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NEWS AND NOTES

-Once again, Tennessee is better than we thought.  Just like two years ago when they began the season unranked and ended up as a protected seed, the Vols have reeled off some notable wins already, and took down a really good Washington team in Toronto yesterday.  Their defense was pretty solid, and they basically lead the whole way.  Compared to much of the rest of the SEC, they’ve actually been one of the more impressive teams so far.

-DePaul is 5-0.  Most of those wins (including yesterday’s) have been in buy games, but they’ve been blowing through those buy games in a way that they didn’t in the past, and they also have a big blowout win at Iowa.

-Belmont handed Boston College their first loss of the season and picked up a nice road win at the same time.  The Bruins have a very small margin for error if they want to land back on the bubble, but it is perhaps doable.

-Harvard lost their second game of the year, and looked rather pitiful doing it.  They fell to Buffalo 88-76.  Perhaps the Crimson aren’t the top 40 team we thought they might be.

-Vermont remains unbeaten after they picked up their third win on the road when they knocked off Saint John’s yesterday.  It was an ugly game, but on paper it’s a nice looking win for what appears to be a very good Vermont team.

-Congrats to Merrimack, who in their first two weeks as a div1 program have won at Northwestern, and now won against their crosstown rivals UMass Lowell.  The game was actually quite exciting with Merrimack winning at the buzzer.

-Montana State, who just last week took Utah State to the wall, won a thriller on the road against UNC Greensboro.  Montana State led for most of the game, but it was always close.  UNCG hit what appeared to be the game winning shot with just three seconds left before Montana State hit a beyond-half-court shot at the buzzer to get the win.  UNCG is a team that we thought might be in the at-large picture at the end, so any loss is rather crushing since their margin for error is so low.  On the other side, it’s hard to not be impressed with Montana State and what they’ve done in the first two weeks.

-USC improved to 4-0 and picked up their first true road win of the season when they knocked off Nevada.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES 

-MARQUETTE AT WISCONSIN.  Marquette is coming off a nice win in the Gavitt Games, and is looking to keep that momentum going.  Wisconsin has won two straight since their overtime loss to open the season against Saint Mary’s.  It’s a resume building game, but also a rivalry game.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT ARIZONA.  I had been excited about this game since August, but with NMSU being so beat up with injuries I don’t think they’ve got it in them to pull the upset.  Had they been at full strength, I wouldn’t even have classified it as an upset had they won this one.

-UCF AT ILLINOIS STATE.  Illinois State already has a nice win against Belmont, and can get to 3-0 on the year with a win today.

-FLORIDA AT UCONN.  Florida had expectations coming into the season, whereas UConn didn’t, but neither team has really looked any good at any point this year.  Both could use a win in a game like this to kind of get their motors started. (Note from Stalica – both teams could meet again next weekend in the Charleston Classic, but this is NOT the “nonbracketed” game tied to this tournament. UConn already played Saint Joe’s and Florida played Towson in these nonbracketed games).

-SETON HALL AT SAINT LOUIS.  Seton Hall is coming off a loss to Michigan State where they played well, but just couldn’t get it done.  A win on the road against a SLU team that comes into this unbeaten would be a nice way to bounce back.  As for SLU, getting off to a 4-0 start with a really nice win to go along with it wouldn’t be bad either, especially since they were a team that no one expected a whole lot from.

BUY GAMES

-Jacksonville State @ VCU – VCU gets to 4-0 with a win.  Jax State ain’t bad, though.
-Yale @ Oklahoma State
-New Orleans @ Mississippi State – Mississippi State is unbeaten, and UNO is the preseason Southland favorite
-Detroit Mercy @ Clemson
-Cal State Northridge @ Richmond
-NC Central @ Louisville
-Rider @ Arizona State – Rider unbeaten, ASU 1-1
-Georgia State @ Georgetown
-UT Arlington @ Oregon
-Cal Poly @ Saint Mary’s

NEWS AND NOTES

-It was a pretty chalky night.  Xavier, Florida State, and Baylor had to sweat a little bit in their buy games, but all were able to avoid upsets.

-West Virginia won rather decisively in their road game against rival Pitt.  Pitt isn’t exactly a world-beater caliber team, but West Virginia is showing all signs of being much better than they were a year ago and back to being nationally relevant.

-Rhode Island sprinted ahead of Alabama and never really had to sweat.  Rhody may be better than what we anticipated, while at the same time Bama, who hasn’t looked all that good in any of their games so far, may not be quite as good as we thought.

-BYU won a thriller at Houston where they led most of the way, but Houston was able to come back and get the lead in the final minutes.  After what appeared to be a game winning steal and breakaway for Houston in the final ten seconds, they were called for a carry, which gave the ball back to BYU with 5 seconds to play.  They ended up hitting a shot at the buzzer and getting a huge road win.

-Utah knocked off Minnesota in an exciting game to remain unbeaten on the year as well.  Minney now has three losses, but none of them are really all that awful, so there will be time for them to bounce back.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-OLD DOMINION AT NORTHEASTERN.  A pretty solid UTR match-up.  Northeastern has a nice win over Harvard, but needs to bounce back from a loss to UMass in their last game.

-NORTHERN COLORADO AT NORTHERN IOWA.  More UTR goodness.  Northern Colorado is a team that we think can contend in the Big Sky, and Northern Iowa is unbeaten and in our UTR Top Ten.

-BELMONT AT BOSTON COLLEGE.  BC is unbeaten, but they face a challenge today against a Belmont team that’s pretty good.  Belmont did lose their opener at Illinois State, and probably isn’t as good this year as they were last year, but they are still good enough to make quite a bit of noise.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT LOYOLA CHICAGO.  Saint Joe’s just got a big win at UConn and have another winnable road game today.  Not a bad week for a team that I thought would be in complete rebuilding mode!!

-TEMPLE AT LA SALLE (Big Five).  Temple is trying to beat a crosstown rival and improve 3-0 on the season.

-HARVARD AT BUFFALO.  Buffalo began the season with a loss to Dartmouth and doesn’t look anything like the top 25 team that they had a year ago.  Harvard has a somewhat head-scratching loss to Northeastern and really struggled in their game against Siena on Thursday.  We thought they could be a top notch UTR team and a top 40 team nationally, but they haven’t shown it so far.

-NICHOLLS AT LSU.  Obviously this is a buy game, but with Nicholls’s near win at Illinois, and actual win at Pitt to start the year, we have reason to think that this may be a game worth watching.  If Nicholls somehow gets this one, they aren’t just for real in the Southland.  They are for real PERIOD!

-VERMONT AT SAINT JOHN’S.  Very intriguing game here!!  Both teams come in 3-0, and if you asked me which team I thought was better I’d say Vermont.  Do I think they’re so much better that I believe this to be a slam dunk win for them in a true road game? No.  The Johnnies have looked better than I thought they would in this young season as well.  But this is a Vermont team that may be a top 40 team that can land inside the NCAA Tournament bubble.  If they are, then this is a game that they should be able to win.

-LIBERTY AT EAST CAROLINA.  This is a winnable road game for the Flames, and they should be able to remain unbeaten on the season.

-WASHINGTON VS TENNESSEE  (Toronto).  Washington is pretty accomplished already this season with a big win over Baylor up in Alaska.  Tennessee has looked pretty good as well, but this is by far their first real test.  If Washington can pick up yet another notable win away from home then you have to think they’re on pace (albeit an early pace) to end up as a protected seed.  If Tennessee can get the win, then I think that it’s safe to say that they are, yet again, better than we thought they’d be in the preseason.

-DELAWARE AT LAFAYETTE.  Highlighted because if Delaware wins, it will already be their fourth win away from home.  Granted, this is their first true road game, but still.

-MONTANA AT ARKANSAS.  This is a buy game, but this (or should be) a fairly decent Montana team.  Arkansas is in a bit of a rebuild mode, but they do come into this game at 2-0.

-MONTANA STATE AT UNC GREENSBORO (Spartan Invitational).  This game deserves to be highlighted.  Montana State went into Utah State and took them to the wall.  UNCG is a team that we think can play their way onto the bubble, so while it’s a UTR game, it should be a very competitive and entertaining UTR game between two teams that can make quite a bit of noise this year.

-KENT STATE AT WRIGHT STATE.  Both teams are unbeaten, and both are likely to make quite a bit of noise in their conferences.

-SAINT BONAVENTURE VS RUTGERS (Toronto).  These two teams are heading in very different directions.  The Bonnies haven’t won, and Rutgers hasn’t lost.  A 4-0 start for the Scarlet Knights, even if it is against poor competition, is some great early season momentum for a team and program that is trying to build.

-WOFFORD AT BUTLER.  Wofford is nowhere near the team they were a year ago, but they’re still off to a decent 2-1 start.  Butler is a team that we didn’t expect much out of at all, but they’ve looked impressive in their first three games and are coming off a home win against Minnesota.  A 4-0 start is likely, and it’s a lot better than where I thought they’d be.

-SAN FRANCISCO AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.  San Francisco can get to 4-0 with a win.

-OREGON STATE AT WYOMING.  This is a winnable road game for the Beavers.  I know they’re coming off a loss to Oklahoma, but I still think they’ve got quite a bit of potential and could end up having a big year.  If that’s true then this is the kind of game that they should be able to win.

-SAN DIEGO AT COLORADO.  The Buffs are off to a great start with their win against Arizona State in their non-conference conference game.  Tonight is their debut in the United States!!  A win gets them to 2-0.

-SANTA CLARA AT STANFORD.  Both teams are unbeaten.  Santa Clara has struggled the last several years.  To get to 4-0 with a win against Stanford may be the high water mark since Herb Sendek arrived.  I don’t mean that as a backhanded compliment.  They’ve made steady progress since he arrived and a win tonight would be a huge step forward.

-USC AT NEVADA.  USC is looking to get to 4-0 and pick up their first road win, and really their first win of note.  Nevada has struggled this year and is just trying to hang on.

BUY GAMES

-Oakland @ Maryland
-Columbia @ Virginia
-Ohio U @ Villanova – Ohio is out to a somewhat surprising 3-0 start
-Saint Francis Brooklyn @ NC State
-Central Connecticut @ UMass
-Cornell @ DePaul
-Lehigh @ Virginia Tech
-Alcorn State @ Memphis
-Quinnipiac @ Miami FL
-Chicago State @ Purdue
-Northwestern State @ Tulane – a win for Tulane gets them to 3-0
-Saint Peter’s @ Providence
-UT Martin @ Wichita State
-McNeese @ New Mexico – a win for New Mexico gets them to 4-0
-Louisiana Tech @ Creighton
-Marist @ Fordham – a win for Fordham gets them to 3-0
-Seattle @ Syracuse
-UNC Wilmington @ Davidson – Davidson still looking for their first win
-Charleston Southern @ Dayton
-James Madison @ George Mason
-Jackson State @ SMU
-Troy @ Indiana