We begin with a live report from Rocco from the Buffalo v Southern Illinois game!! It is a train wreck that you will not want to miss!!
After that, we look back on what has been a busy and eventful first week of the season. Leagues like the ACC, Big Ten, and Big East have predominantly played buy games, but they have some big games coming up this week. Other leagues like the American and Atlantic Ten have struggled early on.
Lastly, we run through all the upcoming exempt tournaments and talk about all the teams and the potentially important match-ups…and, in true HoopsHD form, even completely mess up the teams in one of the events!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
The start of the regular season means that it is time to recognize the best players from college basketball’s exhibition season. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel has reviewed all of the numbers and is ready to announce his picks for the 6 best players from each tier of the sport based on their best games from the past month. Players are listed in a traditional 5-position lineup (G-G-F-F-C) plus a 6th man off the bench (with 1 exception). If you think that he has overlooked anyone then feel free to tweet us your comments.
Power-5 performances of the exhibition season
G: Jaylen Nowell (Washington): 26 PTS/12-15 FG in a win over Nevada
G: Marcquise Reed (Clemson): 29 PTS/3-5 3PM in a win over Barton College
F: Zion Williamson (Duke): 29 PTS/11-13 FG in a win over Virginia Union; 23 PTS/9-14 FG/10 REB in win over Ferris State
F: Dedric Lawson (Kansas): 31 PTS/11-16 FG/15 REB in a win over Emporia State
C: Moses Brown (UCLA): 20 PTS/8-9 FG/13 REB/4 BLK in a win over NYIT
6TH MAN: RJ Barrett (Duke): 32 PTS/11-18 FG/4-7 3PM in a win over Ferris State
Mid-major performances of the exhibition season
G: Sandy Cohen III (Green Bay): 28 PTS/6-6 3PM in a win over Michigan Tech
G: Tyler Hooker (Kennesaw State): 36 PTS/10-18 FG/3 STL in a win over Clayton State
F: Lamine Diane (Cal State Northridge): 30 PTS/14-21 FG/17 REB in a win over Antelope Valley; 23 PTS/14 REB/5 BLK in win over Cal State Los Angeles
F: Lachlan Anderson (Eastern Kentucky): 26 PTS/5-5 3PM/16 REB in a win over Kentucky Christian
F: Mladen Armus (East Tennessee State): 12 PTS/5-9 FG/21 REB/0 TO in a win over Southern Wesleyan
6TH MAN: Moses Greenwood (Southeastern Louisiana): 21 PTS/7-9 FG/14 REB in a win over Delta State
Non-D-1 performances of the exhibition season
G: Jamal Pollydore (Glenville State): 34 PTS/8-10 3PM in a loss to Marshall
G: Michael Baez (Lynn): 21 PTS/4-7 FG/15 REB in a win(!) over Florida Atlantic
F: Deane Williams (Augusta): 16 PTS/13 REB/3 STL in a win(!) over South Carolina
F: Ben Grandle (Multnomah): 17 PTS/15 REB/3 BLK in a loss to Portland State
C: Ryne Williams (San Francisco State): 22 PTS/4-9 3PM/12 REB/0 TO in a loss to Nevada
6TH MAN: Derek Novsek (San Diego Christian): 30 PTS/6-11 3PM in a loss to Cal State Fullerton
Posted inCBB|Comments Off on Handing out the Hardware: Best players of the exhibition season
So, let me explain exactly what it is that you’re looking at here. If you want something that ranks how good the teams are or what seeds they will likely end up getting in March, then this is DEFINITELY NOT for you. I am simply ranking teams on their CURRENT MERIT. I’m really only asking myself one question. How difficult would it be for an average team to win the games that these teams have played?? So therefore, any Under the Radar team that won any sort of a true road game is going to be ranked ahead of any P5 team that won a buy game at home, even if those P5 teams are top ten teams.
Conference USA is off to a pretty good start with LA Tech winning at Wichita State, FAU winning at UCF, and Southern Miss winning at SMU. I think that as a group they have the most impressive collection of true road wins so far. I’m not going to predict that they will keep winning at that pace, but it is a rather impressive first week.
Obvious outliers include Buffalo on the #1 line, UC Irvine, LA Tech, Stony Brook, Texas Southern as protected seeds, and then on the flip side teams like Tennessee, Villanova, and Virginia down in the 12-13 seed range. Any common sense person would expect that to be flipped by the end of the year.
So, with so many irregularities that end up looking so out of whack, the number one question is why do I do this at all?? The honest answer is…..I have no freakin’ idea! I just like doing it each week, and I like doing it this way. I do think that it gets me in the habit of assessing all the teams very early, and the earlier I’m doing that then the more I know about them as the season goes on. I also think that the important thing is knowing what each team has done, and not so much worrying about where to rank them. And lastly, it’s fun giving a team some props that won a big game early in the season that many weren’t expecting them to win, even if it is just for a few weeks, and even if our little corner of the internet is the only place that’s happening. If you think that it’s too early for brackets I’m not going to say you’re wrong. For all practical purposes, you’re not. If you think this is a stupid way of doing it, I can respect that as well. But, I am doing it, and I’m doing it this way. When you’re a puppet, you get to do whatever you want!!!
MERIT RANKINGS/SEED LIST
DUKE – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Kentucky
BUFFALO – 2-0, road win @West Virginia
KANSAS – 1-0, neutral floor win vs Michigan State
OHIO STATE – 1-0 with a road win @Cincinnati
AUBURN – 2-0, blowout home win against Washington
FURMAN – 1-0, road win @Loyola Chicago
North Carolina – 2-0 in true road games with a good win @Wofford
Florida State – 2-0, blowout win at home vs Florida, road win @Tulane
UC IRVINE – 2-0, road win @ Texas A&M
Vanderbilt – 2-0, won @USC
LOUISIANA TECH – 2-0, win at Wichita State
STONY BROOK – 2-0 with 2 true road wins @GW and @South Carolina
Florida Atlantic – 1-0. win @UCF
Texas – 2-0, neutral floor win vs Arkansas
GONZAGA – 2-0 in buy games, but beat TX Southern
TEXAS SOUTHERN – 1-1, road win @Baylor, road loss @Gonzaga
Southern Miss – 1-0 in div1 games, won @SMU
Iowa State – 2-0, home win vs Missouri
NEVADA – 2-0, home wins vs BYU and Pacific
PENN – 2-0, road win @George Mason
AMERICAN – 1-0, won @George Mason
Purdue – 2-0 in buy games, beat Fairfield
STANFORD – 2-0, road win @UNCW
FAIRFIELD – 1-1, win @Bucknell, loss @Purdue
Vermont – 1-0 with a win @ Boston U
WICHITA STATE – 1-1 with a home loss to LA Tech, but a neutral win vs Providence
Washington – 1-1, loss @Auburn, home win vs Western Kentucky
Kentucky – 1-1, neutral loss to Duke, home win vs Southern Illinois
North Texas – 2-0, both wins away from home including @Hawaii
LONGWOOD – 1-0 with a win @ Richmond
MONTANA – 1-0 with a win vs Georgia State (who is good)
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT – 1-1, won @Hartrord, lost @Georgetown
Wofford – 1-1, home loss to North Carolina, road win @High Point
Utah State – 2-0, wins @Montana State and at home vs Hartford
UC Santa Barbara – 1-1 with a win @Wyoming and a loss @North Dakota State
JAMES MADISON – 1-0 in div1 games, won @Eastern Carolina
Kent State – 1-0, won @Cleveland State
COASTAL CAROLINA – 1-0, road win @Campbell
New Mexico – 1-0, won @CSUN
Charleston – 2-0, road win @Western Carolina
Oklahoma – 1-0 with a true road win @UTRGV
FLORIDA A&M – 1-0, won @Jacksonville
Prarie View A&M – 1-0, road win @Santa Clara
San Diego – 2-0, road win @UC Davis, home win vs Weber State
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE – 2-0, home win vs Grand Canyon
North Dakota – 1-0, road win @Milwaukee
Virginia – 2-0 in buy games
Tennessee – 1-0 in buy games
VILLANOVA – 1-0 in buy games
Michigan State – 0-1 with loss vs Kansas
Kansas State – 1-0 in buy games
Oregon – 2-0 in buy games
Syracuse – 2-0 in buy games
Mississippi State – 1-0 in buy games
Michigan – 2-0 in buy games
Ucla – 2-0 in buy games
Virginia Tech – 1-0 in buy games
Northeastern – 1-1 with a road win @Harvard, loss at home to Boston U
Boston U – 1-1, won @Northeastern, lost at home to Vermont
Bucknell – 1-1 Road win @Saint Bonaventure, loss at home to Fairfield
Marshall – 2-0, home win vs Hofstra, road win @Eastern Kentucky
Lehigh – 1-1, won @Monmouth, lost @Miami FL
Nebraska – 2-0 in buy games
Marquette – 1-0 in buy games
MURRAY STATE – 1-0 with a win at home vs Wright State
Belmont – 1-0 with a home win vs Illinois State
Lsu – 2-0 in buy games
Clemson – 2-0 in buy games
Louisville – 1-0 in buy games
Texas Tech – 2-0 in buy games
Tcu – 1-0 in buy games
Vanderbilt 1-0 in buy games
NEW MEXICO STATE – 2-0, home wins vs North Dakota State and UTEP
Indiana – 2-0 in buy games
Xavier – 2-0 in buy games
Georgetown – 2-0 in buy games
Temple – 2-0 in buy games
SAINT JOSEPH’S – 1-0 in buy games
INDIANA STATE – 1-1 on the road. Won @Green Bay, lost @Ball State
Penn State – 1-0 in buy games
Houston – 1-0 in buy games
Creighton – 2-0 in buy games
Butler – 1-0 in buy games
Saint John’s – 2-0 in buy games
UConn – 2-0 in buy games with a win over Southern Miss
Notre Dame – 2-0 in buy games
Chattanooga – 1-1, road win @Charlotte, home loss to Eastern Kentucky (
ucf – 1-0 in buy games with a win over Rider (
LIPSCOMB – 1-0
ABILENE CHRISTIAN – 1-0
NOTES ON THE BRACKET
-Outside of conferences, I did not take into account at all whether or not teams played during the regular season, so there was no regard at all to try and avoid rematches. Truth be told, at the end of the year I can remember pretty much who has and has not played each other. At the beginning of the year, I don’t have a good grasp on all of the team’s schedules and who they are going to play. So, I just didn’t worry about it.
-I have to admit that even by absurd early season bracket standards, this is still pretty absurd. Some of the match-ups may be okay. Texas Southern v Michigan State is a very plausible Round of 64 match-up. So is Stony Brook v Syracuse, LA Tech vs Oregon, and a few others. But, I don’t see this being where the seeds end up in the end.
COMMENTS FROM THE STAFF
-Coming soon…..maybe. I can completely understand them being in such a state of shock from looking at this that there is simply too much to unpack.
Posted inBracketology, News and Notes|Comments Off on The Puppet’s Bracket Projections/Merit Rankings: Monday, Nov 12th
For Jon Teitel’s recap of the Central Connecticut State-Georgetown game – CLICK HERE
Buffalo (2-0) at Southern Illinois (0-1) – 8:00 PM EST (ESPN+)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Carbondale, Illinois for the first of two matchups this season between the Buffalo Bulls and the Southern Illinois Salukis. Buffalo is coming off of their first-ever road win against a Top 25 team; they came from behind to defeat then-#13 West Virginia 99-94 on Friday night. CJ Massinburg had 43 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bulls; he hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left in regulation that sent the game to overtime. Buffalo started overtime with a 15-6 run to take control of that game.
Southern Illinois wasn’t quite as lucky, but they certainly went down swinging in their season-opening loss at Kentucky. They led by 7 midway through the 2nd half of their game on Friday night before losing 71-59 at Rupp Arena. UK outrebounded the Salukis 48-19; this led Barry Hinson to say during his postgame comments “I’d really like to get a lot taller,” Hinson said. “We’re going to start working on that when we get on the bus. We have a bunch of tall pills that we’re going to start taking. They’re placebos, but we’ll see if they work.”
Of course, we cannot pass up an opportunity to mention Barry Hinson’s BBQ sauce:
NEWS AND NOTES
-Duke actually got more of a challenge at home against Army yesterday for the first 25 minutes of the game (as compared to their opener against Kentucky where everything went right), but their stud freshmen were just too much for Army to overcome en route to a 22-point win by the Blue Devils.
-For the second year in a row, East Tennessee State had a double-digit lead in the 2nd half on the road against a Big East team. And much like last year, they ran out of gas and ended up missing a golden opportunity for a big road win after falling to Creighton 75-69.
-The American did not have one of its better days, to put it mildly. First, SMU had their 33-game winning streak at home against noncon opponents snapped with a loss to Southern Miss. What really hurt was Central Florida losing on a buzzer-beater at home against Florida Atlantic. The only things that saved them from a really disastrous day was UConn’s blowout win at home against UMKC and a come-from-behind win by East Carolina against Lamar at home, albeit in overtime.
-Vanderbilt had a down season by recent standards, but ended up getting a decent road win at USC last night. They led much of the game but were able to overcome a late Trojan comeback.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-STANFORD AT NORTH CAROLINA. Both teams come in 2-0, and have actually challenged themselves a bit. That’s especially true for North Carolina who won their season opener against a pretty good Wofford team on the road. Stanford is probably in over their heads, but the opportunity to make a big statement is there.
-SAINT BONAVENTURE AT NIAGARA (Big Four). Probably won’t be that important of a game at the end, but we will highlight it out of our sheer love of mythical conferences!
-AMERICAN AT NORTHWESTERN. American won their season opener at George Mason, which may end up meaning nothing. But if they can pick up a second true road win tonight, then we’d have to at least sit up and take notice.
-MIDDLE TENNESSEE AT BELMONT. A nice crosstown rivalry game between two teams that have been good in recent years, and come into this one undefeated.
-VERMONT AT KANSAS. The game is at least mildly interesting. Vermont is in complete rebuild mode, but they do come into this without a loss and having won a nice road game.
-UTAH AT MINNESOTA. I don’t think we are expecting too much out of either team, so both could really use an early season win.
-Detroit Mercy @ Butler – buy game
-NC A&T @ Maryland
-Jacksonville State @ Penn State – we like this Jax State team, but they were pitiful in their opener
-Troy @ Pittsburgh – buy game
-Monmouth @ Saint Joseph’s – Joe’s may be the best team in the A10
-Bowling Green @ VCU – BGSU is coming off a strong showing at Saint John’s. VCU tries to improve to 3-0
-Kennesaw State @ Samford – Samford can get to 3-0
-UIC @ Duquesne – may be a little interesting
-Prairie View A&M @ Baylor – will be interesting, but only if PVAM wins it and picks up a second big road win
-Texas Southern @ Iowa State – buy game
-UL Monroe @ Texas – both teams unbeaten
-Oklahoma @ UTSA – Oklahoma playing their second straight road game against a weak UTR team
-UC Davis @ Arkansas
-Morgon State @ DePaul
-Denver @ Kansas State – both teams unbeaten
-Long Beach State @ Arizona State – Arizona State has struggled so far, but managed to win
HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with a very special reward coming in March. Part 1 of his series features last night’s game against Central Connecticut State, who came to DC to visit the Hoyas in the schools’ 1st-ever meeting:
Pregame media room meals in years past have involved BBQ or pizza but tonight was make-your-own tacos: I like tacos!
Perhaps the folks in charge of credentials think that I went to medical school, but if we ever decide to merge our own college basketball site with an athletic trainer website then I THINK I have figured out the perfect name for it:
It was not a huge crowd on a cold Saturday night during a holiday weekend but it is always fun to watch a pair of former Big East Players of the Year square off as current coaches (1984/1985 POY Patrick Ewing vs. 1994 POY Donyell Marshall). As we prepared for tip-off I could not help but notice Georgetown’s new court with free throw lanes featuring the school’s colors in an intricate kente cloth pattern that we 1st saw on jerseys during the Allen Iverson era almost 25 years ago:
It appeared that the “other” Blue Devils were going to be in for a long night against a Big East opponent after their 1st possession ended in a shot clock violation, but they never backed down. FR SG Ian Krishnan grew up about 45 minutes outside of DC and it was obvious that this was not just another road game for him. From jumpers to 3-PT shots, every time the ball left his hands it looked like it was going in, which it mostly did during his 12-PT 1st half. SR wing Tyler Kohl did not have his outside shot working early (0-3 in the 1st 20 minutes) but he made a pair of acrobatic layups that each had a high degree of difficulty.
2 keys for power conference teams when facing mid-major opponents is to make use of their size advantage while also playing smart. As the Hoyas doubled up CCSU on 1st half points in the paint (16-8) and did not allow their opponent to attempt a single FT in the 1st 20 minutes, it is no surprise that they were up by double digits at halftime. SR C Jessie Govan displayed his entire arsenal: a 3-PT shot, a REB/putback, a layup, a follow-dunk, and a baby hook en route to 14 PTS at the break. FR SG Mac McClung only made 1-5 FG in the 1st half but the 1 was a crowd-pleasing breakaway dunk: for a 6’2” kid playing in his 2nd career college game, his vertical leap is something to behold:
Last year the Hoya mascot rode a skateboard, this year he has his own custom SUV!:
The 2nd half was an old-fashioned offensive shootout with both teams combining to make 15-25 from 3-PT land. Kohl found his touch by making all 4 of his 3-PT attempts, while Krishnan made 4 of his own and was fouled while attempting a 5th one en route to a game-high 28 PTS. The X-factor for CCSU was FR SF Karrington Wallace: after not taking a single shot in the 1st half, he was perfect in the 2nd half with 12 PTS off the bench (4-4 FG/4-4 FT).
Georgetown is going to experience some growing pains this year due to starting a pair of freshmen in the backcourt (McClung and James Akinjo combined to shoot 4-20 from the field while committing 6 turnovers), but they held on for the win thanks to a huge 2nd half from their starting big men. 6’9″ SR PF Trey Mourning (whose father Alonzo actually played against Coach Marshall back in 1992 when Georgetown and UConn were both in the Big East) scored a career-high 12 PTS on an array of layups and baseline jumpers:
6’8″ SO SG Jamorko Pickett was only 1-4 from behind the arc in the 1st half but got back in sync by making all 3 of his 2nd half attempts to finish with 12 PTS. 6’10” SR C Govan was the best player on the court by far: apparently the advice he received from Coach Ewing all night paid off:
In the postgame press conference I asked Krishnan what it was like to face Georgetown after growing up in the Maryland suburbs: he said that everyone growing up in the area wants to attend Georgetown, but his team proved that everyone on its roster is good enough to play for the Hoyas:
Coach Ewing said that his team made too many mistakes and took too many 3-PT shots but he was very happy with the way that Pickett played:
I asked Govan if his amazing effort (26 PTS/8 REB/0 TO/0 fouls/3 BLK/3 STL) was as close to a near-perfect game that he has ever played: he smiled and said that it is never perfect when he misses 3 FTs and he was just glad that his team did not get upset:
That’s all for now, check back in the weeks ahead for Part 2.
For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games – CLICK HERE
North Texas (3-0, 1-0 D1) at Hawaii (2-0, 1-0 D1) – 11:00 PM EST (Live Stream)
Today’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic in Hawaii – this is the de facto championship game between the North Texas Mean Green and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. This is part of a 4-team round-robin event that also includes Portland and Humboldt State. Both teams have already defeated Portland and Humboldt State, and North Texas also had a season-opening win at home against Angelo State.
The Mean Green have been led so far by 3 notable starters – Umoja Gibson is averaging 22.7 PPG that includes 15-for-23 shooting from 3-point land. Ryan Woolridge is averaging 13.7 PPG and 7 RPG; Zachary Simmons also averages 14.7 PPG with 17-for-21 shooting from the field.
As for Hawaii, Zigmars Raimo has averaged a double-double for his first 2 games (12.0 PPG and 10 RPG) and Jack Purchase leads the way so far with 15 PPG.
