CLICK HERE for the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast
NEWS AND NOTES
-For John Stalica’s latest Bracket Projections, which factors in all games played prior to yesterday – CLICK HERE
-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which features the Battle of the Boulevard – CLICK HERE
-Minnesota, who we thought was much better than their 3-4 record indicated, kind of proved that yesterday when they totally blew out Clemson
-Nothing else of note really happened. Literally nothing. If you wanted a night off from college hoops, last night was the perfect night. Not so much tonight…
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-MICHIGAN AT LOUISVILLE (***Spotlight Game***) (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Prior to the start of the season, I was wishing they had gotten Louisville a better opponent than an unranked Michigan team. Well, Michigan is obviously unranked no more, and this is now probably the best match-up in the whole Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Louisville has won all their games, but this is their first real test against a solid top 25 caliber team. In fact this is a real test against a solid top 5 team. Michigan has been tested and has passed with flying colors with decisive wins against Gonzaga and North Carolina. If they can pick up this win, it would be their third win against a top ten team way from home in less than a week. I’m sure that has happened at some point, but I don’t recall when that was.
-BUTLER AT OLE MISS. Butler is off to an impressive 7-0 start with some pretty decent wins on their resume, but this is their first true road game and it comes against an Ole Miss team that we think is good enough to challenge for a spot in the tournament, but needs to win games like this in order to get there. This is a really good test for both teams.
-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT WRIGHT STATE. It isn’t all that likely that either team will land inside the bubble, but it’s still an intriguing match-up between the likely Horizon League frontrunner and the likely Conference USA frontrunner.
-RICHMOND AT HAMPTON. Richmond has just one loss on the season, and that was to a really strong Auburn team. This is their first true road game of the year, though, and although they probably won’t get a ton of credit if they win it, it’s still a road win on their resume.
-DARTMOUTH AT GEORGIA STATE. Another good UTR game that features a Dartmouth team that’s been a big surprise out of the Ivy League this year. A win gets them to 6-2 and gives them their third true road win of the season.
-IOWA AT SYRACUSE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). At this early stage I’d say both these teams are on the outside looking in when it comes to the bubble. There is a ton of time remaining, but both need to start stringing together some wins, and both could really use a win tonight.
-VERMONT AT CINCINNATI. This is a good Vermont team, but they haven’t played like it in the last two games. This was one that we kind of had circled as being a winnable road game that could impress the committee, but with losses to Rider and Yale it may not be enough to land them inside the bubble. Cincinnati hasn’t been all that impressive either. They’ve been winning, but they’ve had to sweat out a lot of subpar teams up to this point.
-BUFFALO AT VANDERBILT. I’m not at all sold on Vandy despite their 5-2 record, but I am starting to warm up to Buffalo, who has won five out of six since losing their season opener. If they can pick up this win on the road, then they may be slowly inching their way back into relevance.
-FLORIDA STATE AT INDIANA (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Florida State has won seven straight, including two big wins down in the Emerald Coast classic. Indiana is 7-0, but they haven’t played anywhere near the schedule that Florida State has. This is a big game because it’s IU’s first real test, and it’s also a tough road test for a Florida State team that has been playing really well.
-UTEP AT NEW MEXICO STATE. UTEP won the first game between these two earlier this year, and has looked pretty good overall with a 5-0 record, but three of those came against non-div1 teams, and this is their first road game of the year, so we’ll learn something about them tonight. New Mexico State is still battling injuries.
-ILLINOIS STATE AT TCU. It may be a buy game, but this one could be interesting. Illinois State is just 3-4, but at times they’ve looked a lot better than what that record indicates. TCU is 5-1 on the year, but has really just been feeding off of cupcakes and lost their only real test of the season against Clemson. They need to hold serve in this one.
-RUTGERS AT PITTSBURGH (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams have good records, and Pitt has the win against Florida State, but outside of that both are lacking notable wins. This is a test for both teams, particularly Rutgers who is playing in their first true road game.
-DUKE AT MICHIGAN STATE (Big Ten/ACC Challenge). Both teams were ranked in the top five at the start of the season, and while both have had some early setbacks, both are still really good and could even still end up as #1 seeds. It goes without saying. This would be a huge win on either team’s resume.
-ARIZONA STATE AT SAN FRANCISCO. This is a tough road test for Arizona State against a San Francisco team that’s 7-1 on the year, but doesn’t really have a signature win yet.
BUY GAMES (and equivalency buy games)
-Saint Peter’s @ Saint John’s
-Houston Baptist @ Dayton
-Jacksonville State @ George Mason
-Detroit Mercy @ Kent State
-UMES @ Baylor
-UAB @ Texas
-Austin Peay @ Arkansas
-Northwestern State @ SMU
-Oral Roberts @ Creighton
-Bradley @ Memphis
-New Orleans @ LSU
