The Hoops HD Report: November 11th

Posted on November 11, 2019 by David Griggs

Chad and the panel begin by discussing James Wiseman’s eligibility, and how Memphis opted to go ahead and play him despite being told by the NCAA that he was likely ineligible.  We discuss what we know about what’s happened so far, and what some of the potential consequences for Memphis could be once the NCAA comes down on them.

After that, we run through the ten multi-bid conferences and review the first week of college basketball.  Washington got a big win against Baylor, and the entire Pac 12 conference is off to a solid start.  The Big Ten, on the other hand, has had several surprising losses.  Pitt followed up their big win against Florida State with a loss to Nicholls, whereas FSU went on the road and took down Florida in one of the bigger road wins of the young season.  The Gavitt Tip-Off Games are under way, and DePaul picked up an impressive and decisive win at Iowa.  We look at that, and all of the other action coming up this week.

All that, and more!!

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

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Puppet’s Merit Rankings/Bracket Projections: November 11th

Posted on November 11, 2019 by David Griggs

For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

Okay, it is VERY important you read this before scrolling down because I want to make sure everyone knows what they’re looking at.

These are strictly MERIT RANKINGS.  This is NOT an attempt to rank how good I think teams actually are, or how good they will be on Selection Sunday.  If a top 5 team has done nothing so far other than play and win a couple of buy games, they’ll be ranked behind a UTR team that went out and won a road game even if I think the top 5 team would absolutely dump truck the UTR team that I have ranked ahead of them.

Because of that, you get what amounts to insane looking rankings, and therefore an insane looking bracket.  I know it’s insane.  In fact, that’s actually part of what makes doing one this early kind of fun.  So, if you’re looking at it and you think “WTF is this??” what I mentioned above is what it is.

I do this for two reasons.  1) it gets me in the habit of evaluating teams the way a committee member would as early as possible, and 2) I like doing it this way.  I know it’s impractical, but it’s still fun.

I do not think you’ll see Villanova and Memphis as #15 seeds in March.

I do not think Michigan State will end up being just outside the bubble.

I do not think you will see teams like Vermont, Nicholls, Northeaster, South Dakota, and Dartmouth in the top half of the bracket in March.

This is strictly CURRENT MERIT, and it’s more about the exercise of evaluating teams than it is ranking them.  At this point, ranking teams based on merit isn’t just like splitting hairs, it’s like splitting BALD hairs.

  1. KENTUCKY – 2-0, neutral win vs Michigan State
  2. DUKE – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Kansas
  3. TEXAS – 2-0, win @ Purdue
  4. WASHINGTON – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Baylor
  5. Virginia – 2-0, win @ Syracuse
  6. Florida State – 1-1, win @ Florida, loss at Pittsburgh
  7. Colorado – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Arizona State
  8. North Carolina – 2-0, wins vs Notre Dame and @ UNCW
  9. Louisville – 2-0, win @ Miami FL
  10. SAN DIEGO STATE – 2-0, road win @ BYU
  11. Auburn – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Davidson
  12. SAINT MARY’S – 1-0, neutral win vs Wisconsin
  13. Arizona – 2-0, home win vs Illinois
  14. ILLINOIS – 2-1, home win vs Nicholls, road win @ Grand Canyon, loss @ Arizona
  15. Oklahoma – 2-0, neutral win vs Minnesota
  16. Ohio State – 2-0, home win vs Cincinnati
  17. Utah – 2-0, road win @ Nevada
  18. VERMONT – 2-0 on the road (@ St. Bona and @ Bucknell)
  19. Kansas State – 2-0, won @ UNLV
  20. Kansas – 1-1, neutral loss vs Duke, home win vs UNC Greensboro
  21. NORTHEASTERN – 2-0, road win @ Boston U, home win vs Harvard
  22. Maryland – 2-0, home win vs Rhode Island
  23. NICHOLLS – 1-1, loss @ Illinois, win @ Pittsburgh
  24. Virginia Tech – 2-0, wins @ Clemson
  25. SOUTH DAKOTA – 2-0, road win @ Hawaii
  26. Boston College – 2-0, wins at home vs Wake Forest, @ South Florida
  27. Pittsburgh – 1-1, home win vs Florida State, loss vs Nicholls
  28. DARTMOUTH – 1-0, road win @ Buffalo
  29. Oregon State – 2-0, home win vs Iowa State
  30. MIDDLE TENNESSEE – 2-0, road win @ Lipscomb
  31. WRIGHT STATE – 2-0, road win @ Miami OH
  32. OHIO U – 2-0, win @ Saint Bonaventure
  33. FURMAN – 2-0, road win @ Gardner Webb
  34. EASTERN WASHINGTON – 2-0, win @ Seattle
  35. William & Mary – 2-0, road wins @ High Point, @ American
  36. NORTHERN IOWA – 2-0, road win @ Northern Illinois
  37. Southern Utah – 2-0, road win @ Nebraska
  38. UC RIVERSIDE – 2-0, road win @ Nebraska
  39. Oregon – 2-0, home wins vs Fresno State and Boise State
  40. LITTLE ROCK – 1-1, road win @ Missouri State, loss @ Illinois State
  41. BUCKNELL – 1-1, win @ Fairfield, home loss to Vermont
  42. Penn – 1-1, road win @ Alabama, loss @ Rice
  43. Idaho State – 1-1, win @ Air Force
  44. East Tennessee State – 2-0, road win @ UT Martin
  45. Delaware – 4-0, 3 neutral floor wins (Oakland, Southern Illinois, UTSA)
  46. Oakland – 3-1, neutral loss to Delaware, neutral wins vs UTSA and Southern Illinois
  47. CAMPBELL – 2-0, win @ Coastal Carolina
  48. MONMOUTH – 1-1, road win @ Lehigh, loss @ Hofstra
  49. South Dakota State – 2-0, road win @ Cal State Bakersfield
  50. Yale – 2-0, road win @ Stony Brook
  51. Lehigh – 1-1 home loss to Monmouth, road win @ Albany
  52. Winthrop – 1-1, win @ Hartford, loss @ Fresno State
  53. uab – 1-0, win @ Troy
  54. UNC Asheville – 1-1, loss @ Tennessee, win @ Citadel
  55. Western Michigan – 2-0, road win @ McNeese
  56. Rider – 2-0, road wins @ Coppin State and @ Delaware State
  57. Marist – 1-0, road win @ VMI
  58. Brown – 2-0, road win @ Bryant
  59. Illinois State – 2-0, home win vs Belmont
  60. Loyola MD – 1-1, road loss @ Marquette, road win @ Chicago State
  61. Michigan State – 0-1, neutral loss to Kentucky
  62. Gonzaga – 2-0 in buy games
  63. Florida – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Florida State
  64. Texas Tech – 2-0 in buy games
  65. VILLANOVA – 1-0 in buy games
  66. Seton Hall – 2-0 in buy games
  67. MEMPHIS – 2-0 in buy games
  68. Xavier – 2-0 in buy games
  69. Utah State – 2-0 in buy games
  70. Lsu – 1-0 in buy games
  71. VCU – 2-0 in buy games
  72. Tennessee – 1-0 in buy games
  73. San Jose State – 1-1, road win @ Hofstra, home loss to Portland
  74. Baylor – 1-1, won a buy game, neutral loss vs Washington
  75. Purdue – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Texas
  76. Mississippi State – 2-0 in buy games
  77. Houston – has not yet played
  78. South Carolina – 2-0, buy game win, home win vs Wyoming
  79. Cincinnati – 0-1. Lost @ Ohio State
  80. Davidson – 0-1, lost @ Auburn
  81. LIBERTY – 1-0 in buy games
  82. Wichita State – 2-0 in buy games
  83. Michigan – 1-0 in buy games
  84. Georgetown – 2-0 in buy games
  85. West Virginia – 1-0 in buy games
  86. Wisconsin – 1-1, won a buy game, lost to Saint Mary’s
  87. NEW MEXICO STATE – no div1 wins
  88. Usc – 2-0 in buy games
  89. Iowa – 1-0 in buy games
  90. Dayton – 1-0 in buy games
  91. Temple – 2-0 in buy games
  92. Oklahoma State – 1-0 in buy games
  93. Marquette – 1-0 in buy games
  94. Byu – 1-1, won buy game, home loss vs San Diego State
  95. UNC Greensboro – 1-1, loss @ Kansas, won a buy game
  96. UConn – 1-0 in buy games
  97. Iowa State – 1-1, won a buy game, lost @ Oregon State
  98. Creighton – 1-0 in buy games
  99. Indiana – 2-0 in buy games
  100. Missouri – 2-0 in buy games
  101. Minnesota – 1-1, won a buy game, home loss to Oklahoma
  102. Penn State – 2-0 in buy games
  103. Duquesne – 1-0 in buy games
  104. Western Kentucky – 2-0 in buy games
  105. Butler – 2-0 in buy games
  106. Providence – 2-0 in buy games
  107. Arkansas – 1-0 in buy games
  108. New Mexico – 2-0 in buy games
  109. Saint Joseph’s – 1-1, won at home vs Bradley, lost @ Old Dominion
  110. ucf – 1-0 in buy games
  111. George Mason – 2-0 in buy games
  112. Rutgers – 2-0 in buy games
  113. Saint John’s – 2-0 in buy games
  114. La Salle – 1-0 in buy games
  115. smu – 1-0 in buy games
  116. Georgia – 1-0 in buy games
  117. ucla – 2-0 in buy games
  118. Stanford – 2-0 in buy games
  119. Ole Miss – 1-0 in buy games
  120. South Florida – 1-1 (won buy game, lost at home to BC)
  121. Saint Louis – 2-0 in buy games
  122. DePaul – 2-0 in div1 buy games
  123. Texas A&M – 1-0 in buy games
  124. Richmond – 1-0 in buy games
  125. UMass – 2-0 in buy games
  126. Colorado State – 1-1, road loss @ Duke, won buy game
  127. Washington State – 1-0 in buy games
  128. California – 1-0 in buy games
  129. MOREHEAD STATE – 2-0, home win vs Samford
  130. Vanderbilt – 1-0 in buy games
  131. SAINT FRANCIS BROOKLYN – 1-1, home win vs Lafayette
  132. NORTH CAROLINA A&T – 1-1, home win vs Charleston Southern
  133. GRAMBLING – 2-0, both wins nondiv1

 

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Under The Radar – Monday, November 11 (and Other Highlighted Games)

Posted on November 11, 2019 by John Stalica

Florida Gulf Coast (0-2) at Dartmouth (1-0) – 7:00 PM (NESN+)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Granite State and home of Keggy the Keg – Florida Gulf Coast travels up to Dartmouth for a Veterans Day game. The Big Green had a 68-63 victory at Buffalo on Saturday that snapped a 26-game home winning streak for Buffalo. It was also the first time Dartmouth won their road opener since 1987 – Chris Knight led the Big Green with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

FGCU is also making a quick turnaround after losing their home opener against UMBC in come-from-ahead fashion on Saturday – the Eagles had a 10-point lead with 5 minutes to play before collapsing in the final minutes en route to a 65-61 loss. Zack Scott has averaged 17 points a game in FGCU’s first two games; Caleb Catto has also averaged 15.5 points a game for the Eagles.

 

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES, NEWS, AND NOTES

-The biggest surprise yesterday was Florida State’s road win at Florida.  They pretty much lead tip to buzzer.  It wasn’t a blowout, but you never got the sense that FSU was not in control of that game.  FSU followed up their opening loss to Pitt with a true road win against a current top ten team.  Not a bad bounce back!

Everything else was pretty chalky.  Boston C0llege did get a road win at South Florida to stay unbeaten on the season, Arizona sprinted away from Illinois in the latter part of that game, Vermont picked up their second true road win, and in the UTR world South Dakota picked up a really nice win out at Hawaii.

 

-DEPAUL AT IOWA (Gavitt Tipoff Games).  We weren’t expecting much out of DePaul this year, but although they haven’t been tested they do come into this one 3-0.  If they could get a road win it could give them some very rare early season momentum.

-DRAKE AT CINCINNATI.  buy game

-KENT STATE AT TOWSON – both teams 1-0

-SAMFORD AT BELMONT.  This is a home opener for a Belmont team that we think is good, but that desperately needs to rebound

-UL MONROE AT TEXAS A&M.  Buy game.  Both teams unbeaten

-TAMUCC AT VANDERBILT.  Buy game

-FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT ALABAMA.  Buy game.  Bama is looking to rebound from their opening loss to Penn and pick up the first win of the Nate Oates era.

-ALABAMA A&M AT UAB.  Buy game.  UAB can improve to 2-0.

-WINTHROP AT SAINT MARY’S.  Buy game.

-YALE AT SAN FRANCISCO.  A somewhat intriguing game between two 2-0 teams, both of whom could be better than their preseason prognostications.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day – Sunday, November 10

Posted on November 10, 2019 by John Stalica

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

For Jon Teitel’s coverage of yesterday’s Georgetown-Central Arkansas matinee – CLICK HERE

UT-San Antonio (0-3, 0-3 D1) vs. Delaware (3-0, 2-0 D1) – approx. 3:30 PM (FloHoops)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes place in the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Florida – this is the last game of a 4-team round-robin event that also includes Southern Illinois and Oakland. Delaware won their games against the Salukis and Golden Grizzlies by a combined 5 points and have already clinched first place in this event by virtue of those wins. Nate Darling did not play in Delaware’s non-D1 opener, but he promptly averaged 20 points a game in the Blue Hens’ 2 victories this weekend.

The Roadrunners, on the other hand, have had a rougher start to the season thus far. While a season-opening loss at Oklahoma can be easily forgiven, they have had a bad trip to Florida with double-digit losses to SIU and Oakland already under their belts. Still, UTSA remains a potential darkhorse candidate to make noise in C-USA this season. Jhivaan Jackson has averaged over 25 points a game in his first three games for the Roadrunners.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Sunday, Nov 10th

Posted on November 10, 2019 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-Texas, who just missed the NCAA Tournament a year ago, picked up a huge road win at Purdue yesterday.  It’s as big for the image of the program as it is for their current resume.  After missing The Dance last year they are probably feeling some pressure to produce this year.

-Earlier in the week Illinois needed overtime to get past Nicholls State.  We didn’t think Nicholls would even be one of the better teams in the Southland, so it really made us question Illinois.  Yesterday, Nicholls went in to Pitt, who had opened the season with a win against Florida State, and pulled out a win.  Now the question is….just how good is Nicholls?

-Nebraska, who was blown out by UC Riverside in their opening game, fell to 0-2 yesterday with a loss to Southern Utah.  Southern Utah was one of the worst teams in all of div1 just a few years ago, and while they are MUCH better this year, it’s still a sign that things are plummeting in Nebraska.

By the way, UC Riverside is now 2-0.  They beat Idaho at home 58-51.  Idaho is awful, and UC Riverside had a much easier time with Nebraska than they did with Idaho.

-Northwestern is another Big Ten team that’s off to a stinker start.  They fell at home to Merrimack yesterday, who was playing just their second ever game as a D-1 team.  In their first game, Merrimack lost rather handily to Maine.  It looks like Northwestern basketball is back to being Northwestern basketball.

-San Diego State got a really big road win against a BYU team that we were expecting to be a tournament caliber team.  I know it’s early, but a win like this really does make a statement early on about how good San Diego State may be this year.

-Oregon State, who I feel could be a dark horse in the Pac 12, got a nice win at home against a pretty good Iowa State team yesterday.  The Beavers have some early season momentum, which is worth noting because building up momentum at any point in the season just isn’t something that happens to them all that often. Furthermore, the only loss for the Pac-12 so far came in the Colorado-Arizona State nonconference tilt!

-Oklahoma picked up a nice neutral floor win against Minnesota yesterday.  The Sooners are looking pretty good and are out to a 2-0 start.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT SOUTH FLORIDA.  Both teams come into this 1-0.  South Florida was a team that we thought could be a darkhorse this year, but the injury bug has already hit them.  BC got a big win against Wake Forest in their first game and is looking to keep that momentum going.

-WYOMING AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  Not expecting a whole lot out of these teams in the long run, but they both come into this one 1-0.

-FLORIDA STATE AT FLORIDA.  It’s a rivalry game between two likely tournament teams.  Florida State lost to Pitt in their season opener, which was somewhat of a surprise.  They’ve got a really tall order today as they go on the road to face a Florida team that’s currently ranked #6th.  Even if FSU gets off to an 0-2 start, I think their overall prospects for the season are good.

-MAINE AT HARVARD.  Maine won their season opener against Merrimack, but has a much taller order today.  This looks to be a good Harvard team, but they’re coming off a somewhat surprising loss to Northeastern and are looking to bounce back.

-VERMONT AT BUCKNELL.  Vermont won their season opener at Saint Bonaventure and is looking to pick up their second road win of the season.

-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT OLD DOMINION.  Joe’s isn’t expected to do much this year, but they did look fairly decent in their season opener.  If they can get this one on the road then they’ll have some momentum built up.

-ILLINOIS AT ARIZONA.  Illinois picked up a nice win at Grand Canyon the other night, but they’ve got a much tougher challenge tonight against a very talented Arizona team.

-TOLEDO AT MARSHALL.  This is a semi-intriguing UTR game between two teams that are expected to do well in their leagues.

-OAKLAND VS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Sunshine Slam).  Both teams have a close loss to Delaware and a double digit lead against UTSA – winner of this game gets 2nd place in the Sunshine Slam in Kissimmee, Florida.

-LITTLE ROCK AT ILLINOIS STATE.  Both teams 1-0

BUY GAMES

-Niagara @ Rutgers
-Youngstown State @ Louisville – both teams 1-0
-UMES @ Liberty
-Colgate @ Clemson – may be competitive.  Colgate is one of the better teams in the Patriot League
-UMass Lowell @ Ohio State
-Detroit Mercy @ NC State
-James Madison @ Virginia – both teams 1-0
-Binghamton @ Michigan State
-UC Santa Barbara @ UCLA – both teams 1-0

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Still Hanging with the Hoyas: Part 1

Posted on November 9, 2019 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. He begins the series with the Hoyas’ matchup earlier today against Central Arkansas:

The morning got off to a slow start after I found myself stuck in line behind the Hoya Band as we all tried to enter the arena at the same time but eventually a nice security officer let myself and some of the other media folks cut the line. The pregame media room meals last season were above-average but today’s was a little underwhelming: half of a lukewarm egg and cheese bagel, some tasty potatoes, decent pasta salad, and some pastries to satisfy my sweet tooth. While standing in the food line I got to meet play-by-play man Scott Graham, a fellow Penn alum who used to work with my college roommate Andrew when they both covered Quaker games on the radio. The crowd was a little sparse on an unseasonably cold afternoon during a holiday weekend in November:

2 of the storylines that I was keeping an eye on were Central Arkansas becoming the 2nd team in the country to play 3 games this week (trailing only DePaul) and Georgetown 7-footer Omer Yurtseven’s 1st college game vs. a fellow 7-footer since his ACC regular season finale on 3/3/18 during his NC State days (when 1 of his Louisville opponents was Anas Mahmoud):

The best athlete sighting of the day was Jerome Williams who was sitting in the front row with his wife/3 kids. The “Junk Yard Dog” is a hometown kid who made it big: born in DC, high school in the Maryland suburbs, college at Georgetown, followed by a 10-year NBA career with the Pistons/Raptors/Bulls/Knicks. Foreshadowing: both Jerome and his cell phone will make another appearance in our story toward the very end:

A quick pregame huddle and away we go:

The Bears only won 14 games last year with a very young squad and even though they are a year older they still only have 1 senior on the roster in Aaron Weidenaar. Their defensive rebounding needs a little work: they allowed 4 straight offensive REB on the very 1st possession of the game while Coach Russ Pennell screamed his displeasure from the sideline. After surviving that initial obstacle they had a great balanced scoring effort in the 1st half: SO Eddy Kayouloud made a few layups, JR DeAndre Jones drained back-to-back 3s, and JR 7-footer Hayden Koval (who often hung out on the perimeter) matched his PG Jones with 2 long-range shots of his own:

The instant offense off the bench was provided by FR Jaxson Baker with 3 quick makes from behind the arc: it was easy for me to cheer for him as we both went to the same high school in Phoenix (although I was a couple of decades ahead of him!). Unfortunately, it was not enough because Georgetown scored 54 in the 1st half thanks to some outside shooting by Jamorko Pickett/Jagan Mosely and a dominant effort by Yurtseven inside. The big man made put-back after dunk after hook shot and recorded a double-double after only 10 minutes of on-court action to help his team to a double-digit halftime lead:

Even at a college basketball game you could see that the city is still enjoying its post-World Series hangover:

Sadly, the t-shirt gun was not firing out Nats’ t-shirts into the crowd:

Despite the fact that Koval and Yurtseven are both 7’ tall they possess vastly different skill sets. The former continued to make shots from behind the arc (4-5 on the day) and finished with 21 PTS/4 REB in almost 39 minutes, while the latter continued to do damage near the basket and finished with 1 of the most efficient stat lines you will ever see (17 PTS/15 REB in under 20 minutes!). The Hoyas’ 3-PT shooting turned ice-cold in the 2nd half (2-11), which led to Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing telling his team to try something else:

Fortunately it was not an issue due to his team’s all-around offensive effort. While Yurtseven was certainly the star it was not just a 1-man show: each of his other 10 teammates who stepped onto the court scored 4+ PTS. The Mr. Perfection Award goes to Mosely: in addition to taking multiple charges he made all 3 of his shots from 1-PT land, both of his shots from 2-PT land, and both of his shots from 3-PT land en route to a 13-PT night for the dependable senior:

Georgetown was outscored after halftime but still cruised to an 89-78 win thanks to a whopping 38 bench PTS. In the postgame press conference I tried to ask Coach Pennell how he felt about his school record for career AST on the brink of being broken by his PG: before I even finished he interrupted me to say that Jones was going to be benched for the rest of the season!

After I laughed out loud (it was funny!), he gave Jones his props for having a fantastic career despite just starting his JR year this week. He also said that Jones got kicked in the calf during the game (which is why he only played 17 minutes) but hopes that he can return for their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday because he is “the straw that stirs the drink”:

After Coach Ewing sat down at the podium I inquired whether Yurtseven had already exceeded his own expectations only 2 games into the season. Ewing smiled and admitted that he expects great things from his SR C:

He praised his size/athleticism/ability but frankly stated that “his effort needs to be a lot better”. My seat on the baseline gave me a perfect view of the 7’ player giving his undivided attention to his 7’ coach during 1 of their TV timeouts:

The best part of the press conference was when Williams crashed it and sat in the front row: not due to his shiny new Georgetown backpack, but rather the moment when his cell phone started going off…with a ring-tone that made the sound of a barking dog!:

That’s all for now, check back in the weeks ahead for Part 2.

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