Hoops HD

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

NEWS AND NOTES

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!  Eat lots of food!!  Watch lots of hoops!!  and, watch our latest Under the Radar Podcast!!  CLICK HERE

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

-In case you’re living under a rock, the big news from yesterday was Gonzaga’s exciting win over Duke to win the Maui Invitational, and perhaps take over the #1 ranking next week depending on what happens out at the NIT.  The Zags led by as much as 16 in the second half, but Duke came charging back and had multiple chances to either tie or win in the final minute, but couldn’t get it done.  After such a well played game, Gonzaga missed four straight freethrows and Duke missed two (albeit contested) layups in the last thirty seconds or so.

-Marquette hung with Kansas for a while, and Louisville was right in there with Tennessee for about 30 mins, but neither pulled off the upset, which gives us another top five match-match up (our third of the year!!) in the Preseason NIT (or whatever the hell they’re calling it) on Friday.

-Creighton pulled off a HUGE win by knocking off Clemson in the Caymand Islands Classic.  They won the event, but much more importantly they got a big OOC neutral floor win on their resume.

-Pittsburgh pulled off a bit of a surprise in their win over Saint Louis.  All of a sudden last year’s Stallings Award winners are 6-0 with a nice neutral floor win on their resume.  Pitt’s decision to get rid of the guy that was so bad that we at Hoops HD named an award for being bad after him is starting to pay off!!

-Oklahoma picked up a nice win against Florida.  We had been a little tough on the Sooners, but suddenly they are unbeaten with a couple of road wins, and now a nice neutral floor win.

-Georgia State crushed Georgia, I mean CRUSHED them.  If they play like that the rest of the year they will blow through the Sun Belt, which we were kind of expecting them to do anyway, and who knows where they’ll stand with the committee.

-Minnesota remains unbeaten, and now has a notable win over Washington on their resume after defeating the Huskies in a close and exciting game to win the Vancouver Showcase.

-Arizona State has been fantastic in November these past two years!!  They knocked off a Utah State team that had been playing really well to stay unbeaten and win the MGM Resorts Main Event last night.  They are now 5-0 with some pretty good wins on that resume.

HIGHLIGHTED

-WISCONSIN VS OKLAHOMA (Battle 4 Atlantis).  Oklahoma comes in unbeaten, and although they hadn’t looked all that impressive coming into this event, they did pick up a real nice win against Florida yesterday.  Wisconsin also comes in without a loss and has nice win against Xavier on their resume, so it’s a chance for both teams to try and build up their early season resumes with a nice win.

-VILLANOVA VS CANISIUS (Advocare Invitational).  Nova hasn’t won anything other than buy games yet, and this tournament is a chance for them to add some good (and at this point needed) wins to their resume.

-UMASS VS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational).  We still really like this Salukis team.  This is a chance to pick up some nice OOC wins for their resume.

-LA SALLE VS MIAMI FL (Wooden Legacy).  This game is a bit of a mismatch, but Miami can make a statement if they’re able to do well in this tournament.

-VIRGINIA VS DAYTON (Battle 4 Atlantas).  Dayton had a nice win against Butler yesterday and still doesn’t have a loss on the season.  They’re probably swinging way over their heads today, but if they somehow were to win this it would instantly make them a national story.

-OKLAHOMA STATE VS MEMPHIS (Advocare Invitational).  We don’t know much about either team, and both come in with respectable 2-1 records.  Both have an opportunity to make a statement by playing well in this tournament.

-NEVADA VS TULSA (Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Classic).  This appears to be a big mismatch, and it probably is, but Tulsa does come in with a 4-0 record and has a chance at a huge win today.

-NORTHWESTERN VS FRESNO STATE (Wooden Legacy).  At 3-0, Northwestern hasn’t done anything Earth shattering yet, but should get some chances in this tournament if they’re able to win and advance.

-CHARLESTON VS LSU (Advocare Invitational).  This should be a good game between a CofC team that has looked good so far and an LSU team that is in the rankings and has some decent wins of their own already.  Charleston needs to pick up notable wins in events like this if they want any chance at all at impressing the selection committee.  They simply aren’t going to have these opportunities later in the season.

-STANFORD VS FLORIDA (Battle 4 Atlantis).  Both teams come in at 2-2, and both have missed a couple of opportunities at decent wins.  You get the sense that they really need to get it done in this one simply to avoid falling further behind the pack.

-TEXAS VS NORTH CAROLINA (Continental tire Las Vegas Invitational).  Texas comes in unbeaten and appears to be pretty good, but they haven’t had a test like this in their first few games.  We should learn something about them today.

-SETON HALL VS GRAND CANYON (Wooden Legacy).  Seton Hall is just 1-2, and this game has a bit of a pivotal feel for them because you get the sense that they need to pick up a couple of notable wins in this event.  It won’t be easy.  This is a good Grand Canyon team, and they’re really excited about trying to pick up some notable wins of their own.

-UAB VS FLORIDA STATE (Advocare Invitational).  Both teams are unbeaten.  The difference is UAB has played nothing but home buy games, and Florida State has actually knocked off some decent opponents.

-MIDDLE TENNESSEE VS BUTLER (Battle 4 Atlantis).  This is the loser’s side of the bracket, and one gets the sense that winning this game is as much about avoiding potential losses to sub-NIT teams as it is getting a notable win.

-MICHIGAN STATE VS UCLA (Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational).  Two ranked teams going at it and trying to pick up a big neutral floor win.  Advancing to the winner’s side of the bracket helps ensure better opportunities and notable wins in the later rounds.

-HAWAI’I VS UTAH (Wooden Legacy).  Both teams are 2-1, and both are lacking any notable wins at the moment, so this tournament provides them with that opportunity.