Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES

-We will be posting our latest Bracket Projections either today or tomorrow.  I think.  We will also be recording the Hoops HD Report tonight instead of tomorrow night.  It’s that time of year where we have to put a few things on hold and make a few changes for what’s really important.  And what’s really important right now is the Diamond Head Classic.  We plan to spend all day Monday prepping for the games on Tuesday.

-Top ranked Kansas went down at Arizona State.  It is a huge win for the Sun Devils and it will go a long way come their selection and seeding in March, but I do want to point something else out.  Prior to this game Arizona State had lost to Nevada on a neutral floor (not bad), barely beaten Georgia on the road (kinda bad, but they won), and was beaten handily by Vanderbilt on the road.  They need to do more than just be a home court hero, which they have, but beating a #1 team at home does not necessarily move them up as much as it would have had they been winning away from home.  So, to assess Arizona State, they can beat the best teams in the country at home, but at the same time struggle (and perhaps even fail) to beat NIT teams on the road.

-Kentucky looked better than they’ve looked all year yesterday with a big win over North Carolina where they essentially had a lead from tip to buzzer.  Suddenly Kentucky’s resume is looking a ton better.  They’ve got a win on a neutral floor against a likely protected seed, and none of their losses are really the kinds of losses that would anchor a resume.  Is it safe to say that Kentucky is back?

-Auburn got the home win against Murray State.  By 5.  Now, to be fair the Tigers have been winning, but in their last three games they’ve needed overtime to beat UAB, got beaten kind of handily at NC State, and had to sweat out Murray State at home.  I know those are all good teams (well, maybe not UAB), but I don’t think anyone would argue that any of them, much less all three of them, are top ten teams, so why is a team that’s ranked #7th having to sweat them out like they are?

-Speaking of not winning impressively, West Virginia held off Jacksonville State.  At home.  By 2.  Perhaps West Virginia will do very well in the NIT this year.

-UConn stayed with Villanova for about 25 minutes before Nova blew it completely open and ended up with one of their more impressive wins and showings of the season.

-Texas State went into Arkansas with just one loss yesterday, but had racked up that record against a really weak schedule so we didn’t really know what to make of them.  They took the Razorbacks to the wall, and nearly pulled the upset against a pretty good Razorbacks team.  I know there probably isn’t enough meat left on Texas State’s schedule to get them inside the bubble without them winning the SBC Tournament, but they should be a strong force in the Sun Belt and worth keeping an eye on if you’re an Under the Radar fan.

-LA SALLE WINS THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDWALK!!!  LA SALLE NOW HAS A TROPHY!!!!  Not a bad weekend for a team that was winless.  Granted, they beat another team that was winless and then beat a pretty bad Towson team, but they got it done!!!

-This is mentioned below, but Colorado looked to be a quiet dark horse riding to the rescue of what is a mostly pitiful Pac Twelve.  The Diamond Head Classic was set up to give them 3 wins away from home and put them at a rather impressive 11-1.  Well, they lost to Indiana State yesterday.

-Boston College picked up a nice road win against DePaul.  I’m not going to say it was a great win, but it was a nice win.  It was DePaul’s first home loss, and BC is now 9-2 on the year.

-Seton Hall picked up their first true road win by knocking off a pretty good Maryland team yesterday.  Seton Hall has a pretty damn good resume, which now includes a neutral floor win against Kentucky and a road win against Maryland.

-San Francisco only beat Stanford at home by 9, which was kind of surprising.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-COPPIN STATE AT HOUSTON.  I’ve gotta credit Chad for this (which I HATE doing!!) but we’ve got five undefeated teams remaining, and one of them is playing in this game.  We’ve also got two winless teams playing, and one of them is playing in this game.  And do you know what that means!!??  IT MEANS YOU SHOULD WATCH A DIFFERENT GAME!!!  Sheesh!!

-INDIANA STATE VS UNLV (Diamond Head Classic).  Indiana State doesn’t have much a profile, but they don’t have anything that’s really awful on their resume either and they just picked up a pretty good win against Colorado.  If they can win this tournament and knock off a team like TCU in the process, then they may be better set up for an at-large bid than anyone else in the Missouri Valley.

-COLORADO AT HAWAII (Diamnond Head Classic).  Colorado came into this event with just one loss.  Now the only objective is to avoid getting out of this event without any bad losses, and hope that finishing at or near the top of the Pac Twelve is enough to get them into the Dance.

-SAN DIEGO VS DRAKE (Las Vegas Classic).  An interesting game between two teams with good records, but not a whole lot of good wins (at least by the standards of the selection committee).  This game is a chance for one of these teams to pick up a decent win against a decent team away from home.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT NEW MEXICO STATE (Las Vegas Classic).  New Mexico State kind of stubbed their toes against Drake yesterday, and whenever a team with so few chances at high quality wins loses to a team that isn’t inside the bubble it can be a setback.  Now, losing today would be an infinitely bigger setback.  I still like this New Mexico State team and still think they can be dangerous come March, but they may have to win the WAC Tournament to get there.

-BUCKNELL VS TCU (Diamond Head Classic).  Bucknell picked up an exciting win against a Rhode Island team that has really struggled this year, but has a bigger test today against a one loss TCU team that sputtered in the beginning, but seems to be getting better and better as the season goes along.

NEWS AND NOTES

-There are two fewer unbeaten teams today.  Buffalo fell at Marquette, and Furman went down at LSU.  Both play in UTR conferences, and both still have paths to landing inside the bubble if they can hold serve the rest of the year.  The thing is that won’t be so easy.  While both teams are good, they’re probably not as good as people think (well, maybe Buffalo is), and on top of that the rest of the teams in their conferences are in fact BETTER than what most people think.  We shall see how things play out.

-One of those teams is Kent State, who improved to 9-2 on the year last night after their win at Oregon State.  It was the first home loss on the season for the Beavers.

-We also have one fewer winless team!!  La Salle picked up their first win of the season against Alabama A&M!!  Chad Sherwood was there in person to cover the action!!

-Providence picked up what is probably their biggest win of the year so far with a huge road win at Texas.  Suddenly, the Friars are 10-3 with two true road wins, one of which is at Texas.  Their tourney resume just got a HUGE bump.

-Oklahoma won an overtime thriller at Northwestern to improve to 11-1 on the year.  This was also arguably the biggest win of the year so far for the Sooners.  As for Northwestern, it is the third soul crushing loss they’ve suffered at home this season.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-WAKE FOREST AT TENNESSEE.  Wake is a modest 6-3 on the year, and is probably doing better than what we expected, but they’re not doing so well that they’ll be able to knock off a team that’s looked like a #1 seed on the road.

-GEORGIA AT GEORGIA TECH.  It’s a rivalry game, but other than that this one means very little.  Should be fun, though!

-UCONN AT VILLANOVA.  UConn has been much better than expected this year, and they have yet another chance to pick up a huge caliber win that would indicate that they’re not just good enough to be a tournament team, but good enough to land in the top half of the bracket.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT IOWA.  THE TEAM OF THE PEOPLE!!  YOUR TEAM!!!  They travel to Iowa to continue to prepare for conference play and generate a little more revenue!

-TEMPLE AT DREXEL (Sort of Big Five/City Six).  Temple has a pretty good resume at 9-2 and can pick up their third true road win today in a very winnable game against Drexel. (Chad’s Note:  This would be true except this is a neutral court game being played at the Palestra.  Once again, #StupidPuppet)

-CLEMSON AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  Clemson has been disappointing so far this year.  This is their first true road game and although South Carolina isn’t all that strong either, it’s still important for Clemson to pick up the road win, beat their rivals, and truthfully avoid a loss to what’s likely a sub-NIT caliber team.

-TEXAS STATE AT ARKANSAS.  This is a buy game, but Texas State comes into this with a 10-1 record.  They haven’t been tested at all like they will be today against a pretty good Arkansas team, though, so it will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

-SAINT LOUIS VS FLORIDA STATE (game in Sunrise, FL).  SLU has shown some signs of life this year, but I wouldn’t say they’ve shown us full blown life.  If they are able to knock off Florida State today then it would be one of those pivotal wins that changes the entire complexion of their resume and quite possibly their season.

-UCLA VS OHIO STATE (CBS Sports Classic).  UCLA has looked terrible in their last few games, and they may get blown off the floor if they play like that today against an Ohio State team that hasn’t always been perfect, but has just one loss on the year.

-INDIANA STATE VS COLORADO (Diamond Head Classic).  Colorado is a very quiet 8-1 on the year, and if they could win this tournament they’d be one of the few bright spots in the Pac Twelve that has been rather lousy overall.  They face a pretty good Indiana State team today that they should beat, but that they won’t beat if they overlook them.

-UNC GREENSBORO AT SAMFORD (SoCon).  This is a rather meaningful early season SoCon game between two teams that have played really well OOC and come into this with very good records.

-BOSTON COLLEGE AT DEPAUL.  Not much has been discussed about either team, and perhaps there is a good reason for that, but both come into this at 8-2 and while both teams’ records are bloated, their SOS is not, so we’ll see what they can do against each other.

-WICHITA STATE AT VCU.  This is normally an entertaining match-up, but this year’s edition is a little weak.  VCU has some big wins on their resume, but they haven’t always held serve in the games that they should be expected to win.  That would include games like the one they’re playing today.  Wichita State probably won’t land anywhere near the bubble, but considering how much of a rebuilding it is for them they’re not doing bad at 7-4 overall.

-PENN AT NEW MEXICO.  We discussed the other night on our UTR Podcast that we think Penn has a path to landing inside the bubble.  That path would include pretty much coming close to running the table the rest of the year, and taking care of business in games like this.

-MURRAY STATE AT AUBURN.  Auburn is coming off a loss to NC State, and while they have a test that isn’t quite as tough today, I won’t go so far as to say that this game is easy.  Murray State has just one loss on the year, and they’ve blown some pretty good teams off the court, so the Tigers better not overlook them.

-STANFORD AT SAN FRANCISCO.  San Francsico has just one loss on the season, and as unusual as this build up may be, they are clearly the better team in this one and they’re at home, so it’s a game they should be expected to win.

-KENTUCKY VS NORTH CAROLINA (CBS Sports Classic).  Kentucky has no good wins on their resume.  Their best win to date is probably a home win against UNC Greensboro.  They need a win in a game like this to jumpstart their season and stabilize their resume, and while this is by no means their last opportunity, there is a somewhat growing sense of urgency for the Wildcats.  North Carolina is coming off a huge win against Gonzaga and is looking to add another big win to their resume today.

-SETON HALL AT MARYLAND.  Both teams are off to very good starts, and both are likely tournament teams, which makes this a resume building opportunity.

-VANDERBILT VS KANSAS STATE (Game in Kansas City).  What Vanderbilt has done this season with the injuries they’ve had to face is very impressive.  If they’re able to pick up this win then we’d have to start thinking of them as an NCAA Tournament team.  K State is strong, but up to this point they’ve done very little and could use a nice win away from home (although this isn’t very far away from home) to help sustain their resume.

-NEW MEXICO STATE VS DRAKE (Las Vegas Classic).  Both teams have impressive records with just two losses, and New Mexico State has proven that they are a strong team. Doing well in this tournament should help to continue to grow their resumes.

-MONTANA AT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE.  Montana has been a little disappointing so far, but they are still one of the stronger teams in the Big Sky and could make quite a bit of noise once conference play starts.  South Dakota State has been fantastic this year when they have not played in the state of Florida, and when you look at their remaining schedule they are definitely good enough to win out.  If they do, which they should, it will be interesting to see what the committee does with them.

-TULSA AT ORAL ROBERTS.  Tulsa is 9-3 on the year and has wins against Kansas State and Dayton on their resume, but they’re still not getting a lot of attention.  A win today would be their first true road win of the year, which adds even more stability to their resume.

-ILLINOIS VS MISSOURI (Braggin’ Rights Game).  This is perhaps the least interesting Braggin’ Rights Game we’ve seen in quite some time.  Mizzou just blew out Xavier at home, though, so it could be that they’re getting things turned around.

-KANSAS AT ARIZONA STATE.  Arizona State has looked pretty strong this year, but they’re coming off a rather decisive loss to a so-so Vanderbilt team that was rather surprising.  They should be really fired up for this game, and it is the first true road game for the Jayhawks, so it wouldn’t shock me to see them play really well and even win it.  It’s a good game for Kansas, because it won’t be the first time they play in a road game where it is perhaps the biggest home game of the year for their opponents.

-SAN DIEGO VS WASHINGTON STATE (Las Vegas Classic).  Washington State has a fairly decent 7-3 record, but for the most part has still been very unimpressive.  San Diego comes in at 9-3 and this is a winnable game for them, which would set them up against the winner of New Mexico State v Drake.

-CHARLOTTE VS TCU (Diamond Head Classic).  TCU has just one loss on the year and has been playing a lot better recently.  They shouldn’t have too much trouble picking up this win and landing on the winner’s side of the bracket.

-Grambling @ Wisconsin
-South Carolina Upstate @ NC State
-Little Rock @ Georgetown
-Jacksonville State @ West Virginia – WVU better not trip up and lose this one
-Central Pennsylvania (nondiv1) @ Davidson
-William & Mary @ Virginia
-Cal State Fullerton @ Nebraska
-Morgan State @ Old Dominion
-South Carolina State @ Cincinnati
-Eastern Kentucky @ Duquesne
-Arkansas State @ Syracuse
-Air Force @ Michigan
-FGCU @ Florida
-LMU @ UC Riverside – this would be LMU’s 4th true road win and get them to 12-1 overall
-TAMUCC @ Louisiana Tech
-Jacksonville @ Indiana
-Akron at Nevada – We like this Akron team, but they’re overmatched tonight
-Wright State @ Mississippi State
-UC Davis @ Arizona
-UT Martin @ Fresno State
-Cornell @ SMU
-Sacred Heart @ Saint John’s

NEWS AND NOTES

-Duke overcame a second half deficit and came back to beat a very tough Texas Tech team. Texas Tech plays great defense and is very strong in a half court game.  If anything, what I took away from the game is that Texas Tech is not a top 2 team, but they are easily a top 15 team and worthy of their current top 15 ranking.

-Houston came from behind with an incredible defensive effort in the second half to knock off a pretty good Utah State team and remain unbeaten on the year.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-LA SALLE VS ALABAMA A&M (Battle of the Boardwalk).  LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, and everyone else who does not fall into that category, GET READY FOR MORE AWESOMENESS THAN MOST PEOPLE HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN A TWO HOUR PERIOD!!!!!  One of these teams will win their first game of the year.  One will advance to the championship round and be playing for a trophy!!  We have dispatched Chad Sherwood to cover all of the action!!!!!

-KENT STATE AT OREGON STATE.  Oregon State hasn’t been spectacular by any means, but as weak as the Pac Twelve is they could make quite a bit of noise in conference play.  As for Kent State, they have just two losses on the year and are good enough to pick up a rather solid road win in this one today, and considering they’ll have chances against Toledo and Buffalo later on there actually is a path (albeit a narrow one) to landing inside the bubble.

-GEORGIA SOUTHERN AT RADFORD.  These are two pretty strong UTR teams that have decent resumes so far.  Radford is finally back home for just the second time this year, and for the first time against a div1 team.

-UC IRVINE AT BUTLER.  Both teams have good records, but Butler still needs to add some meet to their resume.  In fact UC Irvine arguable has the better resume up to this point, and is a perfect 5-0 in true road games this year.  If they can get this one then it will make their resume look even better.

-OREGON AT BAYLOR.  Simply put, these teams haven’t really done anything up to this point and need to string together a lot of wins just to get themselves into the NCAA Tournament conversation.

-ILLINOIS STATE AT UCF.  UCF’s profile still needs some work despite them being 9-2 on the year.  They don’t want to overlook this Illinois State team who has perhaps underperformed, but still has a high ceiling.

-FURMAN AT LSU.  Furman is unbeaten and has a really nice win at Villanova, but outside of that game they haven’t been tested quite like they will be tonight.  LSU has been somewhat underwhelming this year and has no real strong wins on their resume yet, but they’re still good enough to pick up those wins down the road and wind up inside the bubble.  A win tonight, although it’s technically a buy game, would be a huge step in the right direction.

-OLE MISS VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE.  Kermit Davis returns to face his old school.  We haven’t talked all that much about Ole Miss, and they still may not end up being a national player, but a win tonight does get them to 9-2 on the year.

-VERMONT AT LIPSCOMB.  (Under the Radar Game of the Day).  Vermont is having a very impressive season considering that they’re 9-3, and two of those losses were hard fought games against Kansas and Louisville.  What makes it more impressive is how much talent they lost off of last year’s team.  Lipscomb also played well against Louisville and was in the game until the final minute, and they also have a couple of impressive road wins on their resume already, so don’t be surprised if we see both these teams in the NCAA Tournament.  Neither one of them will be easy outs.

-BUFFALO AT MARQUETTE.  I can’t say enough about Buffalo.  They are unbeaten, they have three really good wins away from home with true road wins at Syracuse and West Virginia, and another neutral floor win against San Francisco.  I do think this is their toughest test of the season, and will likely be their toughest test until perhaps the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament (if they make it that far).  Marquette is unbeaten at home, and has already knocked off teams like K State and Marquette.  This would be a huge, protected seed caliber win for Buffalo if they can pull this one off, but they’ve had such a good year up to this point that they’re still in good shape even if they don’t.

-PROVIDENCE AT TEXAS.  Both of these teams could really use this win.  Texas has some nice wins already, but still has some work to do.  Providence has even more work to do.  A road win like this would really boost the quality of their resume.

-OKLAHOMA AT NORTHWESTERN.  Oklahoma continues to improve as the season goes along, and they have another big test tonight against a Northwestern team who’s only home loss was to Michigan by just 2pts.  If the Wildcats are able to string together several big wins then we’ll once again be seeing them in the NCAA Tournament.

-PENN STATE AT ALABAMA.  Both these teams are on the outside looking in and need to string together several wins just to get caught back up to the pack.

-Alabama State @ Liberty
-Oakland @ Michigan State
-Robert Morris @ Louisville
-Detroit @ Xavier
-Eastern Illinois @ Iowa State
-Coastal Carolina at Charleston – CofC can improve to 11-2 with a win
-Alcorn State @ South Florida – Amazingly, USF can improve to 9-2 with a win
-North Carolina A&T @ Minnesota
-Denver @ Gonzaga
-Sacramento State @ Washington

CLICK HERE for our most recent Under the Radar Video Podcast

-Auburn played their first true road game of the season against a very good NC State team last night, ended up getting knocked off.  I personally think it’s a case of this being a really good NC State team who was able to get the win at home than anything else.  The Wolfpack are now 10-1 on the season, and they’ve shown they can beat highly ranked teams at home, so they should be able to make some noise in the ACC.

-Penn State got a really nice road win at Duquesne, which is one of the better wins on their resume.  The game was actually tied with ten seconds to go when Penn State hit a layup and got an and-one with just under four seconds to go.  Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot did not agree, and would not stop yelling at the refs even after they gave him a technical, and then another technical.  Good effort by Duquesne up until their coach lost his damn mind and took any chance at all away from them either tying it or winning it in the final seconds.  Now just imagine if a player had done that…

-Stony Brook, who is a UTR team that has played really well on the road this year, dropped one at home to Hofstra.  Hofstra is good, but it’s still a game that you’d expect Stony Brook to win.

-Belmont continues to roll after knocking off Western Kentucky at home and improving to 9-1 on the year.

-UCLA followed up their lass at home to Belmont with a blowout loss at Cincinnati.  Most buy game opponents had been more competitive against the Bearcats than UCLA was.  UCLA is still looking for their first win away from home, and by the time it comes it may be too late.

-TEXAS TECH VS DUKE (Madison Square Garden).  Two unbeaten teams (if you don’t count Duke’s loss #StupidPuppet) that are highly ranked going at it on a neutral floor.  Both teams are on pace to end up as a protected seed, and furthermore Duke is a likely #1 seed.  As well as Duke has played, this would arguably be their biggest win of the year up to this point if they’re able to pull it off.  That would certainly be the case for Texas Tech.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT TENNESSEE TECH.  The nation’s number one offensive tempo, and YOUR Team of the People is back in action tonight against Tennessee Tech!!  Savannah State has played a slew of road buy games, but tonight’s game should be competitive as we near conference play!

-OHIO AT PURDUE.  Purdue is off to a very disappointing 6-5 start this year without a whole lot of good wins on their resume.  They better not overlook this Ohio team.  Purdue is probably the better team, and they are at home, but they’re not so much better that they can just take Ohio for granted.

-UTAH STATE AT HOUSTON.  This one should be good between a Utah State team that has looked extremely strong at times, and a Houston team that remains unbeaten and has played their way into the rankings.  Both look good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, especially Houston, so this would be a very nice resume win for whoever pulls it off.

-New Orleans @ Pittsburgh
-Jacksonville @ Notre Dame
-Coe (nondiv1) @ Creighton
-Pine Bluff @ North Texas