Chad is joined by David and Jon for the first Bracket Rundown of the season. They put together a seed list line by line with someone naming the four teams that they think belong, and the other two critiquing it, and Chad arbitrating and making the final decision. Watch as they discuss and debate all the teams as they build the list…
Below is the seedlist put into a bracket, but don’t look at it until you watch the show!!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
Apparently 2019 is shaping up as the year of “Coaches of their alma maters visiting DC”. Last weekend I got to see St. John’s alum Chris Mullin bring the Red Storm to the nation’s capital for an OT win over Georgetown. Last night Dayton grad Anthony Grant came to Washington with his Flyers to take on GW:
Next month NC Central legend LeVelle Moton and his Eagles will head north to face Howard. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel may not be working this month, but as long as there is a basketball gym open near a subway stop then the hobby continues…even if attendance figures are down:
At least the band showed up:
Domino’s pizza: the perfect pregame meal for an unemployed government worker! There were a pair of legendary alums in the house while the students were away during winter break:
1. Pops Mensah-Bonsu: PF who helped the Colonials go 26-1 during the 2006 regular season:
2. Shawnta Rogers: PG who was 1999 A-10 POY while leading the nation with 3.6 SPG:
And away we go:
Apparently GW Coach Maurice Joseph drew up 1 hell of a game plan because his team got things started with 1 of the best 7½ minute sequences of basketball you will ever see:
They used a full-court press on defense and some spectacular 3-PT shooting over the top of the Flyers’ zone to get out to a 28-6 lead. Justin Mazzulla made a trio of threes, Maceo Jack made a pair of long-distance shots, and DJ Williams did some damage closer to the hoop with a pullup jumper, a turnaround jumper in the lane, and a layup. However, Dayton was able to regroup by taking care of business down low (an 18-10 advantage in PTS in the paint) and cut the halftime lead to 40-30 while Coach Joseph sat by himself and tried to figure out a way to stop the bleeding:
Williams continued rolling in the 2nd half: a lot of his shots had a high degree of difficulty (like twisting leaners and baseline jumpers), but despite entering the game as a career 21.6% 3-PT shooter he spun the turntables to the tune of 2-4 from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes and finished with a career-high 20 PTS.
I thought the most significant injury of the night was going to be GW JR PF Arnaldo Toro, who is out for the year due to a hip injury:
In a surprise twist, 1 of the refs appears to sprain his ankle midway through the 2nd half and after being looked at by a trainer he had to leave the game as the other 2 refs finished off the game by themselves! I saw the injured ref in the hallway afterward wearing a walking boot: I hope he makes a swift recovery.
The star of the night was Dayton SO SG Jordan Davis. After a quiet 5-PT performance in the 1st half, he simply exploded in the 2nd half: 20 PTS on 6-9 shooting from 3-PT range + a layup, and 3 STL on the defensive end to help his team outscore the Colonials 42-26 and complete a crazy comeback to win by a score of 72-66. The only thing more amazing might have been Josh Cunningham’s impact on the game: despite not making a single shot from the field, the SR PF finished with 6 PTS/13 REB in 28 minutes. For those of you who do not know what blowing a 22-PT lead looks like on a win probability graph, I refer you to kenpom.com:
https://kenpom.com/winprob.php?g=2709
In the postgame press conference I asked DJ how he bounced back from a 2-11 shooting performance last Sunday at St. Joe’s to set a career-high in scoring: he said that he “just tried to stay confident by putting in some extra work that will help in the long run”:
My 2-part question for Coach Joseph concerned whether to study/burn the tape after blowing a 22-PT lead and whether the strategy of having 4 starters play 37+ minutes/game is sustainable. His answer to part 1 was that “we will not burn the tape: we have to learn and get better by watching the tape.” As to part 2, he was proud of his team for knocking down a bunch of shots in the 1st half but was unhappy that they could not sustain that level of play: “we cannot stop defending and turn the ball over and expect to win; we have to move the ball and share it”:
Coach Grant did not hold a press conference but I caught up to him in the hallway and inquired whether he had seen GW assistant coach Greg Paulus since the 2 of them were involved in this memorable NCAA tourney finish from 2007 when Paulus played at Duke and Grant coached at VCU:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=svLSIWh1xJs
He chuckled and stated that he had seen the former Blue Devil many times during Paulus’ stint as an assistant coach at in-state rival Ohio State when he would occasionally drop by to watch practice:
He also took the high road by admitting that he was “happy for Greg in his new role at GW”: I do not know if Dayton is going to win the A-10 but Coach Grant certainly has things going in the right direction.
For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
For the latest Under The Radar video podcast featuring a special guest – CLICK HERE
Wofford (12-4, 4-0 SoCon) at UNC-Greensboro (14-2, 3-0 SoCon) – 7:00 PM EST (ESPN3)
Despite the strong start that Furman has had to the beginning of their season in the SoCon, tonight’s game is for all intents and purposes the first leg of the conference co-leaders with the Wofford Terriers playing the UNC-G Spartans in historic Greensboro Coliseum. Wofford set up a strong noncon schedule and stumbled out of the gate with losses at home to North Carolina and on the road against Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi State. They did win at South Carolina, but unfortunately had to cancel a game with Stanford due to travel difficulties. They’re off to a 4-0 start in league play, although the only notable win of the four is a blowout win at home against The Citadel. Fletcher Magee averages 18.1 points a game, including 4 made three-point shots per game (at a 37.9% clip).
UNC-Greensboro has also taken care of business in the games they’ve been expected to win – however, their most noteworthy wins so far have come at Delaware and against Louisiana Tech (also on Delaware’s campus). Their only losses are at LSU and at Kentucky, although they were competitive in both games before falling apart at Kentucky in the 2nd half. Their biggest win in SoCon play was at Samford – the Bulldogs have also been a pleasant surprise for the league so far this season. Francis Alonso leads the Spartans with 18.4 points per game and 2.6 assists per game.
NEWS AND NOTES
–Please CLICK HERE check out our latest Under the Radar Video Podcast from last night. It is a bit of an extended version, but we have a very special treat for you!! Zach joins us for the first time all year!! From his car!! In a Five Guys parking lot!! After leaving the UMBC v Hartford game!! There is no better entertainment on the entire internet!!
It was another very entertaining night.
-Kansas was able to get it done against a pretty good TCU team despite being very shorthanded, which they will be for the rest of the year. It was a good showing by TCU, and a sign that they should get the wins they need in conference to land safely in the NCAA Tournament field.
-Everyone’s favorite crazy uncle, Uncle Buzz!!, had a rough time at Georgia Tech last night. VA Tech got the win, but it was surprising that it was such a struggle.
-Ole Miss beat Auburn rather handily at home. I think this is a sign that Ole Miss is better than we thought. I also think it’s a sign that Auburn isn’t as good as we thought. Given how Auburn has struggled against UAB, Murray State, Dayton, and a few others, perhaps they’re not a top ten team after all. I know some of those teams are good teams, but none are so good that a top ten team should struggle to beat them, much less struggle to beat all three.
-Ohio State went to Rutgers for what was probably their most winnable remaining road game, and lost!! A nice feelgood win for a Scarlet Knights program that still has a very long way to go, but is getting better.
-Houston suffered their first loss of the year at Temple, and it wasn’t without some controversy, A driving layup that would have tied the game in the final seconds was waved off due to a charge, and Temple held on to pick up a win that they desperately needed.
-Marquette got a nice road win at Creighton. No sweat!. They were down 5 with 5 seconds to go. They hit a shot with less than a second to go, and after Creighton threw the ball the length of the court in an attempt to burn the final second, Marquette got the ball back under their own basket, inbounded the ball, and hit a three that just barely beat the buzzer. After that they pulled it out in overtime.
-Vanderbilt, who we kind of liked, was blown out at Georgia. That’s not good for Vandy.
-Georgetown fell on the road at Xavier in a game where both teams were beaten up with injuries.
-Kansas State was down by about 20, and appeared to be dead to rights, but somehow came back and beat West Virginia. It was a win that both of those teams really needed, and it will put WVU into an even bigger tailspin.
-Louisville fell at Pittsburgh in overtime. The Cardinals trailed for most of the game, but mounted a comeback and got a lead both late in regulation and in overtime, but couldn’t hold on.
-Fresno State picked up an impressive and exciting win at Utah State. If we are going to see a second team out of the MWC, I guess it’s going to be Fresno.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-SMU AT UCONN (American). SMU has been playing better. They’re off to a 2-0 start in league play and could use this road game tonight. They’ve still got a lot of catching up to do.
-CINCINNATI AT TULSA (American). Cincinnati is trying to bounce back after a horrendous loss to East Carolina, and they’ve got a really rough road test tonight against a Tulsa team who’s unbeaten at home, and who could play their way toward the bubble if they can have a strong showing in conference.
-MICHIGAN AT ILLINOIS (Big Ten). If all goes as expected, Michigan should win and stay unbeaten on the year.
-PENN STATE AT NEBRASKA (Big Ten). Nebraska looks to be a home court hero this year. If that’s true, then they need to win at home against teams that have been playing as poorly as Penn State.
-WASHINGTON AT UTAH (Pac Twelve). I still think there is room inside the bubble for a Pac Twelve team to get an at-large, but it’ll have to be someone that totally dominates league play, and Washington may be one of the few teams that’s good enough to do it. Utah had struggled for most of the season, but they’ve come to life lately and won’t be easy to beat at home.
-PACIFIC AT GONZAGA (West Coast). It’s a conference game that will end up looking like a buy game.
UNDER THE RADAR
-EAST TENNESSEE STATE AT THE CITADEL (SoCon). ETSU is one of four teams that we think could win the SoCon this year, and they have a very compelling road game against a much improved and very exciting to watch Citadel team.
-WOFFORD AT UNC GREENSBORO. Wofford and UNCG are two of the four teams that we think could win the SoCon this year.
-LOUISIANA AT GEORGIA STATE (Sun Belt). If Georgia State blows through this league, and I mean pretty much wins out, then there may be room for them on this year’s bubble.
-OLD DOMINION AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC (Conference USA). I think ODU is the best team in CUSA, and that they certainly have the best resume despite a surprising loss this week. This will be a somewhat tough road test.
-MOREHEAD STATE AT BELMONT (Ohio Valley). Belmont is one of the horses in the two horse OVC race…
-MURRAY STATE AT UT MARTIN (Ohio Valley). Murray State is the other horse.
-NORTH TEXAS AT UTEP (Conference USA). North Texas shouldn’t have any trouble improving to 16-1 on the year.
-GRAND CANYON AT NEW MEXICO STATE (WAC). This is quickly becoming one of the more intriguing UTR rivalries. New Mexico State may insist that it’s not a rivalry based on how they’ve dominated the series, but it is at the very least a feud. NMSU again looks to be the toughest team to beat in the WAC.
-UC DAVIS AT UC IRVINE (Big West). Irvine has had a good season up to this point and should land in a good spot if they can dominate Big West play.
Chad and the Panel are back with a somewhat extended edition of the Hoops HD Report, and they are joined by Zach for the first time this year. This week we feature the America East, and begin with a look at tonight’s UMBC vs Hartford game, which Zach attended. We also talk about Stony Brook and Vermont, who appear to be the two conference frontrunners. From there, we hit the 21 other UTR leagues and discuss how the Metro Atlantic is struggling, the parity in the MAC, how strong the top of the SoCon is, how good North Texas and Old Dominion have looked, how dominant Murray State has looked, and more. And as we do every week, we close with the UTR Top Ten.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
Lehigh (9-4, 2-0 Patriot) at Holy Cross (10-5, 1-1 Patriot) – 7:05 PM EST (Patriot League Network)
Tonight (and yes, it really tonight) the UTR Game of the Day travels up to Worcester, Massachusetts where the Holy Cross Crusaders will play host to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in a matchup of early Patriot League leaders. Holy Cross is a perfect 4-0 at home that includes a seven-point win over Loyola-MD in their league opener. However, the Crusaders missed a chance to advance to 2-0 in league play after a tough 50-48 loss at Navy in their last outing. As a team, Holy Cross leads the league with only 65.3 points allowed per game. Jacob Grandison leads the Crusaders with 15.3 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Lehigh has started off league play by holding serve at home against archrival Lafayette and against Loyola-MD. This will be their first road test in league play – they are 3-4 in true road games so far this year with wins at Monmouth, Siena and Mount St. Mary’s (with losses at Kansas State, Miami-FL, Yale, and at West Virginia). Pat Andree leads Lehigh with 15.5 PPG and 6.2 RPG; Kyle Leufroy also averages 14.5 PPG and 5.4 RPG for the Mountain Hawks as well.
