News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Tuesday, Nov 27th

Posted on November 27, 2018 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the latest Hoops HD Report Video Podcast, where we recap a busy week of exempt tournaments – CLICK HERE

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day, which is a really good one between East Tennessee State and Georgia Southern – CLICK HERE

 

TEXAS SOUTHERN BEATS OREGON

-I’ll begin with something that I didn’t think I’d be talking about 12 hours ago, and it is so surprising that I’ve given it it’s own sub-headline.  This is the second road buy game that Texas Southern has won against a P5 team.  They’ve won more road games against P5 teams than most P5 teams.  And those are the only two games that they have won.  Granted none of the other losses were all that bad.  All were on the road, and Gonzaga, Iowa State, and San Diego State are hardly easy road games to win, but to win at Baylor and at Oregon really is amazing for any team.  Baylor is 32-8 at home over the last two years, and that’s against Big Twelve competition, which is pretty good.  But to win at Oregon is a RIDONCULOUS win!!  Oregon has won 52 of their last 55 home games, and if you go back even further they are 114-13 at home going back to the 2011-2012 season.  They lose at home almost as infrequently as Kansas does, and for them to lose a home buy game to Texas Southern is nothing short of astounding.  It’s not as big as a #16 beating a #1 seed in the sense that the game is not as important, but in terms of how unexpected a win like this was, it’s more surprising than a #16 beating a one.  Now, perhaps Oregon is not one of the 20 best teams in the country, so by the end of the year it may not seem so outrageous, but for now it is utterly stupefying.

-And you know, I don’t even remember what else happened yesterday.  Anything??  Wofford won big at South Carolina and Nebraska picked up a huge road win at Clemson, and normally those things would get some chatter, but….TEXAS SOUTHERN WON AT OREGON!!!  HOLY CRAP!!!

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-VIRGINIA TECH AT PENN STATE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  We had high expectations for Penn State this year, but so far they haven’t really delivered.  This is their chance to take on a heavyweight at home.  VA Tech, on the other hand, has met and exceeded expectations so far and has the chance to add another nice (probably) road win to their resume.

-CHARLOTTE AT DAVIDSON.  This rivalry doesn’t resonate with the national consciousness, but it is a rivalry.  This year it happens to be a very lopsided rivalry.  Davidson is trying to improve to 4-1 whereas Charlotte has a lot of work to do.

-ILLINOIS AT NOTRE DAME (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both teams need to win, and truth be told both teams need to do a lot more than that.

-MICHIGAN STATE AT LOUISVILLE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Louisville is coming off two tough back to back losses in the Preseason NIT, one of which was particularly frustrating where they had a lead for most of the game, but lost in overtime.  They’re at home against a really good Michigan State team, and the fans should really be behind them, so it could be a really good atmosphere.

-NEVADA AT LOYOLA CHICAGO (MWC/MVC Challenge).  This is a rematch from last year’s Sweet Sixteen, and is probably the biggest showcase game Loyola has hosted….maybe ever.  The Ramblers have struggled at times, whereas Nevada has looked dominant all year long and well deserving of their top ten ranking.

-NORTH TEXAS AT OKLAHOMA.  Unless you follow us closely, you probably don’t realize that North Texas is undefeated, and they haven’t just been playing home buy games either.  This is probably their toughest test of the year so far, but they’ve won all their games so far.  Oklahoma hasn’t always looked great, but they’ve also looked to be improving.  Their only loss was to Wisconsin, and they’re coming a win against a Dayton team that appears to be decent.  This match-up won’t get all that many people all that excited, but it is one of the more intriguing games of the night.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT VANDERBILT.  The Team of the People!!!  Playing a road buy game!!  Generating revenue!!  They’ve done well since transitioning up, considering how rough it was during the transitional period!!  They should stay on this trajectory!!  SAVE THE TIGERS!!!

-TEMPLE AT MISSOURI.  Mizzou has been hugely disappointing this year.  They need some sort of decent win, any sort of decent win, to get their motor started and get things turned around.

-NC STATE AT WISCONSIN (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  NC State is unbeaten, but is also untested for the most part.  Wisky has a nice win at Xavier and has looked pretty strong this year.  They appear to have rebounded after their hiatus from the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

-PITTSBURGH AT IOWA (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Both of these teams have exceeded expectations so far, and both are trying to pick up another big early season win.

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT COLORADO STATE.  It’s not easy to win at Colorado State, but if Southern Illinois is going to be as good as we think they can be (which they absolutely have not shown us yet), then they need to be able to win games like this.

-INDIANA AT DUKE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Indiana is much better than they were a year ago, but this one could get rough.  Duke is a #1 seed caliber team.  And they’re at home.  And they’re coming off a loss.

 

BUY GAMES (and other games worth mentioning, but not highlighting)

-UMES @ Saint John’s
-Stony Brook @ Norfolk State – Stony Brook can improve to 4-1 and pick up their 3rd road win
-Pine Bluff @ Cincinnati
-Western Carolina @ Wake Forest
-Kennesaw State @ Georgia
-North Florida @ Florida
-UMass Lowell @ UConn
-Cedarville (nondiv1) @ Wright State
-Northern Kentucky @ Morehead State – NKU can improve to 6-0
-Charleston Southern @ Marquette
-South Dakota @ Baylor
-Eastern Washington @ Washington
-Lamar @ SMU
-Fairleigh Dickinson @ Providence

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: East Tennessee State at Georgia Southern

Posted on November 27, 2018 by John Stalica

For last night’s Hoops HD Report featuring the triumphant return of Kyle Lamb – CLICK HERE

East Tennessee State (5-2, 4-2 D1) at Georgia Southern (5-0, 4-0 D1) – 7:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

Today’s UTR Game of the Day features a pair of teams coming off of exempt tournament championships – the East Tennessee State Buccaneers and the Georgia Southern Eagles. ETSU won the Mainland portion of the Cayman Islands Classic with a pair of home wins against Chicago State and Sam Houston State. The Bucs also have wins at Winthrop and at home against North Dakota State; their only losses are at Georgia State and Creighton. Not only do all 5 starters for ETSU average double figures in points scored; Jeromy Rodriguez (11.7 PPG and 11.9 RPG) and Mladen Armus (10.4 PPG, 10.0 RPG) are also averaging double-doubles through their first seven games.

Georgia Southern has had more than a week off of game action after winning the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase. Their victories came against Florida Atlantic, Pepperdine and Montana; FAU and Montana’s only losses of the season thus far have come at the hands of the Eagles. Tookie Brown was the MVP of the tournament and Montae Glenn was also named to the All-Tournament team for his weekend performance. Another noteworthy stat for Georgia Southern – this is the first time they’ve started 5-0 in consecutive seasons since 1949-50 and 1950-51!

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The Hoops HD Report: November 26th

Posted on November 26, 2018 by David Griggs

Chad is joined by a full panel this week.  Last week was a very busy week with all of the exempt tournaments going on where we had two top 5 match-ups, a fantastic showing by Texas, some big wins by Florida State and Villanova, and a whole lot more.  We recap all of that and run through each of the ten major conferences, as well as taking a look at the new NET Rankings.  All of that, and much more!!

 

Prior to the season starting, we chatted with David Worlock about the NET (and a few other things).  CLICK HERE if you missed it, or would like to listen to it again.

 

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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Bracket Projection: Monday, November 26th

Posted on November 26, 2018 by John Stalica

For the first couple of weeks at Hoops HD, the Puppet has been at the forefront coming out with merit rankings and bracket projections. This week, it is John’s turn to come up with a bracket based on results from the first 3 weeks.

FIRST FOUR OUT: Nebraska, TCU, Maryland, UCLA

Indeed, it does make a difference as to what happens during exempt tournament season. Duke looked (a little) human and Gonzaga now has wins of significance to justify a spot on the 1-line. Kansas has also looked superb, and teams like Michigan and Ohio State are well into protected seed territory now.

Again, this is merely a current checkpoint – this is why I have teams like Buffalo and Furman in the top 16 at the moment. Villanova also went back to their winning ways over the weekend, but will more likely than not look like a protected seed later on in the season.

While the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 all had solid showings during the exempt events, so did the Big East (except Xavier, who is nowhere to be found anywhere close to this field). Seton Hall rebounded from a pair of losses (including a bad one at home to Saint Louis) and is now in the field, as are the Creighton Bluejays.

The SEC was not quite as impressive overall – that is why a team like Kentucky is only a 7-seed at the moment. The merit is not there yet, and there are going to be more question marks as they go into conference play in about a month. The A-10 was a tire fire last week and that is one reason Davidson shows up in the bracket as a #13 seed.

One final note – this bracket was assembled before the release of the NET rankings. For what it’s worth, Ohio State was #1 on the initial NET listing.

COMMENTS FROM THE HOOPS HD STAFF

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-I know that we’re splitting hairs at this point, but in terms of merit I’m not quite there with Washington.  They’ve beaten one team with a winning record, and that’s at home against San Diego (who I do think is good, but not first ballot good).  If anything I think a team like Lipscomb has done more with their wins at TCU and SMU.

-It’s hard for me to decide how to tackle Nebraska.  As a superfan hyperbole, of course I think they belong in on the #1 line because they are undefeated in games not played in the Spring Center!  As an analyst, they need to do something they really didn’t do last year, and that’s beat a good team away from home.  They came up short against Texas Tech (who I think is again a lot better than most people realize at this point), and they get another chance tonight against Clemson.

-I find it curious that Butler is in and Dayton isn’t (unless I’m missing them, which if I am it has been that kind of a day).  Dayton did beat Butler on a neutral floor, and their loss against Virginia hardly seems notable.

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Louisiana Tech at Delaware

Posted on November 26, 2018 by John Stalica

For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE

Louisiana Tech (4-2, 3-2 D1) at Delaware (4-2, 2-2 D1) – 7:00 PM EST (Watch Live)

Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us back to the Delaware Invitational where the Blue Hens of Delaware will play host to Louisiana Tech. A common thread for tonight is that both teams are coming off of losses to UNC-Greensboro as part of a 3-team round robin event over the weekend. Delaware was trailing 53-49 against UNC-G after the first media timeout in the 2nd half, but a 19-3 run by the Spartans effectively ended the game for the Blue Hens. Ithiel Horton had 18 points off the bench to lead Delaware.

As for Louisiana Tech, their most notable win of the season so far was a win at Wichita State in their season opener. The loss at Louisiana State was certainly a respectable one, but the Bulldogs did miss an opportunity over the weekend for a good win after losing to UNC-Greensboro. Exavian Christon leads the Bulldogs with 13.3 points a game; he’s also shooting from a 42% clip from 3-point range during Louisiana Tech’s first 6 games this season.

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Monday, Nov 26th

Posted on November 26, 2018 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-We will be recording the Hoops HD Report tonight, and recapping an extremely busy week of exempt tournament action.

-Villanova has rebounded nicely after dropping two early season games.  They won the Advocare invitational after beating a top 15 Florida State team in a close low scoring game.  They have certainly improved since getting mauled by Michigan.

-Oklahoma State, the team that Nova knocked off in the semifinals, won the the third place game against LSU.  The Pokes may be one of the teams that has kind of jumped into national relevance after a good showing in an exempt tournament.

-It hasn’t always been pretty or impressive, but Northwestern is now 5-1 after blasting Utah in the Wooden Legacy yesterday.  Perhaps they are capable of playing better than some of us thought after seeing them sweat a few out early.

-After a 3-0 start which included a seemingly impressive win at SMU, Southern Miss has now lost two of three, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily too bad, but one of those was against NAIA William Carey yesterday.  That IS bad.  It’s so bad that I’d rank it the biggest upset of the season so far in terms of how surprising it was, and it may not be topped the rest of the year.

-Furman is now 7-0 with 3 true road wins on their resume, one of which was against the Villanova team that just won the Advocare Invitational.  I don’t think they’ll get into the rankings, but that’s because the voters won’t put them there, not because they don’t belong there.  They do belong there.

-Seton Hall handed Miami FL their first loss and picked up a very nice and much needed win to win the Wooden Legacy.

 

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-NEBRASKA AT CLEMSON.  This is the first true road game for Nebraska, and it’s a very tall order against a Clemson team who’s ranked in the top 25 (or at least was coming into the day) and is looking to bounce back from a rather surprising loss to Creighton.

-WOFFORD AT SOUTH CAROLINA.  We still really like this Wofford team, but they don’t have any notable wins yet, and if anything dropped one at Oklahoma that we were kind of expecting them to get.  If they want any hopes at all of being in position to make the NCAA Tournament without having to win the SoCon Tournament, then they need to find a way to knock off Angry Frank’s Gamecocks tonight.

-LOUISIANA TECH AT DELAWARE.  LA Tech is coming off a rather surprising loss to UNC Greensboro and is trying to rebound against a Delaware team that’s good, but not so good that LA Tech should have trouble beating them if they are as good as we think they are.

-MURRAY STATE AT ALABAMA.  It’s a buy game, but watch the hell out for Murray State!!  This is their first true road game of the season, and we think they are pretty strong this year.  We’ll see if they’re capable of beating an Alabama team on the road that’s looked good at times this year themselves.

-MINNESOTA AT BOSTON COLLEGE (ACC/Big Ten Challenge).  Minney is off to an impressive 5-0 start, and at 4-1 BC hasn’t looked great, but they haven’t looked bad either.  This would be a nice win for whichever team is able to pull it off.

 

BUY GAMES

-Alcorn State @ Mississippi State
-Eastern Michigan @ TCU
-Omaha @ Iowa State
-North Dakota State @ Gonzaga
-Texas Southern @ Oregon

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