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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News, Notes and Highlighted Games – Sunday, November 25th

Posted on November 25, 2018 by John Stalica

For today’s UTR Game of the Day featuring the Team of the People – CLICK HERE

– Only one exempt tournament of note ended yesterday – Cincinnati won the Emerald Coast Classic after gradually pulling away from Ole Miss with a 71-57 victory. Jarron Cumberland led the Bearcats with 25 points and actually avenged a loss against the Rebels in the 2014 Emerald Coast Classic.

– There was a time when DePaul-Notre Dame was one of the better rivalries in college hoops, and the first half of the game was certainly competitive. The 2nd half, not so much. The Irish won convincingly and knocked the Blue Demons from the ranks of the unbeaten.

– Western Kentucky is another UTR team that came into the season with at-large tournament hopes, but those prospects took a hit with a 63-54 loss at Indiana State. The Trees may be a team worth watching in the Missouri Valley – they’ll have another good UTR test when Wright State comes to town next Saturday.

– Stony Brook is now 3-for-3 in true road games; they beat Rhode Island 68-58 to improve to 5-1 on the season. They are looking more and more like a favorite to win the America East this season.

– The Citadel got roadkill with a win at South Florida yesterday. The Bulldogs look respectable at 4-2 (2-2 in D1 play) – the Bulls, not so much.

– UNC-Greensboro is off to their best start in program history. They followed up a win at Delaware with a win against Louisiana Tech in the Delaware Classic. The SoCon is going to be a fun league to follow this year with UNC-G, Furman and even Citadel having great starts to their respective seasons.

– Yesterday was not one of BYU’s better days. Not only did they lose by 14 at home to a bubbilicious Houston team, their football team blew a 20-point halftime lead in football’s version of the Holy War against Utah.

– Central Florida had a nice win at home against Northern Kentucky; the Norse fell from the rank of the unbeatens.

– Saint Mary’s is now on a 3-game losing streak after a 3-0 start that included a win at New Mexico State. They lost a pair of games in Las Vegas against Utah State and Mississippi State, but losing to Harvard with Harvard’s leading scorer out of action has to sting.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

CANISIUS vs. UAB (Advocare Invitational, 7th Place) – This is a chance to salvage one win in Orlando for either team, but little more beyond that.

VILLANOVA vs. FLORIDA STATE (Advocare Invitational, Championship) – Villanova has looked more dominant with wins against Canisius and Oklahoma State in Orlando, whereas Florida State had a stiffer test against LSU to make their way to today’s championship game.

NORTHWESTERN vs. UTAH (Wooden Legacy, 5th Place) – Both teams have rebounded after embarrassing opening games to get a win on Friday night – this is an opportunity for a 2-1 weekend for the winner of this game.

FLORIDA GULF COAST at FLORIDA ATLANTIC – In most years, Gulf Coast would be favored to win this intrastate rivalry. This would not be one of those years.

RICE at WICHITA STATE – Highlighted because you just never know which Wichita team shows up from game to game. They are looking for their first win in the Roundhouse today.

OKLAHOMA STATE vs. LSU (Advocare Invitational, 3rd Place) – LSU is coming off of a tough overtime loss to Florida State; the Cowboys want to get at least one win against a potential NCAA Tournament team before going into the Big 12 gauntlet.

FURMAN at UNC-ASHEVILLE – The Paladins will be looking to increase their overall record to 7-0 with wins at Loyola-Chicago and Villanova already under their belts.

FRESNO STATE vs. HAWAII (Wooden Legacy, 3rd Place) – Hawaii has had a solid tournament so far with a win against Utah (even with a missed opportunity to beat a reloading Seton Hall team). Fresno State smashed Northwestern earlier and will also be looking to cash in at least one more victory this weekend.

OREGON STATE at LONG BEACH STATE – The Beavers will be making a rare roadie by a Power 5 team to the Pyramid at Long Beach in this one.

LONGWOOD at SEATTLE – Normally this would be the UTR Game of the Day, but we do need to highlight our Team of the People as often as we see fit.

MEMPHIS vs. CHARLESTON (Advocare Invitational, 5th Place) – Memphis did start off slowly in Orlando with a loss to Oklahoma State, but still have a window to come out of the weekend with 2 victories.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE at SAMFORD – Nothing says Buckeye Classic quite like 2 teams south of Tennessee and North Carolina. This is part of a 5-team round-robin event that also includes Cleveland State, Purdue-Fort Wayne and Ohio State.

LA SALLE vs. GRAND CANYON (Wooden Legacy, 7th Place) – The former Team of the People is looking for at least one victory in their first-ever 8-team exempt event in this one; it shouldn’t be too difficult against a La Salle team that hasn’t been very competitive this weekend.

MIAMI vs. SETON HALL (Wooden Legacy, Championship) – The Pirates have looked a lot better this weekend after suffering back-to-back losses against Nebraska and Saint Louis, but beating Miami is going to be a tall order. But not an impossible one – Creighton also beat Clemson in their own exempt event earlier during Feast Week.

OTHER BUY GAMES OF NOTE

– UMass-Lowell at Duquesne
– St. Edwards (D-2) at Stephen F. Austin
– Hampton at Richmond
– Cal State-Bakersfield at USC

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Under The Radar Game of the Day: Savannah State at Liberty

Posted on November 25, 2018 by John Stalica

Savannah State (3-4, 2-4 D1) at Liberty (4-1, 2-1 D1) – 2:00 PM EST (ESPN+)

The Team of the People makes their UTR Game of the Day debut this year – the Savannah State Tigers go on the road to face the Liberty Flames as part of the 5-team round-robin Commodore Classic (also featuring Vanderbilt, Kent State and Alcorn State). The Tigers beat Alcorn State 80-75 yesterday in a game that was also played on Liberty’s campus. Romani Hanson had 19 points off the bench for Savannah State yesterday; Jahlin Smith also had 14 points and 9 boards as well.

Liberty also beat Alcorn State on Friday night after jumping out to a quick 20-4 lead and ended up winning 76-54. Elijah Cuffee led the Flames with 15 points (all in the first half of the game).

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News, Notes, and Highlighted Games: Saturday, Nov 24th

Posted on November 24, 2018 by David Griggs

NEWS AND NOTES

-For John Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day between American and UMBC – CLICK HERE

-Tennessee v Kansas in the Preseason NIT (or whatever the hell they call it now) was the second top five match-up in three days, and like the first between Gonzaga and Duke this one did not disappoint.  Tennessee seemed to have the lead for most of the second half, but Kansas kept it close, then went ahead, and then at the end of the half it was tied so it went into overtime where the Jayhawks picked up the big win, and will perhaps move into the #1 ranking next week.  For Tennessee, the loss was disappointing, but it was hardly damaging.  They’ll win a lot of games against a lot of good teams if they play like that the rest of the year.

-The third place game of the NIT also went into overtime with Marquette knocking off Louisville.  Louisville led for most of the game, and the result wasn’t without some controversy as the Cardinals clearly made a three pointer with about ten mins to go, but were only given 2pts for it.  You can’t really blame the loss on that, though.  Louisville had three open shots at the end of regulation that could have won them the game, two of which were basically layups, and they missed all three.

-Virginia is off to a hot start.  After winning three home buy games, they won three straight to win the Battle 4 Atlantis, and knocked off a very good Wisconsin team yesterday.

-North Carolina had no trouble with UCLA and bounced back after their loss to Texas.

-Florida State knocked off LSU in an overtime thriller.  That game was close the entire way and while LSU didn’t get the win, the loss hardly hurts them.  For Florida State, it will most likely turn out to be a huge resume builder seeing how it was a win against a current top 20 team, and also seeing how LSU appears to be good enough to stay in the rankings.

-Michigan State overcame a first half deficit to beat a very good Texas team and win the Las Vegas Invitational.  Texas should continue to improve, and may even crack the rankings next week, so this was a very nice win for Michigan State

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-DEPAUL AT NOTRE DAME.  If DePaul can knock off a struggling Notre Dame team, they can improve to 4-0 on the season, and arguably have one of the better resumes out of all the Big East teams to date.  Notre Dame has basically played nothing but home buy games up to this point, and they even lost one of those, so they have a lot of workt od to do tget things turned around.

-NORTHERN ILLINOIS VS JAMES MADISON (Men Against Cancer Oakland Hoops Challenge).  These ate two UTR teams that are off to pretty good starts, and JMU has some decent wins already.

-NORTHEASTERN AT DAVIDSON.  Northeastern has been kind of disappointing so far considering how good we thought they’d be, but they still have time to turn it around.  Davidson has appeared to struggle as well, but at the end of the day they have a 4-1 record and are in fairly decent shape if they can keep winning.

-SAVANNAH STATE AT ALCORN STATE.  The Team of the People!!!  Savannah State has a winnable road game today, and is trying to pick up their third win of the season, and improve to 3-2 in non-buy games!!

-WESTERN KENTUCKY AT INDIANA STATE.  WKU has a nice neutral floor win against West Virginia, but missed some chances to add even more to their resume.  They are going after their first true road win today.

-STONY BROOK AT RHODE ISLAND.  Up to this point, Stony Brook has been the more impressive team.  If they can pull this one off they can improve to 5-1 on the season, and 3-0 in road buy games.

-GEORGE MASON VS BAYLOR (Emerald Coast Classic).  Both teams have been disappointing, and while both still have potential, the sooner they get things turned around the better.

-UNC GREENSBORO VS LOUISIANA TECH (Delaware Invitational).  This is a UTR game, but it is also a very big game between a potential SoCon frontrunner in UNCG, and a potential at-large caliber team in LA Tech.  LA Tech already has a big win at Wichita State, and their only loss was to LSU, who they took down to the wire in Baton Rouge.

-HOUSTON AT BYU.  Both teams are off to good starts, but neither team has won a notable game yet, and since neither started out near the rankings no one has really noticed either team yet.  It’ll be interesting to see what they do against each other today.

-NORTHERN KENTUCKY AT UCF.  This is a really big game between an unbeaten NKU team that’s facing it’s biggest test, and a UCF team that appears to be among the best in the American, and who just won three straight to win their exempt tournament.

-COLORADO AT AIR FORCE (Front Range).  We love the Front Range!!!!  Colorado is looking for their first road win of the year.

-CINCINNATI VS OLE MISS (Emerald Coast Classic).  Both teams have respectable records, but both need notable wins.

-HARVARD AT SAINT MARY’S.  SMC has looked good at times, but they’re off to a somewhat modest 3-2 start and should be expected to win games like this at home if they feel they are an NCAA Tournament caliber team.

 

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

-Campbell @ Georgetown – Chris Clemsons for Campbell will be the best player on the floor
-New Hampshire @ UConn
-Saint Francis U @ Virginia Tech
-Marist @ Buffalo
-Western Illinois @ Nebraska
-Valparaiso @ West Virginia
-The Citadel @ South Florida – USF can improve to 5-1 on the year
-Chicago State @ Bradley – Bradley can improve to 6-1 on the year
-Denver @ Longwood – Longwood can improve to 6-1 on the year
-Saint Peter’s @ North Texas – North Texas looking to stay unbeaten
-Central Arkansas @ Saint Louis
-Iona @ Providence
-Belmont @ Kennesaw State – mentioned because Belmont can improve to 5-0
-Lehigh @ Kansas State – Lehigh has just one loss so far
-Dartmouth @ San Franscisco – the Dons can improve to 6-0
-High Point @ East Carolina
-Northern Colorado @ Texas Tech – both teams unbeaten
-Mercer @ NC State
-Hofstra @ VCU
-Missouri State @ Murray State – Murray can improve to 3-0
-Abilene Christian vs UC Riverside – ACU can improve to 6-0
-Jackson State @ San Diego
-Cal State Fullerton @ Sacramento State – Sac State can remain unbeaten
-Florida A&M @ LMU – LMU can remain unbeaten

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