Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

For this week’s edition of the HOOPS HD REPORT VIDEO PODCAST – CLICK HERE

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

-Washington State picked up a BIG win last night at Nevada 68-57 where they managed to hold a lead pretty much managed to hold a comfortable lead for the entire second half. This is a big win for Wazzu. Nevada isn’t likely to lose too many at home, and for them to control the game the way that they did says a lot about how good this Cougars team is right now.

-Rhode Island is now 8-0 after holding off Yale 84-78. Someone may want to let Rhody’s fans know that the are 8-0. The building was barely half full last night.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-CINCINNATI AT VILLANOVA. Despite Villanova being very down, this is probably Cincinnati’s biggest test of the year so far. Nova has won three of their last four with the noly loss being a very clsoe game against a respectable Maryland team, so a win in this one may finally start to turn things around for them.

-NORTHWESTERN AT IOWA (Big Ten). Both teams have respectable records, but both are also flimsy so far in terms of quality wins. It’s the conference opener, and it would be the biggest win of the season for either team up to this point. It would be especially nice for Northwestern since they are on the road.

-ARKANSAS AT MIAMI FL. Miami FL (at least to me) has been a huge disappointment this season. Arkansas hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but they’ve at least won the games that they were supposed to win. This is their first true road game of the seaosn, and would be their first win that wasn’t a home buy game if the Razorbacks are able to pull this off.

-NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA. Georgia is off to a really good 7-1 start with the only loss coming against Marquette. Notre Dame is a little more sluggish at 4-4 and has lost four straight, including all three in the Players Era Festival. The Irish have another really tough test today, and a win would go a long way toward them being able to turn things around.

-CALIFORNIA AT MISSOURI. Both teams have good records, but neither has really beaten a good team yet. Mizzou has won six straight home buy games since losing to Memphis, and while Cal does have a nice win at USC, that’s all they’ve got so far.

-PRINCETON AT SAINT JOSEPH’S. Joe’s does have a really bad loss to Central Connecticut, but outside of that they’ve played well managing wins against Villanova and Texas Tech, and their only other loss came to a very good Texas team. They have shown some promise and can still have a big year. Princeton has been somewhat disappointing so far, but a win in a road game like this is the kind of thing that could turn their season around, and so far they are 2-0 in true road games.

-SYRACUSE AT TENNESSEE. Tennessee has looked as good as anyone in the country so far, and while Syracuse is perhaps looking a little better than we thought they would, they haven’t looked anywhere near as good as Tennessee has. The Vols should roll in this one.

-BRADLEY AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Missouri Valley). Bradley can improve to 8-1 if they can pick this up in their conference opener tonight. Southern Illinois has struggled some this year, but this is just their second home game.

-BYU AT PROVIDENCE. BYU started their season off at the pastry cart, but they had a fairly impressive showing in their in-season tournament losing in OT to Ole Miss and then beating a respectable NC State team. It’s never easy to win on the road, but Providence has really struggled this year and is coming off three straight losses, so it’s certainly a road win that the Cougars are capable of picking up.

-MICHIGAN AT WISCONSIN (Big Ten). Michigan had a strong showing in their in-season tournament and blew Xavier out in the championship game. This is their first true road game, and it will be at one of the toughest places in the country to play. Wisky is a perfect 8-0 on the season and while Michigan is looking like a probable tournament team, winning at Wisky may be over their heads.

-WAKE FOREST AT TEXAS A&M. TAMU is coming off a solid showing in the Players Era Festival and should continue to improve as the season goes on. Wake is so-so, and the Aggies should be able to win this one at home tonight.

-OLE MISS AT LOUISVILLE. Louisville had a surprisingly strong showing in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but it came with some bad news as Kasean Pryor will miss the rest of the regular season after tearing his ACL. Still, the Cardinals have a strong team, and this will be a big time test for Ole Miss, who is playing in their first true road game. Ole Miss nearly beat Purdue last week, and that was their only loss of the season, so they can play, but they will be challenged today.

-HAWAII AT GRAND CANYON. Hawaii is a respectable 5-1, but this is their first road game, and GCU seems to be getting stronger as the season goes along. I still think the Lopes can run through the rest of their schedule and land inside the bubble, but they will likely get a test tonight from the Rainbow Warriors.

-FLORIDA STATE AT LSU. Both teams have good records, and LSU has a couple of really nice wins against Kansas State and UCF. The Tigers are probably being overlooked a little bit. They have a chance to add another notable win to their profile.

-KENTUCKY AT CLEMSON. This will be a very tough test for Kentucky. Having said that, they’ve already passed a pretty tough test when they beat Duke, but this is their first true road game and it comes against a Clemson team that has looked pretty good so far, and who can put themselves in the spotlight with a win tonight.

-WASHINGTON AT UCLA (Pac 12 Big Ten). It’s the conference opener for both these teams. It’s not just the season opener, but it is the Big Ten Conference Opener for both programs! UCLA comes in at 6-1, but it’s not all that impressive because since they lost to New Mexico all they’ve done is win home buy games. Washington did just win the Acrisure Invitational and beat Colorado State and Santa Clara to do it, but this is probably their toughest test of the year so far.

BUY GAMES (and other games of note):

-Eastern Illinois @ Butler
-Tusculum (nonD1) @ Charleston
-UNC Wilmington @ East Carolina – neither team is expected to get near the bubble, but as of now both have respectable records
-Santa Clara @ McNeese – McNeese needs to bounce back from their loss to Liberty
-High Point @ UNC Greensboro – High Point is an impressive 8-1, but this is their first true road game
-Western Michigan @ Dayton
-South Carolina @ Boston College – BC had a nice run through the Cayman Islands Classic, but then followed that up with a loss to Dartmouth
-Sam Houston @ Indiana
-Alabama State @ SMU
-Eastern Michigan @ Loyola Chicago – Loyola Chicago can get to 7-0 on the year.
-Georgia Tech @ Oklahoma – the Sooners shouldn’t have too much trouble remaining unbeaten.
-San Diego @ Arizona State
-Utah Tech @ Boise State
-UTSA @ Saint Mary’s
-Utah Valley @ Stanford

-We will be recording The Hoops HD Report and recapping what is always the busiest week of the regular season.

As for yesterday and tonight, thinks weren’t/aren’t so busy.

-Xavier had to hold on for dear life against South Carolina State and barely escaped 71-68. The one thing the Musketeers did well was hit freethrows down the stretch. That was the ONE THING they did well. This performance follows a blowout loss to Michigan, so there is reason to be skeptical about X right now.

-Middle Tennessee is off to a decent 6-2 start after their win at UAB. Their margin for error in terms of landing inside the bubble is small, but they’ve got a few decent opportunities at building up their resume. UAB, who was a preseason favorite of ours, has kind of crashed and burned so far.

TONIGHT’S ACTION:

-WASHINGTON STATE AT NEVADA. Wazzu is off to a decent 6-2 start, but this is their first true road game, and it’s not an easy one against a Nevada team that’s 6-1 and has a handful of decent wins already.

-UMBC @ Georgetown – Georgetown can get to 7-1
-Yale @ Rhode Island – Rhody can get to 8-0
-Jackson State @ Saint Louis
-Pacific @ Col0rado

NEWS AND NOTES:

-Houston, who I have been touting as a Final Four caliber team since September, has not looked it so far. Losing to Auburn wasn’t concerning, and losing to Alabama really wasn’t either even though I was rather certain they’d get at least one of those two. Losing to San Diego State?? That’s one they REALLY should have won! The Aztecs knocked off the Cougars 73-70 in an overtime thriller at the Players Era Festival, which means that all Houston really has on their resume right now (despite multiple opportunities( is a semi-decent win against a semi-decent Notre Dame team.

-Oregon, who came into this event with lower expectations than some of the other teams, ended up winning it. They knocked off Alabama 83-81 yesterday to remain unbeaten, take home some hardware, and put another high caliber win on their resume. In 24 hours the Ducks will likely go from being unranked to being ranked very very high.

-Rutgers put together another impressive performance against a strong Texas A&M team, but it was also yet another impressive performance in a losing effort. TAMU ended up with the 81-77 win. I still think this event was good for Rutgers, and I still think here is far more to be optimistic about than pessimistic, but as of now they have the loss at Kennesaw State and no real solid wins yet.

-Creighton was able to end their 3 game losing streak with a hard fought 80-76 win against Notre Dame. They needed this one. As for Notre Dame, they kind of needed it too. They left the Players Era Festival without a single win, and they fell to Elon just before the event started. They have a really tough game against Georgia coming up, so their struggles may continue.

-Seton Hall is a tire fire! They lost at home to Monmouth yesterday 63-51. It was Monmouth’s first win of the season, and Seton Hall’s THIRD home buy game loss. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Monmouth is any good in relation to the rest of their conference…THEY ARE NOT!!

-Miami FL continues to prove that I was grossly incorrect when I picked them as a sleeper team prior to the start of the season. They fell to Charleston Southern at home yesterday 83-79. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Charleston Southern is any good in relation to the rest of their conference…THEY ARE NOT!!

-Stanford, who just a week ago was unbeaten, and coming off a nice road win at Santa Clara, and looked like they may have something, is now looking like they have very little. They lost at home to Cal Poly yesterday 97-90. In case you don’t follow Under the Radar and are wondering if Cal Poly is any good in relation to their conference…well…they’re actually not bad! They aren’t likely to be conference frontrunners, but they have played very well in some road buy games prior to yesterday. Still, it’s a game that Stanford should have won.

-UC Irvine, who plays in the Big West with Cal Poly, ain’t bad either!! They are actually really good!! They knocked off Towson yesterday 67-60 to sweep the Western Slam and remain unbeaten on the season.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-After having full slates for the last nine or ten days, today is rather light in terms of notable games. Everyone can take a breath and recover from both their food comas and their hoops comas today.

-NORTH FLORIDA AT NERASKA. Nebraska is out to an impressive 5-1 start and has a nice road win against Creighton on their resume. They shouldn’t have too much trouble today with North Florida, but the Ospreys did have those early road wins at South Carolina and Georgia Tech, so the Huskers don’t want to just completely overlook them.

-Alcorn State @ Maryland
-Buffalo @ Penn State
-Arkansas Pine Bluff @ Kansas State
-Cal Baptist @ UCF
-South Carolina State @ Xavier
-Hofstra vs Arkansas State (Baha Mar Hoops) – this is a solid UTR matchup
-Mercyhurst @ San Francisco