is that last conference tournament game because without it they won’t make The Dance.  They have a chance to even up their record today and pick up some wins away from home in this event.

-GRAND CANYON VS ILLINOIS STATE (Paradise Jam).  A matchup between two teams that have really underachieved so far this season.  At least one of them will walk out of here with a semi-decent win away from home.

-GEORGIA VS DAYTON (Maui Invitational).  Both teams come in unbeaten, but up to this point Dayton hasn’t won anything but home buy games.  Georgia at least has a nice win against Georgia Tech under their belts.  It’s a chance at a notable neutral floor win and a chance to move on and likely play better competition in the next two rounds, which means more opportunities.

-FORDHAM VS WESTERN KENTUCKY (Paradise Jam).  Both teams have just one loss.  This is a very talented WKU team, but that has a rather small margin for error so they’re going to want to pick this one up and add another neutral floor win to their resume.  Fordham may rescind back into being Fordham, but at least for now they are 4-1 and if they were somehow able to win this game then they’d have more early season momentum built up than they have in quite some time.

-VIRGINIA TECH VS MICHIGAN STATE (Maui Invitational).  VA Tech comes in with a somewhat impressive 5-0 record.  They haven’t played top level competition, but we were expecting them to be in such a rebuilding mode that the 5-0 start still looks pretty good.  Michigan State has won three straight since losing their opener to Kentucky and can pick up some really nice wins in this event.

-GEORGE MASON VS OLD DOMINION (Cayman Islands Classic).  George Mason is out to a 5-1 start and if they can do well in this event then they will continue to build on what is a pretty good early season resume.  They may be at team to keep an eye on throughout the season.

-CINCINNATI VS VALPARAISO (Paradise Jam).  Cincinnati lost to Bowling Green the other night and is just trying to pick up another win in this event.  Valpo has played pretty well this season, so it may not be a cakewalk.

-PITTSBURGH VS KANSAS STATE (Fort Myers Classic).  K State is off to a 4-0 start, but this will probably be their biggest test of the season so far.  Having said that, Pitt, while better this year, hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire.  If K State is  a tournament caliber team then this is the kind of game that they need to be able to win.

-KENT STATE AT OHIO STATE.  It’s a buy game, but Kent State is unbeaten and one of the better teams in the MAC.  This is a huge opportunity for them to pick up a quality win, but it’s far easier said than done.  Ohio State is ranked in the top ten, and they’ve certainly earned it based on some of the games they’ve won.

-BUTLER VS MISSOURI (Hall of Fame Classic).  The game is in Kansas City, and features two teams that are out to pretty good starts.  Mizzou’s only loss was a close one at Xavier, and it was close despite the fact that they really didn’t play well.  Butler has dealt with injuries, but has still won all of their games and appears to be better than expected this year.  This should be a really fun match-up.

-WISCONSIN VS RICHMOND (Legends Classic).  Richmond is 4-0, and I do think the Spiders have a decent team this year, but this is far and away their toughest test of the season so far.  Wisconsin has won four straight since losing their season opener in overtime and can build on their resume during this event.

-ARKANSAS AT GEORGIA TECH.  Arkansas is unbeaten and can pick up a pretty nice road win today against a Georgia Tech team that has played well at times.

-WASHINGTON STATE VS NEBRASKA (Cayman Islands Classic).  This game is only highlighted because of the Stallings Award implications that it has.  That is the award that Hoops HD gives out each year to the worst non-UTR team!

-LA SALLE VS MURRAY STATE (Gulf Coast Showcase).  If Murray State wants any chance at all of landing inside the bubble then they are going to need to continue to rack up wins.

-NEVADA VS BOWLING GREEN (Paradise Jam).  Bowling Green has already picked up two pretty decent wins against Western Kentucky and Cincinnati.  If they can get a third then their resume is suddenly looking very good, at least for the month of November.  More importantly, they are creating a path for themselves to land inside the bubble if they can continue to make noise throughout the season.

-BRADLEY VS NORTHWESTERN (Fort Meyers Tip-Off).  Bradley is 4-1 and has a winnable game today against Northwestern.

-KANSAS VS CHAMINADE (nondiv1) (Maui Invitational).  Kansas has a chance to pick up some really good wins in this event.  After today.

-AUBURN VS NEW MEXICO (Legends Classic).  Auburn comes in unbeaten, but this game will hardly be a cakewalk.  New Mexico has just one loss, and it was a close one at UTEP.  New Mexico has been kind of dormant for the past several season, but if they can get a win in a game like this then their fanbase and program will be re-energized.

-STANFORD VS OKLAHOMA (Hall of Fame Classic).  Both teams come into this game without a loss, and while both have looked good there are still question marks about both of them.  Still, it’s a good early season match-up between two teams that have played well up to this point.

-BYU VS UCLA (Maui Invitational).  As we discussed on a previous Hoops HD Report, this is a really big game because the winner gets a quality win on a neutral floor and gets to go on to most likely play Kansas.  The loser gets Chaminade in the loser’s bracket and really only ends up with one chance at a decent win before the end of the event.

BUY GAMES

-Chattanooga @ Tennessee
-Alabama State @ VCU
-Chicago State @ Florida State
-SELA @ Vanderbilt
-Louisiana Tech @ Indiana
-Tennessee State @ San Diego State