Hoops HD

NEWS AND NOTES

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day, which highlights the start of play in the NEC – CLICK HERE

-Another exciting game in the Big East as Seton Hall came from behind to get the win at home against Creighton.

-It was a rough night for two UTR teams that we were just praising 24 hours earlier as possible/likely at-large candidates.  Northern Iowa, almost inexplicably lost at home to Southern Illinois.  There are some really good teams in the Missouri Valley.  We didn’t think Southern Illinois was one of them, and we certainly weren’t expecting them to win AT Northern Iowa.  Stephen F Austin also lost in a shocker at SELA, who is a sub 200 team.  This REALLY damages UNI’s chances to land inside the bubble if they fail to win the conference tournament, and it pretty much eliminates SFA’s chances entirely.

-The Johnnies, which was another team that we really thought that was good, were blown completely out at home by a Providence team that we didn’t think had looked good at all.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-LOUISVILLE AT KENTUCKY.  This game is always intense, and things won’t be any different this year.  Louisville is still looking for their first true road win, and if they’re able to pick it up today not only will they have bragging rights, but their NCAA Tournament profile will be given a huge boost.  Kentucky is coming off a loss to UCLA, and could use some more good wins on their resume because outside of their win against Virginia Tech they haven’t done much.  Both teams have a lot of potential, but both also have a lot of work to do.

-WEST VIRGINIA VS OKLAHOMA STATE (Big Twelve).  It’s the conference opener for both teams, and like virtually every Big Twelve game, it should be a good one.  West Virginia is ranked in the top ten and this would be a solid road win for them.  Oklahoma State is a team that we thought would be rebuilding, but they come into this at 10-2 and can keep that momentum going if they can somehow pull off this win.

-BAYLOR AT TEXAS TECH (Big Twelve).  Texas Tech has been a surprise team in the OOC portion of the season, and have actually played their way into the rankings with just one loss.  Baylor has looked really strong as well.  It’s two ranked teams that are looking for a quality win, and who also have a lot of tough games ahead of them.

-LOUISIANA AT LITTLE ROCK (Sun Belt).  Louisiana’s margin for error is small, but if they can blow through the Sun Belt they should be in the discussion for a bid.

-KANSAS AT TEXAS (Big Twelve).  This one should be fun.  Texas has looked really good this year, but doesn’t have a win this big on their resume just yet.  Kansas has looked good as well, but has also looked vulnerable, especially in true road games.

-KANSAS STATE AT IOWA STATE (Big Twelve).  K State has a bloated record, but not much in the way of big wins.  That can change if they can pull this one off tonight against an Iowa State team that’s lost just two games and looked a lot better than what we expected coming into the year.

-UTAH AT OREGON (Pac Twelve).  Both teams have looked good at times, but both also have a lot of work to do, which gives this game a bit of a pivotal feel.

-WASHINGTON AT USC (Pac Twelve).  It’s been a rough year for USC, and things probably won’t be getting any smoother any time soon despite the fact that they just won the Diamond Head Classic.  Washington has been somewhat inconsistent this year, but they do have a big win against Kansas in Kansas City and can play their way into the field with a strong showing in conference.

-COLORADO AT OREGON STATE (Pac Twelve).  Both teams need to improve and get hot in conference play if they want to be relevant in March.

-WASHINGTON STATE AT UCLA (Pac Twelve).  Both teams need to improve and get hot in conference play if they want to be relevant in March.  Both have some decent OOC wins, and UCLA picked up a really nice win in their last game against Kentucky, but they’re hardly to a point to where they can just start skating.

BUY GAMES

-Cleveland State @ Michigan State
-Florida A&M @ Ball State
-Lawrence Tech (nondiv1) @ Central Michigan
-UMBC @ Maryland – UMBC has played well recently
-Stetson @ Nebraska

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the latest Under the Radar Podcast – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-Big East play got underway with Butler and Georgetown going into double overtime before Butler won in the final couple of seconds.  Xavier and Marquette seesawed back and forth as well, but Marquette was unable to hold on to pull the upset.

-San Diego State fell on the road rather convincingly at Wyoming.  SDSU just can’t seem to play well with any sort of consistency.  That’s better than being consistently bad, but still.  They don’t have the biggest margin for error in the world and they won’t end up on the right side of the bubble if they keep dropping these kinds of games.

-Nevada picked up another impressive win with their win against Fresno State.  It wasn’t just that they won the game, but that they led a really good team on the road by a comfortable margin for the entire game.  The Wolfpack are looking like the class of the Mountain West again this year.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-CREIGHTON AT SETON HALL.  Both teams seem to be headed toward the top half of the bracket and are expected to be wearing white in the Round of 64.  This is a chance for both to start off conference play with a big win that will look good on the resume.

-TULANE AT TEMPLE (American).  Tulane is a much improved team and it will be interesting to see what they can do in conference play.  They start with a tough road test against a Temple team that has looked good at times, but still has some work to do.

-HOUSTON AT SOUTH FLORIDA (American).  Houston has a bloated record, but they need a strong showing in conference with some solid wins to go along with it in order to land on the right side of the bubble.  They definitely need to be able to hold serve in games like this.

-PROVIDENCE AT SAINT JOHN’S (Big East).  The Johnnies have been really impressive this year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make quite a bit of noise in Big East play and end up dancing in March.

-STEPHEN F AUSTIN AT SELA (Southland).  I think if SFA runs the table in league play then they will make the NCAA Tournament even if they end up losing in the conference tournament.  That’s the story for the rest of the year.  Can they win out?

-SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AT NORTHERN IOWA.  UNI has had a rough week, but of their four losses three of them are to top ten teams, so their resume is still pretty strong.  If they finish at the top  of the MVC I think they’ll be inside the bubble regardless of what happens in the conference tournament.

-PACIFIC AT GONZAGA (West Coast).  The Zags need to dominate this league if they want to end up on the top half of the bracket, which they are certainly good enough to do.

-PORTLAND AT BYU (West Coast).  BYU has just two losses and some fairly decent wins on their resume.  A strong showing in conference should land them inside the bubble, but their margin for error is rather small despite the bloated record.

-LSU AT MEMPHIS.  Neither team has looked super strong this season, but both come into this game with just three losses and the longer they keep it up the more realistic it is to think that they can make the field.  This is a big game for both teams tonight.

-NEW MEXICO STATE AT UC IRVINE. New Mexico is on a path to land inside the bubble, but they’ll need to win out or come close to it in order for that to happen.  They are in the midst of starting a four game stretch of true road games, and are in the middle of an eight game stretch of games away from home.  If they get through this they should be in good shape.

-LMU AT SAINT MARY’S (West Coast).  SMC has almost no margin for error because they’ve done very little, and outside of Gonzaga and BYU they won’t have any more chances to put good wins in their resume.

BUY GAMES

-NC A&T @ Virginia Tech
-Hartford @ Rutgers

NEWS AND NOTES

-For the latest HOOPS HD REPORT – CLICK HERE

-For John Stalica’s most recent Bracket Projections – CLICK HERE

-For Chad Sherwood’s UTR Game of the Day – CLICK HERE

-The Diamond Head Classic actually gave us quite a bit of excitement.  New Mexico State picked up a really nice win against Miami FL, and then led USC for most of the game in the championship game, but USC fought back and New Mexico State came up just short.  USC picked up three decent wins away from home, which is something they needed, but they didn’t get to add a high caliber win against a team like Miami to their resume.  Despite losing in the finals, New Mexico State has shown they are a very solid team, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them inside the bubble come Selection Sunday if they blow through WAC play.

Middle Tennessee ended up going 1-2 in the event, and although neither loss was bad, I get the sense that they really needed at least one good win out of this.  They played well in both losses, but at the end of the day the only win they got out of it was a neutral floor win against a very mediocre Princeton team.

HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-BUTLER AT GEORGETOWN (Big East).  This is probably Georgetown’s biggest test of the year.  The feasting on cupcakes is over.  Considering how weak their OOC was they’ll probably need to finish at least four games over .500 in league play to be seriously considered by the committee.  For Butler, it’s a chance to pick up a notable road win.

-EASTERN MICHIGAN AT SYRACUSE.  Syracuse has played a lot of buy games this year, but most of them have been against solid UTR teams, and they have another solid EMU team coming it today at 8-3 on the year with two true road wins already.

-VILLANOVA AT DEPAUL (Big East).  Nova has won every game they’ve played so far and they are definitely road tested.  Don’t be surprised if they roll in this one despite being the road team.

-XAVIER AT MARQUETTE (Big East).  Xavier is 12-1 on the road and is coming off a very impressive showing against a very good Northern Iowa team.  This will be another test, but it’s a test that they’re certainly up for.  Xavier is looking like a solid protected seed who could end up as high as the #1 line if they keep playing like they have been.

-UCF AT SMU (American).  Both teams look good, but both teams have resumes that need work, so even though this is the conference opener it still has a pivotal feel to it for both teams.

-SAN DIEGO STATE AT WYOMING (Mountain West).  San Diego State has been a bit schizophrenic, but all and all they look like a tournament team.  A road win against a pretty good Wyoming team would certainly help their cause.

-COLORADO STATE AT BOISE STATE (Mountain West).  I really like this Boise State team and don’t think they’ll have too much trouble in their conference opener tonight.

-NEVADA AT FRESNO STATE (Mountain west).  Nevada looks like a team that will get into the NCAAs on the first Ballot, and Fresno looks like a team that could land inside the bubble if everything falls right.  A win tonight at home in their conference opener would go a long way toward making the pieces fall right.

BUY GAMES

-Limestone (nondiv1) @ South Carolina
-FGCU @ Rhode Island
-Cal State Bakersfield @ Arkansas