Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Hawaii won their first road game of the season and they did not mess around doing it. They absolutely clobbered UC Riverside 88-45 to improve to 11-2 overall on the season.

-Also in the Big West, UC San Diego fell on the road at Cal Poly 67-65. UCSD had two possessions late in the game where they could have tied it, but came up empty both times. Minus winning out, this loss probably knocks UCSD too far away from the bubble for them to reach it.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-USC AT MICHIGAN (Big Ten). USC is a really good team that’s having a really good year and even has a path to earning a protected seed. So if Michigan only beats them by 40 it would have been a hell of a good day for the Trojans!! Michigan has been mauling everyone and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them blow out another top 25 team at home. It’s getting to a point to where it would be surprising if anyone was actually able to compete with them.

-LOUISVILLE AT STANFORD (ACC). Louisville is coming off a very impressive road win at California from earlier in the week, which was their first true road win of the season. The Cardinals will be tested again today against a Stanford team that, like their previous opponent, is having a much better season than expected and should be pumped up for the chance to play a high caliber team at home.

-SEATTLE AT GONZAGA (West Coast). This one is interesting. Seattle U is having a good year, but are nowhere near the bubble at the moment. They appear to be way overmatched, but if they were to pull the upset it would catapult them onto the national stage and probably land them in our next bracket projection field. The Zags and Seattle never played prior to being in the same conference, so it’s going to be kind of fun to see them face off this year.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). This one is going to be fun. Both teams are solidly in the rankings, both are battling for protected seeds, and Nebraska is looking to stay unbeaten. There is a lot of enthusiasm around this Nebraska team, which may be as good as any they’ve ever had, and the atmosphere at this game should be electric.

-NOTRE DAME AT CALIFORNIA (ACC) – ND is on the outside looking in, but can take a big step forward if they’re able to pick this one up on the road. Cal is having a really solid year, but they were pretty much dominated by Louisville in their last game and will be looking to bounce back tonight.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Sam Houston @ Western Kentucky (Conference USA) – these are two of the better teams in CUSA and it should be an interesting matchup

-Lamar @ McNeese (Southland) – McNeese should bounce back from the blowout loss they sustained at Michigan earlier in the week

-Ohio State @ Rutgers (Big Ten) – Ohio State has been out of the spotlight this year, but they’re a solid team who could make a run at making the NCAA Tournament. This should be a winnable road game for them tonight

-West Virginia @ Iowa State (Big 12) – the Cyclones should have no trouble holding serve at home in this one

-Portland @ Saint Mary’s (West Coast) – SMC has been stringing together a lot of good wins lately and should be able to hold serve at home in this one

-Pepperdine @ Santa Clara (West Coast) – Santa Clara still has a lot of work to do and needs to hold serve at home against teams that are nowhere near the bubble

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Duke got a battle from Georgia Tech, but held on to win 85-79. The Blue Devils didn’t get control of the game until the final few minutes. I guess they started celebrating New Years Eve a little early. The Yellow Jackets actually led for most of the first half, but nobody saw this on the ACC Network because…

-Virginia and Virginia Tech battled it out in triple overtime with VA Tech finally getting the 95-85 win at home. It snapped a six game winning streak for UVA and gave VA Tech one of their bigger wins of the year both on and off paper.

-There were a couple of exciting games in the A10 as VCU held on to beat Saint Bonaventure 89-82 in a game that was close all throughout, and George Mason avoided a disastrous upset at La Salle and held on to win 80-75.

-NC State beating Wake Forest at home wasn’t in itself noteworthy, but Will Wade used a lot of colorful metaphors for the media in his postgame presser. A couple of weeks ago, he was throwing his team to the wolves (no pun intended) for not being a tough enough team. Yesterday, he threw the media to the wolves after some less than positive comments about Darrion Williams.

-Clemson picked up a big road win at Syracuse 64-61 in a game that had a pivotal feel to it for both teams. It was particularly big for Clemson because it was their first true road win of the season.

-Going into yesterday, I didn’t even highlight the Rhode Island-Loyola Chicago given that a)neither team was close to postseason aspirations and b)over 200 spots in the NET separated the teams. The Ramblers ended up winning at Rhody and suddenly look like a very dangerous trap game on Saturday when Dayton travels to Chicago to face Loyola.

-UConn wasted no time and jumped out to a 33-8 lead at the Cintas Center to land an early knockout punch at Xavier. By my Puppet math, the Musketeers have been outscored by 66 points in their first 61 minutes of Big East play at home.

-Villanova was in danger of losing at home to DePaul for the first time in Big East play, yet made a late comeback to survive with a 71-66 win.

-Saint John’s went on the road and knocked off Georgetown 93-85, which gave them a conference road win that they kind of needed. The Hoyas have the dubious distinction of losing to a father-son head coaching duo in back-to-back league contests.

NOTABLE GAMES:

-Bradley @ Belmont (Missouri Valley) – Belmont is looking to bounce back from their conference opening loss to Indiana State and should be able to hold serve at home

–Milwaukee @ Wright State (Horizon) – Wright State suddenly looks like might be a noisemaker in the league after throttling Oakland at home in their last game. Milwaukee is currently at the top of the Horizon and cannot be overlooking the Raiders on the road.

-Indiana State @ Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley) – Indiana State had a big win over Belmont in their last game, but going on the road against a very good Northern Iowa team is another tall order

-Hawaii @ UC Riverside (Big West) – Hawaii’s schedule has been light so far. In fact if they were to win this game it would arguably be their most impressive win of the season up to this point, so we should learn something about them today.

-Northern Colorado @ Montana State (Big Sky) – Northern Colorado is coming off a big win against Colorado. They need to get their feet back on the ground because they’ve got a tough road game tonight

-UC San Diego @ Cal Poly (Big West) – UCSD is trying to pick up their fourth true road win of the season and stay perfect in league play

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Louisville had struggled on the road prior to last night’s game at California, but they did not struggle last night. They won easily 90-70, which gives them their first true road win of the season.

-Seton Hall struggled at Marquette and trailed most of the game, but in the latter part of the game Marquette’s wheels fell off (again) and Seton Hall was able to get the 79-73 win on the road.

-Miami OH remains unbeaten after an impressive 93-83 win at Bowling Green where they basically controlled the game from tip to buzzer.

-Creighton is starting to show signs of life again. They’ve strung together some wins and beat a decent Butler team last night 89-85.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-VIRGINIA AT VIRGINIA TECH (ACC). It’s a conference game, it’s a rivalry game, and it’s a resume boosting opportunity for both these teams. So this one is kind of big. Virginia has won six straight and is looking pretty strong. VA Tech has also strung together some wins, but their resume isn’t quite as impressive so this would be a big win for them both on and off paper.

-CLEMSON AT SYRACUSE (ACC). Both teams have shown signs of having a high ceiling, and both teams have positioned themselves where the NCAA Tournament is within reach if they can perform well in conference play, but both still have work to do and both could use this one today.

OTHER NOTABLE GAMES:

-Wake Forest @ NC State (ACC) – Both teams have work to do, especially Wake Forest. Both are good enough to land inside the bubble, but they need to have a strong showing in conference in order to get there.

-Saint Bonaventure @ VCU (Atlantic 10) – both teams have big records, but both have played weak schedules for the most part. They both have small margins for error and could really use this one today

-George Mason @ La Salle (Atlantic 10) – George Mason is 12-1 overall, but none of those wins were true road wins, so they need to hold serve today

-Rice @ Tulsa (American) – it’s a conference game, but it may as well be a buy game for Tulsa

-Georgia Tech @ Duke (ACC) – Duke should cruise

-Saint Joseph’s @ Saint Louis (Atlantic 10) – SLU is a respectable 12-1 on the year, but they’ve built that record against a weak schedule and have a small margin for error in conference play

-George Washington @ Richmond (Atlantic 10) – it’s my two A10 sleeper teams! Both are off to decent starts, but while they may have exceeded preseason expectations so far, I still feel like they’ve underperformed. In order to make a run at the bubble they’ll need to dominate in conference play.

-Connecticut @ Xavier (Big East) – this should be a rather routine road win for Connecticut. Xavier has had some good moments this season, and they do seem to be improving, but I don’t think they’ve improved so much that they can knock off UConn. Not even at home.

-DePaul @ Villanova (Big East) – Nova is having a solid year and should be able to hold serve in this one.

-Saint John’s @ Georgetown (Big East) – both teams have fallen behind, both have a lot of work to do, and both could really use this win

–Winthrop @ Longwood (Big South) – We at Hoops HD love the Winwood Cup!