News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 19th

Posted on November 19, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for the latest Hoops HD Report

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the day between Spring Hill and South Alabama – CLICK HERE

NEWS AND NOTES

-After pulling off the biggest regular season upset of the year (so far) Evansville returned home to face a decent but not great SMU team, and couldn’t come up with the win.  Now, it’s not like they lost to a sub 200 team, but an NCAA Tournament caliber team would have been expected to win that game at home.  So, one can’t help but lean a little more to the side of the win at Kentucky being an anomaly.  Speaking of Kentucky…

-They kind of had to sweat again last night against Utah Valley.  Utah Valley was as close as 1 with just a few minutes to go in the game before Kentucky got control and got the win.  Kentucky has a history of being rather average in November.  It’s just that after they start blowing through teams in mid-to-late December that everyone kind of forgets that they were blown out by Duke, or struggled against UNC Greensboro, or struggled against Vermont (a few years ago), or struggled in a lot of early season games.  I still think Kentucky has a ceiling that they are no where near yet, and aren’t the same caliber team that we will see in another six weeks or so.

-There were some exciting games, but it was a rather chalky night in terms of results.  William & Mary led Oklahoma for about 37 minutes and looked really good, but then just went cold in the final few minutes of the game.  The Sooners pulled out the win and remain unbeaten.

-Teams like West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame struggled in their buy games, but managed to get it done.

-The upset of the night was Montana Tech from the NAIA taking down Montana!!  THE OREDIGGERS HAVE WON OUR HEARTS!!!!

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-VERMONT AT VIRGINIA.  This is technically a buy game, but Vermont has a really good team that may be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament

without needing to win the America East Tournament.  Pulling off a win tonight would be a huge step in that direction, but it is far easier said than done.  As good as we think they are, going on the road to Virginia and matching up against that pack line is a tough order.  But, it should at least be interesting.

-NICHOLLS AT RHODE ISLAND.  Who knows if either of these teams will be in the picture in the latter part of the season, but for now both have picked up some nice wins for their profiles.  Rhody knocked off Alabama rather decisively over the weekend and Nicholls has the road win at Pitt.

-NEVADA AT DAVIDSON.  I know it’s early, but neither of these teams have gotten out of the gate quickly and both could really use this win tonight to get back on track.

-UMBC AT LSU.  It’s a buy game, but UMBC comes in at 4-0 and if they can somehow pull off the upset it could really catapult them into the national consciousness.  LSU has won a couple of buy games (one of which was against Nicholls) and has a road loss to VCU, so they are just looking to hold serve in this one.

-DELAWARE AT SAINT FRANCIS U.  A somewhat intriguing UTR game between a 4-0 Delaware team and one of the preseason favorites in the NEC.

-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT KANSAS.  East Tennessee State is another UTR team that we think could land inside the bubble.  Having said that, winning at Kansas is probably swinging over their heads, but will be interesting to see what they can do against a top five caliber team on the road.  They probably won’t win the game, but it’s an interesting litmus test.

-FURMAN AT ALABAMA.  It’s a buy game, but I’ll go ahead and say that I think Furman is the better team.  If they can pick up yet another road win they will continue their pace (albeit an early pace) to end up inside the bubble on Selection Sunday.

-HOUSTON AT RICE.  Houston is looking to bounce back from their home loss to BYU over the weekend, which is a game they really did kind of blow.  They face their crosstown rivals (I guess you can call it that) in Rice today.

-NEW MEXICO AT UTEP.  The preseason prognostications for both of these teams weren’t exactly stellar, but both come into this one unbeaten and can pick up a huge win to keep that momentum going.  Both these teams have passionate fanbases that haven’t experienced good basketball in several years, so it should be fun watching them go at it tonight as they try and stay unbeaten.

-PEPPERDINE AT USC.  USC is unbeaten and is coming off a fairly good win at Nevada.  They face a 3-1 Pepperdine team that has won two straight on the road and is trying to pick up what would be an early season signature win.

 

BUY GAMES

-Bucknell @ Penn State
-Loyola MD @ George Mason – George Mason can get to 5-0
-Navy @ Liberty – Liberty can get to 5-0
-Merrimack @ Providence
-Alcorn State @ NC State
-Purdue Fort Wayne @ Kent State – not a buy game, but Kent State can get to 3-0
-Boston U @ South Carolina – South Carolina is unbeaten
-Omaha @ Dayton – Dayton is unbeaten
-Seattle @ Ole Miss – Ole Miss is unbeaten
-UT Martin @ Northern Iowa – Northern Iowa is unbeaten
-Texas Southern @ Arkansas – Arkansas is unbeaten
-Gardner Webb @ Wichita State – Wichita State is unbeaten
-Southern Miss @ Iowa State
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Kansas State – K State is unbeaten
-Fairfield @ Maryland – Maryland is unbeaten
-UT Arlington @ Gonzaga – Gonzaga is unbeaten
-Cal State Bakersfield @ San Francisco – USF is unbeaten
-UMES @ Stanford – Stanford is unbeaten
-Maine @ Washington

Posted in Daily Rundown, News and Notes | Comments Off on News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 19th

Under The Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, November 19th

Posted on November 19, 2019 by John Stalica

For last night’s Hoops HD Report featuring special guest Aaron Torres – CLICK HERE

For David Griggs’ Week 2 rankings and Bracket Projection – CLICK HERE

Spring Hill College (1-3 D2) at South Alabama (2-2, 2-2 D1) – 8:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Today is the first time this season that we will feature an UTR Game of the Day involving a non-D1 team. This is a crosstown matchup of teams from Mobile, Alabama including the South Alabama Jaguars and the Spring Hill Badgers. The Jags come in as the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt Conference. The Jags lead the series 20-3. Josh Ajayi averages 15.0 points a game and 7.8 rebounds a game for South Alabama.

Spring Hill College is a Jesuit university (like Georgetown, Gonzaga, Xavier, Creighton) that plays in Division II of the NCAA in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). The Badgers are 1-3 against D-2 competition; tonight is an exhibition game for them and will not count towards their overall record (they have already played similar exhibitions against Tulane and New Orleans). They split a pair of games in Daytona Beach in the Daytona Mitsubishi/Kia Shootout – losing a game to Embry-Riddle and beating Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the consolation game. Chase Shellman averages 15.8 PPG and 6.8 RPG for Spring Hill.

Posted in CBB on TV, Daily Rundown, Under the Radar | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Under The Radar Game of the Day – Tuesday, November 19th

The Hoops HD Report: November 18th

Posted on November 18, 2019 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel are joined by Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) from Fox Sports radio, they discuss Kentucky’s early season struggles and while it’s frustrating for Big Blue fans, it isn’t the first time Kentucky has struggled in the month of November.  We run through all ten of the multi-bid leagues and discuss the strong start that the Pac 12 is off to, the top-heaviness of the ACC, the struggles of the Big East, and how the Big 12 still needs to prove itself.  All that, and more…

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

Posted in Hoops HD Report, Podcasts, Videocasts | Tagged | Comments Off on The Hoops HD Report: November 18th

Merit Rankings/Bracket Projections (From the Puppet): November 18th

Posted on November 18, 2019 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for today’s UTR game of the Day and other News, Notes and Games

-Please read this before scrolling down because otherwise your head might explode.  I want everyone to understand what it is they are looking at.  This is NOT a ranking of how good I think teams actually currently are, or how good I think they will be in March.  This is simply assessing a team’s CURRENT MERIT.

For instance, Baylor is almost certainly a top 25 team, but at this moment in the season the only games they’ve won are home buy games, so they are ranked behind a team like Little Rock, who probably isn’t anywhere close to as good as Baylor, but at this moment in time has managed to win two games away from home.

So, what you get is an insane looking ranking system and an equally insane looking bracket.  I know that.  But, I still like doing it this way.  I think in the end it is important for the selection committee to measure a team based on their merit.  It’s what we do with our mock committees.  And, the best way to get into the habit of doing that is to start doing it right away.

-You see several ACC teams that are high in the rankings.  The reason is because when they opened the season with conference games, it meant that they were playing and winning games that weren’t just buy games.  Well, half of them were anyway.

-Evansville is the #1 overall team.  They’re unbeaten, and they have a road win at Kentucky.  No one else comes close to matching that.

-Kentucky is still very high.  They’ve got a neutral floor win against Michigan State.  Michigan State is also high because they’ve got a road win against Seton Hall.  The top seven teams have all already beaten a ranked team away from home.

  1. EVANSVILLE – 3-0, road win @ Kentucky
  2. DUKE – 4-0, neutral win vs Kansas
  3. KENTUCKY – neutral win s Michigan State, home loss to Evansville
  4. MICHIGAN STATE – 2-1, neutral loss vs Kentucky, home win @ Seton Hall
  5. OREGON – 4-0, neutral win vs Memphis
  6. TEXAS – 4-0, 3 buy wins, win @ Purdue
  7. Tennessee – 3-0, neutral win vs Washington
  8. Virginia – 3-0, win @ Syracuse
  9. Oklahoma – 3-0, neutral wins vs Minnesota and Oregon State
  10. Florida State – 2-1, win @ Florida, loss @ Pittsburgh
  11. WINTHROP – 2-2, all road games, wins @ Saint Mary’s and @ Hartford, loss @ ETSU and Fresno State
  12. Ohio State – 3-0, home wins vs Cincinnati and Villanova
  13. Penn State – 3-0, win @ Georgetown
  14. West Virginia – 2-0, win @ Pittsburgh
  15. SAN DIEGO STATE – 3-0, win @ BYU
  16. Auburn – 4-0, neutral win vs Davidson, road win @ South Alabama
  17. SAINT MARY’S – 2-1, neutral win vs Wisconsin, home loss to Winthrop
  18. VERMONT – 4-0, 3 road wins @ St. Bonaventure, @ Bucknell, @ Saint John’s
  19. Washington – 2-1, neutral win vs Baylor, neutral loss vs Tennessee
  20. DePaul – 5-0, 4 buy wins, win @ Iowa
  21. Louisville – 4-0, win @ Miami FL
  22. Byu – 3-1, home loss to San Diego State, road win @ Houston
  23. Oregon State – 3-1, home win vs Iowa State, road win @ Wyoming, neutral loss vs Oklahoma
  24. Colorado – 2-0, neutral win vs Arizona State
  25. Maryland – 3-0, home win vs Rhode Island
  26. North Carolina 3-0, win @ UNCW, home win v Notre Dame
  27. VCU – 4-0, home win vs LSU
  28. SETON HALL – 2-1, home loss vs Michigan State, win @ Saint Louis
  29. UC IRVINE – 3-1, road wins @ San Diego and @ Boise State, loss @ Pepperdine
  30. Virginia Tech – 4-0, win @ Clemson
  31. FURMAN – 4-0, road wins @ Gardner Webb and @ Charleston Southern
  32. Usc – 4-0, win @ Nevada
  33. Marquette – 2-1, home win vs Purdue, loss @ Wisconsin
  34. MONTANA STATE – 4-1, loss @ Utah State, win @ UNCG, 2 neutral wins
  35. KENT STATE – 3-0, road wins @ Towson and @ Wright State
  36. UCONN – 2-1, home win vs Florida, home loss vs Saint Joseph’s
  37. Gonzaga – 4-0, win @ Texas A&M
  38. Ohio U – 3-1, road wins @ Saint Bonaventure and @ Iona, loss @ Villanova
  39. BELMONT – 2-1, win @ Boston College, loss @ Illinois State
  40. NICHOLLS – 2-2, win @ Pittsburgh, losses @ Illinois and @ LSU
  41. SOUTH DAKOTA – 4-0 2 neutral wins, road win @ Hawaii
  42. LITTLE ROCK – 3-1, wins @ Missouri State and @ Central Arkansas
  43. WILLIAM & MARY – 4-0, 3 road wins (High Point, American, Wofford)
  44. Oklahoma State – 4-0, win @ Charleston
  45. Ucf – 2-1, win @ Illinois State, home loss to Miami FL
  46. Michigan – 3-0, home win vs Creighton
  47. Wisconsin – 3-1, neutral loss vs Saint Mary’s, home win vs Marquette
  48. Xavier – 4-0, home win vs Missouri
  49. Pittsburgh – 2-2, home win vs Florida St, road win v Robert Morris, home loss v Nicholls
  50. Kansas – 2-1, neutral loss vs Duke, home win vs UNCG
  51. Arizona – 4-0, home wins vs Illinois and New Mexico State
  52. San Franscisco – 4-0, win @ Southern Illinois
  53. Miami FL – 3-1, win @ UCF, home loss to Louisville
  54. Rhode Island – 2-1, loss @ Maryland, home win vs Alabama
  55. Illinois – 2-1, loss @ Arizona, win @ Grand Canyon
  56. Saint Joseph’s – 2-2, losses @ Loyola Chicago and @ Old Dominion, win @ UConn
  57. DARTMOUTH – 4-1, wins @ Buffalo and @ UMass Lowell, neutral loss vs Jacksonville
  58. CHARLOTTE – 2-1, loss @ James Madison, home wins vs Davidson and Wake Forest
  59. WRIGHT STATE – 3-1, road wins @ Miami OH and @ Tennessee Tech, home loss vs Kent State
  60. Penn – 2-1, win @ Alabama, loss @ Rice
  61. Utah – 3-0, home win vs Minnesota
  62. Butler – 4-0, home win vs Minnesota
  63. Northern Iowa – 4-0, win @ Northern Illinois
  64. Pepperdine – 3-1, wins @ CSUN and @ Alilene Christian, loss @ California
  65. Delaware – 5-0, 3 neutral wins, win @ Lafayette
  66. Brown – 3-0, win @ Bryant
  67. Campbell – 2-2, wins @ Coastal Carolina and @ Citadel, loss @ UNCW
  68. Temple – 3-0, win @ La Salle
  69. LIBERTY – 4-0, 3 buy wins, win @ East Carolina
  70. Boston College – 3-1, win @ South Florida, home loss to Belmont
  71. Umass – 4-0, win @ Fairfield, home win vs Northeastern
  72. East Tennessee State – 3-0, road win vs UT Martin
  73. Richmond – 4-0, home wins vs Vanderbilt
  74. Umbc – 4-0, 1 div1 win @ FGCU
  75. Southern Utah – 2-1, win @ Nebraska, loss @ BYU
  76. Western Kentucky – 3-0, win @ Eastern Kentucky
  77. UC Riverside – 2-2, road win @ Nebraska, losses @ Sacramento State and @ Pacific
  78. BUCKNELL – 2-2, road win @ Fairfield, losses to Vermont and Canisius
  79. Old Dominion – 3-1, home win vs Saint Joseph’s
  80. Utah State – 4-0, home win vs Montana State
  81. Harford – 3-1, win @ Marist
  82. UTAH VALLEY – 3-1, win @ UAB, road loss @ Denver
  83. Eastern Washington – 2-1, win @ Seattle, loss @ Saint Louis
  84. Yale – 2-2, win @ Stony Brook, losses @ San Francisco and Oklahoma State
  85. Middle Tennessee – 3-0, win @ Lipscomb
  86. Texas Tech – 3-0, neutral win vs Houston Baptist
  87. Villanova – 2-1, 2 buy wins, loss @ Ohio State
  88. Florida – 2-2, 2 buy wins, home loss to Florida State, road loss @ UConn
  89. Lsu – 2-1, 2 buy wins, loss @ VCU
  90. Mississippi State – 4-0 in buy games
  91. Purdue – 2-2, 2 buy wins, losses vs Texas at home, @ Marquette
  92. Ucla – 3-0, home win vs UNLV
  93. California – 3-0, home win vs UNLV
  94. Kansas State – 3-0 in buy games
  95. Illinois State – 2-1, home win vs Belmont, home loss to UCF
  96. Njit – 1-3, win @ Cornell
  97. Baylor – 2-1, 2 buy wins, neutral loss vs Washington
  98. Memphis – 3-1, 3 buy wins, loss vs Oregon
  99. Cincinnati – 2-1, 2 buy wins, loss @ Ohio State
  100. Houston – 1-1, home loss to BYU
  101. Wichita State – 3-0 in buy games
  102. Creighton – 2-1, loss @ Michigan
  103. Iowa State – 2-1, 2 buy wins, loss @ Oregon State
  104. Georgetown – 3-1, home loss to Penn State
  105. RIDER – 2-1, road wins @ Coppin State and @ Delaware State, loss @ Arizona State
  106. Indiana – 4-0 in buy games
  107. Missouri – 2-1, 2 buy wins, loss @ Xavier
  108. Georgia – 3-0 in buy games
  109. Tcu – 2-0 in buy games
  110. George Mason – 4-0 in buy games
  111. Saint Louis – 3-1, 3 buy wins, home loss to Seton Hall
  112. Dayton – 2-0 in buy games
  113. New Mexico – 4-0 in buy games
  114. Arkansas – 3-0 in buy games
  115. Smu – 3-0 in buy games
  116. Stanford – 4-0 in buy games
  117. South Carolina – 3-0 in buy games
  118. Northeastern – 2-2, home win vs Harvard, losses @ UMass and @ Old Dominion
  119. Duquesne – 3-0 in buy games
  120. Tulane – 3-0 in buy games
  121. Fordham – 3-0 in buy games
  122. COPPIN STATE – 1-3, road win @ Loyola Chicago
  123. SAINT FRANCIS U – 2-2, road win @ Morgan State
  124. GRAMBLING – 3-0, win @ SELA

 

Posted in Bracketology, News and Notes | Comments Off on Merit Rankings/Bracket Projections (From the Puppet): November 18th

Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, November 18th (and other News, Notes, and Games)

Posted on November 18, 2019 by John Stalica

SIU-Edwardsville (2-2, 1-2 D1) at South Dakota (4-0, 4-0 D1) – 8:00 PM EST

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Vermilion, South Dakota – home of the South Dakota Coyotes. The ‘Yotes have already won the season-opening Rainbow Classic with 3 wins against Pacific, Florida A&M and Hawai’i. they also followed that up with a home win against Texas Southern. Tyler Hagedorn currently leads South Dakota with 21 points a game through their first four games.

The Cougars recently got their first Division I win in the Brian Barone regime with a 57-55 win at Incarnate Word last Saturday. They trailed by 11 points in the second half, but a pair of Mike Adewumni free throws in the closing seconds put SIU-E over the hump. Cam Williams is averaging over 12 points a game through the Cougars’ first four games.

 

OTHER NEWS, NOTES, AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-As our good friend Lee Delvecchio put it yesterday, Florida has been so bad offensively this year that it’s probably in violation of federal law.  The Gators went into UConn, and once again looked ugly in a losing effort.  As for UConn, it was a huge bounce back game after losing to Saint Joseph’s earlier in the week.

-Wisconsin had no trouble with in-state rival Marquette.  They’re now 3-1 with the only loss being the opener to Saint Mary’s.

-UCF picked up a big road win at Illinois State, and is maybe worth keeping an eye on.  They lost so much that no one expected them to be any good, but they’ve at least proven that they aren’t likely to be the doormat of the league.

-Charlotte knocked off Wake Forest in a game that came down to the final possession yesterday.  Charlotte may or may not be good, but they’ve at least shown that they can be a home court hero against teams like Davidson and Wake Forest.

-SMU AT EVANSVILLE.  Both teams come into this without a loss, and Evansville is in the unique situation of just recently beating the #1 team in the country on the road.  Was it just a complete anomaly, or is this team for real and will they be able to keep it going?

-WILLIAM & MARY AT OKLAHOMA.  I know this is a buy game, and chances are it will end up playing out that way, but W&M is undefeated and has looked a lot better than we expected them to so far.  I guess the same can be said for Oklahoma.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE @ COASTAL CAROLINA.  A win gets Middle Tennessee to 4-0.

-UC IRVINE AT COLORADO.  I know this is technically a buy game, but it practically isn’t.  UC Irvine had a really strong team a year ago and while they’re faced with having to replace a lot of big pieces this year, they’re not off to a bad start with wins at San Diego and at Boise State.  Colorado is in the rankings with a nice win over Arizona State.  Tonight’s game should be fun.  It’s actually one of the better games of the day.

-Charleston Southern @ Michigan State
-Utah Valley @ Kentucky – last week I would have told you Utah Valley was better than Evansville.
-Northern Colorado @ West Virginia
-Presbyterian @ Notre Dame
-Monmouth @ Pittsburgh
-High Point @ Belmont – not technically a buy game, but it’s practically one
-Colgate @ Auburn
-Hawaii @ Illinois – could be moderately interesting
-Wofford @ Missouri – a year ago I would have said Wofford would dominate this one
-SIUE @ South Dakota – not technically a buy game, but practically one.  Yotes trying to get to 5-0.
-Stetson @ Ohio State
-UTSA @ Utah State
-Air Force @ TCU – TCU can get to 3-0
-Prairie View A&M @ California – Cal can get to 4-0
-Southern Utah @ UCLA –  UCLA can get to 4-0

Posted in CBB on TV, Daily Rundown, Under the Radar | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Under the Radar Game of the Day – Monday, November 18th (and other News, Notes, and Games)

Under The Radar – Sunday, November 17th

Posted on November 17, 2019 by John Stalica

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

Montana State (3-1, 2-1 D1) vs. Tennessee Tech (1-4, 0-4 D1) – 12:00 PM

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Greensboro, North Carolina – this game is part of the 4-team round-robin Spartan Invitational that also includes host UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State. As the Puppet mentioned earlier, Montana State hit a halfcourt shot to steal a 67-66 win against UNC-Greensboro yesterday. The Bobcats can go a perfect 3-0 in the Spartan Invitational with a win today. Harald Frey had 14 points and 7 rebounds in the Bobcats’ win yesterday.

Tennessee Tech is in a complete rebuilding mode – they were able to take Wright State to overtime at home before losing last week, but they have followed that up so far with back-to-back losses against UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State this weekend. Keishaun Davidson has averaged 10.4 points a game and 5.6 assists per game thus far this season for the Golden Eagles.

Posted in CBB, Daily Rundown, Under the Radar | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Under The Radar – Sunday, November 17th