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NEWS AND NOTES:

-The game that I thought was the most interesting going into last night turned out to be an absolute boat-racing. Auburn blew Vermont off the floor 94-43. I still think Vermont will have a great year, and their opening win at UAB will still carry a lot of weight. It isn’t surprising that they lost to Auburn (who I think can be a Final Four team), but I’m a little surprised they were absolutely dominated the way that they were.

-Columbia, who if you’re paying attention isn’t expected to finish in the top half of the Ivy League by very many people this year, went into Villanova and pulled off the 90-80 upset win. We didn’t think Nova would be that good this year, but this is still surprising. Give credit to Columbia! They played a really good game and made big plays down the stretch. I still don’t think they’re as good as Princeton or Yale, but they are probably better than we thought. And Villanova is probably even worse than we thought.

-Virginia had to sweat out Campbell in their first game without Tony Bennet as a head coach. They were never in any real danger of losing, but they didn’t exactly blow the Camels off the floor either in their 65-56 win.

-San Diego State really had to sweat out UC San Diego, and were behind very late into the second half. They did hold on to win 63-58, though. You may recall that last year San Diego State barely escaped an upset as well winning just 63-62. So, for whatever reason UCSD can play with the Aztecs.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

It’s a slow night in terms of highly important games, but we do have a couple of highly interesting games!!

-UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES & PHARMACY IN SAINT LOUIS AT LINDENWOOD. Such a fascinating match-up!! What a choice for an out of conference game!! Lindenwood’s opponent (it takes too long to type the full name) plays in NAIA, was 1-26 a season ago, and most of those games weren’t close. And…this probably isn’t the most ridiculous match-up of the day!!

-MISSISSIPPI UNIVERSITY FOR WOMEN AT MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE. Okay, I have so many questions! For starters, I can confirm that yes, this is a MEN’S basketball game. According to their Wikipedia Page the Mississippi University for Women began accepting male students as long ago as 1982, but I guess never bothered to changed the name of the school. The institution’s current name is more palatable than what it was called at the time of its founding, and that’s the “Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls.” I am not making that up! I’d also like to see those throwback jerseys!! The Mississippi University for Women plays in NCAA D3 and was 7-18 a year ago. Mississippi Valley State is routinely one of the worst D1 teams in the country, but they should be able to win this one.

-SOUTHERN MISS AT UAB. This game actually has a pivotal feel to it for UAB. We thought they’d be a top 40ish caliber team coming into the season, but they lost their opener the other night to Vermont, who we think is good, but were still a little surprised UAB didn’t beat them at home. UAB does not have a strong schedule, so if they don’t finish with a very bloated record then chances are they’ll need to win the conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. So even though it’s early, there is a fair amount on the line for the Blazers. Southern Miss did win their opener against Bowling Green, but have a much tougher assignment tonight against a UAB team that should come out incredibly focused.

-MILWAUKEE AT NORTHERN IOWA. This is John’ Stalica’s UTR Game of the Day. CLICK HERE to read his write up on it

BUY GAMES (and other notable games):

-NC A&T @ Wake Forest – both teams 1-0
-Jacksonville @ Florida – both teams 1-0
-Detroit Mercy @ Loyola Chicago – both teams 1-0
-Prairie View @ DePaul – both teams 1-0, but this may be the weakest matchup of unbeaten teams of all time
-Montana State @ Wisconsin – Montana State should make quite a bit of noise in the Big Sky this year, but they’re overmatched in this one
-Southern @ Iowa
-Omaha @ Stetson – both teams 1-0. Neither team appears to be that strong, but it’s probably still a better game than Prairie View vs DePaul
-Niagara @ Michigan State – both teams 1-0
-Florida A&M @ SMU
-College of Biblical Studies @ McNeese – seriously, where do some of these schools find these teams?? McNeese lost their opener, but should blow through tonight’s game
-Chattanooga @ Saint Mary’s – I still think Chattanooga will do really well in the SoCon, but they didn’t look too impressive in their opener and are likely way overmatched tonight
-Idaho State @ USC
-Cal Poly @ California
-Central Arkansas @ Utah

NEWS, NOTES, AND HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

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

-It was a very slow night of college basketball. Most people’s attention seemed to be elsewhere for whatever reason. People were just glued to the news. I guess they were tensely and anxiously waiting for the scores of last nights games to be announced??

-Washington did get a big of a scare from a UC Davis team that may be a little better than most of us expected, but held on to win 79-73. Arizona State had to sweat out Idaho State in their 55-48 win, which means all signs are pointing to Arizona State being every bit as bad as we were expecting them to be this season.

-VERMONT AT AUBURN. Vermont started the season with a win at UAB, which so far is probably the best true road win that any team has managed. We thought the Catamounts would be dominant in the America East, but a road win at UAB is a win that looks really good on a resume. If they were to win at Auburn, who I think is even better than their #11 preseason ranking, would be AMAZINGLY good and probably warrant Vermont cracking the top 25. That being said, Vermont is probably swinging way over their heads tonight, but it’s still a really interesting game and a good opportunity for both teams.

BUY GAMES (and other games worth a mention):

-Wagner @ Rutgers – season opener for both. Rutgers looks really good this year
-Sacred Heart @ UConn
-Mount Olive (nonD1) @ Richmond
-Stonehill @ Notre Dame
-Columbia @ Villanova – both teams 1-0
-Lehigh @ Georgetown
-Campbell @ Virginia
-West Georgia @ Georgia Tech
-Lipscomb @ Arkansas – Lipscomb will likely do very well in the ASun, but is probably overmatched tonight
-SIUE @ Indiana
-Oral Roberts @ Minnesota
-UL Monroe @ LSU
-UTRGV @ Creighton
-Western Illinois @ Pepperdine – Western Illinois won their opener on the road at San Jose State
-Oakland @ Boise State
-Alcorn State @ Utah State
-UC San Diego @ San Diego State

NEWS AND NOTES:

-At one point last evening we estimated that there were 142 D1 games all going on at the same time. I’m pretty sure that is a record.

-Most highly ranked teams played at home yesterday and blew out their opponents. Having said that…

Gonzaga was one of those highly ranked teams that played at home (or at least in their home city) and blew out their opponent. But the team they blew out was Baylor, who was also a highly ranked team. I’m not too surprised that the Zags won. We did believe them to be the better team and they were in a home-ish environment. But the fact that they just blew Baylor into the sun 101-63 is beyond surprising. It was easily the most impressive showing of any team yesterday.

-Texas A&M, a team who we were highly praising during the preseason, went on the road to UCF and fell 64-61. It was a road game, but we believed TAMU to be a top 15ish team and that UCF was…well…not. Now it’s time to start paying a little bit of attention to UCF. They may be able to make some noise in the Big 12, or at the very least be good enough to play with some of those teams when they’re at home.

-Ohio State got a really nice 80-72 win against what we think is a really good Texas team out in Las Vegas. We weren’t expecting too much out of the Buckeyes, but now that they’ve started off with a win against a ranked team on a neutral floor, they certainly have our attention.

-Saint Louis was a team we were very big on coming into the season and thought they would be a team that would end up inside the bubble. They still could, but they weren’t able to beat Santa Clara in the Field of 68 Showcase yesterday. The Broncos picked up a very impressive 85-78 win that not many of us were expecting, and now they are a team that has our attention right out of the gate.

-James Madison, who had an outstanding season last year, started things off yesterday with an 88-78 win over an Ohio U team that we (or, at least ME) was expecting to be very good. It wasn’t as big as last year’s season opening win at Michigan State, but it was impressive how JMU was pretty much in control the entire time.

-Vermont got a HUGE 67-62 win at UAB in what may end up being one of the more important results of the day. UAB is a team that we felt was really strong coming into the season, but were concerned about the overall strenght of their schedule and whether it was good enough to get them inside the bubble. Vermont was an Under the Radar team that we were super big on, and now that they’ve gone out on the road and gotten what was perhaps the most impressive true road win any team managed yesterday, we’re now even higher on the Catamounts.

-McNeese State, another Under the Radar team that we were really big on and thought could make a push to land inside the bubble, did not get off to the start they needed to yesterday. They fell 80-73 to South Dakota State in the Field of 68 Showcase, and even though it was just the first game of the season it is still a rather big blow because their margin for error is so small.

-Seeveral Big East teams really struggled last night. Butler, Providence, and Xavier all won, but all had to sweat a lot more than expected against teams that we were expecting them to blow out. Butler edged out Missouri State 72-65, Providence barely got by Central Connecticut 59-55, and Xavier had to come from behind in the second half to beat Texas Southenr 79-68. Seton Hall also barely edged out Saint Peter’s 57-53, and DePaul’s game against Southern Indiana came down to the last possession, but the Blue Demons held on to win 80-78. I suppose that last one wasn’t too surprising. No one is really expecting DePaul to be any good this year.

-Princeton got a huge scare from Iona, but barely held on to win 81-80. Princeton was a team that I had pegged as a likely top 40 team. They still could be. It was just one game. But, they didn’t look like a top 40 team yesterday.

-Wichita State went on the road and got a nice win against what should at least be a talented Western Kentucky team. Wichita State has been somewhat absent from the spotlight in recent years, but this was a nice start to the season for them yesterday.

-Lastly, I want to give a shout out to Chicago State. They didn’t win against Loyola Chicago, but they competed at an impressively high level against a team that’s expected to do very well in the Atlantic 10 in their 79-72 loss. Them, along with Central Connecticut, played in a way that shows they are likely good enough to make quite a bit of noise in the NEC. We were debating resurrecting the Team of the People this year and elevating Chicago State to that highly esteemed status.

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HIGHLIGHTED GAMES:

-EVANSVILLE AT NORTH TEXAS – Featured HERE in John Stalica’s Under the Radar Game of the Day

BUY GAMES:

-Bethune Cookman @ Texas Tech
-New Orleans @ Kansas State
-Idaho State @ Arizona State
-Central Arkansas @ BYU
-UC Davis @ Washington