Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For all of the In-Season Tournament Brackets and Schedules – CLICK HERE

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

-In the Battle 4 Atlantis, Gonzaga blew out Indiana 89-73 and seems to be back on track after their surprising loss to West Virginia the day before. Indiana has now been blown out twice in two days, and is likewise starting to look more like the team we expected coming into the season.

-On the other side of the bracket, Louisville picked up a win against West Virginia in an overtime thriller, and will face Oklahoma who pulled off an upset win against Arizona. Arizona will likely still have a big year, but they have yet to manage any big time wins this season yet.

-Illinois pretty much led Arkansas from tip to buzzer in Kansas City for the 90-77 win. The loss knocks Arkansas back to 5-2 and the Razorbacks are still in search of their first win that isn’t a home buy game.

-Ole Miss needed overtime, but they got by BYU 96-85 in a thriller at the Rady Children’s Invitational. It was probably Ole Miss’s best win of the season up to this point, and they’ll get to face a really good Purdue team tonight.

-Wichita State is now 6-0 on the season after edging out Minnesota 68-66. The Shockers have a huge game today against Florida. If they can win that one then you have to start thinking about them as a tournament team.

-Utah State is also unbeaten after handing Saint Bonaventure their first loss in the NIT Season Tip-Off 72-67.

-Butler picked up their biggest win of the season yesterday as they held off Northwestern 71-69 in a thriller out in the Arizona Tip-Off. I still think Butler could be a dark-horse team, and if they’re able to beat Mississippi State today it should get the attention of the voters.

-Saint Mary’s blasted USC, and Arizona State beat New Mexico in a thriller out at the Acrisure Classic. That Saint Mary’s v Arizona State game tonight should be good. Neither team is currently in the top 25, but perhaps both of them should be and will be soon.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-PROVIDENCE VS INDIANA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams should have a sense of urgency coming into this one as both are still looking for their first notable win of the season.

-MINNESOTA VS WAKE FOREST (ESPN Events Invitational). One last chance for each team to pick up a win of note in this event.

-PITTSBURGH AT OHIO STATE. Pitt may be the best team in the ACC outside of Duke and North Carolina right now, and they have a chance to pick up a really good win this afternoon. Both of these teams have shown signs of being solid tournament teams, and this game is a resume building opportunity for each of them.

-ARIZONA VS WEST VIRGINIA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Arizona’s season has been a little disappointing so far and they fell to Oklahoma yesterday. West Virginia fell to Louisville in an overtime thriller after the shocking upset of Gonzaga two days ago. Both are looking to end things on a high note today.

-WICHITA STATE VS FLORIDA (ESPN Events Invitational). Both teams are unbeaten and both have picked up some nice wins already. This is probably a bigger game for Wichita State as they won’t have quite as many opportunities at notable wins the rest of the way as Florida will.

-NC STATE VS BYU (Rady Children’s Invitational). Both teams are coming off a loss yesterday, and both are still looking for their first win of the season that isn’t a home buy game.

-OKLAHOMA VS LOUISVILLE (Battle 4 Atlantis). This probably isn’t the championship game that most people were expecting. Louisville has knocked off Indiana and West Virginia, and Oklahoma had a nice win over Arizona yesterday. Both teams have picked up some really good wins in this event, and both have the chance to take home some hardware and finish it off with one more nice win today.

-OLE MISS VS PURDUE (Rady Children’s Invitational). Both teams are in the rankings and both had nice wins yesterday to get to the championship game.

-UTAH STATE VS NORTH TEXAS (NIT Tip-Off). Utah State is unbeaten, but their resume is still a little flimsy. North Texas is an impressive 6-1, but could also use some big wins to beef up their resume. It’s a game that both teams could really use.

-NORTHWESTERN VS UNLV (Arizona Tip-Off). Winning this game would help either team’s resume.

-DAVIDSON VS GONZAGA (Battle 4 Atlantis). This appears to be a huge mismatch, but it’s also a great chance for Davidson to pick up what would be a season-defining win.

-BUTLER VS MISSISSIPPI STATE (Arizona Tip-Off). I’ve said that I thought Butler could be a dark horse this year, and while they haven’t looked overly impressive yet, they’re still 5-1 on the season. This would be a statement win if they can knock off Mississippi State, who is currently 6-0 and in the rankings after some nice wins against Utah, SMU, and UNLV.

-ARIZONA STATE VS SAINT MARY’S (Acrisure Classic). Both teams are off to really good starts and both picked up some pretty good wins yesterday. Saint Mary’s blew USC’s doors off and Arizona State beat a really good New Mexico. Both look like tournament teams early on, and have the chance to continue to build their resumes today.

-UC IRVINE VS KENT STATE (Western Slam). These are two really good UTR teams that are both capable of making runs at the bubble, but who also have limited opportunities and can really use this win today. Props to this event for being able to match these two teams up. It is a HUGELY important early season game and a big opportunity for both of them.

-USC VS NEW MEXICO (Acrisure Classic). Both teams are looking to bounce back from yesterday’s losses and leave this event with a notable neutral floor win.

BUY GAMES (and other games of note):

-Dartmouth @ Boston College
-Valparaiso @ DePaul
-TCU vs Colorado State (Acrisure Classic) – TCU is still looking for their first notable win
-Judson (nonD1) @ Bradley
-VMI @ George Washington
-Tennessee Tech @ Vanderbilt
-Central Penn (nonD1) @ Liberty
-Holy Cross @ Virginia
-Santa Clara vs Washington (Acrisure Championship). Santa Clara blew out TCU yesterday and faces a 1-loss Washington team today
-Arkansas State vs Indiana State (Baha Mar Hoops) – Arkansas State can get to 5-1 with a win
-NC A&T @ East Carolina
-Georgia State @ Kentucky
-Seattle U @ Duke
-Hofstra vs Rice (Baha Mar Hoops) – both teams are off to impressive starts and both can build up their resumes with a win today
-Florida A&M @ Clemson
-Elizabeth State (nonD1) @ VCU
-Northern Colorado @ Texas Tech – it’s a buy game, but Northern Colorado is a good team and could be very competitive in this game
-Northwestern State @ LSU
-Saint Bonaventure vs Northern Iowa (NIT Season Tip-Off) – Saint Bona can get to 7-1
-Delaware State @ Texas
-Mississippi Valley State @ UC Santa Barbara

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For all of the In-Season Tournament Brackets and Schedules – CLICK HERE

-I don’t think there has ever been a 7th place finish in any event that was anywhere near as impressive as Dayton’s was in the Maui Invitational. They almost upset two really highly ranked teams, and then blew UConn’s doors off 85-67 yesterday. UConn is, without question, NOT the 2nd best team in the country like their ranking indicated, but Dayton is, without question, one of the best 25 teams in the country. They’re probably good enough to blow through the rest of their schedule and end the regular season ranked very high, and perhaps be on the fringe of a protected seed.

-Auburn ended up winning the Maui Invitational as they skated past Memphis 90-76. Auburn’s resume is as follows: they have wins over Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, and now Memphis, and all those wins are away from home. That’s insanely good!!

-Michigan State finished things off in Maui with a win over North Carolina. Sparty was not a team I was super big on coming into this event, but they picked up two really good wins and are off to a very solid start to the season.

-Gonzaga, who had looked like one of the best teams in the country, somehow fell to West Virginia, who had shown very few signs of life prior to yesterday. That one game completely changes the complexion of WVU’s outlook this season.

-The other surprise was Louisville’s win over Indiana. The fact that Louisville won isn’t that surprising because we had questions about Indiana coming in, but Louisville winning 89-61 was pretty astounding. Louisville is probably a lot better than we thought, and Indiana may be even worse.

-Rutgers, who less than a week ago fell on the road to Kennesaw State, must have woken up. They didn’t get the win against Alabama yesterday out in the Players Era Festival, but they were extremely competitive and only lost 95-90. I’d say there is more reason to hope than to be discouraged after that.

-Texas A&M held on to beat Creighton yesterday 77-73. While it is the 3rd straight loss or Creighton, they were at least competitive against a strong opponent. In their previous two games it didn’t even look like they belonged on the floor.

-Michigan totally blew Xavier’s doors off 78-53. It’s another case of not being surprised at which team won, but being surprised at how much that team dominated. It was a real statement win for the Wolverines.

-Oregon remains unbeaten after their win over San Diego State in the Players Era Festival. Keep your eye on the Ducks!!

-SMU got a nice 77-60 win over a Washington State team that came in looking pretty good. It may not be a win that jumps off the resume, but to me it’s an indication that SMU is capable of playing well.

-Last, and definitely latest, Houston finished off Notre Dame 65-54 in a game that wrapped up at some time around 3am. It’s Houston’s most notable win of the season so far.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-LOUISVILLE VS WEST VIRGINIA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Many were probably expecting to see these two play today, but probably not on the winners’ side of the bracket. Louisville blew Indiana into the sun and West Virginia, after having shown no real signs of life prior to yesterday, somehow upset Gonzaga. Both have another chance to pick up a notable win again today.

-MINNESOTA VS WICHITA STATE (ESPN Events Invitational). Minnesota comes in at 5-1, but their only wins have been home buy games. Wichita State is a little more proven, but they have a limited number of opportunities at big wins the rest of the way so it is very important that they do well in this event and pick up some notable wins.

-INDIANA AT GONZAGA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams are in the rankings and both still have a shot at picking up a solid win for their tournament resumes today. The fact that it’s on the losers’ side of the bracket won’t matter to any metrics or team sheets. Gonzaga’s resume still looks very impressive, whereas Indiana has still only won home buy games up to this point.

-FLORIDA VS WAKE FOREST (ESPN Events Invitational). Florida appears to be really solid, but their schedule up until now has been somewhat flimsy outside of a win against Florida State. Wake has a nice win against Michigan, but could also stand to build up their resume some, so this event is a good opportunity for both of them.

-PURDUE VS NC STATE (Rady Children’s Invitational). NC State is unbeaten but also untested. Purdue has already managed a big win against Alabama, but this would be their first win of note away from home, so there’s something at stake for both these teams.

-ARKANSAS VS ILLINOIS (Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase). Both of these teams appear to be good and both have high expectations for the year, but to date they are both also lacking in a high caliber win, so this is clearly an opportunity for them to pick up what would be their biggest win of the year to date.

-OKLAHOMA VS ARIZONA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Oklahoma pulled out a close one against Providence yesterday and they’ll have an even tougher test today against an Arizona team that cruised by Davidson and who can add another nice win to their resume today.

-BYU VS OLE MISS (Rady Children’s Invitational). Both teams come in at 5-0 and both have high expectations of being likely tournament teams this year, but they’re also both facing their first real test of the season today.

-UTAH STATE VS SAINT BONAVENTURE (NIT Season Tip-Off). Utah State is coming off a very nice win against Iowa and can add another notable neutral floor win to their resume today. Saint Bonaventure is unbeaten, but completely unproven. This event is a chance for them to pick up some decent wins and get the committee’s attention.

-NORTHWESTERN VS BUTLER (Arizona Tip-Off). Despite Butler’s early loss to Austin Peay and Northwestern not having managed any sort of notable win yet, I still think both of these teams can have bigger years than what their preseason expectations were and even make it to the NCAA Tournament. So, this event and this game today is a big opportunity for both of them.

-KENNESAW STATE VS UC IRVINE (Western Slam). Kennesaw State is a very surprising 5-1 on the year and has a really nice win against Rutgers. UC Irvine is a perfect 5-0 and probably one of the best UTR teams out there. If they are going to make a run at the bubble, the margin for error is very thin.

-USC VS SAINT MARY’S (Acrisure Classic). Saint Mary’s is a perfect 6-1 and USC is a very respectable 5-1. Outside of Saint Mary’s win against Nebraska both teams need some quality wins to build up their resumes.

-MISSISSIPPI STATE VS UNLV (Arizona Tip-Off). Mississippi State is coming off a really nice road win at SMU and can build up their resume some more if they’re able to pick up a couple of wins in this event.

-NEW MEXICO VS ARIZONA STATE (Acrisure Classic). Both teams have managed some decent wins already, and both seem to be better than what we were expecting in the preseason. It will be interesting to see what they do against each other tonight.

BUY GAMES (and other games of note):

-Rhode Island vs UT Arlington (Jacksonville Classic) – Rhody can remain unbeaten on the year
-TCU vs Santa Clara (Acrisure Invitational) – TCU can get to 5-1, but Santa Clara is probably better than their 2-4 record
-Washington vs Colorado State (Acrisure Invitational) – Washington can get to 5-1 with a win
-Providence vs Davidson (Battle 4 Atlantis) – both teams are looking to bounce back and pick up their first notable win of the season
-Northern Iowa vs North Texas (NIT Season Tip-Off) – North Texas can improve to 6-1 and add another road/neutral win to their profile
-Kent State vs Towson (Western Slam) – Kent State can improve to 5-1

NEWS AND NOTES:

-For all of the In-Season Tournament Brackets and Schedules – CLICK HERE

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

-Kansas squeaked past Duke 75-72 in Las Vegas. Both these teams have tested themselves big time, and both will likely end up having monster years. They’ve each played the types of schedules and won the types of games teams need to play to end up as protected seeds, and even #1 seeds. Duke losing by 3 in November to the #1 team in the nation on a neutral floor hardly even qualifies as a setback.

-UConn’s 73-72 loss in Maui DOES qualify as a setback. UConn came in ranked #2, and will likely be dropping down the polls quite a bit after dropping games to both Memphis and now Colorado. And they’ll be tested again tonight by Dayton. Speaking of Dayton…

-For the second day in a row Dayton took a highly ranked team to the final minute of the game, but came up just short as they fell 89-84. You kind of hate to see a team play as well as Dayton and not yet finish off one of those big time wins. They’ll have a good year, and based what they’ve shown us so far it’s hard to imagine them not blowing through the Atlantic 10, but they don’t get numerous opportunities at wins like this throughout the season the way teams from the P4 level conferences do.

-Also in Maui, Auburn held off North Carolina to pick up yet another win against a top 15 team away from home, and they’ll face Memphis tonight, who is also off to an incredible start this season.

-Alabama and Houston squared off in the Players Era Festival in another game that featured two top ten teams. Alabama held on to get the overtime win 85-80 in a game that seesawed back and forth. I’m still all in on Houston being a Final Four caliber team, and they’ll have many chances to pick up big wins between now and March, but as of now they’ve failed to get a win in their first two big tests of the year.

-Oregon, who we had a lot of questions about coming into the year, is starting to answer those questions. They had a nice road win at Oregon State last week, and beat a really good Texas A&M team 80-70 in the Players Era Festival yesterday. If they continue to do well in this event they should shoot up the rankings.

-Creighton will NOT be shooting up the rankings. They are down a key player and have not looked good at all in their last two games. Props to San Diego State who picked up the 71-53 win, and who also looked a little sluggish in a few of their early games, but looked really good yesterday.

-Clemson has started to look better and has now picked up two nice wins in the Sunshine Slam. They beat San Francisco handily on Monday and beat what was an unbeaten Penn State team 75-67 yesterday.

-Grand Canyon finally got a notable win with an impressive 78-71 showing against what was an unbeaten (and untested) Stanford team in Palm Springs. Hawaii, Georgia, and Saint Louis still remain on their schedule, so there are a few more chances to at least get a few notable wins.

-Boston College, who we just didn’t have any thoughts on at all coming into the year other than being the likely doormat of the ACC, has shown out this year! They improved to 6-1 yesterday after beating Boise State 63-61 in the Cayman Islands Championship. The Eagles will take home a little bit of hardware, but more importantly add some good wins to their profile which is starting to stick out a little bit.

-Rutgers needed overtime to get by Notre Dame 85-84 in the Players Era Festival. While it remains to be seen how good Notre Dame is, it was still a nice bounce back for Rutgers after the loss at Kennesaw State.

-Keep an eye on Furman. They are now 7-0 after a win over Seattle U (who I know isn’t that good) and are starting to look like a UTR team with a lot of promise.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-LOUISVILLE VS INDIANA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams have shown signs of promise, and Indiana is high in the rankings, but neither team has managed to win any games that aren’t home buy games yet. Louisville was blown out by Tennessee in their only real test of the season, and Indiana has had no real tests yet, so we should learn something about both of them today.

-WEST VIRGINIA VS GONZAGA (Battle 4 Atlantis). This appears to be a massive mismatch. Gonzaga should have no trouble getting the win and moving on to the winners’ side of the bracket.

-COLORADO VS IOWA STATE (Maui Invitational). Colorado’s win over UConn yesterday came after I talked about what a huge mismatch the game was going to be and how down Colorado was this year. Now Colorado is suddenly 5-1 with a very impressive win on their profile. They’ll have their hand full again today against an Iowa State team that battled Auburn in the first game and got by what appears to be a really good Dayton team yesterday.

-OREGON VS SAN DIEGO STATE (Players Era Festival). San Diego State had appeared sluggish in their first few games this season, but they weren’t sluggish yesterday as they absolutely blasted Creighton. Oregon comes in at 6-0 with a really nice win against Texas A&M yesterday, so both teams showed out in their first games of this event.

-MEMPHIS VS AUBURN (Maui Invitational). Both teams come in unbeaten with multiple big wins. Something tells me that regardless of the outcome of this game Memphis will not be unranked next week. Both are already putting together profiles that would land them as solid protected seeds, and both have the chance at another big win today.

-OKLAHOMA VS PROVIDENCE (Battle 4 Atlantis). Both teams come into this game completely untested. They’re unbeaten, but they’ve played nothing but home buy games.

-TEXAS A&M VS CREIGHTON (Players Era Festival). Creighton has not looked good at all in their last two games, and they’re also without a key player. Texas A&M is a team we were big on coming into the year, and while they haven’t looked terrible, they haven’t exactly looked as good as their ranking yet either. I do think that at some point a switch will flip and they’ll start playing at a much higher level. They have the chance to pick up a notable win for their resume today.

-DAVIDSON VS ARIZONA (Battle 4 Atlantis). Davidson comes in unbeaten, but has only played home buy games. We will see during this event whether or not they are for real. Arizona has tested themselves a couple times, but lost the couple times they did it. They still appear to be a very good team, but this would be their biggest win to date if they are able to pull it off.

-MICHIGAN VS XAVIER (Fort Myers Tip-Off). Xavier is 6-0 with a couple of notable wins, but this would probably be their strongest of the season so far if they can get it done against Michigan. The Wolverines are a respectable 5-1, but also don’t yet have a win as good as this one would be.

-MICHIGAN STATE VS NORTH CAROLINA (Maui Invitational). Both teams are off to very solid starts, and both have the chance to leave this event by adding one more high caliber win to their resumes.

-SMU VS WASHINGTON STATE (Acrisure Holiday Invitational). Both teams have very respectable records with SMU coming in at 5-2 and Wazzu coming in at 6-1. SMU also battled against a really good Mississippi State team last week. They lost, but they have shown signs of potential. It will be interesting to see what they can do against each other tonight.

-RUTGERS VS ALABAMA (Players Era Festival). Rutgers recently had a loss at Kennesaw State and had to struggle to get by Notre Dame last night. Alabama is coming off a really nice win against Houston. So…one of these teams appears to be far more proven than the other right now.

-UCONN VS DAYTON (Battle 4 Atlantis). In the last 48 hours, these teams have lost four games by a combined total of 10 points, and three of those four losses came against top 12 teams! After playing so well, especially in the case of Dayton, you’d hate to see them take on that level of competition, have a chance to beat not one, but TWO really strong teams away from home, and then still come away with nothing. The winner of this game will get what should be a really strong resume-building win. There’s actually quite a bit to play for even though it’s the 7th place game. It’s arguably one of the more meaningful games of the day.

-NOTRE DAME VS HOUSTON (Players Era Festival). Houston has two losses, one of which was to Auburn and the other to Alabama. As good as I think they are, they still don’t have anything other than a buy game win. That should change tonight.

BUY GAMES (and other games of note):

-Detroit Mercy vs Rhode Island (Jacksonville Classic) – Rhody can remain unbeaten
-Northern Kentucky @ Charleston
-New Orleans @ Baylor
-UT Martin @ Tennessee
-Bucknell @ Maryland
-Lindenwood @ Missouri
-South Dakota @ Nebraska – Nebraska just got a really nice road win at Creighton
-Alabama State @ Cincinnati
-Milwaukee @ UCF
-Cornell @ Syracuse
-Utah Valley @ Samford (Samford Thanksgiving Special) – Utah Valley can improve to 5-1 on the year
-UMass Lowell @ Saint Louis – SLU better be on upset alert
-Wyoming vs LMU (Cancun Challenge) – Wyoming can get to 6-1
-Stonehill @ Marquette
-Cal State Northridge @ Montana – CSUN can get to 6-1 and pick up their 3rd true road win
-Mercyhurst @ California